Turn with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 23. Psalm 23, what a sweet and special
Psalm this is. Every time I read this, I think,
This is heavenly ground. This is heavenly ground. This is God's green pasture. Those pastures of fatness that
He told us about in Ezekiel 34. There's a verse of Scripture
in Ezekiel 34. It's verse 14. He said, I will
feed My people in a good pasture. And upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good
fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed." Upon the mountains
of Israel. That's what this psalm is to
God's people. This is peace. This is rest. This is heavenly
bread. This psalm is referred to as
the psalm of comfort. That's what it has been called,
the psalm of comfort. And it's so easy to see why.
Every verse, every line, every word is comfort to God's people,
so comforting to God's people. I want us to look at the whole
psalm tonight And I want one line to be our theme as we look
at it. One line. As we enter into this,
let's enter in dwelling on this right here. The line is in the
middle of verse four. It's toward the end of verse
four. He said, Thou art with me. Thou art with me. Verse one now, he said, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. I've told you this before, and
it seems appropriate to tell it again, but Hannah and I were
able to go down to Mexico one time, and brother Cody Groover
had his Bible there on the coffee table. It was a Spanish Bible. And I opened it up to see if
I could understand any of it. So I wanted to go to a scripture
that I knew and could quote. In Psalm 23, verse one, when
I opened it up, that first verse said, Jehovah is me pastor. And at that moment, rest hit
me. Jehovah is me pastor. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. You know, had that said, had
that been written to say, the Lord is my God, that would be
true. Had it said, the Lord is my authority. That would be true. Had it said, the Lord is my judge,
that would be true. But thank God, along with all
those things, it says, the Lord is my shepherd. He's my shepherd. If He is my
shepherd, then that means I'm His sheep. That's what it means. If He is my shepherd, then it
means I'm not a wild goat, or a wild wolf, or a wild dog, like
the Scripture refers to those who don't belong to Him. Goats. False preachers are called ravening
wolves. I don't want to be one of those.
Isaiah called them dumb dogs. I don't want to be one of those. I don't want to be any of those
things. I don't want to be a wild anything. I want to belong to
Him. That's what I want. I want to
belong to Him. I want Him to own me. I want Him to rule me. I want Him to control me. I want Him to have all the say
in the matter. I want Him to say where, when, how, why. I want Him to be my shepherd. If He's my shepherd, then it
means I'm His owned property. That's what it means, I belong
to Him. And if that's the case for all of us, if the Lord is
our shepherd, verse 1 says, we shall not want. We're not going
to lack. We're not going to lack any good
and perfect and eternal thing. Not one good, perfect, eternal
thing. Not one thing needful. You know,
you think, well, if I go stand before God, am I truly gonna
be okay? Do I have everything I need to
have? And is everything dealt with
that needs to be dealt with? If the Lord is our shepherd,
we shall not lack one thing that we need to stand before God,
not one thing. In Philippians 4 verse 19, it
says, but my God shall supply all your need according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That's how he'll supply them.
All your justifying need. You know we need to be justified
before God. Justified in doing so. Something
happens and they bring it before the judge and the judge determines
whether that was justified or not justified. Free to go or
you're about to be punished. All our justifying need. All
of our purifying need. I need to be better than I am.
I need to be cleaner than I am. In Christ, I am all I need. All of our spiritual need, all
of our physical need. Thank God, not all of our physical
want, but all of our physical need, if the Lord is our shepherd.
we shall not want. He shall supply all of our need
according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now verse two
says, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Every time
I read that, I think, thank God for the word maketh. Thank God. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. That means pastures of tender
grass. That's what it means. Fresh,
living, reviving, fulfilling, satisfying, tender grass. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 53 refers to Him as a tender plant, a living root springing
up out of dry ground. Do you ever envision those green
pastures? When we're reading through this
and hearing all these things, we get to He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. Do you ever envision those green
pastures? I do, and whenever I envision
them, they are wide open. I envision rolling hills, tall
grass, green grass, wide open. I envision them being totally
safe. No predator will ever come in. You don't need to be looking
around. Lay your head down. Close your
eyes. Totally safe. I envision it being
warm. It's sunny. It's perfect. It's beautiful. It's a place
where you can lay down and relax. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Shepherd Himself.
He's our safety. He's our peace. That is life
and existence in Him. We rest in Him. He's our place
of rest. Verse 1 says, 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. That means waters of quietness.
That's the water of His Word. Oh, the still stable waters of
His Word, still stable, quiet, quiet. We have pandemics on one
side of us. We have rioting and fighting
on the other side of us. We have unknowns and uncertainties
ahead of us. We have trials and troubles and
fears and sickness right here in the midst of us. It's like
a raging, tumultuous, violent ocean. That's where we are. It's
just wave crashing into wave. That may be going on all around
us. That may even be going on within us. But when we look into this word,
this is so true for the child of God. When we look into this
word, when the voice of the shepherd speaks to us through his word, this is what we hear. When he
speaks, this is what we hear. Peace, be still. That's what we hear. Peace, be
still, that violent storm all around us, all that chaos all
around us, the waves, the wind, just like he did in that ship,
the bow of that ship. He said, peace, be still. And
when he does that, he creates a great calm, a great calm. Quiet, safe, calm. Oh, the still waters of His Word.
The Word of Christ Himself. What peace it brings every time
we hear Him say, and tell me if this is not so, what peace
it brings every time we hear Him say, be still and know that
I am God. How glorious that is. I'm in control. I'm reigning and I'm ruling over
all this. I've only allowed this to happen
for my glory and for your good only. Look unto Me and be saved. Just look unto Me and be saved. Just come to Me and find rest. Don't look to all these things.
Don't look to all these things. Peter, when he was walking on
the water, he was doing fine until he started looking to all
these things. Our Lord just says, look to Me.
Just look to Me. Like if you've ever been in a,
in a situation or seen on a movie, some situation where someone
is afraid and maybe it's, it's a height issue or something.
And somebody says, just keep your eyes on me. Just look at
me. Just come to me. Don't look down. You just come
to me. Well, that's what our Lord says. You just look to me.
Just keep your eyes on me. Just come to me. His words truly are stilling
waters, quieting waters, beautiful, glorious, peaceful. Verse 1 says,
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 restoreth
my soul. If we could just remember that.
If we could just remember that. He may not restore the way of
life that we're used to. He may not. He may not restore all of the
freedoms that we had. He may not restore the economy. He may not restore our health.
He may not restore our wealth. but He has restored our souls. He's restored our souls. He will
restore our souls because He has restored our souls. Verse three goes on to say, He
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. That's the
path of Christ. That's the path of Christ. There's
only one path of righteousness, and that's His righteousness. His goodness, His good deeds,
His good works, His holy living. Not ours, His. There's only one way that leads
to God, and that's the way of Christ. the will and the work
and the perfection and the satisfaction, the accomplishment of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, I'm the
path. So David said, the Lord is my
shepherd. He maketh, he leadeth, he restoreth. He does all these things. Verse
four, he said, 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. The thing that comforts God's
people the most about Christ being their shepherd is knowing
that their shepherd is with them. That's what comforts us the most,
knowing that He's with us. That's what makes God's people
lie down in green pastures. That's what makes us lay down
in peace and lay down in rest and lay down in security and
assurance. It's in knowing Thou art with
me. You're with me. That is the still
waters. Thou art with me. That's the
still waters. That's what restores our soul. Thou art with me. It seems so
bad and we get so caught up in it. We get so worried by it.
But as soon as our soul realizes you're with me, we're restored. Thou art with me. You know, Christ
said that first. David said that, and we say that,
but Christ said it first. Christ said that to His people
first. He said, Thou art with me. We were with Him before He was
with us. We were with Him before there
ever even was an us. We were with Him in eternity
past. We were with Him in His mind.
How amazing that thought is to me in his mind. It's amazing
to me that we would be in his mind. Of all the things that
he could dwell on, that he would dwell on us. But then David said,
when I think of the number of thoughts that you've had toward
me, just me, it's more than the same. We were with Him in His
mind. We were with Him in His heart.
We were with Him in His will. We were with Him in His purpose.
That's the whole reason He was the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. It's because we were with Him. We were with Him in His covenant.
We were with Him. That covenant was concerning
us. We were with Him in His election. We were chosen in Him before
the foundation of the world. Chosen with Him. We were with
Him when He took upon Himself the flesh of man. We were with Him when He walked
a perfect, spotless, holy life on this earth. He was walking
and He was living as the substitute for His people. We were with
Him. We were with Him in His sufferings
of agony. The amazing thought of Him in
the garden. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought. At
that moment, my sin, not in part, but the whole, was pressed into
Him. I was literally with Him. In His crucifixion, I think about
His dying for me, hanging for me, with Him in His death for
our sin. We were with Him in His burial
when He went into the grave and He paid that price. We were with
Him. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. We died with Him when He won
the victory there, when He conquered sin and conquered death and conquered
hell. We were with Him. He gave us
the victory. We were with Him when He arose
from the dead. Risen with Him. And we were with
Him when He ascended back up to glory and sat down on His
throne. We were with Him. Let me show you that in Colossians
2. Turn with me over there to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2 verse 12, it says, Buried with Him. In baptism. In the baptism of
the Holy Ghost. In God's Holy Spirit immersing
us into Him. Buried with Him in baptism wherein
also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of
God who hath raised Him from the dead. And you being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened
together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Quickened
together with Him. Turn with me over to Ephesians
2. Ephesians 2 verse 5 says, Even when we were dead in sins,
he hath quickened us together with him. By grace, you are saved
and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. We were with him. Seated with him. And because
we were with him, because he made us to be with him, he is
with us. That's the reason God's people
can say thou art with me. That's the whole reason for their
comfort and their assurance, because God made them to be with
Christ. That's the reason they can boldly
say thou art with me. Thou art with me at all times,
especially in my time of need. Especially. Look with me at Psalm
91. Psalm 91. Verse 14, it says, because he
hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set
him on high because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me
and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver Him and honor
Him. With long life will I satisfy
Him and show Him my salvation. That's glorious. That's glorious. Every time God does that for
His people, they know, Thou art with me. You're with me. Go back to Psalm 23. Verse 5
says, Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Can we not say how true that
is? Oh, how true that is. Has he
not prepared a table before us? The whole way. The whole way. Has He not poured good on us
the whole way? Do our cups honestly not run
over? I mean run over to the point
where we know we can't contain it. It's just running over and
running over and running over. Running over with what? Christ. Just running over. What is that table that's prepared? What do God's people feed on?
What nourishes them? Is it doctrine? Is it law? No. It's Christ. It's Him. He's the oil. He's the table. He's the fatness of the soul.
Without Him, there's nothing but leanness. That's the truth. Without Him, if we're not feeding
on Him, I wish I could tell this to the
world. I wish I could tell this to the
world. If we're not feeding on Him, If it's not all about Him,
if we're not hearing about Him and talking about Him and glorifying
Him, then that leaves nothing but leanness of the soul. But if Christ has set before
us, prepared for us by the Holy Spirit of God, if He has fed
us through the preaching of the Word, our cups will run over. If God does it, our cups will
run over. Truly run over. There may not
be a drop of physical happiness or peace left for us to taste
in this world. There may be nothing left. No
happiness, no peace, nothing left in this world. But our spiritual
happiness and our spiritual peace that we have in the person of
our shepherd, our green pasture, our still water, our restorer,
our path of righteousness. That's who he is. He's our path
of righteousness. Our table, our oil, the one who
is with us and will never leave us and will never forsake us. And the reason He won't do that
is because He forsook Himself for us. Psalm 22 verse 1, the
Psalm right before it, He cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me? Forsook Himself for us in the
person of Christ Jesus our Lord, in Him and because of Him. Verse
6 says, Surely, Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That will make the turmoil of
this life a little easier. It honestly will. That's all
the light that this life can bring is turmoil. That's all
it can bring. And to know that surely, not
maybe, Aren't you so glad that doesn't say, maybe goodness and
mercy shall follow me always? Surely. Surely. Knowing that will make the turmoil
of this life just a little bit easier. Look to Him. Stay focused on Him. He's the goodness. He's the mercy. He is all the days of our life. He's our life. He's our eternity, and He's our
dwelling place. Just stay on Him. Stay on Him. It'll make all the turmoil of
this life settle down. It'll all settle down. None of
these things, everything that's going on, everything that's going
on in the world, everything that's going on with each one of us
individually, None of these things matter. They don't. I know they seem like they do,
but they don't. None of these things matter.
This is not our continuing city. We're just strangers and pilgrims
passing through. I love how the song says we're
marching through Emmanuel's ground to fairer worlds on high. As we march, the whole time we're
going, we can have the peace of knowing, thou art with me.
You're with me. No matter what comes, thou art
with me. My shepherd is with me. My shepherd's
with me. What a comfort it is to know
that. Oh, may the Lord be our shepherd. Let's all stand together.