Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Now today,
the message is going to be brought from Psalm 23 and some of Psalm
24, if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles. Last week, I
began this message, the first part, and this is the conclusion,
entitled, Jesus Christ, Priest, Prophet, and King. Jesus Christ,
Priest, Prophet, and King. And it's taken from these three
Psalms, Psalm 22, Psalm 23 and Psalm 24. These three Psalms
together form a trilogy concerning what we call the mediatorial
offices of Christ as the Savior of His people. Christ being the
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, the
God-man. He has three offices in His mediatorial
work. First is the office of High Priest
and that's described in Psalm 22 That's the one where David,
and understand now, these are all Psalms of David. David was
the human instrument used of God to write these Psalms. And
these things can be applied to David personally. in the sense
of what he was struggling and going through and his faith,
but ultimately, they all apply prophetically to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Psalm 22, for example, you remember,
starts off in verse one, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And Christ on the cross repeated that to show that He Himself,
on the cross, as the surety and substitute of God's elect, dying
for their sins, forsaken of God based on sin imputed, charged,
accounted to Him, was the fulfillment of what David wrote in Psalm
22. So here you have the work of
Christ, the great High Priest. The High Priest, remember, He
brought the sacrifice. into the Holy of Holies back
under the Old Covenant. Well, Jesus Christ is the one
true eternal Great High Priest who brings the sacrifice of Himself,
His blood, His righteousness into the presence of the Father
for the salvation of His people. And that's how it ends in Psalm
22, verse 31. They shall come. That's talking
about His... Or read verse 30. A seed shall
serve Him. That's all for whom He died.
You see, everyone... The Bible teaches that everyone
for whom Christ died shall serve Him, shall believe. They'll be
born again. They'll believe. They'll repent.
They'll serve Him. It shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. It's all of Him. They shall come,
verse 31, and shall declare His righteousness." That's His righteousness
imputed. That is the righteousness of
God revealed in the Gospel, Romans 117, in which all the people
of God stand before God. In other words, I stand before
God not in my own righteousness, not in my own works or merit,
but in Christ. who is my righteousness, his
righteousness is imputed, charged to me. And they shall declare
his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath
done this." Now, because Jesus Christ has accomplished the redemption
of his people, the salvation of his people, because he, as
Daniel said, made an end of sin, finished the transgression and
brought in everlasting righteousness because there is salvation in
Him. Not just the possibility of salvation,
but real salvation in Him, we have a message to tell. And that's
where we come to Psalm 23, Christ the great prophet. You see, if
Christ had not done what He did on the cross, If he had not finished
the work, if he, the Bible says in Romans 10, 4 that Christ is
the end of the law, the fulfillment, the perfection, the finishing,
completion of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. You
see, you must believe that He is who He said He is and He did
what He said He did. He's God in human flesh. And
he's the one who by his blood put away the sins of his people.
Because he did that, we have a message to tell. And that message
comes from Christ, our great prophet. And that's portrayed
in the 23rd Psalm. Now this Psalm is so familiar
to most people. The Shepherd Psalm. He starts
off in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Now notice David says here, he
doesn't say the Lord is a shepherd. He says the Lord is my shepherd. And that's what I'm concerned
with with my own salvation. Is Christ my shepherd? Not just
a shepherd, but my shepherd so that I can say with David of
old, I shall not want. To want is to lack something. I shall not lack. In other words,
if the Lord, Jehovah saves, Christ, that's who He is, Jesus Christ,
if He's my shepherd, then I lack nothing as far as salvation and
a right relationship with God is concerned. The Lord is my
shepherd. Now, what is this shepherd psalm
about? Well, you know, over in John
chapter 10, The Lord Himself spoke of Himself as the Good
Shepherd. Listen to John chapter 10 and
verse 11. And listen to what He says. I
am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His
life for the sheep. Now who did Christ die for? The
Bible says He died for His sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. That's
the first thing, a good shepherd is one who loves his sheep so
much that he would die to save them and protect them. And that's
what Christ did. Now his death is described over
in Psalm 22, where he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? So in John 10, he says in verse
11, down in verse 14, listen to this. He says, I am the good
shepherd and I know my sheep and am known of mine. He knows
who his sheep are. He died for his sheep. You remember
the high priest of Israel, when he went into the Holy of Holies,
he had certain clothing that he must wear. And on that was
a breastplate. And on that breastplate, he had
12 names. That was the names of the tribes
of Israel. and he had an amulet on each shoulder. On one shoulder
he had six names, on the other shoulder he had six names, twelve
names all together. That pictured and typified the
Lord Jesus Christ who went to the cross for God's elect who
were given him before the foundation of the world. He knows his sheep. Their names were written on his
breastplate, his heart. Their names were written on his
shoulder. All their salvation was conditioned on him. And he
said, I know them and am known of mine. They'll know him. You
say, how do you know if Christ died for you? Well, you'll come
to know him and listen to what he says. He says in verse 15,
as the father knoweth me, even so know I the father and I lay
down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring." That is, he had
other sheep that were not just of the Jews, but of the Gentiles
too. He said, them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice. You see, we're talking about
his prophetic office, the preaching of the gospel. And there shall
be one fold and one shepherd, therefore doth my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. Over
in verse 25, here's how Christ dealt with unbelievers. Those
who, and he knows men's hearts. He said, I told you, and you
believe not the works that I do. Verse 25, in my father's name,
they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. You see that? They'll never perish. Now go back to the 23rd Psalm
and listen to it as we read through it in that vein. Verse one, the
Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, I shall not
lack. Verse two, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
Green means life. In other words, eternal life
comes through Christ. And life is what must be given
in salvation, spiritual life. Do you understand, if you believe
the Bible, you have to know that by nature, And when I use the
term by nature, I mean as we are naturally born into this
world, we are born dead spiritually. Dead in trespasses and sin. Dead
in every way that you can say dead spiritually. Now that doesn't
mean that you don't have a mind and a heart, affections and will.
Doesn't mean you can't make choices and all that. But here, being
spiritually dead, we have no mind or heart for God. All of
our choices are in opposition to the glory of God in Christ.
Even our moral choices. Even our religious choices. You
see, that's why we talk about the will being embodied. People
talk about free will today. And they don't understand what
they're saying. Is man's will free to do, to choose God? The Bible says no. Because we
don't want God by nature. when a man becomes religious,
or a man or woman becomes religious, or a man or woman goes through
a religious ceremony, that is not choosing God. And the glory
of God in Christ, my friend, people can, you make choices
every day. Sometimes you make good choices,
you make bad choices, me too. But by nature, none of our choices,
none of the things we choose, are to the glory and praise of
God in Christ. Our will must be changed. That's
why we must be born again. That's why you choose things
all the time and you may choose them out of ignorance. By nature,
we don't know the way of eternal life. We're in ignorance. You
may be deceived. Satan is the great deceiver.
You may make a choice. that you're going to live your
life from now on trying to earn God's favor and try to be the
best person you can be. My friend, that does not glorify
God. That exalts you. Our wills are in bondage to sin.
We have to be born again and we have to be given spiritual
life. And that's what he's saying here. He makes me to lie down
in green pastures. Jesus Christ is my life. And how is he my life? Well,
life comes through righteousness. Romans 5.21, as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In Christ, I have righteousness. So therefore in Christ, I have
life. And he says, he makes me to lie
down in green pastures. In other words, there's rest
in him. I don't have to work my way into God's favor. I don't
have to work my way into salvation because I'm resting in Christ.
Christ is my Sabbath. He's my Sabbath rest. I don't
have to establish my own righteousness before God because Christ is
my righteousness. Now, does that mean that I can
go out and live like hell or live like any way out? No, I
must fight sin, but not for those reasons. He makes me to lie down
in green pastures. Look at verse two. He leadeth
me beside the still waters, the waters of quietness. There's
peace with God through Jesus Christ. And that peace was made
on the cross when Christ died for my sins, satisfied justice,
paid my debt, and brought forth righteousness in which I stand
before God. And these waters, that's the
word of God communicates that to me. Verse three, he restoreth
my soul. He restores me. He gives me a
right motive. A right reason, a right goal
to glorify God. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for His namesake. The paths of righteousness is
not a sinner trying to work his way into righteousness or work
his way into God's favor. The paths of righteousness is
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, running the race of grace, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, Hebrews 12.2, and
it's for His namesake, it's for His glory. It's not to draw attention
to me, it's to draw attention to Christ. I'm just a signpost. That's what John the Baptist
said. He said, I'm just a voice crying in the wilderness. He
says in verse four, yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. That's what we're walking
through right now in this world. The valley of the shadow of death.
There's death all around us sitting there. We're dying, you know,
one old preacher said, I preach as a dying man to dying men. Talking about physical death.
But I'll fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me, thy
rod and thy staff, they come from me. The rod of correction,
the staff of direction. That's what that is. Like a shepherd
with his staff to keep the sheep in line. And he does it by his
word and he doesn't do it with a whip. The whip of the law,
you see, that's the way a lot of people, you know, do or die,
disobey and die, or do and live. A lot of preachers, they'll use
the whip of the law to try to get people, and that's legalism.
But he uses his rod and his staff. Verse five, thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of my enemies. The table of salvation
and blessedness, righteousness is already prepared. Salvation is not a potluck supper,
bring your own dish. It's already there. Christ, he
told his disciples, I go to prepare a place for you and I'll come
again. That's why he died. That's why
he was buried. That's why he arose again the third day. You
see, when we call sinners to salvation, We call sinners to
come unto Christ bringing nothing with them. That's right. Because nothing you have, nothing
you are can recommend you unto God. Come as a sinner seeking
mercy in Christ. Thou anointest my head with oil,
verse five. My cup runneth over. The oil
there is the oil of the Holy Spirit who gives life. We must be born again. And he
shows us the abundance. My cup runneth over. It's kind
of like saying over there in Romans 5 in verse 20, where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. God's grace, my cup runs
over. It's more than full. It's more
than enough. And then he says in verse six,
surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life. And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. That's eternal security. in Christ. In other words, if I'm saved,
it's by the goodness and mercy of God, which follows me all
the days of my life. And because of that, I'm eternally
secure in Christ. I'll dwell in the house of the
Lord for I can't be kicked out of his family, because he loves
me and he sent Christ to die for me. Now that's the shepherd's
psalm. That's the office of prophet.
Here's the good news. In Psalm 24, we see Christ the
King, His kingly office. He's the King of glory, the psalmist
says. You see, Christ as God, the Son
absolutely considered, has always been in control, King, high above
us. But this is His kingly office
as the mediator of His people, the one who saved them. And he
starts off in Psalm 24 in verse 1. He says, the earth is the
Lord's. and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell
therein, it all belongs to him. Verse two, he hath founded it
upon the seas, established it upon the floods. Christ is the
creator. In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God. And he asked
this question in verse three of Psalm 24. who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place. It's like he's saying who is
qualified, who is worthy to ascend into the hill of the Lord, to
approach God. You remember back under the old
covenant, When Moses was getting the law of Mount Sinai, he came
down and he told the people, don't come near this mountain.
He said, if even an animal come near, it's to be thrust through
with a spear or a sword or an arrow, because we're sinners. We have no worthiness. We have
no qualification. We have no righteousness. You
see, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, who would stand?
Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand
in his holy place? Well, here's the answer. Verse
four of Psalm 24. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. That's who, verse five. He shall
receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the
God of his salvation. Now, can I look at myself honestly
and claim that I have clean hands and a pure heart? That I've never
lifted up my soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully? And the
answer is no. Where does that leave me? I have
no hope in myself. I have no hope. I have no way
of salvation in myself. He says here in verse six, this
is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face,
O Jacob. But here's the point that he
comes to. Verse seven, lift up your hands,
O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the
King of glory shall come in. Who's worthy to ascend unto the
hill of the Lord? and stand in His holy place?
Who has clean hands and a pure heart, who's never lifted up
his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceit? I'll tell you who, the
King of glory, Jesus Christ, the King. Jesus Christ, the priest
who died for the sins of His people, the Lord, their righteousness. Jesus Christ, the prophet, the
good shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. Jesus Christ,
the King of glory. Verse eight says, who is this
King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle. It's Jesus Christ. He's this
King of glory. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. What
is he saying here? He's saying that the only hope
that a sinner has of approaching God, being accepted with God,
saved by God, forgiven of sins, justified, sanctified, is the
King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord, my righteousness. And you say, somebody said, well,
doesn't He cleanse our heart from sin? Yes, He does. He cleanses
us in the sense of the Holy Spirit applying His blood to our conscience. Realizing that we're sinners
in ourselves, we have a hope. We who believe now, not all without
exception, but we who believe in Him, we plead His blood to
cleanse us from all sin. That's what we do. Because He
has pure hands. He alone, or clean hands and
a pure heart. Christ is the only sinless one. When He went to the cross, He
was made sin, but that was only by the imputation, the illegal
accounting of the sins of His people to Him. And when we come
unto God, we have a righteousness, but not one of our own, not one
that we worked out, not one that we had any part in producing.
It's the righteousness of the King of glory in which we stand. We stand before God, we who believe
now, we who are saved, we who are justified. What does it mean
to be justified? It means I'm not guilty. It means
I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice. It means that I cannot be charged with sin in the court
of God's justice. Therefore, I cannot be condemned.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
and seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living, to
make intercession for us. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh,
but walk after the Spirit." What is it to walk after the Spirit?
It's to follow Christ. It's to trust Him. It's to lean
on Him. It's to commit my whole salvation
unto Him. I quoted this last time where
Paul said, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that
He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against
that day. I've committed my whole salvation to Christ, Jesus Christ,
my high priest, Jesus Christ, my prophet, my shepherd, Jesus
Christ, the King of glory. The Bible says he's King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. There's no one above him. The
Bible also says that in the end, when he comes again the second
time, that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess
that he is Lord. And what he's talking about there
is this. God's people, God's elect, Christ's sheep, They bow
to Him and submit to Him in the power of the Holy Spirit under
the preaching of the gospel now in this life. But in the end,
those who refuse to submit, they will be condemned. They will
be brought to their knees and they will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. They were wrong and they'll be
condemned. And don't wait. In this life,
you're commanded to seek the Lord. Who is He? He's the king
of glory. The Lord strong and mighty. The
Lord mighty in battle. What was the battle that he fought?
He fought against sin and he won the battle. Victory. O death,
where's thy sting? O grave, where's thy victory?
The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.
Christ kept the law. He fulfilled the law. He brought
righteousness in. He battled Satan, the prince
of this world, and he was cast out. He battled the world, He's
overcome the world. He said, in the world you'll
have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.
All of that, He's mighty in battle. And all who stand against Him,
though they think they can win, they won't. He's mighty in battle. And so lift up your hands, O
ye gates, be ye lift up, the King of glory shall come in.
We who are in Christ have free, open, unhindered access to God
because of Christ, our great high priest. We have a great
high priest who's passed through into heaven because of Christ,
the good shepherd, our prophet, and because of Christ, the king
of kings, the king of glory. He brings us to God and we believe
in him. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.