Thank you for that. It is good
to have them back singing after a long time absence from joining
with us. Gail having some physical issues,
but she's much, much better, and we're thankful for that.
And we appreciate Alan and Gail singing for us. Psalm 23. We've been touching on this psalm
the last two Sunday evenings and I want to speak to you tonight
on the shepherd of the flock. Certainly there's hardly a portion
of scripture more familiar to not only all of us but to most
everybody. than Psalm 23. Often, when someone passes away, on
the back of the little information card that will have printed there
the 23rd Psalm, and rightly so, because it is a very comforting
portion of scripture to the people of God. I told you last Sunday
evening that the word psalm means melody. And this psalm has brought
great melody and great joy and comfort to many a saint of God,
many of the Lord's dear sheep. over the course of their earthly
journey. I read that many years ago, a
missionary had come back from a foreign country, and he went
back to Boston. And in order to welcome him and
kind of honor him for his several decades of preaching and wearing
out physically, on the mission field, a group of people met
together and planned a big dinner to acknowledge him, his presence,
and his faithful service to the Lord. And it is said hundreds
of people turned out at this banquet hall to listen to this
man speak. And he brought his message, and
then at the end of the message, he quoted Psalm 23. And after he had quoted Psalm
23, many people were visibly moved to great emotion. Some were weeping. But there
was a real seriousness that came over all of the group. And in that group of people that
came to listen to the missionary speak was a very famous orator. He was very famous, especially
in the New York area, in the theater as a very theatrical
man with great enunciation abilities, very powerful voice, and seated
next to him was a very good friend. And after the missionary had
read Psalm 23 and the emotions of people were evident, he leaned
over and he said to the famous actress said, you know, I've
heard you quote that psalm on many occasions and you enunciated
every word just perfectly. And with your great oratory abilities,
you spoke that psalm with great eloquence. But nobody has ever moved people
from the quoting of that psalm like that man did just now. And he said, what's the difference? And the actor said to his friend,
he said, I can tell you the difference. I know the psalm. He knows the
shepherd. I sometimes worry if that's the
right word, that some of these old portions of Scripture, like
Psalm 23, that maybe we get so familiar with them that we just
tend to pass over them as Scripture that's been read many, many times,
and so we'll go to some other portion of Scripture. Actually,
I think that's why some of the preachers have been led away from the pure gospel
of the grace of God. Because they think to themselves,
you know, this is the old message. I want to give them something
new. I want to give them something
a little more exciting. And I think that's why some preachers
have veered away from preaching the gospel of the grace of God
to sinners through the death and resurrection of our Lord
Jesus. They think, well, that's the
old story. It is the old story. But it is
the story that we've got to keep telling, that salvation is of
the Lord. David is himself the sweet psalmist
of Israel. And he says with great confidence,
the Lord is my shepherd. And I wonder if you can say that. He has a blessed assurance. You know, a lot of times we sing
that song, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Well, David had
a blessed assurance that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, was
his shepherd. Do you know the shepherd of the
sheep? And if you do, it's because you're
known of the shepherd. He says, the Lord is my shepherd
and therefore I shall not want or I shall not lack. If the Lord Jesus is the very
shepherd of your soul, you shall never lack anything that God
demands that you have, that God requires that you have, and you
shall never lack those things that you have need of. You shall
never lack for forgiveness, for he died to put your sins away. You shall never lack for righteousness
because he established righteousness. He brought it in by his sacrifice
upon the cross of Calvary. The Lord is my shepherd and therefore
I shall not lack. I shall not lack for any provision. And the reason I won't lack for
any provision is because the Lord is my shepherd. And it isn't
merely that he gives us all the provisions that we need. We need
to understand this. He is our provision. He is our
all in all. We love reading Ephesians chapter
one. We were blessed with all spiritual
blessings in him. He's the greatest blessing that
God could ever give to us. And God in giving us the Lord
Jesus, his son, to be our shepherd and giving us to him as his sheep. The Lord has given to us in Christ
the greatest provision he could give to anybody. For we have
all things in Christ. And we must remember that and
always keep that in mind. The Lord is my shepherd, therefore
I shall not lack, I shall not want. I shall not want for spiritual
food. because he makes me to lie down
in the green pastures of his word, and his word is full of
him. His word tells us about Christ,
who is the bread of life. We feast, we feast at the banqueting
table of God's mercy in Christ Jesus to us. We sit down to the
finest meal that a sinner could ever sit down at God's banqueting
table to. We sit down to dine on spiritual
food, the green pastures of the Word of God. What is it that
the people of God want to hear? They want to hear the Word of
God. They want to hear the gospel of the grace of God. That's sheep
food. That's what strengthens us. Because He's our shepherd, we
shall not lack for good food, the good food of His Word, the
green pastures. And because He is the shepherd
of our souls, He leads us beside the still waters. We shall not
lack for the cool waters of life to drink from and be refreshed. The Savior Himself is the water
of life. And He has given us a thirst
for Him as the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth
my soul after Thee, O God. We thirst for Him and we come
to the Word of God. We come to Christ who is the
water of life. We find the still waters, not
troubling waters, not angry waters, not churning waters, but waters
that are still, waters that are peaceful. Waters that meet our
thirst for the word of God. Because he's our shepherd, we
shall not lack for restoration unto God. In Adam, we fell, and
we lost everything. In the shepherd, we lack for
nothing because he restored us He restored our souls to a position
and to a greater glory than we ever had in Adam. Because you
see, in Adam, though we were in his loins, and we stood upright
before God before the fall, in Adam, there was always that possibility
of falling, which did happen according to the purpose of God.
But in Christ Jesus, there's no possibility of falling. He's
the sinless Savior, and in Him, our salvation is perfect, and
it is complete. and we're restored to God. We
wandered afar off in Adam, but in Christ, we've been restored. We're restored by his sacrifice. We're restored by his bloody
death. And because the Lord is our shepherd,
we shall not lack for leadership and guidance, for he leads us
in the paths of righteousness, and he does it all for his glory.
for his name's sake. And because the Lord is our shepherd,
we shall not lack for companionship even though we travel through
the valley of the shadow of death. Our whole life is lived in the
valley of the shadow of death because we never know when that's
gonna happen. We have no idea when the Lord
is going to say, your time is up. It's time to come home. We continually live in the valley
of the shadow of death, but we fear no evil. And the reason
we fear no evil is because this one who is our shepherd, He is
always with me for thou art with me. And if the Lord is with me
by his grace, I can face anything. Isn't that right? If the Lord
is with me. We'll say, is he with me always?
He said, lo, I'm with you always. Well, how far out can I take
that promise? To the end of the age. He said,
I'm with you. And because the Lord is our shepherd,
we shall not lack for a table to be set before us even though
we're in the presence of our enemies. And we're always in
the presence of spiritual enemies. Principalities and powers in
high places, we're always in their presence. And yet we need
not fear them because the Lord prepares a table before us. and
we feast again and again on the gospel. And though this message
of redeeming grace, of sovereign free mercy, though this message
is one that the powers of darkness are in rebellion against and
they don't want to hear it, we keep on preaching it because
as we sit at the table of God's mercies, our cup runs over. And we don't fear the enemy.
We don't fear them. They can't harm us. I know Satan
goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, but
the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered him. And he did
it in our stead. And because the Lord is our shepherd,
we shall not lack for protection all through life. David says,
surely these glorious two twins, goodness and mercy, they shall
follow me all the days of my life. And because the Lord is
our shepherd, we shall not lack for a dwelling place forever
in the presence of the Lord. The Lord is our shepherd. He
leads us. And back behind are goodness
and mercy who follow us. What harm could ever come to
the sheep of the Lord? No harm whatsoever. Throughout the word of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ is set forth as a shepherd. He's the shepherd
of his sheep. Where did he get his sheep? That's
a good question to ask. Well, they were given to him.
He said in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me, they shall
come to me and him that cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out. What is that given to him? What does that mean? That's talking
about the sovereign election of some sinners under salvation
in Christ Jesus before the world began. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me and I give to them eternal
life. They shall never perish. And
then he talks about nobody can pluck them out of my hand. My
father, which gave them me is greater than all. And you who
are the sheep of the shepherd, the Father gave you to Christ. And don't think of the election
of grace as just, here's this great big multitude and God the
Father said, here's all of them, you save them, you look after
them, they're my gift. He gave them to Christ, He gave
us to Christ one by one. One by one, not as a mass of
people that just one great big multitude, though it is a multitude
which no man can number, but he gave you, he gave you, he
gave you to Christ. It's a personal thing. That's
why the Lord said to Jeremiah, I have loved thee. with an everlasting
love. The inside loved all of you.
Well, he does love all of his elect, but Jeremiah, he singled
out. The Lord, you see, he knows how
to comfort his people, and he reminds us this is a personal
matter between him and the shepherd and one sheep, one by one. He loved you. and he gave you to Christ Jesus.
That's where he got his sheep. We're given to him. Tell you
what, you preach on election, on the salvation in Christ Jesus,
the sheep love that. It's not works which we have
done. It's not the labors of our hands. It's not our faithfulness. It's
not our decision. It's God in sovereign grace who
has given us to the shepherd, and He says, they're yours, you
redeem them, you save them, you justify them, and bring them
all home to glory. And Christ said, I will. I will. Will He be successful? Of course
He'll be successful. Because our shepherd is the Lord,
the Lord. He's the omniscient shepherd. What's that mean? He knows everything,
and he knows everything about you. When we were given to him in
covenant grace, and I realize that's an eternal choice of God. It's always been this way. but
for the benefit of our puny little brains, we kind of locate it
somewhere back there in eternity when the Lord chose us. We've
always been His and being entrusted to Christ Jesus, the omniscient
one, meaning the one who knows everything, He knew exactly what
we would be in Adam because He chose us before we fell. Romans
chapter nine, the children having done neither good or evil that
the purpose of God according to election might stand. Somebody says, well he, everybody
fell and he chose some of the fallen ones to save. The choice
was made before the fall. That's what scripture says. He chose a portion of Adam's
race A remnant according to the election of grace, it says in
Romans chapter 11. And he being the omniscient shepherd,
the all-knowing shepherd, he knew what would become of us
and Adam, because he purposed that too. Our fall into sin and depravity
did not catch the shepherd off guard. Everything that has ever happened
has happened right on schedule. He knew what was gonna happen
because he purposed everything was gonna happen. He knew what
we would become in fallen Adam, that we'd become rebels and sinners
and wicked and vile and depraved. And knowing all of that, He received
us as a gift. And he knew what it would require
of him in order to save his sheep. Might I just put it this way,
he went into this great transaction of saving his sheep with his
eyes wide open. He knew what would befall him. Because in order to save these
who are the gifts of divine grace, he would have to humble himself,
as it were, hang his crown on a star, and take his robe of
glory off, and come down here and become like one of the sheep
that he came to save. In fact, he'll even identify
with the sheep, saying, I'm the lamb. I'm the lamb. And he knew that as the Lamb
of God, he'd have to live in this sinful, hellish world. And he knew exactly what the
cost of redemption was. He knew what the price would
be to restore our souls to God. That would require him becoming
a servant, a servant to Jehovah. Faithful in all ways. And in
many had to lay down his life for the sheep. He even said in
John 10, no man takes my life from me. You can't take the life
away from God. Who's gonna kill God? The God
man? Who's gonna kill him? He said,
nobody takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down.
I have the power to take my life again. This commandment have
I received of my father. And when he came into this vile
world, he laid down his life, having known from all eternity
that's what it's gonna take to save his sheep. And he wasn't
hesitant to do it. There was an anxiousness about
him. The scripture says he set his face like a flint. And his
disciples said, please don't go to Jerusalem. They're out
to kill you there. When Peter said that to him after
our Lord revealed for the very first time that he had to suffer
many things from the chief priests and elders and be killed and
then rise again, Peter said, this can't happen. We're not
gonna let you go Jerusalem if you're gonna die there. And our
Lord said, you don't have any idea what's going on here, Peter.
Just get behind me, Satan. You don't savor the things that
be of God. You don't appreciate what's going
on. Peter, I must lay down my life
to satisfy divine justice that demands death for the sins of
my sheep. Because my father gave them to
me. And I've got to redeem them. He's the omniscient shepherd.
He knew what awaited him. And he's the almighty shepherd. The almighty God. He said all
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And therefore he
told his preachers, now you go preach the gospel to every creature.
Because the Lord is our shepherd, we have nothing to fear, nothing
whatsoever. In fact, turn over with me to
Romans chapter 8, and I was looking at this passage again this afternoon. Here's another well-worn passage
of scripture that always causes the Lord's sheep to rejoice. I don't ever get tired of reading
Psalm 23. I don't ever get tired of reading
Ephesians 1. I don't ever get tired of reading
Romans chapter 8 either, or any other portion of scripture. Romans
chapter 8. He says in verse 28, and we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. For or because
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
in the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, Whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. He named us. Our names were written
down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And whom He called or whom He
named, them He also justified. There's an eternal aspect to
justification. There has to be because this
is the eternal designation and purpose and decree of God. were
justified from all eternity in the Lord Jesus Christ, never
outside of him. All the good things, all the
blessings that God has for all of his sheep are all in the shepherd. He says, in whom he justified
them, he also glorified. And we're very much aware of
this. All of these are in the past tense. It's like they're
all, he writes this by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, as if this
is all taking place already. It has in the mind and purpose
of God, and the fact that God purposed it to happen, it's as
good as done. Look at verse 31. What shall
we say, what shall we then say to these saints? I know what
a lot of people say. I don't believe that. That's
what a lot of people say. A lot of people say, I don't
believe that predestination stuff. Well, that's what the enemies
of the gospel say. But what shall we, what shall
then we say of these things? Well, here's what
we say. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If the shepherd is for us, who
can be against us? If the Lord is my shepherd, then
I shall not lack for anything. And if the Lord is my shepherd,
it doesn't matter who is against me, because their opposition
can't stand. Because the one who is my shepherd
is the Lord of glory. Look at verse 32, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
Out shall he not with him, also freely give us all things. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Is there any charge against one
of God's elect that will stick against us? No. because God has justified us,
and this is ongoing. We're always in a state of justification
before God. We're righteous before God through
the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody can
lay anything to our charge because all the charges against us, valid
charges of sin, were all put to the account of our shepherd,
and he paid the debt in full. There's no charges against us.
If it were possible for any of us to search the record books
of heaven, there's nothing, nothing recorded against us. Nothing
recorded against any of his sheep. Because the shepherd took care
of that. He paid our debt. It was an awful
price. It was an awesome price, but
it was a full payment price. to the justice of God. Look at
verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? Can anybody condemn us? Can anybody
judge us? Must we be fearful of standing
before the high throne, the great white throne of the Lord at the
final judgment? Must we be fearful of being judged,
condemned? No. Why not? It's Christ that
died. He died for us. If he died for
us, we not gonna die on account of our sins. He's already died
on account of our sins. Yea, rather, in addition to that,
he arose. He's risen again, which was God's
testimony that he has fully paid the sins that were imputed to
his account. He can't be charged anymore,
and I can't be charged either. Where is he now? He's even at
the right hand of God. And in Christ, I'm at the right
hand of God. Because we're ascended, Ephesians
talks about this, we've been ascended in our head and we sat
with him in heavenly glory. No charge can be brought against
us. Where are you, Jim? I'm at the
right hand of God in my head. Because where the head is, the
body ain't far behind. He says, who also maketh intercession
for us? I have a lawyer. I have an advocate. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Who is that? Jesus Christ the
righteous. He's our shepherd. Well, then
he asks, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation or distress? You distressed about anything?
We get distressed pretty easily, don't we? But you know what? Can't separate us from the love
of Christ. No need to be distressed. Why
not, Jim? Because the Lord's our shepherd,
that's why. Shall tribulation or distress,
what about persecution? Oh, that can't separate us either. or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? Even if things were to get very
difficult for these bodies, can't separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus. Brother James, there in the book
of Acts, Herod cut his head off. He'd kill his body, couldn't
hurt his soul. He just made a quick exit into the presence of the
Lord Jesus. Verse 36, as it is written, for
thy sake we're killed all the day long, hunted and hounded. We are accounted, watch it, as
sheep for the slaughter. That's how the enemy views us,
we're just sheep for the slaughter. Ah, but remember whose sheep
we are. We're the Lord's sheep. Nay,
in all these things we're more than conquerors through him who
loved us. Now, stop right there. You remember this morning, I
told you there from Zechariah chapter eight, about 10 men,
10 men of various languages being drawn to the hem of the garment
of Christ Jesus. And I told you about the number
10. Very symbolic. Usually when something is listed,
things are listed in a series of tens, it means there's a fullness
about it. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing
can be taken away. Watch this. I read this this
afternoon. For I am persuaded, here we go,
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature. Everything's covered. Everything's
covered. shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. You see, the shepherd's taking
good care of us. And I don't know what trials,
what troubles, what illnesses, what sicknesses, what disappointments
await the sheep of the Lord down here on this earth. I don't know.
And a lot of people, a lot of suffering saints through the
centuries, through the millennium. But I do know this. The sheep of the shepherd are
eternally secure. And we're safe forever because
of who our shepherd is. we've been given to him. He sought us and found us. And when he found you by his
gospel, you were like a little lamb wandering from him. He sought you, you didn't seek
him. And he found you and he hoisted
you up and put you on his shoulders. And he's delightfully carrying
you all the way home. Oh, how happy every little lamb
ought to be. The old saying, Mary had a little
lamb. Christ has a bunch of little
lambs. And he's such an omnipotent shepherd. He's carrying all of us. And he's carrying us all through
this wilderness journey that we're on. It's going to take
us all the way to glory, where we're going to praise the shepherd
forever and ever. And I'll tell you, that's a wonderful
story. And because he's our shepherd, we don't lack for anything. Never
have. Never will, might not have all
we want. Certainly not all we want as
far as the world's goods are concerned. Say, I wish I had
this, wish I had that. Well, Lord gives us what he determines
that we need. And with that, we should be thankful
and say that's sufficient. But we have all things spiritual
and all things eternal in our shepherd. We ought to be a contented
flock. Thankful for the shepherd. Get
your songbooks out. Let's sing one more song.