Okay, go with me back to Psalm
23. Psalm 23. This Psalm is commonly
referred to as the Psalm of comfort. That's what this one is referred
to. Psalm 22 is referred to as the psalm of the cross. My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 24 is referred to as the
psalm of the crown. Thy king is coming. And Psalm 23 is the psalm of
comfort. And when I need it the most,
this is, the true experience that I have. When I need it the most, I do
believe that this psalm and Psalm 27 comfort me the most. Those two
psalms, there's something about those two psalms that I just
gravitate to. They just help me. They're always
so real. They're always so fresh. My comfort, truly my comfort.
And the other day I was turning through the scriptures and I
turned to Psalm 23 and I read verse 1. It says, the Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want. And as soon as I read that, I
thought, thank God for the word shall. Thank God. What a wonderful word. Isn't that the comfort of scripture? Shall. Isn't that such a blessing? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not. We cling to the
words of this word. Every word of it, don't we? We
cling to every word of it. I mean, we vitally hang on to
every word. You know what keeps us hanging
on? You know, you say, hang in there. We're hanging to the words
of this word. That's what we're hanging on
to. And the only reason that we have hope to continue on another
day. This is the only reason that
we have hope to keep going. Hope to continue on another day
is because the words that our God has chosen are so ordered
and so sure. That's the reason. That's the
reason we have hope to keep on going. Every word that he has
carefully, wisely selected is so ordered and so sure. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want." Thank God for the word shall. Let me show you a
few more times that he used that word. We're going to look at
a few scriptures here. Go with me to Psalm 51. Psalm 51 verse 7. It says, Purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean. No questions about it. Wash me
and I shall be whiter than snow. You know when our Lord was on
that cross and they ran that spear up inside Him and out flowed
blood and water. You smear that blood on me and
I'll be clean. You pour that living water on
me and I'll be white as snow. Shall, I shall. Look with me
at Psalm 62. Psalm 62 verse 6 says, He only
is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. Not happening. I hope, I truly
hope that I am not washed away in a flood of my own sin and
rebellion. I hope it doesn't flow down on
me and wash me away. Well, this right here says, He
only is my rock and He's my salvation. He's my defense. I shall not
be moved. It's not going to happen. Not
going to happen. Look with me over at Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42 verse 4 says, He shall
not fail. Don't you love that? Verse 1 says, Behold my servant. I love how God the Father tells
every soul on this earth, you look at Him. Look at Him. Behold my servant whom I uphold. my elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He
shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail. He's not going to fail. Nor be
discouraged. I love that. He won't even get
discouraged. I love that. He won't even get
discouraged. Till he hath set judgment in the earth, and the
owl shall wait for his law." He's not going to fail. I might. I might, but not him. Go with
me over to Matthew 9. Matthew 9 verse 20, And behold, a woman which was
diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him
and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself,
If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. If I could
just touch his garment, no doubt about it. He or she had this
issue 12 years. Every doctor wasted all the money
she had. No one could help her. There
was no hope for her, but God's Spirit put faith in that woman
to believe, if I could only touch the hem of his garment, I'll
be whole. I shall be whole. Look with me
at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 52 says, In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption. And this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. That is going to happen. It's
going to happen. It must happen. That's wonderful. That's absolutely wonderful.
I cannot wait to see death swallowed up in victory. One more, okay? Go with me to 1 John 3. First John 3 verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And it does not yet appear what
we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him. as he is. Man, I love that. I love that. Thank God for the
word shall. Matthew 5 says they shall see
God. They're going to. I can't wait. I can't wait. Now go with me
back to Psalm 23. Psalm 23 verse 2 says, He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. Doesn't that sound nice? Doesn't that sound so nice? Can you feel that grass? Every
time I read that, I feel like I can feel the grass. I can hear
that water. That gentle water, isn't there
nothing better than the sound of gentle flowing water? That's what Christ does for a
sinner's soul. That's what he does for a sinner's
soul. We work and we work and we work and I'm not talking about
nine to five, that's a good work. But man tries to appease God,
and he tries to appease God, and he's trying to do right.
Trying to do right. He's working the works of righteousness.
He's working the deeds of the law. And I know we bring this
up every time, but I want to do right. The Apostle Paul wanted
to do right. He said, the things I wish I
daily did, I hate myself because I can't do them. Just kills me. And the things I wish I didn't
do, that's all I do. And man, he works and he works
and he's trying to work the works of righteousness, and he's never
getting ahead. He never gets ahead. He's trying
with all of his might to build himself a tower to God, but he's
never getting off the ground, is he? Never. Literally, this
is what men do. They literally work themselves
to death. They work themselves all the
way to death until Christ comes to them and he whispers to their
heart, lay down. Lay down. But I can't. I have to lay down. Lay down. Just rest. Just rest. Just rest. Just stop. It's over. It's finished. Stop all your struggling. Stop
all of your labor and just rest. Where should I rest? Right there
by this living water. Right there by this gentle living
water. He says, are you thirsty? Drink. Drink. River of water, clear
as crystal, flowing right out of the throne of God. Drink.
That's what it means when he says in verse 3, He restoreth
my soul. That's what it means. He restores
my soul. I don't know anything about cars. Nothing. Nothing. But I have seen guys take some
old pieces of junk, some old pieces of junk from the 20s and
30s, and restore them, and they're brand new. They're brand new. They take these old rusted, beaten,
broken, torn, dead, ugly, things of no value, things of
no value, and they restore them, and they're brand new. They're
brand new. David said, He restoreth my soul. How did he do that? He took this
rusted, beaten, broken, torn, dead, ugly thing of no value. And it says, He led it down the
path of righteousness. He sent it down the path of righteousness. And along that path, this soul
right here got a brand new body. and a brand new heart and a brand
new mind and brand new eyes and brand new ears and a brand new
mouth with a brand new song and a brand new will. And God restored me. He made
it brand new. He made it all brand new. The
Lord Jesus Christ said, Behold, I make all things new. Everything. All of it. Brand new. And every
one of his people, that's what they cry. He restored me. He
restored me. I was useless. I was worthless. A thing of no value. and he restored
me. Verse 3 says, he restoreth my
soul, he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name's
sake. What's his name? Savior. Savior. Verse 4 says, 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. I want a shepherd. I want a shepherd. I truly do. I want a shepherd. I do not want to go through anything
alone. I don't want to go through this
life alone. I sure don't want to go through
death alone. David said, your rod and your
staff, that's the word of God. He said, your word, the word
that wards off the enemy and brings me close to you. The rod
and the staff, your word proves to me that I'll never be alone. That's what it proves to me.
You will not leave me alone. Never leave me, never forsake
me. Look with me over at Psalm 139.
This is such a wonderful psalm. Let's see if the Lord will let
us enter into some of this. Psalm 139 verse 1 says, Oh Lord,
thou hast searched me and known me. Thou hast known my down sitting
and my uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts
afar off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is
not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before, and laid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high I cannot attain to
it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit,
or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up
into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and
the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works
and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid
from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of
them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me. O God, how
great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I'm still with
you. I'm still with you. I'm always
with you. I cannot go anywhere. I cannot go anywhere. Paul wrote,
who can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord? Who could separate us from Him?
Life can't. Death can't. We're even buried
with Him. So back over in 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. What's on
that table? What do we feed on? He said you've
prepared a table before me in the presence of all mine enemies.
What do we feed on? The answer is Christ. Christ. He's right there before us. What's in that oil that gets
poured all over us? The blood of Christ. What's in
that cup? Grace, mercy, peace, love, compassion,
forgiveness, hope. Our Lord gives us so much of
those things and they just keep running over. They just keep
spilling over. running over. Spurgeon said,
I love this, he said, if ever your cup does thus run over,
Be sure to call your poor neighbors in to catch the overflow of mercy.
And that's what we're doing here with the gospel. You know that?
That's what we're doing here with the gospel. God has given
mercy to us and he gives it brand new every morning. It starts over. And it flows
brand new every morning, and it's so much mercy we could never
exhaust it. This little group could never
exhaust it. So we stand up here and we cry,
come one, come all. Whosoever will, let him come. Let him come. Verse six says,
surely. That word reminds me of shall. Surely. No doubt about it, surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. One man described goodness and
mercy, I thought this is so, this is precious, I believe this
is true. One man described goodness and
mercy as God's two servants that are sent to each one of
his people all the days of their life. They stay right there with
them all the days of their life. And the whole time, goodness
is laying out everything they need right in front of them. And mercy comes right in behind
them, blotting out all their transgressions with the blood
of Christ. They stay right there. Goodness
is right there in front. Mercy is right there in behind. He said in verse 6, Surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will. I will. That sounds like shall
to me. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Forever. You just think about
forever. I was in my study reading this,
writing this, and I was thinking about forever. Try to get your
mind around forever. whenever after we get there and
we we see that death is swallowed up in victory all of the sin
and all of the evil and all the wickedness the judgment is made
cast into the lake of fire and all of his people are gathered
together brought into his kingdom and he says welcome thou good
and faithful servant And there we are, worshipping Him. We're
going to see Him as He is. Beloved, we don't know what we
shall be, but we shall be just like Him, for we shall see Him
as He is. And there we are, hearing Him,
worshipping Him. And I was sitting there thinking
about you men here. I thought about Brother Roy and
Brother William in glory, because you're going to be there together.
You're going to be Brother Roy and you're going to be Brother
William. Roy Christian and William Christian. And Brother Roy asked
Brother William, how long have we been here now? And Brother
William said, oh, about 10,000 years. And they both realized
we don't have one less day than the first day we got here. Not
one less day. Forever. I mean forever. Every amount of happiness that
we have in this life is immediately tainted by our end. Never again. Never again. It's going to be
forever. How long can it stay this good? Forever. I mean forever. I'm ready. I'm ready. Thank God
for shall. We're all gonna be standing there
looking at our Lord. That's my shepherd. That's my
shepherd. I shall not want. Are we gonna
have enough mercy and enough grace and enough goodness and
enough provision and enough everything for forever? I believe he got
me through 70 years just fine, but how about forever? I shall
not want. Shall not want. All right, let's
all stand together.