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Sunnyside Baptist Church Josiah DeForest
The Holy Spirit speaking through David. This is God's words Himself, as He describes to us who He is and how He works to His people. Psalm 23, beginning in verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. Yea, 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 runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23. Author, once again, is David who was a king of Israel. Who was a servant to the previous king. Who was on the run from the king and before that was himself a shepherd.
And being moved by the Holy Spirit, He describes the Lord like so. Now taking this psalm one piece at a time, it starts out, And LORD is all caps, referencing God's name as I AM. Him who is self-sufficient.
Him who is before all of creation. Him who is outside of time and all of space. The great I AM, who is in need of no help. Who is sufficient in all of His ways. He does not ask His creation for help, but He helps His creation.
Ever existing, eternal. David says, the Lord, I AM, is my shepherd. David does not say, He is our shepherd, which would be right to say. But he says, He is my shepherd. There is a personal connection there.
And David says, he puts himself in the shoes of the sheep. Of the animal who is helpless, who is needy. Who is needing a person to lead them along. To lead them to food, to a place of safety. One who is powerless against various evils around him.
And he puts the Lord in the place of the shepherd. The one who leads, the one who provides. The one who protects and the one who leads ever onward. The Lord, I AM, is my shepherd. And David is content with that.
He says in verse 1, I shall not want. He is content with his personal relationship he has with the Lord. He is content to let the Lord lead and for Him to follow. And looking at this psalm, a great thing to do with the Word of God is to examine the grammar.
And to see who exactly is doing the action. Who exactly is acting, who is receiving, what is going on. Who is saying what. And we see in this psalm that the Lord is the one who is always acting. And David is just, he is there experiencing the blessings.
Experiencing God leading him. For we see in this psalm, the Lord, He makes me lie down. He leads me, He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. So the Lord is the one who is active.
The Lord is the shepherd and David is the sheep. And he is content with that situation. And right off the bat we see that, we see Jesus Christ revealed in this psalm. Psalm 23, for Christ said in John 10, I am the good shepherd.
I know my sheep and they know me. He knows them, there is that personal connection with each individual sheep that He has. He knows them as a whole, as a collection. But He also knows them by name, individually.
And He cares for each one and they know Him. They know Him, the good shepherd. Verse 2 of Psalm 23, He makes me to lie down in green pastures. The Lord makes David to lie down. The Lord gives him faith to rest.
He enables David to rest in green pastures. This isn't a wilderness that the Lord leads David into. This isn't a barren wasteland. But it's green pastures. A place of sustenance, of provision. And a place of rest for David.
And God is the one who enables David to rest. To have faith in the Lord. He leads me beside the still waters. The Lord is the one who leads David beside still waters. To a water source, again provision.
Still waters, no ripple, no splash. Very still, He leads him to a place of peace. As well as a place of rest. He restores my soul. The Lord is the one who renews, who restores David's soul. He has led him to provision.
To green pastures, to a water source. And David says that the Lord does not restore just his body or his mind. But his very soul. He renews and restores David's soul. And again we see Christ in this Psalm.
For Christ is the one in whom we have peace and rest and provision. Who is Himself the bread from heaven. The bread from heaven. And it is Christ who restores the soul. And whoever restores the soul continually day after day as we follow Him.
For sometimes the Christian can grow weary in following Christ. But it is Christ who restores the Christian. Who renews the soul and gives him strength to continue on. By His power and by His grace. Furthermore in verse 3, He leads me in the paths of righteousness.
For His name's sake. The Lord is the one who leads David in the paths of righteousness. The Lord teaches him how to live rightly. And He certainly did that as King. And as even someone who was on the run from the King.
The Lord led David in the ways of righteousness. How do you live rightly? The Lord shows David how to do so. And it's in Christ that we know how to live righteously. For looking at Christ we see the image of God.
We behold the glory of God in the face of Christ. As we look at the scriptures. And in Christ we are led in the paths of righteousness. We are led in the ways of righteousness. We are taught how to live rightly in Christ.
And this is for His name's sake. It's to the glory of God that He leads David. That He leads the believer. And that the believer is led in Christ and by Christ. It's for His glory. For the Lord, as Michael is good about explaining on Sundays.
He's not an idolater. The Lord is living for His glory. And He leads the believer for His name's sake. For His glory. And we are redeemed. We are restored. And we are led in the paths of righteousness.
In Christ and only in Christ. For the glory of God. Someone who is spiritually dead. Who was not walking. But now is walking. And now who has life. And now who can walk in the ways of righteousness. And only by Christ alone.
And as we walk sometimes we enter through valleys. Verse 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Every word matters. And the word of God in the Bible. And let's focus on through.
The valley is not the final destination. It's not where the believer is going to. It's not where he's stopping. But he's going through it. This is not the place where we stop. This is not our final destination.
There will be valleys for the believer. There are valleys for David. But that's not their final destination. They're passing through. The believer is passing through. And the believer is passing through at a steady pace.
For it says, though I walk. Though I walk. Sometimes as I'm walking up around the church. Everyone else is gone and all the lights are turned out. It's kind of late at night. And I have this tendency to want to kind of briskly walk or sprint through the building.
Because it gets kind of spooky. I know the only ghost is the Holy Ghost. But still, I'm like, whew. But we see in this psalm that the believer, when he goes through that valley, he walks. For the Lord is with him.
The Lord's with him. And even if that valley is the shadow of death. Even though it might be death whose shadow towers over the sheep. The sheep does not fear. I will fear no evil. No evil. It's very, it includes everything.
No evil will I fear. Why is that? David says, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Though the believer might walk through valleys. And though it might even be the valley of the shadow of death.
The believer does not fear. For the Lord is with him. The Lord is with her. And we see that the Lord has instruments of both protection and of guidance for the believer. For the sheep. The rod, an instrument of protection.
Nothing's going to touch the sheep. Nothing's going to lay hold of the sheep. For the shepherd's there. Your staff. An instrument of guidance, of leading. The shepherd will continually lead the sheep through the valley.
He does not come up to the valley and say to the sheep, now you have to make it all the way over and I'll be on the other side. But he leads the sheep through the valley. He's ever present. He's always with the believer.
And we know that Christ is always with us. We know that Christ is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. And has taken it back up. For he has that power. And in Christ, we no longer fear death.
For death has been defeated by Christ. And in Christ, we do not fear any evil. Not even death. And though the believer might face that final valley of reaching the end of his life, that's just passing through that last doorway into glory.
It is not death to die for a believer. For Christ has defeated death. Christ is victorious. And we are in Christ. Verse 5 of Psalm 23. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.
I never really understood verse 5 when I was younger. But it's been a glorious thing to meditate upon this verse. And in the presence of David's enemies, when his enemies are before him in the same room, the Lord sets up a table.
And presents David with a feast. He provides for David in the presence of his enemies. And it's not a Snickers bar. It's not a quick meal. The Lord sets up a table. Provides a feast for David. Provides abundantly in the presence of his enemies.
You anoint my head with oil. The Lord blesses David as an honored guest. My cup runs over. It's not just that he blesses David to a certain point, but over abundantly. He provides much for David. More and more.
To where David's cup flows over. In Christ, we have provision. Even in the presence of our enemies, we have provision. We have wisdom. We have salvation. We have blessing upon blessing in Jesus Christ through faith in Him by the grace of God.
Blessing upon blessing. Every blessing in Christ. And in Christ, every promise of God is yes and amen. And we are in Christ, held by Him. And we have provision in Christ. To the point where our cup runs over.
Verse 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I like what Charles Spurgeon had to say on this verse. He likened goodness and mercy as escorts to a prince. Wherever the prince goes, goodness and mercy shall always be with him.
Those two servants will always be present. Wherever he goes. And for David, goodness and mercy was always present for him. Provided by the Lord. We think about David's life. His reign as king and even beyond.
There was much goodness that was given to him. When he began his kingdom by the Lord's grace. The Lord's kingdom. He was blessed. He expanded the territory and experienced much goodness by the Lord's grace.
He also experienced much mercy. For while king, while he committed adultery and even murdered someone. He received mercy. Mercy was ever present with David through all of his life. And goodness and mercy are present for the believer in Christ.
In Christ we have goodness. We have mercy day after day. Even though we might fail following Christ rightly as we should. We have mercy ever present with us. And much goodness. Praise God. And this occurs for all the days of my life.
David writes. All the days. Not some days. Not some really good days. But all of the days. All the days of my life. Goodness and mercy are found in Christ for the believer. Every single one. And David ends off this psalm.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David wants to dwell in the house of the Lord. The house was the tabernacle of the Lord at this time. The place of worship. The place of the presence of God.
So David wants to be in the presence of God. The place where he can worship the Lord. The place where he can commune with the Lord. Commune with the great I am. For the believer, we dwell in Christ. The place where we commune with God.
The place where we can worship God. Not just on a mountain top or somewhere else. A specific location. But anywhere. With the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We can worship wherever. For we are in Christ.
And we can commune with God wherever we are at. For we dwell in Him who tabernacled with us. The Lord. The great I am. Jesus Christ. And David says I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Forever.
John 10. Turning there very briefly. This is Jesus talking about how he is the good shepherd. Gives his life for the sheep. And in verse 27 of John 10. My sheep hear my voice and I know them. And they follow me.
And I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. We dwell in Christ forevermore because we are held by His power. Because He has given us eternal life.
And we are in His hand. Our salvation does not rest on our power. But in Christ's power. By Christ's power and by His grace. We dwell in Him forevermore. And all our days in this life. And in the life to come.
So what's the meaning of Psalm 23? To take the words of the Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. How can we apply this to our lives? To rest and find comfort in this. And to trust the Lord that He will protect us.
He will lead us. And He will provide for us abundantly. Even when we go through the valleys or when we are on the mountaintops. The Lord is with us and He is our shepherd. And I pray that you can say, The Lord, the great I AM, Jesus Christ, is my good shepherd.
Brian, thank you sir.