We're right there now. I was
on the roof today. We're doing some repairs. We're doing some detailing. Where's the place? I mean, it's
not. Good evening, everyone. Let's
open tonight's service with hymn number 42 from the hardback hymnal. Number 42, all hail the power
of Jesus' name. Let's stand together. 42. We may be doing it acapella.
Acapella. The plug's going in there. Sounds
like we've got power, but it's not turning on. Nope. Okay, we'll sing acapella,
number 42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him all. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. He chosen seed of Israel's race,
he ransomed from the fall. Hail him who saves you by his
grace, and crown him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by His
grace and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe,
on this terrestrial ball, to him all majesty ascribe, and
crown him Lord Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe and
crown him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throng
we at his feet may fall, we'll join the everlasting song and
crown him Lord of all. ? We'll join the everlasting
song ? ? And crown Him Lord of all ? Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 24. Psalm 24. This opening verse goes without
hymn we just sang. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell
therein. Everybody's His. People talk
about making Jesus Lord of their life. He already is. He's Lord
over the living and He's Lord over the dead. Whether they want
Him to be or not, For he hath founded it upon the seas and
established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? I can remember
in a religion thinking that this applied to me, that I had to
have clean hands and a pure heart in order for me to be able to
stand in the presence of God. And, you know, we did everything we could
try to convince ourselves that our hands were clean and our
hearts were pure. But there's only one who's able
to stand in his presence. And there's only one who has
clean hands and a pure heart, who has never lifted up his soul
unto vanity, who has never sworn deceitfully. And that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the only acceptance that
you and I have in the presence of God is to be found in him,
looking to Christ for all of our righteousness before God.
He, that one with the clean hands and pure heart, who never lifted
up his soul to vanity and never spoke a deceitful word, he shall
receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the
God of his salvation and all those that are in him. will be
blessed for his namesake. This is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob, Selah. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. This is God's call to open the
gates of heaven, and the Lord Jesus Christ is gonna go in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. What Isaiah
say in Isaiah 40, tell them their warfare is accomplished. Tell
them their iniquity is taken away. They've received of the
Lord a double blessing. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord of hosts. The word host means the same.
See, this psalm ends the same way it begins. He's the Lord
of all men, the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the
earth. And he's gonna come in. He is the King of glory. Let's pray. Our merciful heavenly
Father, we rejoice in knowing that we're able to come before
your throne of grace with boldness, confidence, not in ourselves,
not in our flesh, not in our ability to wash our hands or
to make our hearts pure, but in confidence that thy dear son,
the Lord Jesus Christ had pure hands and a clean heart. and that his hands were pierced
on Calvary's cross and his heart was pierced for the sins that
we've committed with our hands and with our hearts. Lord, thank
you for looking to him on our behalf. Thank you for the revelation
of who he is and what he's accomplished in your word. And we pray that
your Holy Spirit now would speak again to our hearts open the
eyes of our understanding, enable us to set our affections on things
above where the Lord Jesus Christ is seated at thy right hand.
For it's in his name we pray, amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 318, 318. I need thee every hour. We have music. 318. I need thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can
peace afford. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. Oh bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, stay
Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when Thou art nigh. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need thee every hour, in joy
or pain. Come quickly and abide, for life
is vain. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, Most
Holy One, O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to thee. Please be seated. We have no idea how needy we
are, do we? I'm thankful that the Lord gives
us the grace and the faith to be able to sing a hymn like that
with some understanding and with some sincerity. We are a needy
people. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 23, please? I've titled this message, Want
and Fear. Want and Fear. The word want
comes from verse one, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Trouble is, we do want a lot,
don't we? Our wanter is pretty strong,
isn't it? And then the second part of this
Message comes from verse four, yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. And the problem with that is
that every single one of us know a lot about fear, don't we? Last Sunday afternoon, Tricia
and I were in Costco and we passed by that jewelry case and paused
for just a minute and looked at some of that beautiful jewelry.
And there was another couple standing next to us We didn't
linger long. We moved on pretty quickly. I
said, come on, honey. We got to go. But as we were leaving, I thought
I'd mess with the guy next to me. And I said, because they
were looking at a ring that was very expensive. And I said, you
know, you need to get her two of those. Well, I didn't know
he was religious. Because when I said that, he
said, He said, well, he said, I would, but God's going to have
to put the money in my bank account. And I know he can do it. Yeah, we got out there quicker
than faith. What, what he was expressing
in that statement was that I have faith to believe that God can
do anything. The problem with that is that
faith is not believing that God will or can do anything. Faith
is believing that God has done everything necessary for our
salvation. That's what faith is. Now, people read Psalm 24 at
funerals and people quote it often. Almost as if the power of positive
thinking, you know, if I just believe that I'm not in want,
I won't be in want. If I just believe that I'm not
afraid, I won't be afraid. I'll say it again, faith is believing
that God has already done everything necessary for our salvation. That's what faith is. We don't
know what God's going to do. We know he can do whatever he
wants and he will do whatever he wants. But believing that
God is going to do something for us in the future is not faith.
Faith is looking back to what he's already done and believing
that he's done everything necessary for our salvation. Let me show
you that. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Now, the religious world, like
that man at Costco, you know, they just convince themselves
that they're people of faith because God's going to put money
in my banking account. Or whatever you have in your
banking account, God put it there. God put it there. And he's going
to determine what is there. But that's not faith. Look at Hebrews chapter 10, we'll
begin reading in verse 17, and their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. We're not making an offering
for sin. We're not presenting our will or our righteousness
or our works or our wisdom. God says, I will remember your
sins no more for remission. Remission has been accomplished.
And that's faith. Faith is believing that when
the Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary's cross, that he satisfied
the demands of God for the remission of our sins. Having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We have confidence
to come into the presence of God, not because we're hanging
on to some power of positive thinking, believing that he's
gonna do something for us in the future that we've asked him
to do, but we have confidence knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ
as our forerunner has gone before us, that his works went before
him and that he opened the gates of heaven. That's what we just
read in Psalm 24. Who is this king of glory? Open you the gates by a new and
living way which he hath, past tense, he hath consecrated for
us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. So when that
veil was rent on the holies of holies, at the very moment that
the Lord Jesus Christ gave up the ghost, his flesh was rent,
the veil was rent, Access into the presence of God was made
and God said here. I will meet with you right here
so we have confidence and Having a high priest over the house
of God. Let us Draw near with a true heart in full assurance
of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water and Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised."
There's our faith. You say, well, what about the
circumstances of our lives? Well, 1 Corinthians 10.13 says,
there have no temptation taken you. no trial, no testing taking
you, but such as is common to all men, God is faithful. He will not allow you to suffer
beyond what you're, to be tempted above that which are able, but
will, and you know, people read this verse and they say, God
won't put more on you to bear. That's not what it says. It's
not what it says. If the Lord doesn't ever put
more on us to bear, we'll never need him. And if he doesn't put
our sin on us and cause us to look for that way of escape,
and now that verse ends, God is faithful who will not suffer
us to be tempted above that which we're able, but will provide
with the temptation, the way of escape. Christ is that way
of escape. And so we look to him. Believing
that he is able. He's able to keep that which
we've committed unto him against that day. So the faithfulness,
our faith is in his faithfulness. Believing that he is able. Now, want and fear. The only thing that controls
a sinner's wanter, the only thing that controls a sinner's wanter
is to look in faith to the one who never had a want that he
did not look to his father for. And what I'm saying to you is
that Psalm 23, yes, it is the believers, it's a believer's
prayer. But like all these other Psalms
that we've looked at, it's first and foremost, the prayer of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is he not called the Lamb of
God? Which take it the way the sins
of the world. Does a lamb not need a shepherd? Who was the
Lord Jesus Christ's shepherd? The Father. And so, All the promises
of God and all the prophecies of God and all the Word of God
is yea and amen in Christ. You see, the hope of my salvation
is not based on the fact that, well, you know, the Lord is my
shepherd. I'm never going to be in want of anything if I'm
honest. If I'm honest. Now, if I'm looking
to Christ, I know that I'm not in need of anything beyond what
he provides for me, for my acceptance before God. But the truth is
that our warner's pretty strong, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only one that could say with the fullness of this passage,
the Father, he's my shepherd. I shall not, I shall not be in
want of anything that he doesn't provide for me. The Lord never
wanted anything other than what the father gave him. Can you
say that? Truth is every time we sin, we're
wanting something outside of the will of God, aren't we? We just... And the only thing that calms
a sinner's fear is to look in faith to the one who is absolutely
fearless. The Lord Jesus Christ never,
never knew fear. He wasn't afraid of man. He wasn't
afraid of his circumstances. The spirit of fear is not of
God and as God, He never experienced fear. And as a little child who is
afraid, what does a child, what's a two-year-old do when he's in
the midst of circumstances that makes him afraid? What's he do? He runs to daddy, doesn't he?
He buries his face in the neck of daddy and he's not afraid
as long as he's being held by his father, isn't he? So, we're
not trying to make ourselves to be more than
what we are when we say, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not want. And though
he make me to walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I'll fear no evil. We do no fear. We just sang of
that. We have a need to run to Christ. When we are looking to
Christ in faith, we shall not want for anything for our acceptance before God.
Now the Lord Jesus Christ, he is our shepherd. I wanna read
a couple of verses here, Ezekiel chapter 34. And before I read
this, let me give you just a rough timeline, if I can, when you're
fitting the events of the Old Testament together. Think of
Abraham, and these are in 500 year increments, think of Abraham
as 2000 BC, Moses and the Exodus as 1500 BC, David as 1000 BC,
and the Babylonian captivity, which is during the time of the
prophets, as 500 BC. Now the reason I want to share
that with you is because Ezekiel lives during the time of the
Babylonian captivity. So that's 500 years after David. And listen to what Ezekiel says
in Ezekiel 34 verse 23. I will set up one shepherd over
them and he shall feed them even my servant David. He shall feed
them and he shall be their shepherd. So Ezekiel is talking about the
son of David. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ as that one shepherd, the one faithful shepherd over
the sheep, the one who protects and provides for his sheep. You
know, Sunday we were talking about sheep and I mentioned the
fact that Sheep are dumb. Sheep are dirty. Sheep are defenseless. Sheep are dependent. But sheep
are also very timid animals. Because of all those things about
them, because they're defenseless, because they're dependent, they're
also scared all the time. You ever been around sheep? They
run from you really quick. And the only time a sheep can
lie down comfortably is when he sees the shepherd standing
nearby. And so that's what this psalm's
about. It's not to say, well, you know,
I'm not afraid. I never want anything other than
what my shepherd gives me. No, it's to say, Lord, I'm a
defenseless sheep. And the only time I find any
comfort at all The only time I find any peace, the only time
I'm able to lie down, the only time I'm able to drink from still
waters is when I'm able to see the shepherd standing nearby
with his rod and his staff comforting me and protecting me. So Ezekiel
says, we're gonna have one shepherd and he's not talking about David.
He wrote 500 years after David. He's talking about Christ. Listen
to what Peter said in 1 Peter 4, Peter knew something about
being in need of a shepherd. And Peter said, when the chief
shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that
shall not fade away. Peter had his heart set on seeing
the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief shepherd. Now the Lord
identifies himself as the chief shepherd because he says, I have
under shepherds. But their responsibility is to
point the sheep to the shepherd. And then in Hebrews chapter 13
verse 20, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect. Make you perfect. May the great
shepherd of the sheep cause you to see that in him, you have
clean hands. In him, you have a pure heart.
In him, you can be at peace with God. Look to the shepherd sheep. I know you're always wandering
off. You're prone to wander, aren't you? You're prone to leave
the God you love. You're prone to be afraid. That's
our nature. If we're not afraid, we're stupid.
That's just it, isn't it? We don't have sense enough to
be. What do we say? We say ignorance is bliss. And it is. And the
only time we're not afraid is when we're able to set our hearts
in faith on the shepherd of the sheep. The one shepherd, the
chief shepherd, the great shepherd, and then the Lord Jesus Christ
himself in John chapter 10 referred to himself as the good shepherd. He said, I'm the good shepherd,
and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He laid
down his life for the sheep. He wasn't like the hireling.
He protected. and provided everything necessary
for the sheep. So Psalm 23 is first and foremost
fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who could say, I've
never been in want of anything that the Father didn't provide
for me. I never wondered. I never left. I never veered off my path. I never sinned. Not for a moment. I believed my Father. From the time that I was conceived
of the Holy Spirit to the time I breathed my last breath, I
trusted the Father for my every want. Now that's what God requires
of me and you. He requires a perfect man. A
man who trusts God perfectly. A man who's got clean hearts,
clean hands and a pure heart. Who's never, never lifted up
his soul into vanity. He's never spoke deceitfully. Who of us can say that? The Lord
is my shepherd. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures how oftentimes we're more like
the prodigal, feeding on the husk that swine do eat. And rather than going into the
green pastures, we find ourselves wandering into the wilderness
and the good shepherd, the chief shepherd, the one shepherd has
to come and find us and bring us home. But here he says, he
made me. And if we ever, if we're ever,
ever able to lie down in green pastures, if we're ever able
to rest, it's because he made us to. We didn't, we didn't come
up with that on our own. He made us to rest. He let us,
he let us wander off just enough to get ourselves in trouble.
And then he brings us back, doesn't he? Keeps his sheep on a leash,
doesn't he? Aren't you glad? He won't let
them fall over the precipice. He'll let them get close sometimes.
He'll let them get themselves in trouble. He'll let them get
them in a briar patch. He'll let them get in a mud puddle.
He'll let them fight and buck one another. But eventually he's
gonna bring them back to the shepherd. Said the Lord made
me to lie down in green pastures. The Lord Jesus Christ was always
able to rest in the Father. You know, sometimes we find ourselves
looking for water in the desert and there's no water there. There's
no place to find life in the desert. So the Lord has to bring
us back and cause us to lie down in the green pastures and feed
us on his word. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. You remember when Elijah went
to Mount Carmel and proved the grace of God over the prophets
of Baal? and then had 600 prophets of
Baal killed after that. And the fire of God fell down,
picture of the cross there on Mount Carmel. But Elijah, Elijah,
I mean, if that was the only thing we knew about Elijah, you'd
think, well, that's a man that's not afraid, he's fearless. And
as soon as Jezebel found out that Elijah had had her prophets
killed, Jezebel sent word to Elijah that he's gonna end up
like the prophets of Baal. And he ran, he ran like a scared
dog, he ran. You remember where he ran to?
He ran to Mount Horeb. Now Mount Horeb is Mount Sinai.
That's the mountain of the law. He ran back to the law in order
to try to find some comfort. And twice in first Kings chapter
19, the Lord says to Elijah, he says, Elijah, what are you
doing here? What are you doing here? Why
have you come back to this mountain? And Elijah goes, he's hiding
in a cave on Mount Sinai. And the Lord, puts him in the
mouth of the cave and the Lord sends a fire, sends a fire. I mean the mountain is on fire
and that's what the law does. And Elijah said, but the Lord
was not in it. And then the Lord sent a wind,
a wind so strong the Bible says that it rent the rocks. The rocks
were broken in half by this wind, but the Lord wasn't in it. And
then an earthquake and the Lord wasn't in it. and then a still small voice. Now, I use that illustration
to tell you what it means in verse three. I'm sorry, in verse two. He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. Sheep, because they're timid,
will not drink from a river that's moving. They're afraid that they'll
fall in and that the current will take them away and they'll
drown. And so the shepherd has to take
a shovel and he digs a trench from the riverside and creates
a pool of still water and the sheep will come to that water
and they'll drink. Sometimes because we forget who
the shepherd is and we find ourselves wanting what we ought not to
want. And sometimes because we forget
what he's accomplished and we find ourselves afraid, we think
maybe there's something in that swift water. Maybe there's something
in in an experience, in a feeling, in the law, in a fire that falls
from heaven or an earthquake or a wind blows. And what does
God say? And the Lord was not in it. The
Lord was not in it. When did the Lord speak to Elijah?
After all of that, a still small voice. That's how God speaks. He speaks when we're quiet. He
speaks by His Word. He speaks to our hearts. He doesn't
speak through, you know, I fear that sometimes we think, well,
I just need an experience. I need a feeling. I need something
that's earth-shaking and something that's groundbreaking in order
to know that God's dealing with me. And here's how He speaks. He causes us to lie down in green
pastures, and He causes us to drink from still waters, quiet
waters. Be still. Know what the Lord
said, and know that I'm God. My God, give us the grace. You
know, we live in such a fast-paced world, don't we? So many things
vying for our attention. My God, give us the grace to
be still. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was
never caught up in the hustle and bustle of this world. He
was never attracted to it. He always drank from still waters. He always lied down in green
pastures. He never got anxious. He never
got afraid. This psalm was fulfilled first
and foremost by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way we can
say, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want is to
be looking to him. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me. He leadeth me
beside. He restored my soul. And when
did the Lord Jesus Christ need his soul to be restored? Well,
he was a man who tired. He was a man in his humanity
who hungered. He was a man who suffered the
accusation of sinners, even his own disciples, which I'm sure
smote him the most. And yet in every instance, the
father restored him, gave him strength. He never varied from
his trust in his father. He restores my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ was perfectly
righteous in everything he did. And God leads his sheep in paths
of righteousness when he causes us to look and see that the shepherd's
here. Everything's okay. He's there. The sheep can relax. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ
for all our righteousness before God. Our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags before God. If we think that our acceptance
before God is based on the fact that we've got some faith in
our abilities or even faith in something God's gonna do, no,
it's faith in what he's already done. The Lord Jesus Christ was
faithful to the law of God. He kept every jot and tittle
of it. He said, I did not come to destroy
the law, but to fulfill it. And that's what he did. Why'd
he do it? For his namesake, for his namesake,
covenant promises had been made between God the father and God
the son in eternity past before Adam was ever created and the
Lord Jesus Christ was fulfilling all those promises in that covenant. Yea, yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I know this psalm is quoted at
funerals and ought to be, it ought to be. I'm afraid that
most people who hear it or can quote it don't believe it. particularly
as it's fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I fear that
there's a lot of people like that man I spoke to last Sunday
who just think, well, I'm just gonna believe that I don't have
anything to be afraid of. But this world, it's not just
dying, it's this whole world. This world died when Adam sinned. When Adam sinned, death came
into this world. And all men died in Adam. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
into a dying world. And he himself is the only one
who's alive. And he himself is, he is our
life. And so he says, yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death. This whole world is a valley. I'm so thankful that the scripture
says he walked through the valley and that we walk through a valley and that we're not living in
a valley. We're not putting down our roots
or setting our foundations in this valley. We're sojourners. We're pilgrims, the scripture
calls us. We're passing through very quickly
through a valley. And the whole valley is a valley
of death. There's death all around us. Let's talk to people about
the gospel. They're spiritually blind. They're
dead. They have no understanding. They
don't know Christ. And we're walking through that
same valley, aren't we? But aren't you glad that it's
called a shadow? A shadow has no substance. Now, people are
afraid of shadows because the substance that casts the shadow.
But here, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's conquered death. He's conquered
death. Death for the child of God is
nothing but a shadow. The substance of it has been
conquered. First Corinthians chapter 15,
turn with me there. Verse 54, so when this corruptible
And this body we live in is a body of death. Now what Paul called
it in Romans chapter seven, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? We're walking through the shadow
of the valley of death in a dying body. And when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruptible. and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where
is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
Well, the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the
law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he's fulfilled the
law and he's put away sin. And so death now is a shadow.
It's a shadow. We just walk through a shadow.
We're not hurt by a shadow. Shadows can't hurt you. And shadows
can't sustain you either. Try to sit on the shadow of a
chair. See where you end up. You know, you just, it's just
a shadow. And the Lord Jesus Christ knew
that. He knew this, I'm going to conquer this. Death is going
to be conquered. Satan is going to be defeated.
All of my enemies, go back with me. He leadeth us in paths of righteousness,
every step, every thought, every word of the Lord Jesus Christ
was led by His Father, and we are led by our shepherd, to look
to Christ. So he says, I will fear no evil.
The only thing that causes me not to be afraid is when I'm
able by the grace of God to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is fearless, fearless. He has no fear, no fear. I will fear no evil. Why? Because
thou art with me. That's when we're not afraid.
We're not afraid when we see the shepherd. Sheep by nature
are going to be afraid. But when they see the shepherd
they know everything's good, everything's okay. The shepherd's
got everything under control. Why? Because he's got a rod in
one hand and he's got a staff in the other hand. Now what is
the rod and the staff? Well the rod was a weapon. It
was a weapon. It was a defensive weapon. It's
also called a scepter. It's a picture of authority.
And the staff was a walking stick with a crook in the end of it.
And the shepherd would use the staff to keep the sheep in line. The shepherd would never beat
the sheep with a rod. The rod was used for predators. The rod was used to protect the
sheep. The good shepherd doesn't beat
a sheep. Another thing a shepherd would
use the staff for is he would hold the staff over and have
the sheep walk under the staff. And as they walked under the
staff, he counted them one by one until he made sure he had
every one of them back in the sheep vault. Our Lord knows his
sheep. He knows where every one of them
are. He's not gonna lose one of them. And He doesn't beat
His sheep. He uses the rod to protect them
against predators. And He uses the staff to keep
them in the sheepfold. Now what is the rod and the staff? It's the Word of God. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. Is profitable. For rebuke, that's a rod. For
correction, for instruction in righteousness, for doctrine. So God uses that. He warns us
in his word about predators, doesn't he? Warns us about false
prophets and false gospels and false truths and lies. And we're
spared from being deceived. by the Word of God. And the responsibility
that the under-shepherd has is to preach the Word in season
and out of season, the whole counsel of God. That's why Paul
said to the elders in Ephesus, he said, I did not shun to keep
from you any of the counsel of God. I preached to you the whole
counsel. I've got no man's blood on my
hands. I've been a faithful under-shepherd.
And that's every under-shepherd's desire. But the Lord Jesus Christ
is the one that teaches, isn't it? He's the one shepherd that
Ezekiel talked about. And he's faithful to use his
rod and his staff. He's gentle. When he uses that
crook, he's gentle with his sheep. And he uses the rod, he shows
no mercy towards those who are enemies of the sheep. So what
does David say? Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death in this world and in my physical death
which will come, I'll fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy
rod and thy staff, they do comfort me. Where do we get comfort? We get comfort from our feelings.
We get comfort from our experiences. Or does God comfort us with His
Word? It's the Word of God that comforts
us, isn't it? Nothing else is reliable. Feelings, feelings
come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My only
warrant is the Word of God. None else is worth believing.
We look to the rod and the staff of God's Word for Him to protect
us against against false gospels and to keep us in his sheepfold. Lord, the only time I'm not afraid
is when I see you standing there with your rod and your staff. Thou, and here it is, he prepares
the table before me in the presence of my enemies. The Lord Jesus
Christ had enemies, no question about it. And God provided for
him. When he came out of the wilderness,
God sent down angels to minister to him. When he was in the garden
of Gethsemane, the Lord sent angels to minister to him. He
was always comforted by the word of God. When he was tempted of
the devil, what did he do? Turn these stones into bread.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God. Cast yourself off the pinnacle
of the temple and the people will believe in you. No, you
worship. Don't tempt the Lord thy God.
Him alone shall you worship. So the Lord Jesus Christ always
had the table of God's word. He always had the rod and the
staff of his father to protect him from his enemies. And so
do we. So do we. The Lord prepares a
table. Who are our enemies? Well, who's
your enemy? Who's your enemy? First, you
got to start right where you are, don't you? Your flesh is
at enmity with you. The flesh wars against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh so that we cannot be what we
would be. We've got an enemy living within,
don't we? Sin is our enemy. Satan is our
enemy. This world, friendship with the
world is enmity with God. This world and all of its alluring
attractions is our enemy, isn't it? Death is our final enemy, but
that death has been conquered. So what does the Lord say? Thou
preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou
anointed my head with oil. Now to be anointed is to be the
Christ. That's what the word anointed
means. And the scripture says that he was anointed with the
oil of gladness above his fellows. He came in the full anointing
of the Spirit of God, Isaiah chapter 61. The first verse,
the first sermon he preached publicly was from the Lord hath
anointed me. He's the anointed one, anointed
by God and then he anoints his people, doesn't he? If you have
not the Spirit of God, you're not of him. The Lord gives us
his Spirit. We can't see Christ without the Spirit of God. The
natural man cannot receive the things of God. Neither can he
know them. They're foolishness unto him.
He cannot know them. We're completely dependent. Lord,
anoint my head with oil. Give me your Spirit. Enable me
to look on my shepherd that I can be lying down in green pastures
and and drinking from still waters and not be afraid of the shadow
of death. My cup runneth over. Now Psalm 16, five says the Lord
himself is the portion of my cup. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
he had such a perfect faith in God that his cup ran over with
his belief in the father. And then he drank from that cup,
the bitter dregs of God's wrath because of our sin. That was
the cup he prayed, Father, if there be any way this cup can
pass from me. His cup ran over. And because of what he did in
fulfilling Psalm 23, we have the blessings of God. All the
blessings of God are in the heavenlies in Christ. right now. Psalm 23
was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ so that in Him we can
enjoy the spiritual blessings of this promise. Having our cup, the cup of salvation,
surely, surely, no doubt about it, no question about it, surely,
He never doubted everything that the father had ordained for him
was good. And you know that all things
work together for good, but in the midst of them, we don't always
think they're good, do we? Sometimes we're afraid. Sometimes
our wanter is out of, we, what do we do? Look to the shepherd.
He, goodness and mercy followed him all the days of his life. And what was his hope? Well,
just read John chapter 17 and you'll see what his hope was. His final purpose was to be with
his bride, with the father in heaven for all eternity. That's
the whole purpose. And so he says, goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, forever. And that's our hope. Our hope
is to see him as he is. Let not your heart be troubled. So, well, I'm not afraid. Let
not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
so that where I am, there you may be also. That's his purpose,
and that's our hope. And the Lord's speaking to his
sheep. He said, I'm the shepherd. I was never in want. My works
went before me, recommended me to God. And I've prepared the
place for you. All the Lord Jesus Christ had
to do to prepare heaven for us was to ascend back into glory
and be received of the Father. And he took with him the names
of those for whom he lived and died. And he ever lives to make
intercession for us. And so he says, that's what I
came to do. I came to be with my father and
my bride. She had to be redeemed and I
accomplished her redemption and I conquered her death. And now we say, the Lord is my
shepherd. I shall not be in want." Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
that all of your word and all of your promises and all of your
prophecies are yea and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, give us as timid. Weak. Defenseless sheep. Eyes to see our shepherd. And
to know that his rod and his staff. They do comfort us. We ask it in his name. Amen. Number 352, let's stand together
352. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high, Hide me, O my Savior, hide! ? Till the storm of life is past
? Safe into the haven guide ? O receive my soul at last ? Other refuge
have I none ? Hangs my helpless soul on thee Leave, ah, leave
me not alone, Still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stained,
All my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain art,
freely let me take a bath. Bring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. Amen. Yes, amazing. Some of the things
that he wrote, you know. I love that hymn. It did this
a couple years ago. Sometimes the battery interferes
with the power. So up here I fiddled with it.
I just connected the battery.