Turn to Psalm 23. Psalm 23. This message is for
the sheep. It's for the comfort of the sheep. Encourage the Lord's people. Give them comfort. And this psalm
is one of those psalms that everyone here is familiar with. But I
tell you, it just gets richer and richer to me. The older I get, the more rich
this becomes to me. The title of the message is,
I Shall Not Want. I Shall Not Want. David starts out here, the Lord, the self-existing One, see it's
all capital here, Jehovah, the One who exists by His own self,
by His own power, He's the self-existing One. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my master. He's my
Lord and my God. And I'm glad it's so. I don't
want to be my own master. I tell you, the worst thing that
God could do to anyone here is leave you alone. He said to His
disciples one time concerning some Pharisees, He said to them,
leave them alone. I thank God that the Lord is
my Master. He's my Shepherd. And He's my
Keeper. Turn over to Psalm 121. He's
my Keeper. I've learned a long time ago,
I cannot keep myself. I can't keep myself. I lost three
jobs. They went out of business. I'm
like, what now? What now? But the Lord kept. He kept me. He kept my family.
The Lord is my keeper. Let me just read this whole Psalm
to you. It's not long. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from which cometh my help. My help cometh from the
Lord, which made heaven and earth. That's who I look to. I look
to the Lord. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. He will not sleep. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. He's
the one who keeps you safe. He's the one who keeps you from
harm. Safety is of the Lord. 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
for evermore. What a song. Oh, we ought to have that memorized.
He's my keeper. He's my counselor. The Lord's
my counselor. He guides the steps of my feet.
Do you know which way to go? Do you? No. Do you know what's
going to happen the next minute? Do you know what's coming down
the road? I don't. He does. He knows exactly what's
coming my way tomorrow. He decreed it. He purposed it.
I don't know. And most of the time, well, all
the time, not most of the time, all the time, I really don't
know which way to go. I said, Lord, direct my steps,
direct my thoughts. He's my counselor. He's my protector. He's my shield and buckler. The
Lord is. He's my shield and buckler. And
he's my owner. Well, I'm glad of that. He's
my owner. I tell you this, someone owns
you. You're not your own. Someone owns you. The Lord's
my owner. He's the owner of the sheep.
The sheep are His. And because I have such a shepherd,
I shall not want." We looked at creation this morning.
Our shepherd created all this. David said this, and this is
especially good, I think, for the older ones of us. David said,
I have been young, and now am old. I have not and never seen
the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Always taking
care of them. He providentially meets all our
needs. When I leave this life and I
stand before God, I shall not want any good thing there either. I have in Jesus Christ all I
need in this life, and when I stand before God, I have all I need.
Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I have it all.
I have it all. I shall not want for righteousness
for my shepherd. My shepherd is my righteousness.
My shepherd is my wisdom. My shepherd is everything I need. He's made to me, we sing that
song, He's made to me all I need. All I need. What a provider our
shepherd is. I shall not come up short in
anything. In anything. In my shepherd,
in my shepherd, I am complete. That's why it says in Colossians,
in Him, you are complete. You don't bring anything, don't
bring anything, don't provide anything. He has provided all
of it. Just like in creation, before
God created Adam, He provided everything Adam would need, everything. And then He created Adam. In Him, you are complete. And
then He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He provides
the green pastures for me to lie down in. He leads me beside the still
waters, but He leads me to the green pastures to lie down in. God has provided 66 green pastures
for me to lie down in. It's called the Bible. 66 books
of the Bible. Those are 66 green pastures that we can find our shepherd
in and we can lie down in and learn of Him. His Word gives
us great comfort. Where do the sheep really get
comfort from? In times of trouble, heartache,
where do you really get any comfort from? His Word. His Word. That's where you get
it from. To those who know His Word and
in whose heart the Word of God resides, that's where you get
your comfort from. His Word. God's good for His
Word. The Scripture says that God has magnified His name above
His Word. There have been times when trials
have come. And I have prayed, Lord, You said... When you take God's own Word
to Him now, it's powerful. Lord, You said, call upon Me
in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you shall glorify
Me. You comfort from His Word. Lord,
You said, You said. In His Word are many promises. many promises for the weary sheep.
And I tell you what, we do get weary, don't we, in this life.
This life will wear you out. This life and sin and this body
of sin and flesh will absolutely wear you out. My pastor says he prays every
day. He told me, he said, I pray every
day that I won't wake up here tomorrow. It'll wear you out. Grown, look
over in the, I didn't write this down, look over in first, let's
look in 1 Corinthians 5, or 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5, let me make
sure I've got the right thought for the scripture. For we know, in chapter 5, for
we know that if our earthly house and this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God and a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly."
Paul said, I have a desire to depart and be with the Lord. We groan earnestly, desiring
to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. You know,
we've grown in this flesh, we've grown under pain, and the believer
grows. Especially, I know this, I've
seen this, as they grow older. As they grow older in this old
life, you understand more what sin is, what this life is. You've grown, you've grown not
to just be rid of it, but to be clothed upon. Desire to be
clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. And if
so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. But we desire, the sheep desires
to be with the Lord, be with the
Shepherd. Someday we're gonna see the Shepherd.
Face to face. Faith will give way to sight.
It'll give way to sight. But until then, Until then, we
have many promises in God's Word. And the Lord said this, here's
one of them. Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. You know what? That's not just a one-time act.
I find myself coming to Christ every day for some rest, for
some peace, for some comfort. Then it says, He leadeth me beside
still waters. He leads us by His Spirit. We're
not alone. He leads us by His Spirit. You're
sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. He leads us by His providence. Brings certain things into our
lives and guides us certain directions. He leads us by His wisdom. And
He leads us beside the still waters. He not only feeds the
sheep, but He waters the sheep. And what he's doing here, he's
leading us to rest. You know, the hardest thing,
the hardest thing for a believer to do is to rest. That's why he says the labor,
he tells us the labor to rest. Isn't that a, they call it oxymoron. They call it something. But we have to labor in this
life, all those who believe God, we have to labor to rest. We
have to labor to let it go. Just let it go. Take your burdens
to the Lord and what? Leave them there. Have you ever
done that? No, you put it back in your pocket
and go back home. I know what you do, I do it. I know. But He's leading us to rest.
You know, when the storm, remember in the Gospels, when the boat
was being over, just water coming in. They were in that storm.
And the waters were filling the boat up, and they were trying
to bail it out. And it says the Lord was in the hindered part
of the ship asleep. He was asleep. During that whole
storm, he was asleep. That's perfect faith. When he laid down, he believed
that God would take care of him. And if he's in that storm, that
storm's of God. Whatever comes of that storm
will come of God. And you know, because of sin, we can't rest
like that, but we ought to. We absolutely ought to be able
to rest in whatever trial comes our way with perfect peace in
God. But because of sin, we can't. We don't. And then He says here, He restores
my soul. He restores my soul. My soul was
lost. There was a time I was lost. Do you know what it was to be
lost? Do you remember a time before God saved you, what it
was to be lost? God has to get men lost before
He saves them. He restores my soul. It was lost
in Adam. It was lost. In Christ, it's
restored. I just read to you in John chapter
10, He lays down His life for the sheep. What's He doing? He's restoring my soul. He's
going to restore my soul. But in order to do that, He's
got to take care of this sin issue. Because that's what I
am. I sin because of what I am. He lifts me up when I'm cast
down. David said, David speaking to
himself, he said, my soul, why art thou cast down? Hope thou
in God. He said, my soul, you have no
reason to be cast down. Hope thou in God. He lifts me up when I'm cast
down. He's the one who plucked my feet
out of the fire. I'm the bran plucked out of the
fire. He's the one who made reconciliation for me. My shepherd reconciled me to
God, and now I have peace with God
Almighty. Peace. And he's the one, my shepherd
is the one who brought me into true fellowship with God the
Father. It is through Him that I know
God. It is through Him that I have
fellowship with God. Apart from Him, there's no fellowship,
and there is no knowing God. None. Zilch. We'll have an imagination
of who God is, and it will be wrong. It can only be right when it's
given through Christ. When we know God in Christ. And then it says, He leadeth
me. Isn't this... That's the reason
I wanted to sing this song. He's constantly leading us. When you go out these doors in
a little bit, the Lord will be leading you. The shepherd will
be... And you won't even recognize
it. You won't. You'll be thinking about where
you're going for lunch. And all the while, He's leading. He's
leading. You know, I can look back and
I can say this. All that I've gone through in all my life has
been to bring me here to Spring Lake. The Lord led me down all
these paths and all these directions and set me under Henry and all
those years. And you don't know how many times
I've been asked to be a pastor, and Henry has asked me several times over the years.
He says, John, are you interested in pastoring a church? And my
answer to him was always, if the Lord will, I will. If not,
I won't. I said, that's the way I feel
about it. And he's asked me that three or four times over the
years. And I wondered. I wondered over the years. Because
all those young men I was in the preacher school with went
out. They went out when they were young. But God kept me there
to bring me here. And I am 100% confident of that. There's no accident with God.
None. But He leadeth me in the path
of righteousness for His namesake. Where our Lord leads us, it's
always in a path of righteousness. It's always the right path. Now
listen, He never leads us to sin. He never leads us in a path
that leads to sin. He never does that. Now when
I fall, when I sin, that's me. That's me. And He allows me to
do it. Like He did David. He allowed
David to go down that wrong path. He allowed him to do it. But now when He leads me, it's
in a path of righteousness. Always. Every time. And He does
so for His namesake. Because of who He is, He's God,
He's holy, He's just. He cannot lead in a wrong path.
He can't lead in a wrong path. It's always a righteous path.
And it leads to glory. The path He's leading His sheep
in winds up in glory, in heaven, in paradise, in His presence. He never leads us astray. Trust His leadership. Trust His
leadership. Trust Him to always lead you.
Lord, and this ought to be in every one of our prayers, guide
and direct my steps. I don't know. I don't know. But
you do. And yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I will fear no evil. Why? Because I'm tough. I started to tell you the poster
I used to have hanging up one time, but it's a little too ornery. No, I'm not tough. It's a little
old bug germ get ahold of me and I'm down, whining like a
baby. I will not fear the evil one
who has been bound by my shepherd. I will not fear no evil because
thou art with me. God's with me. Why do I have
to fear? I will not fear evil men whose
hearts are nothing but evil. I'll not fear men. The Scripture
says, don't fear what men can do to you. You know, our Lord
said this one time. He said, don't fear men who can
destroy the body, but they can't do anything else to you. They
can't destroy your soul. But I tell you who to fear. Fear
Him who can cast both body and soul into hell. That means this, stand in awe
of Him. Stand in awe of Him. I will not fear evil tidings. Can we really say that? Oh, God
help us to get to that point. We will not fear evil tidings
for all things are of God. Whatever comes my way is of God. All things are of God. So why
should I fear evil tidings? And then I will not fear the
grave. I'll not fear death. I don't
fear death. You know, he says, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow. That's all death is to us. It's
a shadow. You ever been hurt by a shadow? Huh? You ever been bruised up by a
shadow? That's all it is. It's just a
shadow. No, listen, no substance to it. No substance to it. No, I'll not fear the grave for
it's only a shadow. Death, the hell in the grave,
the sting, he says, has been taken away. The sting of death
is gone. I've watched people, I've watched
some people die. I've watched one person die that
was just screaming and didn't want to die. I never want to
see that again. Asking me, asking me. Pray, pray
for me, pray for me. And I've seen people die in great
peace. Talking about the Lord. In their
last breath, talking about the Lord. The shepherd. No sting of death. There's no
sting in the grave, no sting in death. Christ took the stinger
out of it. Took the stinger out. It's not there. It's really just
a door we're gonna go through to be in His presence. And he says the reason he's not
afraid, he says, yeah, though I walk, not run, I'm not running
through this valley because I'm afraid, I'm walking. I'm just
walking. Ain't it walk with God? But here's why, for thou art
with me. If God be for us, who can be against us? And listen to this one. Thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort me. They comfort
me. We don't need to fear the rod
of God as if it's going to destroy us. We don't need to fear His
rod. His chastening rod, it's all it's for. It's chastening
and it drips. I'm telling you, it drips with
love. It drips with love. The rod and
the staff of God by which he guides and directs and corrects
us are not evil. You know, you take a rod, you
take a rod and depending on the person that picks it up and uses
it, whether you need to be afraid or not, There are some who will
pick up the rod and they'd beat you to death with it. But God
picks it up and it's in love and He just corrects. Whom the
Lord loves, He corrects. If you love your children, you
correct your children. That's so. Don't ever think that the rod
of God, even though it may bring tears, is being used in an evil
way. It's not. It's not. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence, in the presence of mine enemies. Right in the
presence of God's enemies, he says, sit down and eat. Sit down
and eat. It's a table of grace. It is
a table of mercy. And Christ has prepared for us
a banquet. That's what we have here this
morning. Right here in this psalm, we have a banquet going on. There's
a feast right here. If the Lord enables us to eat
of it, there's a feast in these verses. This is sheep food. This is sheep food. We are allowed to feast on Him
every day. in the presence of our enemies. How many people you know would
like to see this place dissolved? And yet God right now has prepared
us a table this morning to sit here and feast right in the presence
of your enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. His grace is poured forth on
us. We have been anointed by the
Holy Spirit. That is, we've been sealed by
the Holy Spirit of God. He's in us. We are His. And He qualifies us for the work
of every day. He does. He's the one who qualifies
us. He's the one who equips us, enables
us. Thou anointest my head with oil. He's the one who instructs us.
The Holy Spirit guides, teaches and instructs you. And David
says this, my head, my cup, that is my cup runneth over. I say this to myself and I say
this to you. If my cup runs not over, why
not? Why not? The fountain is there,
the fountain of grace. The fountain of grace is wide
open. It's not dry. It's not dry. If you took this cup and you
held it under a fountain, and that fountain's running, you
held it under a fountain, Would it not soon run over? Would it
not soon run over? If we hold ourselves under the fountain of God's grace,
sooner or later, the cup will run over. The reason it's not
running over, because we've got other things to do. Martha, Martha,
I've come about with much things. But Mary has chosen the good
part, sitting at His feet. Oh, I got this to do. I got that
to do. Remember in the Scriptures that one man said, I bought a
piece of land. I can't come to the marriage. I bought a piece
of land. I got to go see it. Who buys a piece of land without
going to see it? That's an excuse. Another one is, I married a wife. I ain't going to go there. Excuses. Excuses. Brethren, if we avail ourselves
of the fountain of grace, I promise you, on God's Word, your cup
will run over. It'll run over. It says in Psalm 16.11, in thy
presence is fullness of joy. In His presence. Now ain't closing. He demonstrates confidence in
Christ's mercy here. Here's an indisputable fact.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life. These two guardians, these two guardians are always with
God's sheep. They are always with His sheep.
God's goodness and God's mercy follow you everywhere you go. Everywhere you go. Never a moment without them.
God's goodness and God's mercy is always before and ahead of
his sheep. Always, always. And here's the end result of
this. The end result of a believer's
life in Christ. Here it is. And I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Where do you want to dwell forever? David said he'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. All His sheep, all the Lord's
sheep, and as I read to you in John 10, those for whom He died,
all His sheep have a good end. We have a good end. We have it.