I was reading your bulletin here
a few minutes ago and something that David put in here caught
my eye. Talking about preaching the Gospel.
He said, I both shudder and rejoice that God has allowed me to preach
the Gospel of His redeeming grace in Christ. Two weeks ago, I preached down
at Kingsport for those folks down there and I told Debbie,
before the message, I said, there's never a time that I'm scheduled
to preach that I don't wish it was someone else. And I think
anyone who's ever preached the gospel would understand that. But it is an honor to be here.
Your pastor is a become a dear, dear friend over the years. He
and I talk fairly often, not as often as we should, but life
sometimes gets in the way and we forget to do the important
things. But I thank the Lord for him.
I want you to turn with me today to probably the most quoted The
most familiar text in all of scriptures, quoted so many times
at funerals and other times, I think you know what I'm talking
about, Psalm, the 23rd chapter, the 23rd Psalm. I brought this message to our
folks Tuesday night, this past Tuesday night at our midweek
service, and many of them told me it was a blessing to them,
and I thought, well, perhaps the Lord will make it a blessing
to the saints in Madisonville. And I hope He will do just that.
I've titled this message, the only thing I could title it,
The Lord is My Shepherd. Let's read this chapter together. 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." Now, David
knew something when he wrote these words about being a shepherd. about tending a herd of sheep. In 1 Samuel 17, when he's speaking
to King Saul before he goes out to slay Goliath, David recounts
how he, quote, thy servant kept his father's sheep. The sheep
that David kept were not his. He had only been given charge
over them. They belonged to his father. Does that sound familiar? It
should. But because David had been given
responsibility to keep his father's sheep, he goes on to recount
two instances where he risked his life for
those sheep. Now what did Christ tell his
disciples that constituted a good shepherd? The good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. Whatever sacrifice is necessary
to keep that flock of sheep safe, that good shepherd is more than
willing to make that sacrifice. And David described how one instance
a bear came and another a lion came and took a sheep out of
the flock and David pursued after that beast and both times slew
it. Now David may have been a youth,
but apparently he was a pretty tough youth. Go up against a
lion or a bear even with a rifle is one thing, but he said that
he grabbed him by the beard and slew him. And I'm sure it's kind
of like when Samson did what he did. The Lord was with David
when he slew these beasts. But he brought back that sheep
that these beasts had taken unharmed back to the flock. And Christ
told us this, and this is the Father's will which has sent
me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. So David opens
his psalm with the words, the Lord is my shepherd. And when he wrote that, he was
delighting in the fact that the sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient
God was his shepherd. And it was a responsibility of
this God to keep him safe from all harm, which might come his
way. Not only that, but the next line
of the verse, verse one, he puts forth the assurance that there
is nothing that he will need in this life or that life which
is to come that will not be provided to him by his great shepherd. So he writes, I shall not want. I shall not lack for anything.
David wrote in Psalm 37, 25, a verse we're familiar with.
I have been young, and now am old. Yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. I shall not want. Then verse 2, it says, He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures, not dried up fields like we've
had this past summer around us because of the drought. No, he
makes them to lie down in green, lush pastures. Now, sheep eat
many foods. They can satisfy their nutritional
needs with many foods, but their preferred food is pasture grass. And sheep, like cows, are ruminants. That's just a fancy word that
means that they have two stomachs, two digestive systems. And they
regurgitate their food as cud, chew on it some more, and then
send it back to their digestive system to get the full nourishment
out of what they consume. And as I thought about that,
looking at the similarities between actual sheep and God's sheep,
I thought, how many times does that occur with us? How many
times have you heard a message, just a delightful message, or
read a scripture, and a day or two later, maybe a week or two
later, you bring that thought back up in your mind, regurgitate,
for lack of a better word, that thought in your mind and you
chew on it a little bit more and get the full spiritual nourishment
out of that message or out of that scripture. And newborn baby
lambs get their nutrition from their mother's milk. After a
few weeks of life, they transition to other foods. And this also
reminded me of what Peter said in 1 Peter 2, 2, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby."
Now as believers mature, we move on to the meat of the Word that
we can feast on if we're able to grow in grace and better able
to understand and digest God's Word. And the fact that these
sheep are lying down in these green pastures means that they
are at rest. under the loving protection of
the shepherd. And verse 2 continues, he leadeth
me beside the still waters. Now, from what I understand,
the nose and mouth of a sheep does not allow them to drink
from anything but a tranquil, still water source. And a good
shepherd never leads his sheep near any kind of roaring river
where they might slip in and fall and be swept away. A good
shepherd is always mindful of the safety and security of His
sheep, never leading them into peril. And so it is with our
Lord and Savior, the path that He leads us on throughout our
life, both before we know Him and after we come to faith in
Christ, is always one of peace and tranquility, even when it
seems otherwise. He never leads us into turmoil
or unrest. The Scriptures speak over and
over and over again of the peace that is enjoyed by God's saints.
And that doesn't mean that life is always sweet and peaceful. It means that we enjoy a peace
of mind that all is well. No matter what we go through,
no matter what our Lord sends our way, we have the peace of
knowing that He does it for our good and His glory. He restoreth
my soul. Now, this word restore means
to put back into a former state or condition. Now, our God restored
our soul to the condition it was before Adam's fall, a condition
of innocence and perfection. And this ETH at the end of this
word in the King James Bible, when you see that, it means it's
a constant ongoing process. He restoreth my soul. He daily refreshes our souls
with His grace and His goodness. What does Proverbs 3.22 tell
us? It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. And
as He fed Israel with manna every morning when they were in the
wilderness, so does He feed His sheep with new mercies and new
goodness every morning of our life. He heaps on us abundant
blessings every single day. And then verse 3 continues, He
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. Now one of
the meanings of this word path, I like this, it says track a
road. specifically constructed for a particular use. Now what
a good description of the way our God leads us, leads His dear
sheep on the way we must go all the days of our lives. He leads
us down that path that will eventually lead us to the feet of Christ.
The path we trod, therefore, throughout our lives is indeed
constructed by our God for a particular purpose. That purpose is to lead
us to Christ. There was an old saying in ancient
Italy. It used to be that all roads
lead to Rome. And likewise, when it comes to
the path that God's elect travel, all roads lead to Christ. We each take a different path.
If I were to ask each of you, how did you come to know the
Gospel? How did you come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
I would pretty much guarantee you that all of us sitting here
would have a little bit different story. Each of us traveled a
different path, but that path led to the same destination,
to the feet of Christ. When Debbie and I went down to
Kingsport two weeks ago, we stopped on the way down. The Cumberland
Gap is about halfway between us and Kingsport. And we've been
by there, I can't tell you how many times. So we left early
on Friday and we said, let's do a little exploring. And I thought about that when
I read this, about this path that our Lord leads us on. We
actually walked the wilderness road that was a path, a little
more than a path, about wide enough for a horse to travel,
that came through the Cumberland Gap and it went on north through
Crab Orchard and Danville and Harrodsburg and a lot of other
cities in our area. And I thought about those early
explorers that came through there. Many of them, for many of them,
that path led to prosperity and the fulfillment of their dreams.
But for many, that path that they tried eventually led to
their death and destruction, entire families annihilated by
the Shawnee. But not so with us. Every path
that our God leads us on, he leads us for his name and his
glory and our good. David also said this in the Psalms,
thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Give me understanding and I shall
keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with
my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of
Thy commandments, for therein do I delight. And as He leads
us in this path of righteousness for His namesake, we're told
that that name, that name for which He leads us for His namesake
is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. God with us. Emmanuel. He leads us to give
all glory and praise to His name for His mercy and His goodness
on which He leads us through this life. Verse 4, David writes,
yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil. We as believers sometimes go
through deep, dark valleys spiritually, emotionally, physically, And
it seems sometimes that the heavens are just shut up, that our prayers
fall to the ground unanswered. We despair sometimes of even
life itself. But it is as the words to that
old hymn, behind the frowning providence, he hides a smiling
face. And notice the wording here,
folks. The place where we sometimes are made to walk is called the
Valley of the Shadow. of death, not actual death, but
the shadow of death. Now a shadow can do no harm. A shadow of a sword cannot kill.
The shadow of a snake cannot bite. A shadow is merely a shape
formed by something blocking the rays of the sun. And so it
is with us, dear saints. It is exactly what happens in
the life of a believer, just something These woes are just
something that temporarily block the light of God's countenance
upon our lives, a shadow of the valley of death. But they disappear soon enough
when he moves us back into the light of his smiling countenance.
But sometimes shadows are not a bad thing. They sometimes give
us relief from the heat. I know many a day in Kentucky,
and you all know this all too well, that sun will just bake
you, but you go into a shadow, you go into the shade, and there
is relief from that weariness. And our God gives us relief in
the shadow of our Savior and reminds us that all of our trials
are but like a shadow. They just, they pass very soon. And he gives us his promise in
Psalm 30. For his anger endureth, but for
a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. These
trials and heartaches that we endure in this life are but a
shadow of grief and will soon pass away. Which is why David
was able to write in the next verse, I will fear no evil. Now, how could he make that statement?
I will fear no evil. That's a pretty broad statement.
Because of what he wrote in Psalm 118, the Lord is on my side.
I will not fear. What can man do unto me? The
Lord is my strength and my song and has become my salvation. I shall not die but live and
declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore,
but He has not giving me over unto death. And he expands further
on this in the next chapter when he writes, There shall no evil
befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling,
for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee
in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up lest
I dash thy foot against a stone, he shall give his angels charge
over thee." Now, we don't really comprehend, I don't think, the
power of angels. When David numbered the people
against God's wishes, if you remember, the Lord sent a single
angel and slew 70,000 men in Israel. And I often think about that.
How would you sleep at night knowing you are the sole one
responsible for the death of 70,000 people? But our Lord taught
David a lesson there. And the angels that went to Sodom
and Gomorrah, the power of angels is beyond our comprehension.
But it should make us glad because He says He'll give His angels
charge over us in this life. And when he says that if no evil
shall befall thee in this life, then it must be believed that
all the trials and heartbreak are not evil, but are good. Otherwise, our God could not
make us such a promise. Then next in verse four, David
gives us the only reason that we need not fear any evil, because
he says, for thou art with me. Numerous times in scriptures,
God gives his people this promise, I will never Leave thee, nor
forsake thee. Never. If you have the presence
of God with you, there is no force in this universe that can
do you harm. And yet, some would protest,
and I can understand how they would. How can you possibly say
that when we read of the martyrs? I don't know if any of you all
have ever read Fox's Book of Martyrs. It's a difficult book
to read. You read of those imprisoned
and tortured for the sake of the gospel. How
can you say that God did not forsake them when they died such
a horrible death? And yet, I can't answer that
question. If I had the mind of God, I could
tell you the answer to that. But I don't. We simply cannot
understand why our God does what He does. But we can rely on His
promises. And He says that He will never
leave us nor forsake us. Now we read all the bad stuff,
the quote-unquote bad stuff that happened to Joseph in his life. But that story doesn't end on
a bad note. We're told the end of that story,
how that ends. How the Pharaoh made Joseph number two in the
land of Egypt and how he saved his brethren from starvation
when there was a famine in the land. We read of Job. in his
trials. And if that story only stopped
halfway through, we would never understand how that God's goodness
gave Job more in the end than he had in the beginning. But
most times, most times, when we endure trials and heartaches
in this life, God does not tell us why He does that. But we simply have to believe
that He does it for His good, in our glory, it's called faith.
It's called believing the promises of God. Now, I've read some accounts
of when saints suffer in the flesh, and they talked about
the presence of God flooding their souls, so that the trials
that they suffer became what Paul described as our light affliction. Every time I read that scripture
to Paul, here's a man whose back was a mass of scar tissue. A
man who spent time in prison, a man who was persecuted constantly. And he called his trials are
light affliction. But I think that he was putting
that in the light of what our Lord suffered in our stead. And
compared to what He suffered, anything we suffer in this life
can be described as a light affliction. John Bunyan, that great preacher
of the 1600s that wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, he spent 12 years in
Bedford Prison, and there wasn't any color TV or air conditioning
back then. He spent 12 years in Bedford
Prison for one simple offense. for preaching the gospel of Christ
and Him crucified. And speaking of this thing of
God being near His saints, Bunyan wrote this, I want to read this
first and then read something else to you. Bunyan wrote, the
parting with my wife and poor children has often been to me
in this place as the pulling of the flesh from my bones. There
was no welfare, there was no food stamps back then. Also because
I should have often brought to mind the many hardships, miseries,
and wants that my poor family was like to meet with, should
I be taken from them, especially my poor blind child Mary, who
lay nearer my heart than all I had besides. Oh, the thoughts
of the hardships my blind one might undergo would break my
heart in pieces. But this same man, also wrote
these words concerning his time in prison. He said, I have never
had in all my life so great an inlet into the word of God as
now, speaking of his time in prison. Those scriptures that
I saw nothing in before were made in this place and state
to shine upon me. Jesus Christ also was never more
real and apparent than now. I have seen him and felt him
indeed. I have had sweet sights of forgiveness
of my sins in this place and of my being with Jesus in another
world. I have seen that here that I
am persuaded I shall never, while in this world, be able to express. reminded me of that hymn, How
Tedious and Tasteless the Hours, which says, and prisons would
palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. I have to
admit to you folks, I have no idea what this man is talking
about. I've had some heartbreaks in
life, nothing compared to what most folks go through. I've led
what I would think is a pretty charmed life. Never had a sick
child. Never had to bury a child. I've
had to bury folks that I've loved, but not gone through nearly what
other folks have. And I believe that what Paul
and Silas experienced in the prison at Philippi after being
beaten, I believe it's similar to this that Bunyan wrote of,
were told that they sat in their chains singing hymns Verse 23
of that 16th chapter of Acts says this, and when they had
laid many stripes upon him, they cast him into prison. Now I don't
know about you, but if I had just been beaten and my back
was a bloody mass of wounds, the last thing I think I'd be
doing probably would be singing hymns, unless the Lord was with
me there. I'd probably be bemoaning my
condition and wondering why the Lord let this happen to me and
hoping somebody had some Neosporin and some bandages. But you can
bet that unless the Lord's presence was with me, I would not be singing
hymns as Paul and Silas did. David then concludes verse 4
with these words, Thy rod and thy staff They comfort me talking
about a shepherd. I like how one writer put it.
He said, the shepherd uses his rod and staff to direct the sheep
where they should go, pushes forward those that are behind,
and fetches back those that go astray. Now back in the days
when shepherds kept large flocks of sheep at night, as night began
to fall, they would lead those sheep to what is called a sheepfold,
so that they could go home at night and sleep in their own
bed. And there was one that kept this sheepfold, and he was called
the porter. The Lord expands on this in John
chapter 10. Now a sheepfold, if you're not
familiar, is a large enclosure. It's made of stone usually, and
walls are seven, eight feet tall. They would put sometimes thorns
and things on the top to keep predators out and to keep thieves
out that would come in and do the sheep harm. But in the morning,
the shepherd would return to that sheepfold, knock on the
door, and the porter, we're told in John 10, would open unto him. And you can bet that that shepherd
wasn't distressed. There's a place near us called
Shaker Town. They have large herds of sheep. And I've spent
a fair amount of time out there walking and things. All these
sheep, other than some are dark and some are white, they all
look the same to me. When he would come and open the
door to that sheepfold, he didn't have any problem getting his
sheep. It says that he would call them by name. Call them by name. And it says
the sheep belonging to other shepherds would not respond to
his voice, only their shepherd's voice. It said, a stranger will
they flee from, because they know not the voice of strangers.
And as the shepherd gathered his sheep out of the sheepfold
as they came out, He would use his staff to tap each sheep gently
to count them to make sure he had them all before he led them
to pasture. This is how he would know that they were all there. He would do this to count them
so that there were none left. And this is why David says, thy
rod and thy staff, they comfort me. This tap assured these sheep
that their shepherd was here, that all was well, and that they
were about to be led to green pastures. There was green pastures spoken
of in verse 2 of our text. Next, in Psalm 23, verse 5, it
says this, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies. Now this table spoken of here
doesn't mean that the Lord sets out a little snack to hold us
over for a few hours. It's speaking of back in the
days of kings when they used to set out massive feasts for
honored guests Tables covered with more food that could possibly
be consumed. And as I thought on this, it
reminded me of the abundant feast of blessings that our God sets
before his saints to be enjoyed by us. Not of material things. They generally only lead men
to destruction. But of those blessings that we
need day to day. Here's a table overflowing with
grace, with mercy, with redemption, with salvation, with sanctification
and redemption. All of which, we're told, are
found in the great storehouse of grace, where all of God's
blessings are found in the Lord Jesus Christ himself, that one
in whom are hid all the treasures of our God. Then David continues,
my head with oil. Now many times in the Old Testament
we read of the act of one being anointed with oil. Now this practice
usually symbolized the setting apart of that person for a holy
purpose. This anointing indicated that
that person was consecrated or set apart by God for a special
purpose, a specific purpose. And in this case, the purpose
of our being made holy through the imputation of the righteousness
of Christ. So when David wrote these words,
that the Lord anointeth my head with oil, he was saying that
God had chosen him in Christ for a special purpose. That Christ
was his Good Shepherd who accomplished his sanctification, his setting
apart, when he shed his blood on David's behalf. And so it
is for every chosen child of God He spiritually anoints our
head with oil, indicating that we are set apart. We are a peculiar
people chosen for a particular purpose. God doesn't do anything
by chance. Everything he does is done on
purpose. Then David declares this, my
cup runneth over. So abundant are the gifts and
blessings of our God. David likens it unto a man pouring
wine into his cup, and he continues to pour, and that cup overflows
onto the table of blessings. Malachi spoke of this in Malachi
3.10, where we read how our God will open the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough
to receive it. Then lastly, verse 6 tells us
this, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life. Now I have to admit, as I was
preparing this message, I puzzled over this text for probably two
or three weeks. I kept thinking, shouldn't this
read, goodness and mercy shall go before me all the days of
my life? Rather than follow us, go before us to clear any obstacles
out of our path. That path spoken of in verse
3 on which our Lord leads us. It occurred to me, the Lord gave
me some insight into this, I feel like, that I thought back, and
you've probably seen it in movies and things, where there's a king,
and he's going wherever he's going, and behind him are royal
attendants, ready to respond immediately to any want or any
need that that king may have. And so it is with the goodness
and mercy of our God, they're our constant companions, our
present help in time of need, constantly on our heels. We, I should say, being born
of royal blood, and by that I mean children of the Most High God,
joint heirs with Christ, we have goodness and mercy following
us. As I said, hot on our heels, every step we take through this
life, both before and after we come to a saving knowledge of
Christ. And as with all gifts of God, this bestowing of His
goodness and mercy are His sovereign choice to give to whom He will. He told Moses in Exodus 33, I
will make all my goodness pass before Thee, and I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before Thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. and will show mercy to whom I
will show mercy. Then David ends his psalm with
the words, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now these last words don't really
need any further explanation. David knew that there was a place
prepared for him in heaven, a place where he would spend eternity
looking upon the face of and praising that one who is altogether
lovely This brought to mind the story of the Queen of Sheba.
Turn over with me to the book of 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 10. 1 Kings chapter 10. When David says, I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever, it brought to mind what the Queen
of Sheba said about Solomon. Let's begin reading in verse
4 of chapter 10 of 1 Kings. And when the Queen of Sheba had
seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,
and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants,
and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers,
and his assent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord,
there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, it
was a true report that I heard of in mine own land of thine
acts and of thy wisdom? Howbeit I believed not the words
until I came, and my eyes have seen it, and behold, the half
was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the thing which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are
thy servants, which stand continually before thee and adhere thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God,
which delighteth in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel,
because the Lord loveth Israel forever. Therefore made he thee
king to do judgment and justice. Now when the Queen, when she
speaks to the glorious Solomon, she says how that she really
couldn't believe that anybody could be quite this glorious. enjoy this much splendor and
enjoy the love of his people this much. But when she finally
saw it with her own eyes, she was completely overwhelmed. She
said there was no spirit left in her. This is not just some
peon. This is a queen that held magnificent,
unimaginable wealth. But compared to Solomon, she
was just breathless. And so it will be, folks, when
we're given the unimaginable privilege of seeing our glorious King of
Kings and Lord of Lords in all His splendor. We will then and
only then realize that our grandest imaginations of the glory of
our Lord and Savior didn't begin to scratch the surface. And we'll
be blessed with dwelling in the presence wisdom and goodness
forever. That's why David closes with
the words, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.