Rowan, if you will, it'll be
good for us. I invite you to turn in your
Bibles with me to Psalm 23. I want to preach this message
second. First, we have to be made dogs first
before these promises are to us. Do you understand that? These are promises to dogs, that
is, that we're not be wanting. We won't be found wanting, we
won't be ashamed. Here in Psalm 23, the master
tells us in Mark 4, he said, take heed what you hear. Somebody's gonna have to help
us with that when we're young, but be careful what you hear,
careful what you listen to. And this is a commandment of
Christ. It's his words. Teach them all my sayings. Be
careful how you hear. How you hear. Both are very important. I was just so encouraged one
time. I was traveling and I preached from a very familiar text and
a man come up to me after and he said, when you got up, I thought,
well, I've heard this 50 times. I mean, it'll be good, but he
came, big burly fella, came up to me with just tears streaming
down his face. And he said, I was wrong. He
said, that was a blessing. I need to hear Christ today.
We can all probably quote Psalm 23, but I earnestly pray he'll
make this fresh and new to us, to each of us this morning. I
do. I've prayed about that for days.
Make it fresh to me. Make it fresh to you. This daily
bread. Not yesterday's manna. Not what
might come tomorrow. Right now. Right now. Psalm 23,
verse 1. 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 leadeth
me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Who does the
work there? He. Not us. He. Isn't that plain? I like the way the Lord wrote
that. 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. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely Goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Forever. It begins there, the
Lord is my shepherd. Who? The Lord, capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D. That's who these promises are
hinged on. Very good saying. A man's only
as good as his word. Right? You can say that backwards.
A word's only as good as the man. I've had people, if earnest,
they say, I'm gonna do, I'll be there Tuesday and I'll fix
your plumbing. I don't show up. I ought to be, instead of frustrated,
I ought to be glad because if they're that shoddy with their
calendar, they're probably that shoddy with their plumbing too. I ain't good
at plumbing either. You don't want me fixing it. Ought to be thankful
to get somebody else. So the word's only as good as
the one that it's based on, the one that says it. Well, who's
this word based on? The Lord. The self-existent one. He's the shepherd and he's the
bishop of our souls. That's who He is. We looked at
this before, Psalm 23, when we was going through the names of
the Lord. What we call all the names, it ain't. The Lord has
a lot of names, but those names of Jehovah are plain right here
in this text. We looked at that. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Jehovah Rapha, God heals. Jehovah
Shalom, the Lord, our peace. Jehovah Rhea, our great way. And the Lord, our shepherd. Jehovah
Sikhenu, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Shema, God's there. He's
ever present. He's always with us. And Jehovah
Nisi, the Lord our banner. That's what we wave. That's what
children of God wave. Christ and Him crucified. Tell
me about you. Well, it ain't gonna take long
to tell you about the one that saved this you, this me. It's so, isn't it? He's the good
shepherd. He's the great shepherd. He's
the chief shepherd. That's what the scriptures tell
us. This one who created all things. This is who we're talking
about, the Lord. As I know him, I want to know him again. If
I knew him yesterday, I want to hear about him today. That
makes me happy. I like to hear the Lord's on
his throne. He does whatever he pleases and whatever he does
is right. He's holy and he's just. I want to hear that. Some
of y'all want to hear that, don't you? He created all things. He's the God of creation. He
sustains all things. Everything that comes to pass,
God did it. Let's be happy about that. I pulled a tore, a muscle in
my side right here on my birthday. Good birthday present. It was.
It's hurt for two weeks. And I thought, well, the Lord
did that. That's good. That's just a little old muscle pull,
you know. Everything. I want to be taught that. I want
to be faithful in those things. I want to walk through this world
like somebody that believes God. He provides all things in his
providence. He is all. This is the Lord who is salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
from him and it's him. He's the one that provided himself
as a lamb. And this is who heaven itself
is. Everybody wants to go to heaven
if they got a sane mind in them. Well, what's that? It's a person.
What if it's in a place that's cold or a place that's hot? Some
people like cold places, some people like hot. I know a fellow
I was talking to today, he said, I went to Hawaii, it didn't do nothing
for me. I said, well, I liked it. And then he likes it cold
and snowy. I was like, I hurt whenever it's
cold and snowy. This place is Him. He's capital
H Heaven. For of Him, that's the source
of all things. And through Him, that's the means
that God uses. He performs His will. And to
Him, that's a culmination of this pilgrimage, are all things
to whom be glory forever. Amen. He gets all the glory for
it. This is the Lord. The scripture
sums this whole thing up in the most brevity possible. Three
words. Christ is all. That's it. If he'd not make us say that,
make that in our hearts. That's what I want. I want that
for you, I want that for me, I want that for my children, I want
that for my enemies. I want him. The Lord is my shepherd. Not just a shepherd, and not
like, well, now he's the shepherd. No, he's my shepherd. This is
personal, personal. This ain't agreeing to a pre-canned
response It's one-on-one, and it's real with a person. I shall
not want. Because of that, it's all based
on the Lord, who's my shepherd. I shall not want. We want things. Now, I said that language evolves. I want to go out to eat at the
sub place, or I want pizza, or I want to make a little more
money, or I want my hair to not fall out, whatever. That's just
a desire. That's just a desire. Let me
tell you what this means. People quote this all over this world, don't
they? They don't know what it means. God help them. They'll be quoting His word and
His judgment one day. I said Psalm 23 in front of a
group of teenagers one time. What'd it mean? Well, it said,
Lord, He's my shepherd, and I shall not want. That means lack. That
means fail. I ain't gonna fail. I ain't gonna
be ashamed. I ain't gonna come up lacking. Why? Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide, won't
he? What's this to be found wanting
of lack? Why more lack food or clothes or housing? That's what
worldly people seek. We need those things. We're to
get up and go to work and see after those things. That Gentile
widow Elijah went to, you know what she's doing whenever she's
about to make that last meal? She's out gathering sticks, wasn't
she? She's diligent. We ought to be diligent, but
that's just carnal things. That's all going to burn up one
day. Those outside of Christ, they're going to be found in
want. Lacking, failing. You remember what Daniel said?
Nebuchadnezzar went nuts. The Lord took his mind from him.
His son come in, Belshazzar. He was running things, had a
big drunken party, playing with the things of God. Drunk on a
wine of Babylon. Handwriting on the wall. Can you see the handwriting on
the wall? Can I? Is this to me or is this just
a fact to somebody else? Is this personal? It says, thou
art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. That's a dog,
isn't it? That's me. That's me. I'm going
to be left to myself. I'm going to be found wanting.
My experience and my faith and my doing and my thinking and
my anything, it ain't worth nothing. I'm in trouble. That's a need
too, isn't it? You won't be found wanting. That's
what old, I don't care to say if he's alive, Mr. Rogers, he,
on his deathbed, looked at his wife. He said, did I do enough?
Did I do enough? Did I do enough? And I guarantee
you, she said, yeah, you did great. Wish I could have been there
and said, no, mankind can't do nothing. Christ is all. He has to be the
shepherd. We're just sheep. Those who aren't sheep don't
need a shepherd. They're wise in their own conceits, and I
can do it by myself. I'm fine. I don't need nobody. Goats don't need shepherds, do
they? A sheep requires a shepherd. Somebody has to shear them, somebody
has to feed them, somebody has to take care of them, get the mud
off of them. Us sheep have a shepherd, and
because of him, solely because of him, we won't be found wanting.
We shall not want. That's a sure thing. That's a
promise. Do you know that? That's one of God's promises.
If God was here, and he said, I'm gonna promise you some things.
Would we pay attention? Could God keep our attention
during that? He'd have to do it, wouldn't he? He'd have to
give us ears to hear. He says, the Lord's my shepherd,
I shall not want. Why? What's he gonna do with
that? He maketh me lie down in green pastures. Maketh. It's not offered. Paul told Tim
to preach the Word. He didn't say debate the Word
or go and offer up the Word to be shared with somebody. He said,
go preach it. It's a declaration. God doesn't offer this up like
anybody wants to. You just get in line and I'll be handing out
lunch all day long. He maketh his sheep. He's a shepherd. We're sheep. He makes us. He
maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He doesn't make us
have an austere life for no reason and bop us on the heads and be
mean because he's a rough man. He's making me lie down in green
pastures. That's good. That's good. And
he leadeth me. He took me by the hand, whether
I was awake or asleep or kicking and screaming or whatever. And
he led me right beside still waters. That's good. That's a good thing. He makes
me lie down. That's literally translated crouch
or to recline. That's the literal translation.
That's in submission and in rest. Everybody thinks submission is
such a bad thing. That's freedom. The first time
I ever preached, I guess, was a wedding, and I was talking
about why I've submitted to your husband. That's freedom. That's
on him. Your grandma told you that. She
said, Kev's gonna buy a new truck. She said, let him worry about that.
He's the one that's gotta pay the bills. She said, oh, I got
me a new truck out of the deal. It was a bad investment, but
I got me a new truck. I got problems out of the deal, too, didn't
I? He makes me lie down in green pastures. Makes me crouch down.
Green pastures, what's that? That's what sheep eat. That's
this Word. This Word is the green pasture.
Before you become a good shepherd, a good keeper of sheep, you have
to be a good farmer of grass. Do you know that? I heard a man
that kept sheep one time. I said, I'm not interested in
keeping sheep. He said, first thing you need to do is get good at
growing grass. That's what they eat. This grass is His Word. What's that? In the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
makes us feed on him. He said, take, eat. This is my
body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.
He made me do that. I didn't make a good decision
for Jesus and come down to the front of the road and take a
wafer. And now I have a sacrament and
grace has entered me. No, he made me feast on him. And that's just a token. Just
a picture of what he did, because we get it. I got, you eat, I
eat, you drink, I drink. I understand those things. That's
restful, isn't it? Jehovah Shalom, He's our rest.
We're led by the still waters. Oh boy, that's good. He's made
the waters of the Father's judgment that we just had coming, buddy.
It's our wage, this is right. We worked, we got paid, and that's
what we're getting paid. Raging waters of death. Against us,
He's made them still. He's bore that wrath, bore that
sin, bore that judgment for us in his body on a tree, and now
that's all calmed down. And he shows us, and look here,
look what I did. That's what I did for you. I
did this. He told them, remember Luke 8,
whenever they was in that ship, there were a bunch of guys in
the same boat. They were having fellowship.
They were the same thing. They had the same thing to talk
about. Same rain on them, same waves, same whatever, same thing
to eat. It was all on the same boat.
And a storm came. And these were commercial fishermen.
Now I might go on the boat and I get kind of nervous. And somebody
that did that for a living, that's like one time I had a flight
attendant, she started screaming. And I thought, oh, we're in trouble
now. You do this for a living. They were getting upset. They
said, hey, we're going to die. They woke him up. The Lord's
sleeping. Calm. What was he doing? Looking
to the Father. He said, me and him is one, I'm
his, he's mine. Well, I get frustrated. He ain't
surprised, he ain't caught off guard, he ain't like me. You
get that? He was sleeping. And they said,
you gonna let us die? And then he arose. They said,
we're gonna perish, master. And he arose and he rebuked the
wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased and they were
calm. Calm water. And he said to them, where's
your faith? In case you've never heard this
before, let me answer it to you. Where is your faith? You are right
here in the same ship with us, Lord. You are my faith. I'm looking at you right now.
What was I thinking? Oh, you've been right there the
whole time. He's present, isn't he? That's his name. He's with
us. How can God be just and justify
us? How can a man born a woman be
found holy before God himself? How can these promises be true
to me? This is the one that calmed those waters. And we'll sing
because of that. Do you know that? We're gonna
sing this in glory. He said in Revelation 19, I heard,
as it were, the voice of a great multitude as the voice of many
waters. That sounds just like him. They're crying us out. The voice of mighty thunderings
saying, hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The one that's all power. He's
on his throne. He's done everything just as
he wanted to. Not my way, but your way. Not my will, but your
will be done. And they're going to sing because he's calmed those
waters. Now we're going to be the loud thing, praising him
who sits on his throne. Verse three, here's another one. He restoreth, that's in the perfect
tense. That means he has, he is, he's
going to. He restoreth my soul. He restores my soul. This shepherd,
my shepherd, the Lord, he's gonna restore my soul. I'm a soul,
did you know that? I'm in a body, you are in a body,
but we're souls. And he's gonna restore me. He's
going to restore you. What's that mean? What's he going
to restore us to? He's going to restore us to life. In Adam,
we died, didn't we? He's going to restore us to purity,
to holiness. Why? We're going to clean up
outside cup and quit reading books we shouldn't read and quit
watching TV shows we shouldn't? No, I was conceived in sin. That's
all the way from the start. What am I going to do? Well,
he's going to restore my soul. That's good, isn't it? He restores
me to God. Bob just read it. He said, I
go to prepare a place for you. You remember what that is when
we went through that? I go to prepare atonement for you. Make
appeasement for you. I'm gonna make you reconciled
to God. We were lost. He reconciles us. He restores
me to power. You know that? That's a bold
thing. I don't understand it. And I'd be leery if somebody
acts like they do. He said, I'm gonna make you kings
and priests. I get goosebumps. Now he said
it. I don't even know what to think about that. It's going
to be wonderful. I don't know what that means. I'm like, Thomas,
I don't know what you're talking about. He'll teach us, won't
he? Someday. My brother Larry is
up there. Right now, he can tell you all
about it. Wonderful. There's promises. And he tells
us, he restores us daily, doesn't he? His mercies are new every
morning. I'm still prone to wonder. I'm
still prone to fall. I'm still prone to have that
dust of this earth on my feet every day. And I need washed
every day. I need him every day. I don't
need him once a week. I'm in constant need of you. I ain't thought about the Lord.
Oh yeah, it's Sunday. Well, I better get down there.
What? He's gonna store his people daily.
He promises. And he tells us to restore one
another. He said, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
you which are spiritual, not you that are carnal and think
like a child, gird your loins up, quit you like a man. That's
what he's saying. You that are spiritual, restore such a one
in the spirit of meekness. How's that? Considering thyself. Remember, we're dogs too. Lest
thou also be tempted. Tells us to restore. He restoreth
my soul. That means he heals it, doesn't
it? Jehovah Rapha, Lord that healeth thee. Verse three, restoreth
my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. We're led in paths of righteousness. The shepherd, he leadeth me.
He takes those sheep in paths of righteousness. What good works
we gonna do? Believe on Christ and love your
brethren. Jehovah Sitkenu, the Lord our righteousness. We're
gonna look to him. That's too simple, that's too
impossible for man. God has to do it, it's his work.
It's his workmanship, his craftsmanship. And it says in 2 Corinthians
6, 16, he walks in us. He said, I'm gonna dwell in them,
I'm gonna walk in them, and I'm gonna be their God. I like that. Do you need that? How you holding out on your own? Don't show up to God like that. Why does he do such things? It
ain't in us, it's for his namesake. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for his namesake. That's got a bifocal meaning
too. That's for his glory. First and foremost, that's primary.
He's first before everything. He has preeminence. And that's
for our good, right? For his glory and our good. I'm
my grandfather's namesake. I have his name. I was given
his name. I'm Kevin Bailey. He was William Bailey. And every
time he'd see me, he'd say, there's my namesake. We've been given
his name. That's whereby he shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. You go a little further, a couple
more chapters, this is whereby she shall be called. That's our
surname. We're married. We get his last
name. That's how when you get married, a woman takes a man's
last name. Verse four, yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
There's some important things we can take from that. The children
of God, you are in a valley of the shadow of death. It's there. It is. That's where we are right
now. Look around you. Walk down these streets. Ain't
nothing but death all around. Breaks my heart sometimes. And
sins all around. What's the sting of sins? Death,
isn't it? That's what's coming. But we're
walking through this valley of the shadow of death. It's not
the valley of death for us. It's just a shadow. If there's
a big old mean dog He's gonna bite you, and you saw it's shadow.
That shadow can't bite you. The dog can't, the shadow can't.
It's just the casting of light. That's all it is. The sting of
death, of sin is death, but that's just a shadow to those that are
sheep to this shepherd. Why? Paul told us in Romans six,
knowing that Christ being raised from the dead doth no more, death
hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. That's
all about Christ and what he's done, where he is now. Likewise,
after the same manner, this old country word, reckon, that means
impute. It's in the bank, you count it,
it's an accounting term. You reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. I don't look forward to the means
of my death, It'd be nice if I was sleeping and just went
to sleep one night and woke up and the face of him that loved
me from everlasting. That'd be wonderful. But I thought
about all about that. What if you go through that door
and somebody's sick out there and you're going to catch it
and then you're going to be dead in three days? Well, them three days might be
pretty rough, wouldn't it? The Lord was in the grave for three
days. I'm going to be with Him. That's all I've got to put up
with is three days of pain or sadness or a shadow of death.
I don't have eternal death to suffer. He's put that away in
Himself. Now I have Him. That's what's
left. What's left? Him. And we will fear no evil. That
means evil's there too. I don't fear fake things. I ain't
afraid of the boogeyman. Ain't no boogeyman. Lord said
there's evil there. Evil's there too. But that can't
do anything to the shepherd. And that can't do anything to
us who is his sheep. This is for his glory. That is
too. That's what Amos 3.6 says, shall
a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid?
Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?
They didn't sneak one by on the Lord. David talks in Psalm 76,
it's surely the wrath of man shall praise thee. All these
wars and rumors, wars, everything going on, people dying left and
right, that's to this name's sake. That's for God's glory. I don't understand that. I don't
want to encourage it that grace may abound, but it's so. They're killing babies as fast
as they can kill them and putting on a credit card, giving them
a credit card to go do it. Lord's, as the saying of the
sea, bringing his children home. I don't encourage that to happen. But he's getting a credit for
it, he's getting a glory for it, isn't he? Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil,
for, because, thou art with me. You're with me. That old preacher
was in a home, put himself in a nursing home, so that way his
wife and his daughter wouldn't be burdened by him, and they
could have support to what was set up in that state. And Paul
went into, Brother Paul May went to go visit him, he said, you
by yourself? He said, no, Lord's with me. That's good, isn't it? For thou art with me, you are
with me. Not a creed and not an experience,
a person's with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Some said this rod and staff
are those of correction. And that's true, that's true.
The affliction of the Lord's sin, he sinned it. It's right,
it's for my good. I'll look to him at the end of
it. His salvation is what he sinned, isn't it? Like that rod
of Aaron that went down and was made a serpent. Christ came down
and was made sin for me. And he's risen, we have an empty
tomb. Does that comfort you? and his
governing staff of his holy high command of his government, that
gives me peace. What's going to happen in November?
Whatever God's pleased to have happen in November. That gives me comfort. What about
Jehovah Nissi, Lord our banner? What's gonna be put on display?
Verse five. Thou preparest a table. Who did the preparing? Thou,
Lord did. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies, and thou anointest my head with
oil, and my cup runneth over. There's a table the Lord's prepared. What if I only get just a crumb? Like that dog. Crumb's sufficient,
isn't it? Now, where am I sitting? I better
have a good place to sit. Hold on now. You ain't gonna
be at that table. I want a crumb. Sit down, I'll
serve you. While we're surrounded by enemies,
those that oppose you, Lord, those that oppose your people.
That's true, the enemies of the gospel, the enemies of the Lord,
but what if I was on that deserted island? While I'm still present,
this soul is still present in the body of this death. This
old man's still with me. I see you separating me and anointing
my head, turning my thoughts from self, repenting, right?
My thoughts from myself to him on your throne. You've done that. The anointing, that oil was taken,
the Lord said, that's mine. Anything Moses put that oil on,
he said, that's for my service. That's mine, don't you touch
it. I've anointed it, it's mine. That candlestick's mine. That
showbread's mine, whatever it is. You done it in my head, you
made me remember. Lord saves us in the heart, but
it goes through our mind, don't it? To get there. We're not robots. I see you separate me and make,
when I see him, when you anoint my head and I see Christ, I'm
thinking in my right mind, my cup runs over. My heart runs
over. What can get in there and corrupt
it? Well, it's overflowing. It's just pumping out. You can't
fight the current. Nothing's gonna get in there. It just keeps...
How does a cup overflow? That's sources within, isn't
it? Christ in you, the hope of glory. I wanna see him. I want my cup to run over. How does our cup run over? I
love that song. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
loving his savior to tell what he knows. I was blind. I see. He did it. I'm a dog, he's a
master of dogs, and I'm his dog. Once more to tell it would I
embrace, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Ain't nothing in me. Knowing the Lord my shepherd,
not a shepherd, well now he's the shepherd, well he's my shepherd.
Apostle, this is my gospel. It's the Lord's gospel, he gave
it to me. We're partakers, it's mine. I'm fully persuaded of
something. Verse six. Surely, it's all that
mine and who this is about and the promises he's made and what
he said. You believe him? So I believe in God. The devil's
believing God. Why call him the son of David?
The demons called him the son of David, didn't they? Because
he's mine. I'm persuaded. Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. That's good
for this life. And there's more. I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. I'm gonna be right there in the
house with him. There's a room there. We're gonna hang out in
the living room and we're gonna eat at his table. Visit on the
front porch. What a thought. Goodness and
mercy. That's what old Spurgeon said.
Goodness and mercy was a child of God's bodyguards. Goodness
goes out in front and provides all things according to the will
of our great shepherd. Everything's prepared, just like
that table. And mercy rides close behind, blocking out all the
transgressions as we walk through this world. What a thought. Where'd all this
take place? We're in a valley. The shadows get cold in the shadows
sometimes, don't they? Down by the water. We ain't up
on a mountaintop. You know, get over 10,000 feet.
What grows on a mountaintop? Nothing. What are we going to
grow down in them valleys when it seems like we're going to
die? That's good. It's good that I've been afflicted.
Lord anointed my head during that whole thing. I saw Christ.
I remember his promise. I know he's the one that's able. That
deep valley, that's where all the soil runs down, doesn't it? All the nutrition. You can grow
corn on top of Mount Everest, get down in the valley. We will
want on a mountaintop, but that valley's rich, way down low,
where the sheep eat by the still waters. And if they're there,
if we're brought there, made to eat and led there, we ain't
gonna be found wanting. We won't be found wanting. I
pray it's a blessing to you. Father, thank you for this hour.
Thank you for this word. Make it fresh and new to us,
Lord. Make us live, look into Christ,
anoint our heads. See him high and lifted up. Make
our cups run over as you promised you will. They do, Lord, but
we like sheep gone astray, we're prone to wander. Leave the God
that we love. Lord, keep your rod and staff
in our eyes and make us fixed on him as you said you would.
Thank you for these promises, Lord. Thank you for revealing
Christ in us and to us. Thank you for forgiveness and
mercy that we need so desperately. Be with our brethren around this
world, Lord, as they gather to worship, to sacrifice with their
lips, and be with those that are mourning the loss of a friend,
a father, a brother. Give them comfort as only you
can. It's because of Christ we ask it. Amen.