Psalm 23 • The Lord is my Shepherd

I'm gonna read the 23rd psalm and then we're going to pray and then see what the Lord has for us okay goes like this 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 let's pray thank you lord thank you God for your word now as we unpack some of these verses here today and just meditate on them this morning would you please increase our understanding give us wisdom and application as well Lord God into your word we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior amen if you had the task of finding a metaphor to describe your relationship with God I'm kind of curious not that I'm asking you to speak out right now but what metaphor you might use because that is exactly what David is doing in the 23rd psalm he's using a metaphor to describe his relationship with the God and not surprisingly he uses the one of a shepherd and his sheep I say not surprisingly because we know that that is what David did he was involved in shepherding his father's sheep as a young man and so he obviously knew and he understood the dynamic of that kind of a relationship and what it entails I've never shepherded real sheep with the kind with four legs only you guys with two legs but I've heard there's a lot of similarities we'll we'll talk about that later anyway I shared that up at McCall and some people kind of looked at me sideways you know a little bit but anyway the very first thing you're going notice about what David says related to this opening statement of this Psalm is that it is personal notice he says the Lord is my shepherd now that's significant because he could have made a doctrinal statement and said the Lord is a shepherd he could have even made it a little more you know emphatic by saying the Lord is the shepherd but he didn't he made it personal he made it intimate the Lord is my shepherd and I think that's a fairly significant statement to make because one of the most powerful characteristics of the God that you and I serve is the fact that he is personal and that we can have a personal relationship with him you know we in in evangelical Christianity we've thrown that term around a lot and we've almost kind of redefined what a personal relationship means and we've we've used it to describe simply a Christian who's come to faith and we'll say into somebody you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ you know and we kind of just shoot that out there real quick and and what that means essentially in our brains is have you accepted Christ as your Savior it doesn't necessarily mean that the person asking the question even has a personal relationship with Jesus because you see it's possible to know the Lord in the sense of salvation and not really know him in intimate fellowship and I think there's probably a reality to that that every one of us can relate to we've all been through periods of our life where we've become distant in our relationship with God we we know his salvation and we know that we know that we know that if we were to die today we will go to be with him you know for eternity but as far as the intimacy the connectedness of real genuine fellowship and and and and you know relationship yeah it can be very lacking can't it from time to time we all know what what that's about but you know this is one of those interesting things David makes this statement right at the get-go the Lord is my shepherd and and he's he's making the connection here that as a child of God I have a person personal connection to him that that goes beyond anything that you could could imagine you know we think about the personal relationship that we have within the context of families we certainly have the DNA connection you know we have the the genes you know and we can even see it you know because we look like our relatives you know which may or may not be a good thing but it doesn't necessarily follow that just because we have that genetic connection that there is a personal connection a example a father and a son have a very definite biological connection but it doesn't necessarily mean they have a relational one and even if one of those people wants to have a personal relationship if the other one doesn't there's not a whole lot you can do about that the things are going to be distant the same is true with our relationship with Jesus he's the one who wants to have the relationship with us but if we're pulling back if we're distant if we want to be distant or choose to be distant for whatever reason there's going to be distanced there and as sad as that is as it relates to human relationships and even our relationship with God it is a great comfort knowing number one that God is knowable and number two that He desires to have a personal close walk with us I mean think about that for a minute God can be personally known person as personal as knowing the person sitting next to you God can be personally known what is rather sad is how few of us have that kind of intimate relationship with him frankly and from what I can deduce from scriptures David took advantage of that response of that of that that connection that relationship you know the more we've been going through the Psalms on Wednesday and sprinkling a few of them here on Sunday morning man I can just see it all over again David was just he was right there he just connected with God and told God how he was feeling no matter how it was what it was all about and he was very honest and very genuine and I mean there was no facade you know it's it's pretty amazing in fact you know this whole idea of knowing the Lord seems to be the hallmark of what it means to be a believer or not knowing the Lord is the hallmark of what it means to be an unbeliever let me show you a couple of passages first from Jeremiah chapter 9 look at this it says let him who boasts boast in this that he understands and knows me what is God most concerned about as it relates to you know us and him it's that we would have that personal knowledge that personal relationship to know the Lord you know well in the same way you guys remember in the New Testament from the words of Jesus himself that those who will be gathered on his left on the day of judgment will be turned away with the words I never knew you so once again we come back to that idea of how important knowing the Lord is our God can be known I'll say it again in personal joyful relationship and I believe that it does cause great joy I remember reading a story a number of years ago about a believer who was imprisoned for his beliefs and was thrust into a dark prison cell with no windows and no light coming in and no artificial light he was literally cast into this cell which was a place of total darkness and he wrote how there were times during his incarceration where he had to get up and dance for joy because of the presence of the Lord and that relationship with God was so tangible so powerful that in the midst of that darkness he just had to get up and dance and then that blows me away but the beautiful wonderful personal aspect of knowing the Lord you know for many of us our personal time with the Lord we have to admit is brief and too often it's limited to those times in our lives when we're facing some kind of personal crisis you know then we're all too ready to get personal with God but when things are kind of you know going okay we're on cruise don't have any major pains to describe at that particular moment we can we can get pretty distant and we all have to admit that the truth remains that God waits to be known I love how the Apostle Paul says what he says to the Philippians and to us let me put this on the screen from chapter 3 verse 10 he says I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the Fellowship of sharing in his sufferings you know I hear this from a man who knew the Lord I believe so much more than I you know he tells in second Corinthians how he was taken to up into a place of heaven and heard things that were you know unlawful for a man to utter and the knowledge and the revelation that this man was given by the Holy Spirit apart from any human instruction and and and yet the the cry of his heart was I want to know Christ it wasn't enough for him he wanted more he wanted a deeper more intimate relationship with the Lord you know he wasn't ready to just sit back and and say wow it's been good you know I want more I wanna I want to know him in the power of his resurrection he's like you know what you know what I want to know him in the sharing of his sufferings I want to even knowing there that's not necessarily a thing I'd put up on my fridge for a memory verse I don't know about you but that was where Paul's heart was I want to know I want to know I want to have that personal walk with him as we move on here now in this short song David makes a statement about God's ability to be a good shepherd when he says I shall not want and I gotta admit to you right now this one always freaked me out as a kid I the 23rd psalm made absolutely no sense to me the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want in my sort of you know Americanized vernacular that meant you know the Lord is my shepherd but I don't want him and that's the way I kind of interpreted it until I understood that want was was related to my needs and the David was essentially saying the Lord is my shepherd therefore I shall have no need or I shall not have any want of anything but either way even after we explained it let's face it it's a clumsy phrase and it just doesn't work frankly it doesn't translate very well into our American vernacular and I'll grant you it's poetic but it's tough you know I mean to really kind of lay hold of it I personally like better that the simple statement of the Lord is my shepherd therefore all my needs are met because that's what that's what David is saying it may not be as poetic as the other but what it lacks in poetry it gains in accuracy so we we learn from verse one that not only can God be known personally but that he's ready and willing to meet our needs on a personal level so we learn a lot just from this very first verse Jesus our Shepherd cares for us his sheep in such a way as to meet our needs so forth let me show you another passage from Philippians where Paul declares my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus I love that verse but every so often I have to go back and look at it see if it still says all because the enemy likes to come along and try to convince me that it no longer says all and that there are some things that God isn't gonna do for what reason or another as far as meeting my needs but you know what we go back to the Word of God at a time like that and we bathe our heart in it don't we my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus David carries the metaphor of the shepherd sheep further by saying in verse two he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside still waters and obviously this speaks of the Lord's ability to settle David's nerves his heart when it's a flutter like I said I've never cared for the not cared for I don't mean it that way I've never taken care of the four-legged variety of sheep but I've read a little on it and I understand that they can be very skittish animals from the standpoint of being easily spooked by the way that applies alright just in case you are wondering that's one of those areas where the connection is like real easy to make but here's what I understand when sheep are on edge if they feel like there's some reason to be anxious that they will not settle down you know they will not become restful they will just be very agitated and and and can't relax and the job of the shepherd is to communicate something of you know the fact that it's things are going to be okay so that they can come to the place of relaxing and resting and David says that the Lord does that for him it does it for him and I think all of us would agree that that's no small thing because we all know what it's like to be upset and agitated and nervous anxious to the point where we can't sleep at night we can't eat or we eat too much depending on you know your flavor and you know I think all of us would also agree that we differ in what we is needed to kind of talk us down from allege some of us may be a little bit easier and along those lines but what we're learning from this is that our Shepherd can calm our fears he can do it I want to show you a wonderful wonderful statement made by Jesus in John chapter 14 on the screen goes like this peace I leave you my peace I give to you and then he defines that my peace not as the world gives do I give you and then he says this let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid you know I've talked with people who are going through very very difficult circumstances fearful circumstances and I have discovered with many of them that they are walking in a kind of peace that is just unexplainable I mean their circumstances would suggest that they ought to be very upset and agitated but when we sit down and talk and I go there to you know dope that I am I'm gonna go minister to this person and they end up ministering to me you know because there's this peace that has settled upon their hearts and again it's an unexplainable thing notice that Jesus said in that particular passage I give you peace not as the world gives see the world gives peace based on circumstances or maybe a bit of news that you got that might give you peace or that results in peace you know good news from the doctor or something like that all finally I can rest you know well that's circumstantial peace Jesus gives a kind of peace that does is not connected to the circumstances of our lives it's just peace and you don't know why you're feeling peaceful you're sitting there kind of going I I know that I ought to be just kind of going out of my brain here but I just have this sense of God's peace and I hope you've experienced that I've been able to experience it a couple of times in my life and it's a delightful thing you never like the circumstances that go along with it but it is an amazing thing but what's interesting about being anxious and being fearful which I think every one of us can relate to obviously on different levels but it is such a normal natural response for you and I to become anxious and nervous when we get news that might lead us that direction or whatever that we never really take the time to consider that what we're doing which is giving in to fear is wrong in other words it's just it's we think it's just kind of like it's kind of like apologizing for the colour of my eyes it's just me I mean this is just me you know when I when I here's you know bad news or whatever I just I get really anxious I'm just you ever heard somebody say you know he's just kind of an anxious person or she or they'll even say it about themselves you know I've always kind of been a nervous person all my life and it's Kelly and they talk about it like it's their eye color and it becomes normal to the point where we never stop to realize that maybe it's something that shouldn't be happening in our life I got to tell you there was a time in my life that was very revelatory I mean the Lord brought a powerful thing a radical revelation into my heart and mind at one particular point that changed the way I saw fear and he showed me this is gonna sound really elementary but that's where I live he showed me that my fearful attitude was missing the mark those of you that know the definition of sin it is missing the mark in other words the Lord revealed to me that my fearful attitude was a sin that crazy now there's a lot of people that really tilt when you say something like that because that's like saying to them your blue eyes are a sin to them is just normal it's just it's the way they are but here's what the law revealed to me not only nirav eel that my fear was a sin but that I could do something about it I could confess it and bring it to the cross and find forgiveness and then I would be ready and able to take the next step which is to learn to trust and to say lord you are my shepherd and I'm going to trust you so many times we get into a state of fearful anxiety and we want to go to the Lord and we want to find his peace but we haven't dealt with the fact that our fearful attitude has actually missed the mark as it relates to sin we haven't brought our sin before the cross people can I gently tell you that sins still separates us from God not eternally as a believer in Jesus your sin can no longer separate you eternally from God but it can separate you relationally and relationship is kind of what David is talking about here I've told you the example many many many times you know that Menai do something against my wife and say something that that is hurtful or whatever it's the same thing there's a separation relationally but it doesn't mean we're no longer married it just means that there's a wedge there's something between us and I need to go to her then and I need to confess it and I need to ask her to forgive me and then she extends forgiveness and once that happens there's a free flow of relationship once again between us may I suggest to you that the same is true with your relationship with God sin still separates right it always has it always will it can't separate you any longer on an eternal scale because jesus paid the eternal price of your sinning and mine as well praise the Lord but relationally speaking your sin can still put a distance between you and your and God and if you're feeling that distance of relationship there might be issues you need to deal with as it relates to sin and that's why God brings Canoe upon our hearts that we would deal with them and get that relationship settled and there's such a sense of oh look you know when I come and there are periods of time in my life when I kind of forget to kind of come before the Lord and just say forgive me you know Jesus told us to do that regularly in that thing we call the Lord's Prayer forgive us our sins we're supposed to make that a regular part of our prayer why because we need to get saved everyday heavens no you're saved once and for all when you come to the cross and accept what Jesus did there you come for forgiveness because you don't want that relationship to be hindered in any way I don't want my prayers hindered I don't want my heart hindered toward God I don't want any of that to have any sort of a barrier right so I come to the Lord say forgive me forgive me for what I've done that was wrong oh and there's such a sense of release and it's kind of like the connection is remade you know I didn't even notice the phone was off the hook to heaven you know sort of a thing and now all the sudden it's like okay we're connected in that I can just feel the closeness resume so when it comes to fear it's important that we recognize that fear is missing the mark we need to confess it bring it to the cross and then we can come to the Lord and allow him to give us that rest and peace that we are seeking which culminates in what David says as he begins verse three look at there in your Bible he restores my soul and that's the result that's the result my natural inclination once again is to become upset and and anxious I bring that to the cross Father forgive me for choosing fear over faith forgive me now enable me to walk in the courage of faith to trust in you to rest in you to know that you are my show bird and then what happens the Lord responds to that prayer faith and he restores my soul and our souls need to be restored particularly during a time of anxiousness because remember the soul is the seat of your emotions and your intellect and don't isn't it isn't it those two things that become really agitated when you're fearful your emotions obviously become agitated but you're obviously afraid but then your your intellect your thoughts your thoughts just go bizarre they just don't yours too I mean mine do they just take on this bizarre sort of a worst-case scenario and I have these things going over in my mind and I'm kind of like good I'm talking I'm literally talking to myself and making myself crazy and you guys don't look at me like you don't experience that do you do and you know you do all right you know we talked about that in the Psalms where David cried out to the Lord and said how long O Lord must I take counsel in my soul how long must I receive counsel from my soul because I don't want that's not the counsel I want I want the counsel from you my soul is just making me even more scared my emotions my intellect and so forth uh I think we obviously know how needful it is to be restored in our soul David tells us in no uncertain terms this is a birthright of the children of God finishing verse three he goes on to say he leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake and this is just a simple way of saying he leads me in the right way by the way sheep are known for being very very poor in the area of a sense of direction and they're prone to wandering yeah another one of those areas that just applies does right I've got two granddaughters and one of them I is one of them has an incredible sense of direction she's the younger I just gave it away didn't I and then the other one would get lost going to the bathroom and try to find your way back so it's it's kind of funny it's like what goes into that you know that one of them just kind of has this sense well I think in a very real sort of a way we all have a propensity to kind of lose our way and we need the instruction of the Lord we need the direction of the Lord we need to be led by God don't we right I mean often and God promises that he'll do that for us let me show you a lovely promise in songs a little bit later in the Psalms chapter xxxii we're gonna read this I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go I will counsel you with my eye upon you and that's a glorious verse it's a wonderful verse it's a wonderful promise from God's Word he says I will instruct you and I will lead you I'll take you you know and lead you in the way of the year to go and and we kind of naturally like to take verses like this out of context and just kind of assume that there's this automatic sort of thing like well I'm a Christian and so guys just gonna you know automatically leave me all the time and exactly the way I'm supposed to be going however you read the next verse and you find out that there is a responsibility on my part to accept that leadership and that guidance check this out from the very next verse it says be not like a horse or a mule without understanding which must be curbed with bit and bridle or it will not stay near you so you see there's an interesting sort of a dynamic here on the one hand God promises he's going to lead and guide us but on the other hand we are told in no uncertain terms we need to be able to accept that leadership and that guidance and not be that that horse that's always bucking and biting and nipping and kicking and wanting to get away from you and and won't want doesn't want to stand near you unless you actually you know control him with a bit and bridle God doesn't want our relationship with him to be based on a bit and bridle you know he wants it to be based on a heart of love where our response to his leading is yes Lord yes I accept that that's good that's good that's a good thing rather than our response of no no no let me think that went through a little while God because I'm not always certain you have my best interest in mind yeah not the kind of relationship we want to have verse four goes on and says 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 obviously the rod and the staff were the tools of the shepherd to kind of direct the course of the the life of the sheep but I want you to notice here in verse four how the pronoun changes did you catch that earlier David was talking about his shepherd now he's talking to his shepherd and he goes from speaking about he to you I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me David speaks to his Shepherd here with the declaration of faith to say even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death what is that well anything in life that threatens our lives brings darkness fear and difficulty you know actually in the Middle East when shepherds were taking care of their flocks they would move them from pasture to pasture and sometimes the moving of the flock would necessitate passing through a rocky area with canyon walls on the side that obscured the light of the Sun it was darker than it would be out in the open field and there were also dangers that attended that sort of a thing the rocky crags themselves presented dangers predators animal predators could easily hide within those areas and prey upon the sheep and you know dangers were aplenty but David speaks to his Shepherd and he says even when I'm going through that sort of a situation where it's dark and I know that there is danger very near I know something else you're with me you're with me you're with me in the midst of that and David knew that it was his responsibility to stay close to the Shepherd especially close during those times of danger if you're going through a time in your life that's trying and easily produces anxious thoughts man stays so close to your Shepherd because dangerous are real and the enemy isn't going to look at your life and say yeah you know they're going through our hard spot right now I'm gonna kind of ease up a little bit no in fact he's gonna do the opposite he will kick you when you're down and we know that he roams around searching for those whom he may destroy or devour so stay close to your Shepherd don't wander off verse three you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows now this is a again one of those declarations of faith that David makes he says you prepare a table for me now you and I may not understand what that means from the standpoint of hospitality because for you and I hospitality is different than the way they saw it in the Middle East when you came under someone's roof you came under their protection when you joined them within the confines of their home they would lay down their life for you and it remains that way to this day and it's a crazy sort of a thing but he's using now this different kind of a metaphor he he leaves from the the shepherd sheep metaphor and now he goes to host-guest metaphor saying you prepare a table for me well we don't realize it but what he is saying is you bring me under your protection and you provide for me now notice how and where he does it it's in the presence of his enemies that's the point of what David is saying it's in the within the presence of my enemies in other words in the full view of those who would want to take me down including the enemy of your soul that the Lord prepares this place for you this place of protection and what happens there he says you anoint my head with oil again that's not something you and I do if you I don't think you probably have guests over and say hey welcome to our home bend over you know dump a bunch of oil on their head but they did it back then and that was a sign of being a very good host frankly because it was a refreshing people would become very hot and and and so forth as they traveled from place to place and so to refresh someone by pouring oil over their head was considered a very hospitable thing to do and then he goes on to say my cup overflows so I sit down at this table that you've prepared for me in the presence of my enemies in other words in the full view of all those who want to take me down and there is just this overflowing abundance to what you have given to me is just you you pour yourself out and it just overflows it's a really a beautiful picture of God's blessing upon his children what he desires to do what he longs to do as we come under his protective covering finally verse 6 says surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and here is beautiful David talks about his expectation of God's goodness today and he also talks about his full expectation of God's goodness later after this life is over he surely goodness and mercy shall follow me that's an interesting statement isn't it goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life you know it's interesting as I get older it's gotten easier for me to look back and to see that God's goodness and mercy have followed me as a young man it was completely a declaration of faith you know I really hope God's goodness and mercy follows me well now at almost 61 years of age I can look back on my life and I can say Wow God's goodness and mercy has followed me it really has and the older we get the the more we can look back and and see that and and say that and know that for the rest of my days I believe that God's goodness and mercy will continue to follow me because I see that he has been faithful and then as we look ahead beyond this life notice that David expresses his assurance and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever boy that's what I want that's what I want for myself it's what I want for you confidence for today assurance for tomorrow you know what you want to let's be confident of the Lord's goodness for today and assured of his faithfulness and blessing an abundant provision for tomorrow as well you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 50,526

Rating: 4.8473988 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament

Id: p8z5caxItuw

Length: 37min 10sec (2230 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 19 2018