Okay, this evening now we're
going to take a look at Psalm 23. Notice it's the Psalm of
David. David was one who was called
and anointed to be the king of Israel. as a very young, young
man. You remember what David did when,
and what David was doing when Samuel told Jesse, his father,
when he looked at all them other sons and said, is that all you've
got? Jesse said, I've got just one little runt out there in
the field. He's out there tending the sheep. He's the shepherd. Jesse said, or Samuel said to
Jesse, go get him. Go get him. Bring him here. And
when he came in, The Lord spoke to Samuel's heart and said, that's
my anointed. That's my anointed. David knew
by experience something about the shepherd and the sheep, didn't
he? And when he writes the Lord my shepherd, he's looking to
and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord, the Lord, My
Shepherd. And that's what I'm going to
use for a title there found in verse 1. As I said earlier, many,
many people know the words, the words of this psalm. There's
a story that's been told over the years, and I believe it's
a true story, about a very well-known missionary who came back from
the mission field and was invited to speak in a rather large church
over in England. And the old missionary came and
preached his message. Large crowd there, many people
there. And he closed his message by
reading Psalm 23. And the people just sobbed and
wept and rejoiced in the Lord, my shepherd. Well, in that audience,
there was a well-known actor who had performed publicly in
different theaters and different things. And oftentimes, this
certain actor would quote Psalm 23. Well, that actor had a friend
sitting next to him. And the friend turned to the
actor and said, I've heard you quote that psalm so many times,
but he said, I've never seen it have an effect like that.
And the old actor turned to his friend, he said, I'll tell you
the difference. The friend said, what is the
difference? I'll tell you the difference. And the old actor
said, I know the word to the psalm. That old preacher, that
old missionary, he knows the author of the psalm. He knows
the shepherd. I know the words. He knows the
shepherd. And that's the difference. And there's a lot of people who
know the words. A lot of people can quote scripture.
A lot of people don't know. that the scripture is all teaching
us about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this psalm is probably the
best known of all 150 psalms. It's often read by believers
who are seeking comfort. And I often, myself, I quote
this psalm to myself. A lot of times when I pray, I
quote this psalm to myself. It's often read by believers
who are seeking comfort and hope and assurance. In a time of distress,
in a time of trouble, where does a believer run to when he's in
distress and trouble? He can run to the Lord and not
move a muscle, in his heart, in his mind, in his soul, in
his spirit. We run to the Lord. And we meditate
on his word, and in his word we have comfort, don't we? We find comfort and relief. This
psalm, Psalm 23, has a message, has all the psalms and all the
entire word of God. It's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only called the Lord, my shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ, as we
read in John 10, is called the good shepherd. But you know,
he's also called the chief shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. He's
also called the great shepherd of the sheep. Oh, what a shepherd
we have. Who's the Lord our God? He's
God my Savior. He is all and in all in salvation. He's everything in salvation,
isn't he? As I often say, Christ is all. He's all in salvation. Nothing more. Nothing more, nothing
less, and nothing else. Neither is there salvation in
any other than the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He is the way,
the one who is that David is rejoicing in, the Lord, my shepherd. The one that David is rejoicing
in is the one our Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. Salvation is in no other. The
Psalm of Comfort, it's interesting, Psalm 23 follows Psalm 22. You say, well, why is that a
big deal? Well, Psalm 23 is the Psalm of
Comfort. What is Psalm 22 all about? Christ
and Him crucified. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Some think that the Lord Jesus
Christ on Calvary 3 quoted this whole psalm, Psalm 22. You see,
we could have no comfort in Christ and the gospel without Psalm
22, without Christ and Him crucified. There is no comfort, is there?
Because we'd have no salvation without. And then Psalm 22 is
the psalm of the cross. Psalm 23, It's a psalm of comfort. Psalm 24 is a psalm of glory. The king of glory is coming in.
We'll look at Psalm 24, maybe next Wednesday, Lord willing. Without the cross of Christ,
there can be no comfort. There can be no forgiveness.
Without Christ crucified, we'd have no salvation. That's why
Paul said, I'm determined. to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, Him crucified. Without Christ crucified, we'd
have no justifying righteousness, would we? Without Christ crucified,
we'd have no pardon of sin. Now, let's look at verse one
for a moment. The Lord is my shepherd. or the Lord my shepherd, and
because he is my shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the faithful shepherd of the sheep that was promised in the
Old Testament scripture. In Ezekiel 34, our Lord said,
I'll set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them. That one shepherd is Christ.
In Isaiah 40, you remember this? He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs in
his arms and carry them in his bosom. In Zechariah chapter 13,
we have a prophecy concerning the justice of God smiting the
shepherd. You remember, a Waco sword against
my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, smite the
shepherd. That's the Lord of justice, smiting
the shepherd. All tells us about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Throughout the Old Testament,
we read about one who was coming. And then in the New Testament,
we see the Lord Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of that promised
shepherd. The one who was promised. He
is called the good shepherd of the sheep that gave his life
for them. As we read a moment ago, he said,
I laid down my life for the sheep. No man takes my life. Remember,
Peter was going to defend the Lord. Remember, he drew a sword. Peter wasn't a swordman. He's
a fisherman. But he thought he was going to
defend the Lord. You remember what the Lord said to him? Put up your
sword, Peter. I don't need your help. Don't
you know I could call 12 legions of angels? That's 60,000, 70,000
angels. He doesn't need our help. He
doesn't need our help. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down. I have power to
lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received in my father. So he is a good
shepherd. He is the great shepherd, the
great shepherd of the sheep. You remember from our study in
the book of Hebrews, the God of peace brought again from the
dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, Someone asked me the other day,
that's been attending here for a while, asked me if we have
a church covenant. I said, yeah, we have a church
covenant right here. His word is our covenant. He's
made a covenant with his church, hasn't he? It's a bloody everlasting
covenant, isn't it? So he's called the Good Shepherd,
he's called the Great Shepherd, and then he's called the Chief
Shepherd in 1 Peter chapter 5. He's called the chief shepherd
of the sheep that shall appear and come again and crown all
of his sheep. That's what we read about in
Psalm 24. The king of glory is going to enter in and we enter
in in him. We'll look at that, Lord willing,
next week. But you remember from John chapter
14, our Lord said, I go away to prepare a place for you and
if I go away, I'll come again and receive you to myself that
where I am, there you may be also. You see, we're going to
be with the Lord, my shepherd, our shepherd forever, forever.
He is Jehovah's shepherd, the good shepherd, the great shepherd,
the chief shepherd, and he's the shepherd of a sheep. His
church, he loved the church and gave himself for it. He bought
us with his own blood. I trust we can all boldly say
like David, the Lord Jesus Christ is my shepherd. Remember we turn
one page over here in Psalm 27, the Lord is, and this is the
same thing in Psalm 27 verse 1, that word is has been added. I guess it makes it read better,
but the Lord, my life, the Lord, my salvation, and whom shall
I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life, of whom shall I be afraid? So Christ is everything, my shepherd,
my life, my salvation. That being so, that being so,
look back at verse one, Psalm 23, that being so, I shall not
want, I shall not want for any good thing. I shall not want. If you can say, by God-given
faith, the Lord is my shepherd, then you can also boldly say,
I shall not want. I have no want. He's met all
my need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is because who He is and what He has done that
we can boldly say, the Lord has said, so we may boldly say with
confidence, I shall not want. We shall not want for anything.
Although I'm weak, although I'm a sinful sheep, although by nature
I'm a lost sheep, I shall not want for he's my shepherd. What
does a good shepherd do? He goes out and finds the lost
sheep and brings them home. He's able to perform all that
he promised concerning the salvation of his sheep. Not one promise of God has failed
and never will. Never will fail. Not one promise
will fail. He's able to save us to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him. He's able to keep you from falling
and to present us faultless. I like that. He's able to save
us, able to keep us. Over there in John 10, he said,
I give my sheep eternal life and they'll never perish. He's
able to save to the uttermost, He's able to keep us from falling,
and then present us! Holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight. He's able to raise up our vile
bodies, and give us a new glorious body like unto His body. You remember, turn back. Turn
back to Psalm 17. Turn back a few pages. Look at verse 15, Psalm 17 verse
15. David writes here, as for me,
I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. Wow. Gonna have a body just like
unto his glorious body? That's what predestination's
all about. God has predestinated that we're
gonna be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some
religious person said, well, that doctrine of predestination
is a devil, devilish doctrine. You're telling me that you don't
want, you don't, you call yourself a believer and you don't want
to be like the Lord Jesus Christ? Wait a minute, I didn't say that. You
just said that the doctrine of predestination is the doctrine
of a devil. Predestination has to do with
God making us just like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what every
believer anticipates, having a new body like unto His glorious
body. He's able to raise up our bodies,
bow bodies, and give us a glorious body like unto His body. Philippians
3 verse 20. Now, from verse 2 down through
verse 6, the Lord gives us nine blessings in Christ, or nine
reasons why we shall not want for any good thing. And we know
this, all things are freely given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. All things are freely given unto
us in the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember I preached a funeral
for one of our dear brothers here who passed away a couple
years ago. No, I think it was a brother
here whose sister had passed away, I think it was, or sister-in-law,
but they asked me to preach the funeral and I did. And I used Psalm 23 as a text in
that funeral. Little did I know that lady was
a member of the Catholic Church. And little did I know that a
Catholic priest was sitting about two or three rows away from me. I couldn't resist. I couldn't
resist. But I had to make the point that
Christ is our high priest, that Christ is our good shepherd,
that sinners have a mediator, and it's not Mary. It's Christ
the mediator. Sometimes you get yourself in
trouble. But I just couldn't resist. And it wasn't out of
meanness. It was just telling the truth,
wasn't it? We don't need an earthly priest
to represent. We have a great high priest.
He's Christ our shepherd. Now, the Lord my shepherd, because
he is, I shall not want. I shall not want. You see that? Now, I shall not want for rest,
verse 2, He makes me to lie down. I shall not want for rest, He
makes me to lie down in green pastures. Remember we studied
in Matthew 11, the Lord said, Come unto me all your labor and
heavy laden, I'll give you rest. He is our rest. And these green
pastures here, you know what they are? His Word. We feed upon
His Word, don't we? The green pastures of His Word.
The believer finds His Word most sweet and tender, like the fresh
grass would be to a sheep. We feed upon Him and His Word
through the Word we have tasted that the Lord is gracious. In
His Word we find His sweet promises that gives the weary sinner rest. We rest in Him. He's all of our
rest. He's rest for our soul, isn't
He? He makes me. He's got to make me lay down.
You remember when your kids were little? You had to make them
lay down. It's time for you to lay down
and take a nap. You had to make them lay down, didn't you? It's
time to rest. That's what the Lord our Shepherd
does for us. He said it's time to rest. Rest
in Me. Rest in these green pastures
of His Word. So we shall not want for rest, for he is our
rest. And then secondly, he says, I shall not want for refreshment.
He leadeth me besides still waters. Besides still waters. He said,
ho, everyone that's thirsty, come ye to the waters and drink
freely, without money, without price. The wise man Solomon writes
in Proverbs 25, 25. As cold waters to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from a far country. That cold water to your thirsty
soul, that's good news. Good news. Good news in the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ is a living
water of life, springing up into everlasting life. If any man
thirst, our Lord said, let him come unto me and drink. He told
that woman at the well, you drink of that natural water, you're
going to come back here and thirst again. You drink of that water
that I will give you, there'll be a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. You remember what she said? Lord,
give me that water. I want that water, don't you?
The Lord my shepherd, I shall not want. He gives me rest. He
gives me refreshment. Look at verse 3. He restores
my soul. Now, we need restored, don't
we? Because in Adam all died. In
Adam we were separated. He restored our soul. I shall
not want for reconciliation. He restored my soul. In Adam
all died. In Adam our sins separated us
from God. He has reconciled us unto God. He restored our soul. In Adam
all died. In Christ we're all made alive.
He has restored us. Where sin abounded, grace is
much more abound. In the Lord Jesus Christ he restored
my soul. I shall not want for reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling
us unto himself. He is the one who has restored
our soul. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to our own way and the Lord has laid
on him our iniquity. And he has reconciled us unto
himself. We're unable to restore ourselves,
unwilling to restore ourselves, unable to redeem ourselves. And
the good shepherd came and he reconciled us unto God by giving
his life for us, by shedding his blood. we are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. He came, God was in Christ, reconciling
us unto himself. So because the Lord is our shepherd,
we have no want. He gives us rest. He gives us
refreshment. He gives us restoration. And
then it says there in verse three, he leads us. He leads us. He leads us. I shall not want. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for his namesake. Now, if you would ask the average
church-going person, what is the Lord talking about there
where he said, he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for
his namesake? Most people would say, well,
he leads me in paths of morality and goodness and uprightness
and these things. The Lord leads me to do that
which is right. That's what most people, that's
all they would see there. But that's not what he's talking
about. He leads me in paths of righteousness,
Christ our Righteousness. You see that? I shall not want
for righteousness. The sheep by nature are dirty
sheep, ungodly sheep, none righteous, no, not one. The sheep by nature
have no desire to be righteous. They love darkness, not light.
Talking about lost sheep. The sheep by nature see no need
of righteousness. They think they're okay. And that's why, until they're
taught the truth, many of them are going about to establish
a righteousness of their own and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God revealed in Christ. It's only
by His sovereign grace, the grace of God, for Christ's namesake,
that the sheep are led to see and love Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was all our righteousness before God. He's my righteousness. My righteousness in this flesh
is nothing but what? Filthy rags, isn't it? Would
you present filthy rags to a God who was holy? Well, that's insane.
But God has provided for us a perfect justifying righteousness in Christ. You remember this scripture?
God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Blessed is that
man, you remember Romans 4, blessed is that man whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. Remember he's made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He's our righteousness, all of
it. You mean my morality and goodness
counts for nothing? Nothing but filthy rags. Morality Morality is not righteousness. Now, I'm all in on being good
and moral and upright, but that's not our righteousness. It can't
be, because it's filthy right. Christ alone is our righteousness
before God. And think about this, who's provided
that righteousness for us? Christ! He will provide all things
for us, and he has. Righteousness, he leadeth me
in the way of righteousness, looking to Christ We're all my
righteousness. Now, look at verse 4. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. I shall not want for fellowship.
You see that? Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. For why? Thou art with me. We have fellowship
with him. I in them, thou in me, that we
may be made perfect in one, thou art with me. David said, the
Lord's with me. He said, didn't he say, didn't
he promise, he said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake
you. Lo, I said, he said, I'm with you always, even to the
end of the earth. I shall not want for fellowship. I shall not want because he is
with me. He is with me. You say, well,
preacher, I just don't feel his presence. Let me help you here. He didn't ask us to feel his
presence. He said, you believe my word.
Believe my word, I'm with you always, even to the end of the
earth. But thou art with me. He has
promised never, no, never will he forsake us. Nothing can separate
us from the love of God, not even death. Not even death. You
remember Romans chapter 8, when Paul asked that question, who
can separate us from the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus
Christ? And that list is exhaustive,
isn't it? Height, depth, anything, nor any other creature can separate
us from the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not even death. Although we walk
in the valley of the shadow of death, we have nothing to fear.
For Christ has taken the sting of death away. He's changed the
character of death for the believer. He said, because I live, you
shall live also. Death to the believer is just
a shadow. You see that? I walk in the valley of a shadow
of death. Death to the believer is just
a shadow. For Christ has removed the substance of death. Now only
a shadow remains. Death to the believer, and I
usually say this at every funeral, To the believer, death is not
punishment. It's promotion. I just got promoted. Promoted to be absent from the
bodies, to be present with the Lord, for me to live is Christ,
to die is gain. And then he says, in the last
part of verse four, I shall not want for comfort. I shall not
want for comfort. He's my comfort. Remember, the
Holy Spirit is called what? What's the Holy Spirit called?
The Comforter! What does the Comforter comfort
us with? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll take the things
of mine and show them unto you. Remember we read in Isaiah 40,
Comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem. Speak to the heart of God's sheep,
his church. Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sin. Double redemption,
righteousness. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people. That's our comfort. Christ is our comfort. You need comfort? You need assurance?
One old wise man told me years ago, don't seek assurance, seek Christ. He's our assurance. Don't even
really seek comfort, seek Christ. He's our comfort. He's our comfort. I shall not want. Our sovereign
shepherd rules his flock. Notice he said the rod and the
staff here are symbols of the Lord's sovereign wise righteous
dominion over us, especially in regard to the sovereign lordship
over his sheep, and that brings comfort to the believer. All
things are working together for good to them who love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. Our sovereign
Lord rules His flock, guides His flock, feeds His flock, defends
His flock, which brings us comfort. Comfort. Comfort. Look at verse
5. I shall not want, because the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want for provisions. Thou
preparest the table before me, in the presence of mine enemies,
thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runs over. I shall not
want for provisions, my cup runs over. He shall supply all our
need according to his riches in glory. He blessed us with
all spiritual blessing in the heavenly in Christ Jesus. The
believer is not without enemies. Thou prepares me a table in the
presence of my enemies. But because the Lord is our shepherd, We don't need to fear our enemies,
do we? Isn't that what David said over
here? Look at Psalm 27 again. The Lord is my light, 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,
my foes, they came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled
and fell. Though a host should encamp against
me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against
me, in this I'll be confident. Confident in Him. Even in the face of strong opposition
to the gospel, the grace of God, the Good Shepherd prepares the
table of grace, spreads the gospel feast for us to feed upon and
be completely satisfied in Christ Jesus. You remember from our
study in the Song of Solomon, he brought me into the banqueting
house and his banner over me was love, remember? He anoints,
he anoints, verse 5, he anoints our head, enlightens our understanding,
illuminates our mind by the revelation of the Holy Spirit to see that
the Lord Jesus Christ crucified is all God provision for us. Only that which God provides
will God accept. He's called the Lord Jehovah
Jireh, the Lord will provide for us. And he has so abundantly. Thou preparest this table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. He anoints our head with oil
and our cup runs over. Our cup runs over. Verse six. Hmm. I shall not want for any good
thing in this life. Surely, goodness and mercy, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I'll
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What time I'm here,
His goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And
then when this life is over, I'll dwell in the house of the
Lord forever. I'll dwell with Him forever.
Goodness and mercy. The Lord, our shepherd, has these
two faithful sheepdogs. Goodness, the Lord's goodness,
his sovereign grace to us will surely provide all things for
us all the days of our life. Good days, bad days, high days,
low days, all of our days. And then his mercy. Goodness,
the Lord is good to his people. Oh, how good He is. And then
His mercy. His mercy. By mercy and truth,
iniquity is purged. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. I shall not want for any good
thing in this life, and I'll dwell in the house. I will. I will. dwell in the house of
the Lord forever." That's not arrogant presumption. That's
confidence in the Good Shepherd. You see that? There's a difference,
isn't it? I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. All grace now. He's the God of all grace. The
God of all grace, who had called us unto his eternal glory by
Jesus Christ, after that you've suffered a while, make you perfect,
established, strengthened, sell you, to whom be glory both now
and forever. He gives us all grace now and
glory forever. This is not presumption, but
confidence in our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This shepherd of ours cannot fail. He has not failed. He will not fail. He cannot fail. You see why this psalm has been
such a blessing to the Lord's people over the over the thousands
and thousands of years that we've had to look at it. The Lord,
my shepherd, I shall not want.