The most familiar verse in the
Bible, I guess, is John 3, 16. About everybody quotes that.
But the most familiar chapter would be the six verses of this
psalm, Psalm 23. This is divinely inspired, indeed. But the human penman, writer, is a man who in his childhood
was a shepherd himself, David. He's not writing about something
he don't know anything about. I've read after a lot of writers
and then wondered if they had a clue what they were writing
about. Not so with David. Of course, all the Word of God
is this way. This is so simple, and yet it's so profound. And his purpose here is to dwell
on the goodness and grace of God in his own life. And he does so by likening Christ
our Lord to a shepherd. As we look through these verses,
we should do the same thing. Look for and meditate on all
the goodness and grace and mercy of God in our own lives. David is not off base with this
because when we come to the new Testament, the Lord Jesus speaks
of himself as the shepherd. So one of the precious statements
I'll begin with, because it's so important for us, is the Lord's
presence with us. I don't think we dwell enough
on this. And it's in the middle of the psalm, the fourth verse,
for thou art with me, for thou art with me. And David gives
this as the reason for not being afraid. He said, I will fear
no evil. Why? For, which means because,
thou art with me. Thou art with me. His presence.
A man wrote a book years ago, matter of fact, two or three
books for this same title I've seen through the years, practicing
the presence of God. It's something to be cultivated
in our lives that the Lord is near. You say, well, I don't feel like
he's near. He didn't say you'd feel like it. He just said he's
near. I've had people tell me, I feel
like the Lord's left me. He said he wouldn't. Practice the presence of God. to be cultivated in our lives,
day by day, wherever we are, whatever is going on, whatever
or whoever troubles us at that moment, to be conscious of His
presence and assured of His love for you is a precious, precious
thing. And we ought to cultivate that.
I think this psalm provides us an excellent way to do that.
to cultivate the presence of God in our lives. This thing about a shepherd.
A shepherd in Old Testament times, it was not a very prestigious
occupation. Not desirable. Shepherds had a reputation, generally,
of being immoral, and dishonest, pretty low-down bunch of guys. Not to mention smelling like
sheep. So it's not really an honorable
thing to men. And yet Christ, in the New Testament,
likens himself to a shepherd. It's a kind of making himself
of no reputation. It reminds us of the condescension
of our Lord, who left the glory he had with the Father to come
into this sin-cursed world, full of sin and sorrow, and exposed
himself to it. He's the shepherd coming down.
Then, secondly, a shepherd possesses sheep. That's the very basic
thought and definition of a shepherd. He possesses sheep. That's what
constitutes shepherdhood, is having some sheep. Christ refers
to his people as his sheep. Those who truly believe in him,
trust him, hear his voice and follow him, his sheep. When did this begin? This is
getting a little deep now. He possessed His people, His
sheep, from eternity past. Ephesians 1-4 says that we were
chosen in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world.
His people, His sheep, were given to Christ as a love gift from
the Father in eternity past. In time, He came into this world. John 17 says numerous times why
He came. He's talking to the Father in
that chapter, John 17, and He says, I've come to give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given me." Not to Adam's race. Those who preach that the Lord
is trying to save everybody are preaching a failure God. He's not doing much good. And
that's the idea that people have in this day and time about God.
But no, Christ came, He said, to give eternal life to as many
as the Father hath given me." And then he said in the 10th
chapter, 27th verse, my sheep hear my voice. Have you heard
his voice? You probably wouldn't be here
if you hadn't. I don't mean audibly, but in your heart. speaking clearly
about what you are and you know it. He's brought you to know it.
What a wretch you are. I meet people every day that
you'd think they'd never done anything wrong. They'd have you
believe that. I mean, they'd never stoop so
low as to be what you are. But it's the grace of God. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance. It's the mercy of God that has
shown you the truth about yourself. And he speaks clearly about what
you are and makes you know it. And speaks clearly about who
he is. And you see how very short you come. But you want to bow
humbly and to know Him. He said in John 10, verse 26,
now this is a hard verse. He said that some believe not. And the reason they believe not
is this. He said, because you are not of My sheep. Uh-oh. So He didn't come to save everybody.
He came to save His sheep, His people. So the shepherd possesses
his sheep. And I repeat, his sheep are not
Adam's race, because he promises that not
one of his shall perish. According to Matthew 25, when
Christ returns in His glory, He's going to separate the sheep
from the goats. We have evidences by the Spirit
of God that lives in us. And of course, we're not in on
all God's timing, as Brother Jim said. But the bottom line
is that only God knows the sheep from the goats. I know there's a lot of goats
acting like sheep. I know that. And I know a lot of sheep acting
like goats. I know that. But the Lord is going to straighten
it all out one of these days. He'll put everybody on the side
they belong on. The psalmist talks about the
Lord's position here, who He is as the shepherd. The Lord
is my shepherd. Five blessed, blessed words. Now he didn't say He's my doctor. That may or may not. be able
to heal me. He didn't say he's my lawyer
that may or may not be crooked and represent me wrongly. He didn't say he's my financial
advisor who may or may not have good judgment. But rather he
said the Lord is my shepherd, my shepherd. The only one who knows all and
sees all and loves me so as never to forsake me. He's my shepherd. He's my shepherd. I don't make
the daily decisions really. He does. I follow Him. He's the shepherd. And before we move on from this
first five words, Three thoughts here that relates to us in this
line about Christ as a shepherd. One, he's a particular shepherd. Note it's the Lord, not a Lord. In ancient times, honorable leaders
and rulers and fathers and even husbands Honorable men were called
Lord. Prophets were often addressed
by common people as, My Lord. Not with a capital L, not Deity,
but respectfully, My Lord. So in that sense, there were
many Lords, little L. But David says, The Lord. Capital L-O-R-D. Not just any
Lord, but the Lord. He's the particular shepherd.
And then the second thought, He's a personal shepherd. The
Lord is my shepherd. He's not just anybody's shepherd.
He's certainly not everybody's shepherd. But David said, I'll
tell you this, He's my shepherd. Why? Because I am His sheep. And then the third thought, He's
a present shepherd. See the little word, is? It's
not that the Lord has been. Oh, things are so dear. I wish it was like it used to
be. No, no, no. It's not has been. Or it's not
shall be. I'm hoping someday He'll be.
No, no. It's right now, present tense. The Lord is my shepherd. He is all he's ever been. He is all he'll ever be. The Lord is my shepherd. The next line says, I shall not
want. That word want does not mean
the way we use it, desire. I want this, I want that, I desire...
No, no, no. The word means lacking. It means
an insufficiency. And so the line is saying, I
shall not be lacking. With the Lord as my shepherd,
there is no insufficiency. I may lack in my desires, but
never in my needs. He will provide. The next thought
is the shepherd's patience with his sheep. Verse 2. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. David is honest enough to confess,
he has to make me do it. Because he knew that you have
to make sheep lie down and rest. in the heat of the day. He leadeth
me beside the still waters. Sheep are so dumb, they'll go
till they get so weak they can't stand, and they'll faint or even
fall over dead before they'll voluntarily lay down. But the shepherd knows when enough
is enough. And it's necessary to make the
sheep lie down and rest. I'm not really talking about
sheep in case you didn't know it. I'm talking about us. I'm as guilty as anyone. And
I'm glad the Lord knows how and when to interrupt our plans. I don't like it when it happens. But I'm sure glad that He does
it. He's wiser than I. And sometimes it takes me a little
while to have enough gumption. That's
an old word. Some of y'all never heard that.
To have enough gumption to say, Lord, you were right and I was
wrong. I'm glad He knows when to interrupt
our plans and make us shut up. and lie down. Our flesh is so
opposed, so rebellious. And sometimes we declare that
he's making us lie down in a briar patch. No, he don't do that. He don't do that. It may seem
so at the time, but David said, he maketh me to lie down in green
pasture. It's a comfortable place, if
I had sense enough, to rest and realize that He's doing the driving. Leadeth me beside the still waters. Most of you know that sheep won't
drink from running water. The sound of it is so fearful
because of their heavy wool, if they fall in and get wet all
over, they cannot get out. They drown. So in a flowing stream,
the shepherd will, if he can't find a still pool of water, he
will dig a little trench and create a little pool of still
water for the sheep to drink. He has great patience and he
goes to great extremes to make the sheep rest and to make the
sheep drink without fear. The Lord does all this for his
people. The next thought, the shepherd's power, verse three,
he restoreth my soul. Those of you that have never
fallen, never made a mistake, never done anything wrong, you
can just go ahead and mark through that line. You don't need this. But for the rest of us, this
is so blessed, four words. He restoreth my soul. This is about as far as we're
going to get this morning, but I want to talk a few minutes
about this statement. And the shepherd's power, he
restored my soul. I'll say three things about it
and we'll be done. What is it? When is it? Will I have it? The restoration. What is it? He restored it. Men like to restore old cars. I've got some friends that do
that. And they try to make them look like they looked originally
off the assembly line. Spend a lot of money doing that.
Well, that's the wrong idea here, not that kind of restoring. In our lives, God can restore
relationships. He can make it like it was before. with people. He usually don't. He can restore health so our sick loved ones don't
die. Sometimes he don't. He can restore reputation. He can restore a place of employment,
when you have lost your job, he could give back to you. He can restore lost valuables. He don't always do these things, but read it carefully. David's words, he restoreth my
soul, my soul. This is not about our foolish
wants and possessions. It's about my soul. He restores
my soul. Another place, David said it
numerous times, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? He's talking about the times
we're overwhelmed. in failure and defeat and feeling
hopeless and feel like, well, maybe I'm not saved after all. And Satan whispers, you're probably
not, or this wouldn't be happening to you. I mean, your friends
are not going through all this. Now, it ain't nothing to you.
God don't love you. Maybe you're not forgiven. I
mean, you've got some monster sins back yonder in your past. We forget great scriptures about
his forgiveness. Even in the old Testament, Micah
7, 19, he has cast all our sins into the depth of the sea. That's
far enough. Psalm 103.12, He removed our
sins as far as the east is from the west. I'm glad He didn't say north
from south. You can get to the North Pole
and then get there. You can measure that. But He
said He's removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. You can't measure that. Isaiah 38, 17, He's cast our
sins behind His back. He'll never turn around. Isaiah 44, 22, He has blotted
out as a thick cloud our transgressions and sins. The Lord restoreth
our soul. How does He do that? To believe
Him concerning what He's done. about our sins. It's not that
He fixes everything we foolishly messed up in life. It's not He restoreth my health
and my wealth and my happiness, but He restoreth my soul to remind me that my sins are
gone. My sins are gone. Yes, we have
to live with consequences, but our sins are gone. We're forgiven. You can chop your arm off and
be forgiven, but you still have to live with the consequences.
No arm. The Lord restores our soul. He keeps me trusting. Him in
what He's done about my condition. That's what it is. He restored
my soul. Then, when is it? When is it? This word restoreth here is present
tense and it's ongoing. He has done it. He is doing it
now and He'll never stop doing it. He restoreth. When? Presently. Presently. That's
why you're here today. He restored my soul. I talk to
a lot of people that say, oh, I need to get my life straightened
out. I need to get back in church. I need this. I need that. But
not now. I'm not ready today. Soon, yes. I really need to do
that. But not now. But today is the day He restoreth. People say, well, I've got to
fix so and so far. No, you can't fix nothing. I need to get some
things straightened out. And then I'm going to call on
the Lord. No, you ain't straightening nothing out. Today is the day He restoreth.
Isaiah 1.18, Come now and let us reason together. Come when? Come now and let us reason together. Sayeth the Lord, though your
sins be as scarlet. He didn't say if, but though. You've really made a mess. Though
your sins be as scarlet. Things being just what they are. Yet they shall be as white as
snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." He's the restorer. He's the judge. He's the forgiver. He has taken
our sins away. When people say you're filthy, the bridegroom shepherd, the
Song of Solomon says, Thou art all fair, my love. You're beautiful. When people say your mistakes
and your sins are so many and so bad, there's no hope for you. Christ says there is no spot
in thee. You're perfect as far as I can
see. You're as white as the new fallen snow. There's restoration now. Now. Thirdly, will you have it? This is the question. Will you
have it? You do not have to work yourself
into God's favor. Somebody said, if you'll start
now, in a few days, in a little time, You'll feel yourself thawing
out. No, you're not doing the thawing. You don't work yourself into
God's favor. You cannot do that. We but plead the righteousness
of Christ and we pray, Father, for Christ's sake, restore. His righteousness, in Him is
no sin. And I'll tell you a little secret.
This is getting deep. In Him you've never sinned. Now
in your flesh you've sinned plenty. But in Christ, our life is hid
in Christ. He's never sinned and in Him
you've never sinned. Will you have this? Most folks
won't. No, insist on working my way. Won't have any charity, even
in acceptance with God. No, I'll do this on my own. No, you won't. No, you won't.
It's a gift. Will you have it? Will you have
it? Will you rest? this morning in
the free grace of God. God's not laying a bunch of burden
on us to fix ourselves. He's already fixed it. The only question concerning
restoration is this, will you have it? Will you have it? In John chapter 5, A certain man lay crippled for
38 years. 38 years. And the Lord Jesus came along
and asked him a simple question. Five words. Will thou be made
whole? The man's crippled. He can't
walk. 38 years. And the Lord never
asked him, do you feel like you'd be able to participate in a marathon? He never asked him that. What could you contribute if I'd help you? He never asked
him that. He never asked him, could you
do this or that or the other? No. A simple question of five
words that demanded nothing. except a yes or no answer. Wilt
thou me made whole? The man couldn't answer it. He
couldn't answer it. He went into all the reasons
of why he wasn't already made whole. I just don't have anybody
to help me. He certainly don't see it happening
that day. All he had to do was say, yes, I would be made whole. Or no,
I'm not interested. I've been loving this for 38
years, laying here, not able to do it. No, no. He couldn't
say either. This is so clear, so simple. And can I tell you the reason
that some of you don't have peace in your heart this morning, is
simply this, you won't have it. You won't have it. Now I'll tell
you what you will do. You'll poke at the imperfections in
some who do have peace. And what you're really doing
is charging God because you're better than they are and you
don't have peace. It's not about better. It's about
what He's done. Will you have it? That's the
question. That's the question. God's not
wrong. Earning it is not how it comes.
Will you have it this morning? That's the question. One other
thought, Luke 15, and I'll be finished. Go home and read Luke
15, 4-7. A man has a hundred sheep. This don't have to be literal.
It's alright if you want it to be literal. It don't have to
be literal. Hundred represents totality. All a man has. And this man is looking out at
his sheep and he's looking out in satisfaction. of 99%. Just one has messed things up. And you'd think he's thinking,
if I ever catch that little devil, I'll kill him. He's messed up
the whole business. This is my success that's on
the line. This is my reputation. I'll at least give him a good
beating when I catch him. That's how some of you think
God feels about you. You're missing it. You're missing
it. That's not how it is. The little sheep cannot help
the condition it's in. Neither can you. You might have
used better judgment and not got there, but you can't do anything
about it that you're there. So what does the text say? It
don't say the shepherd's mad with hatred and anger. It says
the shepherd goes out and searches diligently until
He find it. That little word until is beautiful.
He didn't say, I'm going to go look an hour or two or a day
or two and see if I can find it. No, no, no. He searches until,
until. Then he lay it on his shoulders,
rejoicing. He's not fussing at the sheep
for getting lost. He's not fussing at the sheep
for going astray. He's not fussing at the sheep
for being wounded. He's rejoicing that he's found
it. He's found me so many times. And it goes on to say he calls
in his neighbors and has a party. a celebration. And he says to
them, rejoice with me. I've been successful. He didn't say, neighbors, we're
here to celebrate this sheep. Boy, he's the smartest one in
the bunch. He'd run away, but he'd come back home. No, no. He says, we're here to celebrate
me. I've been successful in finding my sheep. This sheep wasn't faithful to
remain with me, but I was faithful to restore him to me. Rejoice
with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost." David
wasn't perfect. He knew all the sin and the filth
and the corruption in his own heart, but he's overwhelmed. And he's saying that shepherd
of mine, in spite of me, he continues to do what he's
always done. He restored my soul. Will you have it? David could say, I might do something
else stupid today, but he'll be there. He restoreth my soul. Will you have it? That's the
question. That's the question. Let's stand.