If you would, please turn in
your Bible to Psalm 23. The 23rd Psalm, a very familiar piece
of scripture, as well it should be. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths 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. And I'll put on the end, amen.
I love that psalm. My title is this, The Perfect
Psalm. The Perfect Psalm. Now I do want
to say at the beginning, I know and I believe that all the psalms
are perfect. I know and I believe all the
scripture is perfect. It is all God breathed. But this little psalm here, lays
it out better and it's easier to understand, I think, than
just about almost anything around. It is just perfect. I found a
list online. No, actually not online. It's
an old magazine. I don't know who wrote it. I
don't know who wrote it. But I got it out of a digital
copy of a magazine that was printed in 1920. And it's talking about this psalm
and all it does it has 14 different perfections that are in here,
perfect things. Now they entitled it the Pilgrim
Psalm, but I'm entitling it the Perfect Psalm. Now the question that needs to
be answered, usually about every psalm, just before we get started,
Is this David talking about himself, or is this a messianic song?
Well, the short answer to that is yes. It's both. It's both. It's both. Man is
commanded not only to believe and to worship God perfectly,
man is commanded to serve God perfectly. And man doesn't. And man never has, except one
man. You understand I know about every
one of these things and I will be speaking from this psalm Basically
about how it relates to me and how it relates to you how it
related to David But let me make this one thing perfectly clear.
The only one who perfectly did this song is Jesus Christ the
Messiah This is also a psalm of what he was going to do perfectly
And he came down, and he, what is it? Made of a woman, but also
it says, made under the law. He subjected himself to the law.
He subjected himself to the will of the Father. Man broke the
law, but that one man kept the law perfectly. Hebrews 4 and 15 said it this
way, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted,
like as we are, yet, that's a mighty nice yet, without sin. Our Lord
kept the 23rd Psalm. I'd like to, and I like this
Psalm, I really do, But I'm just gonna break this down by verse.
The first perfection it shows is listed as perfect surety. That's in verse one. Guess what? David started this off, the Lord
is my shepherd. This is where this psalm starts,
and this is where everything starts. Grace, mercy, love, life,
truth, faith, glory. Everything starts with what?
The Lord. That's where it all starts. Yahweh, the Lord, is my shepherd. And I mean, that's what it is.
Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D in the Old Testament,
that's Yahweh. He's my shepherd. He's my shepherd. Guess what? If he's my shepherd,
my position, my position is sure. Because if he's my shepherd,
I am his sheep. And you don't get any better
than the Lord being your shepherd. I mean, that's the illustration.
That's the words David used. Shepherd. And if he's the shepherd,
that means if he's my shepherd, I'm his sheep. And the shepherd
is responsible for his sheep, the whole flock. Every single
sheep, what? That is his sheep. Feeding, leading, caring, health,
wealth, welfare, Life and death, the Lord is my shepherd. There
is no more perfect surety than that. Then we also see in the Lord
being our shepherd, perfect satisfaction. I shall not want. Now let's be
clear. The only reason I shall not want
is because the Lord is my shepherd. You see what comes first here
in this verse. What comes first before everything else in this
psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. See this is
where we can get into difficulty because I will admit to wanting
at times. I'm dumb that way. I'm depraved
that way. But that's where this Messianic
Psalm, Jesus Christ said, the Lord is
my shepherd. He did not want. He perfectly believed the Father. He perfectly followed the Father's
will. But here it is, in my shepherd
I have all. There's nothing lacking and there's
nothing else. In Yahweh, the Son, there is
love, faith, joy, peace, grace, mercy, life, everything. If the Lord is your shepherd,
you have nothing to want. You have it all. You have it
all. We have all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies. What? In Christ. He is all I
need. He has you and you have him. There is no other life. All life
is in him. I shall not want because the
Lord is my shepherd. And you shall not want for he
is all of your salvation. The third one is perfect rest. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He gives perfect rest. Now how,
I love this part, how are we to lie down in green pastures? How are we to enter a perfect
rest? He makes me. He makes me. You know why? Because he has
to. There's no way I can enter into
rest on my own. There's no way that I will enter
into rest on my own. It's not gonna happen because
it's not in my nature. And if you're honest about it,
you'll say it's not in your nature either. We sing that song, Almighty
love, what? Arrest that man. And that's what
it means. He'll make you lay down. But,
here it is, the psalmist of Israel, he'll make you lie down, what?
In green pasture. You're gonna lie down in green
pasture. A place of comfort, a place of peace, and guess what?
That's a place of sheep food. The Lord is my shepherd. And
the shepherd will make you lay down in green pastures. And it's also a place, the fourth
thing is perfect quietness. Quietness. He makes me lie down
in green pastures, but he leadeth me beside, what? The still waters. Now I remember Earl talking about
this from his own experience to where sheep will not drink
from rushing streams. That's what he said. I take his
word for it. He knew more about it than I
did. Sheep want still water to drink
from. That's what they drink from.
But he leadeth me. How do you get to the still water?
He leads you. How do you lie down? He makes you. How do you get
to the still water? He leads you. It's not a place
I'd go on my own. See, naturally, the elect are
lost sheep. Understand? Naturally, we are
far from green pastures. Naturally, we are far from the
still water. He's got to make us lie down
in green pastures and He's got to lead us to the still water.
Now the water in the scriptures is a picture, usually an illustration
of the Spirit. And you understand, these aren't
troubled waters. This is still waters. These aren't
troubled waters. Troubled waters are all around
us. That's where we were before. He leads us by the still waters
for what? Perfect quietness. What is it? A still, small voice. Perfect quietness. Perfect quietness. He leads us beside the still
waters. And guess what? You'll drink
when He leads you beside distilled waters. He leads only to good places.
You know that? Why? All things work together
for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according
to His purpose. These waters are not troubled,
not the waters to which He leads. The fifth thing, they have perfect
health. Perfect health. Now this is not
physical health. It's in the third verse. What? He restoreth my soul. Now I know we don't have perfect
health. And that's not the perfection he's speaking of here. But in
him, our shepherd, we do have perfect spiritual health. Why? Because he made me lie down
in the green pastures. He led me beside the still waters. And he restoreth my soul. My soul. He restores your soul. He's not promising health. He's
not promising wealth. No matter what they say all around
us. But He does restore your soul. In Him we have perfect spiritual
health. Because in Him we have life. True life his life his righteousness Which is the next point perfect
guidance the sixth one He leadeth me in the path of righteousness
what for his name's sake for his name's sake What guidance
could be more perfect? Than the Lord our Shepherd he
leads he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness We are told by the Apostle in
the Epistle to grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. How is that possible for a depraved
sinner? He leads. He leads. And he leads in the path of righteousness
for his name's sake. It's not for my sake. It's not
for your sake. Although it is for your good
and for God's glory He's doing it for his name's sake He is
bringing in many sons what to glory He's bringing in many sons
to the father and he only leads in the path
of righteousness he is the way of righteousness he is the righteousness
of god and by god he is our righteousness we are to understand the scriptures
how's that possible he leads in the path of righteousness
he opens the understanding He does it all. We have perfect
guidance. The seventh one is perfect confidence. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, what? I will fear no evil. First thing is I walk. You walk
and we walk. If the Lord is your shepherd,
you're gonna walk. That's just the way it is. Because
the shepherd leads, and what? The sheep follow. I know my sheep. I'm not worried about anybody
else's sheep. I know my sheep, and what? They know me. In my
voice, they'll follow. A stranger, they won't follow.
But he leads, and we walk. We walk wherever He leads. Even through the valley of the
shadow of death, yes, and beyond. We only walk because He leads. Otherwise, we just wander. Prone
to wander, Lord I feel it. That's another song we sang. We have perfect confidence in
Him. I am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed to Him against that day. I will fear no evil. Why? Because
the Lord is my shepherd. It is true. He knows me. He knows you. He knows every
sheep he has. But he has given to us to know
him and to know the Father through him. And in God, we can have
complete, perfect confidence. I will fear no evil. He will
protect, He will guard, He will preserve, He will keep, He will
lead. What does Paul wrote in Romans? If God be for you, who can be
against you? It doesn't matter where you are. In Him. We have perfect confidence. The next part is we have perfect
company. Because here it tells you why
I will fear no evil for for thou art with me. We don't have perfect confidence
in ourselves. We've got perfect confidence in him. And he said,
for thou art with me. Who? The Lord my shepherd is
with me. What did he tell us? I will never
leave thee, I will never forsake thee. Yahweh is with me, Walter
Pendleton. Yahweh is with you. Yahweh is
with us. But here, I mean, David is speaking
of all of this individually. It's true of all of us. But he
is relating to all of this as an individual. It's true of the
assembly, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there I am in the midst of them. Yes, that is true. But even as
you walk alone, thou art with me. And I will fear no evil if
thou art with me. Now if he ain't with me, or if
I don't know he's with me, or if I forget or keep it from my
mind, oh yeah, I can fear evil. But if I know he's with me, I
will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. He's the perfect company. And
he has sent forth the comforter, his Holy Spirit. What? He told his disciples, he's with
you, but he's going to be in you. And he is in every one of
his sheep that he has called out. Thou art with me. I love that
part. The ninth thing is, we have perfect
comfort. His rod, thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. Now this is not talking about
the rod of punishment. I don't believe that. I believe this
is talking about the rod of his strength. The rod of his power. Now the staff is generally considered
the staff of a shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. He uses that to help sheep out
and he uses that stick to kind of keep them in line and keep
them moving. but thy rod and thy staff, the power of God. If God be for you, who can be
against you? His power is to comfort us because
he has all power. He is power and he has promised
to never leave you nor forsake you and to always be with you. The tenth thing is we have perfect
provision. In verse five, thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou preparest a table. Very,
very clear. Not just a meal, a table. Not just lunch, a table. And I looked at this. The first
definition it says that this word means is a table. The second
definition it said specifically a king's table. He raises up the beggar off of
the dunghill to to seat him with princes and with kings. We have
been given a seat at the master's table. That feast of the prodigal son
when he came back, that was the father's table. And it was prepared
for that son who was lost, who was dead, but now is found, now
is alive. He prepares a table for me. And I like this part, in the
presence of mine enemies. You understand? I don't have
to feed myself. I don't have to make provision
for myself. He's given us a perfect provision. It's right here in
His Word. Man does not live by bread alone,
but by what? Every word that proceedeth from
the mouth of God. He's prepared a table. They have
a saying in the army. I don't know, Paul, you may have
heard this when you were in. It's a glorious day in the army.
Every meal is a feast. Now the sergeants were being
really, really sarcastic when they said that. I'm going to
tell you this. This table that the Lord has
prepared in the place of mine enemies, in the presence of mine
enemies, it's a feast. It's a feast. Now, we're human. We're people. We're still to
pray. You understand, there are times
I don't seem to get so much out of this or out of a message.
If the Gospels preach the problems with me. You understand? I heard Henry Mann say it years
ago. If I come to the table and I'm not hungry, it's not the
meal's problem. It's not the table's problem.
It's my problem. And if you're not hungry, guess
what? You're not going to feed real well. Oh, but when you're
hungry, every meal is a feast. When you hunger and thirst after
the word of righteousness, Every message, true message now, gospel
message, is a feast. And he has provided perfect provision
for his people because every meal is a feast in Christ. If the gospel's preached, we
have perfect provision. Perfect provision. The next thing,
perfect sacredness. thou anointest my head with oil
this is another type of the spirit of god the anointing of oil this
is another point of of separating being separated onto god being
anointed with oil in our being separated to god by his spirit Glorious, I don't know how the
word to put and his anointing is always perfect His anointing
is always perfect. I am NOT You are not but if he
anoints your head with oil your head is anointed with oil and
you have been separated out and Perfectly his spirit is always
perfect and his anointing is always perfect Excuse me The next thing is we
have in him Perfect joy perfect joy. Let's say my cup runneth
over He prepares a table before her before me in the presence
of mine enemies he anoints my head with oil my cup runneth
over I've got more than I can handle.
I've been given more than I can use. And there's more to come. There's
more to come. My cup runs over. We have perfect
joy. There is no true joy without
God. But in him, in his spirit, in
what? The Lord my shepherd, we have
true joy. Because in Him is all love, joy,
and peace. And in Him we have true peace,
true love, and all joy. I'm not talking you're going
to be silly happy all the time. People who are really happy and
really perky all the time get on my nerves. And you can have
true joy in the midst of tragedy. It's a hard thing for people
to understand. Matter of fact, unbelievers can't understand
it. Some believers don't get it. It took me a while to learn
it. Because in the midst of my circumstances,
if I look to Him, if I focus on Him, that joy is always there. I don't always see it. That's
my problem. But that joy is always there
because my cup does run over. It doesn't matter my circumstances.
I'm still his sheep. It doesn't matter how bad I feel. He's still my shepherd. And there's a joy in that the
world will never know. Ever know. The next thing, we have perfect
care. Verse six, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life. We have perfect care. Now again, I'm not saying we've
got perfect health. We have perfect care. We haven't
been promised strength. We have been promised strength
as our day. We haven't been promised health, but we have been promised
the care of our Lord. What does it say? Surely, what?
Goodness and mercy. I like that song. David said at the end of his
life, even so it not be with my house. God has made with me an everlasting
covenant. Covenant. Ordered in all things
and what? Sure. Sure. Surely, surely, surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow me. Where are you going? It don't matter. All things work
together for good to them that love God to them that are the
called according to his purpose. Where are you now? Goodness and
mercy are following you What's your condition goodness and mercy
have followed you Why? For thou art with me The Lord
is my shepherd First Peter 1 and 5 says this
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
what? Ready to be revealed at the last
time All the days of my life It's
my life. He gave it to me. It's your life. He gave it to you We didn't have
life till he came and give it to us. I And He leads me and
He also keeps me in His goodness and in His mercy. The 14th thing. We have a perfect
home. A perfect home. I will dwell. I will dwell. I will live. Live, dwell, that's what it means. Abide, live in the house of the
Lord forever. And I will live here. Why? Because the Lord is my shepherd. He leads me. He guides me. He protects me. He cares for
me. Goodness and mercy are following
me. I will live here because that's
where I live. Is that too simple? He has given us a home. He has made us a part of His
family. He's promised to marry us. We're part of the family of God.
We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, but
he's promised us as his bride to marry us. And we live, we dwell in him. Because it's in him we live we
move and we have our what? being our being and We have a
home to go to John 14 and verse 2 says this in my father's house
are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you
I Go to prepare a place for you And if I go Prepare a place for
you. I will come again and receive
you what unto myself Unto myself the Lord to my shepherd that
where I am there ye may be also There is where I'll be with him There is the place I'll live
I I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I'm not just
visiting. I'm not just visiting. No, no. I'm not stopping by to see my
cousin. We're going to live with our husband. In him. In conclusion, this is a psalm
full of perfections. But all the perfections are God's.
The only one who lived this psalm perfectly is the Son of God,
Jesus, Savior, Christ, and Lord. Jesus of Nazareth, the God-man. And we live in this psalm only
in the Good Shepherd, in Him. We know this psalm in Him. We experience this psalm because
of Him. I know this psalm because of
him. Like I said, I do admit to wanting
at times. I do admit to fearing evil at
times. And I freely will admit I sometimes
forget my cup runneth over. I try never to forget the goodness
and mercy of God in Christ Jesus who is with me. And we should never, ever forget
Him who is our perfection. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. Most of all for You, Lord. You sent Your Son to be our perfection. Our Lord, our Savior, our guide,
our food, our friend, our love. Thank you, Lord. Be with Walter
as he comes to preach before you and for us. Give him the message we need
to hear. In Christ's name we pray, amen.