Psalm 23 (The Lord is My Shepherd)

Psalm 23 is a highly recognized and beloved Psalm that has comforted tens of thousands upon thousands, hundreds of thousands of people over the past 3,000 years.

But many wrongly claim access to this psalm.

The question I want to ask you this morning as we study Psalm 23 is a very plain question.

Who has a right to claim Psalm 23?

In other words, the benefits that we're about to read about in Psalm 23, who has access to those?

Who is able to claim these benefits?

The answer lies in what we don't just that we don't just know Psalm 23 in our heads, but that we know the great shepherd that Psalm 23 points us to.

Follow along with me in your copy of God's word as we read Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

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.

When we study scripture, there is a oft and peculiar danger that attends the most familiar portions of the Word of God, such as Psalm 23.

And it is this that we know the words so well that we don't hear them at all.

Psalm 23 is the most beloved passage in all of Scripture.

It's read at the bedside, it's read at the graveside, it's stitched into pillows and comforters and blankets.

It's printed on cards of condolences.

Charles Spurge and the Prince of Preachers called it the pearl of the Psalms.

When we look at a pearl, we notice its beauty, but a pearl that is never taken from its case and never held up to the light might as well just be another pebble.

And for many, this is exactly what Psalm 23 has become: a beautiful sound that's worn smooth simply by repetition.

So this morning I want us to dig into Psalm 23, interrogate Psalm 23, ask Psalm 23 some questions, and also allow it to interrogate us.

First, we have to know its author.

This is David, the David who before he was a king was a shepherd, and he kept sheep, his father's sheep, on the Bethlehem hills before he ever wore that crown.

And in doing so, he fought and struck with the lion and with the bear.

And he himself knew what it was like later in his life to be hunted as prey, pursued by Saul through the wilderness, driven from his throne by his own son.

So when David writes, The Lord is my shepherd, this is not the poetry of a comfortable man sitting in his study.

It's the testimony of a man who knows what it is to be hungry, who knows what it is to be hunted, who knows what it is to be betrayed, and who found through all of that hardship that he lacked nothing his God had supplied.

The kings of the ancient East love to style themselves as shepherds of the people.

But notice what David as king does.

He does not say, I am the shepherd.

He says, The Lord is my shepherd.

The king confesses himself a sheep.

And in that confession lies the theology of Psalm 23 and what we know is to be the whole gospel itself.

And so we're going to work through this passage in six brief movements this morning as we walk through these verses together.

Firstly, this morning in verse 1, we see the condition of who has rights to Psalm 23.

So we're going to answer this question pretty quick.

Who has access to Psalm 23?

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

Now begin with that extremely crucial question that you must answer because the text demands it.

Do you have the right to say these words?

We assume that everyone does.

The psalm is read over believer and unbeliever alike as though this were a public park that anyone has access to.

Anyone can stroll in and enjoy its beauty.

But everything in this passage hangs on two words.

The first is the name, the name of God used here.

David does not say God in general.

The word the Lord is my shepherd, he uses the name Yahweh.

It is the covenant name of the Lord revealed to Moses at the burning bush, the name of a God who binds himself by promise to a particular people.

And in so doing, he has said, You are my people, everyone else not my people.

You cannot invoke a covenant to which you do not belong.

And the second is a pronoun.

David said, The Lord is my shepherd.

And here is the difference between religion and salvation.

A man may believe with perfect orthodoxy that the Lord is a shepherd, that he's shepherd's son.

Someone may know that.

Many know that, and yet still be as lost as a sheep on a moonless mountain in the dark of night.

The demons believe this.

The demons know the demons can say the Lord is a shepherd.

The demons believe in Christ and they shudder.

That's what James tells us.

The demons know Christ, yet they do not have him as their shepherd.

They do not have access to the benefits of Psalm twenty-three.

What no unconverted soul can say is the Lord is my shepherd.

This only belongs to God's people.

Those who profess faith in Christ and believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead.

We are the only ones that have access to this.

Our Lord draws the line himself in John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

He said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

And to others he said with absolute terrible plainness, You do not believe why?

Jesus says, Because you are not of my sheep.

The right to this psalm is not seized by wanting it, reciting it, memorizing it, being raised near it, hearing it preached.

The right of access to this psalm is given.

And it's given to all who are united by faith to the one whom this psalm is always about, Jesus Christ.

We have to lift our eyes to Christ and all of Scripture, but especially here in Psalm 23, and follow this Psalm.

Again, just like every other psalm, who has sang it perfectly?

Not David.

David wondered in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba.

David walked a path of his own digging, the only one who walked in the world in unbroken trust.

And he is the first Psalm's true sheep before he is the shepherd is Jesus Christ, the son of David, who could say without qualification, the Lord is my shepherd.

He pronounced it in the Garden of Gethsemane when he said, Not my will, but yours be done.

And like a lamb led to the slaughter, silent before its shearers, he was led to be crucified.

And then the most glorious thing in the universe happens.

The sheep is turned into the shepherd.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep.

The shepherd came down into the flock, stood where the straying sheep stood, and took his own body, onto his own body, the dreadful blow that the flock deserved.

The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This is why we describe Christ's kingly office in shepherd terms.

He subdues his people to himself, he rules over them and defends them, and conquers all of his and their enemies.

Jesus Christ as a shepherd is no hired hand.

He bought his flock, as Acts twenty says, with his own blood.

And if he is yours, if you can say this morning, the Lord is my shepherd, then we take this whole verse boldly.

I shall not want.

It's not a promise of ease, there's not a prosperity gospel attached to this, but a realization that in Christ is the fullness of God.

And therefore he who has Christ as his shepherd can have nothing else of the world's treasures and still be infinitely rich.

I shall not want is the sweet honey on the heart and on the lips of the believer who remembers that if all I have is Christ, then I have all that I need.

Dear brothers and sisters, drink from this well this very moment.

What troubles you this morning?

What are you lacking in?

What is hindering your joy?

It may be something mild or maybe something major.

But it matters not the magnitude of the ailment that troubles your heart to ache this morning.

Let me assure you that if you have Christ, you shall not want for anything else.

Let your heart take a deep breath this morning and rest in your Savior.

He promised, I will never leave you or forsake you.

It is the promise that you shall lack nothing that the shepherd deems needful for bringing you home.

He who does not spare his own son, how will he not also graciously give us all things?

The greater gift, that is Christ Jesus, guarantees every lesser one.

The gift of Christ, it's a promise sealed by the Holy Spirit that we as God's people belong to him and will always lack in nothing.

If you are in Christ, then he is with you now and forevermore.

He will see you through the remaining years of your life on this earth, and he will bring you home if and only if you are a part of his covenant people, those who have professed true faith in him.

Secondly, the rest of the meadow in verses two and three.

Notice who's doing all the actions here.

It's not us.

He makes, he leads, he restores.

The sheep contributes nothing here but its own need.

This is the playbook of grace.

This is the very definition and nature of grace.

He is not saying that he supplies the green pasture, that he supplies the still waters.

Now it's up to you to find it, to get it.

The great shepherd's doing all the work.

We are not working to find rest.

He makes us do it.

He makes me lie down.

Now, why must a sheep be made to lie down?

Well, a sheep will not rest while it is afraid, or hungry, or tormented.

A restless sheep is an anxious one.

And is that not a mirror for ourselves to look into?

Look at your own past week, your calendar, overcrowded, constant calls, messages, emails, the mind that's churning at two o'clock in the morning over money and health and children and school and work.

We are a generation of sheep standing up.

And the shepherd's answer is not a technique.

We don't need another technique.

Nine ways to have a restful life.

Five things you should be doing to get rest.

You don't need more of that.

You need Christ, and He provides Himself.

He is the green pasture, He is the still waters.

Augustine said it 16 centuries ago, you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.

The sheep lies down not because the wolves have died, they're not gone.

But the sheep lie down because they know the shepherd stands watch.

Now, if we look at this from the Christological horizon that we like to look at when in all of Scripture, but in the Psalms, in Mark chapter 6, a vast crowd follows Jesus into a desolate place, and he has compassion on them because he says they were like a sheep without a shepherd.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

And then, do not miss Mark's detail here, he makes them all sit down on the green grass.

In a wilderness, they're sitting down in the green grass, and he feeds them all until they are satisfied.

Mark is showing you what Psalm 23 looks like visually, happening before the Galilean eyes, where this shepherd walks, the desert becomes a meadow.

And he still cries this very day, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

He leads me beside still waters, literally translated by waters of rest.

Sheep fear rushing water, and they will not drink from a river.

So the shepherd finds the quiet pool.

Such tenderness that he knows you so well.

You don't like the water from a clean river, scares you.

I'm gonna find you a quiet pool to drink from.

And he has appointed quiet waters for his flock in the midst of a loud world.

The means of grace, the reading of his word, the preaching of his word, the Lord's table, the singing of his word, the prayers that we've offered in this service, the gathering of the saints together on the Lord's day.

And what do we do?

Far too often we stand at the edge of this pool that Christ has led us to, and we glance at our watches and hurry back to the loud world.

A sheep that does not drink from where the Savior has led him should not marvel at his thirst.

I would encourage us all to drink from the waters of the quiet pools that the Lord has given us.

Find rest in your soul every Sunday as we gather.

Do you understand that the Lord has given us ordinary Sundays for rest?

Find rest for your soul in the ordinary activities of a Sunday morning, which finds the pinnacle of the week in this very moment where you and I worship together.

I find great joy in singing along with you and looking around the room and seeing you singing the truths of the word with me.

That brings joy and rest to my heart.

I think about Sunday morning.

I hope that you do too.

If you don't, I would encourage you to start.

Think about today before today gets here.

Pray for Sunday.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in this congregation and in this moment.

This is the ordinary guest.

This is a quiet pool that you are now drinking from, participating in this.

And in a moment, we're going to share the table together.

This is drinking from the quiet pool that the great shepherd leads us to.

The world around us is the fast torrential river.

The steady hand of God is the stillness that our souls desire.

And he restores my soul.

Now, the psalm here admits something that a sentimental reading might miss.

And that's this that sheep will stray and souls will fail.

The word used here is the vocabulary of repentance, meaning he brings me back.

Think of Peter cursing in the courtyard that he never knew the man in reference to Christ, and then the risen Savior on a Galilean beach had three questions for him for the three denials that he had.

Peter, feed my sheep.

The 1689 Baptist Confession says it this way Believers may fall into grievous sins and continue in them for a time, yet can neither totally nor finally fall away.

For Christ's intercession preserves them.

Ordinary Sunday, come home.

Come home to Christ and drink from the still waters that he has for you.

He is in the business of restoring souls.

It's his stated occupation.

Come home to Christ's prodigal son or prodigal daughter for the restoration of your soul as you drink from the quiet waters that he has for you.

Thirdly, the second part of verse 3, he leads me in paths of wrong.

Righteousness for his name's sake.

What we see is a progression through the Psalm.

We go from rest, and we see that it's not the final destination.

It is provide provisioning for the road.

For now we go from a period of rest.

We are made to lie down in order that we may now walk.

Grace that only soothes but never sanctifies is not the grace that this Psalm is talking about.

The shepherd then leads his flock in right paths.

What are those right paths?

They're paths of obedience to the word, holiness, conformity to his revealed will, mortification of sin in our lives.

Justification is free, but it never travels alone.

The sheep that is fed begins to follow the shepherd.

The same Spirit who unites us to Christ, the Holy Spirit, sanctifies us really and personally so that we may more and more die to sin and live in righteousness.

That's the path that the shepherd takes a sheep on.

But we must note the direction of these paths.

In the Judean wilderness, paths are winding.

And a sheep in the middle of the journey cannot see where the path may end.

We only see to the next turn.

So it is with us, and in this life, as we follow the shepherd.

You cannot see this morning from where you sit where the path leads you.

You can only see to the next turn.

You do not know which valley it will take you through.

You do not know which enemies you will encounter.

And you don't know which pasture he's going to put you in for rest.

But the sheep are never asked to see all those things.

The sheep is asked to follow.

Trust Christ.

Follow Christ.

Righteousness in Scripture is not first a feeling, but it is a direction, step after step after step behind the good shepherd, in the tracks that he has already walked.

And why does he lead the way that he leads?

Here's the deepest comfort in the psalm.

Why does Christ lead you to the green pastures, to the still waters, in the righteous path, through the valley of the shadow of death, past your enemies?

Why does he do this?

Scripture says for his name's sake.

This is for the glory of God, not for my name's sake, for his.

A shepherd who loses his sheep is a disgraced shepherd, as your name as a shepherd is bound to your flock, and God has staked his own glory before heaven and earth on bringing every one of his sheep home.

Do you see what that means for your assurance of salvation?

If your perseverance, if my perseverance depended on us and our grip on Christ, we would be lost by five o'clock this evening.

We are not capable of going home and taking our Sunday afternoon naps without sinning.

You sinners.

If our salvation was dependent upon us, we would lose it infinitely more times than you've lost your car keys.

But praise be to God that He is the one who holds us in His hands.

And you can take this to the bank.

No shame will be brought upon the great shepherd when the fullness of time is over because he will not lose one of his sheep.

A hundred percent retention rate from Adam and Eve all the way down to the last one to profess over thousands and thousands of years of all the people of God, every single one that the Father has given to the Son, the Son will lead home.

Not one less, and not one more.

Because it is dependent upon the honor of his name, and his name will not be dishonored.

This is the will of him who sent me, is what Jesus said, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

Therefore, Christ will lead his sheep into paths of righteousness for his glory.

And I would challenge you, if you find yourself regularly and normally living off of the righteous path, then my friend, I would urge you this morning, come to Christ and be saved today and follow the great shepherd and paths of righteousness.

Fourthly, the comfort in darkness in verse 4.

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 staff, they comfort me.

The psalm here turns dark.

The valley lies on the path.

It's the first thing we notice here about where this valley is.

We've gotten on the righteous path, and now we're in a valley of the shadow of death.

The same shepherd who led us beside still waters for rest and comfort is still with us, and he leads us here.

The valley is not evidence that you have wandered off of the righteous path, but perhaps proof that you are on it.

Between the pastures of Judean hills run deep ravines.

They're steep, shadowy, full of predators, and the shepherd must take his flock through them to reach new grazing, new pastures.

Note that through.

Secondly, the change of a pronoun where we see a pivot.

Until now, David has spoken about the shepherd.

He makes, he leads, he restores.

But the moment the psalm turns dark and we get to the valley of the shadow of death, David turns and is now speaking to the shepherd.

You are with me.

In the sunshine, we talk about God.

In the valley, we talk to him.

Many a believer will tell you that they never knew the nearness of Christ until the darkness came.

Now, this psalm does not tell you that the valley is safe.

The psalm tells you that the shepherd is present.

So fear no evil is not a temperament, it is a conclusion drawn from company.

The mighty warrior king is the great shepherd, whom shall I have to fear?

And notice what comforts the sheep: your rod and your staff.

The rod, the shepherd's club for beating back the wolf and the lion.

The rod is evidence that we have enemies.

This very psalm mentions them later.

If we are in Christ, then we have the same enemies as Christ, namely Satan, demons, and all in the world that are not in Christ.

This is why the world hates us and why we must always be set apart from the world.

Jesus told us that they hated him, therefore they will hate us.

And with his rod, he will violently push them back.

God passed judgment all throughout Scripture against his enemies, and he continues to do so at his choosing until the final victory, and they all go into the lake of fire.

Christ has the rod.

Therefore, we do not negotiate with the world.

We do not negotiate with our enemies.

We do not cater to their demands.

We stand on the word of God and we take it into the dark world, shining a light, and we know and understand that the world will snarl at us for it, and we do not bend the knee to them, and the rod of Christ will swing away in our defense in whatever way it pleases him to do.

Stay strong, stay the course.

Do not be tempted by the foolish ways of the world.

Secondly, the staff, the crook for drawing the wandering sheep.

With it, he grabs the sheep by the neck and pulls them to himself, pulls them away from danger, closer to him.

Momentarily, it may be jarring, it may be temporarily uncomfortable, but it is for our good.

Many times in our own stupidity we resist, but praise God that his staff is stronger than our necks.

And he pulls us to him so that we may have nearness with him because he loves his people.

The rod and the staff, defense and discipline, protection and correction.

The world offers the anxious soul soft words.

The world will offer you pretty things that are just evil dressed up.

The shepherd offers a weapon and a crook.

It is his strength that comforts, not merely his sympathy.

And again, if we look at the Christological horizon in this text, why may the Christian walk through death's shadow and fear no evil?

The reason is because the shepherd has already walked through death itself.

Christ did not walk through a shadow, he walked through the substance of death.

On the cross, the true Son of David entered the valley alone.

And there, for the only moment in the Psalm's long history, a sheep of God cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Christ was forsaken in the valley, so that you and I in Christ never will be.

Because Christ absorbed death's substance, only its shadow will fall across his flock.

When John Bunyan sent Christian through the valley of the shadow in the pilgrim's progress, he gave him one weapon that availed there, and it was the voice of another one going before him in the dark.

That is your comfort, believer.

There are footprints ahead of you in every valley you will ever enter, including the last one.

And I think it's right to pause here and say something about the valley of the shadow of death and our senior adults.

You see this differently as you age.

And I think about our senior adults, that we know that your time is nearer for you to leave this earth.

Um the psalm says 70, maybe 80 years.

And as your body is failing you, as your friends and family have passed away before you.

The Great Shepherd is with you, and he will see you home.

You have nothing to fear.

Take comfort in that, all of you, but especially our senior adults, and set a good example for us coming behind you.

Because if the Lord is gracious enough to me to give me his full life as he has some of you, forty years I'll be sitting in your seat, looking back to a generation behind me, and showing them how to walk in the valley of the shadow of death.

Fifth, the victorious banquet in verse 5.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

The scene is shifting from a pasture to a valley, now to a banquet hall, from the shepherd to a host.

But the grace is the same grace.

It's just getting richer and richer.

Three details here that I want you to see.

Number one, a table prepared.

David does not prepare the table.

He does not seat himself.

The host is the one that prepares the table.

Every dish on this table was planned, purchased, and set before the guest arrived.

So it is with your salvation, believer, chosen before the foundation of the world, purchased at the cross of Calvary, set before you in the gospel.

You bring an empty stomach, he's got everything else.

Secondly, in the presence of my enemies, this may seem strange to you.

Why not remove the enemies first and then serve the feast?

Because the table in their presence is a greater triumph.

In an ancient world, to sit at a man's table meant you were placed under his protection, and his enemies could only look on.

David knew this literally.

And the church has known it ever since.

The communion table that we are celebrating this morning for 2,000 years, it has been placed in some odd places, beneath catacombs under persecution in Rome, spread out on a pasture in Scotland, under the great persecution of the Protestants in Scotland while there are watchmen on the hill, so that the church could celebrate the Lord's table together.

The Lord does not always silence our enemies in this world.

But he seats us serenely in front of him.

And thirdly, the anointed head, an overflowing cup, oil for honor, the cup filled past the brim.

Notice here, there's not a rationed grace with Christ.

It's an abundance of grace.

From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

He does not run out of grace.

And again, where does this banquet stand if we look at it from the Christological horizon?

Well, it's going to take us to a table in the upper room.

On the night that he was betrayed, enemies literally present in the room, one of them reclining at the meal with him.

The shepherd host took the bread and a cup and said, This is my body.

This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Every Lord's Supper, every time we gather and we partake of this, it's verse 5 inacted.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

You see, we don't partake of communion just as a memorial, we also partake of it as communion by faith with Christ.

This morning, verse 5 is happening.

We're going to sit at the table in the presence of our enemies.

And Satan and his demons and the world cannot touch us.

They can watch, but they're not welcome here.

And it also points forward, even farther ahead, where Jesus said, I will not drink again of the fruit of this vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

Every time we partake of the Lord's Supper, it's an appetizer for the marriage supper of the Lamb that's to come.

So when we do this, it has deep meaning and deep communion by faith with Christ.

Come to the table, hungry, believer, to commune with Christ and his people.

His cup is not half full.

It doesn't run out.

In fact, it's running over.

And lastly, verse 6, eternal joy.

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

The psalm ends by looking two directions, one over your shoulder, and one over the horizon.

Over the shoulder looking back, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.

Now the Hebrew word used here is stronger than the word follow.

Actually, a better word used here is pursuit.

The word used of enemies chasing a man.

David, who was pursued half of his life by Saul's armies, looks behind him at the end and finds different pursuers on his trail.

Goodness and covenant mercy.

The Hesed, covenantal love of God, the stubborn, loyal love of God.

Love of God is very stubborn.

If you are a covenant people of God, his love for you is very stubborn and that it's not going anywhere.

So David can look back and see goodness and mercy following him all the days of his life.

Believer, you are being chased this morning, not by your past, not finally by your enemies, but by the restless kindness of God.

On your worst day, when you feel like you have outrun every grace, look behind you, mercy is still in pursuit because the greats, shepherds, hounds have not lost the scent.

Surely, goodness and mercy.

Not possibly.

And it doesn't give a checklist to be performed first, not just on your good days.

Surely all the days, the bright ones, the valley ones, and the last one, goodness and mercy will follow you.

I don't remember who said it.

If I did, I would tell you.

So I have to go back and look.

But the quote is the world chases after joy for an entire lifetime.

And yet joy chases the believer.

That's what we've got in Christ.

Joy chases us because we have Christ.

And lastly, we look over the horizon, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Notice how far the sheep has come from the pasture, through the valley, past the banquet table, and now home.

Not visiting this house, dwelling in it forever.

The shepherd's aim was never merely to feed the sheep, but to bring them into the Father's house.

And it is the shepherd himself who tells us how in my father's house are many rooms I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you may be also.

The path of Psalm 23 ends at the door of John 14.

And what is heaven's heart?

Not the pasture, not even the banquet.

What makes heaven heaven?

It's the shepherd.

The lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

The psalm that began in a meadow ends before the throne.

And the shepherd is there at both ends and at every step in between.

So to conclude this morning, it's a psalm the whole world claims.

Again, my argument to you, the question I asked you at the beginning: who has access to this, who has rights to it, who can claim it?

The answer is only the sheep of Christ.

Only those who are in Christ can claim the benefits of this psalm.

There are rights that are conferred by union with the great shepherd to his sheep, who he himself was the first and perfect sheep, slaughtered for our straying, rest that he commands, paths that he chooses for his own namesake, a valley that he's already walked through alone, so that none of us would ever have to walk it alone, a table spread beneath our enemies, and behind us mercy and goodness in pursuit, before us on the horizon, a place in our Father's house, a room with our name on it.

So again, let's end where we began.

Do you know the Psalm?

Or do you know the shepherd?

If you have never come, I want you to hear his voice today.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep.

He is not waiting for you to become a better sheep.

Sheep do not clean themselves up, they are carried home on their shepherd's shoulders.

While heaven rejoices.

Come to him, confess your wondering, trust his blood, follow his voice, and from this hour to eternity that pronoun will belong to you.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

Let's pray together.