Psalm 23. Psalm 23. A couple weeks ago as I was leaving
the worship service, Kendra mentioned a message. message that I preached several
years ago. I'm sorry. It got me thinking
about this song again. So I wanted to try to bring a
message from this song. The reason I'm emotional, it's
amazing to me that God uses these earthen vessels to bless others
with messages that he gives us to preach, messages that maybe
we already forgot that we preach, but that God can keep that word
alive that seed alive and cause it even to come back years and
years and years later. God's hand is not shortened that
he cannot save, and God's hand is not shortened. His word shall
never return unto him void. He values his word way too much. So let's try to look here at
Psalm 23, beginning with verse number one. Scripture says, the
Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The confidence
of the psalmist that he would not want was not based upon anything
in himself, but based on the fact that the Lord was his shepherd. He said, you see, the Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want. Jehovah, the
Lord, you see every letter capitalized, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He's my shepherd. God is my father. The Lord Jesus Christ is my never
failing, never sleeping, never having me out of his eye shepherd.
And the Holy Spirit is my comforter and God in this world. I shall
not want. Our pastor reminded us this morning
of the promise of the new covenant and what God said there. He said,
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their inward
parts, and I will write it in their hearts, and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. I will be their God. That's what
the psalmist was saying. The Lord's my shepherd. I shall
not want. The point I want to make here
is that if the Lord is our shepherd, we shall not, we cannot want
any good thing. It's impossible. If God has undertaken
to be our shepherd and to be our God, it's impossible that
we should want any good thing. That would be well below him
as God, wouldn't it? You think of David as a shepherd.
David, he fought valiantly, didn't he, to protect his sheep. So
he knew something about being a shepherd. But he said the Lord
was his shepherd. And believer, that's what I want
us to be able to leave here saying tonight. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Now notice
verse number two. Scripture says 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 the table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. You know this last verse, verse
number six? I know it's true for many here. I can't read that
verse without thinking about Brother Milton Howard. You know,
I'm singing that song. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. I know for many of you,
you can remember him singing that to us. The words say, a
pilgrim was I in a wandering. In the cold night of sin, I did
wrong. When Jesus, the kind shepherd,
found me, And now I'm on my way home. He restores my soul when I'm
weary. He giveth me strength day by
day. He leads me beside the still
waters. He guards me each step of the
way. When I walk through the dark, lonesome valley, my Savior
will walk with me there, and safely His great hand will lead
me to the mansions He's gone to prepare. And I shall dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. And that's the part I just really
love when he sings that song because it gets way up high.
And he said he wasn't going to sing anymore because he couldn't
reach the notes he used to reach. But you all remember him. And
I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And I shall
feast at the table prepared for me. Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life. and I shall dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. That's quite a statement, isn't
it? Now, I've read that these words
here in verse six could be read this way, only goodness and mercy,
only goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Why? For the Lord is my shepherd.
God is my father. The Lord is Jesus is my shepherd.
The Holy Spirit is my God. I shall not want. You know what
the psalmist is saying here is this. As a matter of fact. Believe it. Only goodness and
mercy. Only goodness and mercy. is going
to follow you all the days of your life. And you are going
to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You see, goodness supplies our
every need and mercy blots out our every sin. And you know, I thought about
this psalm and I thought of you. And I thought, this is how I
want you and I to be able to live our life in this world.
To be able to live our life with this assurance, with this hope,
with this joy, that regardless of what our circumstances look
like in this world, that based on the word of God, that only
goodness and mercy is following us, is pursuing us right now
in this world. So how is that possible? You
say, oh, that's not possible. How is that possible that mere
mortals like you and I, that we could have this confidence
and this assurance and this joy tonight, that regardless of the
circumstances in our life, that only goodness and mercy is following
us? Isn't that what the psalmist
said? That's what he said, and David, he lived long before the
Lord Jesus Christ came and didn't have near the amount of the word
of God that we have, and seeing what the Lord Jesus Christ had
come and done in this world, and yet, by the grace of God,
saved by the grace of God, he could say only goodness and mercy.
Did David not have any problems in his life? Oh goodness, he
had the burden of a nation upon him and so many problems that
he experienced in his life. And yet he could say this. Why? Because the Lord was a shepherd.
I shall not want. So that's what I want us to spend
a few minutes thinking about together. To live our lives with
this confidence and with this assurance and with this joy,
there's some things that we have to know. Some things we have
to know, otherwise we cannot live our lives this way. So here's
the first thing. It all begins with the knowledge
and with the assurance that this book that we hold here in our
hands, that this is indeed God's word to man. Not that it contains
his word, but that it is his word. Listen to me. Unless you have
that confidence, unless I have that confidence,
we have nothing to stand upon. And we cannot live our lives
in assurance and in joy and in faith. Why? Because we have no
foundation. It all starts that this is God's
word. It's his word. And I had a few
passages I was gonna look at, but I'm not gonna do that right
now, but I do want to just give you these three verses of the
psalmist and another passage in Psalm 119. Listen to what
he said concerning God's word. He said, the righteousness of
thy testimonies is everlasting. And listen, give me understanding
and I shall live. Give me understanding, what,
in your word, oh God. Give me, and what did he have
at that point? He only had a portion of the
scripture, and yet he could say, Lord, give me understanding of
your word, of your statues, and I will live. He said, thou art
my hiding place and my shield. I hope in thy word. He said, forever, oh Lord, thy
word is what? is settled in the heaven. It's settled. See, we have a
firm foundation, don't we, for our faith. And it's only with
that firm foundation, with that belief that this is God's word
that we can say, surely goodness and mercy is going to follow
us all the days of our life. Our circumstances may not look
that way. Our experience will not feel
that way. But God's word says that that
is the truth. We sing that hymn, How Firm a
Foundation. Don't you love the words of that
hymn? I want to remind us of the words of that hymn tonight.
And try to follow with me here. I know it's hard to stay focused
when someone like me is up here trying to preach, but listen
to these words. How firm a foundation. You saints of the Lord is laid
for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than
to you? He has said to you who for refuge
to Jesus have fled. I love that he says, what more?
What more can he say? But then he goes on and says
some of the things that he said. He says, fear not. God said this. Fear not, I am with thee. Oh,
be not dismayed, for I am thy God and will still give thee
aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, and believers, we will go through deep waters
in this world, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow. For
I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee
thy deepest distress. You say, well, that was amazing
words. That's God's Word. All he's doing
is quoting God's Word in that song. He said, When through fiery
trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall
be thy supply. The flame, it shall not hurt
thee. I only design thy dross to consume
and thy gold to refine. And down to old age, all my people
shall prove my sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love. And then,
and praise God and then, When gray hair shall their temples
adorn, like lambs they shall still in my bosom be born. Aren't you glad we don't ever
outgrow the Lord Jesus Christ as our shepherd, carrying us
in his bosom? That soul that on Jesus hath
leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell, should
endeavor to shake, I will never, no never, no never forsake. How firm a foundation. They don't
write them that way anymore, do they? What a hymn. Let me move on here. We know
that goodness and mercy shall follow us, that it must follow
us. It must follow us all the days
of our life. For we know what the Lord Jesus
Christ, the eternal Son of God, did for us. We know that goodness
and mercy, it must follow us. You say, well, but you don't
understand what's happening in my life or what's happening in
my life. What we have to understand, what we have to know, is what
the Lord Jesus Christ did for us. Notice in 2 Corinthians chapter
eight, turn there with me, 2 Corinthians chapter eight. Verse number nine. And this is a very well-known
verse to, I imagine, most people here, but read what it says.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you, through
his poverty, might be rich. We know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that he, the God of heaven and earth, the God
of all people, places, and all times, that he became poor, that
we should be rich. Part of being rich is being able,
in confidence and in faith tonight, to be able to say, surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. That's only
possible because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us.
How poor he became on our behalf, we can't even begin to understand.
I can't, and I sure can't describe it. How poor he became, we have
to think about where he came from. The eternal, immutable,
Almighty God, come into this world as a man and taken upon
himself all the frailties and all the weaknesses of man, accepting
sin. Yes, the God-man, but a man,
the man Christ Jesus, how poor he became. You know, he appeared
and lived his life in this world, not as a Lord, right, but as
a servant. And that man came to him that
day and said, Lord, I want to follow you. And the Lord said
unto him, are you sure about that? I'm paraphrasing. He said,
the fox have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the
Son of Man doesn't have anywhere to lay his head. How poor. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for our sakes, he became
poor. Why? That we, through his poverty,
we might be made rich. You know, at his death, he had
nothing materially to bequeath to his mother. As he hung upon
that cross, he had nothing to leave to his mother. He asked
that, or he gave for care to the disciple of his. Can you
imagine? He who is the creator and sustainer
of all, that is, that he became reliant upon one of his disciples
to provide for his mother. How poor did our Lord Jesus become
for us? And he did it all for sinners,
for the ungodly, for beggars, for those of us who were totally
destitute for anything to offer unto God for him to accept us,
that we, through his poverty, might be made rich. And shall
he not see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied? Would
that be right? Would it be right for him who
was rich and became poor so that we might be rich that he wouldn't
see of the travail of his soul? Absolutely not. God is a just
God. And as a just God, it is right.
It is right that we may be able in faith tonight, believer, not
if you're outside of Christ, but if you're in Christ, to say,
of your life, surely goodness and mercy is following me all
the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Let's look at the next point. Thirdly, we have to have the
confidence that the psalmist had in this, that we know whom
we have believed, right? We know whom we have believed.
Look at this passage with me. Turn over to 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1. Our pastor has been
bringing some messages to us here. I just want to look briefly
at verse number 12. Paul wrote, he said, for the
witch cause, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not
ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. You notice, please notice this.
He doesn't say, I know what I have believed. You know, it's important that
we know what we believe. That is important. But that's
not what he said here. And there is a big difference.
He said, I know whom I have believed. He's talking about a person,
isn't he? Not a doctrine. I know whom I have believed. And notice. And I'm persuaded. Oh, God, give us this faith. Give us this persuasion, even
now. I'm persuaded. That is, I'm convinced. I'm confident in his ability,
not in mine. Right? We're confident in his
ability, not in ours. That he's able to keep our souls,
that we've committed unto him. against that day. What day is
that talking about? It's talking about that eternal
day, that day that never shall end. And believer, that's what
we have done, isn't it? We are trusting our souls. What shall it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? We have nothing
of more value. Nothing else means anything apart
from our souls. And we've committed our souls
to the Lord Jesus Christ, right? We know whom we have believed. To believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ is to commit our soul to him. Have you committed your
soul to him for saving? If you haven't, May God give
you the grace to do so right now so that you also, with the
psalmist and with us as believers, may say, surely goodness and
mercy is going to follow me all the days of my life. And I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Why? Why? Because of whom we have believed. You see, it's the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's our shepherd. and therefore
we shall not want. He said, verily, verily, I say
unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Not
he's gonna have it, he hasn't. Praise God, believer, we have
everlasting life tonight. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live, and he whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Never die, I can't. Why? Because goodness and mercy's
chasing after me all the days of my life. He said, believest
thou this? Uh-uh, that's the question to
us. Do you believe that? Do I believe
that? God help us. Why wouldn't we
trust the Son of God? Everything he said, everything that was said about
him, everything that he said, all of it came to pass. Every single thing. Here's the
fourth thing. To be able to say, surely goodness
and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, we must
believe God's word concerning all things. All things in this
life. All things. Look at Romans chapter
eight with me. Dear troubled believer, if you're
troubled tonight, troubled or whatever the trouble is, hear
with me God's word. God has not left us comfortless.
He's given us his word, and he's given us his spirit to teach
us his word. Notice here Romans 8, and you
know what verse I'm going to. Romans 8, 28. Notice, and we know. Isn't that good? Paul didn't say, you know, I
think it could be this way. I think it's possible. That's
how I live my life most of the time. But that's not what he
said here, is it? He says, and we know. We know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now believer,
hear me. Whether we consider the thing
good or bad, whether we consider it a gentle providence or a difficult
providence. He doesn't make any distinction
here, does he? He says, for we know all things work together
for good. To them that love God. I hear
people quote this as though it just applies to everybody in
this world. No, there is a qualification
here. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, who have been called
to them that are called according to his purpose. And you may ask,
even the hurtful things? Isn't there much hurt that comes
in our life? Goodness, yes, there's hurt in this world. And yet,
the promise of God's word is that all things are working together
for our good. And you ask, all things, even
sin? Even sin's working together for
good? That's a tough question, isn't
it? It says all things. Our pastor kind of touched on
this this morning. You say, well, how can sin be
working together for the good of a believer? Number one, it
slays and keeps our pride at bay. Oh, we're not at risk, are
we, believer? I shouldn't say that, because
pride goeth before a fall, and absolutely, we could all, anyone,
any sin that anyone could fall into, I know that I could be
guilty of. But we're not prone to pray like the Pharisee did
at the temple. Lord, I want to thank you tonight
that I'm not like other men are. No. When God teaches us a little
bit about who we are and our sin, our sins, our indwelling sin, our actual
sins. What do we cry? Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of this death? Number two, it leads and keeps
us entirely dependent upon our Savior, the Lord Jesus, for all
our acceptance with God, doesn't it? Our sins, when we fall, What
do we do? Oh, Lord, have mercy upon me
for thy son's sake. Right? It keeps us completely
dependent on the grace of God and the power of God to keep
us. For we know we cannot keep ourselves. It makes us less censurous of
others. knowing that we're no better
than any other in ourselves. And it makes us desire the next
world, where no sin shall enter in there or tarnish our Father's
house. No sin in us and no sin in that
place can enter in. Yes, even our sin works together
for our good. But I gotta say this, I have
to say this. Don't let anyone imagine that
this means that God in any way is the author of sin. For he
cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt anyone
with evil. What does the scripture say?
We're drawn away after our own sinful hearts, our own lust.
God doesn't tempt anyone to sin. And neither let us imagine that
there's any good in sin itself. or that it's not hurtful in every
one of its forms. You say, well, it cannot alter
or hinder the everlasting salvation of God's people. That's true. But it does a great deal of hurt
and harm to the believer, to the lost, and to all of God's
creation. And believer, it will stop us,
it will stand in the way of us leading a life that the Lord
Jesus said, that life more abundantly. Sin, oh no, the point that I'm
trying to make tonight is that God, he is unbounded in wisdom
and in power. And he's able to take even sin
and make it work for the good of his people. For all things
work together for good. You know, if we believe that
the Lord is our shepherd, then it must follow that all our trials,
all our troubles, all our pains, all our hurts, all our joys,
all our comforts, all our enjoyments, that all things a working together
for our good. Now, I don't have time to read
the rest of this passage. Brother Schreeder read it to
us this morning in the Bible class, but let's just read a
couple more verses here to see how Paul says that the Lord is
my shepherd. Notice verse 29. For whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God before us, Who can be
against us? If the Lord be our shepherd,
how can we want? Notice, he that spared not his
own son. You see the argument? He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? You see the argument
there? If God would give his son for
us, how foolish for me to think that goodness and mercy would
not follow me all the days of my life. If he gave his son. You see, the Lord is our shepherd. We shall not want. And here's
the last point. To be able to say with confidence
that we're gonna dwell in the house of the Lord forever, we
must believe what God's word says to us concerning the believer's
death and what follows. That's the only way to have this
assurance and this joy is to know what the scripture says
about the believer's death. Notice, if you would, this last
passage, 2 Corinthians chapter five. 2 Corinthians chapter five. And verse number one. I'll be
very brief here. Scripture says, notice again,
for we know. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, Not
that we should be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality
might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for
the self, same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the
earnest of the spirit. You see, our body in this world
is the dwelling place. Our body is the dwelling place
for our souls. But it's a tent. And this tent
has to be taken down. It has to be taken down. Why? Because it's a temporary home.
And it has to be taken down, but we know that our Father has
prepared for us. He's prepared for our souls a
permanent home, eternal with Him in the heavens. That's how
the psalmist could say, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. And these bodies, oh no. Oh no. You see, one day, if the Lord
Jesus Christ doesn't come before the date that he has marked on
the calendar, I am going to die. And you are also a believer. Your body's gonna die. Your body's
gonna sleep, the scripture says. But the soul, God's prepared
an eternal home in the heavens. You say, well, what about that
time between when we're buried and the resurrection? We don't
need to worry about that. Paul was talking about here something
that's immediate. Yes, one day our resurrected
body will be in that eternal home that God has prepared for
us, but we're gonna have a home immediately upon up on our leave
in this world, believer. But someday our souls and bodies
will be reunited in that home that our Father has prepared
for us, our everlasting home. You say, well, how do you know
that? Because we know, right, whom we have believed. And the
Lord Jesus said that. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God? Believe also
in me, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not
so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I shall come again and I
will receive you unto myself, that you may be there also. And we shall dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Believers, those of you trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ, let us leave tonight in faith, rejoicing
in the truth that surely goodness and mercy is going to follow
us all the days of our life and that we shall dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. All the days of my life, the
good days and the bad days. the happy days and the sad days,
the peaceful days and the turbulent days, the healthy days and the
sick days, the dark days and the light days, the rich days
and the poor days, the first days, and praise God, the last
days, all the days of our life. You know, I thought as I was
preparing this message this week that if the Lord would give me
a chance to preach this message tonight to you. I would be grateful
forever that he gave me this opportunity
to share this wonderful, wonderful gospel with you. May the Lord bless this word.
Thank you.