Let's read Psalm 23 together.
It's the Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. It's a great answer, isn't it,
to the question that's asked of the Shulamite in Somerset. What is your beloved? Tell me
about your beloved. And she, like David, didn't wait
a second. She didn't have to contemplate
and think about it. She talked so beautifully about
Him. And this wonderful psalm, this
really well-known, famous psalm, the psalm that has been a great
comfort of God's people throughout time, is a beautiful, beautiful
psalm in some sense It so resonates with the things that we've been
looking at in Song of Solomon, as we've seen He who is the Good
Shepherd come again and again to her. And she knows, even in
her lostness at times, she says, Tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock, to rest
at noon, for why should I be one that turneth aside by the
flocks of thy companions?" She doesn't want to be turned aside.
She knows that there's a shepherd, and she knows that there's a
shepherd who leads his people to rest. And we could spend all
morning just looking at these first few words, couldn't we?
The Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. The word Lord there is that word
Jehovah, that name that's above all names. God my Saviour, the
Saviour God, is my shepherd. He's called the Good Shepherd
in John chapter 10. He's called the Chief Shepherd. in 1 Peter and in Hebrews 13.20
in that remarkable passage that finishes that amazing word from
God. He is called the Great Shepherd,
the Great Shepherd. The Lord. This Lord is my shepherd. And two things are immediately
implied in that, aren't they? The first one is that the Lord
is able to be a shepherd. He was appointed a shepherd by
God the Father. You see David calls him my shepherd. Someone else calls him a shepherd
as well. And in Zechariah 13 we hear the
Lord God, our great Father, our great electing and loving Father. He says, Awake a sword against
my shepherd. He's God's Shepherd. He is the
Shepherd by divine decree. He is the Shepherd based on His
ownership. He is the Shepherd based on His
death and resurrection. He is the Shepherd. He is the
Lord, my Shepherd, by the faith that He brings to us. The other
thing of course that's implied in it, and David said these words
inspired by the Holy Spirit, is of course that he is happy
to take his place as a sheep. It wasn't meant as a compliment
to us when God made sheep so weak and helpless and pathetic. Any of you who have tried to
look after them will know how much trouble and effort it is
and how prone they are to getting into trouble. As Lisa's dad said,
they almost have a will to die. They'll die at anything. They are weak. You see, for us,
to be made to look to a shepherd is to be made to be happy, to
be seen by God as sheep. Sheep. We like because of our
fallen nature to think that we're not sheep, that we are kings. Kings sitting on a throne, a
throne of our own making, a throne that's supported by my worth,
by my righteousness, by my works, by my religious activity, by
my wisdom. I build my house. I support it. I have founded
it. I will maintain it. God's children
are sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. That all-sufficient shepherd,
and then that wonderful refrain, I shall not want. I shall not want for anything. The Lord is, not that he might
be, not that he will be, the Lord is my shepherd. That personal car noun is so
incredibly important, isn't it? He is mine, he has bought me,
he has made me his. and he's made himself to be mine. Not a possibility. He owns the
sheep. The sheep were given to him. The father gave them to him in
eternity. And then he gave himself, this
shepherd gave himself for me. I shall not want. I shall not
want of any good thing. I shall not want. I might be
the weakest in the flock, but I shall not want. I might wander
and stray, but I shall not want for direction. I might grow old
and feeble, but I shall not want for his care. I might endure
sickness and sorrow, I shall not want. I shall not want for
any good things, any good things. If it was good for me spiritually,
this good shepherd would give it to me. He is not poor, he
is not powerless, he is not without knowledge of all of my needs. We are born into a world, aren't
we, where there is poverty of sin and fear and darkness. And Daniel relayed the Lord's
words to a man who was proud, wasn't he, that Belshazzar was
having a feast, making a mockery of those things that belonged
in the temple of God. And he says to Belshazzar, you
are weighed in the balances. You are wide in the balances
of God's scales of holiness, of righteousness, of purity. He says you've been wide and
found wanting. weighed not in the scales of
human opinion, not in the scales of your own opinion or your reputation. God says it should be weighed
in my scales and found wanting. God's children are weighed in
the scales of God and they are not found wanting. They want
for nothing from God. I shall not want He's able to
save me to the uttermost. I shall not want He's able to
keep that which I've committed unto Him. I shall not want He's
able to present me faultless before the throne and He does
it with delight. I shall not want. He's able to
raise my vile body in that day that might be like His glorious
body." Paul, as we know in 2 Corinthians, grieved about a thorn in the
flesh. And he pleaded with the Lord,
he said, take it away from me, take it away from me. And I don't
believe that his motives were purely purely fleshly for his
own good. Take this away from me that I
might be able to more glorify you." He spent most of his life
in jail. How much more could he have achieved
if he'd been let loose on the world all the time? And the Lord
says to him, Paul, you're not going to want for anything. You're
not lacking anything. My grace is sufficient. The Lord is a good shepherd. He takes care of his own sheep. I shall not want, in the next
verse, I shall not want for rest. He begs me to lie down in green
pastures. It's a beautiful picture, isn't
it? Of sheep at rest. Sheep at rest because God has
come and He's provided for them, He's provided green pastures
where they can rest and in Song of Solomon they rest in the noonday
sun at the hottest time of the day. His sheep are at rest in
the shade. He makes them to lie down in
green pastures, in fat pastures, in pastures that sustain them. We can lie down in peace. He will defend us. He will look
after us. He will, in the midst of all
things, cause us to stand in Him and find ourselves at peace
in Him. in the catacombs of Rome above
many of the graves of God's saints who died or were martyred in
those dreadful times of those Roman persecutions. They wrote
it often above their graves. It says, in Christ in peace,
in Christ in peace. He makes me to lie down. I do
not have to stand ready to plead. My peace I give unto you. Green pastures. Where do we find,
where do we find this comfort, this quietness of spirit? Where do we find this assurance? The green pastures are the green
pastures of His word of truth and His word of promise. His
covenant word, His promises, His precious promises. and it brings blessed tranquility. Think of the words that David
was led by the Lord to pen, but also think of the words that
David heard from God in that most public and grievous of sin. God sends Nathan along to David
and said, the Lord has taken away your How must David have felt? What remarkable words from God. He's taken away your sin. You will live forever. You'll
live forever in the presence of God. And God says of David's
sin, he says, the thing that David did displeased the Lord. as he was seen in the Lord Jesus,
never displeased God. What wonderful pastures we have
in the Word of God. What peace. What peace we have
is we come and see that the Word of God explains the circumstances,
outlines the circumstances of our lives, and shows us again
and again that we have a great God who is a sovereign God, and
as the great and good shepherd, He leads his people. These paths
where we find troubles are places where he will find pastures of
rest for his people. He leadeth me beside still waters. He leads. He leads. And he leads, and when
does he ever stop leading? So the trials of life are pictured
as deep waters, as troubled waters, as waves of the sea. And in Gospel
accounts we have that wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus asleep
in the boat. And there's this little boat
being tossed around and the men in there who are experienced
fishermen thinking that they are about to drown, they come
to him and they say those horrible words, don't you care if we drown? And he wakes up and he goes to
that sea, stands on that boat, and he says, peace, be still. He calms the troubled waters. My shepherd calms the troubled
waters. And even the trials, even in
the trials, we will have peace. because he leads us there, because
they are for our good, because he comes And he calms them and
we'll see that they are things that he has worked for our good. And we'll see that Romans 8.28
is not just a word, is it? It's a word of promise that he
works all things for the good of those that he loves. The ones
he calls to himself, all things, no matter what they are, work
together for our good. I shall not want. I shall not
want for anything. I shall not want for rest. I
shall not want for peace in life's storms. I shall not want, in
verse 3, I shall not want for gracious restoration. And I shall
not want for holy guidance. And I shall not want for reminders
of the divine motives that are behind all things. He restoreth
my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for His name's sake. Isn't it wonderful that
this shepherd leads his sheep? They are not driven, they are
not forced and flogged to go forward, but they are led. They are led by sweet inward
influences, like a shilmite who is woken and led to search for
her beloved. Led, not flogged. not flawed
he restores my soul I love those ETH endings because they mean
that He restores and He continues to restore and He continues to
restore. He restores and He restores and
He restores again. Do you need restoring? I need restoring more as I get
on in life. It seems in so many ways that
I need more of God's restoring. Restoring and comforting grace
than I ever did before. He said, He restores my soul. In Adam I died and He restores
it to life. In Adam I sinned and became black
and He restores it to purity. He restores my soul to God as
the prodigal As the father of the prodigal said, this my son
was lost, but now he's found. All of God's sheep know what
it is to be lost and know the joy of being found. And he restores my soul daily
because I'm weak and because I'm sinful. and He restores my
soul. He restores my body and soul
to reign with Him forever. What a wonderful restoration.
Adam lost the way to God and all of us in Him. Adam lost the
truth of God. Adam lost the life of God. and all of them are returned
in Christ. I can never lose the way again,
because Christ is the way. I can never lose the truth of
God and who I am again, because He is the truth. And I can never
lose life again, because Christ is my life. He leadeth me. He leadeth me
in the paths of righteousness, for His name's sake." Solomon. Solomon is much maligned by religion. Religion that doesn't know grace
can't understand the salvation of Solomon. Religion that understands
grace understands that when God says, you call his name Jedidiah,
beloved of the Lord, we know that he cannot be unbeloved of
the Lord. Solomon in Proverbs 8.20 says,
I walk in the way of righteousness. not talking about his own righteousness. He never had. He's talking about
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. We don't have any righteousness
of our own. We have the righteousness of
God. In fact, it's bigger than that.
We are the righteousness of God, brothers and sisters. So it's
not in my nature. as a son of Adam, to know the
paths of righteousness. It's not in my nature to find
the paths of righteousness. I have no idea that I would even
want to go looking for them. Read Romans 3, you'll find that
the world is not interested in finding and seeking and searching
after righteousness. It's not in the nature of man
to even recognise what the way of righteousness is. It's certainly
not in the way of man to walk in the paths of righteousness.
But how do God's children get to walk in these paths? That
great shepherd, isn't it? He restores my soul, and He leads
me in the paths of righteousness." What a great way to think about
the life we live here, isn't it? We walk in paths of righteousness,
paths that He has ordained from eternity for us to walk in. As the hymn writer said, with
his spotless garment song, I am as holy as his dear son. I am as holy as his dear son. He leads me there, for it's his
path. He makes us righteous, the righteousness
of God, and He leads us in that path. He leads us both to love
it and to walk in it. and He does all of it for His
name's sake. All of what is unfolding in this
world, all of what is unfolding in your life is there for His
name's sake. You can read about it in Ephesians
1. It's for the praise of the glory of His grace, for the praise
of His glory and His glorious grace revealed in the Lord Jesus.
Three times He says it. Why does He do it all? For the
praise of His glory and grace. His glorious grace. For my holy
name's sake is why He does things, and does all things well. I shall
not want for rest, I shall not want for peace, I shall not want
for redemption and forgiveness, and I shall not want for guidance,
and I shall not want for companionship and comfort, even in the most
trying of times. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." What
a great word. Thou art with me always, forever,
never leaving us. That valley of the shadow of
death, it has many meanings in the scripture. It can mean, of
course, the fact that we walk We walk in this world, we walk
through this valley, and everywhere you look, every living thing
you look upon, Nara, is a thing that's going to die. the strongest
things, the most enduring things, the toughest of men, the biggest
of trees, the mightiest of animals, the tiniest of microbes. Death
is all over this creation. There is just a stamp of death
on everything. As Adam was told, he says, in
dying In living, in this dying, you will die. You will die in this. In Adam,
the scriptures say, all die. What a great word. We are walking. We are walking through this valley. It's not our home. It's not our
place where we take rest. It's not a place for us to set
the foundation of what matters and the only thing that matters
to us is our soul's well-being. It's no place to set down roots. There is no foundation here to
build on. But also it's good to note that
it's a shadow. It's a shadow of death. Christ
has removed the substance of death. He's overcome and defeated
death. It's that last enemy that is
defeated and he's defeated the sting of death. He's honoured
God's law. He's honoured God's law and taken
it away from his people. He's tasted death for me. He's defeated it. He's triumphed
over it. And it wasn't a harsh word
that he said to Mary and Martha. It wasn't a harsh word. It was
a word of love and a word of comfort, wasn't it, in John 11. He that believeth in me will
never die. Never die. Obviously that doesn't
mean things to do with our bodies. But death for a believer. is a glorious transition, a glorious
transformation from this world into another world. In the twinkling
of an eye it will be more glorious than we can possibly imagine.
This body of flesh can't cope with how remarkable it is to
be in the presence of God. This mind in this body of flesh
cannot comprehend, cannot cope. God has to make a new creation
to be able to bear the weight of glory and wonder in the presence
of God. It's not a cruel thing to take
away this. It's a glorious thing to take
it away and to bring something anew which is destined for even
more extraordinary glory when He comes back again. And we'll
have a new body, but a new body equipped by God. to be able to
cope with the weight of the glory of the holiness of the living
God. We will be in the presence of
the living God. To live in the presence of holiness
requires a holiness which only He can give. The death is just
a shadow. How often have you been frightened,
especially young ones, being frightened of a shadow that looks
scary, a shadow of someone or something that frightens us.
Shadows can't hurt us. The other wonderful thing about
shadows is that you cannot have a shadow without there being
a source of light. Thank God for the light. There
is a light. I will fear no evil. He doesn't say that there will
be no evil. There's plenty of evil around
us. There's plenty of evil, sadly, plenty of evil within us. But we have no need to fear it. And the reason is not because
of something that we do or how strong we are. It's because He
is with me. I don't need to be afraid of
the shadows. I don't need to fear the evil
activities, the evil one, or evil people, or evil events. I don't have to fear them, because
He is with me. A thousand may fall at thy right
hand, and ten thousand at thy left hand, but it shall not come
nigh unto thee." It won't come to touch you. I love that picture
of Hezekiah and those Israelites inside of Jerusalem
and this mighty army outside, Sennacherib's mighty army and
they're mocking God and saying, here you are, you're trapped
like a bird in a cage, we can pounce on you at any time we
like. What happened that night? What did the people of God do?
Hezekiah laid out his situation before God and one angel One
angel of God killed 185,000 of those Assyrian soldiers outside
that night. A thousand may fall at their
right hand and 10,000 at their left, but it shall not come nearer
to you. But also this valley of the shadow
of death is a reference to the sufferings of God's people. In Psalm 107 verse 14, He brought
them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their
bands asunder. God's children in this world
will be taken through situations and into situations where it
will seem like the valley of the shadow of death. You think
of that dark valley that those disciples were led into that
night that the Lord Jesus was arrested. And yet He said to them that
evening, Don't, do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not let your hearts be troubled.
I'm going away. I'm going away and you'll be
deeply troubled. But I'm going away for a purpose.
I'm going to the cross to prepare a place for you. And I'll come
back. I'm coming back to take you to
be with me. See, God took those disciples,
as he does us, through times of great trials and suffering,
that we might be a blessing to others. What a wonderful thing
it is to be counted worthy of Almighty God. worthy to suffer
for His name's sake, for the sake of His glory, for the sake
of the souls of His people. It's a remarkable thing, isn't
it, that God will take the best of His saints, and all of His
saints, and He'll take them through times of deep and dark trials. I often think of John Bunyan
He had a blind daughter called Anne. I don't know if you've
ever read the story. But Anne was blind and she used
to be led to the prison. And she could go when the mother
couldn't go because as a small blind girl, the authorities looked
on her with kindness. And there she was with her little
fellow, her brother, small brother, guided her to the prison. And
John Bunyan was in prison. for preaching the Gospel, and
the prison in a sense had an open door. He could walk out
that door on the basis of one thing, just like the martyrs
in years gone by. They could walk out as long as
he was prepared not to preach the Gospel. as long as he was
prepared to compromise and not preach the gospel and deny his
saving if he go out. And in the jail he was a tinker
by trade, in the jail to try and support his family he used
to make shoelaces. Imagine making shoelaces to make
money so this blind girl would come and she'd bring some of
the makings in and she'd take away the shoelaces and she and
this little boy would sell the shoelaces around the town and
they'd walk miles and miles and miles on their way home. And
John Bunyan said of his daughters going at those times, he said,
it was like pulling flesh from my bones. to be parted from those
he loved, because of the gospel of the Lord Jesus, was like tearing
flesh from his bones. And yet, in that dungeon, in
that jail, He produced those remarkable works that have been
the source of amazing blessing, Pilgrim's Progress. Just remarkable
blessing for the last 400 years to the Church of God. He was
in there, I think, for 11 years for the sake of the Gospel. God may count us worthy. It will seem like a valley of
the shadow of death. It will seem like darkness and
trouble. But God will bring out of it
great glory for himself, great good for his people, great esteem
to his holy name. Who won the victory? The jailers
or John Bunyan? Do we know anything? these days
in our consciousness of what those people, those Anglicans
and others did at that time in the Roman Catholics. But we know
of John Bunyan and we followed Pilgrim along his journey. And
he does it. He does this. He leads us and
we walk through this valley with him. And then thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me." The rod and the staff are the shepherd's
tools. Shepherd's tools for correction,
for chastisement as they're commonly viewed. But in the scriptures
and in those times they were a means of numbering the sheep. The sheep are called the rod
of his inheritance. He numbered them. As they came
back into the fold at night, they held the rod out there and
they could number them and they could examine them and they could
correct them. They are symbols. They are symbols
of his sovereignty, his direction. They are the means of his defense
of his sheep. He knows the flock. He guides
the flock, He rules the flock, He defends the flock, He directs
the flock. And many of us have been directed
by Him and at times it doesn't feel comforting. that when His
correction has done its work in our lives and we have wandered
down a path and He's brought us back to Himself, we actually
look back and we say, thank you so much. Thank you so much for
letting me wander this far but not further. He's such a good
shepherd. He won't take His sheep to the
very edge of the cliff. He'll keep them back. He guides
them. He comforts them. There are two things that are
needful for us always, aren't there? One is to be called out
from error and compromise and hypocrisy in the things of God. And the other thing is to be
kept in the truth. His rod and his staff, they comfort
me. I shall not want for comfort,
I shall not want for correction, I shall not want for companionship,
I shall not want for restoration and guidance, I shall not want
for rest. And then this remarkable one,
I shall not want for provisions even in the presence of my enemies. Thou preparest a table for me
in the midst of my enemies. The Shepherd provides all of
our needs and we aren't without enemies. We don't wish to create
them. We wish to pray for them. We
wish to treat them mercifully. But we are told in the scriptures
again and again that we will be treated like our Lord Jesus.
Was he ever anything other than gracious and truthful and caring? And yet he was treated as an
enemy. We also have enemies, don't we?
The enemies of the world and the flesh. and the devil, but
in their presence he sets a table. The children of Israel spoke
against God and they said to him in Psalm 78, Can you furnish
a table in the wilderness? Can you feed your people? Can
you establish a feast here? Listen to what God says. Behold,
he smote the rock. This is Psalm 78 verse 20. Behold, he smote the rock that
waters gushed out and the streams overflowed. He can furnish a
table in the wilderness. And then they asked, can he give
bread also? Can he provide flesh for his
people? Therefore the Lord heard this
and was wrath. He will furnish a table for his
people in the presence of his enemies. They believed not God nor trusted
in His salvation. So He showed them He can furnish
a table in the midst of His enemies. He provides a feast for His people
while His enemies are around and oppose Him. Have we had a
Gospel feast because of the work of our enemies? How many things
have we been led to discover about the graciousness of God,
about the beauties of the Eternal Covenant, about the amazing work
of the Lord Jesus on the cross? It's been discovered to many
of us because of the opposition. Again and again, He says in 1
Corinthians 11, there must be heresies amongst you that those
who are true can be revealed. How often have you been challenged
about the doctrines of sovereign grace and yet found that there
was a feast of grace in God's dealings and response? We won't want for provisions.
God prepares a table in the presence of the enemies. Thou anointest
my head with oil, and my cup runneth over." There was a beautiful
greeting they had in the East in those days, and visitors were
welcomed with a fragrant perfume, and they were given a cup of
choice wine. And as the host poured the wine
into the cup, he purposefully made the cup overflow. and it
was to show firstly in the anointing the love and respect and secondly
to show that while they were there in his house there would
be an abundance of all provisions. The Holy Spirit of course is
often the oil of gladness, the joy of the Holy Spirit. Let thy
head lack no anointment. He anoints our heads with oil
and our cup runs over, runs over again and again. What a cup,
what a cup of grace. He gives grace upon grace upon
grace. He lavishes grace upon us. as John 1.16 says, we have received
grace upon grace upon grace. As you look back on this year
that's been, think of the Lord's provision and protection. Think of who the Lord Jesus is
for us now. My Redeemer, my Shepherd, my
sin bearer, the one who is my righteousness before God. He
has brought us into his presence. We have fellowship with God. Our inheritance is secure. It's unchallenged by the things
of this world. I shall not want for anything
in this life or in the next to come Look at this last way, this
beautiful psalm finishes. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. We read that, Psalm 27 this morning. What was David's great desire?
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life, and behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his
temple. Goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life. Believers, look back on your
life and you'll see that goodness and mercy has followed you in
the most remarkable ways. If you have been brought to a
place of trust in the Lord Jesus, if He has come and taken up residence
in you, all the days of our lives, no matter what they were prior
to conversion and what they are after conversion, all of them,
All of them are just evidences of His goodness and mercy. They'll
follow me all the days of my life. If I live in perfect holiness
and purity for the rest of my days, and it cannot happen, I'll
be no more fit for heaven than I am right now. We're no more
fit for heaven by anything that we do. We're fit for heaven because
of Him. What a great promise. I will
dwell. I won't lack anything. God's
children don't lack for rest. They won't lack for peace. They
won't lack... for restoration, for guidance. They won't lack for companionship
and comfort. They won't lack for provision
in the midst of the enemies. They won't lack for being anointed.
They won't lack for goodness and mercy to follow them. They
won't lack God's presence with them. When peace like a river
attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever
my lot, thou hast taught me to say. It is well, it is well with
my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trial should come, let this blessed assurance control. My shepherd
has regarded my helpless estate and has shared his own blood
for myself. Amen.