Turn, if you would, to Psalm
23. Psalm 23. Everybody loves this psalm. Let's have a word of prayer before
we begin. Dear Lord, our Father in heaven,
Lord, we come to you this day in Christ's name. We ask, Lord,
that you would open your scriptures to us this morning, that you
would reveal Christ to us in power. Pray, Lord, that you would
give us hungry hearts. We would come hungry, and we
would feed on these precious promises that are in your word.
Lord, remember us, meet with us, and we ask these things in
Jesus' name. Amen. Psalm 23. Let's begin just by reading the
full psalm. Pick up in verse 1. It says, 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." Psalm 23. Everybody knows that psalm.
Now, we would be wise to go back up to the first verse here and
consider the first two words of the first verse of Psalm 23.
It begins with, the Lord. The Lord. Now, I know that every
scripture, in some way, shape, or form, points to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and it points to some aspect of the gospel. But to
tell you the truth, you know, sometimes I just can't see it.
Sometimes I read and I just don't understand. But that's one thing
I love about this psalm so much is how plain the language is.
You want to know what the sum and substance of this psalm is.
It can be summed up in the first two words, the Lord. The Lord.
And we can know nothing about all the promises, the precious
promises that are contained in this psalm, apart from knowing
who made the promises, the Lord. Now, Jesus Christ is Lord. He is God. But what did the scripture
say about His Lordship? Let's take a few minutes to consider.
Turn to Colossians 1, verse 16. Colossians 1 verse 16 says, For
by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by him
and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things
consist. He is the Lord by creative ownership. Now, I've heard this example
used time and time again, but I'm going to steal it this morning.
I'm going to use it again, because it speaks to my own experience.
I live out in the country. Me and Jamie live in the country.
And where we live, there's many farms. And every time one of
those farms goes up for sale, somebody buys it. You know what
the first thing that man who buys it, you know what he does?
He puts a fence around it. If there's a preexisting fence,
he starts to mend that preexisting fence, because he wants to mark
off his territory. He says, this is mine. Here's the boundary.
This is mine, and that is yours. Don't come on my property. When
you think about it, when the Lord created this earth, when
he created the meadows and the fields, did he put any fence
around it? No, he didn't. Why? He didn't have to. He owns
it. He created it. No one can take
that from him. He is the Lord. Speaking of farms,
where we live, there's men who own many cattle. Many cattle.
As soon as a man gets a couple head of cattle, the first thing
he does, he takes a tag, a particular tag that bears his particular
seal, and he puts it in that cow's ear, and he marks that
ear, and he says, that's my cow. He bears my seal. But does the
Lord put a tag in any of the cattle's ear? No. Why? Because the cattle on a
thousand hills are his. He created them. He owns them.
No man can take them from him. He is the Lord. Think of a man
who writes a song. He writes a song and the first
thing he does, he puts a copyright on it. He says, this is my song,
no one can sing this song, no one can use this song unless
you have my permission. But you listen to the song the
birds sing. Does the Lord put any copyright on that? No, He
doesn't. Why? Because it's His song and
it's His birds and no man can take that from Him. No man is
capable. He is the Lord. He's the Lord
by creative ownership. Let's look at something else.
Turn to Philippians 2 verse 9. staying with this theme of his
lordship. Philippians 2 verse 9 says, Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He is Lord by divine
decree. The Father has made Him such.
He has appointed Him to this position of Lord and He has placed
all things in His hand. Jesus Christ is the Lord and
is by divine decree. Another one, turn to Romans 14.
Romans 14, look at verse 9. It says, for to this end Christ
both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of
the dead and the living. He is Lord by suffering death.
And this is where it becomes very personal for me. He goes
from being the Lord to being my Lord through his suffering
death. You see, he purchased me, he
bought me, and it was a purchase of blood. He sacrificed himself
for me. And because of that death, because
of his blood, because of his sacrifice, he makes me blameless
and unapprovable before God himself. He is my Lord, and that is by
his suffering death. And one more. Suffer me one more.
Romans 10, verse 9. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, now shall be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. He is the Lord
by crowning faith." Now the Lord places a lot of respect and a
lot of honor on faith, doesn't He? There are only two times
it's recorded in the Scripture that our Lord marveled. The first
time He marveled, it was at man's unbelief. He went to his hometown,
to his home country, and he preached the gospel. He revealed himself,
and they did not believe him. And he marveled at their unbelief.
Second time, though, was at a man's faith. You remember the story
of the centurion who had a sick servant. And he went to the elders
of the Jews, and they said, go to the Lord and beseech him that
he would heal my servant. And so they went to the Lord,
and he agreed. And he started making his way to the centurion's
house. And along the way, the Lord was met by one of the centurion's
friends, who was sent by the centurion. And he said, I'm not
worthy that you should even come under my roof. You just speak
the word only. You don't even have to be there.
You don't even have to be there. Just will it. Just will that
my servant be healed. The Lord said, I've not found
faith like this, not in Israel. See, the Lord honors faith because
faith honors Him. It recognizes that crown of glory
that sits on its head. It bows to that crown. It relies
upon and trusts the work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our
only hope of salvation. He is the Lord by a crowning
faith. He is the Lord. The next part of verse 4 or verse
1 is, the Lord is my shepherd. Just a few thoughts on that,
you don't have to turn these. Hebrews 13.20 refers to Him as the Great
Shepherd. And then 1 Peter 5.4 refers to Him as the Chief Shepherd.
My favorite can be found in John 10.11 where the Lord says, I
am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His
life for the sheep. He is my Lord. And for that reason,
Because of who my shepherd is and what he has accomplished,
I shall not want. I say this to any believer right now, you
shall not want. You shall not want for things
temporal, things in this life, the temporal things, the physical
things of this life, and you shall not want for anything spiritual.
All your needs will be provided for. Now understand, I will not
have everything I desire. That in and of itself is a blessing,
because truly I don't know what it is I need. There's many things
I think I need, but only the Lord truly knows what I need,
and we shall not want, we shall not need for any good thing.
And the rest of the psalm goes on to tell us what we will not
want for. So if you pick up in verse 2,
it says, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Now what are these green pastures?
What are these? He makes me to lie down in. These
are nothing less than the precious promises of the Shepherd Himself,
the Word. The precious promises contained
in this Word. And I'm going to read you just
a few. You don't have to turn there for the sake of time. Just a
few that give me a lot of rest. I find rest in these Scriptures.
Luke 5, 31 says, And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I can find rest
in the scripture because it describes me. I'm the one who's sick. I am sin sick, and I am the sinner. But he says, I am the one, the
sinner. I am the one he has come to call,
a call unto repentance. I can find rest there. Matthew
11, 28, everyone knows this one. The Lord says, come unto me,
all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I can find rest there, because
he describes me. I'm the one who is labored and
heavy laden with the burden of my own sin, and he issues me
this gracious command. That's exactly what it is, a
command. You come unto me, and I'll give you rest. I can find
rest there. And finally, 1 John 2.1 says,
my little children, these things I write unto you that you sin
not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ. the righteous." I can find rest
here because he describes me. I am the man who has sinned.
It is my fault. I am the one who is responsible.
But he promises this, he will be my advocate with the Father.
And this is a very special advocate. He's a very different advocate
than any other advocate. This advocate can walk in the presence
of God himself and demand my salvation. And God the Father
is always pleased to give him whatever he asks for. He is my
advocate. I shall not want for rest. He
makes me to lie down in the precious promises of His Word. He says,
He leadeth me beside the still waters. Now every shepherd must
lead his flock to water that they may drink, that they may
bathe, that they may be refreshed. But no animal, including a sheep,
can drink from a troubling water, from a violent water. You ever
seen like a river? You have to go over the Kentucky
River to come from my place to here. And sometimes after a storm,
the river runs very violently. It's up and it's high and it
moves very swiftly. And the animals around there, they won't go near
the water because they're afraid. They're afraid the current will
grab them and it'll sweep them away. And I would say this, the
religion of this world, to me, is a troubling water. It is a
violent water, a water that I cannot drink from. The religion of this
world is very simple. It's do and live. Do and live.
Salvation by works. Whatever it is. However they
package it, it is do and live. Do something, and in response
to that something, God will save you. Well, here's the problem
with that for me. I am an impotent man. I'm evil, and I'm wretched,
and I'm sinful, and I am incapable of doing whatever that it is.
I thank the Lord. His message, His gospel, it is
not do and live. It is done. All things have been
completed. It truly is finished. It's not
a message of go forth. It's a message of come to me
and I'll give you rest. It's not a message of warfare.
It's a message of stillness and peace. I shall not want for peace. Look down at verse three. He
says, he restoreth my soul. Now I am in constant need of
restoration, aren't you? How many times have I gone to
this Word, and I've sat down, and I've tried to read, and I've
tried to understand, and I've tried to comprehend, and I am blind. I'm
spiritually and utterly blind. I can't comprehend what's being
said. How many times have I sat in that auditorium, and the Gospel
was preached, and it truly was the Gospel of God's free grace,
and it fell on deaf ears and a cold heart? How many times
has that happened to me? How many times has that happened
to you? It's constant, but the Lord constantly restores us,
doesn't He? He gives us eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart
that believes constantly restored, constantly renewed by His grace.
But the restoration that's being talked about here is a greater
restoration than that of what I've just spoken about. This
is our restoration unto God Himself. Now, through Adam's fall, we
lost all favor and all communion with the Lord. But before we're
too hard on Adam, understand that if we would have been placed
in the same position, if we were born with Adam's innocent and
upright nature, give us time, just give us enough time, we
would have fallen just the same. We're just like Adam. But we
have been restored to a state better than Adam could ever imagine.
We are not just innocent. and upright, but in Christ every
believer is absolutely and utterly holy." Perfect. In Christ. And that is a status
that cannot change. We have no fear that that will
ever change because of who our Shepherd is and what He's accomplished. It says, He leadeth me in the
path of righteousness. Now I hope that when I explain
this you'll understand what I mean. In and of myself, this old man,
I have never walked the paths of righteousness. I don't know
where they lie. I've never seen them before.
I can't comprehend them. I've never walked them. And it
is an absolute, utterly true statement, just as well, that
I have walked, past tense, the paths of righteousness. And somebody
says, how can that be? How can one sentence tell me
that you've never walked them, and the next sentence say you
did walk them? How can you say that? When my shepherd walked
these paths of righteousness, that's when I walked them. When
he came to this earth, when he lived that perfect life, when
he honored his father in all things, when he kept the law
in every way, every jot and every tittle, and he honored the law
in all things, that's when I walked these paths of righteousness,
when he walked them. And because of who my shepherd is and what
he has accomplished, I shall not want for righteousness. Now look down at verse four. says, Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thou rod and thy staff, they
comfort me. Walking through the valley of
the shadow of death. Now, this walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, this must picture our walk through this world,
through this life. Now, when Adam fell, he left
the stamp of death everywhere, didn't he? Death is all around
us. We see the mark of death everywhere.
We know it by experience. We see that all men die. All
animals die. All plant life dies. Everything
that once lives, it dies. It dies. Adam left that stamp
everywhere. But notice for the believer,
this is not the valley of death. This is the valley of the shadow
of death. Because of who my shepherd is
and what he has accomplished, he has removed the substance
of death and just a shadow remains. Now most of you all know I work
for the police department. Oftentimes we get calls about people seeing
shadows. We get like an elderly person,
maybe a woman who lives alone. They see a shadow outside their
home and they become frightened. And they want somebody to check
it out. So we go back there with our flashlights, normally a tree or something
moving in the wind. But it's scary. It's intimidating
to them. It's a scary thing. But keep in mind, the shadow
of a gun can't shoot you. The shadow of a dog can't bite
you. The shadow of a bear can't get you. They're simply shadows.
And believer, we can walk through this world and we can meet death
with a smile because we know, because of who our shepherd is
and what he has accomplished, we will awake in his likeness, dressed
in his righteousness alone, and we will see him face to face. And David says, I will fear no
evil. I will fear no evil. He doesn't say that evil won't
be present. I tell you what, folks, if I want to see evil,
I don't have to look any further than my own heart. I know you feel the same
way. But David said, I will fear no
evil. Why? Because thou art with me. Because
his shepherd, his savior, was with him. And he lists a couple
things, particular attributes of his shepherd that he found
so comforting, his rod and his staff. What are these? What is
the rod and the staff? Now some have said that this
is the rod of chastening, the rod of chastening. A few thoughts
on that. I don't particularly care for
chastening. I don't like it, it hurts, and I fear it. That's
particularly the way I feel about it in and of myself. But I know
this, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And there's one thing
I do fear more than chastening, and that's not being chastened.
And if that is the meaning, then I do find comfort in that, that
my chastening is the product of my Lord's love. Perhaps it's
the rod of chastening. Some have said this is the rod
of numbering. This is where the Old Testament
shepherds, they had a finite number of sheep. They knew exactly
how many sheep they had, and each individual sheep had a particular
number, and they would take their rod, that shepherd's staff, and
they would hold it out, and they would have every individual sheep
pass under that rod, and that shepherd would not be satisfied
until every one of his sheep had passed underneath that rod,
the rod of numbering. And if that's what is meant,
then I am simply thankful to be found in the number. and I'm
astonished that my shepherd would be concerned with me and he would
not be satisfied until I walk unto that rod. I shall not want for comfort.
Now look at verse 5. It said, Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over. What did David mean when
he was talking about his enemies? What do you think? You think
he was talking about physical men who sought to kill him, wanted
to kick him off Israel's throne? I don't think so. Up to this point, David had slew
a bear with his bare hands, he'd slew a lion with his bare hands,
and he'd kill a giant with a single stone. David had been given supernatural
power to deal with the enemies of this world. I don't think
anyone in this world wanted to tangle with David. He had supernatural
ability. I don't think he's talking about
any man on this earth. So what then? Is it the spiritual
enemies of this world, the devil, the wickedness of the world,
temptation? Is that what he's talking about? Perhaps it is. But the enemies I think David
is talking about here are the enemies of his own house, his
sinful lusts, his wicked heart, his warped mind, his evil intentions,
his evil motives, because those are my enemies. Those are my
enemies. I oftentimes sit and think And I wonder, Lord, can you have
anything to do with me? You look at all these enemies
that are around about me, all my evil intentions, my evil motives,
my evil lusts, the things I think, the things I do, the things I
say. Look at all these enemies I've acquired over the years.
Look at all these enemies. Can you have anything to do with
me? And he says, hold on a second. Let me look at you over. What are you talking about? I
say, Lord, you don't see them? You don't see all these enemies
around about me? Everything I've done and everything
I've said and everything I've thought, all my evil intentions, all my
evil motives, my evil desires, you don't see those? He says,
hold on a second. Let me look again. I don't see a thing. You sit
down at my table. I want to anoint your head with
oil. You're an honored guest. You see my cup? The cup of my
mercy? you'll notice that it continually
runs over. That cup will never run dry. Because of who my shepherd is
and what he's accomplished, I can have favor and I can have communion
with God himself. Now look down at verse six, we'll
wrap it up. David says, 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 the theme of this psalm is
that of a shepherd and his sheep and although it's not spoken
of in scriptures. Every shepherd likely had sheepdogs. Sheepdogs,
that was the purpose of this animal. He would have these sheepdogs,
these large animals that would go out and they would do the
shepherd's will. They would corral the sheep, they would push the
sheep, herd the sheep in the direction that the shepherd would
have them to go. And here's the interesting thing about sheepdogs
is they are very large and imposing animals, often very intimidating
looking, and they often scare the sheep. They mean the sheep
no harm. They're actually there to protect
the sheep, to keep the wolves at bay, to corral the sheep and
move them in the direction the shepherd would have them to go.
They mean the sheep no harm, but they oftentimes intimidate
the sheep. They scare them. And I've said all that to say
this. Believer, anything that you are going through, no matter
how painful, no matter how troubling, no matter how trying, it is two
things. It is goodness and it is mercy. It's what the Lord uses to push
us, to drive us, to corral us and lead us and guide us in the
direction He would have us to go, that we may arrive at this
one known end, that we may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I'll stop there. Thank you.