Turn with me to the book of Psalms. I want to deal with Psalm 23,
but I want to read some from Psalm 22. We'll just touch here and there
in Psalm 22, but our time will be spent in Psalm 23. In Psalms
22, verse 1, He says, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words of my roaring. Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not. And in the night season, and
I'm not silent. but thou art holy, O thou inhabitants
of the praise of Israel. Now look over to verse 19. Be not thou far from me, O Lord,
O my strength. Haste thee to help me. Deliver
my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dogs. Save
me from the lion's mouth, For thou hast heard me from the horns
of the unicorn. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the congregation, will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise
him. All ye that see to Jacob, glorify
him. And fear him, all ye that see
to Israel. For he hath not despised nor
abhorred the afflictions and the afflicted, neither hid his
face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. Now look
at verse 28. For the kingdom is the Lord,
and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be
fed upon the earth shall eat and worship. All they that go
down to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keep alive
his own soul. A seed shall serve him. It shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come
and shall declare his righteousness unto the people that shall be
born that he has done this. Brother Henry wrote something
that I read, and I include it here in my message. He said,
for years, men have tried to prove when the 23rd Psalm was
written. When did David write this Psalm? Was it when he was a shepherd,
watching over the sheep? Or was it when he was fleeing
from Saul, fleeing for his life when Saul was after him. Or was
it when he was sitting on the throne of God, or sitting on
the throne of the King of Israel at peace, at peace? Brother Henry
went on to say, we don't know when he wrote this, but we know
this. It's right before Psalm 23. When
David here cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Then here in Psalm 23 verse 1, it says, the Lord is my shepherd.
Oh, what a peace this is. Now, our brother just read that
our Lord said, I am the good shepherd. I am the way, I am
the doorway to the sheepfold. I am the shepherd, I give up
my life for the sheep. So we know without a doubt, there's
no controversy here, that our Lord is the shepherd. But is
He my shepherd? Is He your shepherd? Have God
by His grace worked within my heart and your heart to reveal
unto us He's my shepherd. What he did, he did for me. What he suffered, he suffered
for me. The way that he lived and the
death that he died was because of my sin, my sin. Around our place, there's a big
going on of, won't you make Jesus your personal savior? Won't you
allow him to do something for you? Won't you accept him? He's done all he can do now,
just accept him. How foolish, how foolish. When
the scripture declares, he declares himself, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. I know my sheep, and my sheep
knows me. Other sheep I have, which is
not of this fold at this present time. He's talking about you
and I. He's talking about you and I if God has given us grace
to look to Christ by faith. He's talking about me being a
sheep. And I wonder how can that be?
The old question rings over and over and over. How can it be? How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? I know something about what goes
on here in this human nature. I know something about what goes
on in my mind and in my heart. And I cry out, how can it be? How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? And we read through the scriptures.
Our Lord said, I came down. I came down from heaven, not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And when
you read that, don't misunderstand that. He said, I don't do my
own will, I do the will of the Father. I and my Father are one. When you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. So there was no controversy here of men tries to make it,
oh, he wanted to do this and the Lord made him do it. No,
that's foolishness. He came to do the will of his Father. And
that was his will. That was his will also in the
spirit. Now in the flesh, in the flesh,
He had this agony of sin to the point that he cried out, my God,
my God, why has thou forsaken me? He knew that he must go to
the cross. He says, for my hour is not yet
come. And then when it got closer and
closer and closer, he said, my hour has come. My time has come
that I'm going to go and offer myself a sacrifice for my sheep. I'm going to go and secure my
sheep. I'm going to go and redeem my sheep. And I'm going to go
and perfectly secure them and perfectly present them unto the
Father as in me. So we know that this man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is the shepherd. And he came in the flesh. Now this is a mystery, among
all mysteries, how a woman conceives and be with child without knowing
a man. But the scripture tells us that
which is conceived of thee is of the Holy Ghost. One of the writers wrote, that
holy thing, that is within you, that holy thing that God has
planted within this woman is the very Son of God. And He came
in the flesh. in the flesh. He did this to
fulfill the law of God. He did this because this was
God's prescribed way of giving salvation, sanctification, and
redemption to a people that they could not do for themselves.
He did that which was perfect in the eyes of God for me. He came as a substitute, a sin
bearer, one that would take my being. Made just like me, but
yet without sin. He had no sin within him, but
he was made just like you and I. They looked upon him, they
saw a man. A man just like all other Jews,
probably dark skin, dark hair, they saw a man. But they never
saw who he was on the inside. They never saw him as God in
human flesh. And he lived here, according
to Scripture, according to history, some 33 years. He walked this
earth, the Scripture says, going about doing nothing but good.
And when he was 12 years old, he made this statement. He said,
I must be about my father's business. What's he talking about? A time
for me to begin the work of redeeming my sheep from sin. It's time
that I go about my Father's business. Father sent me into the world
to redeem a people, to sanctify a people, and to present that
same people unto Him as a holy chaste virgin in the eyes of
God. And that's what He's saying here.
David said, the Lord is my shepherd. What does a shepherd do? A shepherd
watches over, provides for, cares, take care of, and provides everything
the sheep needs. And if you read down through
this 23rd Psalm, you will see that the Lord done everything. The sheep didn't do anything.
And that's you and I. Nothing in my hands I bring,
but simply to Christ I cling. There's nothing that I can do
to find favor with God. Christ has done it all. The old
song, Jesus paid it all, it's true. He paid every sin debt
that I had. And now, as my shepherd, the
one that leads me and guides me and directs me, why am I here? Why do I preach the gospel? Well,
I decided one day, no, that's the farthest thing from my mind.
I had no intention, I had no desire, I have no will to do
these things. But God working within me, giving
me the spirit of God to teach me, to lead me and guide me as
he done many of you. Pointing us to Christ and saying,
there he is. There he is, there's the only
hope for sinful people is the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore
go forth and tell them of the great things that he has done.
Destroy these things of working our way to heaven. Destroy this
thing of pat myself on the back and look who I am. Put these
things away and point men to Christ and Christ alone. And
if we can, by the grace of God, Put our names here in the first
verse. The Lord is my shepherd, my shepherd. He owned me, for the Father gave
me to Him from all creation. He loved me and bought me with
His own blood. Unto Him, Revelation 1, verse
5. Unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood. One scripture says it was God's
blood that saved us. It was God shedding His own blood
in our room and in our stead. And now if I can say, oh, the
Lord is my shepherd. Everything that follows here
in this 23rd Psalm is true to me and true of me. Look what
he says next. I shall not want. I shall not
lack anything. There's no lackness. I am in
need of nothing, standing robed in the righteousness of Christ.
Oh, there's many things that we, this flesh desires to get
out and lay hold of. There's many things that we desire
to accomplish in this life and this, all these things, but these
are meaningful things, meaningless things. But oh, if we have Christ,
If we can say the Lord is my shepherd, he did this for me,
then I shall not want, I shall not lack anything. I may be the
dumbest of all sheep, but I lack nothing. I may be the wandering
and straying sheep that staggers here and staggers there and don't
know the right way, but oh, if the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. I may grow feeble and old, but
I shall not want. I will be with thee. I will go
with thee always, even into the end of the world. I shall not
forsake thee. I may not have all that I wish to have in this
flesh, big this and big that, but I shall want nothing in the
very presence of God. I may endure sickness and sorrow,
even walk at times in the valley of the shadow of death. But if
my Redeemer, if my Shepherd is with me, I shall not want, I
shall not want. For the Lord my Shepherd, I have
everything good, everything that I need. to stand before God and
be accepted, I have in Him. I have in Him. Why should I not lack or want
anything? Because the Lord is able to supply
all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Paul said, therefore, He is able
also to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercessions for them. Right
now, my shepherd is seated on the right hand of the throne
of God, making intercessions on my behalf. I don't understand
all that entails or all that means, but I know this, he's
there pleading his own righteousness in my room and in my stead. Charge it not unto them, lay
it not unto their charge, but lay it unto me." And that's what
he did. You remember what he said while
he was on the cross? Forgive them, Father, for they
know not what they do. Even when he was hanging there
in agony in the flesh, he cried unto the Father, forgive them,
they know not what they do. He is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. I lack nothing. There's
nothing that I lack in the presence of God. He's able to present
me faultless before the very throne of God. That's what Jude
said in Jude chapter 24 and verse 24. Now unto him that is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, both now and forever. Now, I fall in myself many, many
times, every hour of every day. I watched something, one of the
granddaughters was watching a cartoon the other day, and I was with
them watching it. And this little fella was trying
to climb up a ladder. He would go up a ladder and he'd slide
back down. He'd go up this ladder, take about three steps and slide
back down. I said, that's a picture of human nature. We think we
take two steps up and we fall back to the bottom. Finally,
this old fellow just gave up and went some other way. We don't
give up. We keep attempting by the grace of God. We keep climbing,
taking one step, although it may be a short step, we grow
in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
continue to grow. From the time that we're born,
we continue to grow in Him. for he is able to keep us. He's
able to keep us from falling, and he's able to present us faultless
before the very presence of God. My shepherd is able to rise this
vile body. When it comes for this flesh
to be put aside, to lay down, he's able, he's able to rise
us from the grave and to sit us among princes. This is the
power that my shepherd has. This power is given unto him
from heaven above. It says, for our conversation
is in heaven. For whence also we look for the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto
himself." And we have this confidence. We have this confidence. Why?
The Lord is my shepherd. Oh, that God would give us grace
to lay hold of this. That God would give us the understanding
to rest in this. I know my Redeemer liveth. I know who He is because God
has revealed it unto me. It's not by my studying or it's
not by my research. It's because God speaks to us
through the Word of God, by the Spirit of God, and tells us there
He is. There he is, look to Christ and
live. Look at verse two. He maketh me to lie down in green
pasture. I shall not want for rest, for
my shepherd maketh me. Now this is not with a rod and
a whip, don't misunderstand that. He maketh me, he leads his sheep
out, and he calmly sits down before them, and the sheep calmly
lies down and rests. That's what we're doing here
this morning. We're coming before Him and we're resting in the
Lord. We're feeding upon the green
pastures of God's mercy and grace and we rest right there. He causes
us by His Spirit working within us to simply lay down. Lay down
from your working yourselves to heaven. Lay these things down
and rest in the Lord. Do God's people work? Oh yes,
yes. Your pastor's a prime example.
He's all over the country preaching the gospel. He's here week after
week preaching the gospel. God's servants are workers, but
they're not working to be justified. They're working because they
are justified before God. There's a world of difference
here. The people of God are giving people, but they don't give to
be justified. They give because God has justified
them and made it known unto them and made them willing to share
what they have. Men today, oh, I've got to pay
my tithes. If I don't do this, they're going
to put me out of the church. How foolish. How foolish. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. I know that every little thing
that happened in this world, this pandemic that we're going
through, rages all kind of fears and troubles and tribulations
around us, but we rest. We rest. Will I get it? I don't know if I will or not.
It's in God's hand. I may get it. It may be the source
and substance that God is pleased to take me to be with Him. I
don't know. But while we're here, While we're
here, we rest, knowing the Lord is my shepherd. He will perfect
that which concerneth me. He will give me all that I need
in this life and in the life to come. Oh, that we may be able to understand
this. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. Why? because he will perfect
that which concerneth me. Whatever it is that concerns
me and his flesh and me in eternity, the Lord will perfect it for
me. He's there right now perfecting everything that is concerning
me. Oh, that I may say with my soul,
lie down, my soul, lie down in the sweet green pastures of God's
amazing grace, for my shepherd careth for me. He leads me beside
the still waters. These still waters pictures the
presence of peace. This peace that is past all understanding. It's a peace that you and I,
we only get a glimpse of it here and a glimpse of it there. Oh,
but one day, when we enter into the very presence of God, we'll
understand what this peace means. He gives us peace now. Yes, he
does. We have peace. We're not running
and raging, fighting this and fighting that. We're at peace
with God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that he
has accomplished salvation on my behalf. I know that he has
redeemed me by his own blood, and I know that he will perfect
that which concerneth me. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. Oh, there may be troubles and
trials around me, even upon me. I may be going through sicknesses
and heartaches and pain as many of you have and are and will. But oh, let these things not
shake us. Let us ask God for grace. Lord, give me grace to glorify
Thy name even in these times of troublesome trial and tribulation. Cause me to rest in Christ and
have no hope in this flesh. One writer said, troubles and
trials are pictures of deep waters, troubled waters, waves of the
sea. But my shepherd says, peace,
be still. Peace, be still. He calms the
raging sea, and he calms the raging sins that is so prevalent
within you and I. He says, thy sins and thy iniquities
are forgiven. Peace, be still. And we know
that all things work together for the good to them that love
God, to them that are called according to His purpose. And
I shall not want. I shall not want. I read this
to someone here while back. He says, and we know Romans 8,
28. Most of you know it by heart. And he said, explain that to
me. I said, I just did. That's as far as we can go. We
know God has given us the grace to know these things. He's worked
within our heart to give us peace to know these things. Do I understand
everything? No. When sicknesses come and
trials and tribulations come, we say, I know that this is for
my good. I don't understand them. I don't
see through this whole thing. We see through a glass dimly
or darkly. But we know that whatever comes
our way, is brought our way by the hand of our almighty God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. Now look at verse three. He restores my soul. I shall not want for redemption.
I shall not want for forgiveness. For he restores my soul. In Adam, I die. In Adam, I sinned,
and I went one step farther. Even after Adam died, I continued
in this thing of sin. I continue to heap sin on sin,
even right now. Brother Henry said, the best
message I ever preached is so full of sin to send my soul to
hell many times over. The best preparation that we
can prepare is so full of sin that we wonder, what's he thinking
about this? Or how does that go across this
way? That's just who we are. And the
world has to deal with this until this old flesh is changed. But
we rest. We rest knowing that our God,
my shepherd, rules and reigns all things. He's sovereign. Someone made the statement this
morning. He's sovereign. He's sovereign.
He rules and reigns and directs all things at all times in all
places. And he does this for my good.
For my good. He restores my soul to life. In Adam, I die, but in Christ,
I am restored to life in Him, an eternal life, life everlasting. He restores my soul to purity. What I lost in Adam, someone
said, what we lost in Adam, we gained in Christ. Oh no, we gain
much more in Christ, much more, much more than we can ever imagine. There's no, There's no death for those that
look to Christ. Oh, this flesh must be put off,
yes. But there's no death for the inward man. We are alive
and we are eternally alive. We have life everlasting in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my shepherd, who is my
shepherd. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5,
verse 19, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing my trespasses or their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. I am at one with God in Christ. Someone, I don't remember who
wrote the psalm, Dear, so dear to God, dearer I cannot be, for
in the person of his Son, I am as dear as he. And then it goes
on and says, nearer to God, nearer I cannot be, for in the person
of his Son, I am as near as he. And our Lord said, thou has loved
them as thou has loved me. What a statement, what a statement.
But this is my shepherd, this is my shepherd. He leadeth me
in the path of righteousness for His namesake. He leads me. He don't leave me to myself.
He leads me. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. The natural mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be, but God leadeth me in the path of
righteousness for His namesake. If we can put our names here,
The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. It's not in my nature to know
the path of righteousness. It's not in my nature to find
it. It's not in my nature to seek for it, even to desire it,
to have it, because we're enemies against God. But oh, my shepherd
leads me. He takes me by the hand and says,
follow me, follow me in the path of righteousness. He makes me
righteous before him and leads me in the path both to love it
and to walk in it. This is what the Spirit does
for us, dwelling within us. It causes us to love what we
once hated and hate what we once loved. And He leads us in the
path of righteousness, which we never knew before. This is
a new way for you and I. He leads us in the path of righteousness. Look at verse four. Yea, though
I, myself, walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear
no evil. There's nothing going to happen
to me that is not according to God's purpose." Now, you tell
men this and they reject it. We had a young man. came to our
congregation a few weeks ago. I was, I believe, in Wheelersburg
that weekend. And everybody was up, you know
how it is when a stranger comes in and sits and listens to the
gospel. It uplifts your spirit and it uplifts your heart. And
the people was telling me about it on Wednesday night. We had
this young man, he came and he said he'd be back and this and
that. Well, I believe it was Thursday evening. One of the
young men in the church, he's a computer whiz or whatever you
want to call one of them people, geeks or whatever they are. But
anyhow, he messaged me. And he said, this young man sent
me this message. And he said, the message was,
does that church preach Calvinism? And Brandon sent me the message
and said, I don't know how to answer this. He's only been with
us for about a year or so. And I said, well, I don't know
exactly what to say to him, but I said, thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power. God loveth the sheep and giveth
his life for the sheep. And he sent this text on back
to him. And the young man's response
was, I understand and reject all five points of Calvinism. Nowhere in the scripture, he
says, that man makes people to serve him. And he said, it's
been good to visit with you folks, but I'll find me another church
that I can agree with. And I texted the young man back,
and I said, well, I would love to talk to you, I said, but with
that attitude, there's not much I can say. And I don't know where
he went to, where he's at now, but the Lord may speak to him,
he may not. He heard the gospel while he
was sitting under the gospel, but he went out from us because
he was not of us. If he had been of us, he would've
no doubt continued with us, but he went out, that it might be
made manifest that he was not of us. He may be back, I don't
know. If he does, the Lord will have
to bring him. But let me get back to my lesson. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because
the Lord is my shepherd. For thou art with me. Thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort me. He guides me, directs me, and
sends forth His Spirit unto me to comfort me. Even in the time
of troubles and trials and tribulation, I can say, the Lord is with me.
Oh, I don't feel very good in His flesh, but I know the Lord
is with me. I know that He will never leave
me. I know that He will never forsake me. He's told me that.
He's told me that. And He's taught it not only to
the heart, but also to my head. He calls me and gives me an understanding
that He is with me, to lead me and guide me and direct me. The rod and staff are symbols
of God's sovereignty. direction and defense. Nowhere
in scripture do we see or hear the shepherd beating the sheep.
This staff, he leads them. He may put it out in front of
them and direct them, but nowhere does he take this rod and this
staff and beat them into submission. We are made willing by the Spirit
of God dwelling within us, and we are made willing to follow
him, and he leads us in the path of righteousness. The Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want, because thou
hath prepared the table before me in the very presence of my
enemies. I shall not want for provisions. The Lord supplies all my need.
Oh, come and dine. Come and dine at the table of
the Lord. Look, all things are ready. All
things are prepared. Come and dine. And that's what
we're here for today. We come to feed upon the goodness
and the grace of our God. We come to be filled up, strengthened,
magnified, and uplifted in the Spirit of God, by the Spirit
of God. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Do
we have enemies? Oh, yes. Yes, we have enemies. But most of the time, the chief
enemy's right here. It's right here. I am my worst
enemy. Because I get out of one mess,
I fall into another one. I attempt to study the Word of
God and a bird chirps and my mind flows out the window. A
dog barks and my study is destroyed. How frail and feeble we are. But the Lord, my shepherd, prepares
a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And he says, come
on, come unto me. Come and dine with me. Feed upon
me. Feed upon my goodness. Feed upon
the word of God. Feed upon the goodness of God.
The table's prepared. Here it is. Here it is. And then
not only does he prepare this table, he works within us to
be hungry. He works within us to be thirsty.
to come and to eat of that which He has provided for us. Thou knowest my head with oil. Brother John Gill said, giving
Him an abundance of good things, not only for necessities, but
for pleasure and delight. especially pouring out largely
upon him the oil of gladness, the Spirit of God in his grace,
and anointing with teaching, teaches all things, and fills
him with spiritual joy and comfort. This oil of gladness that he
pours upon our heads when we worship, when we are in worship,
giving him glory and honor and praise, it causes our cup to
run over. It causes our cup to run over. Blessed be the Lord who daily
loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Our
cup is not half full. We're not half-full Christians.
We're not half-full believers. Our cup runneth over. God does
not do anything halfway. He will perfect that which concerneth
me. He will give me that which I
need. He will supply all that I need in this life and the life
to come. Our cup is full to the point
that it runs over. Our hearts are lifted up to the
point that we don't have words to honor Him. Our words fail
us to honor and to praise and to magnify Him. But oh, it's
here in the heart. It's here we want to, we desire
to, but oftentimes the flesh is weak. We're not able to worship
Him as we should, or not as we would, but we do worship Him. His mercy and His grace, His
goodness and His loving kindness is poured out upon me every hour
of every day to the point that my cup runneth over. The Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not want. Surely, it's
a fact. This is in the Word of God. Surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Not I hope
to, not I will if I make it through this, not if I, I will, by the
grace of God, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
When David took the throne in Israel, he had made a covenant
with Jonathan, Saul's son. And David asked a question. He
says, is there any of Jonathan's son yet alive? And they said,
yes, there's one named Mephibosheth. And he said, go get him. Go get
him. For he shall eat at my table
all the days of my life. He shall feed upon the goodness
of the king's bounty all the days of his life, although he
be lame on both his feet. Because of the fall, because
of the fall, Jonathan was lame upon both his feet. Because of
the fall, you and I have fell into this thing of sin, but all
because of the grace and the glory of God, we shall feed at
the Lord's table all the days of our life. For goodness and
mercy of my Lord and Shepherd shall follow me all the days
of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
How is all of these things possible unto such a worm as I? How can this be? It's because
the Lord is my Shepherd. He careth for me. He loveth me,
and he leadeth me beside the still water. And the Lord, by
my great shepherd, will one day present me unto the Father, and
says, Behold, I and the children which thou hast given me, they
are perfect, standing in the robes and the righteousness of
my own son, and I I am accepted in him. And the Father says,
come out, come in. Set thou, set thou down at the
very presence of God. But it's only possible because
the Lord is my shepherd. Thank you.