Psalm 23. Go with me. Psalm 23. I hope that when you
saw this announced, Written that we're excited about
it, for lack of a better word. Looking forward to it. Psalm
23 is the Psalm of the Shepherd. Psalm 22 is the Psalm or Song
of the Cross. This is the Psalm or Song of
the Shepherd, of the sheep. It's written by David. We don't
know when He wrote this. He may have written this as a
young man. I like to think of David as a shepherd sitting out
on that hillside, don't you? Watching over those sheep and
had his guitar and some kind of lute or something that he
played. And he started thinking about
looking at those sheep out there and seeing those sheep lying
down in those pastures on a beautiful sunny day. He started thinking
about the Lord being his shepherd. And the Lord caused him to write
these things down. He may have written it in his
middle years. He may have written it in his
later years. But whatever, young, middle years,
old years, the Lord is always the shepherd of his sheep. He's
writing about his Lord and his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you think David knew Christ?
Did Abraham? The Lord said so. He said, Abraham
saw my day. He saw it. And he was glad. He
said, Moses wrote of me. David wrote so many Psalms of
our Lord, didn't he? And this is one of them. He says
in verse 1, The Lord is my Shepherd. The Lord. The Lord God. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord. The Lord over all. Jesus Christ is Lord over all. God made Him Lord over all. He
died that He might be Lord over all, the dead and the living.
Jesus Christ is every man's Lord. He's Lord over everything. He's
the head over principalities and powers, over everything. He is Lord, and we don't make
Him Lord, He is Lord. He is Lord. Lord our God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is my shepherd, David said.
The Lord is my shepherd. Now, before we go any further,
to have a shepherd, he must be what? A sheep. Goats, a whole lot different
than sheep. They don't require a shepherd.
Most goats can live anywhere and eat anything. They prefer
it that way. But sheep now have a shepherd.
Let me give you a few characteristics of sheep. And let's see if you
are one of these. If you are, then the Lord is
your shepherd. Sheep are owned by someone. And no wild sheep. There may be, you know this type
isn't perfect, but generally speaking, sheep are owned by
someone. Look at Psalm 95 over there. Real quick, Psalm 95. You read
with me in John 10 where the Lord says, I know my sheep and
have known of my Father which gave them to me. Sheep are owned
by a shepherd. He either bought them, and Christ
did that. Or they were given to him by
someone, the Father did that. Or he inherited them, he did
that. They're His. By purchase, by
blood, by redemption price, gift of the Father, and by inheritance. But look at Psalm 95, verse 6. So come, let us worship and bow
down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Who's that? God. Who? Jesus Christ. All things were made by Him.
Verse 7. He is our God. And we are the
people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand. He said, today you
will hear His voice. Today, if you hear His voice,
if you hear this, you're His sheep. He said, my sheep hear
my voice. Alright, go back to our text.
The Lord is my shepherd, He said. We're owned by the shepherd,
by Christ. You're not your own. Bought with
a price. Do you like that? I don't want
to be my own man. I was for a long time. And I
about destroyed myself. But God sent me a shepherd. A sheep is helpless. There's
not a more helpless creature than a sheep, a little lamb. You know that? They eat such
easy prey. They are creatures of prey. The predators are after them.
They're everywhere. They're surrounded by enemies.
Is that you? Helpless. Sheep must have everything
done for them. They're helpless. They're dependent.
They must be fed. They must be led. They must be
protected. All these things done for them.
Is that you? Huh? Do you say this? Without Him, I could do nothing.
I am nothing. I know nothing. I have nothing. He is all to me. He's made unto
me all things. The Lord is my shepherd. A sheep
is a dependent creature. A sheep is a dirty creature.
You see sheep from afar off and you look and say, what? Cute
little, clean fellows. Those go up close. They're not clean. They're cleaner
than a hog, but they're dirty creatures. They must be washed,
must be dipped, must be sheared. They're dirty creatures. Yes,
sir, they're dumb. Sheep are dumb. I'm sorry, you
animal lovers. They just are. Horses are too. Dogs are too. Wild creatures
must be reined in. Creatures, are you dumb? Are you ignorant? Paul said,
I'm not sufficient to think anything of myself. I can't even think right thoughts
unless He teaches me. Sheep are prone to wander. This
is the nature of a sheep. Look, there's great greener grass,
isn't it? There's greener grass. If I can
just get over this fence, Sheep are corralled. It's a good
thing. And foaled. But sheep, I used
to have horses, and our pasture was just beautiful. It was all
they needed, but you know where they wanted? They wanted that
grass on the other side of that fence. And they nearly tore the
fence down to get to it. And if they had, and sometimes
they did. One time they went out in Route
40. And Andrew was coming home on the bus, Deborah, and said,
that's Paul's horses. Why'd they jump? Why'd they get
out of the car? They're prone to wander. Is that
you? That's all of God's people. David
wrote Psalm 119. There's 176 verses. And the last
verse says this, I've gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek me. Come find me. Is that you? If that's you, you need a shepherd.
You need one that will leave the 99 and come after you. You
need the one that comes after you and doesn't just show you
the way, He is the way. He puts you on His shoulders
and He'll take you all the way home. Oh no, this is not that
Jesus men talk about, that you walk a little while and He walks
beside you And He puts you on His shoulder and He puts you
down. No, no, He never does that. Isaiah 46 said, I've carried
you from your womb, from the mother's womb, to the grave I'll
carry you, to whorey heads. I'll never put you down. When He finds it, puts it on
His shoulder, and when He finds it, He brings it all the way
home to the Father. Look what I've found. Look what
I've done. Look who I've brought home. Do you need a shepherd
like that? Are you prone to wander? A sheep
is gregarious. That's a big word. But we get
the word congregate from that. It's the nature of a sheep to
need other sheep. Isn't it? Goats can live alone. Goats don't need other goats.
Sheep do. They must. They have. Have to
have. They're gregarious. It's the
nature of the sheep. All the clean animals on the
ark, clean animals, were seven. Right? Seven. They were a flock. That's
a flock. And all of God's sheep must flock
with God's people together in the fold. If the Lord is your
shepherd, you shall not want, he said. I shall not want. I
shall not lack. The word want here is not desire,
but lack. I shall not be in need of anything
that I need. I shall not lack anything." Those
twelve disciples that walked with him for three and a half
years, they left everything. They left their jobs, left their
families. They had family. They had a home and a family,
some of them, and family that still needed to be cared for.
But they left everything. He said, don't provide a script
for your journey, two pair of shoes, He said, I'll take care
of it. And after three and a half years,
he asked them, while I was with you, did you lack anything? Did you want anything for three
and a half years? They said, nothing, Lord. Why? How? The Lord was their shepherd. He provided everything. But much
deeper than just material things. Our Lord, we shall not want for
righteousness. To make us acceptable to God?
Accepted. We shall not want to pardon?
Have full pardon and cry complete? We shall not want for peace with
God? We shall not want for rest? He's
going to talk about rest, guidance, restoration, instruction, companionship,
protection, comfort, provision. He is all of these things. We
shall not want. Because the Lord is our shepherd. Shepherd the sheep. He does not
say. You shall not suffer. All of God's sheep suffer. They all walk through the wilderness.
He did. The shepherd did. He does not
say you shall not be afflicted. You shall not be assaulted. You
shall not suffer any wounds. You shall not sorrow. He doesn't
say that. You shall not want. You shall
go through troubles. In this world you shall have
tribulations. That's a mark of the sheep. But
you shall not want comfort in that time of trouble. You shall
wander. Much to our shame and pain and
suffering, you shall wander, but you shall be gathered again. You shall be brought back, because
the Lord is your shepherd. Verse 2, He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. Now you may have heard this psalm
before, but I hope you hear it like you've never heard it before.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. The Lord is able to
call, to bring, to draw His sheep to Him. In fact, no man can come
unto Him except the Father draw. And He's able to make a wild
ass's colt lie down. He's able to bring a prodigal,
He's the only one able to bring a prodigal back. To lie down to subdue them in
green pasture. He maketh me to lie down. I wouldn't
have come here unless the Lord had made me. One of the first
things I taught my dog was I had to come. Come unto me. If you don't come under me, you're
going to run off and get killed. Come!" One of the first things
I told him was, lie down at my feet. Lie down. He was a working
dog. He just wanted to run after every
rabbit. One time he did. One time he ran after a deer. And I thought he was gone forever.
And I put out a reward for him. And I paid the bounty to get
him back. Isn't that a good illustration?
But he ran off. And I wasn't going to... I was
going to find him. And I did. And I paid the price. Ransom price. And I got him back. I said, now see? See what you
did? Now just lie down. You're safe
right here. Lie down. What are these green patches?
You say it's the Word, yeah? But we saw in Ezekiel 34 that
it's... It's His fold. It's where all
the sheep are. Listen, I'll read it to you again.
I will bring them out from the people, gather them from the
country, bring them to their own land and feed them on the
mountains of Israel by the rivers and all the inhabited places
of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture
upon the high mountains of Israel. The city set on a hill. That
will be their fold. They'll lie in a good fold. In
fat pasture, that's where they'll feed. That's His church. That's
where His people are. These green pastures where the
Word of God is preached. It's also the Word of God. Green
pasture. Green is life, isn't it? Brown is death. Green is life. Green is fresh. Green is ever
new, isn't it? Green grass. The green pastures
of His works. Fragrance. Have you ever, on
a sunny day, I used to do this, in the springtime, late spring,
when the weather was warming up after a cold winter, the pastures
were growing thick, I'd go out there sometimes, sometimes I'd
take a blanket or a quilt, sometimes I wouldn't. And I'd go out there
and just lie down in that green grass, you ever done that? And
look up at those That sky, those blue skies, those clouds. And
maybe a gentle breeze blowing. I'm just lying on the green grass.
And you know what I did? Fell asleep. Turn with me to Isaiah 30. Isaiah
30. Oh, may we come and hear this
blessed gospel. Isaiah 30. May we come and hear
of the Lord our Shepherd. We shall not want and make us
to lie down to hear His Word, the sweet-smelling Savior of
Christ's sacrifice, and may we rest in Him." Just lie down at
His feet and just fall asleep. Look at Isaiah 30. I love this. Isaiah 30, verse 7, "'The Egyptians
shall help in vain, to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this, their strength is to sit still, Verse 15, Thus saith the
Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you
be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.
Coming here to hear God's Word, to hear Christ preach, is rest
for the weary soul. It's food for the hungry soul.
Christ said, My body is meat indeed. My blood is drink indeed. The green pastures of His Word,
Make us to lie down. Look at the next thing in our
text. He makes us to lie down. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. Still waters. That old saying,
still waters run deep. Talking about the waters of God's
Word which speaks of Christ. Oh, the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. His ways pass by today. What is the wisdom and knowledge
of God? What is the wisdom of God? Christ is the wisdom of
God. Oh, the depths. And He brings
us here, leads us beside these deep waters we don't fully understand,
but there's soul stealing. Soul stealing. He restoreth,
verse 3, my soul. Restoreth my soul. Three things
that we lost in Adam. Three things that we lost in
Adam. We lost the life of God, which
is holiness and righteousness. We lost communion with God, right? God could no longer speak with them
and we lost the way to God. God barred the way with a flaming
sword of His justice. He can't come in. Christ restored
it all. The second Adam from above came
and restored my soul. Christ said, I am come that they
might have life. We lost the life of God. Christ
came to give us life. We lost communion with God. He
said, I go to my Father and your Father. Ask Him. He'll hear you
from my side. We lost the way to God, borrowed
the way, but Christ is the way. He said, I am the way. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me, but if you come unto God
by me, he'll receive everyone that comes by me. They restored
all those things to my soul. My soul was restored to God by
Christ's soul being made and offering to sin. Right? That's
the depth of them. And this too, think about this.
We feel like the prodigal, we get lost. We get lost. What does he do? He finds us.
We feel like we're cast out, like David. David said, is his
mercy clean gone? Has he forgotten to be gracious?
He restores us. How? Through what you're hearing
right now. He brings you back, like the
prodigal. makes you lie down and hear his
gospel, and hear him say, bring the best robe. Kill the fatted
calf. Put the ring on his finger. Now
let's say, my son was lost, now he's found. He was dead, he's
alive again. He restoreth my soul. This is
the only thing that will. And he does this in verse 3. He leads me in paths of righteousness. Turn the page. You've got to
see this. Paths of righteousness. This
is what we were talking about in the Bible study. Psalm 25. There's just not enough time
to deal fully with these things. Psalm 25, look at it. 8. Good and upright is the Lord,
therefore will He teach sinners in the way. What's the way? The way to God. Christ is the
way. He said, I am the way. Sinners.
Christ said, I come to call sinners to repent. So God, through the
preaching of the gospel, teaches them the way to God. Verse 9. The meek will He guide in judgment.
The meek will He teach His way. See that? For thy name's sake. Look at verse 12. What man is
he that feareth the Lord? Him will he teach in the way
that he shall choose. What way shall God choose? Well,
God chose Christ. He's the elect. This is the way. This is my Son. Hear Him. Believe
Him. Look to Him. If you do, you're
in the way. You'll be with me. But the preacher,
it says, paths of righteousness. Yes, verse 10. All the paths
of the Lord are mercy and truth, and as such as keep His covenant
and His testimony. Paths, all the paths of the Lord,
every way, all the way my Savior leads me. Everything God does,
the paths that He has chosen for me, leads me to Christ. And also, no matter where you
walk in this world, no matter where you look, no matter where
you read, you know, it will lead you to... Crying. Crying. And that restores my
soul. And he does this, verse 3, for
his name's sake. We read in Ezekiel 34 that, I'm
your Lord, I'm going to come bring you back to myself. Well,
Ezekiel 36, he went on to say, I'm not doing this for your sake. Remember? I'm not doing this
because I needed you. I'm not doing this because you're
a good boy. I'm not doing it because you're
not. You weren't. I'm doing this for my name's
sake. I'm doing this for my glory. I'm doing this for my glory.
Christ did it for the glory of the Father. The Father does it
for the glory of the Son. And everybody's going to be in
glory. It's going to give him all the glory. For His name's
sake. Not unto us, not unto us, but
unto Him be all the glory. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but works of righteousness which Christ
has done. His name's sake. The Lord our righteousness. He does all this for His name's
sake. And because that's His name,
He will do what He says. It's our shepherd. Verse 4, "...Though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me." Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death. Now, he's not talking about the
actual death, when you reach your deathbed. No, no, no, no. That's not... When God's people...
Mark the end of the perfect man. You're not going to pass through
some dark passageway into glory. No, no, no, no. In a moment,
twinkle of an eye, boom, light, change, nope. There will not
be one single deer. Light. Perfect. Like him. What he's talking about is this
where we live now, this valley of shadow of death, that there's
one thing that casts its shadow over everything around us, everything
we do, everyone we know. What is it? Death! It has this
shadow that hangs over us, the thing that we're held captive
by from the beginning. All our lifetime, the Hebrew
says, we're subject to the fear of death. Our own death, the
death of our loved ones, Right? It's this shadow that's cast
over everything and everyone. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, he said, I fear no evil, for thou art
with me. No one was more familiar with death than
David. David, from the time he was 16 or 17, however old he
was when he fought Goliath, saw death and bloodshed everywhere. They wanted Him dead. Everybody. Everywhere. He saw
thousands fall at His right side. Ten thousand His left. Isn't that Psalm 91? He said, Moses wrote, Thousands
shall fall at thy side. Ten thousand at thy right hand.
It will not come nigh unto you. Because believers are immortal
until God says so. Our bounds are set. Our days
are with the Lord. They're numbered with the Lord.
That's not fatalism. That's Job 14. God said, I kill. Isn't it? Things are the means
He uses, but God's the one that does it. I kill. All souls are mine. There are
no accidents with God. It's all on purpose. You say
somebody had a car accident and they died. That was no accident.
God did that. The world hates this. I love
it. It's all my peace. It's all my
comfort. If it wasn't, I'd lay awake at
night. If the Lord wasn't my shepherd, if He wasn't my defense,
I'd stockpile guns. Wouldn't you? But you don't need
to. Because you're not saved by the
sword. You're not saved by Smith and
Wesson. You're saved by Jesus Christ. It's not fantasy. It's not fable.
It's the Word of God. I walk through this valley of
the shadow of death. I fear no evil. Psalm 91 says, No evil
shall befall you. Doesn't it? Why? Because God
is with them. Didn't our Lord say, all things work together
for good? No evil shall befall you. But
this was terrible. Wait and see. Just wait. You're going to see. It was not
evil. It was good. You're going to
see later on. You're going to know as you've
been known. When God shows you, when this whole world, it's all
over, show us everything. that He's done. I wouldn't have
done it that way. But you'll see it had to be done. It's all connected. It had to
be. It wasn't evil. The greatest
illustration of that is the cross of Christ. The most evil thing
man has ever done. You with wicked hands have taken
and crucified the Lord of glory. They meant it for evil, didn't
they? Satan was in on it, wasn't he?
But God did it. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. The determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, the will of God, the purpose of God. Joseph, remember,
Joseph said, you meant it for evil, but God did it for good.
Joseph didn't even understand when he was down in that pen.
This is evil, this is awful. And he's in the prison. This is terrible. This is God. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. I had one, I meant to bring it
up here, a shepherd's staff. You know what they look like.
See pictures of them. A shepherd's rod and staff. The
rod is the staff, the straight part of it, and the staff has
a crook on it. That staff, that rod and that
staff serve several different purposes of a shepherd. One, a shepherd counts his sheep
with that rod. They go through and count the
sheep. There's Jeanette. There's Ed.
He knows his sheep by name. He calls them by name. And they
pass through. He has them numbered. Every one of them. This word
is his realm. This is how he brings his sheep
into the fold. They're numbered. sanctified,
set apart, gathered, in other words. The rod numbers the sheep. The shepherd uses that rod to
number the sheep. It also, he uses that rod to
ward off the wolves, protect them from the enemies. He uses that staff, that crook,
to reign in wandering sheep. Because they're all prone to
wander and they all need it to reign in, thy rod and thy staff. And he also uses that rod. Spare the rod, you'll spoil the
child. Whom the Lord loveth, He'll what? Chase them. He uses
that rod. The sheep won't get back in the
fold now. Get back in there. It's not punishment. It's correction. It's correction. Look at the
next thing. Thou preparest... They comfort
me. Chastening comforts. His word comforts. Thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemy. Brethren, that's
what we have here. That's what we have here. A table. A place to eat. the Father's house, fellowship
with the Father and with His Son. We're all going to gather,
most of us are going to gather in a few days, aren't we, with
the family? Aren't you? You're going to probably
have a turkey, aren't you? Aren't you? I was in Kroger's,
bought a big turkey yesterday, and some woman said, getting
ready for Thanksgiving? I said, hell yeah. That's what you eat
at Thanksgiving. I started with a pilgrim turkey. God has a family. And they all
gather around the table. Every time, they eat one thing. The flesh of Christ and the blood
of Christ. They eat and drink of Him. Christ then crucified.
The table. He prepares us a table where
the gospel is preached. Where Christ is preached. In
the midst of our enemies. Just as soon as we go out of
this room, we're going to be assaulted by our enemies on it.
Being assaulted right now. But we ask Him, To hedge us about
no one. To reign in our thoughts, our
minds, our affection. Set them on things above. Feed
us. Feed us. Give us strength to go out there
and face them. Put this table in the midst of our enemy. Our enemies are many and they're
lively, aren't they? I need this strength, don't you? I need to
come here with my brethren and feed on Him who loved my soul. and died for me. Read verse 5. Now, He anointed my head with
oil. Do you know what the name Christ
means? Anointed? What is the head of the body? Isn't Christ the head? He's the
anointed one. Oh, it's 1 Peter 2. He is our
head whom God has anointed. with oil. It says, My cup runneth
over. My cup runneth over. Christ said,
The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
Did He not? Christ was made sin. God poured
out His wrath in Christ and Christ emptied it. And there is no wrath
for God's people. None. Because Christ emptied
Himself. My cup runneth over. Of His fullness
have we received grace for granted. And my cup runs over with love,
with mercy, with grace. There is no wrath in the cup
for me. There is no wrath in the cup
for God's people. Christ drank it up. But now this
also speaks of the oil of gladness that He shed that we just sang
about. The gospel is the oil of the Spirit that soothes my
aching head. Listen to you. Oh, let the righteous
smite me. It won't break my head. It will
be like soothing oil. The wine of His blood, the cup
that I love to drink is the cup of Christ's sacrifice. And it
just fills me up. Nothing else. Thy cup runneth
over. Also, let me give you an illustration.
Back in the old days, and I'm going to quit. One more. Back
in these days, way back when, if you were a favored guest by
someone, someone really loved you and had you as their guest
in their home, the first thing they would do when you came in
was take some expensive oil, with spices, myrrh and frankincense
and cinnamon and callus and so forth, and would take that oil,
maybe in an alabaster pot, and would open it up and would anoint
your head with that oil. You're out under the hot sun
and your head is baking, and brethren, if you don't have any
hair on top of your head, oil is a wonderful thing. Believe
me. If you don't have any covering,
you need this oil of the gospel. Those that this person would
love, they'd come in and they would anoint the head with oil
and then they would give them a cup. You didn't bring your
own cup, he gave it to you. He gave you a cup. You know what
he would do to show you that while you're here, you're not
going to be asking or lacking anything. They would pour, literally,
they would pour that cup until it just ran over and they'd keep
pouring it. I've got enough, no? You're my guest. You're one I
love. You're one I chose. You brought
in here. And you will never lack. Your
cup's going to be, as long as you're with me, it's going to
run over. You'll never have to ask for anything." And isn't that a good illustration? Oh, how the gospel soothes my
aching head. of His fullness, my cup just
runs over. Do you sometimes think, after
hearing the Word, that I can't take any more? Maybe you're thinking
that right now, hoping I'll quit. I hope not. I hope you're thinking,
this is just wonderful. But you can't take it all in.
My cup runneth over. Verse 6, Surely, goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. That's what
David said. Surely. Don't you like surely? Surely. That comes from the word assurance.
Because we have a surety. Why is it that all the things
of God are good and mercy, and mercy endureth forever because
God is merciful. Because God is good. And everything
about His people, for His people is good. It's mercy. All the paths of the Lord are
mercy. Goodness and mercy. Follow me. All the days of my
life. Shepherd. Christ said, I'm the
shepherd. I know my sheep. I lead them. I go out and goodness
and mercy follow me. Someone likened this to two sheepdogs. Shepherd out front, leading,
facing the foe, and he sends his two sheepdogs behind him
to press them to the shepherd. Mercy and goodness. Mercy and
goodness lead us to cry. So the Lord's mercies were not
consumed. He points us to cry. I'll make all my goodness pass
before you. He points us to cry. And, if Christ is your shepherd,
you'll have an under-shepherd. The Lord in Ezekiel rebuked those
false shepherds, didn't He? He said, you just feed off of
the sheep. You're not feeding them. You're getting fat off
of them, and you're not making them fat. But in Jeremiah 3,
verse 17, the Lord said, I'll give you pastors after My own
heart, like David, and they'll feed you. They'll feed you. That's what they'll do. What
do they feed them? Well, let's start all over again.
Christ's. Be with the Word, that Lord is
my Shepherd. And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Why? Because Christ said, because
Christ who is my Shepherd said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
earth. Because Christ in John 10 said, I, my Father gave them
to me to save them. to find every lost one of them,
to bring them all home, and of all that He has given me, I have
lost nothing. Because my Father gave them to me, and I give unto
them eternal life. And He said, they will never
perish, and no one will pluck them out of My hand. And they
will dwell with Me in My house forever. Why? Because He is the
Good Shepherd. He is the Great Shepherd. He
is the Chief Shepherd. He is the Lord Your Shepherd.
I hope so. Alright, let's stand and sing
in closing number 293. Number 293 is sung to the tune
of number 52, Majestic Sweetness. Stand as we sing this Psalm 23.