Now this morning, I want to bring
the message from Psalm 23. I want to speak to the Lord's
sheep. I want to give some comfort to
the Lord's sheep, to those who truly believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says in verse 1, the Lord
is my shepherd. He is the one who will faithfully
guide me through this life. I have to confess, I don't know
which way to go. But my shepherd knows. He knows
where all the snares are laid. He knows where all the traps
are in the wilderness. My shepherd knows all things,
for my shepherd is the Lord. Blessed is the man that hath
the Lord for his shepherd. What confidence this should instill
in us, to know that the Lord of heaven and earth is my shepherd,
the sovereign king, in whose hand all things have been given,
All things have been delivered into his hands. He's my shepherd. And this shepherd has the power
to keep the sheep. He said, No man can pluck them
out of my hand, for my followers gave them me is greater than
all. Therefore I shall not want. I shall not want. He knows my
needs even before I ask him. He knows my needs. He knows the
needs of every one of his sheep. He will provide us our daily
bread. He will clothe us like he does
the lilies of the field. David said, I have been young,
now I am old. I have never seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. But let me give you some
things that I shall not want for. I shall not want for wisdom. For the shepherd, my shepherd,
is my wisdom. He'll teach me. I shall not want
for righteousness, for the Shepherd is my righteousness. He is the
Lord, our righteousness. I shall not want for sanctification,
for in my Shepherd I am sanctified. I shall not want for redemption,
for my Shepherd has redeemed my soul. He has paid the bill
in full, and now nothing can be demanded from me in any way,
shape, or form. All that I need I have in my
shepherd. It says in Colossians 2 10. Ye
are complete in him. God's people shall not want for
any good thing. If you have the shepherd, you
have all that you need. My shepherd maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. Once in a while he draws me from
the cares and concerns of this life and makes me to lie down
in his word. He gives me comfort and nourishment
out of His Word. He lets me have a little glimpse
of Him through the lattice of His Word. His Word is green pastures
to His people. It is where we get spiritual
nourishment. The pastures of this world are wood, hay, and
stubble. There's no spiritual nourishment
in them. There's no spiritual good of
any kind whatsoever in them. There's no taste of God. There's
no taste of the gospel in them. But in His Word we find precious
promises. We find promises like these,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. I have blotted out thy
transgressions. I will remember thy sins and
iniquities no more. And many, many more promises
do we find in His Word. It is in His Word that we find
out who the Shepherd is, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is who
the Shepherd is. and what he's like, meek and
lowly. We find out that he is indeed
the Lord of glory, and that he is holy, just, and true, and
that he delights to show mercy to sinners. This shepherd you
can trust for life. Life is his to give, and you
can trust him for it. And not only does he make me
to lie down in green pastures, but he also leaves me beside
still waters. After making me to lie down in
his word, and feeding me on himself, he leadeth me beside still waters,"
David says. Waters of quietness. When the
sheep are being led by the shepherd, there's quietness. Tumult and
confusion comes from sin and Satan. You take them away and
you have quietness. I have heard it said, still waters
run deep. He takes his sheep and leads
them into all truth. He reveals who God is, who He
is, who we are. He reveals the love of God for
us in Him. He reveals the power of God in
saving sinners, of which He is the power of God in the saving
of a sinner. He enables us to drink of the
river of life, and He's that river of life. He restoreth my
soul. He's the one that always does
the restoring. When I sin, He restores the joy. When I am weak, He restores my
strength. When I feel hopeless, He restores
my hope. And He does this when He leads
us and makes us to lie down in green pastures and beside still
waters. And like a good shepherd, like
a good shepherd, He leads me in paths of righteousness for
His namesake. The good shepherd leads his sheep
in paths of righteousness and not sin. He cannot be charged
with sinning or leading us into sin. We fall into sin when we
are drawn away by the lust of the flesh that's still in us.
We still have that old nature with us. We are not led into
sin by Him. It's not because He led us into
it. His ways are always righteous. His paths are always righteous. And listen, He leads us in paths
of righteousness, or we would never find it. Now if He did
not lead us into it, we would not find it. But He leads us
into it, it says here, for His namesake, for His own glory,
and for His own praise. The scripture says, a good name
is better to be had than silver or gold. And He leads us in paths
of righteousness for His own glory and praise and for His
own namesake. Now David says, Yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Our conduct reveals our faith. David says, I walk. I'm not running out of fear.
I'm not hiding like Adam did. I'm walking. Walking shows confidence. Walking shows trust. That's what it shows. We walk.
The life of a believer is not one of fear and trembling. It's
one of confidence and trust in God. We walk. And this is why we don't fear
any evil. Here it is. For thou art with
me. I'm not alone. God, who is my shepherd, is not
off in some far distant country, some far distant land. He's with
me. The scripture says, Christ in
you, the hope of glory. Christ is in every one of his
sheep. He's not just walking beside
of them, he's in them. If he's not in you, you're not
his. Now when you go through the water, he says, I'll be with
thee, and these things shall not hurt you. They are only shadows. A shadow has never hurt anyone.
It has no substance. But here's the reason why we
will not fear. God is with us. Thou shalt call
his name Emmanuel, meaning God with us. And thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me, whether they are used for chastening
me or driving out the enemy. I find comfort in his staff,
in his rod and in his staff, because of whose hand they are
in. They are in the hand of my shepherd, who does everything
for my good. And then he says, Thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Now this drifts
with confidence. Right in the face of my enemies,
God enables me to sit down and feast on His Son. Right in the
face of the enemy, He has prepared His flesh for me to eat by faith
and His blood for me to drink by faith. Right in the enemy's
face, He enables us to feast on Him, even now. And when sudden
fear comes, don't jump up from the table and run. It's under
his control. Satan can do absolutely nothing. He cannot move a hair or a hand
without the shepherd allowing him to do so. He cannot do anything. Nothing. Nothing in this life,
nothing after this life can touch you. Can touch you. You belong to the shepherd. And
I mean nothing going to harm his sheep. Nothing can come their
way that he does not allow it. And if he allows it, I'm telling
you, it's for your good. It's for good. And then he says,
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Thy blessings
are poured out on me abundantly. Daily the scripture says he loadeth
us with benefits. His mercies are more than I can
number. or how God has blessed his sheep
in Christ. He has put away, listen, all
our shame and guilt through the shepherd. He has filled our hearts
with gladness. He has lifted us beggars from
the dunghill and set us among princes. He has redeemed our
life from destruction. He intercedes for us in glory. He intercedes for every one of
His sheep. Even those that are not yet born, He intercedes for
them. My, what He's done. As the psalmist said, come let
me tell you what He hath done for my soul. And then he says,
My cup runneth over, my heart cannot contain all his blessings. When my sin abounds, his grace
does much more abound. His mercy is greater than my
sin. His love is deeper than the stain
has gone. Who can separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus? Nothing. Absolutely nothing can
separate us from that. Surely, he says, or truly, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. His goodness
and mercy is what set me apart. It set me apart. It was His goodness
and mercy that stopped me on my road to hell and put me on
the right path. It was His goodness and mercy
that delivered me from my ignorance and taught me the gospel. It
has been His goodness and mercy that has supplied all my needs.
It has been His goodness and mercy that has delivered me through
all my trials. All of them. And you know what? It will follow me all the days
of my life, all the days of my God-given life. There will never
be a time that His goodness and mercy will not be on me and follow
me. This is why we can say that all
things work out together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. Because it's
always on me and it is always following me. His goodness and
mercy is always following His sheep. It surrounds His sheep. His sheep are constantly under
the care, get a hold of this, they are constantly under the
care of God's goodness and mercy. And that mercy and that goodness
is infinite. You cannot measure the goodness
and mercy of God Almighty. You cannot measure the goodness
and mercy of the Shepherd. You can't do it. It's on us. And here's the results of it,
and I'll close. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. One day we are going to lay this
house down, this body down. We are going to leave this shadow
of death. And we are going to dwell in
the house of the Lord forever. Never to leave it. Never to be
troubled again by anyone. Never to be troubled by Satan,
sin, this flesh, nothing. We are going to dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. And I say this, may God's goodness
God's mercy follow you all the days of your life. Until next
time, may God bless you.