I preached on this a couple of
times in all the years I've been preaching, and I hope that the
Lord will be pleased to enable me to say something about it
tonight that would be a blessing to you. But when you read this psalm,
and when you read this psalm, you know why David was called
the sweet psalmist of Israel. The Lord is my shepherd. The
Lord is my shepherd. Lots of folks have tried to determine
when David wrote this psalm. Did he write it when he was a
shepherd? Because he knows something about being a shepherd. Remember,
he saved a sheep out of a bear's, and saved a sheep out of a lion's
mouth. And he was just a lad. And they
had to go, when they were getting ready to mow the king over Israel,
they had to go get David. from watching over the sheep.
He's just a shepherd boy. They had to go get him and bring
him in because they didn't find anybody in that house that was
going to be the king. So David was a shepherd when
they went out to get him to anoint him king. Did he write this psalm
when he was settled on Israel's throne? Did he write it when
he was in his sunset years? when he began to contemplate
that he is going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever?
Well, no one really knows, but we know that he wrote it, the
Psalm of David. The Psalm of David, that's what
it means, the Psalm of David. But let's look at, first of all,
the psalm that goes before it and the psalm that goes after
it. The 22nd Psalm is the psalm of
the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's the psalm, the psalm of
the cross, the psalm of the cross where our Lord Jesus Christ,
so many, so many prophecies in that psalm concerning Him. And
when He was on that cross and when He had His life, there was
no green pastures for Him. There was no still waters for
Him. There was no cup running over for Him. When he took the
cup from God's hands, it was a cup of bitterness and wrath
and justice. And he said he drunk it dry.
So when there's talk about the cross, and it was only as we
look at the cross that we can now say with Christ resurrected
from the dead. And that's what happens in the
24th Psalm. He's ascended into glory. The King of Glory, the Lord,
strong and mighty in battle, so now He sets it to right end.
But what happened was, from the cross to the time He went there,
we would not know anything about Him being our Shepherd had He
not went to that cross. And He certainly wouldn't be
our Shepherd now, and we wouldn't be looking for Him to come had
He not went to that cross. And it's only as we read and
understand, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, that we
understand our Lord being our shepherd. Do you all remember
where Zechariah's at? Malachi, the last book in the
Old Testament. Zechariah's the book right before
that. I want you to look in Zechariah, chapter 13, talking about the
shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ, our shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. David
knew what it was to be a shepherd, to care for sheep, to love sheep,
to care for sheep, take care of sheep. Zechariah 13, and look what it says here, talking
about the cross and not until we understand that, until we
have been there and we have understood what took place there before
we can truthfully say the Lord is my shepherd. 2 Corinthians
13, 7, awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man
that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered, and I'll turn my hand upon the
little ones." It's only then as we know that Christ was smitten
for the sheep, the shepherd smitten for the sheep. that we can truthfully
say, now, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. And
the Lord, He purchased the sheep, and that's why He's the shepherd
of them. He says, you know, He said, I know my sheep, and I
know of mine. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep, and no man takes it from me. This commandment have
I received of my Father. I lay down my life for the sheep,
and no man takes it from me. I have the power to lay it down,
and I have the power to take it up again. And I lay it down
for the sheep. So when we understand that, we
can say, bless God from the depth of my soul, the Lord is my shepherd. Look who it is here in verse
1. Who is the shepherd? Well, it says the Lord. The Lord. Not just anybody, the Lord. You
know, no man can call Jesus Christ the Lord but by the Holy Ghost.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And our Lord Jesus Christ was Lord because God decreed him
to be Lord. He said, I set my key upon my
high and holy hill. He is Lord by the deeds that
he did. He was Lord by his death, because
he, to this end, he both died, rose, and revived again, that
he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. And it's
the Lord that is our shepherd. It's Jehovah himself, the Lord
of glory. that one beloved that they nailed
to a tree, and said if they had known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of Glory." It's the Lord of Lord, and it's
the King of Kings. And you remember, he said the
sheep would be scattered. Well, the Lord Jesus, you know,
He said in Luke 15, He says, watch Shepherd. Have him ninety-nine
sheep, and lose one of them. Don't go and seek until he finds
that sheep. Goes into the wilderness. And
then he finds that sheep, he lays it on his shoulder, and
he brings it all the way back home. And says, Rejoice with
me, my friend, I found my sheep, which was lost. And, beloved
blessed, that's the Lord. The Lord, I'm telling you. The
Lord is the shepherd. The Lord is. And then look what
it says here. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch
this. Put your name in there. My shepherd.
My shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. He's not everybody's shepherd.
He's only, James, the shepherd of the sheep. We're the sheep
of His pasture, Psalm 100 says. Though it says here He is, the
Lord is. No ifs here, no maybes here,
no hopesos here, no perhaps about it. The Lord Jesus Christ is,
is, is my shepherd. He owns me. He owns you if you're
His sheep. He owns you, and you know how
He owns you? The Father gave you to Him from all eternity.
All that the Father giveth thee shall come to thee, and him that
cometh to thee out of nowhere is cast out, but I'll raise him
up at the last day. I'll raise him up, I'll not lose
one of you. And not only does He own us,
the Father gave us to Him from all eternity. But he loves us
and bought us with his own blessed blood. For as much as you know,
you are not redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious
blood. You're bought with the price,
with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's three ways
Christ is a shepherd. First of all, he was the good
shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. He's the great
shepherd who the Lord brought again from the dead through the
blood of the everlasting covenant. And Ben, look with me. Keep Psalm
23 and look in 1 Peter chapter 5. Just a moment. 1 Peter chapter
5. And he's the chief shepherd who
we're looking for to return. Oh, he's the great shepherd of
the sheep. Gone again from the dead. He was the good shepherd
that laid down his life for his sheep. He's the one who prays
the sheep, puts them in the fold, laid down his life for them.
And he's the chief shepherd. Look what it says here in 1 Peter
chapter 5. He told the elders there, he
said in verse 2, feed the flock of God which is among you. Flock,
the sheep. Taking the oversight thereof,
not by constraint, but do it willingly. Not for money, not
for filthy lucre, but do it of a ready mind. And don't do it
as lords being over God's heritage. They're God's heritage. But be
an ensemble to the flock. Now watch this. And when the
chief shepherd shall appear, this is when he returns again.
We're looking for the chief shepherd, the shepherd of the sheep, and
he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. So he's
the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Now
look back over in our Psalm 23 with me. It's the Lord that's
the shepherd. And the Lord is my shepherd.
My shepherd. Can you say the Lord is my shepherd?
Look what happens now. And he says, I shall not mourn.
The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not mourn. I may be the weakest of all the
sheep. May be the dumbest. May be the
slowest. Hey, you know, I've read a lot
about sheep, you know, they're clean animals, but I know one
thing, they're done. If one sheep goes off a cliff,
every one of them will fall right behind him. One strikes down
that way, then, you know, he'll get down there and he can't find
his way back. I may be the weakest, he said, I shall not want, I
may be the weakest, I may be the dumbest, I may be the slowest.
I may, as one of his sheep, wonder his strength. I may grow old
and may grow very, very feeble, but I shall not want. I may not have all I wish, but
I shall not want. We may endure sickness, sorrow,
walk the valley of death, stand before God's awful throne, but
I shall not want, for the Lord is my shepherd. First of all,
I shall not want for any good thing. I know that I won't for
any good thing. He is able to save me to the
uttermost because I came to God by Him. He's able to keep that
which I've committed unto Him against that day. And He's able,
bless His name, He's able to present us flawless before His
throne. And He's in glory in the appearance
of His glory. And He is able to raise this
vile body in that day and fashion it like unto His own glorious
body. I shall not want. And what are the things we won't
want for? Well, we won't want for rest. Look what it says in
verse 2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. I can't
get over one thing that says He maketh me. It's not our nature
to rest. especially in this business called
religion. But, oh, it's a rest, because
the Lord is my shepherd. I will, shall not want for rest.
He maketh me. Now, how does He do it? Well,
I don't think He puts His hands on the neck. I think He makes
us so willing and so joyful and so glad to lay down in these
green pastures. You know, why wouldn't I lay
down? Of whom shall I fear? I don't have any enemies that
can destroy me. Christ has done defeated them
all. My shepherd has. The curse of the law, he died
under it. He suffered death and he's done
took away all the judgment. I have no reason to run. I can
lay down. And the scripture when it says
here, I shall make it me to lie down, repose. All the sheep lay
down. repose in the green pastures
of His covenant of grace, the covenant that they entered into,
that included me and you, a gift from the Father to the Son, and
the Son willing to come here and pay our debts and present
us, all of us, before His throne with eternal glory. Oh, beloved,
repose in the green pastures of His oath, Repose in the green pasture of
His blessed blood that clears us from all sin. Repose in His
righteousness that makes us perfect before God. Repose in His justification. Repose, my soul, in His Word. Oh, the green pastures. Our Lord
said, Come unto Me. All of you that are weak, all
of you that are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And oh, He gives us rest. And
oh, we get in the tizzy-tum-signs and then He'll take us aside
and make us lay down. Make us rest. And then look what
else it says. I shall not only want for rest,
but I won't want for peace. Look what it says there in the
second part of verse 2. Not only does He make me lie
down in green pastures, He leaves me beside the still waters. I shall not want for peace. He'll
lead me beside the steel wires." Oh, when there's commotion, unrest,
troubles, and the Lord leads us beside steel wires. You know,
I read that sheep will not drink from the fast-moving stream,
that the water's got to be calm, it's got to be still. And He
leads us beside the still waters. You know, we're very active people,
and our lives are made up of two parts. Two parts. What we
think, and then what we do. What we think, like we are in
our minds, and then what we do. We meditate, we think about things,
and then we have activity. And so, beloved, when He says
that He leads us beside the still waters, What a blessed person,
what a blessed soul it is, who can say, in both areas, in my
thoughts, in my mind, and in my deeds, in my activities, the
Lord is my shepherd. That I can walk beside the still
waters. We can rest in mind and soul,
fed by His Word, fed by His promises, assured by them. And then it
says here, he leadeth me. We walk beside these still waters. And you know, when you go through
the scriptures, the scriptures teaches us that the trials of
life are pictures. That's deep water. Deep water. Some of you have been in some
deep water. When Nick had that accident yesterday, that's deep
water for his mama and his daddy and his grandpa, grandmother.
Father, that's deep water. You don't know what's going to
happen. Oh, that's deep water. And it's troubled waters, raging
waves of the sea, the Scripture says. But our Shepherd has calmed
the troubled sea, and He's troubled all the trials for our good,
and He leads us beside still waters. They're calmed. He calms
them down. Huh? Let me show you something
over here in Jeremiah 12. You know, the Lord Jesus says,
when you go through the waters, they shall not overflow thee.
When thou goest through the river, it won't drown thee. And when
you go through the fire, it shall not burn thee. And look what
it says here. Jeremiah 12 and verse 5. If thou hast run with the footmen,
and they have worried thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace,
when thou trustest, they worry thee, then how wilt thou do in
the swelling of Jordan?" You know how we're going to do it?
The Lord is my shepherd. You think that swelling of Jordan
and make it just as calm. It was like those fellas asleep
on the boat. You know, Lord Jesus asleep on
that boat. And on that ship that night, the storm became, the
wind began to blow. Oh, the rain began to beat down. Oh, they woke Him up and said,
Lord, don't you care? We're going to drown here. We're
going to perish here. Water's going over the boat.
Lord Jesus got up and just stood up. Raised his hand and said,
Peace be still. Calm those waters. Still the
wind. He got just as calm. And whenever it's like that for
us, He'll calm them waters for us. Never has failed yet. Never
has failed yet. And then back over in Psalm 23.
We'll be alright when we come to the swelling of Jordan. And
we're not running with footmen. And we're not contended with
horses. The Lord's undone all that for us. And then look what
he says, I shall not want for redemption, in verse 3. He restoreth
my soul. He restoreth my soul. You know,
what in the world is he talking about, he restores my soul? Well,
he restored it to life. because we died in Adam. He restored
life. He restored my soul. He restored
life to me, the life that I lost in Adam. As in Adam we all die,
even so in Christ shall we all be made alive. He restored it
to its purity. It was defiled. It was sinful. It was unacceptable to God. He
sanctified it with His own precious blood. He purified us, made us
perfect, made us acceptable in the sight of God Himself. And,
oh, beloved, and he restored it. I'll tell you where else
he restored it. He restored my soul to God. I was an enemy of
God, and God was an enemy of mine, but he restored, he reconciled
us to God. He restored our soul to God itself,
where God himself can look on us now and say, that's my beloved. And he restored my soul and my
body to power and glory to someday reign with him. He didn't change
this thing that quick. And He'll take this same body
and change it in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and give
it power, restore it to what it was before the fall, give
it power and glory to reign with Him forever. In Psalm 69, I believe
I read that to you Sunday night, but it says He restored that,
which He took not away. He restored it. And then look
what else it says here. Not only does he restore my soul,
restored life to it from what I lost in Adam, or death in Adam.
Restored it to its purity, its sinlessness, as it stands before
God. Restored it to God. Restored
my soul and body to be with Him. And then he says, He leadeth
me in the path of righteousness for His namesake. Why, you know, It's not our nature
to even know that there was a path of righteousness. Now, ain't
that right? How many of you all knew that
there was even a path of righteousness? That God had one? We had our
own righteousness. And we was interested in him,
and we was interested in Stephen Smith. But he said, he leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake. It's not
our nature to know the path of righteousness. It's not our nature
to be able to find it and recognize it when we've seen it. Nor to
walk in it. But watch what it says, he leads
me there. You know why? Because it's his
path. It's his path. And He's the one who makes us
righteous before God, and He leads us in that path, both to
love this path of righteousness and to love walking in this path
of righteousness. Walking after Christ. Christ
being the end of the law for us. And then keep Psalm 23 and
look at Psalm 106 just a moment. And He leads us for His namesake
and for His glory. He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for His name's sake, for His glory, to the praise
of the glory of His grace when He's made us accepted in the
beloved. Look what is said here in Psalm 106 and verse 6. We
have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We
have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude
of thy mercies. but provoked him at the sea,
even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for
his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power known.
He leads us in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Do you know
whose name's sake is? His blessed son. That's his name's
sake. And then look what else it says here. Go back to the
twenty-third Psalm. Look in verse four. I shall not
want for companionship, I shall not want for comfort. Right down
to the middle of the verse it says this, for thou art with
me. I'll not want for companionship
or comfort, for thou art with me. And not only that, but thy
rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I'll not want for companionship,
for thou art with me. I'll not want for comfort, for
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And oh, we're going to walk
through the valley of the shadow of death. Huh? Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art
with me. Thou art with me, thy rod and
staff comfort me. You know, yea, though we walk
through the valley of the shadow of death. Now, I don't know if
this means the time of physical death, I really don't. But I
think from the time we are believers, well, I think our whole pilgrimage
here is walking through a valley of death. I think our whole journey
here is a valley, walking through a valley of death. We all walk through it. Our entire
journey through it is called the valley of death because of
the fall of Adam. It left the stamp and stench
of death upon everything. And we're walking through this
valley. And we're walking through this world because it's not our
dwelling place. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
Thou shalt dwell with me. Be my robbing, my comfort." And
he calls it here, he says, ye go, walk through the valley of
death. It's called the shadow of death. You know why it's called
the shadow of death? Because he removed the substance
of it, the sting of it, and only the shadow remains. A shadow
can't hurt you or harm you in any way. The shadow of a dog
can't bite you. And neither can the shadow of
death hurt you. And then he goes on to say, I will fear no evil. He didn't say there wasn't any
evil, because there's plenty of it. He didn't say there wasn't
any. He said there's plenty of evil
in this world. But we don't fear it, because our Shepherd's with
us. And you know where the sheep
is? It's where the Shepherd's at. That's why Lord Jesus says,
I'll never, no never, no never, no never, no never, no never
leave you or forsake you. So we'll fear no evil. And He
said, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Now, you know
a rod and a staff. I don't know. It says here that
they go to comfort him. Some say this rod, this staff
that he has is for correction and chastisement. Now that's
a blessed comfort, for only the Lord chastises whom He loves.
He don't chastise anybody but those He loves. And some say
that rod is for Him to number the sheep as they pass hundred.
He knows all of His sheep, and He calls them by name. And a
stranger they won't follow. Some say that rod is a symbol
of His sovereignty. I know He rules over the flock.
Some say it's for direction. I know He directs the flock,
He leads the flock, and the flock follows Him wherever He goes. And then others say it's for
defense. Whenever someone comes to get
more of the sheep, He uses that rod to defend the sheep. And
I do know He defends the sheep. And if all of them are men here,
all of them are comforted to me, because He rules us, He defends
us, He directs us, and we want to follow Him wherever we go.
And I want to be numbered as one of his sheep. And then verse
5, look what it says. I shall not walk for provisions,
even in the presence of mine enemies. Thou preparest me a
table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Oh, my. You know, our Lord, you know,
was some of our enemies. Sin is an enemy. But the Lord Jesus Christ says,
we're dead to sin. Sin shall not have reign over
us, so we have a table spread in the presence of that enemy.
Dead is an enemy, we have a table spread in the presence of that.
God's wrath is an enemy, Christ endured it, swallowed it all
up, so he presents a table in the presence of our enemies.
The world is our enemy, but Christ saved us and delivered us from
this present evil world, so he sent us a table in the presence
of our enemies. And oh, beloved, the Scripture says that we war
against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in heavenly
places. We've got enemies, and we wouldn't be like our Master
if we didn't. The world, the flesh, and the devil are enemies,
but He fully sets the table in their presence. We eat. Right now, we eat at the Lord's
table in the presence of all our enemies. And there's nothing
lacking at this table. He'll supply all of our needs.
And we sit down with our Lord and feast as the enemy, as if
He didn't even exist. And then He stands and down on
us, my head with all. The Holy Spirit comes and blesses
us, and He poured the Holy Spirit out on us. And then our cup runneth
over. Runs over with grace, mercy,
righteousness. Could God not, look at all that
God gives us, does it not cause our cup to run over? And David said, and then the
final thing, he said, I shall not want for anything in this
life or in the life to come. He said, for surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Surely, surely. Here's goodness
and mercy. David's not presumptuous here.
He's not claiming any personal worth. He's not claiming any
personal merit. You know what he said? The Lord is my shepherd,
so I shall not want. It was his faith and his confidence
is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that great shepherd, that
chief shepherd, and that good shepherd. And the Lord is our
shepherd. And look what he said. Goodness
and mercy are going to be our constant companions. When you
walk in this building tonight, this ufology, When you walk out,
guess who's walking out with you, right behind you? You get
up in the morning, guess who's gonna follow you into the kitchen
to get you a cup of coffee? Goodness and mercy's gonna do
it. That's a blessed thing to think about, ain't it? Hey, goodness. Hey, mercy. Wonderful, wonderful companions
you are. And then look what he says. So
what could we want for it? Goodness and mercy for us. And
look here. And I will dwell. I'll just go visit. I'll dwell.
Dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And why is all that? Because
the Lord is my shepherd.