I please God to bless us this
evening as we consider further the 23rd psalm. We'll just read the psalm again.
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 for ever. How blessed we are to have the
Word of God, how blessed we are to have the words of God and
the expressions that God ordained should be recorded for our strengthening
and for our encouragement. And to know that the words which
are written were all written by godly men, and they were not
written by the imagination of their own heart. They were, they
wrote as the Spirit of God breathed into them, such words to write. And we are thankful, therefore,
to realise that David, that man of God, that one who was wonderfully
blessed and knew the wonderful mercy and forgiveness of Almighty
God, and was able to write so many great truths, to know that
he was able to make such a statement as this, the Lord is my shepherd. how clearly he knew what it was
as a shepherd. He knew what it was to look after
sheep. He knew how they needed to be
taken care of, how they needed to be guided and directed, how
they were perhaps unable to seek suitable pasture or food for
themselves. And yet the shepherd was able
to guide and direct them and to stand by them and to strengthen
them and deliver them from the enemies with the rods and the
staff that the shepherd possessed. And so he was able to give this
picture we have before us today of the heavenly shepherd, knowing
from experience what it was to be a natural shepherd. And in the third verse, we come
down to these words, for his name's sake. We should always
realise that God leads us in those right paths, those good
paths, for his name's sake, so that he may receive praise, thanksgiving
and glory for that which he has done, for his leading and his
direction and his restoring, that our souls may rejoice to
realise that we have such a God and therefore to truly thank
Him. Perhaps one of the biggest omissions
in our lives today is thankfulness to our God. How often perhaps
we pray at the beginning of a day for God's help and direction.
As we come to the end of the day do we always then pray thankfully
for God who has heard and answered our prayers, has not left us,
has not forsaken us, but granted us favors and help. It is so
important to be thankful and to be able to praise God. He
is worthy to be praised, is he not? May we therefore be continually
concerned to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. Well, David, comes on and tells
us, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil. Now clearly, in his natural life,
David had walked through valleys of the shadow of death, especially
when Saul sought his life and how God had delivered him, and
surely it was through that natural experience that he was able to
come and confirm that although this would occur, he would fear
no evil. And surely as God is gracious
to us in our little lives, and helps us, and perhaps delivers
us through difficult situations, does not forsake us, we're able
to come in light manner and say humbly and yet truthfully, I
will fear no evil. I often think it's wonderful
that the saints of God, in the Word of God, were honest in the
things recorded of them. And there was not that mock humility
at all in their expressions. There was that honesty, acknowledging
that the Lord was with them and therefore because of that they
were able to say, as David was here, I will fear no evil. Not because of his own strength. Why? Because the Lord was his
shepherd. And as a natural shepherd watches
over the sheep, so he was able to realize and to know that God
was watching over him, and that he would, therefore, although
he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, he would
fear no evil. You know, we read, we mentioned
this morning, the case of Goliath and David. It's a very familiar
account, is it not? But if you just stop and just
ponder, David's confidence was in his God, and in fact, He was
walking through the valley of the shadow of death, because
there was that great giant before him, and there he was as a mere
youth, with just a sling and some stones. And what did he
do? He went in the strength of the
Lord God. And therefore, on that occasion,
how true it was, he was able to declare with fear, no evil. He had that confidence in his
God that he would deliver him. He'd had the experience of God
delivering him from the lion and the bear, and therefore he
went in the strength of God, fearing no evil, believing that
God would be with him and deliver him. And so it came to pass. It's a great blessing for us
today to be blessed with true faith, not in ourselves, but
by casting all our care upon him, believing that he cares
for us. And he cares for us as our shepherd. Therefore he's watching over
us, and therefore he's guiding us. He guided David. He guided
that stone, didn't he? He left the sling and God directed
it into the temple on the forehead of Goliath. Well, what a blessing
it is to know that today we still come before the same God. This God who does not change.
Is that not a strength? Is that not a comfort to us?
We may change, God does not change. God is the same yesterday, today
and forever. And so, yea, thou walk to the
valley of the shadow of death. We may perhaps fear some things,
fear perhaps of this shadow of death. And yet as we look out
of ourselves to realise that if God is with us, who can be
against us? To be able to say from our heart,
and that again not in anything that we can do, but because what
God has done, I will fear no evil. And he said that because
the Lord was his shepherd and also because he had that confidence
and was able to say, for thou art with me. Now tonight, God is either with
us or he is not with us. And that's a very solemn consideration,
but yet a very blessed consideration if We do have the evidence that
God is with us, for thou art with me. And David had the experience,
as we mentioned this morning, of God leading and directing
him, and blessing him, and helping him, so that he had got the evidence
that God was with him. And therefore he wasn't going
to deny fact the Lord had been with him, and he was therefore
able to say, for thou art with me. Now the truth is, surely
if God has blessed us with spiritual life, it is because God is with
us. It's because God has loved us. It's because God has had mercy
upon us. It's because God is our shepherd,
and therefore surely this follows, for thou art with me. For thou
art with me. Well, tonight, may we know the
blessing and comfort and assurance that the Lord is with us. You
see, if God has been with us, and again, let's just cast our
minds back in our little lives. And has there been an occasion
when God has been with us? Do we look at our lives and trace
back a time when God was with us? What had he done? He showed us ourselves. We didn't
want to see a view of ourselves. We didn't want to believe we
were so bad. but He graciously showed us our
need of a Saviour and then directed us to the all-sufficiency of
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And did He not give us faith
to believe in His name? Was God not with us on such occasions? And if that was so, then can
we not believe the truth of these words? For thou art with me. The word of God is written for
our comfort, for our instruction. We have these great words of
truth set before us, so that we may have faith to lay hold
of them. and be blessed for the faith
to be able to come alongside David. You know, what does it
do? Well, I'm sure it doesn't bring
honour and glory to ourselves because we are failures. But does it not bring honour
and glory to God for his great work, for his love and for his
mercy toward us? Does it not bring us, therefore,
to a statement like this, that we read in this verse, yea, thy
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me. See, if God wasn't with us, we
hadn't got the evidence that God was with us, then we have
reason to fear, to fear evil. Indeed, to fear what might come
upon us. and indeed a fear of what would happen to us at the
end of our life. A fear that we would end up in
eternal hell. But if God has looked upon us,
if God has loved us with everlasting love, surely we can come alongside
David humbly and say, I will fear no evil, for thou art with
me." And you know, then there was this further evidence which
gave further confidence when he said, thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. You know, the rod, of course,
is what we commonly know as the shepherd's crook, and how the
shepherd It uses that crook sometimes to recover lambs which may have
strayed away. And in any event, that crook
is used often to count the sheep. And there is that expression
that they pass under the rod. And if they pass under the rod,
what are they doing? They're passing into the sheepfold. They're passing into the sheepfold.
We read about that this morning in the 10th of John. And therefore,
you see, he tells us this was a comfort to him, as he realized
the heavenly shepherd had this rod that he passed under into
the sheepfold, and therefore the evidence that he was one
of the children of God. And not only this, but he also
said, and thy staff, You know that signifies the strength,
the strength of the shepherd. The shepherd leaned on that staff,
and what a help it was. And so, you and I have been found
leaning upon Christ, leaning upon Him. We read in the Song of Solomon,
the eighth chapter, who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved? What a staff is Christ, what
a strength is Christ. And surely then this word must
be true, must it not? And thy staff, this rod and the
staff, they comfort me. As we pass on through life, and
life is never easy, never has been, never will be. We need
day by day such encouragements and such faith to look out of
ourselves to the great work of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. And so we have these evidences
why he should not and why we should fear no evil, because
God is with us and because we have the evidence of his rod
and the staff which are a comfort to us. And then he goes on and
he tells us, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies. The fact is that our enemies,
the enemy the devil, is all about us. Endeavouring to stop us partaking
of heavenly food. But the devil will not be able
to do so. The Lord has said, and David
tells us, thou, meaning the Lord, preparest a table before me in
the presence of mine enemies. And that table, of course, is
a table that provides food, food for our souls. And what is that
food for our souls prepared by Almighty God Himself? Surely
it is the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has prepared it and
as we may receive grace to observe what the blessed Saviour passed
through. Now, of course, David in his
life lived before the death of the Saviour on this earth, but
he had faith to look forward to that day, that day when the
Messiah would come. Remembering what he spoke in
the 22nd Psalm when he said, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring." See that was a wonderful prophecy
regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. And God had given David this
insight as he was able to write these great words of truth which
direct us so clearly to the words of the Saviour. When he was in
the Garden of Gethsemane, when he was on Calvary's cross, thou
preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies."
Now, we are surrounded with the enemy of our souls. And continually, the enemy of
our souls endeavors to distract us from the things of God. The enemy of our souls will do
everything to distract us. turn us away from our meditation,
perhaps in our times of prayer. And yet we have this very wonderful
truth. The Lord prepares a table before
us in the presence of our enemies. Although perhaps we may have
the opposition of the devil against us time and again, He will not
be able to cause us to not partake of the heavenly food the Lord
Jesus Christ has prepared for us, this table. Thou prepares
the table before me in the presence of my enemies. And it's a wonderful
blessing to know that the Lord comes sometimes gloriously, sovereignly,
and the devil is not allowed then to interrupt such spiritual
times of feeding. When we feed upon Christ, we
feed upon his death, how reassuring it is, how rehabilitating it
is really to our soul, how strengthening it is to us to realise that this
great and glorious God condescended to die upon Calvary's cross,
so that we might possess the wonderful gift of eternal life. Now the Lord comes and he prepares
his table. The devil can't stop that. He
tries to. He cannot stop it. He is successful
very often in turning us away, but when the Lord comes, when
the Lord does prepare the table, when the Lord does, then you
see it is a time of blessing, and David gives us the testimony
and the truth of these words. When that occurs, he says, Thou
anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. What does it
indicate to us? It indicates that when the Lord
comes and when God prepares the table, it's not something that
you and I can do ourselves. because it would not satisfy. But when God comes and prepares
the table, and then by faith we partake of Christ, well, what
is it? It's food for the soul. Our soul
is strengthened. Our soul rejoices. We find praise in our hearts
unto our God for that which he has done. for that which is caused
to come to pass. And because of the evidences
that we have, that we've gone through in these earlier verses,
that the Lord has called us, the Lord has blessed us, we can
then believe that as we partake of this spiritual food, it is
because we are one of those whom the Lord loves. And that's why
he prepares this table before us. And that's why then our head
is anointed with oil and our cup runs over. It runs over at
the goodness of God. Because we recognize how unworthy
we are of any blessing. Why should God look upon us? Why should God touch our hearts? Why should God reveal himself
unto us as he does not unto the world? Does this not produce an overflowing
in our hearts? And we have to come and say,
on such love my soul still ponder, love so great, so rich, so free,
so he was lost in holy wonder, Why, O God, such love to me? Hallelujah. Grace shall reign
eternally. Our cup runs over. And as we realize the favor of
God, and what is it? The Lord is my shepherd. The
Lord brings us into these places, he brings us into His banqueting
house and the banner over us is love. See what a mercy it
is to have our heart touched with love, the love of Christ. Not that we loved God, but that
He loved us. That's what produces the effect
when we realise that it was God's love first to us, He saw us ruined
in the fall, and yet loved us not, withstanding all." Well,
this table is prepared. Yes, in the presence of our enemies. Yes, and the devil can't stop
us partaking of this heavenly food. We've read that account,
have we not? In the 78th Psalm of Israel,
passing through the wilderness. And you know, they were provided,
were they not, with that heavenly food, that manna, angel's food,
day by day. It was sufficient. Yes, the devil
continued to harass them in the wilderness and to tempt them
greatly and often turn them aside. But the manna still fell. The Lord still prepared a table
for them in the wilderness He didn't forget them, He didn't
cast them off. Perhaps that's the same in our
lives, as we see the Lord's love, the Lord's mercy toward us in
preparing a table, a table to partake of heavenly food, and
heavenly food is of course Christ and Him crucified. One of the
very clear signs of being born again in the Spirit of God is
that we're never weary of hearing of Christ crucified. And if you're weary or turn away
from it, then there's little evidence that you possess the
life of God in your soul. But you see, at the death of
Christ, is precious to you because of what he did and what he suffered
on your behalf so that you have an interest in that death. And
therefore, as we come tonight around the table of remembrance,
what is it? It's to remember him. This doing
remembrance of me and to remember that he has and does prepare
a table before us. to partake of this spiritual
food. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over." Now with this experience that David has
been able to set before us, he then comes to this concluding
verse and tells us, surely, With the evidence of this, surely, goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life." Well, that's true, is it not?
The Spirit of God comes into our hearts. Does it not encourage
us to be able to come and say, yes, well, the Lord has been
gracious to me in these ways that the Lord has directed us
to and as David has spelt them out and we've recognized the
truth of those words and how we've come alongside and rejoiced
in it. Now with that evidence, the evidence
of this, David therefore had that confidence and he could
not deny such a great truth. And I believe as the Lord gives
us grace to understand the way the Lord has led us, the way
the Lord has graciously blessed us, the way that the Lord has
revealed himself unto us. We must really come and join
with David and say, therefore. Often we read in the word of
God, don't we? Therefore. And we could say here, therefore,
surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life. He doesn't say, well, now this
may occur perhaps when I'm doing that which is right, no. God's
goodness and mercy is toward us every day of our life. And what an unmistakable blessing
that is. And how undeserving we are for
such a favour. And yet it spells out to us the
greatness of God. And it spells out to us the sovereignty
of God. And it spells out to us the election
of God. It spells out to us that once
in Him, in Him forever, we cannot lose our salvation. No, we cannot
lose that work of grace in our hearts, because it is the Spirit's
work. And because it's the Spirit's
work, it emanates from God, and therefore it is an eternal blessing. We're able to come and gather
together here and say, surely goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life, up to the present moment of time.
Have we enjoyed goodness and mercy? You know, if we are the
children of God, without any doubt, we have been blessed with
the Lord's goodness and mercy toward us. Having obtained help
of God, we continue unto this day. And that's true. We only continue because of the
help of God. We only continue because of the
help of God, because the Lord is my shepherd. Surely then,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Really,
speaking like this, it cannot be otherwise, can it? It cannot
really be otherwise. Because with these wonderful
evidences of God's mercy and blessing, surely, we can join
and say, surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, whether they're long and many or few. to have this confidence. And
what is it? Well, it's a God-honoring confidence,
isn't it? It's a confidence in God because
of what He's done. Because of His mercy toward us.
Because of His love toward us. Yes, it's what He's done for
us. And so, we have to come and say, surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life. And it goes on. And
he concludes with these words, and I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Well, they are powerful words,
aren't they? They're strong words. They're
words of assurance. But they're the words of God.
And they are, I believe, the words which God's people are
able to say confidently, not because of their own ability
and the wonderful things they've done and said, no, but because
of what God has done for them. And we cannot deny what God has
done for us. And if God has indeed, done things
for us, in blessing our soul, revealing ourself to ourselves
in some measure, and revealing Christ to us as our great and
glorious Saviour, who died in that Sinaitonian death upon Calvary's
cross, can we not humbly say, and I, oh, how wonderful to be
able to say, and I, will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever. The Word of God is personal,
isn't it? Here we have the expression of David. But this expression
of David is not limited to David. It's that which the whole Church
of God, by His grace, by His favour, are able to come and
to declare as they walk out the path that David sets before us
here in this psalm to realize that by the grace of God I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. To think of that eternal
habitation, that inheritance which is undefiled that inheritance
which is reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power
of God, through grace unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Oh yes, the house of the Lord
forever, it's a wonderful prospect to the Church of God. May it
be a wonderful prospect to each one of us, not to dwell upon
the earth forever, Some people want to dwell upon the earth
forever. This is their home. They don't
want to leave it. But as God gives us grace to
look forward to our eternal home, that home which the Lord says,
I go to repair a place for you. And if I go to repair a place
for you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself,
that where I am there, ye may be also. Now with such great
and glorious truths, can we not say, I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever? Or may we be found looking forward
to such a day? May it not be a morbid thought. Many people think such thoughts
are very morbid. and actually perhaps some thoughts,
such thoughts are very glorious because here we have no continuing
city but we seek one to come. Now that's a true word but it's
a separating word because it separates those who are lost
and those who are saved. It may be amongst those indeed
who are saved, who are seeking that heavenly city, yes, where
the Saviour lives, and where the saints join together in everlasting
praises unto their God, who has redeemed them from all their
sins, who's died on their behalf, who's carried away their sins,
washed them away in His precious blood, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. And it's only because of what
Christ has done for us. We cannot merit it ourselves.
We cannot say, well, I'm worthy, because we're not worthy. But
he is worthy of all praise and all adoration. And so as we journey
on through this year, And for the remainder of our lives, may
we have this comfort and this consolation to realize that by
the grace of God, the Lord, the almighty God is our shepherd. And because of that, we shall
not want, we may want perhaps in certain things, in material
things, but you know, if the Lord is our shepherd in spiritual
things, we will not want eternally. We may not perhaps always receive
what we think we want and what we need, but the Lord will provide
all his goodness. He will make all his goodness
to pass before us in the way. We shall receive that which is
necessary, and may we therefore look forward to that time when
we will be joined together with all the saints in glory, and
this word will be fulfilled, and I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Amen.