Well, I hope you've had sufficient
to eat. Folks who know me just a little
know I like to tell stories and most everything reminded me of
one. The folks traveling around preachers, you ladies entertain
preachers in your home and they like to feed them and feed them
and feed them and feed them. Well, this preacher was having
dinner with a lady one night, four services, and she kept shoving
the food at him. He said, I'm sorry, I just can't
eat anymore. I've just had all I can eat.
And she wasn't pleased. She said, well, just suit yourself.
He said, I'm sorry, ma'am, but I just, I can't eat and preach. So she cleared the table and
they went to church. He preached and got done. And she was the
first one to meet him at the door. She said, you're just as
well ahead. Well, I can eat and preach, but
I can't eat like you just ate and sat very long and listen. So I won't be long, but I've
got something for you, I believe. Turn, if you will, to Psalm 23.
Psalm 23. Long, long time ago, I read of
a man who stood before a large group of people and he, being
a trained professional actor, he recited the 23rd Psalm beautifully,
just magnificently. And folks were ooed and awed
and carried on about how greater job he had done. They'd never
heard the psalm read like that before. And then a while later,
he was with a friend. And a friend, and he heard another
man with a gathering, a small group of believers like this,
who read the 23rd Psalm with broken English, who couldn't
really speak very well, couldn't read very well. And when he finished
reading the psalm, the congregation sat silently with tears running
down their cheeks. And they left. And his friend
asked his actress, said, I don't understand. Last week, you recited this psalm
as only you could. And folks were astounded by your
ability, but no one was moved to tears. And tonight we've heard
a man read the psalm who can hardly read. And the whole congregation
is moved to tears. What's the difference? And the
actor looked at his friend and he said, the difference is I
know the psalm, he knows the shepherd. And I want you to know
the shepherd. I have discovered as a pastor
these past 44, 45 years, when I go to visit God's people, especially
the older saints who've had some experience in this world, who've
carried the same Bible for a long time, the thickest pages are
always in the Psalms. When you have difficulties, you
will find yourself repeatedly going to the Psalms. When you
have things crushing your heart repeatedly go into the Psalms. And you wonder, why? What is
it that makes the Psalms so special? What is it about these Psalms
that so much speak universally to the hearts of God's saints
as they make their pilgrimage through this world of woe and
sorrow and pain and tears? I think one reason is this, as
we open the Psalms, we're allowed to go with that man who's described
as the man after God's own heart, into his closet, alone with God,
and hear him say things that we want to say and don't dare
say. Hear him speak as we often feel
but don't dare put into words. And we can sit with David as
he cries, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And we rebuke ourselves and say,
well, I know the Lord never forsaken me. I know that. I know that. But I can't tell you how often
I feel utterly forsaken. And I want to cry. Oh my God,
why have you forsaken me? And I just can't bring myself
to be that honest with God. But David did. And he uttered
his complaints and his prayers, the grief and the groanings of
his heart with absolute honesty before God. We need to learn
to do the same. But here in Psalm 23, I suppose,
I'm just guessing, I don't really know. David was probably a man
about my age. He'd been through a good bit
of experience in life. He had had a lot of pain and
a lot of heartache and was bored to come. And he's standing on
the palace wall looking over the fields one evening as the
sun is setting and he sees on the distant hill a shepherd tending
a flock of sheep, causing them to lie down and rest for the
evening after a long day. And he thinks to himself as he
remembers his own days leading his father's sheep, protecting
them, caring for them. And he thought, that's exactly
what the Lord God Almighty is to me. And he writes, 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. 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. Now let's look at these six verses. The Lord is my shepherd. One of the greatest, most instructive,
most delightful pictures of our Lord Jesus given throughout the
scriptures is that of a shepherd. He is the good shepherd. He says,
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. It not only speaks of him sacrificing
himself as our substitute. The good shepherd is entirely
devoted totally committed in the totality of his being to
the sheep. Jesus Christ, our great good
shepherd, has given and continually gives his life for us. For our everlasting benefit,
for our present good, and for our eternal good. The Good Shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. All his care, all his intention,
all his desire, all his affection, all his love, all his power,
all his work, all his being is for the sheep. This world has
just two groups of people in it. Sheep and goats. Goats never become sheep. Sheep
never become goats. And the sheep are divided into
two groups. There are lost sheep and there
are found sheep. And the good shepherd who gives
his life for the sheep comes seeking his lost sheep. When
you have in your mind's eye a picture of the Redeemer of the shepherd. Pay no attention to those things
that you see drawn by men that are supposed to be representations
of the Lord Jesus. I have a better picture of it.
See him covered with his blood, wounded and bruised, and covered
with the filth the excrement of men spit upon him. and see
him wounded and bruised for our transgressions and see him as
he goes through all the agony of hell for the redeeming of
his sheep and see him as he goes through the world in the omnipotence
of his mercy chasing after his sheep until he finds his sheep
and he finds his sheep fallen over a deep, deep precipice and
falling and falling as into hell itself. And he reaches down with
a long arm of omnipotent free grace and he brings his sheep
to himself. And he takes the sheep and lays
it on his broad shoulders and carries it home. The Lord is
my shepherd. Now it is one thing for a shepherd
to look over a flock of sheep and say, these are my sheep.
But David gives us a marvelous, marvelous piece of insight into
our great, great privilege as the Lord's people. He says, the
Lord is my shepherd, my personal possession. Jacob is his portion
and his lot, but Jacob's portion and Jacob's lot is the Lord himself. The Lord is my shepherd. My shepherd. What does that mean?
That means that everything he is, is mine. Everything he does
is mine. Everything He performs, He performs
for me. The psalmist said, in fact, in
Psalm 57, 12, I believe it is, He performeth all things for
me. He performeth all things for
me. The only reason the goats exist is for the benefit of the
sheep. Ham, Noah's son Ham. that cursed one, represents the
whole race of reprobate men in this world throughout history.
And Ham shall be servant of servant unto Shem and Japheth. That is,
the reprobate exist to serve the interest of God's elect. The only reason they exist is
to preserve a chosen seed for the Redeemer who shall serve
Him. The only reason they exist is
for the benefit of God's elect. You've heard talk a good bit
these last couple of days about how God has used the internet
for your own benefit. Isn't it amazing that God will
give brilliant men, brilliant men, The ability to send a man
to the moon. Just so we can send the gospel
out. I hit the key. Around the world. God performs
all things for his own. Don't forget that. Our Heavenly
Father rules the universe. He makes, rules, and disposes
of all things for the benefit of His elect. Several years ago,
I told Brother Uric, just the other day, I was on the radio,
this is back in 1993, I think. A group of folks in the states
had gotten hold of some of my tapes and started playing them
three, four, five times a week. Did so for a couple of years
on 126 stations in the states and repeater shortwave stations
around the world. Thanks to the family radio. I
didn't even know who they were. Didn't even know they existed.
And they played a message. First message they played, I
got something over 400 letters from it. One of the men who heard
it had just come in here. His family was the first family
out of Poland after the Soviet Union broke up. And God saved
him. His name's Eugene, I can't pronounce
his last name. I've got it written down but
I can't pronounce it. And he was engaged to a woman who was
one of the first families to escape the Soviet Union who was
raised in Siberia. She was living in Chicago, he
was living in Oregon. And he picked up the phone and
called her and said, you've got to hear this sermon. And he played
the whole thing for her, long distance. And in time, God was
pleased to save her, named Natalie. And we stayed in contact with
one another for a good while. They were obviously struggling
to get along. He was a carpenter. wondered
where he could go worship God and maybe find work, and I suggested
Orlando, a couple of other places, Houston, and he wound up down
in Orlando, Florida, he and his wife, then just couldn't make
it, there was competition, it was too much, and wound up in
North Carolina. I hadn't seen him in a long,
I hadn't ever seen him, and I hadn't heard from him in a long, long
time. I went down to preach, and they were in the congregation,
small, much smaller group than this, and they had two sons now. One of them about eight, the
other one about 10 years old. And after we got done with the
services, before I left that Sunday afternoon, I pulled those
boys aside, and the mom and dad, and I said, I want you to understand
something. I hope one day you will understand it. Our God turned
the world upside down just so you could hear what you've heard
this week. He raises up nations and treads
down nations. He said, I gave Egypt for you,
Ethiopia for you, Saba for you, men for you, people for your
life. God performs all things for his elect. I just read a
letter about two months ago from the oldest of the boys. He was
asking his former pastor, Brother Greg Gamble, he said, please
pray for my brother. He doesn't know God. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not
want. A little Sunday school girl was
quoting this psalm, and she stood up and quoted it. She said, the
Lord is my shepherd. He's all I want. She got it right. He's all I want. Someone asked
a lady who was talking all the time about Christ and her hope
in Christ and finally someone just listening to it was a little
disgusted and said, is Christ enough? She said, if He's all
you've got, He is. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. I shall not want for anything. Not in time, not in eternity. I shall not lack anything. The Lord Jesus asked his disciples
and they said, we've forsaken all and followed you. What shall
we have therefore? And the Lord Jesus looked at
him and said, lacked he anything? Lacked ye anything? God requires
of me perfect righteousness. I hath it. God requires of me
complete satisfaction for all my sin. I hath it. God requires
of me absolute holiness. He says be ye holy for I am holy. And then he turns around and
says you shall be holy for I am holy. You see, all the precepts
of God's law are promises of God's gospel. All that God requires
of his people, God provides for his people. All that God demands
that you do, God performs for you. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want wisdom, for
Christ is my wisdom. And I shall not want righteousness,
for Christ is my righteousness. And I shall not want sanctification,
for Christ is my sanctification. And I shall not want redemption,
the final deliverance of my soul into the glorious liberty of
the sons of God, by blood and by power and by grace. I shall
not want, for the Lord is my shepherd. Now, listen to what
this means. I shall not want. What do you
mean, David? I mean this. He maketh me to
lie down in green pastures. I often get calls, as I'm sure
your pastor does, people going through great difficulties and
I can't help them. I can't. I want to. I want you
to call and let me bear your burdens. It's a great privilege
to bear the burdens of God's people. I want to weep with you
when you weep and rejoice with you when you rejoice, but I can't
help. The whole of the religious world,
all this pastoral counseling nonsense going on, it's just
preachers trying to get you to treat them like priests. You
don't need me. What you need is the shepherd.
And this is what the shepherd will do. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. I say to folks all the time,
I don't know anything for you to do in the midst of this except
bury yourself in the book of God and seek the Savior's face. Just bury yourself in this book,
but you won't do it. I know because I won't. You'll
seek help everywhere and try to work things out for yourself.
And you would wind up in utter, utter dismay, in utter disarray,
in utter disappointment, except for one thing. The shepherd sweetly, gently,
irresistibly forces you. to light hell in the green pastures
that He's provided for your soul in the revelation of Himself
in His Word. He makes me to light down in
green pastures. Aren't you glad He won't let
you alone? Aren't you thankful he won't
leave you to work things out for yourself? Aren't you thankful
he won't let you have your way, but rather graciously forces
you to lie down in green pastures to find rest in that which he's
revealed of himself here in the book. And as he does, he leadeth
me beside the still waters. I don't know what all the still
waters represent. I'm certain at least they represent
that river, that river that flows from the throne of God, of the
super abounding love of God our Savior, the still waters, still
waters. We tend to like excitement. We all like excitement. We like
to be scared up. We like to have our passions
raised high and our hearts broken and then lifted up with joy.
We just like those things. People talk about living on the
mountain underneath the starry sky. I guess we like to see things
like that because we know it's not so. I don't spend much time
on the mountaintop. But I tell you what I've been
on mountaintops. I've been on some high mountains. And you
know what grows on high mountains? Nothing. All you get on high mountains
is thin air that makes you dizzy. Everything grows in the deep
valley. And that's where God keeps his
people. And he leaves us beside still waters. I recall the first
time I kissed that pretty girl. I remember it well. I remember
well. She's sittin' on the hood of
a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. Out beside the Yankee River.
Just outside of Western Salem, North Carolina. I happened to
own the Barracuda. And we'd been datin' for a couple
of weeks. Every night for a couple of weeks. I didn't let anybody
nudge in. And I reached over in the service
that night. We went to church every night.
And I took her hand. And when it kind of melted in
my hand, I knew I was going to get a kiss this night. And just
the right time, the moon was shining, the stars were bright.
And I slid over close to her, and I kissed her. And man, I
saw skyrockets. I mean, the skies had lit up. And I kissed her this morning. And there weren't any skyrockets. No sparkles going off. Well that
doesn't sound very good. Hang on. Hang on. We've now been through 43 years of life with sorrows that melted our
hearts together. and trouble and delight. Difficulties and pleasures. And I love her like I've never
loved her before. And I don't need the skyrockets.
You see, still waters run very deep. And He leads us continually
beside the still waters of His abiding, firm, unchanging love
for His own. He leads me beside the still
waters, ever assuring me of His goodness, His mercy, His grace,
His peace. Ever assuring me of His purpose,
of His intent, of His design. Little as I believe him, he constantly
leads me beside the still waters. Read on. When he does, he restoreth my
soul. Read the Song of Solomon sometime.
Read it at one sitting. Read all eight chapters at one
sitting. And understand the Song of Solomon is a picture of the
constant life of God's saints in this world, of the love affair,
that's a proper term, of the love affair between Christ, our
heavenly bridegroom, and his church, his bride. The constant faults and failures and sin and
unbelief and declension of our souls. Our constant departings
from him and his constant restoration of our souls. He restoring my
soul. Day by day, hour by hour, moment
by moment, He restores my soul. When I'm cast down, He lifts
me up. When I fall, He lifts me up. When I'm discouraged, He encourages
me. What Brother Lance just preached
to us a little bit ago. I've been reading the 42nd Psalm
for 45 years, pretty regularly. How often we miss the sweet nuggets
I had never seen. What he pointed out to us, the
health of his countenance is the health of my countenance.
Oh, beholding him, he restoreth my soul. Read on. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness. Not my righteousness. I don't have any. What pairs
of righteousness? His Word, His Gospel, the revelation
of His grace, His accomplishments, that by which we are made the
righteousness of God in Him. He leads us continually in the
paths of truth, in the paths of the Gospel, in the paths of
the revelation of Himself. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness. Why does He do that? For His
name's sake. For the glory of His name. When
it gets done with us, we read it this morning, or this afternoon,
in Psalm, or Ephesians 1, 2, 7. When God's finished with us,
when our Redeemer is finished with us, He will hold us before
wandering worlds. And to His everlasting praise,
He will take His Bride, whom He calls Chaste Virgins. That's
that. Imagine that. Chaste virgin I
am. Christ made me such. A chaste
virgin. And he'll say, look here what
my grace has done for his name's sake. Nevertheless, he saved
them for his name's sake. Everything he's done for us,
he's done for us for the praise of the glory of his own great
name. Read on. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. You see, for believers, death
is only a shadow. But our Lord said to Martha,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me
shall never die. I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna
die. Oh brother John, everybody dies,
not me. I'm not gonna die. One of these days, I will cease
to need the function of this body. And when I breathe my last
breath with these lungs, then I shall live. Oh, I shall live. I'm not going to die. We walk
through the valley of the shadow of death. And that's not talking
about when we get to the end of the way and we're about to
die. Alan and Betty won't mind me saying this. Y'all getting
pretty close. Y'all getting pretty close. That's
not what it's talking about. You've been walking in this valley
of the shadow of death for a long time. We walk through this world,
it is a constant valley of the shadow of death. But there's
nothing to be fearful of. No reason to be afraid. I've had a few blessed experiences
by which I've learned things. As a young pastor, I went to
visit First Deacon I had. And I spent the last day that
he was cognizant of anything with him. Flew out to Washington
D.C. where his daughter lived and he was in the hospital. He
was dying. He knew it and I knew it. And
the last word the man spoke, the last word the man spoke,
he said, Richard, it's good to come here and know that everything
is under the blood. It's good to come here and know
that everything is under the blood. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. How come?
For thou art with me. Sometimes I see you and sometimes
I don't. Sometimes I feel your presence
and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I know you're near
and sometimes it seems you're so far away. But whether I see
or don't, whether I feel or don't, whether I know or don't, I know
that the Lord's at hand. Thou art with me. Rejoice in
the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Let your
moderation be known unto all men. Let your gentleness, your
gentleness be known to all men. Don't let anything disturb you
much. The Lord's at hand. He is God
at your elbow all the time. I will fear no evil for thou
art with me, thy rod and thy staff. They comfort me. The rod by which
he corrects and protects. The staff by which he leads and
guides. They comfort me. They comfort
me. The rod of his judgment upon
the world. And the rod of his chastisement
upon me. They comfort me. You see, sheep
well represent you and me. Have you ever been around a bunch
of sheep? Oh, they stink. I mean, they stink. Well, you
can keep one or two of them pretty clean and bare, but you get a
whole flock of sheep, pin them up together, they stink. You
think a henhouse smells bad? Well, you get around a bunch
of sheep. They stink. And they're helpless. And they're
only capable of one thing, getting lost. That's all they can do. That's all they can do. And sheep
don't pay attention. Pretty good picture of you and
I, isn't it? And the shepherd sometimes will take his rod,
I'm told. And the sheep has no attention. The lamb just will not follow. So he takes the rod and just
smashes one of the lamb's legs. and then he'll bind it up. And
the poor lamb can't get along on his own, so he carries it
in his bushel until the leg heals. And after the leg is healed,
he puts the lamb down. He can't keep it off his heels. That's why he breaks your heart.
over and over again to make you follow Him. And if He didn't
make us follow Him, we wouldn't follow Him. Thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before
me. Just had a feast back here. The Lord Jesus, our Shepherd,
Prepares a table of fat things for us. Wide upon these well-refined,
just the best of everything. And He prepares the table for
us for the feasting of our souls, for the ravishing of our hearts,
for the merriment of our hearts in the presence of our enemies.
So that while men oppose us, and men would threaten us, and
men would destroy us, we're in their power to do so. We just
feast and make merry. Here we are feasting in the midst
of our enemies upon the gospel of His grace. Thou anointest my head with oil. The priest was to be anointed with oil poured
upon his head. It would run down over his beard
and over his garments, covering him entirely, consecrated as
God's priest. The king, God would send his
prophet to anoint the king as the king. And you and I, in Christ
Jesus, are made kings and priests unto God. A hominition, a royal
priesthood, made so by God's grace, by God's special anointing,
chosen of Him, called of Him, given His Spirit, anointed with
oil. Not only that, my cup runneth
over. The water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of living water, springing up into everlasting
life. Water continually gushing in
the soul. My cup runneth over. Now look
at verse six. Surely, surely, surely. Goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life. Now we are prone to read that
like this. Wherever I go, I will leave a
trail behind me of goodness and mercy. Try something better. When I was a boy, I used to go
hunting with my uncle. Actually, it wasn't an uncle,
it was a distant cousin, but he was too old to call my cousin. And
we used to go coon hunting. For you who don't know what a
coon is, that's raccoons. And you sell the pelts. All they were good for, really,
was letting the dogs fight them. But they were pests, and we'd go
hunting. And he had an old red-boned coon hound, black-and-tan coon
hound, and we'd go out in the middle of the night, hunt until
3, 4, 5 o'clock in the morning, until sun came up. Hunt all night
long. And the best part, the best part
of the whole thing was just hearing those hounds when they'd hit
a trail. Man you could hear that red boned coon hound for miles
in the woods. You could hear it for miles.
And when it stopped, you go there, that's where the coons trained.
There they are. The hound pursued the coon and sometimes would
pursue the coon for hours. And they never let up. They would
never let up. They just kept on following the
coon. That's what he's talking about.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall nip at my heels with every breath
I take through all the days of my life. Goodness and mercy have
been pursuing me for 61 years. Just goodness and mercy. I look
over my life and I have no complaints. With all the pain that I've caused
in my rebellion, with all the hell of my youth, with all the
things that I regret, I wouldn't change one thing. Not one thing. For you see, goodness and mercy
had been chasing me into the arms of my Redeemer. and goodness
and mercy shall continue to pursue me to the day I draw my last
breath. You see, everything that has
come to pass, what I can see and what I can't see, those things
about which I'm aware and those things about which I'm totally
ignorant, all together are working constantly for my good. Presently, spiritually, and everlastingly. Just good. Just good. Goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life. And when goodness and mercy have
finished their work, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. And I just don't have a clue
what all that involves. But oh, how beautiful heaven
must be. Goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life. And I shall dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Amen.