Dan Raw - Psalm 23:6-7 | 23/03/25

good morning church

how are you

good all right yes we're going to finish

up Psalm 23 today um and I've got the

privilege of doing the very last verse

in Psalm um start off by just reminding

us Psalms is a collection of 150 ancient

Hebrew poems songs and prayers that come

from different eras of Israel's history

many of these poems were used by

Israel's temple choirs 73 of these

psalms are connected to King David who

is a poet and a harp

player um I'd like Oh I'll get the

clicker i'd like us all to read Psalm 23

together because I think that's just

what we've been doing every

week and do we have to stand up

because of that everyone stand up

bit of enthusiasm come on

guys all right get the clicker

going where's the clicker on

every line in this proverb uh in this

psalm is rich with wonderful peacegiving

words of comfort hope and a

promise this is not a random person let

me introduce you to Frank

Silak he is a Croatian music teacher

in January

1962 he was traveling on a train that

suddenly derailed plunged into an icy

river killing 17 passengers he escaped

with only a broken arm and minor bruises

the next

year a blown out cockpit door on a plane

forced him out in midair through

although 19 others were killed in the

accident he suffered only minor injuries

landing on a hay

stack in

1966 he was riding on a bus that crashed

and plunged into a river four others

were killed but Mr silak managed to

escape unharmed

in 1970 he managed to escape before a

faulty fuel pump engulfed his car into

flames in

1973 his car caught

fire forcing flames through the air

vents only his only injury was hair

loss in 1995 he was hit by a city bus

but once again suffered minor injuries

in 1996 he survived when he drove off a

cliff to escape an oncoming truck he

himself managed to land into a tree as

he watched his car explode 300 ft below

him true

story and in

2003 he won a million dollars in the

lottery mr celich has cheated death

seven times so he has been described as

the luckiest person in the

world why did he receive this

title because of the extent to which and

with the regularity with which he

experienced

abundance it was extraordinary abundance

an abundance of protection an abundance

of provision

it just doesn't seem possible when you

think of all these stories and things

that happened to him and that's why

people call it

luck psalm

23 is only six verses long but where we

look where David goes in the first part

of verse 6 he not only wants to stress

that God gives us his plenty his

abundance for today but also for the

days to come

dave writes "Surely goodness and mercy

shall follow me all the days of my

life."

Surely surely the first word this word

emphasizes a certain and unwavering

nature of God's

goodness throughout all that King David

had lived through and experienced in his

life he would have known that God is

faithful when he says

"Surely goodness and

mercy." Goodness and mercy represents

the abundant blessing of

God that he provides other translations

say love instead of mercy

david expresses his conviction in this

verse that the Lord's goodness will be

with him throughout his whole life

whether it's green pastures and still

waters that lay ahead or if David is

required to walk through the valley of

the shadow of

death God's goodness would always

accompany

him follow

me follow

follow is not a word that we really

struggle to

understand it's a word that we use all

the time so if we're going somewhere

like a walk to the get coffee on the

men's men's

group um and if you don't know where

you're going you will ask someone who's

going and say "I'm going to follow you."

And in context of Psalm 23 I think we

all assume that God's goodness and mercy

is just going to follow us like it's

always around and you know we're never

far from it but that's not really what

the text is

saying the word that translates as

follow in Hebrew is the word rad up it

means to pursue or to chase down in

other words God's goodness and mercy are

not passively just hanging around behind

us is actively pursuing us they are

chasing us down david himself used these

words when he questioned Saul in

Samuel why does my lord pursue after his

servant for what have I done what evil

is on my

hands david knew what it felt like to be

pursued by evil men to be pursued by

wickedness and by wrath but I have no

doubt that David endured that kind of

persecution by reminding himself that

his goodness and mercy God's goodness

and mercy would pursue him all the days

of his

life like a lion hunting is prey so the

goodness and mercy of God are hunting

you god is the hunter and is given chase

and there's no

escape we will find ourselves getting

caught every single time

we have a good and merciful

God all the days of my

life this signifies that God's love is

constant throughout one's entire life we

know David had days of incredible

victory and days of incredible

defeat days of humbling obedience and

days of impassioned sin

he had days of meditation on the word of

God and days of running wondering and

even brazen

unrepentance you could see this all

through the

Psalms but he makes no distinction

between any of these days speaking of

the relentless goodness and mercy of God

god's unstoppable has been a constant

through all the days of David's

life and that's the same with us

amen there's a um sheep farmer who

turned to become a pastor and he wrote

something about this verse his name is

Pastor Philip Keller and he wrote this

not only is this a bold statement but it

is somewhat of a boast an exclamation of

implicit confidence that the one who

controls his career and destiny how many

Christians have actually feel this way

about Christ how many of us are truly

convinced that no matter what occurs in

our lives whether it be whether we are

being followed by goodness of mercy of

course it is very simple to speak this

way when things are going well but what

about when one's body breaks

down what is my reaction when my job

folds up and there's no more money to

meet the bills

what do I say when suddenly without good

grounds friends prove false and turn

against me these are sort of times that

test a person's confidence in the care

of Christ

when my little word when my little world

is falling apart and the dream castles

of my ambition and hopes crumble into

ruins can I honestly declare "Surely yes

surely God's goodness and mercy shall

follow me all the days of my

life." In light of what God has done for

him David speaks confidently

here god is confident in what God will

do for him

david knows the way God takes care of

him and because God is faithful and not

fickle we're fickle people double-minded

go to and fro god's not fickle he's

constant he's the same yesterday today

and

forever so that's the kind of care that

he has for us and that will continue

having for us do we have the same

confidence in this

second half of Psalm

23 and I shall dwell in the house of the

Lord

forever to dwell means to live and

reside to inhabit a place or to remain

in a particular state or condition

this is one of several times in the

Psalms that we find the desire to dwell

in the house of the

Lord what does David mean by dwell in

the house of the

Lord in most cases when that phrase is

used in the Old Testament it simply

refers to

either the portable

Israeli temple called the tent of

meeting it refers to or it refers to the

brick and mortar temple that Solomon

built the other temple the temple in

Jerusalem since David lived before the

temple of Jerusalem because his son

built it maybe he was talking about the

tent of meeting like for eternity like

what does that mean like he's just going

to sit in a tent in the corner and grow

a big long beard and just be there

forever or maybe he could be buried in

the tent you know who knows what does

that

mean is that what he meant by

dwell i don't think it means that i

think it means a metaphor

here's a few passages from the book of

Psalms where he talks about

that psalm 27 says "One thing I have

asked the Lord that I will seek after

that I may dwell in the house of the

Lord all the days of my life to gaze

upon the beauty of the Lord and inquire

in his temple for he will hide me in his

shelter in the day of trouble he will

conceal me under the cover of his tent

and he will lift me high upon a rock i

don't think off the top of my head that

there's a rock in the temple so what

does he mean by that oh Lord I love the

habitations of your house and the place

where you where your glory

dwells psalm 65 blessed is the one you

choose and bring near to dwell in the

courts we shall be satisfied with the

goodness of your house the holiness of

your temple in Psalm 92 the righteous

flourish like palm trees and grow like

cedar in

Lebanon they are planted in the house of

the Lord and they flourish in the courts

of our

God i don't remember there being palm

trees in the temple

so metaphor I believe that David's using

a terms like the house of the Lord and

temple and

courts he's referring not to a physical

location but he's referring to

fellowship with

God in God's presence with

him under the old covenant the temple

was where the God's special presence

dwelt among his people it's a place

where his people could come and find

forgiveness and

worship so David's confidence is that he

will dwell in the fullness of what the

temple

represents that he will dwell in God's

presence forever

in that place of forgiveness and worship

where believers will reside and abide

eternally the Psalms are filled with

prophecies and chapter 23

world the

23rd Psalm is the 18th

prophecy that will be completed and

fulfilled in all who live in the house

of the Lord

forever for instance Hebrews 13 for here

we have no lasting city but we seek the

city that is to come that's heaven it's

to be with the Lord in his presence

john 14 let not your hearts be troubled

believe in God and believe in me also in

my father's house are many rooms if it

were not so would I have told you that I

go to prepare a place for you and if I

go and prepare a place for you I will

come again and will take you to myself

that where I am you may be also

psalm 23 means that God's goodness and

unfailing love will always follow a

believer it will follow a believer

throughout their whole life assuring

them of continuous care and protection

leading him to dwell in the house of the

Lord forever it expresses deep

confidence in God's unwavering

commitment to his people

in a sense the way that David ends the

psalm adds a full a new fullness to the

beginning of the psalm so you could

think of it as like this the Lord is my

shepherd

forever i shall not want

forever he makes me lie down in green

pastures

forever he leads me beside still waters

forever would David describe himself as

blessed of course he

would why because of the extent to which

and with the regularity with which he

experienced

abundance luck has nothing to do with it

if it did then this psalm would just be

a waste of our

time unless of course we're all the

lucky ones

david's the lucky

one david must have been the lucky one

no even Mr celic our Croatian

friend who cheated death seven

times and even won the lottery at the

end of it

all even he recognized that his life had

nothing to do with luck in an interview

he once said "I know God was watching

over me all these

years." The most amazing thing about

Psalm 23 is not the poetry and it's not

the

timeless quality of it all the most

amazing thing about Psalm

23 is the

fact that

anyone can know the same kind of care

that David did everyone anyone can know

this david experienced what he

experienced in Psalm 23 is an open

door an open door into the fields of the

divine

shepherd we don't have to imagine how

David

felt we can know this same blessing

today through our

faith we can be a part of his flock the

abundance that David experienced then

was just a taste of what was to come

david enjoyed just a sweet sip and we

get to enjoy the whole cup

how do we access this kind of

abundance how do we enjoy God's plenty

today every day and

forever someone said this his name was

Jesus truly truly I say to you I am the

door of the sheep all who come before me

are thieves and robbers but the sheep

did not listen to them i am the

door if anyone enters by me he will be

saved and he will go out and find

pasture the thief comes only to steal

kill and

destroy i have come that they may have

life and life

abundantly i am the good

shepherd the good shepherd lays down his

life for his sheep

how do we access this Psalm 23

abundance there's only one

door and it has nothing to do with

luck it has everything to do with Jesus

Christ our

savior jesus is the shepherd of Psalm

23 the shepherd in the flesh he's the

same shepherd that David spoke about and

the same shepherd speaking these words

in John 10 he also is speaking to people

like us he's saying "I am the

door the door to the pasture the

pastures of abundant

life." Friends all of us are sheep

unfortunately not very bright

animals there's no escaping that we're

all sheep

but let me ask where are you grazing

today are you wandering

aimlessly in the wastelands of this

world or are you resting securely in

green

pastures if you are a follower of Jesus

this morning if you have entered the

gate through

faith then you need to remember God's

plenty this morning we need to walk with

confidence and goodness and mercy will

follow us all the days of our

lives savor the Lord's

blessing thank him and praise

him keep your eyes on the

shepherd if you are not a follower of

Jesus listen again to these words i am

the door

if anyone enters by me he will be saved

and go in and find

pastures that pasture is only possible

because the good shepherd laid down his

life for

us he was nailed to a Roman cross for

you he took your place he took God's

judgment and

wrath against our waywardness and

stubbornness and sin he laid his life

down and good news is that he rose

again which side of the fence are you

on who is your

shepherd god wants you to know the

extent to which you can experience

abundance abundance that doesn't just

seem possible but is possible now

through the new covenant through Jesus

Christ

the gate is wide open you just got to

come in

conclusion to wrap up Psalm 23 I want to

close by leaving you with

this if you don't know Jesus yet make

Psalm 23 your prayer for him today and

come through the door and dwell with him

if you do know Jesus make Psalm 23 a

prayer of

gratitude

thankfulness

abundance goodness and mercy it'll get

you a reminder to keep your eyes on the

good

shepherd going to finish with a

song and I'd like you all to just close

your eyes

i want you to imagine 3,000 years

ago after a long day King David decides

to grab his

heart maybe the one that he used to

soothe King

Saul he finds a quiet place to reflect

and spend some time worshiping the

Lord so now let us stop and reflect

make Psalm 23 your

prayer make it a prayer of

repentance spend this time worshiping

God with this song just as David did

3,000 years ago