Let's turn back again to Psalm
23. The Lord couldn't have led me
to a better place to read from. and try to teach from his green pastures, still waters. Our Lord is most merciful, and
I pray that this will be a blessing for his sheep. All those that
he chose to have mercy and compassion on, he said he would have compassion
and mercy on whom he would. And I pray that he'll have that
on us tonight. The Lord is my shepherd. That's
Christ Jesus. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is that shepherd. He's bought us. It's Christ everywhere in there
for us. I've got a few scriptures to
read to show the shepherd as being Christ. Turn to Ezekiel
34. Look at verse 22 and verse 23. And said, I will set up one shepherd
over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them, and he shall
be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their
God, and my servant David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken it. That right there has got to be
speaking of Christ. He is that prince. He shall feed them. He shall
be their shepherd. The top of the page of, I'm not
sure which Bibles y'all have, but this Bible that we've got,
it says the Kingdom of Christ. And that was such a blessing
to read that, that Christ is all. And then if we go to John
chapter 10, we'll read a few verses here. Couldn't look at the shepherd
without looking at the good shepherd that Christ said he was. He said
in John chapter 10, starting with verse 11, he said, I am
the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. But he that is in hireling and not the shepherd,
whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth
the sheep, and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth them, and
scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because
he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. If the man is not from God, he
don't care about his sheep. Christ told his disciples to
feed the sheep. And that's what a man that he
sins will do. If man is not sent by God, the next verse tells about that.
It says, I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known
of mine. As the father knoweth even me,
even so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one foal and one shepherd. Therefore doth my father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself, I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment
I have received of my Father." Christ was put on the cross,
bore the sins of many, but the men didn't put Him there. Christ
Himself put Himself there. He did that on His own. He declared
it there. The Lord, His Father, gave it
to Him. And he was forsaken by God for
our sins. What a salvation. Keep your spot in John 10, but
I want to show you in 1 Corinthians 620. He's bought us. He owns us. First Corinthians 620 tells us
that, it says, for you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify
God in your body and in your spirit with your gods. If he's
bought us, he owns us. He can do what he wants with
us. We are his. And he's merciful to us. He's
gracious to us. And back in John 10 verses 27, It says, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. When Christ speaks to us
and reveals Himself to us, we know His voice. He speaks to
us. It's clear, as in when He came to the Apostle Paul, stopped
him dead in his tracks. Paul wasn't looking for Christ.
He was out to destroy the church and the people that he thought
were, he was doing, he thought he was doing God a favor, but
he wasn't. He was on the wrong side. God stopped him. God stopped
me. Turned me from where I was at.
Verse 28 says, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. What a glorious thought that,
If we're in the Lord's hands, nothing or no one can touch us. He said, my Father which gave
them me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are the one. That is something to contemplate,
that our God came down here in the form of man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, walked this earth, lived a perfect life, and then gave
his life for us. What a Savior. Let's go back
to Psalm 23. I'm sorry, I've got
one more. I wanted to look at Colossians
1. And studying this, you just can't
not have this one. Starting with verse 16,
with Him owning us. It says, for by Him were all
things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers All things were created by him and for him. And he is
before all things, and by him all things consist. He is the
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." That's our Lord. Christ was from the beginning.
In Genesis, when it says, in the beginning God created, that
was Christ. Christ was there with him. Christ
created man. They said, when they created
man, they said it will create him in our image. It was God
the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These
three are one. What a blessing that our Lord
would be a shepherd to us. And David, he wrote this song
and he was a shepherd. He knew what it was to be a shepherd.
He told Saul that he had had a bear and a lion come after
his sheep and he went out and killed the bear and the lion
to protect his sheep. The Lord told us in Luke that
He comes after the lost sheep. He's the shepherd that He'll
leave the ninety and nine to go after one lost sheep. And
when He finds it, He doesn't ask it to come back. He puts
it on His shoulders and carries it back. But in reading this too, Because
the Lord is my shepherd, look at all the things he does. He
maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside
the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness. Yea, Lord. And then he goes on that he prepares the table for
me. And he anoints my head with oil. And because of all that, the
writer here could say, I shall not want. I may wish for things, but I'll
never want. I have everything in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I may not think so sometimes,
but I know that in Christ, when he brings me back, makes me remember
him, He is all. That's all I need. That's all,
all my hope, all my salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew, he told us that if you look at Matthew chapter 6, he
tells us that we're not to want for anything or take thought
of anything. verses 31 He says therefore take no thought
saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or withal shall
we be clothed? He's given us all these things He said for after these things
do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth that
ye have needed these things But seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added
to you. I Tells us therefore to take no thought for the moral,
for the moral shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof. Our Lord is in everything that he does.
It's for his sheep. He leads us, gives us rest. That's where we need to be is
resting in Christ. Look at Isaiah chapter 40, verse 11. This is most glorious in shall
not want. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead
those that are with young." What a great shepherd. What a... Our shepherd... The sheep never
need anything. He takes care of every need,
every thought. We'll have tribulations, we'll
have trials in this world. In the next world we won't. We'll
be right there with the shepherd in his fold. And that is such
a comfort. And then verse 2 he talks about,
It maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside
the still waters. This is all rest. He tells us
multiple times throughout the scriptures to rest in Christ.
And a good one is Matthew 11 verses 28 through 30. He tells us to come unto me,
all that are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart. And you shall find rest unto
your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's
all we need is to rest in the Lord. He's done it all. He's
doing it all. It's finished. There's nothing
left to do, so man doesn't need to do anything except rest. His
sheep need to just rest. He tells us that the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of
knowledge. But then, amazing how many times
throughout the scriptures he tells his sheep, fear not. Fear
not. And one that I love, And he tells
that about his exodus, chapter 14. Could have went anywhere
and found the fear not. But this one, when he was leading
the Israelites out of Egypt, Verse 13, Moses said unto the
people, fear ye not. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you this day. For the Egyptians
whom you've seen today, you shall see them again no more, forever.
See the salvation of the Lord. Just stand still. See the salvation
of the Lord. Rest in the Lord. Rest in that
shepherd, knowing that that shepherd is watching over his flock. There's
no harm to come to those sheep unless the Lord allows it. But
then it's for their good. And then back in the text, he
says, and he leadeth me beside the still waters. Stillwaters, they're so peaceful.
Just a little creek running. Everything is so peaceful about
a creek. Or the stillwaters like that. But he's the one that steals
the waters. They get turbulent at times.
But in Luke 8, 24, was one of the mentions. They were out on the water, the
disciples, and was in ship. And our Lord was taking a nap.
And a great wind came up on the lake, and they were filled with
water, and they were in jeopardy, so they thought. And they came
to Him and woke Him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then
He arose. He rebuked the wind and the raging
of the water, and they ceased, and there was a calm. Our Lord, He's the one that sends
the troubled waters and allows them, but He's the one that steals
them. He's the one that calms them. He's in charge of all of
it. He is all. And then, back in the text, Psalm
23, verse 3, it says, He restores my soul. There's so much to be said about
that. He saved my soul. By Adam, sin entered into this
world. And through Christ, he crushed
death. He was the first to be resurrected
from the grave, to rise from the grave. First Corinthians,
chapter 15, Verse 21 tells us, for since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. That was Christ. For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. All those
that Christ set out, chose before the foundation of this world,
all those will be saved. There's no doubt. And as soon as the last one is
saved, we're all going to the same fold. We're scattered now,
but we're all going to the same fold one of these days. He saves and He alone. Romans chapter 5, verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
many were sinners, so by the obedience of one, so shall many
be made righteous." That's speaking of our Lord there,
that because of Him, He considers us righteous. We're not. We don't consider ourselves that
way, but He does. We'll stand before the throne
in Christ, and we'll stand before the throne faultless. He said he'd put our sins as
far apart as the east is from the west. That's great news. In 2 Corinthians 5, verses 18 and 19. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath commuted us committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. He has reconciled us, and in that we can take great
rest. And another favorite about him being able
to, that Christ had done it all, is Jude. The 24th verse. The road now under him that is
able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Lord Jesus Christ, he. He is able to present us faultless. He paid that sin debt, something that for one of our
sins we wouldn't have been able to pay in an eternity. He paid
it in a few hours. Paid it with His precious blood.
And because of that, He'll present His sheep faultless before the
throne. We go back to our text in Psalm
23. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for His namesake. The writer knew something of
Christ and he hadn't even been told His name yet. But he knew Christ, that's for
sure, for His namesake. This passage made me think of where he provides everything,
Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord provideth. But this verse, or this section
of this verse, has righteousness. He is Jehovah Sidkenu. He is
the Lord our righteousness. Which is Christ. Christ is our
righteousness. We have nothing to look forward
to in ourselves. It's all of Him. It's all through
Him. By Him. For Him. In Romans 3, verse 21, It says, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Christ came here, walked this earth for 33 years,
never sinned. There was no sin in him. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all, them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. That blood has covered our sins
and hid them. What a glorious thought. And then back in our text, it
tells us that, yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I was reading Henry Mahan's little
commentary on this. The valley of the shadow of death,
that's this world. We're walking through it. This
is not our home. We don't dwell here. We're just
passing through. But because of sin, it's all
death around us. It's just the shadow of it. But because of our Lord and our
shepherd, that great shepherd, What evil do we need to fear?
He's in charge of all of it. Man can't do anything to us more
than kill us, if the Lord allows him. The Lord's the one that needs
to be feared. He's the one that has control over the body after
death, over the soul. for the hour with me there are
not staffed a company was brought up just past we've
got to have to keep her except for all of the more chastens love Chasing their children because
they love them, how much more so our Lord. Verse six, for whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? We need to That's something that
needs to be remembered. Spare the rod, spoil the child. Our Father's good. All that He
loves, He chastens. Brings us back to Him. Makes
us turn to Him. And then He goes on to tell us
that, He says, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence
of mine enemies. I couldn't help but think of
Mephibosheth in this verse. It says, thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
my head with oil, and my cup runneth over. With Christ in
my shepherd, everything runneth over. Let's look at Isaiah 26 first.
Then I'll go find Mephibosheth. Isaiah 26 verse 3 says, that
will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee,
because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. That's, can't even
expound on that, that's our Lord. He is our shepherd. He's that
great shepherd. If you turn to 2 Samuel 9, our pastor just preached from
that a few weeks ago. When I read that verse, it reminded
me of Second Samuel 9-7, David said unto Mephibosheth, Fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's
sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father,
and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. Mephibosheth
never had to worry about eating again. David provided everything for
him. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ does for us. He saves our souls. He provides
for us all our days. He's providing for everybody.
They just don't realize it and don't give Him the glory for
it. But we should give Him the glory for it. Back in our text, we have, Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let's look at Revelation 7, 17.
And with this I'll close. This sums it up. Our Lord... Our Lord, because of all he does
is our shepherd we're able to say I shall not
want. He makes us to rest, makes us to lie down. For Revelation
7, 17 for the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them in the
living fountains of water and God shall wipe away all their
tears We have something to look forward
to. Where this is reading from, we'll
have no more tears, no more sorrows. We'll be praising our Lord all
the day long. It'll be such a blessing. All right, now stand with me.