Well, we're gonna go to a psalm
that's very well known. Probably one of the most known
psalms out of all the psalms. Psalm 23. Psalm 23. I want us to look at this Psalm
of David. And I know we probably all can
recite portions of this psalm. It's so wonderful to a believer. I'd just like to take another
look at it tonight. You know, Henry Mahan said, let
us never come to a place where scripture becomes commonplace
to us. Right? Where we've heard the Psalms
so much, but let it never become just, okay, I already know all
that. Because the Lord is so good. He's so good to his people. And always remember that this
book is mine. It's a mine of grace, isn't it,
brother? And the Holy Spirit, He reveals to us what's in the
scriptures. I was studying for Acts 9 yesterday,
putting the message together, and one of the things that I
saw after Paul's conversion, and we see it on Sunday, is that
right away he fellowshiped with the brethren. But what did they
fellowship under? The gospel, right? You know that
the Holy Spirit uses the gospel, the preaching of the gospel,
for us to grow? Yeah. That's why we're not to
forsake the assembling of ourselves together, whether we listen online
or be here, because that's how we grow. We hear the gospel,
right? Is not our faith increased when
we hear the gospel? Does not our heart burn within
us when we hear the gospel preached? Right? We leave rejoicing. And if we're at home listening
to a message, we're rejoicing. See, it's keeping our minds,
too, off the situations in the world, isn't it? Let us always remember this beautiful
first verse here. The Lord is my shepherd. Lord there is Jehovah, and it's
translated in the Hebrew as the self-existing one. Self-existing,
that means he needs no one. He didn't have to save us, but
he chose to. He didn't have to save any, right?
But yet he chose to save some. Oh my. And Adam, when he fell,
God didn't go to plan B. God allowed that in his permissive
will to happen, that his son might come into this world. To
be the redeemer of his people was all part of God's purpose
and plan. And think of this, when God saves
us, when we're born again from the unregenerate state that we
were in, think of this. We didn't even think we were
sinners. I was talking to a fellow today and I said, isn't it amazing,
before we were saved, we didn't even think we were sinners. We
didn't. We knew some sinners. Right? And I said, isn't it amazing
now, now that we've heard the gospel, that we're born again
and given faith to believe, that now when a man tells us we're
sinners, we say, oh, amen. We agree with him totally, don't
we? We wouldn't do that. When we were unsaved, somebody
would tell you a sinner, come on. But now it's like, oh my, I'm
the worst of the worst. Who made us to differ? God did,
didn't he? In Christ. That's a miracle all
by itself, isn't it? That we're born again, and now
we, when a preacher says, oh, you're a bunch of sinners. We
say, amen, but we're under the blood. We're washed under the
blood. Jehovah himself has saved us,
hasn't he? God himself saved us, isn't it
wonderful? I had a fellow this week, he said to me, Tuesday,
he said, yeah, you're a false preacher. I said, really? Why
am I a false preacher? He says, because you're a Calvinist.
And I said, oh, OK. I said, actually, I don't follow
Calvin, but I do believe in what's called the doctrines of grace,
which is the tulip. But there's much more to the
doctrines of grace than just the tulip, right? But I do believe
in all that. Total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and preservation
of the saints, right? Because it's scriptural. And
there's scripture that, and he said, well, that's your interpretation.
I said, no, that's what the scripture says. I said, the scripture's
not for any private interpretation, right? No private interpretation
for the scripture. And then, you know, you know
how sometimes you just get, you just get, the Holy Spirit will
stir you? And I said, I'm a born-again,
blood-washed saint, and I will never, never come under condemnation,
never come under judgment, because the scripture says, there is
therefore now no condemnation, which means judgment, right,
for those in Christ Jesus. And that's true for all of us
who are in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Who walk
not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Man, let them say what
they say. That's why Paul says, ah, I'm saying what they say. It's God. We've been justified
by God. The Lord, the one here, the Lord
is my shepherd. Jehovah, the self-existent one,
has justified us. Has justified us, beloved. Let's
read this psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, and that's his word, isn't it? All the green pastures
of his word. We feast on them. See, sheep
like pasture, don't they? Sheep like eating pasture, grass.
Good grass. This is the best grass for the
believer. This is the best grass for the
sheep of God. That's why, Sister Linda, you
teach them the scriptures. Somebody asked me this week,
what do your Sunday school teachers preach or teach? I said, they
teach the same thing I preach. What? Yeah. They teach the same
thing. She teaches the same thing to
the little guy. Same thing. Oh, they were shocked. They thought we might have a
program or some kind of award things and all this stuff. I
said, we don't need that shenanigans. No. No, she teaches them the
scriptures. Teaches them about Christ. Teach
them about this one. He make it me to lie down in
green pastures. He leaded me beside the still waters. Do you
know this? Dave told me this one time. Did
you know that sheep won't drink from running water? I had no
idea. I even looked it up on the internet
after he told me. They will only drink out of still water. They
will not drink out of running water. Isn't that amazing? And it says he leads us to where?
Still waters. No movement, still waters. And we just drink, don't we brother
Zane? We just drink and we rejoice. Isn't it wonderful? Oh my, look
at this. He restores my soul. Well we
were lost, weren't we? Weren't we sister? We were dead
in trespasses, now we're alive in Christ. He's restored our
souls. He's restored our souls in Jesus
Christ. He leads me in the path of righteousness.
Who's our righteousness? Who's our righteousness? Amen. Amen. He leads us in the path
of Christ, doesn't he? See, the Holy Spirit, what's
the scripture say? He won't speak of himself. He'll teach us about
Christ. He'll reveal to us Christ. Isn't
that wonderful? Look, scripture confirms that,
doesn't it? He leads me in the path of righteousness.
For whose sake? For His name's sake. For His
honor. For His glory. See, if Christ
ever lost one sheep, then God's honor would be called into question.
Right? It never happened. Never happened. Look at that. Somebody asked me, do you believe
once saved, always saved? I believe Christ keeps me. Therefore, I
can't be lost. Can you? I had a fellow say that to me
today. Well, you believe in that stuff? Yeah, I do. I believe
Christ saves the sheep and he keeps the sheep. That's it. Because if it was up to us, man,
we'd be in so much trouble the second. How many times would
be, oh my gosh, I don't even want to think about it. We couldn't save ourselves. We
can't. That's why Christ came here,
right? To save us from our sins. Now look at this. Now we go through
some valleys, don't we? We go through valleys of suffering,
valleys of sorrow, valleys of grief, right? We do. We do. Look at this though. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and we are
one day going to cross over the Jordan, aren't we? Into the promised
land. And I think it was Brother Norm
said, the value of the shadow of death is living in this world. Isn't it? Do you know this is
the only suffering we're going to go through? This is the only
sorrow we're going to ever experience? Because we're going to the land
of no mores, right? Right? Amen, brother. It lights
you up, doesn't it, brother? No more sorrow, no more sickness,
no more pain, no more crying. No more suffering. No more grief. The land of no mores. And it's
the land of no mores because of Christ and Him alone. Right? Oh my, look at this. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Now, we're fearful. We are. Vicki
and I were pulled out of McDonald's tonight, and we almost got hit
both ways. Well, Vicky did some fancy driving,
got us in the middle. It was a blessing. But this guy
sped up. And what did we both do? Huh!
Even though we know. We were talking about it afterwards.
Well, if we got killed, we could just go home. But that's our
natural reaction, isn't it, for all of us? Oh, my. But the fear here is
death's lost its sting, hasn't it? Death has lost its sting. Because if we die, we're going
home. It's just a doorway, beloved. We're going to walk out of the
church tonight. And we're going to walk into the beautiful day
and night. You know, when we die, we'll
just walk through the door. And that's Christ, isn't it?
Right into glory. And it's going to be like this.
No, it's faster than this, OK? Faster than that. the blink of
your eye, a twinkle of your eye, and we're going to be in glory. Look at this. For thou art what? With me. Will he ever leave us? He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. And in Isaiah, this is one of my favorite portions
of scripture when the Lord says, thou art mine. That's what he says to his people.
We're his by creation. We're his by purchase. We're his by new birth. We're his because God the Father
gave us to Christ as a love gift. You ever think of that? We're
a gift from the Father to the Son. And then the Son is gonna
present us spotless. How? Because of His blood and
His righteousness. See, it's all about Christ, isn't
it? It's all about Him. It's all about what He's done.
And I know this psalm, we all know it, but this is such a comfort
for God's people. Look at that. For thou art with
me. He's never going to leave us.
He's with us all the time. That's something to think about,
isn't it? You know, when we get down and
we get, because we all do, we get down and we think, oh my.
He's still there with loving eyes, gazing upon us in love. Ever watching, watching every
tear we shed. comforting us, strengthening
us, when we're even in despair. Carrying us. Isn't that comforting? Look at that. For thou art with
me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. The shepherd's staff has a crook in it. Now the staff
is not to beat the sheep with. The staff is to beat wolves away. And then it has a crook. You
know what that crook's for? To gently put around the neck of this lamb
and gently bring him back to him. Doesn't hurt him at all. Leads him back. Where were we? Oh, he brought us back to him,
didn't he? Lovingly. The scripture says,
with cords of love he drew us, right? You know, Scripture also says
this, it says, it's the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance.
You ever think how good God is to us in Christ? You ever think
that we're forgiven, Scripture says in Ephesians, for Christ's
sake? And only because of that? We are, I was talking to someone
this week, Jake, and we were talking and I said, we're so
undeserving. We do not deserve this and yet God bestows it upon
us. What a gift. What a blessing. And aren't you
thankful that God, God in his providence, had our paths crossed?
And here we are. Our hearts are knit together
in love. Jake and I were talking about that. Jake and I have like
a Jonathan-David relationship. He's like my little brother.
And I love him dearly. Even though he's miles away.
And his wife, Liz, is just a gem. And I love her too. Vicki and
I love them both. But we were talking last night, yesterday
afternoon actually, about how the Lord has knit our hearts
together. Do you remember? Did you guys knit? You guys ever
knit? You knit? You know how you take
them strings? Different colors. I used to watch my mom. She'd
go to town, and when she's done, they're all one. That's what Christ does with
us. He knits our hearts together. in love. Isn't that wonderful? See that's something you, you
can look at that and go, oh my gosh. That's what, that's what
God does to us. It's amazing. You ever hear the
story about the, what are those called? Is it needlepoint that
they put the strings through and all that? And they make a
picture on one side and then on the other. Somebody said,
somebody said, there's a perfect picture there. of what Christ
does to us. Because our life is like all
those strings on the one side. Have you ever heard of this?
Our life's like all the strings. If you have, I'm going to repeat
it. Our life's like all the strings on this one side, right? And
just a tangled mess. It looks like a mess because
they're not cut. I think afterwards they cut them. But I remember
my mom did one. And on the one side, it was all
tangled up, just a bunch of threads all hanging down. But on the
other side, was a beautiful picture. Here's our life, strings. Here's
the other side, conformed to the image of the sun. God's working. He's doing all
these things. We're stones being made ready,
right? See, these pictures are wonderful
because it gives us something that we've seen before. My, oh, my. And look at this. The staff is
not for smacking the sheep. Zane and I understand this. If
you didn't have a great relationship with your dad, some, I remember
preachers saying to me, they said, well, you didn't have a
great relationship with your dad, so you're not going to understand
the love for the father has for you. It ain't the same. It ain't the same. Sister Linda,
you know too. It's not the same. God's love
is amazing love. Amazing love. Everlasting love. Eternal love. And this staff is not for beating
the sheep. It's for comforting us. Got a
wolf near you, nipping at your heels? Got some false teacher
coming up to you or some false person trying to teach you the
wrong stuff? Here comes the staff, man. You
don't even see it. That guy's gone. I tell you,
I've had a lot of folks, and I always wonder, well, what happened?
And all I know, the Lord took care of it, right? You ever had
somebody like that nipping at you? Oh my, I'll tell you what. Look at this. Thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Not away from
the enemies, in the presence of the enemies. You know, this
is an oasis here. This church is an oasis that
we can come to. through the week and on the weekend,
and we can be away from the world and hear about Christ. And remember, we feast on the
gospel, don't we? See, God gives the preacher the
message, and he's the one that makes it effectual, right? I had a totally different message
in this today. When I started out this morning, I had a totally
different message. Looked at this psalm and went,
well, gotta preach that. Here we are. But that happens a lot. But see, this is food for us
as believers, isn't it? This is spiritual food. Learning
about our King. Look at this. Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over. We're born again of the
Holy Spirit of God. And I'll tell you what, Brother
Zane, does our cup run over? We have all spiritual blessings
in Christ, don't we? Our cup runs over, beloved. We can't save ourselves, we can't
justify ourselves, we can't redeem ourselves, we can't sanctify
ourselves, and we have all that in Christ. And more. And more. My oh my. Look at this. I remember Brother
Henry called, goodness and mercy, the two sheepdogs of God. Nipping at the saints, just keeping
us going. Goodness and mercy. I like that picture. My dog's
a sheepdog. He likes to herd. I think like,
you're going this way. You know? And he sees something,
he wants to go right at it. But the problem with my dog is
he gets halfway there and the thing turns around and he turns
around and runs. Right back to me. I call him a chicken pot pie.
He's chicken. But that's okay. My oh my. Little Wayne Boyd humor there.
But look at this. Surely goodness and mercy, what?
Shall follow me. Brother Brian, goodness and mercy
follows us and hedges us right into Christ. Just like a sheepdog would bring
in the sheep into a pen. Goodness and mercy. Where do
they bring us? Where do they bring us? Amen, brother. Right to Christ, don't they?
Right to the Lord Jesus Christ, where we find our comfort, and
He's our hope, He's our Redeemer, He's our God, He's our Savior. And it says, goodness and mercy
shall follow me, what? The days of my life. We're going home. When we leave this world, we're
going home. My oh my, goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell
in the house of Jehovah forever. Why? Only because of Christ.
and only because of Christ alone. No other reason because he's
redeemed our eternal souls. The other reason, of course,
ties in with that is that God chose us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. Again, this is one of the most
well-known Psalms, beloved. You talk to most people, and
they all can quote a little bit, maybe. Maybe. If they've been
to a funeral, maybe they might have heard it, because this is
a sermon you use at a lot of funerals. But there's so much
more here. There's so much more here. And
for the born-again, blood-washed believer, we've experienced,
haven't we? Have we not experienced that
the Lord's our shepherd? Have we not experienced his protecting
hand? I was thinking about this this
morning at lunch when I walked across the road after I had started
this message. And I was thinking, boy, a shepherd
has an obligation to the sheep, doesn't he? To care for them, to feed them, to watch over them, to protect
them. What does Christ do for us? All
those things. Isn't that wonderful, Brother
Ryan? Make your heart sing, doesn't it? Make your heart sing! And we've experienced that, haven't
we? You know, the Scripture says we've tasted that the Lord is
good? How? Well, He saved my soul. And I
want us to do this. I heard a preacher this week,
and I think this is so important. Look back now that you're a believer.
Even look back when you weren't saved and think about how the
Lord delivered you. And how even he drew you to where
you'd hear the gospel. And the Holy Spirit converted
us. And we believed. I had a dear brother out west
and he said, he said, well, I know some folks says, faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and how should I
hear without a preacher, right? And he said, I was saved reading
the scriptures. And I said, oh yeah, which book
were you reading? He said, Isaiah. I said, Isaiah was preaching
to you. Is it not true? When we're reading the scriptures,
Paul's preaching to us, isn't he? David's preaching to us.
Tonight, David's preaching to us in the scripture. See, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God, right? You're hearing the word
of God when you're reading it, aren't you? In our heads we are. Who can
make the scriptures effectual? God the Holy Spirit, and only
God the Holy Spirit, right? And I always remember that. When
I read John, John's preaching to me. When I read, we're going
through Acts, Luke's preaching to us. Right? We're going through Philippians.
Paul's preaching to us. Just remember that. It's a blessing
when you think about that. Because the scripture says, he
that is dead yet speaketh. Brother Henry's dead. We still
listen to him, don't we? He still speaks. Spurgeon's dead and gone. Gone
to glory with Henry. They're both in glory. We still,
we read Spurgeon. You ever read his morning and
evening devotional? He that is dead yet speaketh. Isn't that
wonderful? Preaching to you. I'll tell you,
God is so good. And the only one who makes it
effectual is God the Holy Spirit. Right? And that's why we profit,
that's why we profit from reading a devotional, or that's why we
profit from reading the scripture, is because God the Holy Spirit
makes it effectual to our hearts. We've experienced, haven't we?
We've experienced that Jehovah is our shepherd. And we praise
his name, don't we? We praise his name. He's so good
to us. He's so good to us. And only
those who are born again can speak of this shepherd. I read
a story one time, a man stood up and he read Psalm 23. And there was just no effect.
It was at a funeral. And just somebody, either a friend
in the family, got up and read it. And then the old preacher
got up. Born again, blood-washed, saying
to God. And he read it. And there was a difference. He knew the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I can't
tell you about that unless I know that, right? He's my shepherd. He saved my soul. Did he save
yours? Well, hallelujah. Isn't that
wonderful? We now, now we both know the
Lord's our shepherd. We've experienced it. He took
us out of the deadness we were in and made us alive. And you
know what? You ever notice this too, when
you're listening to the gospel preaching, or you're talking to another
saint, and your heart starts to burn within you, and you start
to get excited? That's what the two on the road
to Aramaeus experienced. Did not our hearts burn within
us as Christ spoke to them? And that's the spirit bearing
witness. I had a fellow yesterday, I was talking to him. I don't
know if he'll ever come, but if he does, that'd be wonderful.
But I was telling him about, he says, oh, I believe in election
and all this. And I said, well, the church right across the road
is where I preach. He said, you're welcome to come and come fellowship
with us. I said, check us out on Sermon
Audio first, you know, download some messages and check us out.
And I said, but you're here about Christ. That's what you're here. You're going to hear about Christ.
Now, will he ever come? Well, I hope he does. But you
know what? When I was talking to him, ah,
there was that burning, beloved, like I get with you all. You
get excited. Brother Brian, don't we? We get
excited about what we, the word of God, fires us up. And I don't mean jumping up and
down and waving my hands. I don't mean that. I mean inside.
I mean inside that just, oh, brother, we get that all the
time now. That's a kinship in Christ. That's a spirit bearing
witness. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And the only reason we can say
the Lord is my shepherd is because we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We've been given faith to believe. If I read this before I was saved,
I'd say, I don't believe that. I never did read the psalm before
I was saved. But if I did, I know I would have said, what are they
talking about? But now, that's my king. Is he yours? That's my savior. Jehovah, the self-existent one. has loved us from eternity, based
upon absolutely nothing in us. And that love, that love made
Him send Christ Jesus, God incarnate in the flesh, the Word of God,
to die for our sins. And He is our shepherd, isn't
He? And we're His sheep. Do you know we're called the
sheep of His hands? Oh my. And God's people know the Great
Shepherd. He's Lord over all. It says there,
the Lord, Jehovah, the unknown, the self-existent one. He's my shepherd. They know him. Only because God's
revealed him to us. And he's the Great I Am. He's
the Great I Am who spoke to Moses in the bush. Christ did. That's Christ. Remember what
Christ said to those Jews? And in John chapter 8, at the
end of John chapter 8, he says, Abraham, what does he say again?
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he said, well, you're not
even 40 years old, are you? And he says, before Abraham was,
I am. He just proclaimed, he's the
great I am. And then they picked up stones,
they wanted to kill him, and he went right through the midst
of them. Wasn't his time. Why didn't Vicki and I get killed
tonight? Wasn't our time. Jill said she had a close call.
Wasn't it last week, Jill? Yeah. Why didn't she die? Wasn't
her time. The shepherds caring over us,
watching over us. I tell you, folks say, well,
come on, you're taking it a little too far. No, I'm not. I'll tell
you. I look back at my life, there's
multiple times I could have died. And I mean, because of my own foolishness.
But I wasn't saved then, you see. And I didn't know, but I was
going to be called to be a preacher, and now I'm on Michigan. Isn't
that amazing? But before I could become a preacher,
I had to be born again, right? By the grace of God, just like
all of us. And where'd God find us? Dead
in trespasses and sins. And then he made us alive and
gave us faith to believe and repentance before God too, right?
I was talking to a fellow today, and I said, you know, faith and
repentance is like a piece of paper. On one side is faith,
and on one side is repentance. You won't get, you know, people
say, well, you've got to repent. Yeah, but you've got to have
faith, and then you're going to repent. And faith and repentance
is like a piece of paper, right? You don't get faith without repentance,
do you, brother? It won't happen. It won't happen. And what is repentance? Turning
away from our old ways? Turning to God? Who turns us?
See? Do it. See, some free will preachers
say, well, you turn yourself. I can't turn myself. I just wander like a lost sheep,
right? And that crook come out of her
neck, didn't it? You're mine. Come here. You're driving in the car. You're
mine. Oh, my. And think, sisters, were
you where the Lord saved you? You're mine. With loving cords he drew us.
That little crook around the neck. Come on. Scripture, the old timers used
to call it fetching grace. Remember when David found out
about Mephibosheth being alive? What'd he say? Go and fetch him. We believe in fetching grace.
Who fetches us? God, the Holy Spirit. Oh, it's amazing, I tell you. To God be the glory. Great things
he hath done. He saved our souls, didn't he?
And the Lord's my shepherd. Look at that. The Lord's my shepherd,
I shall not want. The self-existent one is the
provider, the preserver, the protector of his people. And do you know he directs our
steps? You know the steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord? Now we know there's only one
good, that's Christ, right? But you know our steps are directed
by the Lord. Isn't that amazing? We're called righteous in Christ,
not in our own. No, no, no, no. But in Christ,
see, that's the key, right? All who are outside of Christ
will perish. All who are in Christ shall be
saved. It's amazing. And who made us to differ, Brother
Zane? Christ and him alone, right? Only God made us to differ. See,
that's why he gets all the glory. That's why it all goes to him. Brother Brian, we were in a load
of trouble, brother. We were in a load of trouble
and deep in iniquity and sin. And he came out and he fetched
us by sovereign grace and mercy. And we were born again. giving
faith to believe. One second, I don't want nothing
to do with Christ. Look at Paul. Remember our conversion,
what we looked at? Paul, I'm going to kill those
Christians. I'm going to murder them, right?
Breathing threatens and slaughter out of sin. And then within an
instant, he's like, Lord, who art thou? He called him Lord,
brother. And he said, I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Why kickest
thou against the pricks? Why are you beating your legs
against the pricks? Oh my. You talk about mercy. Mercy. See what I mean? How we've
tasted the goodness and the mercy of God. We've tasted that the
Lord is gracious in Christ. It's wonderful, beloved. I'll
tell you why. And we'll never have want. It says there, the
Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want. Do you know we'll never
have want for spiritual blessings? Because they're all in Christ.
And Ephesians says we have all spiritual blessings in Christ,
Ephesians 1, 3. We will never have want for spiritual blessings.
We will never, Brother Brian, have to be dipped in that fountain
again. We were dipped, and we come out
white as snow, brother, in a fountain of his blood. Isn't that wonderful?
I'll tell you what. Oh, my. No wonder David penned, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. Then look at verse two. He maketh
me lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. The only place we find true rest is in Christ. The only
place. Otherwise we're restless. I know
that. I can be so restless. The only
place we find rest from the valleys of this world is in Christ. Right? And we have some dark
valleys, don't we? Yeah? And think of this, Brother Brian,
all our sins are forgiven. We are totally justified in Christ.
Sister, we're clothed in the perfect spotless righteousness
of Christ. That's amazing. All by the shedding of the precious
blood of Christ. And you know, scripture says
that we are deceased from our labors. Those young men that
came from Canada, They said the message was so simple. They said
where they come from, a church, a reformed church over in Canada,
and they said the guy preaches 90% Christ and 10% your works. And he said, but you preach,
it's already done. I said to Zay and Brian afterwards,
they heard something. Those young men heard something. It's true. It's all done. Preach
a finished work, don't we? It's done, beloved. So we cease from our labors.
We can't justify ourselves. So we cease from our labors.
And who's our rest now? Amen, brother. Did we ever find rest in religion?
Never. Do you ever think of that? Thought
about that, putting this together. We never found rest in religion. There was always something we
had to do. And that's what those young men were testifying about.
There's always something they gotta do. No there's not. Rest
in Christ. I tell a fellow that this week
and he says, well you can't just tell people that. Yes I can. Rest in Christ, look to Christ,
and keep looking to him all the days of your life. And only by
the grace of God will we, right? But I'll tell you what, when
a believer is born again, you don't want to take your eyes
off him, do we? And see, that's what being under
the hearing of the gospel, what does it do? It puts our eyes
on Christ, doesn't it? There's all kinds of noise in
this world that fill our ears, isn't there? We come here and
we hear the gospels, peace, rest. Because it's in Christ. The noise
is silenced. I wish I just had it on my ears
24 hours a day. But then I wouldn't be able to
talk to you all. But isn't it wonderful, though,
how we find perfect rest in Christ? And again, it says, he maketh
me lie down in green pastures. That's his word. He leads me
beside still water. So not running waters, just still
waters. Well, calm. That goes along with
rest, doesn't it, brother? Yeah. And when we're drinking,
brother, when we're drinking out of that still water, we don't
have to worry about what's around us, do we? because the Lord's our shepherd. He's protecting us, beloved,
even when we do not even know it. Now, we as believers know
He's with us all the time now, but we forget. Do you know why
we have to keep hearing the gospel? Do you know why I have to listen
to the gospel all the time? I forget, brother. A missionary
friend of mine said that. He says, that's why we believers
have to keep hearing the gospel, because we forget so quickly.
Don't we? Yeah? We're all the same. I can't even tell you what I
ate four days ago. I know I ate food. Oh my. Oh my. Then look at verse three. He
restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness. David Penn's here that it's God
himself, the Lord, Jehovah, the self-existent one, who restores
his soul. And this is true of everyone who's truly born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. He's restored our soul. It's
wonderful. And he leads us in the path of
righteousness. He leads us in Christ. The Holy Spirit points
us to Christ. He won't speak of himself. The
preacher's going to point you to Christ. Right? It's all about
him, beloved. It's all about Him. So what comforts
here for us? Look at the comfort that's here.
He restores my soul. He does it. We fell in Adam. We can't restore our soul, can
we? We can't make ourselves born again. He restores our soul. I was talking to a fellow today
about how the new birth is an operation of God. He does it. Hmm. In the scripture it declares
there's none righteous, no not one, and yet here it says that
he leads me in the path of righteous. That's Christ. That's Christ. Salvations of the Lord, remember
that from beginning to end, it's all him. He saves us, he comforts
us, teaches us in our walk, and then he preserves us and takes
us home. It's wonderful. And you know,
for the born-again blood-washed believer, the law has absolutely
no claim on them. I'll ask you this. If a criminal is pardoned, can
they be tried again for that which they were pardoned of?
They can't, can they? The law don't have no claim on
them. If somebody says, I'm going to die in their room and place,
and the law is satisfied, then the law can never extract demand
the price be paid twice. God won't demand the price for
our sins, brother. It's already been paid for. 2,000 years ago, Calvary's cross,
when our king cried, it is finished. He is the end of the law for
righteousness. And what do we do? See, the Old
Testament say, David's looking forward to the Messiah, right?
He's saying, the Lord's my shepherd. He already knew that. He'd been
given, do you know he has the same faith as you and I? He's
born again by the same Holy Spirit as you and I? You know, all the
elect are the Old Testament saints and New Testament saints together.
I didn't believe that. at one time. When I was in religion,
I didn't believe that. I thought the Church, the Bride
of Christ is only the New Testament saints. No way. The Bride of
Christ is all the elect of all the ages. Because we're all blood
washed, right? It says Abraham believed. How
did he believe? He was born again. He was given faith. Brother,
do we have the same faith as Abraham? Oh my, isn't that amazing? Gift, just like it was to Abraham. Abraham was a heathen like we
were. Abraham was bound down to stones like we were. Abraham hated God in his mind
like we were. And God regenerated that man,
gave him faith to believe, just like he's done for we who are
his people. So we can't say anything but glory be to God, can we? Praise His mighty name! What
mercy! Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life! And you know His eye was even
upon us before we were saved? Do you know when we were conceived
in the womb, His eye was upon us? Before we were even a being,
He knew us? Think of that! Did he not choose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world? How did he do that? Because
he knows the end from the beginning, doesn't he? You ever ponder that, brother?
He knew the end. He knows every human being that
will ever live on this earth. Everyone. I was looking at statistics with
a friend of mine this morning. Did you know that every second,
two people in this world die every second? Did you know that
in one hour, 6,000 people leave this world? Some into a Christless
eternity. Some into glory. Isn't that amazing? So the time we're here, 6,000
people have died in this world. How many went into a Christless
eternity? Oh my, do you see how merciful
God is to us? If he hadn't saved us, that's
where we'd be. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow us all the days of our lives. It's wonderful. I'll tell you why. I'll tell
you why. Look at verse... It's wonderful. I'll tell you. Look at verse... Verse 4. 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. What
comfort we have through Christ Jesus our Lord. That's the only
place we can find comfort, isn't it? See, we can find comfort
in others, but we're all gonna perish, aren't we? But the one constant is Christ. He's where we find true comfort. He's where we find true comfort.
That's why the preacher, we don't speak of ourselves, we preach
of the true comfort, don't we? We preach that the only savior
of sinners, Christ Jesus. He's the only one who can save
a sinner. The only one. And the believer looks to Christ
and knows that because Christ lives, I'm gonna live too. I'm
gonna go through this valley of a shallow death, but I'm gonna
come out in the other end. On the other side, only because
of Christ. That's where our dear loved ones
who are gone, who died in Christ, that's where they are. They're
in glory. My. Fixated on the Savior. And we're gonna be there soon.
Don't take long. One day to the Lord is a thousand
years, so our life is a vapor. millisecond, not even a blip
on the scale of a thousand years. Did you ever think of that? Isn't
that amazing? My oh my. Look at verses five
and six. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of my 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 self-existent one, Jehovah, forever. The only reason we're going to
exist in the house of the Lord, dwell in the house of the Lord
forever, is because of what Christ has done for us. His bleeding,
dying death on the cross, redeeming our eternal souls with the shedding
of His precious blood, and His perfect life, His perfect righteousness
that He wove by living the perfect life in our room and place, that's
imputed to us. And our sins were imputed to
Him. And His perfect righteousness appeared to us. I call it the
great transfer. All the sins of all God's elect
placed upon Christ. And Brother Brian, the reason
God can't judge us now, because we're pardoned now in
Christ, the reason He won't judge us again is because He already
judged us in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? That's
why I was telling the guys today, I said, oh, yes, that fellow,
oh, you're a lost guy. I said, I'm not going to come
under judgment ever again. Oh, the judgment seat of Christ,
all this stuff. I said, I am never going to come
under judgment again. And I never will. You ever think
of that? That's amazing grace, isn't it?
That's incredible. That's absolutely incredible. And the Lord will save every
sheep that God gave him. Every single one. Everyone for
whom Christ died on that cross shall be saved. And if you're a believer, you
say, that's me! Right? I'm one of them sheep,
by the grace of God. And by surely goodness, by the
goodness of God, and by the mercy of God, I'm one of them sheep. I'm one of them sheep. What a name of hope for God's people. Turn, if you would,
to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. I haven't had us turn hardly
anywhere because I wanted to stay right in this psalm because there's
so much right here. So much right here. But look
at this. Look what our great God has called. Now, do you need
comfort, Brother Zane? Brother Brian, Sister Linda,
and Sister Marcia, do you guys need comfort too? I need comfort
all the time. I need it all the time. I'm my
worst enemy. I'll tear myself down so fast
it's not funny. You do that too? Yeah, we all
do it, don't we? Look at this. So we need comfort
then, don't we? Where do we find comfort? Amen. Look at this. 2 Corinthians chapter
1, verses 1 to 4. Grace be to you. God is showing
us grace, beloved. And peace from God our Father.
We have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, right?
And look at this. And from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies and what? The God of all comfort. That's what he is. That's one
of his titles. Do you know that's a title of
God? He's the God of all comforts, brother. He comforts us, doesn't
he? He comforts us. Look at this.
Now, think of this. Do you ever think of this when
we're going through a trial and tribulation? I never thought of that until
I found this verse years ago. You know when we go through a
trial and tribulation, we're like, why am I going through this? But
God comforts us through it, right? Now we know as sovereign grace
believers, okay, this was ordained by God. It still doesn't make
it easy, does it? So we go through these things.
Now there's a reason. There's a reason. Everybody stops
there. Look at the next verse. Look
at this. Who comfort us all in all our tribulation, so God comforts
his people, that we may be able to comfort them which are in
any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by,
of God." I had a situation where a young man was coming to me
and I had went through the exact situation as he did. And I said
to Vicki, I said, now I know why I went through that. Because I was able to comfort
him. Because I went through, I could understand what he went
through. You know? Isn't that amazing? So we go
through these things so that we can comfort others as well.
And we can point unsafe folks to Christ. Say, hey, the only
comfort I'm going to find in this situation or you is in Christ. Right? Oh my, isn't that wonderful? God himself personally comforts
his people. The God of the universe. Why
would he have anything to do with me? A piece of animated
dust. Because he's loved us from eternity. Why would he have anything to
do with us? Because he's loved us from eternity. And he personally
comforts his people. So when you're comforted by a
message, or when you're comforted by reading the scriptures, or
when you're comforted by reading a devotional, when you're comforted
by anything that has to do with the Lord, give Him all the glory.
Because it's God who gave you that comfort. Right? My, oh my. And the question is, to those
who will listen to this message, have you bowed your knee to Christ? Can you say the Lord is my shepherd?
If you can, it's only by the grace of God. So give him all
the glory. But if you haven't, oh, I pray
God will draw you to Christ, will give you grace, will regenerate
you to seek Christ. He's the only hope, isn't he?
We can testify that as safe sinners, that Christ is the only hope
for sinners. There's no other hope. In Christ
is God in the flesh. God himself. Think of this. The Lord, the shepherd of our
souls, became a man to bleed and to die as a ransom for our
souls. Surely, surely goodness and mercy
shall comfort us All the days of our lives. And David says,
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. All by the
mercy and grace of God. Let us leave here rejoicing tonight.
Let us leave here praising our Savior for the wonderful things
he done for us and in us. My, what a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. Brother Brian, can you close
us in prayer?