Standalone - Good Shepherd

In Psalm 23 this morning, if you have a copy of God's word,

whether in print or on your phone or whatever,

I encourage you to open it this morning.

The words will be on the screen as well.

Before we read from God's holy and inerrant word,

let's pray.

Father, we come to your word this morning

in order to see the truth.

We ask that you would provide for us through your word,

that you would guide us by your spirit

and that you would give us a rich hope.

Sanctify us in truth for your word is truth.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart

be acceptable in your sight.

Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

We pray this in the name of your son Jesus Christ, amen.

Psalm 23, a very memorable Psalm.

I imagine some of you haven't memorized.

Let's read together.

A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.

He makes me lay down in green pastures.

He leaves me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

Even though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

For you are with me, your rod and your staff.

They comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is the word of the Lord.

I have a variety of hobbies.

I enjoy hiking.

I enjoy writing letters.

One of my favorite things to do is seal my letters

with a wax stamp.

It takes time, but I find it just gives that personal touch.

I even enjoy playing the obscure card game P-Nucle.

But one of my more interesting hobbies

is making hand carved walking sticks.

Now a good walking stick can really aid a hiker

when you're walking on a path.

Just by leaning a little on a stick or a staff,

you take pressure off your knees and your joints

and it gives you more stamina on a hike.

A sturdy walking stick brings comfort.

One of my favorite kinds of woods to work with

is an invasive plant called buckthorn.

Now buckthorn is pretty nasty.

A small sprout can give off plenty of seeds

to make a whole forest of buckthorn pretty quickly.

And if unchecked, it can grow as tall as 20 feet

and have a trunk as thick as a foot

all while having inch long thorns.

Just so happens that buckthorn

makes some of the best walking sticks

because when the wood is dried, it's strong.

Once the dark, dangerous, rough bark is peeled away,

all that's left is a brilliant white smooth stick.

Something that was invasive, harmful, rough,

has become something beautiful, brilliant, and smooth.

What was seen as dangerous now brings stability and comfort.

In this psalm, we can see David writing about the comfort

and stability that is found in the presence of the Lord.

David was a shepherd, tending to the sheep

most of his early life.

He led the sheep from areas where they could eat,

areas where they could drink, and areas where they could rest.

And as David does the work

that God has put before him, he applies his work

to the work of the Almighty God, the one who created David,

the one who sustains David.

The theme of Psalm 23 would be this,

the presence of the Lord carries us through this life

and into the next.

And then I want us to see three things in Psalm 23.

First, provision, guidance, and hope, right?

God gives provision, God gives guidance,

and God gives hope.

First, let's look at provision.

Let's look at verses one and two.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

Now, like I said, Psalm 23 is a pretty memorable psalm.

I imagine some of you have memorized it.

We can read this psalm when we're in need of rest,

when we're in need of calming down,

or when all things seem hopeless.

Oftentimes when we're stressed,

it's because we don't have something we need, right?

Whether it's more food, sustenance, right?

Drink, whether it's rest,

whether maybe it's just a moment of quietness,

because everything around us seems chaotic.

I think we need to remember that our Lord is with us

in that we should take our burdens to Him, right?

We should cast our cares on Christ.

But in order to understand first

what's happening in Psalm 23,

I want us to look briefly at the original language,

the Hebrew, right?

I'm not gonna read it in Hebrew for you,

but I'm gonna tell you,

the first thing we wanna look at

is this theme of not wanting, right?

The word here in the Hebrew is not necessarily want.

It can also mean lack, as in I will not lack, right?

Well, not wanting and not lacking,

they're kind of the same thing.

We see a different picture painted for us by the Hebrew word.

Right, when I was a child,

wanted shiny things, cool things, right?

Toys, some of us still like those things,

and that's okay.

But the word want insinuates something we desire, right?

Now as an adult, I want a house that sits on 10 acres, right?

Is it, do I need a house that sits on 10 acres?

No.

Is it wrong to desire a house that sits on 10 acres?

Also no, right?

But when we change the word from want or desire to lack,

we have a different understanding, right?

David is saying that because the Lord shepherds Him,

He will not lack anything He needs.

The sheep that David shepherds do not lack,

because David makes sure they have what they need.

The second thing I wanna look at is the word still,

in the phrase, he leads me beside still waters.

Now the Hebrew word here for still actually means to rest.

It's the same word used for a quiet place,

or even the dwelling place of God.

Before we jump into what this word is trying to accomplish,

I think it would be helpful if we talked a little bit

about sheep.

Now I live next to a farm for a few years

and I still know nothing about sheep.

Imagine most of you don't know anything about sheep either.

The average sheep needs two to three gallons

of fresh water per day.

It's a lot of water.

And a pregnant or nursing sheep needs upwards

of five gallons of water per day.

Now my wife can barely get me to drink a cup of water a day,

unless we're counting coffee as water, which I maintain.

It's water, just because you add something to it

doesn't make it not water anymore, but we disagree on that.

Sheep need a lot of water per day.

But the interesting thing about sheep is that

they will almost always avoid running water,

like streams or rivers.

Even though they're thirsty, they will not drink,

because if they were to fall into this running water

or this stream, it's almost a death sentence

due to their thick wool coat being waterlogged.

They'll drown.

So when the Bible uses the word rest for water,

first and foremost, it's talking about water

that's not moving.

Shepherds would even have to go as far as blocking

running water with rocks in order to get their sheep

to drink.

Imagine that, an organism created by God,

refusing to participate in an activity

that is detrimental to its survival.

I think we can see a double meaning here,

that not only is the water at rest,

but so are the drinkers,

for there is no danger while they drink.

As well as having particular drinking habits,

sheep will not lie down if they're hungry.

They will not rest if they're hungry,

and green pastures aren't always available.

So the shepherd would have to move their flock

from place to place to place

in order to keep the flock fed.

And while David is drawing the reader to the theme

of a shepherd caring for his sheep,

he is also contemplating the care

that God has for David,

for God's care is not seasonal.

Where the sheep are always in need,

David lacks nothing in the presence of the Lord.

Where the green pastures will eventually run out

for the sheep,

David doesn't have to leave the presence

of the Lord for sustenance.

Where the water must be rested for the sheep to drink.

David rests in the providing presence of the Lord.

We can see a clear progression

from verses one and two and two, verse three.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

Right, where the sheep are refreshed by the pasture land

and the still water and the rest they receive

in the presence of the shepherd.

David remarks not only the physical provisions

given in the presence of the Lord,

but also the spiritual provisions given

in the presence of the Lord.

Right, just as a cold drink of water in a hot day

not only refreshes the body, but also the mind.

Right, it takes you from a feeling of hot

and sweat to coolness and joy.

David believes that in the Lord's provision he finds rest.

Not just the rest his body needs,

but the rest his soul needs.

Not only does the Lord refresh the soul,

but the Lord restores the soul.

And what do I mean here?

The word used here for restore means

to bring back to an original existence.

Now we humans, we love to watch restoration jobs, right?

We love to watch someone take a terrible beat up car

and turn it into something amazing.

Right, we love to watch someone take a rundown house

that's gonna collapse on itself

and make it into a magnificent mansion.

We love watching restoration jobs.

We see something that looks terrible

become something that looks like new.

Now you may not know it,

but I've been doing restoration jobs most of my life.

I know that I'm a pastor now

and I'm primarily speaking to people,

but I used to work with my hands a lot.

Starting as a child, I decided I was gonna restore something

that was very meaningful to me.

And I restored a lot of them.

What I'm talking about here is pennies.

As a kid, I love to restore pennies.

Now how did I do that?

Well let me tell you,

first you take a packet of Taco Bell sauce,

you open it up and you put the penny inside there

and you let it sit for 30 minutes.

And when you take that penny out,

it'll be shinier than the day it was minted.

We put that stuff on things we eat.

Probably should think twice about that.

It's good though.

David doesn't point to God giving him a new soul.

David points to God restoring his soul

to the way it was designed to be.

David found rest and provision in the nearness of the Lord.

How much more then should we find rest and provision

in the nearness of the Lord

since the Holy Spirit dwells inside us?

You might think it'd be cool to live in the times

of King David or even walk the earth

when Jesus walked the earth, but I tell you the truth.

It is better that Christ has departed

because the Holy Spirit has come

and now dwells inside his people.

John 16,7 confirms this, nevertheless,

I tell you the truth.

It is to your advantage that I go away

for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you,

but if I go, I will send him to you.

Because of the helper, the Holy Spirit,

we are the nearest to God than any before Christ

or during the time of Christ.

Because while those people dwelt with Christ,

God dwells inside us.

In the Holy Spirit,

the Holy Spirit provides for us,

cares for us, and restores us.

The Lord does all of this because it is in his namesake.

In the same way that a father and a mother

provide for their child,

God also provides all that his children need.

But more important than food, drink, rest,

through Jesus Christ, God provided reconciliation for us.

See where the woman at the well

asked for still water from the well itself

to quench her thirst.

Jesus gave of himself to bring forth living water

that no blockage could quench.

Nothing could stop the flow of the fountain of living water.

And it isn't the fountain of living water

that we find all the provision we need.

The end of verse three

serves as a great transition point for us

into the next part.

We'll connect verse three and verse four together,

and we move into our second theme this morning.

We'll see that God gives guidance.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil.

For you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they come for me.

David trusts the Lord.

This is evident.

The sheep trust their shepherd.

And as David is tending the flock, leading the sheep

from pasture to pasture and water to water,

the sheep stay near the voice that they know.

This work of David leads him to dwell

on his relationship with the Lord.

If we look closely at verse four,

we see this major transition.

First, in the first part,

David talks about the Lord as his shepherd,

and in the next part, he talks to the Lord as his shepherd.

You may be thinking to yourself,

didn't you use verse three in the first point,

and now you're using verse three in the second point?

Yes, I am.

I realized something.

As I was preparing this sermon, I realized something important.

You see, there's this interesting concept here

with the valley of the shadow of death.

All the times I've read this psalm,

I've equated this as some kind of hellish place of temptation

or a place where we're under attack

or a place where we're scared.

But here's what I realized.

David believed that the Lord was righteous.

And that because of the Lord's great name,

the paths that he leads David on are righteous.

Which means the righteous path of the Lord

leads through the valley of the shadow of death.

Right?

Sure, the trial or temptation that is there

can be hideous and scary,

but the fact remains the Lord leads David through the valley.

Because of God's great name and his righteous leading,

he leads David into the valley for David's edification,

but mainly for God's glory.

Wait a minute, hold on.

You mean to tell me that God actually leads David

into the scary places of trial?

Yes.

Yes, he does.

The Lord does this.

And in David's words, he doesn't say anything like,

why is this trial too hard?

Or why are you doing this to me?

No, what does David say?

I will fear no evil.

For you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Right?

David finds comfort while in the valley

because the Lord is with him.

The Lord's rod brings David comfort

because the rod is a wooden cudgel

or a wooden sword or a bludgeoning tool

to keep the wolves and the enemies away from the sheep.

The shepherd would use that to defend the sheep from attackers.

And the Lord's walking stick or shepherd's crook

brings David comfort because David knows

that the Lord will guide him with that stick.

One commentator says that while people of all ages

love and quote this psalm, it's a message for mature Christians

who have fought battles and carried burdens.

Battles, burdens, doesn't really fit the theme of Psalm 23, does it?

It does.

See, from the day the Lord calls us to him,

to the day he calls us home, he's working in us day after day after day.

I'm going to use a big word here.

This process is called sanctification.

Right?

Sanctification is the process by which God refines us

and purifies us from our sin.

Now, you may be unfamiliar with the process

of refining precious metals, and you might be thinking,

well, what do you know about precious metals

and refining them, you're a pastor.

Let me tell you, it's a pretty cool process.

When they go to find the precious metals in the ground,

they don't come out like bricks like we see in movies, like gold bricks.

No.

It comes out in a mass of rock.

What must be done to get the precious metal is super heat the rock.

And as the rock gets hotter and the fire gets hotter,

the rock and the other garbage material separates from the metal.

The metal rises.

If you don't do this, you won't get to the precious metals.

You cannot get to the gold unless you separate the draws.

It's only through trial that draws are separated from the gold.

In order to rid the sin from our souls,

the Lord must separate the gold from the draws.

This is done through heat trials.

And we hate to imagine a world where we aren't comfortable.

I saw the weather forecast this week,

and I'm thankful for air conditioning.

It's going to get hot.

We hate to think what would happen if the air went out.

We hate to think what would happen if we weren't comfortable.

We don't have to ask God to lead us to sustenance, right?

We can just go to Aldiquik.

We don't have to ask God to bring us to water to drink.

We can just turn on our faucets.

We often don't turn to the Lord for the things we need

until we're in the valley of the shadow of death,

until we're in the places we see as uncomfortable.

Because we don't rely on the Lord until things get hot,

He should have every right to leave us be.

Because we only call out to Him when we need Him,

He should have every right to leave us by the wayside

because we don't actually trust Him.

Like a wayward child who only calls when they want money

or maybe more applicable like a toddler

that doesn't understand that you're providing every single thing they need

but they cannot understand why you will not let them bring four rocks home from the park.

My child is only six months. I don't have a toddler yet.

But I can imagine the good foil that a child provides for how we relate to our God.

Because of God's good grace and His righteousness,

rather than leave us be, rather than leave us to our faults and our failures,

He provides all that we need.

And He gives us comfort in the midst of trials.

We can see a parallel in verse 4 of Psalm 23 in Luke 1.78-79 where Zachariah prophesies.

Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death

to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The Lord, despite our failures, despite our setbacks, promises to provide for us

and to guide us, His word to David was that He would guide David.

His word through Zachariah is that He will guide His people.

Because of God's great name and His righteous leading,

He leads David into the valley for David's edification, but most importantly for God's glory.

But here's the good news, the best news.

Christ, of His own free will, entered the valley of the shadow of death.

When He's there, Christ does not find comfort that comes from the defending rod of the shepherd.

Instead, He finds pain and punishment in the rod of the judge.

John 10, 14-15, I am the good shepherd.

I know my own, and my own know me just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father,

and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Christ lays down His life for the sheep.

And because of this, Christ is the one who walks with David.

Christ is the one who leads by example.

And when the time was appointed, Christ walked ahead of us into the valley,

sparing us from the horror that surely awaited us.

Christ does this so that His righteousness might be yours.

That when you call upon the name of the Lord, there would be no doubt you will be saved.

Praise God.

But that's not it. Brothers and sisters, that's not it.

As you might hear in an infomercial, but wait, there's more.

In verse 5 and 6, we see that God gives hope.

First, verse 5, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.

The Lord through David points us forward.

Right? The Lord points us forward to a banquet.

And we can see this imagery clear in Scripture.

Right? The Bible never takes the enemy lightly.

And therefore, in our text today, right, the enemy wouldn't be celebrated at the banquet.

The enemy is at the banquet because they're forced to be there.

Genesis 14, right? Abraham wins the victory.

He rescues his family lot, and he brings back all the possessions that were stolen.

He brings them. And then Melchizedek comes out and brings out a meal of bread and wine.

The king of Sodom, who represents sin, and is there as well as the enemy.

He eats and drinks. Abraham eats and drinks. Melchizedek eats and drinks.

Right? There are people at this banquet that are drinking and eating with excitement.

And some that are begrudgingly partaking.

In 2 Kings 6, Elisha leads the blinded army of the Syrians into the city of the people of God.

Right? The enemy of the people of God, they're led into the city because they're blinded.

And when God gives them back their sight, what do they find?

They're surrounded by the Israelites, and they surrender.

And then God gives a meal. Right? The word tells us that God provides the meal,

the people of Israel, and the people of Syria eat it together.

One group with excitement and victory, and one group in defeat begrudgingly.

Why does God do this?

Why does David use the imagery of enemies at a banquet or a meal?

Right? The enemies are not there because they want to be.

They are there because they have to be.

They don't have any choice.

Verse 5 is a message of hope.

David feels a sense of hope as he looks forward to what God is going to do.

David not only sees many victories in his lifetime, he sees many banquets in his lifetime,

but all of these themes throughout our Scripture of banquets of victory are also pointing forward.

All of these themes of banquet of victory while the enemy looks on with contempt points us forward.

Let's talk about another banquet, Luke 22, 19 through 22.

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave to them saying,

this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying this cup that is poured out for you is a new covenant in my blood.

But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table,

for the Son of man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.

Jesus, the one through whom the world was created, the one through whom the world is sustained,

sits at his last meal. He sits there showing love and compassion, all while the enemy looks on.

Where David had confidence in his victory feasts, where Abraham had confidence in his victory feasts,

where Elisha had confidence in his victory feasts, Christ had confidence in his victory feasts.

Knowing that a dreadful night in the valley was coming, and that he would be subjected to hell,

Christ had confidence in his victory feasts.

See the good shepherd, he has no hired hand. He does not flee at the first sign of trouble.

He cares not on a whim for the sheep, but he covenantally promises to provide God and to give hope to his sheep.

Currently with my senior hires, we're going through the book of Proverbs.

And as we read through the book of Proverbs, we look to see where we can find Christ.

When we read a chapter of Proverbs, where is Christ in that Proverb?

If we don't do that, we are becoming moralists. We should do this with the entire Old Testament.

When we read a section of the Old Testament, even in the seemingly wastelands of reading through Leviticus,

where do we see Christ? Brothers and sisters, Psalm 23 points us to Christ in the most magnificent way.

In all the ways the shepherd cares for his sheep, Christ did the work to care for you.

For Christ knew that while you need green pastures to feed, and you needed the waters to be stilled in order to drink,

and that you need places to rest, and you need guidance along the path, Christ knew what you needed most.

You needed rescue. And rescue Christ did.

And it's because of Christ's magnificent work on the cross and His resurrection that we can read verse 6 with great confidence.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Now if you're reading this in your Bible, there might be some other translations here.

You might see at the bottom of your ESV that instead of mercy, we could see steadfast love.

Instead of I shall dwell, you could see I shall return to dwell. The message is the same though.

All the attributes of the perfect shepherd are found in Jesus Christ.

And because of that work that He did, after our time on this earth is done, after this short life is over,

we shall return to dwell with the Lord our God forever.

With a perfect and complete soul that is restored to the way it was designed to be.

Verse 6 points us forward to a future that is coming.

And what is that future? Revelation 19 verse 9.

Revelation 19:9

And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

He said to me, these are the true words of God.

There will come a time when Jesus Christ shall return. Rather we're alive or not.

Jesus, astride a white horse, will arrive and tell the world who He is.

And all glory and all honor and all praise be to Christ, the one who will subdue the world and restore the world.

And call all His people to a great banquet of victory.

Bless you.

Now this feast, brothers and sisters, this feast will be different.

This feast will not feature enemies begrudgingly partaking.

This feast will not feature enemies looking on with contempt.

No, you see at this feast only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life will be invited.

Those not invited will be put out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The question is, if you're wondering, is my name written in the Lamb's book of life?

This is a good question you should ask yourself.

If you're asking that question today, if you're here and you're wondering what this is all about,

or if you're watching online and you're wondering, am I saved?

Look no further than God's Word.

When He says, in order to be saved, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved.

This banquet of victory that is coming will be yours.

The work of Christ is magnificent and matchless and stands for all eternity.

For those who call upon the name of the Lord, there shall be no doubt you will be saved.

Goodness and steadfast love will follow us for all the days of eternity where we will dwell in the new Jerusalem for all eternity.

Celebrating the honor and the glory of the victory of the Lord our God for all eternity.

Our Savior, like a shepherd, leads us in the path of righteousness for His namesake.

He leads us to provision.

He guides us and He protects us.

And He gives us hope that we will be guarded until the day we join Him in His kingdom.

Praise be to Christ, forever and ever, amen. Let's pray.