Jesus Our Shepherd (Psalm 23)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:04.200 If you are able, please remain standing and let's turn to Psalm twenty three. 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:20.829 Now, and here, here, God's word, Psalm of David. 3 00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:28.940 The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie 4 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:34.899 down in Green Pastures, he leads me by side still waters, he restores 5 00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:39.929 my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness. For his namesake, 6 00:00:41.090 --> 00:00:45.369 even though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, I will 7 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:50.600 fear no evil, for you are with me, your Rod and your staff. 8 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.840 They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of 9 00:00:54.920 --> 00:01:00.880 My Enemies, you annoint my head with oil. My Cup overflows. Surely 10 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:06.790 goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall 11 00:01:06.829 --> 00:01:12.750 dwell in the House of the Lord forever. Amen, you may be seated. 12 00:01:30.980 --> 00:01:37.849 We are taking just a short break from our walking through the book of 13 00:01:37.969 --> 00:01:42.769 Mica and to hear God's Word in Psalm Twenty three. I'm for a couple 14 00:01:42.890 --> 00:01:46.290 reasons. I'm one of them is that, as I mentioned at the beginning 15 00:01:46.329 --> 00:01:51.120 of this month, the theme of God is our shepherd is something that we 16 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.879 were going to hear a lot of this month, as we heard God's Word 17 00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:00.519 and various parts of the scriptures. Mean we've seen that in Mica on both 18 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:06.989 his condemnation of the shepherds and his promise of this great king that would come 19 00:02:07.069 --> 00:02:12.710 to shepherd is people out of Bethlehem. And we also have a next week 20 00:02:12.789 --> 00:02:15.340 as we go through John, the gospel of John, in our morning services, 21 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:21.620 will come to John Ten, which is the famous passage about Jesus as 22 00:02:21.819 --> 00:02:24.780 the Good Shepherd. And so I thought it might be nice to take a 23 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:32.689 moment and hear some twenty three, this most famous psalm, which begins this 24 00:02:32.849 --> 00:02:43.250 way. The Lord is my shepherd, Yahweh is my shepherd. I want 25 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:49.919 to walk through this psalm with you and just a very simple way, considering 26 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:54.599 its images, reflecting on the themes that God gives to us, that we 27 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:58.520 might hear his word, that it might be impressed on our hearts. And 28 00:02:58.590 --> 00:03:06.150 no matter what your particular shit situation is as a sheep, no matter where 29 00:03:06.270 --> 00:03:09.229 you are at in your life, my prayer is that God's word would be 30 00:03:09.789 --> 00:03:16.180 a comfort and a joy for you. But to hear first, I want 31 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:23.099 you to notice what happens when God is your shepherd. What happens when this 32 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:27.689 God, this one who gives his name to US Yah way, or it's 33 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:32.889 pronounced Jehovah sometimes. This one who had revealed himself to Abraham and Isaac and 34 00:03:34.009 --> 00:03:40.719 Jacob. What happens when he is a shepherd? He uses this language of 35 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:46.240 shepherding to talk about what he does as he brings his people out of Egypt. 36 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.560 The Bible talks about God as a shepherd, as he watches over his 37 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:55.030 people in the wilderness and takes care of them. David experiences that in a 38 00:03:55.069 --> 00:04:00.189 very personal way. And here are some of the things that happens when God 39 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:09.349 is your your shepherd, this particular God, the one true God. Excuse 40 00:04:09.430 --> 00:04:16.459 me. Well, the first thing David says is simply I shall not want. 41 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:25.449 To want is a to need something, to lack something in some way. 42 00:04:26.490 --> 00:04:31.930 And David says categorically I shall not want, not because perhaps he doesn't 43 00:04:31.930 --> 00:04:36.769 have desires, but he knows that everything is satisfied in the Lord. He 44 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:41.759 will be taken care of. You know, in the Lord's prayer we pray 45 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:46.439 that the God would provide for us our daily bread, did he would forgive 46 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:51.439 our sins. These are our most basic needs and body and soul and we 47 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:55.750 lean on the Lord and we know that when we ask these things of him. 48 00:04:56.470 --> 00:05:02.029 We shall not want some of those specifics David mentions. Starting in verse 49 00:05:02.110 --> 00:05:08.139 two, he says he makes me lie down in Green Pastures, he leads 50 00:05:08.139 --> 00:05:13.660 me beside still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me in paths 51 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:18.660 of righteousness. For his namesake, David describes the Lord is his shepherd, 52 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:24.129 and David as a sheep of the Lord, is this one who is cared 53 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:30.610 for by the Lord and he is taken into safe places. How often we 54 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:36.079 find ourselves afraid? So often, I hope not right now, at this 55 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:41.720 moment for you, but throughout the course of our everyday lives, every day, 56 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.079 at some moment or another, we find ourselves on on guard, being 57 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:48.560 careful, watching out. This is, of course, important to do in 58 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:55.870 a world that is full of dangers, but when we know that we are 59 00:05:55.870 --> 00:06:00.269 led by the Lord, our souls can rest because he leads us in good 60 00:06:00.430 --> 00:06:09.139 places, he takes us in green pastures and besides still waters. What David 61 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:12.579 is saying is that when we are in the Lord, we are safe, 62 00:06:12.819 --> 00:06:18.050 we are taken care of. He provides for our our physical wellbeing, he 63 00:06:18.209 --> 00:06:26.970 provides for our physical needs as well. This leading beside still waters as an 64 00:06:27.050 --> 00:06:32.519 image to both of peace, but he has nourishment here, places where he 65 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:42.319 can go. The physical care of David is also coupled with care for his 66 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:46.430 soul. He restores my soul. I don't know about you, but even 67 00:06:46.509 --> 00:06:50.910 reading these words, he leads me besides still waters. He he takes me 68 00:06:51.069 --> 00:06:56.509 and makes me lie down in green pastures. These words themselves are restorative to 69 00:06:56.550 --> 00:07:01.220 the soul, but the Lord works in all kinds of ways. Is he 70 00:07:01.339 --> 00:07:08.699 restores not only our bodies but our souls as well, and this is defined 71 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:13.139 in this last phrase where he says he leads me in paths of righteousness for 72 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:18.250 his namesake. David's life with the Lord, is his shepherd, is defined 73 00:07:18.449 --> 00:07:25.329 not just by peace but by the thing that always goes with peace, righteousness. 74 00:07:26.569 --> 00:07:30.439 You don't have peace in your heart where there is wickedness and sin, 75 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:34.639 where your conscience is guilty and your feeling ashamed and you know that you're doing 76 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:41.920 foolish and evil things. There's no peace there. But David wants and sees 77 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:47.790 in the Lord Opportunity and even possession of the restoration of his soul. And 78 00:07:47.990 --> 00:07:51.189 so in that he said, he says that the Lord restores his soul, 79 00:07:51.509 --> 00:07:57.949 and part of that is because he is led in paths of righteousness. The 80 00:07:58.069 --> 00:08:03.579 paths of righteousness in the Bible described as the safe places, maybe narrow, 81 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:11.100 but safe and secure. This is where the Lord leads us and he does 82 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:16.089 it for his namesake. He knows that his Lord is not trusting in another 83 00:08:16.290 --> 00:08:22.569 Lord. David knows that his God is not subservient to some other God. 84 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:28.800 But David is taken care of by the Almighty, the all true, the 85 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:37.840 all powerful God, and that leads him to say what he says in Verse 86 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.549 Four. Even though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, 87 00:08:45.070 --> 00:08:50.590 I will fear no evil. So if you read the first three verses and 88 00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:58.659 you start asking yourself, David doesn't belong in my reality, David doesn't seem 89 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:01.659 to actually have his feet on the ground in the world that I live in. 90 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:07.659 Still Waters, green pastors. This all sounds very nice, but I 91 00:09:07.899 --> 00:09:11.210 feel like I'm walking through the Valley of the shadow of death, to be 92 00:09:11.330 --> 00:09:18.769 extreme. But of course David has that in mind as well to his his 93 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:22.929 view of his life, and the Lord is not a Pollyanna kind of view 94 00:09:24.009 --> 00:09:30.320 of life. David is not ignoring the difficulties around him. For example, 95 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:33.960 if you go back just to Psalm twenty two, you find these famous words 96 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.269 verse one. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 97 00:09:41.350 --> 00:09:45.190 Why are you so far from saving me? And the words of my groaning 98 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:52.980 go bound to verse twelve. Of many bulls encompass me. Strong Bulls of 99 00:09:52.059 --> 00:09:56.620 Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and 100 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:01.700 roaring lion. I'm pour it out like water and my bones are out of 101 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:05.059 joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast. 102 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:09.370 My strength is dried up like a pot shirt. My tongue sticks to my 103 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:13.330 jaws. You lay me in the dust of death. It goes on. 104 00:10:16.850 --> 00:10:20.559 David's a realist. David is able to look at his situations, look at 105 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:24.639 the things that he faces in this life and be very serious about them. 106 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:31.080 He doesn't just put on rose colored glasses and ignore the truths of the world 107 00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:37.350 around him. But what David does put on our glasses through which our glasses 108 00:10:37.429 --> 00:10:43.750 through which he sees the world according to God's eyes, in which he can 109 00:10:43.830 --> 00:10:48.309 see the dogs that surround him, the people that are pursuing him, and 110 00:10:48.389 --> 00:10:52.860 these are real life events to you remember that the King of Israel had David 111 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:56.100 and many times on the run. The David was literally in the Wilderness, 112 00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:07.529 fleeing for his life, pursued by a strong man, with strong men surrounding 113 00:11:07.610 --> 00:11:15.049 him. And then Psalm twenty three. The Lord is my shepherd, I 114 00:11:15.090 --> 00:11:22.360 shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, even though 115 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:26.240 I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 116 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:33.269 evil. So how does David hold these two things together? How can he 117 00:11:33.429 --> 00:11:39.389 be at such peace even while he's in such turmoil, even while he's crying 118 00:11:39.470 --> 00:11:41.789 out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Can 119 00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:50.940 he also say the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want, because 120 00:11:52.899 --> 00:12:01.610 God is with him, a God that he cannot always see, God that 121 00:12:01.730 --> 00:12:05.370 he has to rely on, based on his promises and the means that God 122 00:12:05.570 --> 00:12:11.970 uses in his life, David knows that, even though, even though he 123 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:16.399 walks through the Valley of the shadow of death, he is going to be 124 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:24.480 okay, he is not going to fear because God is with him. Your 125 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:31.470 Rod and your staff, they comfort me. This is a reminder to us 126 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:39.269 that the Lord I'm though he is invisible, though we cannot see him. 127 00:12:39.350 --> 00:12:46.379 He is at work and he does so through means. Maybe a friend who 128 00:12:46.419 --> 00:12:52.100 comes alongside of you, maybe a sermon that reminds you of the truth about 129 00:12:52.179 --> 00:12:58.100 your king, maybe it's some other thing that happens in your life. God 130 00:12:58.259 --> 00:13:03.169 using these various means to come to US and guide US and watch over US 131 00:13:03.250 --> 00:13:07.690 and protect us. Have you ever thought about how much you've been protected and 132 00:13:07.769 --> 00:13:11.690 you didn't even know it? Have you ever thought about how many times you 133 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:18.120 have avoided total disaster and weren't even aware of it? Every now and then, 134 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.000 I think we do get a taste of this. We realize, you 135 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:26.350 know, sort of after the fact, how close we were to danger and 136 00:13:26.509 --> 00:13:31.710 we go wow, the Lord was protecting me, the Lord was watching over 137 00:13:31.830 --> 00:13:37.149 me. How many times do we not ever even know it? How many 138 00:13:37.149 --> 00:13:43.860 times do we receive our daily bread on our table and forget that it was 139 00:13:43.980 --> 00:13:48.899 God who brought it there, or not realize all that went into that process? 140 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:54.419 How could we ever realize fully what goes into all of the things which 141 00:13:54.500 --> 00:14:03.009 God is doing simultaneously in the world to take care of his people? When 142 00:14:03.049 --> 00:14:07.769 we think of all of those things, brothers and sisters, they can bring 143 00:14:07.809 --> 00:14:15.440 us comfort because God is sovereign and God is strong. God watches over those 144 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:22.200 whom he loves. And then we have, in verse five, kind of 145 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:28.549 an image switch. No longer are we a sheep in the field, but 146 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:33.590 we're sitting at a table. He says, you prepare a table before me 147 00:14:33.789 --> 00:14:39.019 in the presence of My Enemies, you annoying to my head with oil. 148 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:46.179 My Cup overflows. Here the image switches to that of a banquet where David 149 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:56.850 is the honored guest, or even the the chief person at this meal. 150 00:14:56.889 --> 00:15:01.409 No longer he is. He had a dark valley on being surrounded by evil 151 00:15:01.450 --> 00:15:07.480 people seeking to destroy him, seeking to take his life. But there he 152 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:13.240 is in the presence of his enemies, not afraid, but with his God 153 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:20.279 anointing him with oil at this great table. This is in a way, 154 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:26.470 God is mocking the enemies of David as he annoints this king of his is. 155 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:35.710 The enemies can do nothing except stand and watch the Lord Blessing David, 156 00:15:35.299 --> 00:15:41.419 his servant. You prepare a table before me in the presence of My Enemies. 157 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:54.250 You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. David, you 158 00:15:54.330 --> 00:16:00.690 might remember, is described himself as a shepherd of God's people. Psalm Seventy 159 00:16:00.769 --> 00:16:08.960 Eight, seventy through seventy two, says he chose David His servant and took 160 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:15.840 him from the sheepfolds, from following the nursing use. He brought him to 161 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:21.230 Shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his inheritance, with upright heart. 162 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:26.990 He shepherded them and guided them with a skillful hand. So you see what 163 00:16:26.110 --> 00:16:32.590 the Psalm says. They're describes David himself as an under shepherd of the Lord, 164 00:16:33.100 --> 00:16:37.980 doing the very things for God's people that God is doing for him here. 165 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:44.500 If it's for a similar reason that the Lord is so angry with his 166 00:16:44.700 --> 00:16:49.370 shepherds, his under shepherds, who do harm to his people, those who 167 00:16:49.370 --> 00:16:53.610 have been blessed with the goodness of the Lord, and then devour the sheep, 168 00:16:53.970 --> 00:16:59.809 harm the sheep, fail to protect the sheep. These are the evil 169 00:16:59.889 --> 00:17:04.400 ones. But David, David, is the great shepherd of the Lord, 170 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:08.920 he is the Great King of the Lord and though at certain moments he finds 171 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:12.920 himself in the Valley of the shadow of death, he knows that ultimately he 172 00:17:14.119 --> 00:17:17.950 will sit at the table of the Lord, being anointed by the Lord and 173 00:17:18.710 --> 00:17:26.029 ruling with power and with glory. The Psalm. Then, in God's shepherding 174 00:17:26.150 --> 00:17:33.539 of David, then reminds us of David's shepherding as well. And those two 175 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:38.259 things, with this human king over God's people and God over his people, 176 00:17:38.660 --> 00:17:45.250 those two things come together in Christ himself, where the son of David and 177 00:17:45.450 --> 00:17:51.490 the son of God, fully human and fully man, comes to be the 178 00:17:51.730 --> 00:17:56.529 Good Shepherd, as will consider, and saw John Ten next week in our 179 00:17:56.569 --> 00:18:03.079 morning service, Jesus, the Good Shepherd who took those words from Psalm twenty 180 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.799 two on his own lips. My God, my God, why have you 181 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:15.390 forsaken me? who also felt overpowered, who also was overpowered and in fact 182 00:18:15.549 --> 00:18:23.470 even died, and yet nevertheless was victorious over his enemies, over sin, 183 00:18:23.750 --> 00:18:29.579 over death. The enemy is of the son of David, the enemy is 184 00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:32.859 of the son of God. Wrote on the Cross, King of Kings, 185 00:18:33.619 --> 00:18:37.940 is a great mockery, but of course we know that when Jesus died on 186 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:44.450 the cross, he indeed was lifted up as a conquering king, a truth 187 00:18:44.529 --> 00:18:48.930 that was vindicated when he ascended into heaven as the risen lamb of God. 188 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:56.440 Christ walked through the Valley of shadow of death, and he did he even 189 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:04.039 to death itself, and you know, when Jesus did that, he did 190 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:12.390 it for us. We were with him in those moments, we who believe 191 00:19:12.670 --> 00:19:17.750 on him and have our life in him. The scriptures say we died with 192 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:21.309 him, we were buried with him, Paul says in Roman six, and 193 00:19:21.470 --> 00:19:26.700 we came to life with him. This means that as we go forward in 194 00:19:26.819 --> 00:19:33.539 this world, we can see ourselves to seated at that table, anointed with 195 00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:38.569 the oil of the Lord, even the spirit of the Lord. That anointed 196 00:19:38.609 --> 00:19:45.970 Christ also annoints us, not because we are human kings over Israel, Christ 197 00:19:47.170 --> 00:19:51.529 is that, not because we are Christ, but because we are in him. 198 00:19:52.730 --> 00:19:55.960 He is our head and we are as body, and what flows down 199 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:00.279 over the head flows down over us. We stand, as Paul says, 200 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:08.549 more than conquerors, anointed in God, safe and secure. And so, 201 00:20:08.589 --> 00:20:14.150 if David could say in verse six, Surely Goodness and mercy shall follow me 202 00:20:14.349 --> 00:20:17.630 all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the 203 00:20:17.710 --> 00:20:22.380 Lord forever. You can too, as those who are in Christ, as 204 00:20:22.420 --> 00:20:26.019 those who are in the great son of God, this great anointed king, 205 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:30.259 whom the enemies of the Lord try to break the bonds apart. As Psalm 206 00:20:30.339 --> 00:20:37.609 too says, but cannot. You are safe and secure in him. You 207 00:20:38.049 --> 00:20:42.769 and if you are in Christ and if put your faith in Him who walked 208 00:20:42.809 --> 00:20:48.410 through the folly of the shadow of death for you, you two will dwell 209 00:20:48.609 --> 00:20:56.839 in the house of the Lord forever. David's prayer is your prayer. David's 210 00:20:56.039 --> 00:21:02.640 safety is your safety, because David's God is your God.