The Lord Is My Shepard

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.160 Let's turn our attention to psalm twenty three and remain standing, if you're able, 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:16.750 as we read God's Word Psalm Twenty three. I'll give you another moment 3 00:00:16.910 --> 00:00:31.859 to turn them. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. 4 00:00:32.979 --> 00:00:37.770 He makes me lie down in Green Pastures, he leads me beside still waters, 5 00:00:38.409 --> 00:00:42.649 he restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness. For 6 00:00:42.729 --> 00:00:47.369 his namesake, even though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, 7 00:00:48.850 --> 00:00:52.920 I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your Rod 8 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:57.039 and your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in 9 00:00:57.079 --> 00:01:02.079 the presence of My Enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My Cup 10 00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:07.269 overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life 11 00:01:07.909 --> 00:01:15.549 and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord. forevern, you may 12 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:57.239 be seated, testing, testing good. Okay, thank you. I want 13 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:04.189 to preach to you today from Psalm Twenty three, most famous song, one 14 00:02:04.230 --> 00:02:07.870 of the most famous passages in the scriptures, and I wanted to do it 15 00:02:10.189 --> 00:02:15.229 for a few different reasons. I'm one of the main ones is a particular 16 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:23.259 circumstance that is occasioning this song. Many of you know that Donna, Wendy's 17 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:29.659 mother, and also Jinny Bryce's mother. Both of these ladies have been on 18 00:02:29.819 --> 00:02:35.490 hospice for some time and they're declining in their health quite a bit. Donna, 19 00:02:35.569 --> 00:02:40.129 in particular, has taken quite a turn for the worse and she is 20 00:02:40.250 --> 00:02:46.840 likely to pass soon. And over the last several months I've had the opportunity 21 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:53.479 pretty much every week to sit with Donna, I'm ginny as well recently, 22 00:02:54.280 --> 00:03:00.870 and need a psalm twenty three, over and over and over and over again. 23 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:05.669 One reason I've done that is because I'm Donna, as you know, 24 00:03:06.909 --> 00:03:13.620 is suffering with dementia and not always sure how the mind works, and moments 25 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:20.780 like this, I wanted to pick something comforting and something familiar, with prayers 26 00:03:20.900 --> 00:03:27.729 that the Lord would use his word and this psalm to bring hope to her 27 00:03:29.370 --> 00:03:37.330 and some stickiness to his word in her mind and in her heart. And 28 00:03:37.449 --> 00:03:42.919 so now, I'm as she comes to the end of the days that God 29 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:49.000 has given to her and as we all think about our our own time and 30 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:54.710 brevity in this world, it's a good psalm to think about. It's a 31 00:03:54.750 --> 00:04:00.150 good word to rest in, and so I want to invite you to do 32 00:04:00.349 --> 00:04:05.030 that with me to the day, even as we also pray for the morth 33 00:04:05.110 --> 00:04:14.659 ones and grieve along with them and in this difficult time in John Ten, 34 00:04:14.659 --> 00:04:19.379 John Ten verse twenty seven, Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice, 35 00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:27.730 I know them and they follow me. My sheep here my voice, I 36 00:04:27.889 --> 00:04:34.250 know them and they follow me. Psalm twenty three is a song, a 37 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:44.240 prayer from one of those sheep. Inspired by the Holy Spirit. David pours 38 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:49.439 his heart out to his shepherd and he gives us a sense of what it 39 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:55.629 means to follow Christ, or, to put it another way, what it 40 00:04:55.750 --> 00:05:00.670 means to be led by Christ, what it means to have the Lord as 41 00:05:00.750 --> 00:05:05.910 our shepherd. David was a very remarkable sheep, right one of the most 42 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:14.540 remarkable of God's creatures in all of history. His life was full of trauma, 43 00:05:14.579 --> 00:05:19.220 ups and downs, and ups and downs, and very low downs and 44 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:26.689 very high ups. There was singing and dancing and war and betrayal and deep 45 00:05:26.850 --> 00:05:31.569 friendship. There were times when day wood was on the run, seeking asylum, 46 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:39.040 homeless, pursued by enemies wanting to kill him, and there were times 47 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:44.360 when he sat on the throne with servants all around him waiting to serve him. 48 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:49.350 Psalm, seventy eight versus seventy and seventy, seventy to seventy two, 49 00:05:49.389 --> 00:05:55.509 speaks about day it as a shepherd. The word says. He chose David 50 00:05:55.589 --> 00:06:00.509 His servant and took him from the sheepfolds, from following the nursing us. 51 00:06:02.230 --> 00:06:06.980 He brought him to Shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel's inheritance, with upright 52 00:06:08.139 --> 00:06:13.660 heart. He shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. So though 53 00:06:13.779 --> 00:06:18.649 David was a shepherd over flocks of actual sheep, on God made him a 54 00:06:18.850 --> 00:06:26.529 shepherd king over Israel. But over, in all of those events and all 55 00:06:26.610 --> 00:06:31.170 of that time, David was always a sheep himself. He was always one 56 00:06:31.329 --> 00:06:36.199 who was being led by the Lord, and in this Psalm we hear of 57 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:43.879 that heart. We hear of those truths expressed by the Lord's servant. David 58 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:48.910 knew that his life was not led by random chance. It was not led 59 00:06:49.110 --> 00:06:54.269 by this or that circumstance or by the will of men, whether that was 60 00:06:54.709 --> 00:07:00.189 saul or anyone else. He was not led by the will of Pagan Gods 61 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:03.459 or even the results of his own effort. He knew that he was being 62 00:07:03.579 --> 00:07:08.740 led in both the ups and downs on the mountain tops and in the valleys, 63 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:15.540 by his shepherd king, by Yah Way, by God himself, and 64 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:19.730 it's from this perspective that he praised this song and under the inspiration of the 65 00:07:19.810 --> 00:07:26.810 Holy Spirit that God helps us to hear the heart, the heart of him, 66 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:30.120 of God himself, and also the heart of those who follow him. 67 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:36.079 So what does it mean to be led by the Lord through the various circumstances 68 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:42.319 of life? The Psalm begins by saying the Lord is my shepherd, and 69 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:48.230 then I shall not want now what he means is that he knows he's not 70 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:54.790 going to lack anything. Nothing is missing. This is a very good place 71 00:07:54.910 --> 00:07:59.899 to be. In Hebrews Thirteen, five says be content with such things as 72 00:07:59.939 --> 00:08:05.300 you have, for he has said I will never leave or forsake you. 73 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:11.420 Be Content with everything you have, because God has said I will never leave 74 00:08:11.540 --> 00:08:16.970 you or forsake you. This is, of course, what Jesus said before 75 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:20.970 his ascension, when he spoke and gave us that great commission to go and 76 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:26.959 preach to the nation's the good news of the word, discipling them, building 77 00:08:28.040 --> 00:08:31.879 them up in all the things that the Lord had spoken, baptizing them the 78 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:35.440 name of the father, son and the Holy Spirit. I will be with 79 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:41.590 you always, he says, even to the end of the age. And 80 00:08:41.830 --> 00:08:46.029 because the Lord is with us, we are called to be content. Jeremi 81 00:08:46.149 --> 00:08:52.950 I borrows a puritan defined contentment this way. Christian contentment is that sweet inward, 82 00:08:54.509 --> 00:09:00.539 quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's 83 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:11.250 wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. Contentment is a trust. Contentment flows 84 00:09:11.289 --> 00:09:16.129 from faith. We can be content because we know we have everything we need, 85 00:09:16.570 --> 00:09:20.809 and we know we have everything we need because we have him who's providing 86 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:28.600 for us. I am a father, and earthly father, and I do 87 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:33.879 my best to provide for my children, but, as you all know, 88 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:39.870 it's not a perfect right. We all struggle to provide for the people that 89 00:09:39.990 --> 00:09:43.429 we are called to provide for, to be there in the ways that we 90 00:09:43.509 --> 00:09:48.669 are called to be there, to take care of them as we ought from 91 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:52.860 whether you're a father or a mother, or an employer or a friend or 92 00:09:54.100 --> 00:09:58.460 any relationship you have in life, you all know about the limitations that we 93 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:05.779 have, the struggles that we have. God does not struggle, God does 94 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:09.409 not go to sleep at night and just say I can't give anymore, I've 95 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:15.490 got to go to bed. That never happens to him. He never needs 96 00:10:15.529 --> 00:10:18.450 to go to bed, he never he never needs to eat, he never 97 00:10:18.529 --> 00:10:24.080 needs to go make more money, he never needs to take a break, 98 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:30.440 he never needs to cool down after being too angry. He never needs to 99 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:35.519 go and say sorry for things that he shouldn't have done. God, as 100 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:41.509 are perfect and heavenly father, does all things perfectly, and so is his 101 00:10:41.629 --> 00:10:46.710 children. We can be happy, we can rest, we can know that, 102 00:10:48.070 --> 00:10:52.379 as he leads us, we are going to be okay. We often 103 00:10:52.379 --> 00:10:56.860 struggle with contentment when we forget that, when we think that we're only going 104 00:10:58.019 --> 00:11:01.139 to be okay when we get this thing or get that thing. I need 105 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:05.610 this degree, I need this job. If I can get this job, 106 00:11:05.809 --> 00:11:09.169 then I'll be okay. If I can change my spouse, I'll then I'll 107 00:11:09.250 --> 00:11:13.090 be okay, if I can get my if you're a kid and you're thinking, 108 00:11:13.129 --> 00:11:16.490 if only my dad would be this or that thing, if only my 109 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:22.000 mom would be this or that thing, then I'll be okay. We're always 110 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:26.120 looking in places and in places and things to think that if these things, 111 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:31.279 if our circumstances were just different, then we'd be okay if we can get 112 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:35.149 what we want or right. If not, then we're not going to be 113 00:11:35.269 --> 00:11:43.389 okay. But that doesn't bring contentment because those things can never prove vide for 114 00:11:43.509 --> 00:11:48.980 us will only God can provide. Instead, with those things lead us to 115 00:11:48.259 --> 00:11:54.220 anxiety and fear and worry. Our chests tighten, our fence fists clench, 116 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:58.059 we pace, we wander, we argue, we fight, we we say 117 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:01.730 this is how and things wouldn't be and I want to be difference so bad. 118 00:12:03.370 --> 00:12:07.409 We get frustrated and we don't say the Lord is my shepherd, I 119 00:12:07.490 --> 00:12:13.330 shall not want that's the heart of someone who is trusting in the Lord. 120 00:12:15.090 --> 00:12:20.039 Contentment is found in not obtaining a new set of circumstances and changing the people 121 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:26.399 around us or the the the culture around us, or the government around us, 122 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:33.190 or whatever it is we're looking at. Contentment is only found by resting 123 00:12:33.309 --> 00:12:39.629 in the Lord, because it's only him that can provide for us everything that 124 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:46.019 we need and who is supreme enough, who is omnipotent enough, to direct 125 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:52.580 all the circumstances of our lives towards our good. Only he can do that, 126 00:12:54.940 --> 00:12:58.690 and so we must rest in him. When the Lord is Your Shepherd, 127 00:12:58.730 --> 00:13:03.049 and when your heart submits to that, you become a person who says 128 00:13:05.210 --> 00:13:11.009 I shall not want the Lord is my shepherd. All this reminds us that 129 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:16.200 some of us have some repenting to do, and if that's so, then 130 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:22.080 I would invite you to do that with me by looking to the Lord as 131 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:26.350 our shepherd and seeing where he will take us in his love. And where 132 00:13:26.350 --> 00:13:31.669 does he take us? The Psalm goes on. He says he makes me 133 00:13:31.830 --> 00:13:35.990 lie down in Green Pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores 134 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:41.019 my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness. For his namesake, 135 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:48.659 these verses remind us that God does not, that God puts us into places 136 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:58.250 of safety, places of provision for both body and soul. He fills us 137 00:13:58.289 --> 00:14:03.690 up, he restores us, he takes us from a position of frustration and 138 00:14:03.970 --> 00:14:07.529 perhaps even in ourselves and our own sin, and he he gives us what 139 00:14:07.690 --> 00:14:13.039 we need. He leads us in good paths, paths of righteousness. The 140 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:16.759 world will often say, I can tell you what you need. It's this 141 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:22.559 right you need into this thing, and the way to get it is rarely 142 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:28.789 a path of righteousness. It's this shortcut it's this other thing, it's grabbing, 143 00:14:28.990 --> 00:14:37.820 it's it's striking, it's it's grasping for things. But the lord takes 144 00:14:37.820 --> 00:14:41.379 us in paths of righteousness and even better than that, he takes us in 145 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:48.620 a path of righteousness that Christ himself provides for us. He doesn't just point 146 00:14:48.860 --> 00:14:54.490 to the green pastors and say all you have to do is walk perfectly on 147 00:14:54.610 --> 00:14:58.289 that line, on that path, and you'll get there. That, of 148 00:14:58.330 --> 00:15:01.730 course, it's true. But we're all a bunch of wanderers right. We 149 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:05.250 wander off into the CACTUS over here and we wander off the cliffs over there 150 00:15:05.409 --> 00:15:13.480 and there's dangers all around. We're foolish in many ways. So what does 151 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:18.440 he do? He leads us and paths of righteousness, right, kicking us 152 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:24.309 up and carrying us a to on that path of righteousness, to those green 153 00:15:24.350 --> 00:15:31.029 pastures. He takes us in Christ himself. He comes into this world and 154 00:15:31.230 --> 00:15:37.379 lives this perfect life, fulfilling all of the demands of the law, so 155 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:41.379 that we can come into that place of rest, into that heavenly place of 156 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:48.220 rest, the green pastors and these holy waters, and know that we belong 157 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:56.210 there and we came there the right way. Jesus says, not only is 158 00:15:56.289 --> 00:15:58.370 he the shepherd, he also describes him to his self as as the gate 159 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:04.159 right, the the way into the sheepfold right here. We come into this 160 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:11.399 place through him. There's no other way. He is the way, the 161 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.759 truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through him, 162 00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:19.309 and so this is God's work from us, this is for us, this 163 00:16:19.470 --> 00:16:26.230 is how we come to have peace. Lots of people in this world they 164 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:30.269 try to take shortcuts, they try to establish these things in their own righteousness, 165 00:16:30.509 --> 00:16:33.259 and they will not have peace. But when we give ourselves over to 166 00:16:33.340 --> 00:16:37.100 the Lord, when we trust in the work that he is done on our 167 00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:42.820 behalf, then we can find ourselves in places of safety and provision, because 168 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:49.610 the Lord himself has brought us there. Now some people doubt these promises. 169 00:16:51.929 --> 00:16:55.690 He makes me lie down in Green Pastures, he leads me besides still waters, 170 00:16:55.769 --> 00:17:00.330 he restores my soul. I'm in the Valley of the shadow of death. 171 00:17:00.409 --> 00:17:04.680 Right, how do those things connect? Isn't the Valley of the shadow 172 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:10.160 of death very different than a place of green pastures, very different than a 173 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:14.680 place of still waters? And yes, those are two very different images. 174 00:17:15.630 --> 00:17:22.069 But what the Psalm teaches us is that, no matter what the circumstances of 175 00:17:22.150 --> 00:17:27.109 our lives are, this is where God is leading us, in both the 176 00:17:27.309 --> 00:17:32.500 hard times and, we would say, even through the hard times. This 177 00:17:32.900 --> 00:17:41.259 is where God is leading us. This phrase, even though I walk through 178 00:17:41.259 --> 00:17:45.890 the Valley of the shadow of death, is probably one of the most striking 179 00:17:45.970 --> 00:17:52.369 phrases that has ever been written in the whole history of the world. The 180 00:17:52.490 --> 00:17:59.480 Valley of the shadow of death a place that we all have experienced to some 181 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:04.000 degree, a place of darkness, a place of loneliness, a place it 182 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:10.880 feels like impending doom. Perhaps you, at some point in your life, 183 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:17.349 have been close to death, perhaps you've the death of your body, perhaps 184 00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:25.150 you have felt being end nearing, or perhaps fear and anxiety were so strong 185 00:18:25.430 --> 00:18:30.339 on you that you felt as if all was lost. Perhaps you've been in 186 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:33.380 a place of depression so dark, so deep, that you thought you would 187 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:37.700 never come out of it, that there was no hope, that there was 188 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:45.210 no end. You know, David was not naive about these things himself. 189 00:18:45.289 --> 00:18:52.650 If you simply look back at Psalm twenty two, just the Psalm before this 190 00:18:52.809 --> 00:18:56.200 song, listen to some of the things he says, things that our Lord 191 00:18:56.279 --> 00:19:00.000 and Savior took upon his own lips. It starts, my God, my 192 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:06.200 God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving 193 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:10.069 me from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by 194 00:19:10.109 --> 00:19:11.869 day, but you do not answer, by night, but I do not 195 00:19:12.029 --> 00:19:18.710 find rest. The sounds like a man who has faced the Valley of the 196 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:25.779 shadow of death, man who has felt his bones dried up, is life 197 00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:30.779 sucked out of him, people surrounding him, his enemies attacking him, feeling 198 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:37.140 like all is lost. And he describes that more in Psalmen twenty two. 199 00:19:38.529 --> 00:19:45.289 But in all of it he knows that it is the Lord who leads him. 200 00:19:45.890 --> 00:19:49.089 It's not as though the Valley of the shadow of death isn't the Valley 201 00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:53.599 of the shadow of death. It is that it is suffering, it is 202 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:57.440 horror, it is fear and all of these, these things, those are 203 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:03.640 all real, but the Lord is there in the midst of them, and 204 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:11.750 that's why he says, with this great encouragement and confidence, that we too 205 00:20:11.869 --> 00:20:15.670 can say, when the Lord leads us, I will fear no evil. 206 00:20:15.750 --> 00:20:22.180 I'm moving forward, I'm not going to give up, because it's not me 207 00:20:22.660 --> 00:20:27.660 who's in this alone. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my 208 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:33.059 shepherd. You are with me, your Rod and your staff. They comfort 209 00:20:33.140 --> 00:20:41.089 me. This image is expanded on, or that the idea is expanded on, 210 00:20:41.289 --> 00:20:48.089 is the as David moves to verse five. Now he expands this idea 211 00:20:48.210 --> 00:20:55.200 by changing the image slightly. Now we have this image of success and prosperity. 212 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:57.720 He's led through the Valley of the shadow of death and now here he 213 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:06.869 is at a table in the presence of his enemies. This is like ultimate 214 00:21:06.910 --> 00:21:11.230 victory, right. It's one thing to gather around a table with your friends 215 00:21:11.269 --> 00:21:15.430 and your family and everything safe and that sort of thing, and you imagine 216 00:21:15.829 --> 00:21:22.500 sitting down at a table, being anointed as a king in the presence of 217 00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:26.579 your enemies and there isn't anything they can do about it. This is this 218 00:21:26.819 --> 00:21:30.380 is there. There's a kind of mocking that is going on here. I 219 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:36.809 think in this image a kind of God speaking to his enemies and saying, 220 00:21:37.369 --> 00:21:40.930 what you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do about it? 221 00:21:41.089 --> 00:21:44.289 Death, what are you gonna do about it? Sickness, what are you 222 00:21:44.329 --> 00:21:48.319 going to do about it? Satan? We're eating, we're celebrating, we're 223 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:52.920 going to rejoice, we're going to sit down and not worry about you. 224 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.000 Sure, we're in the Valley of the shadow of death, but we're are 225 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:03.230 not afraid. In fact, let's have them heal. You prepare a table 226 00:22:03.349 --> 00:22:07.589 before me in the presence of My Enemies. You Annoy my head with oil. 227 00:22:08.029 --> 00:22:12.349 My Cup overflows. Right, this is this is a feast of abundance. 228 00:22:12.789 --> 00:22:18.019 And then he concludes with verse six. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow 229 00:22:18.140 --> 00:22:23.700 me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of 230 00:22:23.819 --> 00:22:30.690 a Lord forever. It's almost as if, as David is walking through the 231 00:22:30.769 --> 00:22:34.329 Valley of the shadow of death, as enemies are surrounding him, as all 232 00:22:34.369 --> 00:22:40.049 these terrible things are happening, because the Lord is leading him there. These 233 00:22:40.609 --> 00:22:45.680 just he cleans like he can't get away from goodness and mercy. They just 234 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.119 keep following him. There, can they stay with him? There, they're 235 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:55.039 like these walking partners on this pike, on this on this dangerous, treacherous 236 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:59.109 journey he's on. There's goodness, there is mercy and there's the Lord. 237 00:23:02.710 --> 00:23:07.549 He's protected, he's provided for, he's going to these places of safety and 238 00:23:07.670 --> 00:23:11.869 provision and he just relaxes at the end and he says, I shall dwell 239 00:23:11.710 --> 00:23:22.740 in the House of the Lord forever. David's contentment isn't tied to his circumstances, 240 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:26.579 is it? He's not saying, well, Win I get to heaven, 241 00:23:26.329 --> 00:23:33.089 then I'll be content. He's saying right here, right now, in 242 00:23:33.250 --> 00:23:37.049 the presence of My Enemies, while they're here, while they're surrounding me, 243 00:23:37.529 --> 00:23:44.440 while I'm feeling this impending doom, I'm not going to be afraid, I'm 244 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:52.119 going to be at rest and I'm going to be comforted because you, oh 245 00:23:52.319 --> 00:24:00.150 Lord, are with me and we know that the Lord is with us, 246 00:24:02.230 --> 00:24:08.109 I think, even better than David knew, and at least intellectually, just 247 00:24:08.190 --> 00:24:12.339 a good starting place. Perhaps we can get it even more in our hearts, 248 00:24:12.740 --> 00:24:18.779 by God's grace. What am I talking about? I'm talking about Jesus. 249 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:27.170 We know something David didn't quite know at this point, that when we 250 00:24:27.490 --> 00:24:33.250 say, and when he says, the Lord would be with us, what 251 00:24:33.410 --> 00:24:41.319 comes into our minds is the son of God becoming incarnate, taking on our 252 00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:48.200 flesh and blood to die on a cross to face the greatest enemies that mankind 253 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:59.750 faces, the wrath of God, the the Devil himself, the the sin 254 00:25:00.069 --> 00:25:06.470 that enslaves us and to turn aside God's wrath, to put the devil to 255 00:25:06.630 --> 00:25:14.180 open shame and to forgive all of our sins. Jesus walked through the Valley 256 00:25:14.259 --> 00:25:22.970 of the shadow of death in human flesh, carrying us, carrying us through 257 00:25:22.210 --> 00:25:29.890 by a virtue of his promises and the covenants that were made. Jesus, 258 00:25:30.089 --> 00:25:33.769 our chief shepherd, went before us. This path that we're on, it's 259 00:25:33.809 --> 00:25:37.240 not one that we're trying to figure out, it's not one that we're blazing. 260 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:42.039 It's not one word we're trying to build as we go. It's already 261 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:48.319 done, it's already provided for us. Jesus has already died on the cross, 262 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:52.750 resurrected from the dead, ascended into heaven, where he is now preparing 263 00:25:52.789 --> 00:26:03.660 a place for us, for everyone who puts their faith in him. Jesus 264 00:26:03.779 --> 00:26:07.940 faced the darkness of the Cross, the betrayal, the evil that lurked all 265 00:26:07.980 --> 00:26:18.339 around him, and he came out victorious because of his righteousness. And so, 266 00:26:18.539 --> 00:26:25.730 whether you are on death's door, as we say, whether you are 267 00:26:26.769 --> 00:26:30.609 finding yourself close to the end of your life, or whether it is a 268 00:26:30.769 --> 00:26:38.160 spiritual darkness or something else that is threatening to swallow you, know that Jesus 269 00:26:38.279 --> 00:26:45.359 can lead you through and has already gone through himself. The he can guide 270 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:51.910 you through the darkest places because he knows the way and because he promises to 271 00:26:52.029 --> 00:27:02.099 take you and finish that race. He knows the path of righteousness because he 272 00:27:02.259 --> 00:27:07.859 is righteousness himself, and so beloved. Cling to him, follow him. 273 00:27:10.099 --> 00:27:15.059 Don't let the silly things of this world be your shepherd, don't let your 274 00:27:15.099 --> 00:27:19.250 sinful heart be your shepherd, don't let your circumstances be your shepherd, or 275 00:27:19.289 --> 00:27:26.289 your emotions or whatever. Let the Lord Be Your Shepherd. Let Jesus be 276 00:27:26.410 --> 00:27:32.200 Your Shepherd. Hear his voice, follow him and you will dwell in the 277 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:38.759 house of the Lord forever. Paul says that nothing can separate us from the 278 00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:45.390 love of God in Christ Jesus. So cling to him and find your safety 279 00:27:45.470 --> 00:27:48.349 and your rest in him. Let's pray