Psalm 23

Psalm 23 please. Psalm 23, a psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul, he leads 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. Now I realize this is probably one of the best-known sections in all the Word of God, very familiar, but I hope this afternoon that it will be a help to some of us here. I've said often that there are times when I've read Psalm 23 and it really hasn't gripped me, but there have been times in my life when it's meant everything.

A simple psalm, yes, no complications really, but there are depths here. There's a simple elegance that has meant so much to God's people, especially when they've been going through deep trial. I'll tell you, I'm glad I have a shepherd today.

You know, do you ever have wrong thoughts of God? You know, it's common to us, unfortunately, and it seems to me it's one thing Satan wants to do. There may be many forms of his attack, but he wants us to have wrong thoughts of God. You see it at the very outset in Genesis 3, at the beginning of the Bible, in his temptation of Eve.

You know, he starts out by saying, has God really said you can't eat from any tree in the garden? And the implication is God is restrictive. He's kind of mean. Of course, God had told him there was one tree they couldn't eat from or else they'd die, and so what's the second thing Satan says? You won't die.

And here he's basically saying God doesn't tell the truth, and if someone doesn't tell the truth, you can't trust them. And then finally, Satan says, you know, you eat from that tree and your eyes will be open, you'll be like gods. In other words, God's keeping back the best from you, and really the attempt is to have wrong thoughts of God, don't trust him, be independent, do an end run around God.

And listen, we all face this, but in Psalm 23, it's a psalm of the dependent man, and this is what characterizes the Lord Jesus, the perfectly dependent man. He said, of my own self I do nothing. I wonder how dependent we are on the Lord.

You know, this psalm is about the Lord and how he takes care of his people. And brother, sister, it's how he takes care of you and me, how he wants to take care of you and me. The question is, are we willing to let him? You know, it starts off in the first verse.

Here's the premise here. The Lord is my shepherd, and because of that, I shall not lack. I don't have to lack anything.

What a tremendous thing to say. You know, it's the Lord who's our shepherd. We're hearing yesterday from Psalm 22 of what the Lord Jesus went through so he could be our shepherd.

The good shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. And you know that beautiful word, that pronoun there, the Lord is my shepherd. So personal.

The one who is the creator of the universe, the sustainer of it, the one who walked on water, raised the dead, he's my shepherd. And brother, sister, if you're saved by the grace of God, he's your shepherd. Now some of us who live in cities, and maybe a lot of us in the U.S. and Canada, we don't know much about shepherds.

But a shepherd is somebody who has responsibility for and takes care of sheep, and that's what the Lord wants to do for you. Are you letting him do that? Or are we listening to Satan's insinuations and the temptation to be independent of God? Well, you know, we can be independent of God, but when crunch time comes, we're responsible for ourselves then. You know, it's the prodigal who went his own way.

And what do we read about him? The time came when he began to be in want. For the dependent person, the dependent man who allows the Lord to shepherd him, he can say, I shall not lack, I shall not want. Now to me, the rest of the psalm explains this premise that we get in verse 1 of how the Lord Jesus, how the Good Shepherd meets the needs of his people.

And I would think that I'm talking to some today, and there are needs in your life, and you're wondering what's going to happen. And you know, we look within and we realize there's not the capability to meet the need. And I wonder if the Lord doesn't allow situations that come into our lives that we don't like, but he allows those things to come in, so we'll realize afresh our dependence on the Good Shepherd.

But notice how he meets or wants to meet our need. Verse 2, it says, he makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters. Now I don't know a lot about sheep, but I think I know this, that if a sheep has grass and water, most of his basic needs are supply.

You say, what's that got to do with me? When I was first in assembly fellowship, many years ago, there was an older brother that used to talk about the green pastures of the Word of God. I never forgot that. And the importance of feeding on the Word of God.

Have you been in the green pastures lately? You know, it says, he makes me lie down. This is what he wants. The Lord wants us to, just as a sheep eats grass and then rest because he's content, this is what God has for you and me.

You know, when we were driving down here from Chicago area, I noticed that there was a bunch of sheep, but the grass wasn't green and the sheep weren't lying down. They were looking for food. So a sheep lying down, to me the implication is, they've had their fill and they're content.

There's satisfaction here. And you could try to find satisfaction in so many parts of the world, but there's nothing like the Word of God to satisfy his people. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, but not only that, he leads me beside the still waters.

And that word still has the thought of rest connected with it. And the Lord wants us to have rest. You know, the tremendous truth of eternal security that I never knew about for a number of years after I was saved.

Never heard of it. Didn't know anything about assembly fellowship either for that matter. But what a tremendous truth, the rest we can have in the finished work of Christ.

But you know, God wants us to enjoy a rest day by day. Resting in him, the one who is our shepherd. Trusting him.

Was it our brother Bruce that mentioned this morning that trusting is part of worship? Depending on him? You know, I can know these words in Psalm 23 in my head, but really, living it out of my life, experiencing it in my heart is another thing. And I'm ashamed sometimes, I, you know, read the words and it just goes right over here. So the satisfaction and rest the shepherd provides.

Brother, sister, let me ask you, are you experiencing this? Even in the midst of your trials and challenges? Whether it's with young kids? Raising them? Teenagers at school? Or difficulties, challenges in the workplace? We have a shepherd. But we need to avail ourselves of the resources that he's given us. The green pastures of his word, for one.

But then in verse 3, he restores my soul. What beautiful words. You know, David, the human author here, he knew the importance of restoration.

Peter in the New Testament knew the importance of restoration. How about you and me? He restores my soul. Again, it was mentioned yesterday about the importance of honesty in our relationship with the Lord.

It's often been said the Lord doesn't expect us to be perfect, he expects us to be honest. And when there is, when there are things in our lives that aren't right, when we've done things wrong, the Lord has made such gracious provision, we just confess it to him. 1 John 1 and 9. And that parental forgiveness is given.

How important? To be honest. He restores my soul. Anybody here need to be restored? You know, the devil is so cruel.

He'll try to get us to sin. And then once we sin, he'll try to get us to beat ourselves up and think, you know, all hope is gone. He wants us to keep us from enjoying fellowship with God and trusting in him.

Wrong thoughts of God. He specializes in this. But we can read words like this that tell us the kind of God, the kind of shepherd that we have, who can be trusted, who wants to be trusted.

But at the end of verse 3, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. He leads me in paths of righteousness. Anybody need guidance here today? I'm sure there's young people that do.

Maybe finishing high school, finishing college, decisions to be made, looking for jobs. But it isn't just for young people. We all need guidance, do we not? Listen, the Lord wants to guide us.

Psalm 32, those beautiful words, the Lord says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way in which you shall go. I will guide you with mine eye. You know, when I was first saved, my life needed to undergo a 180 degree turn because of the way I was living.

And one reason that I came to Christ was that no matter what I tried to do in life, it seemed it didn't work out. Nothing was turning out right. And yet when I came to trust the Lord, little by little, this is one way the Lord revealed himself to me, was that, you know, he started to help me to do what was right so that things turned out right.

The Lord wants to guide us in paths of righteousness so we can bring honor and glory for him. You know, the devil doesn't want us to think that we can do that. But you know, it's not only the satisfaction and rest that the Good Shepherd wants to provide, it's not only the restoration and guidance.

Verse 4, we see it's his presence with us. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Now maybe this is boring for somebody here.

You say, I've, Psalm 23, I memorized that long ago. Well, you know, there may be times when it may seem boring and just whatever. But I'll tell you, there are some deep valleys in life.

There are some dark valleys that can cause great fear. And I'll tell you, you go through a time like that and what can make all the difference is a sense of the presence of the Lord with us. You ever been there? For thou art with me.

It's all the difference. I think of the disciples when the Lord Jesus was here on earth. When he was with them, they had nothing to fear.

Whether it was a storm, where they were sinking, whether there were thousands of people hungry, whether there was a maniac that could have attacked them, when he was with them, they had nothing to fear. Brother, sister, the Lord is with us. If we're saved by his grace, he's with us.

And how many times do we read in the scriptures, in so many words, the Lord says either, I will be with you or I'm with you. And yet, does the devil want us to live in the good of this? He wants to think we're all alone and the worst has come. But it's not only his presence.

You know, you can have somebody with you and maybe they don't give you the time of day. They sort of give you the cold shoulder. But in verse 5, I see that he wants to provide us with his fellowship.

Verse 5, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. You know, a table in the scriptures often speaks of fellowship. Because when you sit at a table with people, I mean, not only do you eat food for your body, but usually there's a conversation, there's fellowship involved.

In the presence of mine enemies. Usually a person isn't saved too long before they find out that not everybody's going to appreciate them. That there's a level of rejection in this world by those that don't know Christ.

Those that don't understand them. The cold shoulder of the world. A world in which we're like a square peg in a round hole.

But in the midst of it all, the rejection, the alienation, we can have fellowship with the Lord. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. You know, it makes me think of, again, David here.

And the time when he brought Mephibosheth, that man who was lame on both feet, in Lodibar, the place of no pasture. He brought him from that distant place. Where? Right to his table.

And this is over and over again. He says of Mephibosheth that he was to eat bread at David's table continually as one of the king's sons. You know, I enjoy that our heavenly David wants us to, in a way, eat bread at his table.

To enjoy fellowship with him day by day. The Lord wants to be real. You know, Christianity is about a relationship with a living person.

With one who died for us and who is alive forevermore. Loves us more than we can ever know. And Satan would assail so that we don't live in the good of this.

But it's not only his fellowship. It's also his blessing. Notice the end of verse 5. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.

You know, the Lord pours out blessing upon us. Ephesians 1 tells us that he's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, in Christ. Every spiritual blessing.

That's what the Lord pours on our head. But think of the head of the Lord Jesus. So we could have these blessings.

His head was crowned with thorns. But then we read, my cup runs over. Again, a cup of blessing.

I mean, just the fact that we're here, being able to sit underneath the Word of God. So many of us saved by the grace of God. And as our brother in his prayer was saying, we could be in hell.

Could be in hell at this very moment. Would deserve to be there. What a miracle that here we are.

So many of us found in Christ. For us, it's a cup of blessing. But for us to have this cup of blessing, the Lord had to drink a cup of judgment.

More bitter than anything we'll ever understand. But finally, we read about the shepherd's goodness. Verse 6. Surely goodness and mercy or loving-kindness shall follow me or pursue me all the days of my life.

Notice this. You know, Satan tries to make us think that the Lord doesn't have our good in heart. And you know, he's some kind of meanie.

But God's goodness. It's like the Lord's pursuing us with goodness and loving-kindness. He just wants us to experience that.

And yet, because of the devil's lies and everything, we fight it off. Notice it's all the days of my life. You say, well, I'm not experiencing the Lord's goodness and loving-kindness today.

You know, I was thinking, if you read a book and just take one page out of it, and maybe that one page talks about the main character, got some great sickness for a period of time in their life, but then they got better. But on that one page, it's a pretty dark page. Well, you can't judge the whole book by just one page.

And we can't judge the Lord and our lives by one day or one week or one year. We all have our ups and downs. We all have our valleys, our difficulties.

And again, the devil wants us to give up on God, stop trusting him, wonder where he is, why doesn't he do something? Where is he for me? You know, God will test us. Are we going to trust him in this? But at the end of it all, because the last chapter hasn't been written in your life or mine, at the end of it all, we'll be able to look back and say, goodness and mercy pursued me all the days of my life. That's this life, but it doesn't end there.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. No plumbing problems to deal with in this house, no leaky roof, no taxes, no mortgage payment, because it's the Lord's house. You know, this psalm starts out with green pastures and it ends with the house of the Lord.

Here we are today in Iowa, in this nice facility. One day, just as sure as we're here, as sure as we're breathing, we're going to be in the house of the Lord. We're going to be with the Lord Jesus, whom having not seen, we love.

Is the Lord good? Is he a good shepherd? Brother, sister, may this encourage our hearts, regardless of what circumstances may bring across our path, to be able to say, the Lord, he's my shepherd, and because he's my shepherd, I shall not lack.