Good morning. Alright, we're
going to be in Psalm 23. Psalm 23 and we'll be looking
at verses 4 through 6. Psalm 23, 4 through 6. We've been looking at Christ
our shepherd because he is the shepherd of his people. So, as
we continue our study in Psalm 23, we see this further worked
out, further shown to us that Christ indeed is our shepherd
all the way from beginning unto the end. I've titled this, The
Certainty of Our Salvation. The Certainty of Our Salvation. And the first point that we're
going to look at is seeing how that Christ is our comfort. Christ
is our comfort. And actually, we'll also see
that the sheep are made to follow Him anywhere. Withersoever the
Lord goeth, we'll follow Him there. And that's because the
Lord he shows himself trustworthy. He's trustworthy. He's worthy
of our trust, and we're made to know that. We're made to see
how faithful and just and kind and perfect and right the Lord
is. All right? So, in verse 4, Psalm
23, 4, the psalmist writes, Yea, though I walk, through the valley of the shadow
of death. If that's where I'm going, through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me, and thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."
Now I'm aware, as you all are, that this psalm is very well
known throughout the world. Many people know Psalm 23, and The reason why is because many
people buy this psalm, look to it, and are comforted in times
of death, whether they themselves are on the doorstep of death
or they know someone that they love and care about who is at
the doorstep of death or has recently passed away. And so,
it's a very well-known psalm because everyone dies. We all come into death. We all pass away in this life. Now, David, depending on when
he wrote this, we don't know exactly when he wrote this, but
certainly he was no stranger to the shadow of death himself,
whether it was early, at the time when he was a shepherd himself,
he had faced lions and bears and come into contact with them
when they would try to steal the sheep, and so he would go
and deliver out of their mouths the sheep that they had taken
from the flock. Or, if this was later, when he
knew the shadow of death, he certainly felt it and understood
the nearness of it when he was hated of Saul, and Saul pursued
him. Saul said he was going to kill
him, and so he fled from the presence of Saul. And then while
he was away from Saul and in mountaintops and valleys, he
knew that Saul was also pursuing him there as well. He knew what
it was to be walking in the shadow of death. But the comfort for
the child of God, our comfort when we consider or look at death,
the comfort for us is that death isn't the goal. Death isn't the
end point for us. It's just a shadow that we pass
through. It can't harm the believer. Just
like if you pass through the shadow of a vicious animal behind
bars, or if you pass through the shadow of a sword, it's not
going to cut you. If you pass through the shadow
of something, it cannot do you any harm. And that's what death
is for the believer. We pass through it. I believe
it was Spurgeon who compared or likened death to a porch of
a house. You pass through the porch, to
enter into the home, to enter into the house. And so that's
what death is to the believer. So what does this mean? If this
is talking about death here, what comfort do we, now sitting
here, who are not necessarily facing death imminently as far
as we know, what comfort does this provide for us here? Well,
David, if you remember, in verse 3 had said, that the Lord leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And so, we see how that's a picture. What the Lord is showing us there
is that our Savior has gone before us. He's the shepherd. He's not
behind us. telling us go that way, go into
the fire, go into the battle that way, but he's the one that
leads us and we understand that to mean that he went before us
into death. He went before us and he laid
down his life and it was for the purpose of putting our old
man to death. It was to crucify the old man,
as we'll see in our next study next hour, but it was also to
put away the sins of his people, to justify us, so that now we
are righteous, and in Christ we are righteous and have fulfilled
all righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, because Christ
has been raised from the dead, He has all power and authority
and makes us to know what he's done for us. He reveals what
he's accomplished in and for us. And previously we didn't
know the way. We didn't believe the way or
trust the way. We didn't know how to come unto
the Father previously, but now we do know the way, because Christ
as our Shepherd, who is our Shepherd, now leads us in the paths of
righteousness. That's what the Lord was saying
in John 14, 4, when He said, Whither I go, ye know. Whither I go, ye know. And what
He was saying is, I'm going to the Father, whom you now know. You know the Father. I'm going
to Him now. You know Him and the way ye know. which is Christ. Christ is the
way unto the Father. He's the path of righteousness
wherein we are led to the Father. He's the one bringing us to the
Father. So, as we pass through death,
we're just passing through unto the Father. That's our comfort.
That's our joy and our peace. And so, Paul, in view of what
Christ had accomplished for us, he exclaimed in Romans 8, he
said in Romans 8 31, What shall we then say to these things?
If Christ has done all this for us, if he's accomplished our
very salvation so that we now have no fear of death, he asks,
if God be for us, who can be against us? Is death going to
prevent us? Is death going to bring an end
to our fellowship in life with the Father? And he says in verse
32, he that spared not his own son, he that spared not his own
darling son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him, Meaning, in addition to Him, freely give us all things.
If He gave us His Son, what is He going to withhold from us?
Absolutely nothing. He'll give us everything and
anything that we need to ensure our salvation, to bring us safely
to the other side, bring us safely to the end. Not that death is
our goal, but to the Father. We'll be in the presence of our
God forever and ever so that Now, by Christ, we are made righteous
through faith in Him and we know what Christ has wrought for us.
He makes us to know that. Paul uses that wording, knowing,
knowing, meaning we've experienced this. By the revelation and the
light of God, he makes us to know this by faith, to understand
it and believe it and to grow in greater knowledge of what
he's provided for us and done for us. That's the growing that
we do is a deeper understanding that Lord, you've done all this
for me. You're so faithful and kind and
generous to me. As we see what sinners we are
and how unworthy we are of His grace and mercy, we're settled
even more so, regardless of what we see in ourselves, we're more
settled because of what Christ has done for us. And so when
Christ fills our heart, the prospect of death, facing that death or
thinking about it one day or even coming into a realization
that we are going to die imminently, that we're going to come into
that. Paul said that the believer can cry out and say, oh death,
where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?
Because the sting of death is sin. And if Christ has put away
our sin and satisfied the Father perfectly, there's no sting to
death. We'll die and pass right on through,
pass through the porch, right into the home, into the arms
of our Savior. That's the joy and the comfort
that we have even now, knowing that in Christ we're raised,
we're raised anew and we are righteous even now, righteous
before the Father. And so the comfort of the people
of God is seen in that we're described as walking. walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, being led in the paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. The hymn is, not a surge of worry,
not a shade of care, not a blast of hurry, touch the spirit there. And that's what we see there.
Yea, though I walk, not hurriedly, not anxiously, not in fear, but
I walk through the valley, through the valley of the shadow of death.
And so, even if Christ, my savior, my shepherd, is pleased as my
shepherd to lead me to the slaughter, to lead me to lay down my life
for the sake of Christ, for his glory, for his gospel, if that's
what he is pleased to do, I'll fear no evil. for thou art with
me. He's with you. He's with you,
believer. He's with you in everything. He's gone before you. He's done
this. And He's provided everything necessary for you to go into
that darkness. Into, well, darkness to our understanding,
but into death. To go into that which in the
flesh we don't understand, but by faith we know. We know that
we're going to the Father. So, we've nothing to fear because
even the accuser of the brethren has nothing more to say to us.
What can he charge us with? Christ has put everything away
and so even the accuser can't turn us away or turn the love
of God that he has for us away from us. It's not going to come
to an end. Christ is everything for us. So whether it's life
or death, the Lord shows us that he's always and why we trust him and believe
him wherever he leads us, because we know he's doing that which
is right for us, that which glorifies his name, and that which shall
bring me to a happy, glorious end in the Lord, because we're
his righteous people. And Paul would also continue
in Romans 8, verse 38, saying, for I am persuaded, I'm persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities and
powers, right? Those forces of darkness that
keep us veiled from the light of God. They're not going to
have any effect on us anymore. Christ has put that away. Nor
things present, nor things to come. nor height nor depth nor
any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so we are Christ's
and Christ is ours and therefore, the psalmist says, I'll fear
no evil for thou art with me. You're with me, Lord, and there's
nothing for me to fear. You know, it's not by accident
that the final words that Matthew records that our Lord said, In
Matthew 28, verse 20, the final words that he says before he
went up to the Father is, Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world. Amen. All right, the Lord said
that. So wherever we go, it's Christ
that leads us, it's Christ that is with us, and we shall be with
him forever in his presence. Now David also writes there at
the end of verse four, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Now the rod and the staff are
two separate tools used by a shepherd to keep his flock, to watch over
his flock. When I used to hear about this,
it was always used to say, well, the Lord will discipline his
sheep. He'll beat those sheep if he has to. He'll keep them
in line. And the rod can be used to help
the sheep know where to go. If they're backing away from
the flock, you could throw back into into the the flock there
but I don't believe that's what David has in mind here when he
says thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. David if you remember
he was He was talking to Saul when he was going to go and fight
Goliath. He was going to go and fight
Goliath and he described his experience with warfare and saying
that when your servant was a shepherd keeping watch over the flocks
in my father's field and caring for his sheep, when a bear or
a lion would come, I would go out and smote him. I would hit
that bear or that lion with the rod. So he said, I smote him,
and if he came back at me, I'd smite him again, is what he said.
And that smiting would be with the rod. It was to defend the
sheep against the enemy. It was to beat them, because
a rod basically had a clubbed end on it. It went out like a
club, and that's what they used, to defend the sheep. So it was
to defend the sheep. And then the staff, it had a
hook, which you can imagine that that's where, sheep don't like
you to get too close to them. They have a personal space that
they like you to respect, you know. But the rod allows the
shepherd to just get in there and just pull the sheep back
by the neck and then put them back in with the fold and keep
them with the flock. And so it was more of a gentle
caring and protection of the sheep. So the rod was more to
defend against the enemy and to beat the enemy, and the staff
was meant to keep the sheep safe and together with the flock of
God. So, I mean, it could be the chastening,
right? Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
but I don't believe that's what David has here in mind when he
says, I ride on my staff, they comfort me. You're protecting
me? and you're keeping me. You're doing everything necessary
for me. Alright, let's move on to the next verse here where
we see the provision of Christ, the provision of our shepherd
for his people. In verse 5, Psalm 23 verse 5,
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. The presence of mine enemies.
Again, thinking of Christ first, we see how He did everything
before us. He leads us. He went before us
and did all these things. He would be invited into Pharisees'
homes, and the Pharisees who judged Him in their heart, who
spoke ill of Him and thought evil of Him, when they would
invite Him, He went there. They were His enemies. in the
hopes that they would hear and believe him. They were his enemies. And then also we know that he
ate the Passover and that first supper that he had with his disciples
in the presence of Judas. Judas was there who betrayed
him. And so he ate with his enemies. And the Lord trusted the Father
in all things. Christ trusted the Father. When
he was here, he leaned on his Father for everything. And that's
what we do for Christ. We lean on Jesus Christ, our
Savior, for all things. We learn to trust Him because
the Lord is, again, He's trustworthy. He's accomplished everything
for us. He's provided everything that we need so that we shall
come into that home. We shall pass through death and
arrive safely in the house that our God and our Savior has prepared
and built for us. The hymn also goes, we may trust
him fully, all for us to do, they who trust him wholly, find
him wholly true. Our Savior is very trustworthy,
so even in the face of our enemies, whatever enemies they are that
we're facing, whether it be the weakness of our flesh, the infirmity
of our flesh, the evil of our flesh, the depravity of it and
its susceptibility to the lusts of this world and the lusts of
the flesh, or it's the mocking of this world that says, why
do you believe in that? Why are you putting your trust
in that? Why are you giving up so much and sacrificing all your
joy and happiness and possessions for that? right, the mocking
world as an enemy, or it's the accuser of the brethren who says,
you're not, you're not worthy. You can't believe that and trust
him. And I mean, it's true, we're not worthy, but we've been made
righteous by Christ and we believe him. We believe him. and all
the face of those enemies, our Lord prepares a table for us,
a feast for us to feast upon the Lord Jesus Christ, where
we have fellowship with him. Turn over to Isaiah 25. Isaiah
25, and look at, we'll start in verse six. Isaiah 25, verse
six. He says, and in this mountain,
and we know, we've been through this before in Isaiah 25 in our
midweek service, but that mountain there is the mountain of our
Savior's salvation for us. It's all the work of salvation
that Christ accomplished for us there, where Christ was crucified. where we died with him and he
put away our sin, we're told that the Lord of hosts shall
make unto all people, that means not just the Jews, but all his
people scattered throughout the world, a feast of fat things,
a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow,
of wines on the lees well refined. That's feasting upon our Savior,
his life. the bread of heaven, his blood,
the wine on the leaves, well refined, and he will destroy
in this mountain, in this work of salvation accomplished for
his saints, the face of the covering cast over all people, and the
veil that is spread over all nations. All right, so that this
gospel light will go forth and reach his people scattered to
the four winds of the earth." Wherever they are, the gospel
will find them and lift that veil or take that veil off so
that they see and behold the light of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. And we behold his glory and power
and wonder so that the powerful enemy is wiped out. That which
kept us and prevented us from knowing the true and living God,
that's been wiped out and removed. he will swallow up death and
victory and the Lord will wipe away tears from off all faces
and the rebuke of his people, right, which comes from the enemies,
the rebuke which shames them and says you can't believe that,
you can't trust that, you've got to work for your salvation,
you've got to earn We know that Christ is our salvation. Christ is our righteousness,
and he's the one that takes away the rebuke off of all his people
across the face of the whole earth, for the Lord hath spoken
it. Not just a man. Not just a man. The Lord says this. Our God has
spoken it. So hear him. Our enemies won't
be able to shame us or rebuke us anymore. we won't be mocked. They'll be the ones that are
mocked in their day of calamity. Now, this feast of Christ's blessings,
all these blessings in him, this is what shuts the mouth of our
enemies against us, that we may feed upon him in the presence
of our enemies, continuing to be without fear, trusting the
Lord, believing him, even though our enemies surround us. All
right, now continuing in verse five, Thou anointest my head
with oil, my cup runneth over. In other words, we're ever kept
by the Holy Spirit. We're ever kept, we're anointed
by and filled with the Holy Spirit so that we now know the things
that we know, which God has freely done for us and given to us in
his Son, Jesus Christ. John wrote in 1 John 2.27, but
the anointing which we have received of him abideth in you." That's
the Holy Spirit. It dwells in you. The Holy Spirit,
Christ, dwells in you. He's ever with us. I'll never
leave you, He said. He's given you His Spirit to
know Him and He keeps you and feeds you and sustains you in
all things. And ye need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye
shall abide in him. And so we know that as the Lord
teaches us, as he ministers this word so that we hear it, And
we know this is the truth of God. We are kept. We are saved
by Christ. It can't be any other way. It
can't be by something we do. This is the life. This is the
life. It's Christ. It's Jesus Christ,
the hope of glory. He keeps us so that we have him
ever abiding in us. We don't depart from him because
he's abiding in us. We don't, there's nowhere else
to go. He has the words of eternal life.
There's nowhere else to turn. for life or to do something more.
And so again, this is all flowing out of what was said in verse
three, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's
sake. This anointing is all part of
his leading us in the paths of righteousness. He's keeping us
so that, in summary there, he feeds us at his table. We fellowship
with him, we feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread from
heaven, so that our eyes are fixed on Christ and not taken
away and worried about the enemies scattered throughout the world,
which is in this man of flesh as well. We're not looking at
the enemies and focusing on them and catering to them. or looking
to Christ and trusting and believing him. And therefore he, or as
it pleases him, he anoints us with his spirit, whereby all
the spiritual blessings that Christ has obtained for his people,
all these spiritual blessings are poured out and wrought in
his people as it pleases him. That's how the veil that's over
us naturally is lifted off and removed. All right, now this
is why David could speak of goodness and mercy. He says in verse six,
Psalm 23, six, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life. and I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever." This is because Christ is working all
things together for our good to bring us. He's preserving
us unto that day. He ensures that we have everything
necessary for that passage from today and every day thereafter
until we come into death. and pass right on through that
into the arms of God our Savior, resting in Him forever. And so
that's why we believe and trust our Savior. He says in John 14,
I'll read two verses, John 14, two and three. He said, in my
Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. Now, that's his promise, that's
his word to you, that are his people. And if that's so, then
like David, we say, surely, surely then, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, knowing that Christ is
the one that keeps me. He did it at the first, he does
it all the way to the end. Surely I have nothing to worry
about or fear. That's how faithful and perfect
the salvation of our Savior is, so that I will, you will, dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. So I pray the Lord would bless
that word to your hearts and comfort you even now, even now,
with the glory and grace of our Savior. Now let me just say,
also, if you're in the back, if you go in the back, definitely
I would encourage you to listen to the next message sometime
this week after it gets posted because I'm really excited about
preaching that message and I think it will be a great help to you. I spent all week, I thought
I was going to have a little bit easier week because I worked
on this message Saturday and then we canceled the one message. But it's been, the Lord was such
a help. I'll tell you more later. But
anyway, so I encourage you though to give it a listen and pray
because I really do believe will be a help. I hope it'll sound
like, yeah, that was easy, I get it. That sounds simple to me,
no problem there. But trust me, it didn't come
easy to me, so I pray the Lord will bless it. Let's pray. You
can cut that out if you go to post it, but all right, let's
pray. Our gracious Lord, thank you, Father, for your graciousness
as our great shepherd your kindness and lord your provision in doing
all things lord help us let this psalm be more than just a psalm
for the world that knows nothing of you that is comforted by the
the most basic thing of their understanding with it. Lord,
let it be for us a greater comfort, a deeper understanding and meaning
of what it means that you are our shepherd and that you provide
all things and care for your people perfectly. It's in Christ's
name that we pray and give thanks. Amen.