All right, now turn with me over
to Psalm 23. Tonight, I want us to leave the city. I want us to leave the city.
I want us to leave the industry and I want us to leave the roads and cars and I want us to leave the maintenance
on those cars, engines that need to go in them
and things like that. And I want us to leave the gas
that you have to earn money for to put in those cars to make
them keep going. And I want us to leave our houses. Let's just leave them for a minute.
Leave all the maintenance that goes along with them. The upkeep, the appliances, the
air conditioning, water lines, roof that leaks. I want us to leave the grind
of getting to the job on time. I want us to leave the bad communications,
the bad people that just get irritated. They ruin the day. You know what I mean? They're
just upset about something. I don't know what it is. Just
ruin the day. Cause a bunch of heartache. I
want us to leave every bit of that. And tonight I want us to
walk out into a big, huge field. a huge field on top of a hill where you can see for miles and
miles all of these other hilly mountains. And these hills, they're all
covered in the most perfectly colored green grass, every single
one of them. And it's all just the right height.
None of it needs to be mowed. None of it. It's all just that
perfect height, that perfect color. On top of that hill is a giant,
giant oak tree. Right at the very top of it.
I want us to sit down and lean up against that oak tree. I want us to look out at all
of God's perfect fluffy sheep in this field. All of them are at peace with
one another. They're all eating grass together. They're all rubbing
their noses against each other, loving on each other. We're sitting
up against this oak tree. They come up to us. They rub
all over us. They love on us. And then I want us to reach over
and grab our instrument of strings. It's sitting right there leaning
up against that oak tree. And it doesn't need to be tuned.
It's in perfect tune. You ever grabbed a guitar and
strummed it and thought, oh, that's perfect. Perfect tune. I want us to strum a few chords
of our favorite hymn that we sing. We each have a favorite
hymn that we sing. And I want us to just feel the
breeze that we're sitting there under this oak tree, and here
comes a little breeze blowing by. Hearing these beautiful notes
that are being played. And I want us to, in our hearts,
dwell on the Lord God that made us and made all things. The God that has given us peace
and rest. The God that we worship. That's why we're here right now.
We're worshiping a God that has given us peace and rest. The God who has provided us with
everything we need, every single thing we need, taking care of
all our needs, so good to us. The God who has ordained peace
and security, safety. Safety for us, for the rest of
our days, the rest of our days on this earth, all eternity. I want us to sit there under
that big huge oak tree, in the shade, in the breeze, with the
song, with the birds, and sing praises to our God for the next
30 minutes. I want us to sit right there
for the next 30 minutes. Psalm 23 verse 2 is our text
tonight. It says, He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. That's where we are right now.
God's green pasture. Man, it's a good place to be.
It's just a good place to stop in and rest for a minute. God's
green pasture. Our Lord had a place in the Mount
of Olives that he would resort to often. That's how Judas knew
where he would be. He went there all the time. He
resorted there often. He went there for prayer. He
went there for communion with his father and rest. He went there for rest. Time
to time, he would just get away from it all. Commune with his
father and rest. That's what we need. That is
what we need. From time to time, this soul
right here needs to get away. I mean from it all. Just get
away from it all. This soul needs to get away and
commune with its God and rest. You know what I mean? There is no better place to do
that than in God's green pasture. No better place to do that. Here's
what I want us to do for the next couple of minutes. I want
us to sit here, leaned up against this oak tree, and look around.
I just want us to look around at God's green pasture. See if
we can get a good view of this glorious place. First, let's
look at this shade we're sitting in. We're sitting here under
some shade. Turn with me over to Psalm 121. Psalm 121 says, I will lift up
mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day. nor the moon by night. The Lord
shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. Right now in Christ We are dwelling
under the shadow of the Almighty. You know that? That's where we're
sitting right now. We are dwelling, just sitting
there, dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty. The Lord is
our shade. You see all that shade? There's
a lot of shade. The Lord is Our shade. He said the sun is not going
to smite you. As long as you're in Christ,
you will not be smitten. You just won't be smitten. It's
a good place to be. Sit right there. Just sit right
there. Rest right there. This tree is
huge. I mean it's huge. Its shadow
is huge. And it does not matter what angle
the sun comes from. You know, the sun started over
here and I was fine, but now the sun's over here. I'm still
fine. Doesn't matter what angle the
sun's coming from. You are going to remain in the shade. He is
our shield and our buckler. Our shield is what's in front.
The buckler is what's in behind. all sides, from all sides, the
Lord is our shade. As long as we're in Christ, you're
not going to be smitten. The Son shall not smite thee. The judgment of God, that High,
Noon, Holy, Righteous, Bright, Pure, Almighty Son is not going
to smite you. Sit right there. Alright, now
let's look at the tree we're leaning up against. Go with me
over to Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah 11 verse 1 says, and there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And he
shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall
he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth. And he shall smite the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall
he slay the wicked, and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear
shall feed. Their young ones shall lie down
together. And the lion shall eat straw
like the ox. And the sucking child shall play
on the hole of the asp. And the weaned child shall put
his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And
in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
a sign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious." It'll be glorious. That righteous
branch is Jesus Christ. Lean on Him. Lean on Him. Sit in His shade and lean on
Him. He is our strength. He is our
shelter. And He stands for us. Affirm. The tree of life. That's who
He is. The tree of life. Whose leaves
are for the healing of the nations. Just sit right there and lean
on Him. Can you believe that you have
access to this spot? You have a good spot. Sit right
there. Sit under the shadow of His glorious shade and lean
against His glorious rest. What a wonderful place to be.
Now as we sit here, leaned up against this glorious, majestic
tree, enjoying this peace and this comfort in His shade, look
out into the field. You got it? Look out into the
field. You're going to notice that there
are flowers. They're everywhere. Way out there, there's some right
here beside us. Let's pick one and smell it. Go to Song of Solomon. It's going to be back a few pages
to Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon chapter 2. Our Lord said in verse 1, I am the rose of Sharon and the
lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so
is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. I sat down under
his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste. He brought me to the banqueting
house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons. Comfort me with apples. for I
am sick of love. His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O you daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that
you stir not up nor awake my love till he please. The voice
of my beloved, behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hills, My beloved is like a row or a young heart.
Behold, he standeth behind our wall. He looketh forth at the
windows, showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake
and said unto me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing of the
birds has come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our
land. The fig tree put it forth her green figs, and the vines
with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair
one, and come away. Can you smell the sweet-smelling
savor of Christ? Can you smell the love that he
is for his people? the love in everything he has
done for his people. Look at chapter 5 verse 11. It says, His head is as the most
fine gold. His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves
by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His
cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers. His lips like
lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold
rings set with the barrel. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, yea,
He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." What a beautiful
place to be. What a fragrant place to be. That breeze that we feel, we
know what that is, don't we? That's the Holy Spirit. of the
living God that bloweth where it listeth. Bring in that quickening
life wherever He wants to bring it and He is blowing on us. He sends it wherever He will.
We don't know where it's coming from, where it's going to, but
it's blowing on us. He sends His gentle breeze to
whoever is leaning on the tree resting under the shadow and
smelling the sweet-smelling savor of Christ. Whoever's doing that
is going to feel that breeze. They really are. That music we're
playing, those beautiful notes, Moses said this, he said, the
Lord is my strength and my song. The Lord is my song. There's within my heart a melody. You know that song? There is
within my heart a melody. What is it? Christ liveth in
me. He is our song. I was looking
at all this thinking, I don't want to leave this place. When
the Lord lets us come in and sit down, I don't want to get
up and leave. What a wonderful place to be. All of the sheep
that are in this pasture, they don't want to leave it either.
You can look out and see all these sheep, and if you'll notice,
they're all gathered together. Sheep are called gregarious animals. They like to be together. They
like to huddle very closely together. If you look into the herd of
those sheep, right into the middle of them, in the midst is a lamb. right in the middle of them.
Let's get a good look at this lamb. Go with me to Revelation
chapter 7. Revelation 7 verse 9 says, After this, I beheld, and lo,
a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations
and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands,
and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God,
which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And all the
angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders,
and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces
and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom,
and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be under
our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." What a place to be. Right in the middle of
all those sheep in God's green pasture is the Lamb. The Lamb
that sits on the throne. The Lamb that was slain. This is a glorious place. God's
green pasture is glorious. All right, now let me close with
the good news. I want to show you the good news
of all this. Go back to Psalm 23. This is honestly the most joyful,
happy thing that this center has ever heard. This is the most
joyful thing I've ever heard. Psalm 23 verse 2 says, He maketh
me. He made me to lie down in this
green pasture. me. He made me. I have been made
and you have been made to rest in Christ. We have been made
to leave the city, come out from among all the people and go out
into this beautiful peaceful place where the work is all finished
and walk right up under that cool shade and sit right down
and lean up on that tree and hug up with all of God's sheep,
smell the fragrance of it, hear the beauty of it, and see the
Lamb. Just sit there and watch the
Lamb. He made me to lie down in green pastures. He's made
us to rest in Christ. God's green pasture is all Christ,
every bit of it is Christ. He said, come unto me and I will
give you rest. He is the pasture. He's the pasture we've been made
to lie down in. And we are welcome to stay there
as long as we like. If we get a hold of anything
tonight, get a hold of this. We are welcome to stay there
as long as we like. It doesn't have to be 30 minutes.
It has been like 28 minutes. But we're welcome to stay there
as long as we like. Even when we go back into the
city, we're about to walk out that door and we're about to
go back into the city. There's going to be plenty of
cars and plenty of roads and plenty of problems and plenty
of stuff. But we're welcome to stay right
here. We don't have to leave. So this is my prayer. This is
what I want. I want to keep leaning on this
tree. That's what I want to do. No
matter what I'm doing, no matter what's going on, I want us all
to just lean up against this tree, stay right there under
that shade, and lie down and rest. There's really nothing else that
I need in this life. There really isn't. God's green
pasture, it's right here in this Word. It's where we find Christ. Let's stay in it. Let's stay
in it. May the Lord take His Word, and as soon as we go out
into this world, don't let it leave us. Don't let it all just
leave us. Lord, let me just stay right
there. and rest. All right, let's all stand together.