If you would like to pick them
up, the quarterly financial statements are here on the front pew. Thank
you, Susan. Back in the office a little bit
ago before we had scripture reading, Brother Murrell, I can't remember
whether he said he heard or read today. He said, I'd like to be
like a little girl I heard about today. He said they were going
to church. and real dry, and they were going
to pray for rain, and she took her umbrella with her. Would to God we might come to
God's house just that way, expecting the Lord God to pour down upon
our souls the rain of heaven. As you all know, we have dear
friends who are going through trouble. by God's good, wise
providence. He's brought them into deep waters.
They carry heaviness, confusion, difficulty. For the David Coburn
and his wife, Teresa. For the Bruce Crabtree and his
wife, Joe. For the Skip Gladfelter and his wife, Sandy. All going
through tough times right now. Trying to pray for them, God
the Holy Ghost has kept one passage of scripture on my heart almost
incessantly for the past few days. It's familiar and I hope
precious to you all, the 23rd Psalm. I'm sure you can recite
it from memory, but I want you to turn there and hold your Bibles
open on your lap as we read this Psalm together and I try to give
you a message from God. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Throughout the scriptures, our
Lord Jesus is spoken of as a shepherd. He is that good shepherd who
gave his life for the sheep. He is that great shepherd who
rules in heaven for his sheep. He is that chief shepherd to
whom we have come and to whom we have been turned and who will
come again to receive us into glory at the last day. Our Lord
Jesus was called by his father to be our shepherd before the
world began. And he stood forth voluntarily,
assuming all responsibility for his sheep. I haven't begun to
grasp that like it needs to be grasped. And I sure haven't stated
it like it needs to be stated. Jesus Christ, our shepherd, before
the world began, assumed all responsibility for his sheep. He pledged himself as the shepherd
to go and redeem the sheep. To seek out and find his sheep. to give his sheep eternal life,
and to bring his sheep with him into the heavenly fold at the
last day. And the triune Jehovah trusted
our Savior with his sheep, committed to him all his sheep, and looked
to him to fulfill all things for his sheep. Our blessed Lord
Jesus is well qualified as our shepherd. He is the omniscient
God. He knows His sheep. He knows all our maladies. He
knows all our needs. He knows where His sheep are.
He knows what their case is. He knows what must be done for
them. He's not only omniscient, all-knowing God, he's omnipotent,
the Almighty God. He has all power in heaven and
in earth. Now that means that his sheep
are never in danger. His sheep are not now in danger,
have never been in danger, and can never be in danger in any
circumstance. This shepherd can well provide
for his sheep, protect his sheep, defend his sheep, and save his
sheep. In him are hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. And he, our shepherd, will guide
and direct his sheep always in the best path in which they can
walk. He orders our steps and he always
sees to it that his sheep walk in the best path possible for
their souls. Because the Lord is my shepherd,
I have nothing to fear and everything to give me hope, comfort, and
peace while I live in this world. I can think of no better, more
God-honoring way to describe Christ as our shepherd than by
using the words of David written by divine inspiration in this
23rd Psalm. As I do and try to give you the
message of the psalm, I want to use every word of the psalm
as David wrote it, personally. Personally. I'm going to tell
you what I have proved for more than 50 years. What I've experienced in my life. I'm going to talk to you plainly.
I hope that you who are gods can join me and read the psalm
personally. Read the psalm in the first person
singular for yourself. Wherever you can jump in, just
jump in. First, here is my possession. What a possession it is. The
Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, my possession,
my property. What a statement. It is one thing
for the Lord to declare I'm his. It is one thing for the shepherd
to say, of these sheep, these are mine. But here the sheep
lifts his voice and speaks with confidence. David spoke in faith
and he spoke by divine inspiration and says, the Lord is my shepherd. He is my personal possession. He does not say the Lord is our
shepherd. He says the Lord is my shepherd.
He doesn't say the Lord was or the Lord shall be, rather he
says the Lord is my shepherd. He speaks with confidence about
a present reality. Looking over the sheep in the
field perhaps, scattered around the hillside beside him, David
looked at the shepherd tending those sheep and he says, that's
what the Lord is to me. He is my shepherd. Trusting Christ
as his shepherd, David could not doubt his interest in the
shepherd. I call him my shepherd, and I
do so for one reason, because God has given me faith in him. He has called me by His grace
and calls me to hear His voice and given me grace to follow
Him. Following Him, now hear me, following Him, are you listening? Following Him is neither more
nor less than believing Him. I can't state that emphatically
enough. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. I give unto them eternal life
and they follow me. They follow me. To follow Him
is to live before God by faith in Him. It is to trust Him. Following him is not acting like
him. Following him is not trying to
do things that you think he would do, though certainly those things
are involved. Following him is believing him. I know he's my shepherd because
I trust him as my shepherd. I trust his arm of might. I trust
his infinite wisdom and goodness. I trust his purpose and grace.
I trust his providence. I trust his blood. I trust his
righteousness. I trust him as my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, expresses
faith in him, affection for him, and joy because of him. Now this
is what I want you to see. If you trust Christ, he's your
shepherd. You have every reason to confidently
state, for your soul's joy, comfort, and peace, the Lord is my shepherd. Turn to John chapter 10, let
me show you. John chapter 10. This very familiar chapter of
scripture. The Lord Jesus says, barely,
barely 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. He who comes by fulfilling all
things written in the scriptures, enters in by the door, he's the
shepherd of the sheep, to him. The porter opened the spirit
of God opens the word and opens the way in your heart and the
sheep hear his voice And he calleth his own sheep by name And he
leadeth them out And when he put it forth his own sheep he
goeth before him them and the sheep follow him for they know
his voice And the stranger will they not follow? but will flee
from him, for they know not the voice of strangers, verse 26. But ye believe not, he said to
the Pharisees, because you're not of my sheep, as I said unto
you. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Now settle this question. Settle
this question. Do you trust the Son of God? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you trust the Lamb of God,
His blood, His righteousness, His eternal Godhead, His power,
His grace? Do you trust Him? I don't mean
do you trust him for your salvation, though certainly I mean that.
I don't mean do you trust him to take you to heaven when this
life is ended, though certainly it includes that. I mean do you
trust him? Do you trust him? The just do
not begin to live by faith only. The just live by faith. We live
trusting Him, committing to Him, to His care, to His arm, to His
might, to His wisdom, to His goodness, to His purpose, all
things. If you trust Him, He's your shepherd. We mustn't fail to observe the
position of this Psalm. Psalm 23 comes just after Psalm
22, the Psalm of the Cross. Spurgeon wrote, we must by experience
know the value of the bloodshedding and see the sword awakened against
the shepherd before we shall be able truly to know the sweetness
of the good shepherd's care. And if we know the blessedness
of the Savior's bloodshedding, and the sweetness of the Good
Shepherd's care, we will know the blessedness of Christ, our
Great Shepherd, who reigns in heaven, described in chapter
24. If the Lord is my shepherd, and
I cannot doubt that He is, then I belong to Him. I'm his property. He owns me. And the fact that
I belong to him gives me the utmost confidence and security. I'm his. I'm his. I would be horribly
sad and disappointed if my wife didn't trust me to do the best
for her. If she didn't trust me to care
for her, if she didn't trust me to gladly sacrifice anything
for her, I'd be horribly sad, horribly disappointed if my daughter
didn't trust me like that. Oh, how we ought to trust him. who has taken us for his own,
always and in all things. I was chosen of God and given
to Christ as one of his elect sheep from the foundation of
the world. And he is responsible for his
sheep. This is the Father's will, he
said, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing,
but should raise him up at the last day. The Lord Jesus redeemed
me and purchased me with his blood. He called me by his grace,
sought me out, found me, and laid me on his shoulders, and
he will bring me safely home to his heavenly fold. He has
promised they shall never perish. When I die, my shepherd will
carry me home with joy. And at the appointed hour, my
shepherd will appear and raise my body to glory. And when he
does, he will rejoice, and I will rejoice with him. Now these things
the shepherd has promised he will do for all his sheep. Other
sheep also I must bring, that they may behold my face, that
there may be one fold and one shepherd. One of the most delightful
words in this opening sentence is this little personal possessive
pronoun, my. The Lord is my shepherd, personally
mine, distinctly mine, perpetually mine. And it's written in the
present tense. Whatever my position is, Whatever
my condition is, wherever I am, I am his sheep, under his watchful
eye, his tender care all the time. While we were having lunch
today, Shelby taught me something. I never thought of it, I don't
think. She said, I was reading this morning and thinking how
that we are engraved on the palms of his hand. Did you ever think
about how often you look at your hands? I doubt you look at anything
more often than you look at your hands. How often do you see your
hands? We're always before his tender
eye in the hand of his loving care as our sheep, or as his
sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. What a great possession. Now
second, here are my privileges. Because the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. That's the most reasonable conclusion
imaginable. If the Lord is my shepherd, what
shall I want? How shall God not with him also
freely give us all things? Our Lord Jesus asked his disciples
on one occasion as they were talking about having forsaken
all to follow him. He said, lacked ye anything? Lacked ye anything? And they
answered, nothing Lord. I shall not want any temporal
good thing. I shall not want any temporal
thing that's good. None of Christ's sheep lack anything
in this world that is needful, useful, and good for them, ever. Mark, you never lack, and never
have, and never will lack anything needful, useful, and good for
you. Never. Sheep do not feed, clothe,
and protect themselves. They're fed, clothed, and protected
by the shepherd. David said in Psalm 37, I have
been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken nor his seed begging bread. Spending my life out here
on this hill. I have over the years had a good
many folks to knock on the door And some to barge in without
knocking. I've had folks to call me Begging for somebody to help
them with their groceries or help them with a light bill or
help with this that another thing I'll tell you what I've never
experienced I've never seen, I've never, I haven't seen it
yet. May see it tomorrow, but I haven't seen it yet. I haven't
seen ever not one person who worshiped God knock on that door
and ask for such. I haven't seen it. I've not seen
the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. The Lord
God, our shepherd, provides for all his own, all we need, more
importantly, I shall not want any spiritual good thing. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus, given to us from eternity in Him. That includes all God's purpose,
all His purposed providence. These are God's blessings for
us. all of them. They are such things
as the Lord performs for us. On occasion, those things he
performs for us feel very painful. But he performs them not against
us, not just to us, but for us. When Faith was growing up, I
tried to never do it in public because I didn't want to just
embarrass her, but if she didn't obey me, she knew as soon as
we got in private, she was going to suffer for it. She was going
to suffer pain for it. She would feel it where she sits.
She knew that was going to happen. I intended to make her hurt. That was my purpose in laying
the paddle to her backside. I intended for her to cry because
I wanted to do for her what you know to be. I wanted her to be
a responsible young lady. a good wife, a good mother. I wanted her to be what she's
turned out to be. Our Heavenly Father, graciously,
wisely, tenderly, lovingly, applies to our souls, to our hearts,
to our lives, painful affliction for us. for us, that we might
be made partakers of His righteousness, of His holiness, that we might
enjoy everlasting life in perfect union with His Son. Christ is
the one in whom all fullness dwells, and we have all things
because we have him. Paul deduces that in 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. He deduces it not by logic, but
by inspiration, saying Christ is yours. That means that all
things are yours. All things are yours because
Christ has everything. We shall never want for clothing,
spiritual clothing, For he is the Lord our righteousness, and
clothes us with the garments of salvation. We shall never
want for spiritual food, for he is the bread of life. We shall
never want for physical drink, for he is the fountain of living
waters. Our hearts shall never want for
rest, for he is our Sabbath, and we rest in him. He says,
come unto me. All you that labor in heaven,
lady, I'll give you rest. and he says take my yoke upon
you and learn of me and you shall find rest unto your souls that's
two aspects of this rest the center bowed by God's grace comes
to Christ and he gives us rest and as we make our way through
this world we are called by Him to bow to Him,
to slip under His yoke. And the only way we ever find
rest for our souls is when we bow to Him. How disinclined we
are to bow. How disinclined we are to bow.
Oh, how foolishly disinclined. Thank you, blessed Spirit of
God, for never leaving us to ourselves, but for graciously
forcing us to bow, that we may find rest unto our souls. These
words could be translated, I shall not fail, or I shall not come
short. And if that's the case, then
the meaning would be, because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not fail to attain to eternal life. Eternal glory, eternal
happiness. Isn't that something? I fully expect, I fully expect, I fully expect
to enter into heavenly glory because the Lord is my shepherd.
He said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Look at verse two. The privileges go on. He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures. The green pastures are found
in this book, in his word. The green pastures here are always
lush, green, and full. The sheep never bite dirt here. It's always lush green pastures. These pastures are pastures in
which we lay down with comfort to eat. Lay down, not like sheep
normally do, but we lay comfortably and he graciously causes us to
eat from the green pastures that give us rest. As I said before,
we're not inclined to. We're not inclined to take His
yoke upon us. We're not inclined to bow to
Him, but He maketh presently, continually. While we live in this world,
He so works in us by His grace that He makes us lie down in
green pastures. Pastures of covenant grace. Pastures
of his infinite mercy, love, and grace. Pastures revealing
the person and work of our Savior himself. The blessed doctrines
of the gospel. His sweet promises. He sweetly
forces us to lie down. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. What a gentle word, leadeth.
Leadeth. Gently, thoughtfully, tenderly,
Christ leads. Like Jacob of old led his cattle
and his family as they were able to bear. So Christ graciously,
gently leads us beside the still waters. Waters of quietness. To these waters we would never
come. if he didn't graciously, gently, but always affectionately
lead us. He doesn't drive us to the waters,
he leads us. There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. The Lord Jesus leads us into
spiritual communion with the triune God. He leads us through
the scriptures and in the scriptures. He leads us and all who thirst
are bid of him to come to the waters that he opens and drink
freely. He leads us at last into heaven's
eternal glory. And there he continually will
lead us by fountains of living water, verse three. He restoreth
my soul. He restoreth my soul. How often
He's come to me when I could not and would not go to Him. When I stray, He fetches me back
When I seem to be dying within, he revives and refreshes. He restoreth my soul. Oh, thank you for such grace. He gives fresh discoveries of
his love. fresh experiences of his grace. He causes his promises to fall
fresh on our hearts, gives us fresh memory of his sacrifice,
remembrance of his dominion, and fresh, fresh correction by
his Spirit. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. What's he talking about? paths, plural, paths of righteousness,
paths of righteousness. Perhaps he's referring to the
path of faith, certainly that's a path of righteousness. Perhaps
he's referring to the path of obedience and love, certainly
that's a path of righteousness. Paths of righteousness, what
are they? Are you listening? Paths that
are right. Merle Hart, whatever the path
he has for you, it's right. Wherever it takes you tomorrow,
it's right. These are paths of righteousness. paths that he has in righteousness
ordained for us, paths that he has in righteousness brought
us, paths through which he will in righteousness carry us. They
are his paths, and he leads us in them for his namesake. Commenting
on this passage, John Gill rightly observed, Christ leads his sheep
by faith, to walk all in Him and in His righteousness, looking
through His righteousness on account of His righteousness
for eternal life. He does it for His namesake that
no flesh should glory in His presence. Read on. Here in verse
4, I'll tell you about my protection. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. If Christ
leads me in the path, as long as I live in this world, walking
through this valley of the shadow of death, I have no reason to
fear any evil. Not Satan, the evil one. No reason
to fear him. No reason to fear any evil man. David said, the Lord is my light
and not my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat
up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise
against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired
of the Lord, that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. I will fear no evil,
nothing evil, nothing. No evil word, no evil assault,
no evil intent, no evil design, no evil outside, not even the
evil that's in me. The Lord is my refuge. He is
my shepherd. I will fear no evil for thou
art with me. Thou art with me. I'll take you by the right hand
of my righteousness and I'll hold you up. That's his promise. Thou art with me, thy rod and
thy staff, they comfort me. The rod and staff were used both
for counting the sheep and protecting the sheep. He will bring us under
the rod and number his sheep as he brings them into the covenant.
And when he brings us into heaven, the glory brings us under the
rod and numbers his sheep. He takes the rod to protect his
sheep, and he takes the crook of the rod to retrieve his straying
sheep. With the rod, he directs his
sheep. He taps them here, taps them
there, and directs them in the way they should go. With the
rod, he beats off the foals of his sheep. Soon, we will pass
through the last of our trials. Soon, you and I will go down
to the grave, but remember, it's just the valley of the shadow
of death for us. It's just the valley of the shadow
of death for us. When I was a small child, I don't
even remember it, but I am sure that I experienced times when
I would see a shadow and be just terrified of some large shadow. I don't ever remember it, but
I'm sure it must have happened. But it's so far back in my memory
that I don't know anything about being afraid of a shadow. Well,
you shouldn't much expect a fella my size to be, would you? Afraid
of a shadow? What's a shadow gonna do? We
walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And we have
no reason to fear any evil in this valley through which we
walk, because our savior has taken away sin, the sting of
death. He's taken away the strength
of death, the law that condemned and cursed us. And now we walk
through the valley of the shadow of death with no fear of evil,
knowing that God's elect shall never taste God's elect shall never taste
death. Like Enoch, who was translated
that he should not taste death, all God's elect shall be translated
into glory and never taste death. Pastor, you're talking over your
head now. I know that, but not beyond the heart. Our Lord said,
he that liveth and believeth on me shall never die. And if you shall never die, you
can't taste it. He tasted death for us, that
we should never taste death. But rather, we shall simply pass
through this valley. Now, look at our provision. Thou
preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Enemies all around. They get plumb upset because
we feast for such comfort. But because the Lord is my shepherd
and I am his sheep, this is my unfailing constant provision. He prepares a table before me
ever to feast. Can God furnish a table in the
wilderness? Oh, I'm here to tell you he does.
And he will prepare that table before us in heaven's glory. The rich man, unlike Lazarus,
feasts sumptuously all the time now. I'm sorry, Lazarus, unlike
the rich man, excuse me. Look at verse five. Thou anointest
my head with oil, as the holy one, as the priest, as one chosen
of God, anointed with his spirit, to seal and preserve me, to teach
all things to me, to fill us with comfort and joy. He so provides
for me that my cup runneth over. My cup runneth over. When my wife serves up my soup
bowl, I take great care to let her set it on the table. And
there's a reason for that. There's always too much in it
for me to carry. If I were to carry it from the
sink here to the table there, I'd spill soup. It's always brought
to me full. My Savior fills my cup always
to overflow it. School girl was asked to recite
the 23rd Psalm and she stood up and said the Lord is my shepherd
He's all I want and she got it. Just right The Lord is my shepherd. He's all I want Now, let me give
you my prospect and I'll be done Surely Goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. Goodness has been pursuing me
for 68 years. Mercy has been nipping at my
heels for 68 years and it will continue to all the days of my
appointed time on this earth. And when goodness and mercy have
done chasing me, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. A servant abideth not in the
house forever, but the Son abideth ever. While I'm here, I will
be a child at home with Christ. The whole world is my Father's
house. And when I leave this world,
I will not change company or even addresses. I'm just going
upstairs. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Some years ago I read about an
event when a very famous actor, a well-known public speaker who
was known for his qualities, stood before an audience and
recited the 23rd Psalm. And the next night he and a friend
who worked with him went to hear a preacher who read the 23rd
Psalm and had a tough time reading it. But when it was over, the
fellow who helped the actor said to him, last night when you gave
us that psalm so perfectly, everyone paid attention and listened.
But tonight, when that poor preacher stumbled around and read that
psalm, there was hardly a dry eye in the place. Why? And the actor looked at his friend
and said to him, I know the psalm, but he knows the shepherd. Let's
see if we can read the psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not walk. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. And I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Amen. Lindsay, let's sing a couple
of verses of a hymn.