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10.11.20 Psalm 23 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  to psalm 23 allow me to read our passage the whole of psalm 23 this morning if you're able to stand in honor of god's word i would ask you to do that now allow me to read we'll pray and begin it says 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
• 0:31
  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. And Lord, we pray a blessing over the hearing and preaching of your word. God, Psalm 23 has ministered to your people for thousands of years. Lord, it is one of our favorite passages in all of scripture, no doubt.
• 1:01
  Everybody watching this has heard it before. No doubt many have even memorized it. Lord, I pray that you would help us again to understand the full weight, the full impact of what it means that we have a heavenly shepherd who cares for us, who provides for us, and who restores our soul. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. We can be seated, church.
• 1:26
  Psalm 23 is by far the most well-known, often quoted of the Psalms. You walk up to anyone on the street, ask them about spiritual things, and two things will happen. Number one, if you walked up to anybody on the street, this I guarantee will happen. Number one, they will think they know more about Christ and his church than they actually do. And they'll be heavily opinionated about those things. That will happen. But also, they will be able to quote John 3, 16.
• 1:52
  Anybody on the street will be able to quote John 3, 16, and probably at least some portion of Psalm 23. Charles Spurgeon has said, Psalm 23 is the pearl of the Psalms, who soft and pure radiance delights every eye. It is the nightingale of all the Psalms. It's small, but it's filled the whole world with melodious joy, greater than the heart can conceive. Blessed be the day of that Psalm's birth. I love that. Really, the whole earth was blessed, he says.
• 2:21
  when psalm 23 was born the placement of psalm 23 is absolutely brilliant psalm 23 follows psalm 22 and that's not going to be hopefully the most profound thing i say today but psalm 22 is actually a song of lament it's a psalm of the cross it begins with my god my god why have you forsaken me it is the psalm that jesus himself quoted when hanging on the cross
• 2:48
  It ends, Psalm 22, with the proclamation of the deeds of Christ being told to coming generations. You pick up right there. So the forsaking of God, the proclamation of the goodness of God through the cross, and then Psalm 23 is placed as it is because, church, listen, there would be no green pastures. There would be no still waters.
• 3:11
  There would be no comfort in the valley of death, no goodness and mercy apart from the forsaking of our Lord on the cross. Psalm 23 exists, in other words, because of Psalm 22. Psalm 23 is for those who know the Savior.
• 3:29
  the unsurpassing peace that comes from redemption in his name if you know the Savior Jesus Christ then no doubt you have experienced the peace that Psalm 23 describes but Psalm 23 is also for those who long to be known by God
• 3:44
  For those who as yet have no shepherd over their souls, who desperately desire purpose, meaning, and direction in their lives. And if you're watching this right now and just thinking, you know what? I don't have purpose. I don't have meaning. I struggle with direction. I don't feel like anybody's watching out for me. There's nobody overseeing my soul. Then Psalm 23 is for you. It's for you. The Lord offers to be your shepherd. Now the title, God as Shepherd, is an interesting one.
• 4:13
  You will often hear pastors say that our view of God is too small. I've said it myself many times. That whatever we may think of when our minds drift toward heavenly things cannot hope to contain heaven's realities. Whatever you think of when you think of God, that thought is way too small. We write about the transcendence of God, that he is altogether different. We sing of his incomprehensible nature and holiness. And yet of all the titles, the Lord could have used of himself.
• 4:41
  Of all of the human professions God could have chosen to describe himself as, of all of those attributes that he had at his disposal, he compared himself to a shepherd? Shepherds are those guys who walk around poking sheep with sticks. I mean, that's a shepherd. Shepherds are those guys who have more animal friends than people friends, right? I mean, a shepherd? Really, God?
• 5:09
  Not a CEO. I mean, honestly, not the president of the company. That's not how he describes himself, but rather as a shepherd. Those guys who would willingly sacrifice their own lives in order to spare their flocks. Shepherds at the time of this psalm's writing were the lowest of all professionals at the time. And what kind of God calls himself?
• 5:33
  a shepherd and before we can understand david's intent the author of the psalm king david himself we need to remember that david understood some things about shepherds that none of us probably do since he began his own life as one do you recall how david was anointed king when he was chosen not anointed but chosen to be king he was a shepherd himself when samuel the prophet went to jesse david's father
• 5:57
  God had told Samuel one of Jesse's sons will be the next king. It will not be from Saul and his line, but rather David's line. Go to Jesse's house and I'll choose.
• 6:07
  from among his sons and so Samuel shows up at Jesse's door one of your sons will be king Jesse thought well no doubt my oldest and so he trots his oldest son and God says no Samuel not that one no you must have another son Jesse says I do I have many more sons he trots the second born then the third born then the fourth then the fifth and the sixth and he says well no none of them Jesse says I have no other sons well Samuel saying well the Lord is saying one of your sons you must have more sons Jesse says I have no more sons
• 6:33
  Samuel says, no, you got to have another son, at least one more son, because God told me one of your sons. And Jesse says, well, I do have one more son, right? He's the youngest of them. And he's tending the flock. I mean, he's the shepherd. You can't mean him. Go find him. David walks in. And that's that famous phrase where God says, right? Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. You find David, the shepherd king.
• 6:57
  of Israel and David as this shepherd king and as the author of our psalm wanted us to understand some things about God as shepherd. Beginning in verse 1, you'll notice that God is a personal shepherd. And man, maybe my favorite thing I'm going to say this morning. Look at verse 1. The Lord, he says, is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. If you like to underline or circle words in your Bibles, that word my is a good one to circle.
• 7:27
  The Lord is my shepherd. Perhaps the sweetest word in the entire psalm is that one syllable word, my. David doesn't say that the Lord is the shepherd to the entire world, that the Lord as shepherd of the world is therefore ever diverted in his focus, but rather that the Lord is his personal shepherd. It is a term of intimacy.
• 7:51
  It's actually even used in the present tense. He doesn't even say the Lord was my shepherd. He says the Lord is my shepherd, meaning that whatever the believer's circumstances, whatever you are going through right now, God is ever watching, ever aware, ever shepherding your soul. And church, that is great news. The presence of God is great news for those who have had their sin forgiven.
• 8:20
  Listen to Psalm 32 and verse 1. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed. Blessed is the one. Happy is the man whose sin is forgiven. And that is indeed true. But what about for the man or woman whose sin is not yet forgiven? What about those who have not found forgiveness in Christ? For them, the ever-watching eye of God is not necessarily a blessing, rather a bother God is ever watching.
• 8:50
  Ever since the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden, it has been human nature to hide from the Lord. You'll recall as soon as they sinned, they went and hid themselves. And so let me just ask you, church, is the Lord's presence a blessing or a burden in your life? Because that could probably be a good litmus test to determine where you're at with the Lord. If you feel like, man, why can't God just mind his own business? If you feel that guilt kind of wash over you whenever you think about the Lord's
• 9:19
  presence then can i encourage you run to god and not away from him adam and eve's problem in the garden was not necessarily even the sin that they had committed rather it was their hiding from the one who could cover and forgive it and so church and even you who are not part of the church but who are watching this whose sin is not forgiven run to the presence of god the promise of god jesus himself in john chapter 6 is whoever comes to me i will by no means cast out jesus said that
• 9:48
  Whoever comes to me, I will by no means cast out. And so run to him. Forgiveness is found in his name. He is your personal shepherd. But notice also that God is a providing shepherd. He continues in verse 1. I shall not want. I shall not want. I shall have no other needs, he says. I will never know want again because God is my shepherd. Verse 2. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
• 10:17
  The one who knows the Shepherd is no need of anything else And we may ask for far beyond our daily bread and it may give us comfort honestly to know that we have food stores for months But if our souls chase after these things then we run in vain The Lord knows we can only eat one day at a time And so he promises to provide one day at a time church. He promises rest. He promises comfort. He promises safety
• 10:47
  for today and so church let me ask do you trust the lord to provide for your every need notice i did not say to provide for your every desire it is true that if you delight yourself in the lord then he will give you the desire of your heart but really what that means is that the lord would be the desire of your heart if you desire the lord he will absolutely give you himself absolutely he will he will give you the desire of your heart by calling god
• 11:15
  our providing shepherd what we are doing there is admitting that what we have is what we need if god provides then church we don't need anything else what we have is what we need and not just financially speaking but even spiritually speaking 2 peter 1 and verse 3 says this his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him
• 11:41
  who called us to his own glory and excellence. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything you need to live a godly life, you have already had. You already have been provided in Christ. He is a providing shepherd. Notice third, God is a pardoning shepherd.
• 12:01
  He's a pardoning shepherd. Look at verse 3. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And God is able, and not only able, church, God is willing not only to provide for your souls, but even to pardon our sin. He is able to do what we cannot do. We are a people who are prone, and I certainly am included in this. I am not above pretending to be more spiritual and righteous than I actually am.
• 12:30
  Man, I am a wretch apart from the grace of God. I am deplorable and debauched apart from the grace of Jesus Christ. That is me. There is no sin ever committed on this earth that I am not capable of committing. And really not only the sustaining grace, but even the sanctifying grace, but even that restraining force of the Holy Spirit in my life is the only reason I don't run off the rails and go absolutely wild.
• 13:00
  and sin rampant. That's the only reason. I pretend like I'm a very righteous person, but I know in my heart who I actually am. I know that I'm a wretch.
• 13:11
  But look what verse 3 says. He restores your soul. So from whatever height you've fallen, the Lord is able to pick you up out of that miry muck and shame. The Lord is able to restore your soul and lead you in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. What we try to do on our own, walk a righteous life, pretend like we are godly, God is able to do in us.
• 13:34
  You don't have to pretend to be righteous. Just walk along behind the Lord and you will live a righteous life. He's able to clean what no one else could. He's able to forgive and restore through the blood of Jesus that which was lost. Our shepherd God gives joy to the sorrowful. Man, that is good news.
• 13:56
  He gives sanctity to the sinner. He strengthens the weak. And not only that, but our God reveals to us the path that is righteous. He shows us how not to fall back into our sin and sorrow. That's what God does. He is a pardoning shepherd. Notice fourth, God is a protecting shepherd. Look at verse four. He's a protecting shepherd. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.
• 14:23
  Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You'll notice a few things in verse four. Number one, that David said he would walk, walk and not run through the valley of the shadow of death. And even in the face of death, David had no fear. What a lesson for us to learn in the year 2020. There are so many things this year to be afraid of.
• 14:51
  But only if you don't have a shepherd God. You have no reason to be afraid, church. You have no reason even to be anxious. Anxiety would cause you to run. But you have no reason to run. He even says, I walk through the valley. And to walk indicates a soul that knows its road has been carefully chosen. It is a soul that knows its sublime end is...
• 15:19
  assured no matter what happens in our country and in this world in this year or the or the next no matter what happens in the next election no matter what happens it does not matter church our sublime end is assured assured because of our shepherd God notice also that David calls death a valley
• 15:43
  and that he will walk through it he has no intention of lingering in the valley of death he views death merely as a portal to a secondary destination almost like a layover again charles spurgeon says death is not the house death is merely the porch
• 16:00
  You pass through the porch to get to the house. You don't stay there. And God's people need not view death as anything but the price that must be paid, the ticket that must be punched in order to be ushered into glory. Death for the believer is so temporary and so momentary. It's just like the ticket that has to be paid, right? You hand the ticket, it gets punched, you move on. That's all that death is for the believer.
• 16:29
  Paul even said the Apostle Paul even said I I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is better by far I desire that I actually look forward to dying so that I can be with Jesus the Apostle Paul even said this better by far What is your view of death? Do you view death the same way? Merely the porch the ticket that must be punched notice also in verse 4 that he describes death's shadow
• 16:57
  shadow it is the shadow of death because for those who are in Christ death's substance has been removed there is no substance of death only the shadow remains and this is kind of cool as we all know where there is a shadow there must also be light somewhere light is present and we can take comfort in the fact that even in our darkest times
• 17:24
  Even when you find yourself in the darkest shadow, the light of the world, Jesus Christ himself is still shining. That's fourth. He is a protecting shepherd. Notice finally that he is a preparing shepherd. Look at verses five and six. 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.
• 17:54
  Consider here the peace which God gives to his people. You know, a soldier would never stop to eat if his enemy were at the gate.
• 18:08
  Right? I mean, if the enemy is at the gate, a soldier's not going to sit down and eat in peace. He is too vigilant for that. He's going to be up on the wall protecting his city, protecting his home. And yet here, David says, even in the very presence of my enemies, not only is the enemy at the gate, they've breached the gate. They've come into the very room in which David is. And even there, he says, I will eat. You've prepared a table before me. I'm at peace.
• 18:35
  The man of God, the woman of God can eat in perfect peace. There's no hurry. There's no confusion. Listen to Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And let me just ask you, church, if you have peace with God, then who cares who you're at war with? Right? I mean, if God is for us, who can stand against us? I tell you, the answer is nobody that matters.
• 19:04
  Nobody that matters can stand against you. If God is for you, who can stand against you? Nobody. David just says, man, I have nothing to worry about. Not only does the Lord provide my food, my daily bread, but I can eat it in peace even when my enemies are in the very room that I am because God is a preparing and protecting shepherd. Church, let me ask you, and those who are watching now who are not part of the church, are you at peace? Are you at peace?
• 19:32
  And if you say yes to that, then does your life communicate that you are at peace? Because oftentimes we will say, yes, I'm at peace. But that when you look at our lives and the way that we live, it is frantic. It is hurried. We are full of worry and anxiety, wracked with anxiety. Does your life communicate that you know the shepherd God?
• 19:59
  He continues, you anoint my head with oil, he says in the last part of verse 5. My cup overflows. And to have one's head anointed with oil meant that they were prepared to do what the Lord had called them to do. Without the anointing of God, they would have been left to human devices, left to their own frailty and feeble ability. But with the Lord's anointing, they could accomplish what only the Lord could do.
• 20:26
  And church, there seems to be some calls that the Lord would have us to do, some calls that he would push us into or call us toward that seem impossible. Love someone, love everyone, love everyone with the love and affection of Christ. Love them. What about those who are difficult to love? What about those who are impossible to love? What about the people who don't love me? What about eye for eye and tooth for tooth? What about that?
• 20:55
  Forgive someone who doesn't deserve it? What if I've been horribly violated, Pastor Danny? I'm supposed to forgive them? What if they don't even want my forgiveness? What if they're not asking for it? I still have to forgive them? In Christ, and because of the shepherd.
• 21:14
  who oversees and watches our souls, we can do the seemingly impossible by the power of the Lord in you. You are anointed. He says, even surely, verse six, surely. Surely, you see a little translator's note there. There's probably in your Bible a little number three. And if you look down at the number three in the footnote in your Bible, or only, surely, could also be translated only. It's the same word. What a difference that translation would make. Listen to it if it were translated only. Only, he says, goodness and mercy shall follow me.
• 21:44
  Only in David's darkest days, as well as his brightest, goodness and mercy from the Lord would be at his disposal. One has said, goodness and mercy follow him always. The days of fasting, as well as the days of feasting, the dreary days of winter, as well as the bright days of summer, goodness supplies our needs, mercy blots out our sins. Church, David's use of...
• 22:11
  The term shepherd communicates a great deal about the nature and character of God, but it also communicates some things about us If God is a shepherd, then what does that make us but sheep? And what does God expect of his sheep if he's our Shepherd God? Then what does God expect us to do as his sheep a few things as we conclude? number one sheep are meant to follow
• 22:35
  That's our job, church. Our job is not to lead. Our job is merely to follow. Are you content to simply follow the shepherd regardless of where he leads? And you know, there's a famous story in the Old Testament, Jonah the prophet. Man, the worst prophet. He was the worst prophet.
• 22:55
  Right, called by God to go to Nineveh because the Lord knew that he needed a prophet in Nineveh because the people's hearts were ready to receive him and receive his grace. And yet Jonah said, no, I'm not doing that. Fled the other way, finds a ship the exact opposite direction, jumps on the ship. God has to bring a storm.
• 23:12
  The sailors throw Jonah into the sea. He chooses death rather than obedience. Jonah knew if they had just turned that ship around, the storm would have ceased. But rather than do that, Jonah said, I don't want to go back. Just kill me. They throw him. They pitch him over the side. The storm ceases. Jonah expects to die there. I'd rather die than go to where you called me, Lord. We know the end of the story. God swallowed him with a fish and then spit him back up on the beach. Made him go.
• 23:39
  Fine, if you won't go on your own accord, I'll make you go. How many times, church, does the Lord have to swallow us with a fish to get us to follow where he's called us to go? Are we content simply to follow the shepherd? Because he's our shepherd, we are the sheep. Second, what are sheep supposed to do? Trust. Trust. The wealthy man may trust in riches, Jeremiah 9 says.
• 24:05
  The strong man may trust in his strength. The scholar might trust in his understanding. The soldier might trust in his weapons. But those who know the Lord need look no further than to trust in the Savior. And if you have the Lord as your shepherd God, you shall never have to fear. You shall never know want. The final thing that Scripture calls sheep to do of their shepherd is to love. Is to love.
• 24:33
  We'll finish verse six. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And then it says this, all the days of my life, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I shall dwell. And again, there's a little translator's footnote. You guys see, there's probably a little number five next to dwell. And if you look down at the little five, it says, or shall return to dwell. Sheep are rarely fenced or hemmed in.
• 25:01
  Right? Most of the time you see sheep or flocks of sheep. They're just out there grazing in the open space. For the most part, sheep are allowed to roam where they will, just like we are as God's sheep. And yet they will never leave the shepherd.
• 25:17
  They always return. No matter how far out they go, they always return to the shepherd. Once they recognize the value of staying close to the shepherd, they choose to stay with the shepherd. And that is exactly what we are called to do as sheep. He allows us to make our decisions. He allows us to do whatever we want. There really is true, genuine freedom in Christ. But it's not freedom to depart from Christ. It's freedom to stay with Christ. We shall return to dwell because we know.
• 25:46
  that we've got a great heavenly shepherd watching over us and we love him as a return what a great promise of scripture this morning church that jesus that god is our shepherd and lord i pray that as we consider these truths protecting preserving restoring preparing shepherd that we have that we have no fear even in the valley of the shadow of death god that is so temporary that we have heaven to look forward to and lord we long for heaven
• 26:18
  long to die, to depart, to be with Jesus, better by far. But Lord, we just ask that you would make us faithful sheep until then, that we would love you, that we would trust you and follow you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.