All right, now if you would open
your Bibles with me to Psalm 54. Psalm 54. Save me, O God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God, give ear
to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against
me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They have not set God
before them. Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies, and cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice
unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good. For he hath delivered me out
of all trouble. And mine eye has seen his desire
upon mine enemies. Let's bow before our God in prayer. Our God and our Father, Lord,
we come into your courts this evening with grateful and thankful
hearts. How thankful we are that you
are God alone, that none can stay your hand or say unto you,
what doest thou? That your will and your purpose
is always accomplished. That you have undertaken to redeem
your people, to save them, to call them out, to preserve them,
and in your time, glorify them. And nothing can stop that purpose.
Father, I pray you let that precious truth comfort the hearts of your
people. cause us to continue to look
to you, continue to trust you, your purpose, your love, your
care for your people, no matter what else is going on around
us in this world. We're thankful that you're God.
We're thankful for your mercy and your grace to sinners. We're
thankful that you've given us the gospel of your dear son to
preach to our generation to believe. Father, I pray you'd cause that
gospel to run well tonight, that it would go forth in the power
of thy spirit, Father, that it would bring glory to the name
of your son, that it would call your people to Christ, that you
would draw us ever closer to Christ our Savior, to cause us
to depend on him even more fully. Father, we're thankful for this
place, a place that you've given us where we can meet together
in peace, and unity, where the sole object is the glory of Christ
our Savior, to see Him, to learn of Him. Father, we're so thankful.
And we pray that you would preserve it and protect it for many years
to come, that you'd give us the wisdom to take care of this treasure,
right, that you've given to us. And Father, for your people that
are in times of trouble, we pray for them. We pray you'd undertake
on the behalf of your people to heal, to comfort. Father, while they're in the
valley, give them a special portion of your presence. If you comfort
our hearts with your presence, we're comforted. And we pray
that you would deliver as soon as it could be thy will. Father,
all these things we ask and we give thanks in that name which
is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see It was grace that taught my heart
to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils,
and snares I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. His word has promised good to
me His word my hope secures He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures A wind this flesh and heart shall
fail And mortal life shall cease I shall possess within the veil
a life of joy and peace. The earth shall soon dissolve
like snow. to shine but God who called me
here below will be forever mine We've been there ten thousand
years Bright shining as the sun God's praise than when we'd first
begun We've no less days to sing God's
praise than when we'd first begun I like all those other verses
of that song. We don't get to hear it too often. They're so good. If you would,
open your Bibles with me to Genesis 48. Our Lord told Isaiah, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. I believe I have a message this
evening that will be of great comfort to those of us who know
and trust the Lord. I read through this verse in
the message last Wednesday, but I want to come back and look
at just this one verse in some detail this evening. I titled
the message, It's God Which Fed Me. Verse 15, Genesis 48. And he blessed Joseph and said,
God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which
fed me all my life long and to this day." Now remember Jacob
is on his deathbed. He roused himself up when he
heard that Joseph was coming to see him on his deathbed. He's
sitting talking to Joseph and his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. And you know when a person is
on their deathbed, They're not gonna waste time talking about
things that are not important. You know, a person knows that
they're dying. They want to talk to their loved
ones about the most important things that are on their mind.
They want to talk to them about something that's real, that's
important, that's lasting. And they want to say those things
so that the most important things don't go unsaid. I guess, There's lots of examples
of why I'm weird. But I've thought about that.
I mean, even when I was a young man, I thought, now what would
I say to my wife and my children on my deathbed? You know, I want
to be able to say something wise and good, you know. We know we
don't know the day of our death, do we? So my advice is those
things that are so important to you, say them now. If it's
something special, if something needs to be said, don't let it
go unsaid. Say it now. I'm sure it'll be
appreciated. I'm sure it will. But now when
Jacob is on his deathbed, remember we looked at this some last week,
he talks to Joseph about the things that are so important
to him. He tells Joseph, now God's blessed us in this place,
but don't you set your heart on Egypt. You remember that God
has promised to give the land of Canaan to my descendants. Don't ever forget that. Egypt
is not your home. Sooner or later, we're going
to Canaan. Don't set your heart on this
place. Set your heart on the promised
land, because that's where God's promised to bless us. And he
tells Joseph and Ephraim and Manasseh, now you keep looking
to the Lord. You keep trusting the Lord. And
the way Jacob does that is by telling them, this is what God's
done for me. This is what God's done for me.
He can do this for you. You know, David said in one Psalm,
he said, this poor man cried and Lord heard me, saved me out
of all my troubles. Now that's who the Lord is. That's
what the Lord is like. He answers those that call upon
him, saves them out of all of their troubles. And I read that
and that encourages this sinner to call on the Lord too, doesn't
you? And that's what Jacob is doing
for his sons. They're sitting there at his
bedside. And Jacob tells his son who God
is. He said, God is the God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked.
Jacob's reminding Joseph, remember this story of God's promise to
Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob. This is a family heirloom. This
story has been told so many times, but it's so important. Jacob
is reminding Joseph, God's a covenant God. God made a promise to Abraham. He revealed to Abraham his covenant
of grace, and God promised Abraham that the Messiah, the savior
of his people, is gonna come through Abraham's loins. And
by faith, Abraham understood that promise. He understood what
God was telling him. By faith, our Lord said, Abraham
saw my day, and he was glad. By faith, Abraham saw past Isaac,
and he saw another miracle child. He saw Mary's virgin-born son,
who's the righteousness of God's elect. Abraham saw that by faith. By faith, Abraham saw how that
child would be sacrificed as the substitute for the sin of
his people, and that made Abraham rejoice. You know, the thing
that made Abraham rejoice all those years ago is what makes
us still rejoice today. Now, he didn't see it as clearly
as we do, because we live on this side of the cross. We see
the finished work of Christ. But Abraham still saw that and
rejoiced. He rejoiced. This is what God
promised him. He's going to do it. This is
how he's going to accomplish the salvation of his people. And
God made a promise to Abraham when Abraham and Sarah They're
both childless, they're both too old to have any children.
God promised him he's gonna have a son. Now Abraham, he was too
old to produce a child and Sarah had already gone through menopause.
But the physical weakness of Abraham and Sarah, they didn't
stop God from keeping his promise. Isaac, that child of promise
was born when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old. Isaac,
in whom the sea shall be called, he was born by the power of God.
Not by the power of flesh, this was God's doing, God keeping
his promise. And then God confirmed his promise,
his promise of the Messiah. He confirmed that promise to
Isaac. Later on he confirmed it to Jacob
too. And Jacob is reminding his sons, now this is who God is.
He's a covenant God, God's made a promise and he's gonna keep
it. And you trust him, you can trust
him, he's trustworthy. Almighty God has a purpose of
mercy and grace for his people. He's promised mercy and grace. He's promised to forgive the
sin of his people. He's promised to put that sin
away by the blood of his son. He's telling them who God is.
So they'll trust him. He don't want them just trusting
God, just going through the motions of religion as long as he's alive.
After he's gone, he wants them still trusting the Lord, looking
to the Lord, believing on the Lord. You know, that's what preaching
is. You know, we tell people who
Christ is and who God is from his word so people will trust
him. That's why we preach and tell who he is. That's what Jacob's
doing here. And then he tells them that God
which fed me, all my life long to this day, now that's God. This word fed, it's a rich word. I had intended to cover several
verses tonight, but I got on that word fed and started writing
out notes, so I gotta quit, I'm out of time. This is a rich word,
fed, God which fed me. It means a whole lot more than
give me something to eat. It means to shepherd me. God
has shepherded me my whole life long. It means to rule over me. God has ruled me my whole life
long. It means to teach me. I was born
not knowing nothing, but God taught me. He taught me. It means
to be associated with me. Jacob knows what kind of man
he is. He knows he's a cheat. He knows he's a scoundrel. And
he said God condescended to associate with me. And then this word fad means
to be a special friend to me. I heard a lot there. Well, what
does it mean to you if God is the one who has fed you? He's
fed you up to this day. He's gonna feed you the rest
of your days. What does that mean to you? Well, the Lord has
fed me, Jacob said. He rules over me. He rules. over everything, everything in
His creation. He has ruled over everything
that has impacted my life. He's ruled over everything that
I do. The Lord has ruled me, and I'm
so glad, because if the Lord didn't rule me, you know what
I'd do? I'd wander off from Him. But He's ruled me so that I can't
leave Him. He's ruled me, kept me from doing
so many things that I wanted to do that would have been bad
for me. He's ruled over me and stopped me from being my own
worst enemy. You know, we should remember
this. You know, there are times that we have things that we want
to do, things we had planned to do, and Lord stops us from
doing it. And we need to remember that's
best for us. Whether I see it, whether I understand
it or not, that's best for us. And God does that for His people
because He rules them. If you trust the Lord, you're
not going through this thing of life on your own. It's not
just bouncing haphazardly through creation. God's ruling you. He's
ruling you. Then the Lord has fed me. He
taught me. The Lord has been my teacher. Now you know how you can tell
if the Lord's been your teacher? The Savior said all who have
been taught of the Father come unto me. If God's taught you,
you come to Christ. If God's the one that's taught
you, you've come begging him for mercy. You've come trusting
him. The only reason I trust the Lord is the Lord taught me
who he is. That's why. The only reason I
know anything about anything is the Lord taught me. And this
is, he's taught me all my life long. Jacob says, now you ask
him to be your teacher too, because that's the only way you're going
to know anything. You know, Jacob can tell his sons. A preacher
can tell folks who Christ is and tell them who God is and
what God's done. But I'm telling you, unless God's
your teacher, you're not going to learn it. You're not going to know
it in the heart. Ask God to be your teacher. He teaches His
people. And if the Lord has fed you, He's associated with you. I spent a long time just thinking
about that yesterday. the holy God of heaven and earth,
who is the opposite of me in every single way, has associated
himself with me. He's associated himself with
sinners like us. You know, God calls himself the
God of Jacob 25 times in scripture. The God of Jacob. Almighty God
associates himself with people like Jacob. And God didn't just
do that for Jacob. He does it for all of his Jacobs.
He does it for all of his people. The Son of God was born as a
man. The Son of God came in our flesh,
bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He came in our nature.
I mean, what a miracle that is. Yet without sin. Christ came and associated himself
with his people. He lived with them. He touched
them, he ate with them, he was with them. He identifies himself
with his people. He became flesh so that he could
be so associated with his people, he'd be one with them. So he
could take their sin and by his substitutionary death, put their
sin away as their substitute, as their sacrifice. God became
a man. so that he could die for his
people. That's the most amazing story
ever told. And there's something that just
grips my heart there. This, the gospel, the sacrifice
of Christ, the redemption of his people. This is not just
a, I don't even know the right word, a forensic legal, you know,
just cold dead legal documents, you know, There's love involved in this
thing. There's emotion. He associated himself with his
people. He made the farthest, the longest
journey that's ever been made for the Son of God to become
a man. So he could save his people. I'm telling you that's somebody
I can trust. Isn't it you? And then if the Lord has fed
you, The Lord is your special friend. It's just exactly what
I said a second ago. Christ didn't just come to pay
the redemption price for his people. Just like, you know,
this is a legal thing we got to get done. It's stamp paid
and, you know, we're done with it. There's so many of them,
you know, I'll never see them. I'll never think of them, you
know, but their debt is paid. No, no, no, no, no. He came in the
flesh to be the special friend of his people. as a friend of
his people, he suffered and died for them on purpose with their
name written on his heart to put away their sin. And those chapters where the
Lord's alone with his disciples before he goes to the cross and
he's talking to them. This is family talk. He's just
talking to them alone. In John 15, verse 13, he told
them this, greater love hath no man than this. that a man
lay down his life for his friends. He laid down his life for his
friends. Just like Abraham was called
the friend of God. If Christ died for you, you're
the friend of God. He's your friend. Christ is a
friend who will stay with you your whole life long, and he'll
never unfriend you. In times of trial, In times of
difficulty, you can bank on Him. You can bank on Him. Solomon
said in Proverbs 17, verse 17, there's a friend that loveth,
or a friend loveth at all times, a brother is born for adversity. That's Christ our friend. Christ
our older brother, He was born for adversity. So He could put
away the sin of His people. So He would be with His people
every trial and every bit of adversity, just like he was with
those three Hebrew children in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace. He's with his people. Solomon
went on, Proverbs 18, verse 24, he said, there is a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother. Closer than a brother. Now that
can only be talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. sticks closer
than a brother, he's such a friend. Christ is the friend who talks
to the hearts of his people and he reveals to them that he's
the savior. He reveals to them who he is
and how he saves his people. In Exodus 33 verse 11, the Lord
spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend.
Now, We just can't help but think,
whew, I'd like to have seen that. I'd like to have been there with
you. Listen to me. If you trust Christ, he has spoken
to you face to face. He's spoken to your heart and
told you the exact same thing he told Moses in that conversation.
The Lord told Moses and talked to him about redemption. He talked
to him about salvation. He talked to him as a friend.
This is how God's gonna save his people from their sin. And
he does that for all of his friends. Not just Moses, but all of them. And Christ is the friend who
gives life to his people. You're all my friends. You're
my friends. And one of you is hurting. Oh,
I hurt. I hurt. I just, I want to do
something to make it better. And it's just, feels very futile,
doesn't it? Christ is a friend who never
feels like that. He gives life to his people. In John 11, verse
11, our Lord told his disciples, our friend Lazarus sleepeth.
but I go, that I may wake him out of sleep. And our Lord went
to the tomb of his friend and cried, Lazarus, come forth. And
he that was dead came forth, found hand and foot. And the
Lord said, loose him and let him go. That's what he does for
all of his friends. He gives them life. Christ is the savior of his people. He's the sovereign over everyone,
but especially how he is the sovereign over his people. Christ
is not separate from his people. He's near to them. He's near
to his people. He has a close, loving relationship
with his people. It's a loving relationship. Song
of Solomon five, verse 16, the bride is describing the bridegroom. And she said, his mouth is most
sweet. He's altogether lovely. This
is my beloved. And this is my friend. This is
my friend. It's no wonder we say, what a
friend we have in Jesus. Oh, he's a friend. And then last, this word fed
means shepherded. You know, very often in scripture,
the Savior is described as our shepherd. So many of the Old
Testament patriarchs were shepherds as pictures of Christ. Abraham, Abel, he was a shepherd. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David,
these men were all shepherds as pictures of Christ our Savior.
And I want to take just a few more minutes and look at what
a blessing it is if Christ is your shepherd. First, look at
Psalm 80. The shepherd, that's not just
an occupation that our Savior has. It's his very name. Christ, our shepherd, will save
his people from their sins. Look at Psalm 80, verse one. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel.
You see that S is capitalized in, that's somebody's name. That's
the name of the, he's the shepherd. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between
the cherubims. Shine forth before Ephraim and
Benjamin and Manasseh Stir up thy strength and come and save
us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and
we shall be saved. You know, David, I think, finds
it very interesting here. He mentions all three of the
men who were beside Jacob at his bedside, Joseph, Ephraim,
and Manasseh. And Jacob's blessing was the
Lord's gonna bless the lads. And boy, he did, didn't he? much
more than just making a mighty nation, tribe out of each one
of them. He saved these men from their
sin. And when they died, he brought
them straight into his presence. Now that's what the shepherd
does for all of his people. I'm telling you, if Christ our
shepherd turns us, we're gonna be turned. And I know where we're
gonna be turned. We're gonna be turned to Christ,
aren't we? turned away from our idols and turned to him. If Christ
our shepherd saves us, we shall be saved. I mean, plumb saved. Now that's the shepherd I want
shepherded me into you. He saves his people from their
sin. Now look over to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Here's the second
thing, second blessing. Christ our shepherd fastens his
people. so that they will not be moved. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 11. The
words of the wise are his goals and his nails fastened by the
masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. Not only is Christ our shepherd,
he's the master carpenter. He's the one that has these nails
that are given to fasten his people. And the nails are the
words, the words of the wise. It's the word of God that that's
those nails. If you trust Christ every once
in a while, this is your fear. How do I know I won't leave? What's going to keep And I tell
you when we worry about that is when we look at ourselves.
We look at the strength of our faith. We look at the, you know,
how committed we are or something. And we think, you know, that
could wait for maybe someday I could leave. How do you know
you won't leave Christ? Because the shepherd fastens
us to him. Let me give you some nails he's
given that'll fasten us to Christ. Here's a nail that must be in
every message we preach, God's sovereign. He sovereignly reigns
over everything. He does according to His will
in the armies of heaven, among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand or say to Him, what doest thou?
God Almighty sovereign. And there is nothing that moves,
that wriggles, that flies, that squirms, that does anything in
God's creation that He's not in control of it. Now let's nail
that down. So we'll come and beg the sovereign
for mercy. It's His to give, isn't it? He
said, the Sovereign said, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. Then Shalom will go out and have mercy on me. He's the
Sovereign. He can give it. Here's another nail. Now this
has to be in every message we preach. Man is ruined in sin. When Adam fell, we're ruined.
We can't be fixed up. We're ruined. Now let's nail
that down. You and I are ruined in sin. Ruined. And since we're ruined,
we can't do anything to help God save us. God's not going
to bless us because of something that we do. We're ruined. We can't do something that's
going to please God like that. Man is ruined in sin. Now let's
nail that down. If I understand I'm ruined in
sin, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to beg for the
forgiveness of sin. Somebody else has got to do it
for me because I can't do it myself. Here's a nail. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the Savior of sinners. He saved sinners. He came to
die for sinners. Now let's nail that down. If
that is fastened in us that Christ is the Savior of sinners, you
know what sinners are gonna do? Lord, save me. Save me. Here's a nail. Salvation is of
the Lord. It's of the Lord. From its beginning
to its ending and everywhere in between, salvation is of the
Lord. It's all of the Lord's will. It's all of the Lord's
purpose. It's all of the Lord's doing.
It's all of the Lord's application. It's all of the Lord's preserving
power. It's all of Him. I can't do one thing to add to
that. He must do all of the saving for me or I will perish. Let's
nail that down. So that men will see Christ.
Salvation's of the Lord. That's how I know I won't be
moved, and God's given us his word to nail us to Christ, so
we won't leave him. All right, third, look at the
book of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 13. Christ our shepherd will be the
substitute for his people. Zechariah 13. In verse six, and one shall say
unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall
answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow,
saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little
ones. And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the
Lord, Two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third
shall be left therein. There's a remnant, a remnant
according to the election of grace. And I will bring the third
part through the fire, and refine them as silver is refined, and
will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and
I will hear them. I will say, it's my people. And they shall say, the Lord
is my God. Now those shepherds we talked
about earlier, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, they all protected
their sheep, didn't they? David talked about killing a
bear, killing a lion with his bear hands. I mean, these men
just, they're fierce, how they protected their sheep. They're fierce, but they're also
careful with the sheep. They take them to different pastures
so they got plenty of green grass to eat. They lead their sheep
where there's water so they have plenty to drink. If those sheep
get hurt, they doctor them. They just would bandage them
up, doctor them, take care of them, you know. They keep the
sheep from wandering off into danger. Well, that's what Christ
our shepherd does. The great shepherd of the sheep,
he does that for all of his sheep. But the way Christ our shepherd
saves his sheep, it's not like that he goes out there and fights
the lion and fights the bear and he kills them and he stands
victorious over them like David did. Christ, our shepherd, gives life
to his sheep by dying. He died in the place of his sheep
so that they could have life. In verse six here, it says, what
are these wounds in thine hands? He shall answer those with which
I was wounded in the house of my friends. That's the Savior,
he came into his own. His own received Him not. He
came as a Jew and the Jews rejected the Savior. They hated Him from
the beginning. They plotted and planned and
schemed and lied and did everything that they could do to get Him
crucified. Christ came as the friend of
sinners and they rejected Him. Now I know they did that because
that was God's will. It was God's will that Christ
be sacrificed, He be crucified on a cross for the sin of His
people. And that physical suffering, just absolutely unimaginable.
But you don't wanna know what he suffered even worse than that.
Our shepherd suffered when the father plunged the sword of justice
into the heart, he says here, of my fellow. The shepherd is
my fellow, my own son, and the father plunged the sword of justice
into the heart of his son. And by Christ's death, God's
justice is satisfied. God put that sword of justice
back into its sheath. And that sword, the sword of
God's justice, will never leave its sheath again against any
of God's elect. Because the shepherd died in
our place. But the shepherd rose again,
didn't he? He rose again, and he's the one that's gonna make
sure all of his sheep come to himself so that they all say,
the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my God. He shepherded
me all my life long, just like he did for Jacob. If you look
over at John chapter 10, that's what the Lord said he'd do. John 10 verse one. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. And
he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth them out. They know him, they know his
voice, and he leads them out. Don't miss that, he leads them
out. He leads them out. Every step they take, he took
first, because he's leading them out, watching out for them, caring
for them. Look at verse 11 or verse 10. The thief came not
but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that
they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. That's how he's gonna give this
abundant life to his sheep, by giving his life, suffering and
dying in their place so that they can live. Verse 13, he said,
the hireling fleeth because he's an hireling, careth not for the
sheep, I'm the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known
of mine. As the father knoweth me, even so know I the father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep. He just keeps saying that
over and over and over again, the shepherd's gonna die for
his sheep so that they can live. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they should
hear my voice, and there should be one fold and one shepherd. Now the other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, that's us. We're part of those other
sheep. From the description of this
shepherd, do you have any doubt he's gonna fail to go get all
those sheep and bring them into one fold? He'll have every one
of them on him. Oh, that's the shepherd I want.
Now in closing, look back at Psalm 23. You cannot talk about
Christ our shepherd without thinking about Psalm 23, the psalm of
the shepherd. Here's the fourth thing. If Christ
is your shepherd, he is everything you'll ever need. Not just he'll
give you everything you ever need, he is everything that you'll
ever need. David says, the Lord is my shepherd,
my shepherd. And since the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not mourn. The Lord is my shepherd. He knows
me by name. He calls me by name. He saves
me, he keeps me, I belong to him. He calls me by name and
I know him. I know him, I know his voice
and I follow him. I'm the sheep and he is my shepherd. The shepherd who has total control
All the care of everything that I am is in His hands. He's my
shepherd. And since I belong to Him, I
shall not want. I won't want for anything that
I need. Verse two, I shall not want for
rest, because He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. I
shall not want for peace. He leadeth me beside still waters.
not raging white waters, still peaceful waters. Verse three,
I shall not want for life, he restoreth my soul. I shall not
want for righteousness, he leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for his namesake. Not only is he gonna lead me
in paths of righteousness, he gonna make me righteous. He is
my righteousness. As I go through this life, I
shall not want for comfort, I shall not want for grace sufficient
for any trial or trouble. Verse four says, yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear
no evil. I'm not saying there's not evil
there, so I won't fear it. For thou art with me, thy rod
and thy staff. They comfort me. He's gonna comfort
my heart everywhere that he leads me. I shall not want for calmness
in the face of my enemy. Verse five says, thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. I like war movies. I like watching
the most, you know, realistic ones. Big, much to my wife's
chagrin, a huge Band of Brothers fan. I mean, I don't care if
I have channels, if it's on, Frank's watching it. And when
they're there in the Battle of the Bulge, especially, I mean,
they're under attack. I mean, just see, it's constant.
And you know one thing those men, I never saw them, and you
know, the men who were actually there talked to the actors, you
know, doing that movie and telling them what it was really like.
And you know one thing I never saw them do? I never saw them
prop their feet up on a table and just sit and eat, you know,
have nice tablecloth and somebody's carrying them food and wine and
water. They're hunkered down in a hole
in the ground eating K-rations that are frozen. David's talking
about sitting calmly at a table in the presence of my enemies.
I shall not want for calmness. The Lord has ever just calmed
your heart. Now, I'm not saying that the
storm's still not raging. He just says, peace, be still.
I'll not want for calmness. I shall not want for the Holy
Spirit. He says, for thou anointest my head with oil. I'll not want
for any blessing of God. I'm not gonna have to try to
save him up, because I'm afraid I'm gonna run out, because my cup runneth
over. I shall not want for mercy for
my sin, Verse six says, surely, without a doubt, goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I shall
not want for an eternal home. I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. I'm never gonna find myself in
want of the presence of the shepherd, because I'm gonna dwell in his
house. I'm gonna be with him forever. Now that's the shepherd
I want. That's a shepherd that I can
trust. And we're blessed, aren't we?
If that shepherd's the one that's fed us. All right, let's bow
together in prayer. Father, we're thankful for this
time you've given us together to open your word and read of
Christ who's fed us, who's shepherded us all the days of our life. Father, how we thank you for
such a savior. How we thank you for your unspeakable
love and mercy and pity to weak, dead sinners like we are. That you would send your son
to be associated with the likes of us so that he could put our
sin away and make us just like him. What a miracle. Father, we're so thankful. And
how I pray you take your word as it's been Preach tonight and
Father calls each heart here tonight to see by faith the glory
of Christ our shepherd. And to trust him, to rest in
him, to find joy and calmness and peace for our hearts in trusting
him. Father, it's in his great name,
for his name's sake, for the glory of his name, we pray, amen. All right, Sean.