Now we're going to be returning
this evening to Psalm 23. But before we go there, I would
just like to read a couple of portions. And the first one is
in Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. And then we will go to Isaiah
chapter 42. So Isaiah chapter 6. And we'll read from verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth
is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I
am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth
and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity
is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the
Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then
said I, Here am I, send me. Then if you'll turn with me to
Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. And again we'll read from verse 1. Behold, my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He
shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, nor
be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and
the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith God the Lord,
he that created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread
forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, and that giveth
breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk
therein. I, the Lord, have called thee
in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of
the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners
from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. I am the Lord, that is my name,
and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to graven images. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. The verse which I want to dwell
upon a little bit this evening, as the Lord will enable, is the
second verse of Psalm 23. he maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. The Lord Jesus Christ we considered
on a previous occasion has every right to be seen as the one who
first spoke and gave greatest weight to these words of Psalm
23. We've spent a little bit of time,
I trust you will remember, establishing that the Lord Jesus Christ called
his father, the Lord my shepherd. And we have seen how the Lord
Jesus Christ, as that one who is frequently called the Lamb
of God, acknowledged his father as the one who would lead him
and guide him, direct him, who would, as we've read together
in Isaiah 42, hold his hand, that the father would take this
responsibility of looking after the well-being of his son as
the son the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. such that
the son could declare of the father that everything needful
would be provided for him and that he would not want at his
father's goodness and provision for him on his behalf. So that while the people of God,
the flock of God. You and I, as those whom the
Lord Jesus Christ calls his flock, look to the Saviour as the good
shepherd of his sheep and seek all the benefits and graces and
goodnesses that come from the Lord to us. the Lord Jesus Christ
no less in his humanity had the right to repeat and recite this
psalm in his own day as that which pertained to him and to
his needs. I've blended together in our
readings this evening Isaiah chapter 6 and Isaiah chapter
42 because I want us to realize that this great work of the Lord
Jesus Christ's coming into the world, this covenant office,
this mediatorial office that the Lord Jesus Christ undertook,
came to the Lord willingly as He accepted the duties and the
obligations and the responsibility of the covenant purpose of the
triune God to seek a way of deliverance for a chosen people and a beloved
people. a people that would be upon the
face of this earth in time and for whom there was no other way
of salvation and deliverance except one who was able, one
who was chosen, one who was the very elect of God, one who was
satisfactory in his nature and in his person, and in his humanity
to bear the sins of a people vicariously, to be able to take
as a substitute the sins of another and carry them on their behalf. And none was found. in the whole
of Adam's race that would be able to satisfy the requirements
such that in the wise purposes of God, one had to be sent from
the very courts of heaven itself. And we see a picture of that,
I suggest to you, in the account of those things which were both
seen and heard and recounted by the prophet Isaiah in that
wonderful passage in Isaiah chapter 6. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
living word and by that we understand that he is the one who spoke. He is the one in that eternal
triune covenant of the Godhead who stood up and spoke about
his willingness to serve the purposes of God and the needs
of the beloved people. He who dwelt as one in unity
in the eternal presence with God the Father and God the Holy
Spirit arose as it were from his throne of glory and dominion
at the hearing of the question that sounded in the courts of
heaven, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And our blessed Saviour answered
loudly, lovingly, willingly, here am I, send me. And thus the eternal Trinity
entered into covenant obligation. The Word became the Lamb of God,
of whom John says he was as a lamb slain from before the foundation
of the earth, which tells us that this was an eternal role. It was an everlasting role. It was a role accepted and entered
into before time began, and therefore we rightly see it in its eternal
dimension. The Word became the Lamb of God,
the Lamb of God who would in time become flesh. And in this great pact of peace,
the substitute in divine agreement entered into the purpose of God
for the deliverance of sinners. He agreed to be a surety for
a people yet unborn, to supply every need that they would have,
whose whole salvation would hinge and turn upon the thorough fulfilment
and satisfaction of every divine demand and every holy requirement. The claim of infinite holiness
would be laid upon the shoulders of the Lamb, and the Lord Jesus
Christ willingly undertook to serve that great task. But let us not imagine that he
did so in a vacuum. Let us not suppose that the Father
and the Holy Spirit were passive in this great covenant purpose. This covenant of peace, as it
is called, or as we sometimes say, the covenant of grace. The Holy Spirit, the Blessed
Comforter, He it was who would bring the benefits of Christ's
work to generation after generation of his people. The Holy Spirit
would take upon himself that great work of coming to individual
saints, that people that God had loved before time and elected
before time, and he would apply the benefits that the Lord Jesus
Christ achieved and accomplished to that people that were God's
own. The Holy Spirit ministered from
the very beginning of time down to our present age and will to
the end of time to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he has brought consolation both to Old Testament saints and to
New Testament saints. He brought conviction to those
transgressors that would have a desire for the things of God
implanted in their souls and a longing after holy things granted
to them in this world time age. The Holy Spirit it is that comes
with enlivening regenerating power and sparks to life that
quickening work by which we have a thirst and a hunger after righteousness. It is the Holy Spirit who ministers
and equips and employs the people of God in their various responsibilities
in this life for God's service. And whether we're looking at
Joseph or Moses or Saul or David, or whether we're looking at Peter
and Paul, The saints of God, to our own life's experience,
know what it is to experience the work and energy of the Holy
Ghost. And so the Holy Ghost does not
passeth in this covenant of grace, nor indeed is the Father. He did not remain detached from
the promises But having chosen a people, he predestinated them
to be conformed to the image of Christ. Having that people
that he loved before time, he committed them into the care
and the keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ. He made it incumbent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ that every requirement that his holiness
had of that people, every requirement that would give him a satisfaction
upon that people, would be fulfilled by their substitute and surety. He provided and he preserved
and he protected that holy seed. He named his people and he placed
their names in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's the Father's
work. He calls us his own, his sheep,
his people. And so Paul could say of him,
for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's writing to the Ephesians
in chapter 3 verse 14, of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named. So the Father engaged in this
great covenant purpose also. Father, Son and Holy Spirit agreeing
together to accomplish this great purpose of salvation. But as we have seen, there was
also another role undertaken by Jehovah God. And that was
not only the protection and preservation of his church and people, but
the protection and preservation of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
sent alone into this world. The Father was looking after
his well-being constantly. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
could, in all honesty, say, as we reminded ourselves of him
reciting this psalm, almost certainly at his mother's knee, being taught
these things in the synagogue of his own day, in his own time,
the Lord Jesus Christ undoubtedly could say with meaning and with
personal assurance, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Did you know that the Lord Jesus
Christ had faith in God his Father? Did you know that the Lord Jesus
Christ believed God his Father? That he took comfort and reassurances
from the promises of God his Father? That he placed his trust
God his Father, that all of the responsibilities of a shepherd
for a flock were found in the Lord Jesus Christ's consciousness
with respect to his Father, his Shepherd. He believed the promises that
God had made in the covenant. He trusted his Father for the
people, for the lives of the people that had been promised
to him upon his completion of the mighty work of redemption. Do you remember what Isaiah says
in chapter 53 about the travail of his soul? That the Lord Jesus
Christ saw there as he hung upon the cross, there as he knelt
in the garden, there as he went through those years of his ministry,
there as he went through the years of silence. before his
ministry began, as he was learning and understanding the promises
of Scripture with respect to his own ministry and that which
he would accomplish and perform, he trusted in those prophetic
words that he read in the Old Testament Scriptures. He believed
his father for the promises that were there spoken of him. And when it says in Isaiah 42
that the Lord God the Father would hold the hand of his elect,
his anointed one, the Lord Jesus Christ believed it to be so for
him personally. Do you see how lovely that makes
these promises? Well might we read them for ourselves
and enjoy them and glory in them and find comfort and peace in
them. But isn't it good for our hearts
to be reminded that the Lord Jesus Christ read them for Himself
and He also was comforted and blessed by them? Those that we love, perhaps a
spouse, a husband or a wife, perhaps our children. Isn't it
wonderful when we hear them reciting a verse of Scripture? and saying
that they've got real spiritual comfort and nourishment from
that verse, from that passage. Don't we rejoice to hear our
brothers and sisters testifying to the good that the Lord has
done them? in their souls by the reading
of the Word, by the preaching of the Gospel, by meditating
upon some biblical promise and being able by the grace of the
Holy Spirit to apply it to their own hearts? And would we deny
our Saviour such a privilege and such a blessing also in His
humanity? Lord Jesus Christ, Believe this
Father for the travail of his soul, that which would be won,
that which would be secured, that deliverance which would
be effected. by the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that people that would be recovered, that caused his
soul to be in such travail, in such pain and in such suffering. He believed that his prize would
be that which God promised him in the covenant. And he was loved of the Father
and he believed it to be so. He saw that there was a children
of promise, and he looked forward to those that, like him, were
loved of the Father, and that he as their substitute and he
as their deliverer, as he as the great Redeemer, would secure
all that was needful. And don't miss this, please,
that the Lord Jesus Christ trusted the Father for the same providences
in his life The same preservation and protection that we trust
Him for today. These are the same things that
all the sheep of God require. Turn with me to Psalm 91. I just
want to show you another example of this. If the Lord enables, we'll give
a little bit of attention to this psalm in a future study,
but I just want to read the first couple of verses to you from
Psalm 91. And this psalm is about the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is very clear. Let's read
the verses first, and then we'll just touch upon them. Psalm 91,
verse one. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. Now this is speaking about the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus Christ that
dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High. Now, you might
say to me, oh preacher, don't rob us, don't rob us of thinking
that it's us that dwell in the heart of Almighty God. Well, no, I'm not going to take
anything from you, but don't deny the Lord that place either. And anyway, in what capacity
are we in the heart of the Almighty accepting that we are in Christ? Because it is as we are in Him
that we are loved. God commendeth His love towards
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But that love of God, that love
of the Father towards us, is founded upon His love for His
Son. And it is as we are in Christ
that we are loved of God. He who was first loved of the
Father is the Son, my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. Well, what is that saying to
us? It is saying to us that Christ, who dwells in the love of the
Father, was always covered, covered from the glare of the noonday
sun, covered in the shadow of the Almighty. It is as if the
Almighty lifted up his arms and said, now walk the walk that
has been given you to walk. Follow that path that has been
established for you in the way of salvation, that which you
have voluntarily undertaken to satisfy and fulfill. Go ahead,
but know this, that I am with you. I am with you and I will
take care of you. And the Lord Jesus Christ in
His humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ in His felt weaknesses,
the Lord Jesus Christ in all the troubles that beset Him,
trusted His Father, believed in the Shepherd and testified
to it. Look at verse 2. I will say of
the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will
I trust. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
that is speaking, and it is he who says of his Father, I will
say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, Earlier, David
says that he would say of him, he is my shepherd, I shall not
want. Now he is saying of him, he is
my refuge and my fortress, my God. In him will I trust. Now this is talking about Christ
in his mediatorial office. This is not impugning him in
any sense as being less than God, less than Jehovah, for he
was equal, co-equal with all the three persons of the Godhead. There's no question about that,
but he humbled himself. He became a servant. He entered
into this role where he acknowledged God and he placed his trust in
the promises of his father. Even the devil knew that this
was the Lord Jesus Christ that was being spoken of here in this
passage. Satan himself was well aware
of that. Look at verse 11. For he shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone. Where did you hear those words
spoken? Who spoke those words? The devil spoke those words. The devil spoke those words to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ didn't
contradict him. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
say, ah, those words aren't about me. You can't apply those words
to me. Now the Lord took those words
because they did apply to him. Satan himself, during the temptation
of our Lord in the wilderness, used these very words in order
to argue his case against our Saviour. And so the very words
that Satan used are drawn from a passage that speak of the fact
that in the midst of the trials and the temptations of the Lord
Jesus Christ, The shadow of the Almighty still hovered above
him. So when we turn to Psalm 23,
it's certain that Jehovah's gracious care extended to the leading
and to the feeding and to the nourishing of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So when we read of green pastures
and still waters, when we read of the Lord shepherding his people
into green pastures and still waters, that has every relevance
for the experience of the Lord Jesus Christ as it has for others
and for us. You remember perhaps the history
of the Saviour when he came into this world, how that from the
very beginning his life was at risk. His parents had to flee
to Egypt with him because of Herod and his brutality. There in Jerusalem, in the temple,
we discover that His parents were anxious for his well-being,
no doubt aware that the city of Jerusalem, at such a time
as the feasts, was a dangerous place to be. And so they went
with all anxiety back to the temple, seeking after the Lord
at an age of 12 years old, had spent the whole night in Jerusalem,
on his own, under the shadow of the Almighty. Lord Jesus Christ
was protected, even as a child, he was preserved by his Father,
the angels looked after him. And what about all of those years,
those 18 years between the age of 12, when we last hear of him,
until he began his ministry at the age of 30? In Luke chapter
two and verse 52, we read these words, and Jesus increased in
wisdom and stature in favor with God and man. Now that's telling
us that there was a development in the Lord's understanding.
There was a deepening in his knowledge He increased in wisdom,
in stature, and in favour with God and man. He learned obedience. We're told that the Lord Jesus
Christ learned obedience by the things that he suffered. Now,
I'm going to come back to this on another occasion, because
I think there's sweetness in this. Because I suspect that
those silent years between 12 and 30 were not a time of casual
ease for the Lord Jesus Christ, but a time during which he was
being prepared for those three years of his ministry from when
it began at his baptism until his crucifixion. Only three years
in 33. All that other time spent with
no knowledge given, but perhaps there is knowledge given to us,
and we'll come back to this on another occasion. But here's
the point that I want to make. In the midst Of all of his life,
Isaiah tells us, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. 12 to 30. a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Not just in his ministry, but
in his life. He knew what sorrow was. He knew
what grief was. He knew what hardship was. And yet in the midst of it all,
he experienced his father's tender care and provision. well like Father, like Son. For as the Lord Jesus Christ
was cared for by his Father, as he was led into those green
pastures, those pastures of feeding, those pastures of tender grass
that would sustain and refresh and bless the flock, into those,
or beside those still waters that would be places of quietness
and stillness, places where there would be periods of ease. So the Lord Jesus Christ cares
for His people also. The essential quality of a good
shepherd is the feeding and protection of his flock. And as the father
had been a good shepherd to his son, so the son has proven himself
to be the good shepherd of his people. The Lord Jesus Christ
in the covenant of grace assumed the responsibility of those committed
into his care. That care became his covenant
obligation. to provide blessings for his
sheep. And so we hear that prophetic
witness of the Old Testament in Ezekiel chapter 34, verse
14. I will feed them in a good pasture
and upon high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There shall
they lie in a good fold and in a fat pasture shall they feed
upon the mountains of Israel. And again in Isaiah 40 verse
11, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the
lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently
lead those that are with young. Now let us be clear, we're not
talking about physical food and physical water. except to the
extent that these natural physical things are conducive to our spiritual
well-being. The Lord takes care of his people
and the Lord will provide for all our needs. We won't have
to beg bread. The Lord will take care of us. And yet, that care is directed
towards our spiritual well-being. It is directed towards us recognizing
His goodness as the shepherd of our souls. The Lord does not
make His people fat and rich and happy and content in this
life on fleshy things. Indeed, many of us will be able
to testify that like our Lord, we have had to learn obedience
through the things which we have suffered. We may be men and women acquainted
with sorrow. And the promise of the New Testament
is that we will enter into heaven through much tribulation. And
yet, as it was the portion of our Saviour, so we will find
green pastures and still waters to be our portion in this life
too. That's what the Lord does for
us. We shall be fed upon that bread
of life. We shall drink the waters of
life freely. We shall rest from weariness
as to our self-righteousness. we will find that there is one
who has stood for us, that we might rest in him. Because the
Lord Jesus Christ will feed us with himself. In communion with
him, where he says, this is my body,
where he says, this is my blood, we will be nourished by him,
dwelling upon his body and his blood as the source of our eternal
salvation and well-being with God. As we eat and drink in remembrance
of him, so in the gospel, those who are starving those who need
nourishment in their souls, those who are emaciated because of
the hardness and the barrenness of this world when it comes to
our soul, we find that there is feeding in Christ and peace
in him. In the gospel that is preached
to our souls, through the word of God, through the preachers
that are sent to us, starving sinners are fed. And in the gospel
that is preached to us, thirsty sinners are refreshed. The two
examples that are given in this verse to us are the green pastures
and the still waters. And green pastures are pictures
of that lively truth, that nourishing truth that comes to us in the
gospel. Because what is it that feeds
our souls as His people but the work of Christ and His accomplishments? His blood shed for us. His sacrifice freely given. His suretyship as He stands for
us and provides for all our needs. The strength that we get from
a knowledge of His righteousness bestowed to our account. and the continuing blessed promise
of His intercession in the presence of His Father on our behalf. Day by day, as we go through
this life, our Shepherd is caring for us, and the Lord Jesus Christ's
shadow hangs over us. and keeps us cooled and keeps
us refreshed and keeps us provided for in these great doctrinal
truths that we have received. Gospel truths to strengthen,
to sustain and to cause us to grow. Green pastures speak of replenishment,
They speak of Jews that fall in the coolness of the night.
It speaks of rains that come to give growth and nourishment
in the grass, which in turn feeds that which feeds upon it. It's new every morning as a blessing
from on high. It is fresh. It is vital. It is God's grace to his people. And still waters are places,
again, of protection and refreshment, where we can drink plentifully. It is said, still waters run
deep, and there is a depth of blessing to be found in the Lord's
care of His people. There is a profusion of grace
that is granted to those who are needy and those who turn
their heads and look to their Saviour for their well-being
and for their sustenance. And so the Gospel message is
applied to our hearts, that the Lord Jesus Christ has come and
done everything that is needful, everything that is required,
that we can go freely into the Father's presence with every
boldness and with perfect assurance. Psalm 86 verse 5 says, For thou,
Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy
unto all them that call upon thee. The goodness of God to
his people, to forgive us day by day for all of our sins. to be merciful to us beyond that
which we would find it possible to be merciful to anyone else,
because the Lord is plenteous in mercy. Let Israel hope in
the Lord, says the psalmist, in Psalm 130, verse 7, for with
the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. I just have one more point to
make and then we're finished. The psalmist says, the Lord says,
we say, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He maketh
me. You ever tried to make a sheep
lie down? Even a sheep. I think all you can really do
is try and push it over in truth. I remember trying to get a sheep
that was caught and got its horn caught in a fence, lying there
on the ground and I'm trying to get this piece of metal wire
untangled from round its horn. And I was doing it with such
trepidation because I knew as soon as this thing felt that
lack of pressure on its head, it was going to be up and away
as fast as it could. And if I was standing in the
wrong place when it jumped up and bolted, it would be me that
would be lying on the ground and not the sheep anymore. Well,
that proved to be okay. We got it sorted out. The Lord
makes us to lie down in green pastures. He makes it. And that
speaks about His Lordship. Let us not fail to recognize
that He has dominion over us. He will make us to lie down.
Sometimes we get too energized, too eager, too fraught. in our lives and we think that
we've got to be doing this and we've got to be doing that and
we've got to be engaged in this subject and that matter. And
the Lord makes us to lie down in green pastures. Well, it speaks of his sovereignty. And yet, does he not teach us
gently and graciously? And if he has to slow us down,
does he not comfort us even in our troubles? So that we gladly wait upon him,
and we willingly comply with him. And we are constrained to
rest here a while, Not out of compulsion, but because the Lord
makes us desirous of it. It's as if he says to us, like
the troubled waters of the Sea of Galilee, peace, peace, be
still, be still and know that I am God. And these great problems
that you think you're going to have to solve and deal with and
manage, why, I'll part them like the Red Sea, and you'll walk
through them in peace. Lie down, be peaceful, be content,
realize that you are secure in me, that you have a place of
safety. This is a troubled world. This
is a world which is full of trouble and strife and contention, and
yet in the midst of this troubled world, The Lord gives peace to
his people. The doctrines of the gospel confirm
our hearts in the truths of God's ways, purposes and promises. They ease our minds from the
troubles that are round about us. They dispel our fears because
they tell us who is in control and who is in charge of everything
that appertains to our life's experience. That all things are
working together for good. These are the green pastures
and the still waters that the Lord causes us to rest beside. Jesus will have his flock fed. And so he has established gospel
churches. He has given us gospel preachers. He gave a commission to his apostles,
Peter particularly, but all, I'm sure in general, If you love
me, feed my lambs. If you love me, feed my sheep. And so the Lord has established
from that apostolic foundation a people who will come with a
message of peace to our hearts through the preaching of his
word. In the picture of the shepherd,
the pastor is particularly appropriate because the good shepherd knows
his sheep. The Lord knows them that are
his and so the pastor gets to know his sheep and he brings
a message which is appropriate to the needs of his people. Let
me say something personally here, if I may, and I hope I don't
embarrass anyone in saying this. But I suspect that many people
don't realize that there is a burden on the heart of their pastor
for their soul's well-being. that goes much deeper and causes
him much more anxiety and concern than they ever appreciate. Such that when a message is brought,
it's not just something that's been constructed out of a few
verses that happen to fit together, but rather are brought with a
labored burden in order to speak directly to individual needs,
not to call a name out personally, not to say I'm speaking publicly
about private things, but to bring those things which are
needful for our souls into focus in the preaching of the gospel.
To have a pastor who is able to come and bring us a personal
message for our souls with regularity and frequency is more important
than getting up in the morning and having your breakfast, because
he is feeding us in a deep way and in a spiritual way for eternal
things. And so the pastor is pictured
as a shepherd. A shepherd that knows his sheep,
who knows what they need, when they need it, where to provide
it, how to supply it, and to present it in a way that is suitable
for their needs. Our Good Shepherd knows us by
name and He knows what we require and He will do us good. He has
given us a church to attend. He has given us a ministry to
hear and to receive. He has given us a gospel experience
to enjoy and to benefit from. He has granted us church fellowship
in the midst of a barren desert. He has given us brothers and
sisters in Christ, a people to fellowship with, fellow members
of our flock. And yes, we jostle up against
them from time to time. But it's a beautiful picture
that although we have to jostle up with these fellow sheep in
the flock, there shouldn't really be any hard edges there. This is God's purpose and this
is God's design. Them helping and encouraging
us and we are blessing to them. Lord Jesus Christ says to his
disciples, love one another as I have loved you. Paul repeats
that. Peter repeats that. John says
it multiple times. This was the message of the New
Testament to the Lord's people, to that people that he would
feed on the mountain of Zion. So these church gatherings, our
gospel fellowship, they have become our green pastures. They
have become the still waters that we give attendance to. And
the Lord makes us to lie down in these places. And he sustains
us and he helps us. This is where grace and goodness
and mercy flows to our hearts. This is the place among this
people, among this group, this flock, where the blessings of
God become ours. This is where he builds the body
of Christ, and this is where he glorifies our Lord and Saviour
in the midst. May the Lord encourage us with
these thoughts. May he speak to our hearts out
of the simplicity of this beautiful psalm. And may he remind us of
the privileges that are ours in sharing together in these
green pastures and still waters that he has provided. Amen.