WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 It is a great joy to be with you tonight to open God's word. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:11.779 Cory mentioned that our church in Mississippi had very generously given our family a summer 00:00:11.779 --> 00:00:16.280 sabbatical and so we've been here with you and your beautiful city in this church the 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:18.120 last few weeks. 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:21.559 And Cory mentioned and joked that he asked me to preach on sabbatical. 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:27.240 I brought my wife and three children to his home about a week after his fifth child was 00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:34.000 born and so it's the least that I can do with twelve in their house as well as a cat and 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:40.119 so we're enjoying life with the Brocks but it is a pleasure to be with you, a joy to 00:00:40.119 --> 00:00:41.719 be with you. 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:50.239 Keep Psalm 23 open before you and just something to help orient us to the text, a story, an 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:58.719 old story about a man named Robert Robinson and he was boarding a carriage in London and 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:04.760 he was hoping to be riding alone but across the aisle from him was a young woman who was 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:14.000 carrying in her hands a briefiary, a small book of hymns and prayers and poems and a 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:20.200 few moments after he sat down she tossed the briefiary to him and she said, sir you must 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:30.079 read this and he opened it and he read these words, the words come now found of every blessing, 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:37.480 tune my heart to sing thy grace and his face sank and this woman noticed a change in his 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:43.800 countenance and she said, sir have you read these words and he said, miss I wrote those 00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:51.079 words more than twenty five years ago and he said I would give a thousand worlds, I 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:57.319 would give a thousand worlds to feel today what I felt back then. 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:03.759 I would give a thousand worlds to feel today what I felt back then. 00:02:03.759 --> 00:02:08.840 Maybe you are here this evening and like Robert Robinson it's been a long time for you and 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:16.200 you are busy and your heart is busy that sometimes you can wake up and you can think how did 00:02:16.200 --> 00:02:25.400 I get here, how did I get so far, how did I get so far from the heart of God, how did 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:32.400 I get in this funk and when we come to text like Psalm 23 there are these grand and glorious 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:39.840 promises for us here, these familiar words to us and maybe for you like me the question 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:49.200 is how can these grand and glorious promises get from my head back down into my heart. 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:54.640 I would give a thousand worlds to feel today what I felt back then, how can these words 00:02:54.640 --> 00:03:00.280 get from my head down into my heart or maybe we can put it like this, it's one thing to 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:09.879 be told Jesus loves you or it's one thing to be told Jesus is my good shepherd. 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:18.759 It is quite another thing for our hearts to experience that, to draw down on it for it 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:21.360 to change our lives. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:27.360 And so for those who are prone to say I would give a thousand worlds, for those who are 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:35.120 asking is there good news for me from Psalm 23 tonight. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:41.560 I want to give our attention for a few moments to this Psalm that Charles Spurgeon called 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:43.080 the Pearl. 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:47.920 This is the Psalm, y'all are in a study this summer, a summer in the Psalms here at St. 00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:54.040 C's on Sunday nights and this is the Psalm that Charles Spurgeon called the Pearl of 00:03:54.040 --> 00:03:55.040 the Psalms. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:01.199 It's long before Michael Jordan and long before LeBron James and long before David Beckham, 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:03.479 they're all number 23. 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:07.639 Long before them David had his own number 23. 00:04:07.639 --> 00:04:12.680 And so this is a Psalm that may be for you as the most beloved passage in the Bible. 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:20.360 It might be a text that you remember maybe cross stitched at a grandparents house when 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:22.279 you were a child. 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:28.079 It could be a text that was read at the deathbed of someone that was precious to you or at 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:32.719 the funeral of a beloved family member. 00:04:32.719 --> 00:04:37.639 Whatever ways that God has used this text in your life, it is a text that can come with 00:04:37.639 --> 00:04:41.239 it just a flood of memories. 00:04:41.239 --> 00:04:48.000 And this Psalm, if you look with me in the text, the Psalm is known really for one image. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:54.040 There's one image, one governing image and illustration that this Psalm is known for. 00:04:54.040 --> 00:05:02.040 But we're going to look at these two interlocking images, these two interlocking illustrations 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:03.759 here in Psalm 23. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:10.519 And so first the most famous in verses one to four, if you look at the text, the governing 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:17.079 image, the governing illustration of this Psalm that the Lord is my shepherd, the good 00:05:17.079 --> 00:05:23.079 shepherd, and that we are a sheep in his care as Christians. 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:27.039 But there's a second image that we're going to give some attention to that we see in verses 00:05:27.039 --> 00:05:29.039 five and six. 00:05:29.039 --> 00:05:34.879 And that is that Jesus is also our generous host, that he's not only our good shepherd, 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:42.120 that he's also our generous host, that he's a host to us in hospitality, and he invites 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:43.839 us to his table. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:48.359 And so we're going to look tonight at these two images, the good shepherd. 00:05:48.359 --> 00:05:51.000 This Psalm is often called the shepherd's Psalm. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:57.359 So the good shepherd in verses one to four, that we are a sheep in his care. 00:05:57.359 --> 00:06:04.159 And then second, the generous host in verses five and six, that we have a seat at his table, 00:06:04.159 --> 00:06:08.279 that we can slide our knees up under his table. 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:10.599 And so first the good shepherd. 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:15.640 Look with me at verse one, the banner verse, the most well-known verse in the Psalm, the 00:06:15.640 --> 00:06:17.680 Lord is my shepherd. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:19.360 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.320 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:06:22.320 --> 00:06:28.160 Let's put it like this, and Corey referenced this in the children's devotional. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:36.280 On a job application, sometimes you're asked this really annoying question, what animal? 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:47.079 Like what animal do you identify with, or what animal best personifies you, or your personality? 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:52.679 And we can put it like this, that in the history of job applications, no one ever answered 00:06:52.679 --> 00:06:57.079 that question and said a sheep. 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:00.319 No one ever answered a sheep. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:04.399 And that's because sheep are not the brightest, they're not the bravest. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:08.000 They're always weak, they're always vulnerable. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:10.639 They're always needy. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:16.719 And yet time and again in the scriptures, this is the image. 00:07:16.719 --> 00:07:23.959 Time and again, this is the image that God uses to say, this is us. 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:28.599 And the more that you grow as a Christian, the more your eyes are opened, the more you 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:34.920 see yourself clearly, you can say, yes, I am weak. 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:37.640 Yes I am vulnerable. 00:07:37.640 --> 00:07:45.800 Yes I am not the brightest, not the bravest, always needy. 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:49.560 You see yourself clearly, and you see the best thing. 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:53.480 The best thing about being a sheep is that you have a shepherd. 00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:58.040 If you look at verse one, Charles Spurgeon said that he thought the sweetest verse in 00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:04.080 Psalm 23 is in verse one, and it's the word my. 00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:06.640 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:08:06.640 --> 00:08:08.840 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:08:08.840 --> 00:08:13.040 And so you see the Lord in all caps. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:19.840 So Yahweh, the covenant God, the faithful God, Yahweh is my shepherd. 00:08:19.840 --> 00:08:25.240 He has stooped to serve in this low position. 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:35.080 In the shepherd's job, Yahweh's job is to be with the sheep, tending them and teaching 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:40.399 them and keeping them and defending them. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:47.600 And so let me ask you, do you see God saying this to you tonight about Jesus, your good 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:49.600 shepherd? 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:57.920 That if you are weak and wounded, if you are bruised and broken, if you are sick and sore, 00:08:57.920 --> 00:09:07.560 if you have regrets, if you have shame, if you have a checkered past, if you think often 00:09:07.560 --> 00:09:14.240 I'm not faithful enough, or I'm not put together enough, or I'm not attractive enough, or I'm 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.240 not faithful enough. 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:23.919 Do you see, I want you to hear that you are Jesus's type. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:29.680 The Lord is my shepherd, meaning that you are Jesus's type. 00:09:29.680 --> 00:09:37.039 We're just saying that He is the God who welcomes the weakest, that He is for the faintly burning 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:44.840 wicks of the world, that He is for those with empty chairs, that He's for the widow, that 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:51.759 He's for the orphan, He is a man for the lowly, He's a servant king, He's a low man himself, 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:55.040 and He won't come into this world and break you. 00:09:55.040 --> 00:09:56.800 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:09:56.800 --> 00:10:01.620 He won't come into this world and break the wounded, and He won't come into this world 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:03.840 and break the fragile. 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:10.800 So much so that look at the text in His shepherding care that we can say, I shall not want, that 00:10:10.800 --> 00:10:12.360 He welcomes the wounded. 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:18.879 He welcomes the weakest so that we can say, the Lord shepherds me in such a way that I 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:21.560 lack nothing. 00:10:21.560 --> 00:10:28.960 And you see in the first three verses of the Psalm that there are all sorts of benefits 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:30.600 of belonging to Him. 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:36.759 There's all sorts of benefits of His shepherding care, of Him being active in your life. 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:45.519 And so notice His activity that we read that He makes, He makes me lie down, He leads, 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:47.399 and that He restores my soul. 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:51.399 We read again in verse 3 that He leads me. 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:56.759 He's with me, He prepares for me, and that He anoints me. 00:10:56.759 --> 00:11:03.559 And so we can say that the Lord as your shepherd, that He's active, that He's active in your 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:05.399 life. 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:09.600 And there's all sorts of benefits that we can flesh out, but just for time's sake, a 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:17.000 few of them, we can say as we think about John chapter 10 in the New Testament, we 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:22.439 can say that Jesus is the good shepherd who knows His sheep. 00:11:22.439 --> 00:11:24.480 So He knows you. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.079 Jesus says in John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd. 00:11:28.079 --> 00:11:30.319 I know my own. 00:11:30.319 --> 00:11:31.840 My sheep hear my voice. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:38.960 I know them, and I know them by name. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:41.560 I've got three children I mentioned. 00:11:41.560 --> 00:11:47.680 When my wife was pregnant a few years back with our third child, we were really kind 00:11:47.680 --> 00:11:52.720 of days away from going to the hospital without a name. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:57.200 That wasn't the case with our first two, but with our third one, we were very last minute. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:03.560 And I remember in the days leading up to the birth of our third child, having a conversation 00:12:03.560 --> 00:12:08.280 with our older children about what was the name going to be. 00:12:08.280 --> 00:12:13.580 And they gave all sorts of advice, which we did not go with. 00:12:13.580 --> 00:12:19.759 But I remember after that conversation, my wife left the room and my oldest asked me 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:20.920 this question. 00:12:20.920 --> 00:12:25.640 He said, Dad, will you always remember my name? 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:27.679 Will you always remember my name? 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:31.960 And I said, Buddy, I will always remember your name. 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:34.799 I will always remember your name. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:38.039 And I thought that'll be a sermon illustration one day. 00:12:38.039 --> 00:12:39.480 I'll always remember your name. 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:43.360 Well, Jesus is the good shepherd who knows you. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:46.279 You're comprehensively known by your shepherd. 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:51.679 You're comprehensively loved by your shepherd that He knows you. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:53.159 He knows everything about you. 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:54.639 He knows how frightened you are. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:57.159 He knows your particular needs. 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:04.360 And so because He knows you, that you can say in His providence that you do not lack, 00:13:04.360 --> 00:13:10.879 that in His guidance in your life that you will not lack rest and that you will not lack 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:17.319 restoration, that you can say, I lie down in green pastures because He knows how to take 00:13:17.319 --> 00:13:19.120 care of me. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:25.560 And then you see this other benefit that He leads you in His good governing of your life, 00:13:25.560 --> 00:13:31.120 that you will be led beside still waters, that you will not lack guidance. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:36.679 He guides you down just the right paths as you are in His shepherding care. 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:40.720 But then this third benefit, verse 4, He knows you. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:41.799 He leads you. 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:48.320 And then in verse 4, look at verse 4, I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:52.160 that He is the good shepherd who defends you. 00:13:52.160 --> 00:13:55.000 He defends His sheep. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:00.280 And so He defends you from those things that threaten you when you are in that most dark 00:14:00.280 --> 00:14:06.800 place, when you're in that deep valley of your life that He is the good shepherd who 00:14:06.800 --> 00:14:08.879 defends you. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:15.640 And even in those moments when you're prone to leave, when you're prone to wander off, 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:22.319 Luke 15 says that He's the good shepherd who leaves the 99 and goes after you. 00:14:22.319 --> 00:14:26.720 He leaves the 99 and goes after the one. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:28.000 Don't we need that? 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:30.919 That He is the good shepherd who leaves the 99. 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:37.679 And the text says that when He finds you, He lays you on His shoulder rejoicing, that 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:39.639 He's rejoicing. 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:44.919 And so He's protecting you even if He has to prod you, even if He has to guide you to 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:52.919 keep you from wandering off, that He is the good shepherd who knows you and He leads you 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:55.519 and He defends you. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:56.919 But I want you to think about this. 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:57.919 There's no... 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:00.759 Many have made note of this with this psalm. 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:03.599 There's no plea in this psalm. 00:15:03.599 --> 00:15:06.559 This is a psalm without a request. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:10.199 There's no request in Psalm 23. 00:15:10.199 --> 00:15:12.079 Psalm 23 is actually... 00:15:12.079 --> 00:15:13.759 It's a story. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.080 It's a journey. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.000 That Psalm 23 is real life. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.159 That Psalm 23, it's a journey. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:29.360 And you see, it's filled with temptations and trials in verse 4, but it's a journey. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:33.360 You look in verse 5, it's a journey to the banquet table. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:38.480 It's a journey to the feast table of God, the wedding supper of the lamb. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:44.720 And so He takes you through verse 4, through the danger, through the desert valley, to 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:47.639 the feast table of God. 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:54.639 But I think the psalm is driving towards this benefit as we go on this journey through 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:00.680 all of the trials and all of the temptations and all of the traps, the benefit that He 00:16:00.680 --> 00:16:02.879 is with you. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:06.800 Because you see in the first three verses, I love this. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:11.199 You see that David is talking about the Lord. 00:16:11.199 --> 00:16:19.559 And then when he gets in verse 4, when he gets to that most dark place, notice the pronoun. 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:23.639 David's no longer talking about the Lord as his shepherd, but when he gets to the dark 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:32.399 place in verse 4, when he gets to the deepest, darkest valley, you notice that he says, not 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:37.480 I will fear no evil for in that place, for the Lord is with me, but he says what? 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:38.480 What does the text say? 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:41.559 For you are with me. 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:46.480 And so you see one of the highlights, one of the benefits, one of the greatest benefits 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:57.759 of being in Jesus' shepherding care is that he has always been near to his people. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.840 He's near to you. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:05.799 The burning bush, the pillar of fire, the tabernacle, God with us, Emmanuel, one of 00:17:05.799 --> 00:17:12.680 the highlights of his shepherding care has always been his nearness. 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:20.079 And so you see that David is content in that, that David has confidence in that, regardless 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:28.559 of the circumstances of his life, that David clings to the nearness of the Lord. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:34.700 There's a story of a little boy who was ill and he was desperately ill. 00:17:34.700 --> 00:17:40.359 And so the parents called their pastor who came to their home one night. 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:44.940 And the pastor went to the boy's room, just he and the boy. 00:17:44.940 --> 00:17:46.679 And he read scripture with the boy. 00:17:46.679 --> 00:17:48.039 He prayed with the boy. 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:51.399 He assured him of the promises of the gospel. 00:17:51.399 --> 00:17:55.519 And the pastor went home and later that night the boy died. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:59.279 And so the parents called the pastor back the next morning. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:06.200 And the pastor went and he tried to comfort the parents with the promises of the gospel. 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:08.799 And the parents asked the pastor this question. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:15.440 They said, when our son died, he was holding onto his ring finger. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:18.700 And he started to do that after you left. 00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:21.839 Can you explain that to us? 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:27.240 And the pastor said, well, as you know, when I went to see your son, he was barely conscious. 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:29.319 He was barely able to talk. 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:36.639 And I was trying to give him comfort in the faithfulness of God, in the good news of the 00:18:36.639 --> 00:18:41.079 gospel, that he is in God's grip. 00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:51.240 And so I began to grab his fingers and I would say, starting with his thumb, the Lord is my 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:54.480 shepherd. 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:58.400 And the boy started doing that over and over again as I was still in the room with him. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:00.319 And then I left. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:08.079 And so you see this boy barely conscious in the last moments of his life that he is reminding 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:14.960 his heart that he is safe and secure, that he is gripped by, that he's kept by the shepherd 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.480 who was with him. 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:24.920 Do we sense tonight the nearness of our good shepherd who promises to be near? 00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:32.360 If your family is hanging together by a thread that God is not far off from you, that if 00:19:32.360 --> 00:19:37.039 you struggle with despair or depression, if you struggle with a disease that is sucking 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:42.599 the life out of you, or sucking the life out of people that you love, that God promises 00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:44.440 to be near. 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:49.920 If there is dementia, if there is infertility, if there is Parkinson's, if there is chemo, 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:57.279 that God is not distant in that, that he is the good shepherd who is near to his people. 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:02.039 As one commentator said, the darker the shadow, the closer the Lord. 00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:05.320 The darker the shadow, the closer the Lord. 00:20:05.320 --> 00:20:09.720 And so don't you know that there is a battle tonight, that there is a battle on the turf 00:20:09.720 --> 00:20:16.960 of your heart to believe that the Lord is your shepherd, and to be content in his shepherding 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:26.000 care in your life, to be content for contentment with your life and with your story. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:35.400 That you and I, that we are all prone to look to idle shepherds, that money or the approval 00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:43.080 are my achievements and my accomplishments, that work is going to shepherd me in these 00:20:43.080 --> 00:20:46.040 ways. 00:20:46.040 --> 00:20:51.480 But there is this battle to look to Jesus as our shepherd, to have contentment in his 00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:55.640 shepherding care and joy in his shepherding care. 00:20:55.640 --> 00:21:00.400 There's a quote that I love to think about from time to time from the author of Winnie 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:07.440 the Pooh and he writes about Piglet and he says that he had a very small heart but such 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:10.440 a large capacity for gratitude. 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:18.080 That he had a very small heart but such a large capacity for gratitude. 00:21:18.080 --> 00:21:20.040 Can anyone say that about you? 00:21:20.040 --> 00:21:26.880 That you have gratitude, that you have such a large capacity for gratitude with the life 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:28.360 that the Lord has given you. 00:21:28.359 --> 00:21:35.439 With his shepherding care in your life, that every so often I wake up out of my slumber 00:21:35.439 --> 00:21:45.119 and I am amazed between my receivings on the one hand and my deserving on the other. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:52.959 As one pastor said, such a crown for such an ungrateful person, that I am amazed between 00:21:52.959 --> 00:21:57.799 my receivings and my deserving. 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:04.919 If you look at your life and you feel yourself lacking, this line, I lack nothing in his 00:22:04.919 --> 00:22:05.919 care. 00:22:05.919 --> 00:22:07.079 This challenges us. 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:15.319 This challenges the person here who feels himself or herself lacking in their story because 00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:17.839 we are conditioned. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:25.599 We're conditioned that contentment is found, that joy is found, that gratitude is found 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:29.480 in some other shepherding care. 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:36.919 In the care of money or in the care of work or in the care of achievement in this life. 00:22:36.919 --> 00:22:42.599 But those things will break your heart and contentment, contentment, contentment, contentment 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:47.319 will not be found by your striving for those things. 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:50.079 It cannot be found by getting what you want. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:54.399 It can only be found by being grateful for what the Lord has given you. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:23:00.200 So you see Psalm 23, that you are in the hands of your good shepherd. 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:04.080 Only this good news, only the good news of the gospel. 00:23:04.080 --> 00:23:11.200 Only this can give you a narrative that will compel you to stop striving, that will compel 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.519 you to stop striving. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:22.320 And so let me ask you, where is that sense of already loved, already worthy, lacking nothing 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:29.000 that you can say these words in Psalm 23, that he makes me lie down in green pastures, 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:34.319 that I shall not want, that he restores my soul. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:39.919 Your accomplishments will not give you those things and your money will not give you those 00:23:39.919 --> 00:23:41.559 things. 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:45.859 It has to come from a voice outside of you. 00:23:45.859 --> 00:23:48.159 And so what is going to pronounce? 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:56.920 What voice is going to pronounce over you already loved, already worthy? 00:23:56.920 --> 00:24:00.120 You know, there was a golf tournament a few years ago. 00:24:00.120 --> 00:24:04.920 I feel like as the American pastor that comes here, I've picked Psalm 23, I'm going to use 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:08.160 a sermon illustration about golf. 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:13.759 But there was a golf tournament, the 150th British Open at the course at St. Andrew's 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:20.680 that was highly anticipated and a lot of us Americans at least were pulling for Tiger 00:24:20.680 --> 00:24:23.519 Woods to come and to play well. 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:25.559 And Tiger at the time was 46. 00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:32.319 He was coming off of a car accident that had severely damaged his leg. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:37.759 And Tiger played mediocre at best and he wasn't going to make the cut. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:43.799 And as he's walking the 18th green at the course at St. Andrew's that Friday, after 00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:48.640 mediocre golf, there's a standing ovation for him. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:53.279 And Tiger, you can see that in that moment, he begins to cry. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:59.279 And one of the analysts say that they think that in that moment, one of the analysts live 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:05.119 on that broadcast said they think in that moment that Tiger Woods realized that he was 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:12.639 beloved, that he didn't have to do anything exceptional for people to love him and that 00:25:12.639 --> 00:25:15.239 brought him to tears. 00:25:15.239 --> 00:25:21.559 And so the question for us is what if we lived out of that posture already loved already 00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:22.879 worthy? 00:25:22.879 --> 00:25:25.159 What if you lived in that certainty? 00:25:25.159 --> 00:25:31.679 You see the gospel gives you a bigger story and a better story than what your idol shepherds 00:25:31.679 --> 00:25:33.879 could ever promise you. 00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:39.680 And that's where you live, Christian, a place of fullness, a place of fullness with the story 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:47.760 that the Lord has given you, not deprivation, not lacking but rich, that you can sing yet 00:25:47.760 --> 00:25:50.760 how rich is my condition. 00:25:50.760 --> 00:25:54.320 God in heaven are still my own. 00:25:54.320 --> 00:25:58.840 You see he had a very small heart, remember, but such a large capacity for gratitude. 00:25:58.840 --> 00:26:03.720 And so let me ask you, do you see yourself as a sheep tonight? 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:05.720 A weak, vulnerable, needy? 00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:08.480 Do you see yourself clearly? 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:10.799 And what shepherds are you looking to? 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:17.600 What shepherds are you running to, to take care of you in this life? 00:26:17.600 --> 00:26:23.000 Jesus is the good shepherd that you need, that you are a sheep in his care and that he has 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:28.720 been abundantly generous to you with his grace, with his good news. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:33.720 And so secondly and briefly and lastly, let's consider the generous host that you have a 00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:36.160 seated his table in verses five and six. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:40.960 And so the shepherd has carried you, remember, through verse two, through the green pastures, 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:45.480 he's carried you through the valley of the shadow of death, verse four, and then he's 00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:48.319 carried you to the feasting in verse five. 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:52.600 So David replaces the shepherding imagery. 00:26:52.600 --> 00:26:57.079 He describes a relationship now that's actually more intimate. 00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:01.519 No longer he's not talking about shepherds and sheep, but he's talking about friends 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:07.279 around the table, companions around the table, and he gives us a picture of welcome. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:12.639 And he gives us this picture of celebration and this picture of joy. 00:27:12.639 --> 00:27:18.039 One commentator points out that to eat and drink at someone's table could be the culminating 00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:20.159 token of a covenant. 00:27:20.159 --> 00:27:25.559 And so to be God's guest, he said, is to be more than an acquaintance invited for a 00:27:25.559 --> 00:27:29.240 day, but it is to live with him. 00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:34.839 And so Psalm 23 is this journey and it's this journey home. 00:27:34.839 --> 00:27:41.279 And so you see in verses five and six, Christian, this is where you're headed. 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:44.599 This is where your story is headed. 00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:50.960 And God is the great host invites you to his table to commune with him. 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:57.680 And you notice in verse five that he anoints my head with oil, my cup overflows. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:06.920 This picture of oil and wine, this overflowing joy of the communion that you have with God, 00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:12.360 this sign of welcome that he has rolled out the red carpet, that you are welcomed at his 00:28:12.360 --> 00:28:18.319 table, that you're honored at his table, that you will be full in his presence. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:23.480 So we wonder, don't we, about this phrase that you prepare a table before me in the 00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:26.399 presence of my enemies. 00:28:26.399 --> 00:28:29.519 And I think this may be my favorite part of the Psalm. 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:34.759 I think the Psalmist is saying, think of the things that are foes in your life. 00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:36.759 Think of the enemies of your life. 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:44.319 And surely David could have been talking about individuals, but think more about the internal 00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:47.240 foes. 00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:53.359 What Paul writes about in Romans, the good that I want to do, I don't do. 00:28:53.359 --> 00:29:01.839 I do the very thing that I don't want to do, that battle that takes place inside of you 00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:09.640 that our confession talks about it as the irreconcilable war, the Westminster Confession, 00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:13.880 the irreconcilable war that takes place in the life of the Christian. 00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:19.440 Think about those foes, and when you're at the banquet table of God, when you're at the 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:26.200 feast table of God, those internal foes will be silent. 00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:29.440 There will be freedom for you, Christian. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:31.680 There will be a freedom unlike you've ever known. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:38.480 And so not only is there a welcome, not only is there celebration, but there is freedom 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:39.480 here. 00:29:39.480 --> 00:29:42.080 There's freedom at this table. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:44.799 And so I want you to imagine this is where you're headed. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:48.000 This is where your story is headed. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:54.319 Verse 5, you and I have a certain future that we will be seated at the feast table of God 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:56.399 with the resurrected Jesus. 00:29:56.399 --> 00:30:02.399 But the scary part for our lives and in our stories is verse 4. 00:30:02.399 --> 00:30:09.879 The scary part is to get to verse 5 that we have to go through verse 4. 00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:14.320 And so the question here as well in this second image, what do we do? 00:30:14.320 --> 00:30:17.200 What is going to sustain us? 00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:21.600 And again, just like in the first image, the Lord is with us. 00:30:21.600 --> 00:30:27.680 Because look at verse 6, surely goodness and mercy, these famous lines, surely goodness 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:35.080 and mercy, the unbreaking always and forever love of God, His hested love, surely goodness 00:30:35.079 --> 00:30:41.679 and His hested love will follow me all the days of my life. 00:30:41.679 --> 00:30:47.919 One Old Testament scholar put it like this, that His goodness and mercy pursue us. 00:30:47.919 --> 00:30:53.199 They run after you and me that wherever you may find yourself to be, the mountaintop or 00:30:53.199 --> 00:30:59.759 the deepest, darkest valley, you know that His goodness and His mercy are relentlessly 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:02.519 chasing after you. 00:31:02.519 --> 00:31:09.759 And so I want you to notice as we wrap up, I want you to notice the imagery in the Psalm. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:13.279 Because for the Christian, what is behind you? 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:15.319 For the Christian, what is behind you? 00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:24.599 You see verse 6 that He is relentlessly pursuing me with His goodness and His hested love. 00:31:24.599 --> 00:31:28.039 Well, what is in front of me? 00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:30.240 What's in front of you, Christian? 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:35.400 You see in verse 3 that He leads me in passive righteousness. 00:31:35.400 --> 00:31:39.799 And so behind me is His goodness and His hested love. 00:31:39.799 --> 00:31:45.559 In front of me is His leading me, His good providence in my life. 00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:48.880 Well, what about when I am in that most dark place? 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.160 What about when I'm in that deep, dark valley? 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:55.319 What does verse 4 say? 00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:58.079 That you are with me. 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:01.639 For you are with me is what the Psalmist says. 00:32:01.639 --> 00:32:09.079 And so for the Christian that you are wrapped up on every side, that you are hemmed in, 00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:14.319 that He is before you and He is behind you and He is beside you. 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:19.119 And so when Jesus grips you with His shepherding love, it is a love that will not let you go 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:21.519 all the days of your life. 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:27.759 And that nothing, not death, not sin, not even time, can stop His love. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:30.559 It is an everlasting love. 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:36.119 As Ralph Davis said, it's a love with no expiration date. 00:32:36.119 --> 00:32:37.920 And so let me close with this. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:43.720 I had a friend, this story, a friend that recently directed me to the Story Corps, which is a 00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:49.559 nonprofit organization that shares stories of compassion and love. 00:32:49.559 --> 00:32:56.319 And some time ago they had a segment where a mother is interviewing her adult son. 00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:01.960 And her adult son's name is Josh, and he's a 23-year-old with Down syndrome. 00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:05.319 And the mother asked Josh this question. 00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:12.440 She said, Josh, did you have any dreams about what you wanted to become when you grew up? 00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:16.079 And Josh replied and said, yes, I had lots of them. 00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:19.079 And he said, I dreamed, and this was an amazing combination. 00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:26.639 He said, I dreamed that I would be a pastor and a WWE professional wrestler, this combination 00:33:26.639 --> 00:33:32.079 that Corey's, I think Corey's going from, the Corey's going for. 00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:37.039 And of course then there's this silence in the interview because Josh hadn't become those 00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:39.639 things. 00:33:39.639 --> 00:33:44.480 And Josh said that he wanted to be those things to make his parents proud. 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:47.279 And so the mother then followed that up with this question. 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:51.879 She said, Josh, do you think that we are proud of you? 00:33:51.879 --> 00:33:57.279 And he said, absolutely, I know that you're proud. 00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:02.599 And he said, because you love me with an everlasting love. 00:34:02.599 --> 00:34:05.599 You love me with an everlasting love. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:10.559 And then the mother, she said, Josh, do you remember this thing that we used to do? 00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:14.000 And she said to him, you are my Josh. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.960 And then he said back to her, you are my mom. 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:18.199 And they went back and forth. 00:34:18.199 --> 00:34:24.800 And he said, you are my Josh, you are my mom, you are my Josh, you are my mom. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:26.559 And it was this amazing moment. 00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:28.920 And there is so much beautiful in that story. 00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:35.119 And there is so much that is beautiful as Josh is able to hang on to his mother's love 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:39.360 for him, which brings us really back to where we began. 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:43.079 That it is one thing to be told, Jesus loves me. 00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:45.480 It's another thing to experience it. 00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:50.719 It is another thing to draw down on it and for it to change your life. 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:56.639 Well, Christian, when your shepherd grips you with his love, it is a love that will 00:34:56.639 --> 00:34:58.039 not let you go. 00:34:58.039 --> 00:35:04.799 And so you can say today that as you leave here, you can say that his goodness and his 00:35:04.799 --> 00:35:08.719 mercy are pursuing me. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:14.719 And that he leads me in paths of righteousness, that he is guiding me in this life. 00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:19.759 And that in the dark place that he is with me, that he is right beside me, that we are 00:35:19.759 --> 00:35:24.319 totally hemmed in the Lord's care. 00:35:24.319 --> 00:35:29.719 Isaiah chapter 40 verse 11, he will tend his flock like a shepherd. 00:35:29.719 --> 00:35:32.480 He will gather the lambs in his arms. 00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:37.359 He will carry them in his bosom and he will gently lead those that are with young. 00:35:37.359 --> 00:35:38.359 That's an invitation. 00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:42.360 Let me pray for us. 00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:46.720 Our God of all grace, we thank you for time together under your word. 00:35:46.720 --> 00:35:51.840 We pray that you would come and give it success in our hearts. 00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:56.519 We pray that we confess that we are weak and frail sheep. 00:35:56.519 --> 00:36:00.519 We thank you that you are the one who has come to seek and save the lost, who has left 00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:04.519 the 99 to come after the one to come after us. 00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:09.280 And so come after our hearts again tonight and we pray all of this in Jesus' name. 00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:35.280 Amen.