I'm going to be in Psalms 23,
the 23rd Psalm, very, very familiar. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the path of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy Shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever I'm gonna tell you some folks.
I can read that and go home, and I'll be blessed But I do
have something else to say Now I want to start with this fact.
This is a psalm of David That's what it says here. This is therefore
a psalm of a believer, a believer. A psalm written under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit through a man after God's own heart. The Lord
is his shepherd and he shall not want. Now, some might be troubled. by the
fact that you don't always, and I'll include myself, I don't
always feel the joy and comfort of what David wrote here in this
23rd Psalm. Well, you're not going to feel
it always. And if you read the book of Psalms, David wrote some
other ones. You understand, the Christian's
life is not all la-dee-dah. and we're gonna go into it. My
title is going to be The Valley, what? Of the Shadow of Death. That's my title, The Valley of
the Shadow of Death. So another cheerful message is
what I'm saying. But it is, because there's always
good news. Always good news. But understand,
you can't always live in the 23rd Psalm. Sometimes you have
to go through the 51st Psalm, where my sin is ever before me.
And sometimes, you gotta have that broken heart and that contrite
spirit, even as a believer. But listen, the beautiful thing
about that, the broken and contrite heart, God will not despise. Matter of fact, he loves it.
He loves you. Anyhow, we can't always be in
the 23rd Psalm, and actually, in the 23rd Psalm, he says, I'm
walking through the valley of the shadow of death. They just
say, I'll fear no evil, but we'll get to all that here in a minute.
He wrote psalms of remembrance, psalms of praise, and psalms
of remembrance of his sin, and mourning over that sin. Your life, as a believer, will
run the whole gamut. Now, as the metaphor goes, I'm
not sure that it's really that great. Sometimes you're in the
valley, and sometimes you're on the mountaintop. And when
you're going from one place to the other, you're gonna go through
it. Our lives are no different than anyone else. We have to
deal with circumstances of sickness, of old age, and medical problems,
and we just go on. But here's the thing. Always
remember, the Lord is your shepherd. And you shall not want. He will
give strength, would say though, as our day. Some days you don't
need a lot of strength. Some days you need a lot. But
he has all strength, and he is happy to give it. Anyhow, so
verse four is what I want to talk about. Though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death. First thing, first thing, very
clearly, I want to say this. You're walking. You're walking. I'm walking. Okay? And, very
carefully, I'm walking through. I'm walking through. And here's
the thing. Believers and only believers
walk. That's it. You understand? Well,
I'll give you a reason for that later. But take my word for it
for right now. And here it is. There is a reason
for David's walk in this song. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. The Lord is my shepherd. There's
a reason for David's walk, because I'm gonna tell you this, the
Lord is my good shepherd. I shall not want, and I'm gonna
tell you this, you're gonna follow him. If he's your shepherd, you're
going to walk. You're going to walk. Because here it is, he tells
us, what's he say? In verse two, he says, he maketh
me to lie down in green pastures. Oh, wait a minute, that's not
all. He leadeth me. He leadeth me beside distilled
waters. He restored my soul is verse
three. He leadeth me in the path of
righteousness. You understand what it means
when the good shepherd leads you? You're gonna follow. You're
gonna follow. Matter of fact, it's the shepherd's
job to make sure that the sheep follow him. Oh, and he's a good
shepherd. He's a good shepherd. He's the
best shepherd there ever was. Because that's God good shepherd. Oh my. And if the Lord is my
shepherd, he leads me. And if the Lord is my shepherd,
he guides me. And I follow, he says, I walk,
I walk. I mean, that's what the shepherd
does. You'll walk and lie down, what,
in green pastures. You'll walk beside still waters.
And he didn't stop there. He leads me in the path of righteousness
for his namesake. Not for your sake, not for my
sake, for his name's sake. Oh, I like that. When he leads,
you walk. I guarantee it. You'll walk.
God's people walk for his name's sake. He loves us and he guides
us and we love him and we want to walk behind him. We want to
walk with him. I want him to walk with me. Oh,
I like that. Oh, I wanna follow him. But here,
specifically, and in context, it says I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death. Now I'm not gonna keep you too
long this morning, but I do have, I wanna give you this. This word,
and it is one Hebrew word for shadow of death. It's about this
long. I'm not even gonna try to pronounce
it. It's used 18 times in the Old Testament. All right, 10
times in Job, go figure. Another cheerful message there.
But 10 times in Job, four times in the Psalms, two times in Jeremiah,
once in Amos, and once in Isaiah, which is a good one. And we'll
get to a little bit of that. It is used as a metaphor in these
times, the grave. The shadow of death is the grave. That's what it says, that's what
the word means. Okay? Because I want you to understand
this. We're not walking in the shadow
of death. We're not walking in the grave. We're walking in the
valley of the shadow of death. I remember when Earl first pointed
that out years ago, decades ago, and that stuck. You're not in
the shadow of death, you're in the valley. And the shadow of
death is there. But that's not where you are.
I walked through the valley of the shadow of death. The valley
of the shadow of death. Just let me let you think about
this. Because in some ways, we can say the valley of the shadow
of death is our entire life. It's our entire, here's the word,
sojourn. Sojourn. We're pilgrims in this
world. We're pilgrims. What does it
say about Abraham? He was looking for a city, but
he didn't find it yet. He was looking for it. He dwelt
in tents his whole life. Moved around every now and then.
Here we go. The valley of the shadow of death
is our entire journey, our sojourn through life. Because here's
the thing. We can never forget this. In
Adam, all died. In Christ, we're made alive.
But in Adam, all died. We were born into the valley
of the shadow of death. You understand, we are never
that far from the grave. I'm not trying to be depressing
here, but that's what it is. Earl used to say another thing.
The old must die, the young may. You understand, I've been two
or three seconds away from a really bad accident that could have
taken my life more than once. I used to drive when I worked
some years ago, decades ago, for a drug company, legal drug
company, that is. Let's be careful here. But I
used to drive 330 to 400 miles a day. Walter used to be on the
road all the time. We always compare notes sometimes. See,
here's the thing. When you ride 400 miles a day,
somewhere, somehow, some fool is going to pull out right in
front of you. Every day. And if it doesn't happen one
day, it's going to happen twice the next. And I'm not joking. I was never so glad as to when
I got off the road. That got old real fast. I did
it for years. I like to have a job. But I thank
God for keeping me out of accidents. You understand? In West Virginia,
you're one instant from going off a cliff. You understand? I understand why they talk about
the mountains being the good place, because I live in West
Virginia. And the valley's saying, oh no, that's depressing. Although
around here we call them flatlands. But this is the thing. Our whole
lives are one breath away from eternity, y'all. When we come
into this world and we walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
we walk through the valley of the grave following the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, I like that. Oh, my. The prophecy of Zacharias, John
the Baptist's father, It ends with this statement. You don't
have to turn there. It's in Luke 1 verse 79. Talking about John
the Baptist was come for this purpose, right? To give light
to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. To
guide our feet into the way of peace. John was to preach the
coming Messiah. Jesus Christ Zechariah prophecy
and where that prophecy come from is Isaiah 9 in verse 2 that's
where it comes from And you know what also is in Isaiah chapter
9 about verse 6 unto us But a child is born unto us a son is given
oh my I like that and here it is a He will give light to those
that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Let me tell
you two things. You'll never realize that you're
in darkness until His light shines into you. You won't know. You've been sitting in darkness
your whole life until then. You've been sitting in the shadow
of death until then. And here's the other thing. Until
you realize that you are in darkness, you will never look to the light. Because you won't know what it
is. If our gospel be hid, it is hid to those that are lost,
that are blinded. Their minds have been blinded.
You understand? The light, Jesus Christ, God
of all, You understand? The everlasting father, the prince
of peace. God, Jesus Christ, always shines. But sometimes we can't see. And
man as he is born cannot see. He is blind to the light. But
he always shines. And here it is, I'm gonna tell
ya, here's another fact. Walking through the valley of
the shadow of death is better than just sitting there. There are people, when we're
walking through the valley of shadow of death, there are other
people around. But I'm gonna tell you something, they're on
the broad way. They're not in the narrow way. They didn't enter
in through the straight gate. Still the same valley of the
shadow of death. Still the valley of the grave. But we're walking,
we're through. You understand? That's the other
part I like about this. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death. Understand, we're in the valley
of the shadow of death, but that ain't our goal. We're walking
through. And you know why we're walking
through? Because death couldn't hold him. Death didn't hold him. And we're following him, we're
going through. And you know what? He's the way in, he's the way
out. and he's the way up. Oh, I like that, I'm telling
you. Walking through the valley of the shadow death is much better
than sitting. Oh, we need the light. We need
Jesus Christ to guide us, to lead us, and he does. The good shepherd leads his sheep. Oh, I like that. Without the
guide, without the light to lead us, There's a word for that. Lost. Lost. He, our light, our good shepherd,
will never leave us. And never, never forsake us. You understand? You don't have
to worry about being left halfway in the valley of the shadow of
death. Sometimes, let's be clear, probably
most times, we may not know where we are going. I have an idea. Now, it may be
a stupid idea, but it's mine. You understand? Of where I'm
going. The end goal. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. That's what I'm looking for.
Now, how I'm going to get there I don't know where he's going
to send me in between then, where he's going to send you. But I'm
gonna tell you something. We may not know exactly where
we are going, but we are walking through. We're walking through,
following the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, I will grant you this. There is a time, a time to stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. But you know what happened
after that? When Moses said that, the Red
Sea parted and guess what? They were walking through. And
they walked through the Red Sea dry shod. You know why? Because they were following Christ,
whether they knew it or not. There's a time to stand still,
but then the time comes to walk. Oh, I like that. Believers walk. And believers,
here's the thing, the valley of the shadow of death, it's
a valley. It's not a dwelling place. It's
not a dwelling place. It's not an abode. We're walking
through. We're walking through. Oh, I
like that. Believers walk through the valley. He leads us through this valley. And we are going, we are walking
with him. with him, that's what he says.
And not only that, walking with him, we are walking to him. Oh, you understand? The light
is the goal, not the valley. And the goal is the thing, not
the journey. Although the journey will occupy
your mind. Circumstances matter, they do. But he gives us strength as our
day. He'll give us strength as we
need it. Oh my. And what's he say? Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. That's good. I wish I felt that
way all the time. By God's grace, following his
son who leads us and guides us, I will fear no evil. It doesn't matter how dark the
valley is. Doesn't matter how dark. Doesn't matter whether
it's daytime or nighttime. Whether you're in the shadow
or you're on the sunny side. Was it the north side or the
south side? There's a difference. But it doesn't matter. No matter
how narrow, how deep, by his grace, I am following Christ. and you are following Christ.
Oh, I wish I could lay a hold of that all the time. It's good
when I can lay a hold of it, but it'd be better if I could
do it all the time. No matter my circumstances, no matter how
depressed I am, he's leading and you're following. Oh, I like
that. And he is good. He is our good
shepherd. My circumstances are meant for
my good, but that doesn't mean I enjoy them. Your circumstances
are meant for your good, but that doesn't mean you're gonna
enjoy them either. That's just the way this world works. It's
hard to see at times, and I'll tell you this, that doesn't mean
God condones our sin either. We're to walk in the paths of
righteousness. But he's forgiven our sins. even
the ones when we do them, following Him. Walking after Him. You understand, God didn't stop
forgiving your sins because you became a believer and now it's
up to you. That's hooey, that's a lie. Understand, if Christ
didn't die for my sins, I'm going to hell and so are you. All of
them. Even the ones from today, the
ones from tomorrow. Oh, he couldn't do that, they
hadn't been done yet. Don't tell Jesus Christ what
he can't do. And don't try and tell me that
because I'll laugh at you. When he said he died for the
sins of his people, he died for the sins of his people. Oh my. What it does mean though, is
this means he knows we will learn from his chastisement. Because
his chastisement afterwards, afterwards yields the peaceable
fruit of righteousness. Now it's not a pleasant thing
to go through it. It's not supposed to be. It's
not meant to be. But afterwards, Just as certain
as the chastisement that would come, afterwards it yields a
peaceable fruit of righteousness. Oh my. But here, David tells
us, I'll fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. All the way throughout the valley
of the shadow of death, thou art with me. I'll fear no evil. For thou art with me because
thou art with me. You understand, that might sound
like confidence, but it's not. It's confidence in him, not in
me. You understand? There's a reason
I'll fear no evil. I trust the one who's running
the whole show, who's doing it all, who put me in these circumstances,
even though I don't understand them and I don't like them sometimes. Even when I don't see him, he's
there. Even when you don't see him,
he's there. He's always there. Oh, the good
shepherd has never abandoned one sheep. Matter of fact, he
left the 99 and went out to find the 100th one that was missing.
And he found it, and he picked it up, and he carried it back
to the fold. And you know what happened? He
was happy. He was happy, why? Because he
had all his sheep, and that's what he wanted, was all his sheep,
and the good shepherd's gonna have all his sheep. You can say
anything else you want, you can say anything different, but if
you say Jesus Christ is gonna lose one of his people, you're
a liar. I'm serious about that. I don't
mean to be mean. Well, yes, sometimes I do, but
this is the truth of God. He will not lose anything or
anyone that the Father gave to him, not a one, even through
the valley of the shadow of death. I fear no evil. Why? For thou
art with me. Oh, my. Lo, I am with you always,
he said. What? Even unto the end of the
world. You know what the writer of that
gospel said at the end of that? Amen. Amen. Oh, I like that. Oh, thou art with me. You understand,
even through the valley of the shadow of death, he remembers
we're dust. He remembers that we are less
than the small dust of the balance. The nations are a drop in a bucket. So what does that make you? That
makes you a piece of a drop in a bucket. And he's with us. And he's with his people the
whole time. We may not know it, we may not
see it, it doesn't matter. The Lord is with his people. Oh, I like that. Take heart,
be not faint, don't stop, and keep walking. Keep walking. Walk through, walk through. Follow
the light. He is leading us and guiding
us. And here it is, David said, he's
with us. He is with us. Oh, I like that. In the valley of the shadow of
death, the Lord Jesus Christ is with every one of his people. He knows exactly where you are.
He knows exactly what you're doing. And he knows exactly where
he is taking you. We don't understand. We don't. We don't understand. We can't
understand. What we can do is believe him. By his grace, through the faith,
which is the gift of God that he has given us, we can believe
him and trust that he is with us and we are going the right
way. Because he'll see to it you're going the right way. He
is going to what? leadeth me in the path of righteousness
for his name's sake. For his name's sake. Understand,
this is important to him. This is important to him. It's
for his name's sake this is being done. Oh my. It says thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. I like that. Now a lot of people when they
read the rod, They think of somebody beating somebody with a stick.
I don't think that's the reference here. The rod is the symbol of
power. Of power, what? And his staff
is a shepherd's staff. What? It's the symbol of the
good shepherd that he's going to walk and you're going to follow. He's going to lead and you're
going to follow. He's going to guide and you are
going to walk. His power and his guidance comfort
me. Comfort me. And as well they
should. Because it takes the power and
the grace and the guidance of Jesus Christ to walk in the valley
of the shadow of death. That's what it takes. Oh my. He comforts us. And we try, we're
told to comfort. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
How? The only way I can comfort anybody
is to point to Christ. He's my comfort. And he ought
to be your comfort too. And understand, we don't, we
proclaim, we preach the Lord Jesus Christ who is our comfort. We don't have any strength. When
we were without strength, he saved us. And his strength has
made purpose, his strength has made, I forgot the word, perfect. I got purpose and perfect mixed
up, I'll take that. His strength has made perfect
in weakness. Paul, you're talking about, we're
just clay pots. He knows that. And he leads us, and he guides
us. Oh, I tell you, to where we get
where he wants us to be. And he will continue to lead
and to guide. You understand? I can handle
the weakness part. He handles the strength. He handles
the strength. I need his strength, his power,
and his guidance the whole time. For conclusion here, I'm going
to give you something Robert Hawker wrote. talking about this verse. First of all, he talked about
it being a valley, not a dwelling place, which is true. But he
said, moreover, it is not death, but the mere shadow of death. And that's the way it's described.
The true believer in Christ has to pass through. That's right. The sting of death,
which is what? Sin. is taken out by the blood
of Christ. The cause which is to be brought
before the judge after death hath already been before him
in which accusations of the law and Satan and conscience Jesus
hath answered. I like that. Jesus hath answered
and God hath declared himself to be well pleased. I like that. You understand? We're going through. And one
day we're going to die. It's gonna happen. We're going
to die. The old must die, the young may. And he's gonna take us out unless
he comes first. And I'm okay with that too. But
if not, I'm gonna die. But by his grace, When it comes
my time to die, I wanna be walking through the valley of the shadow
of death, fearing no evil, because he is with me. That's what I
want. And his rod and his staff are
comforting me. And you know, when I preach a
sermon like this, I gotta read this. Because we say it, we preach
it, and the longer I live, the more I've seen it. in my life
and others. 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. Walking through the valley of
the shadow of death works together for good to those that love God,
to those that love God. For you, believers. Oh, what
is it? Remember what? Whose you are
and whom you serve. Fear no evil. Why? For he is with us, always, but
until the end of the world. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time and this place. Thank you, Lord, for your
blessings, which are innumerable, and unknown mostly to us, all
that you are doing, all that you've done, all that you shall
do. Through your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, we have been blessed
with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in him. Be with those that couldn't be
here for the hindering cause, whatever, sickness, health. Help
them, Lord. Touch their bodies as you will.
Heal as you will and help us, help us to walk through the valley
of the shadow of death. I know you will, you have promised
and you will perform it. Be with Walter and be with Paul
as they come to preach your gospel and be with us as we come to
hear it and rejoice in your name being uplifted. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's name we pray, amen.