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Listen in as Pastor Mike preaches Pslam 23.
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.
Father in Heaven, we are so thankful today that we can call you our Father and that you�re gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Thank you for being good to us. We�re thankful that even though we now, as Christians, still sin, you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
So would you cleanse us this morning, Father, that we might think about you rightly and worship you? We know every sin was taken care of at Calvary, past, present, and future, and we stand before you legally as righteous because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But still in our walk, we stumble and fall, and we don�t always love you and love our neighbors, and so we�d ask that you�d cleanse us and wash us. We�re thankful for the righteous robes of our dear Savior Jesus, who perfectly loved you and perfectly loved his neighbor, and we stand in his stead today.
And so we know you accept our praise and worship and works simply because you accept us and only because you accept the Lord Jesus and we are in him. I do pray for Dave Copper today in Maureen in Boston.
I pray that there would be good diagnosis, that you would grant them peace. We know that you�ve granted them peace with you, that is, they�re your friends, they�re your children, but also there�s that internal peace, too, that passes all understanding.
I pray for any of those in trials, and I know some here at the church have even lost their jobs. I pray that you would help them to fight worry and fret and anxiety. We�re so prone to wanderlord, as the hymnist said.
So would you please help us to not do that? I pray especially for the doctors with Dave. They know exactly what to do. We�re thankful for the testimony of Dave Copper and how he has been a man who�s responded to you rightly, and he looks to you, and he understands your faithfulness, and he realizes you�re righteous in all your ways.
May we learn from your handiwork and our dear friend, Dave Copper, bring him back to us quickly and heal him, Lord God. So today we pray that you would open our eyes so we might see wonderful things in your law, and we would like to meditate day and night, so may you bless this word as it goes out via the internet and even to the dear people that are here.
In Jesus� name, amen. Well, we will deviate one more week from the book of Hebrews. I�ve been thinking a lot about a particular section of Scripture, a well-known section. If I were to say to you, let�s say you go to a wedding, and you say, �Well, there�s a particular verse that�s read at a wedding, a particular chapter.
Is there a wedding chapter, in other words And you would probably say, �Oh, I know the wedding chapter. It�s 1 Corinthians chapter what, 13. And so people go, �Oh, that�s the wedding chapter. And it�s wonderful to read at weddings, but it�s not necessarily in context for weddings.
If I were to say to you, you�re visiting someone with a brand-new little baby, and they say, �Well, there�s a good psalm to read when there�s a new child born, and we�re praising the Lord. That would be Psalm what?
Psalm 139. I call that kind of the child psalm. Those of you who have been trained here at Bethlehem Bible Church for assurance and how to think about assurance of salvation, there�s a chapter for that.
It�s the assurance chapter, and that would be what? Romans chapter 8. But if I were to say to you, where is Psalm 23 often read? What kind of psalm is it? You probably would say, it�s the psalm for funerals.
And while it�s fine to read at funerals, it is not associated primarily with death. It�s a song not of death, but of life, of peace, of comfort. It�s a song for the living. Even with the Anglican Book of Prayer, it wasn�t a song for death, for funerals, until 1928.
Associated with the church for a long time in England, you would read Psalm 39 or Psalm 90 when it was a funeral. You would rarely read Psalm 23. Yet today, it seems like Psalm 23 is for death and death alone.
It�s fine for a funeral, but it�s better for life. So I�d like you to take your Bibles and turn to this well-known, beloved psalm, as Alexander McLaren called it, �a sunny little psalm. I think we need a sunny little psalm today.
Psalm 145 we just read, but today we�re going to look at Psalm 23. Charles Haddon Spurgeon called this �the pearl of psalms. And I think if you understand Psalm 23 through exposition, through a frail preacher, you�ll understand not only the text better, but you�ll appreciate the Lord God even better.
This is a wonderful psalm. I was teaching it yesterday on the radio. I don�t think I�ve ever cried on the radio before. And if I did, you wouldn�t know it because you couldn�t see it. But I was actually tearing up as I was preaching through Psalm 23 on the radio because it is a balm for the soul.
It is really the sunny little psalm. Wherever I travel, I usually have chapstick with me. And there�s kind of a fight in our family because I will take any kind of chapstick, but my wife, she only likes Carmex, right?
And when your lips are parched, and you just think, you know what, it�s dry out, and I have to have chapstick with me. And when I apply that chapstick, it�s just a soothing feeling, is it not? It�s just a balm for the lips.
Well, today, whether you�re happy, or healthy, or sick, or lonely, or elderly, or young, this psalm is a perfect psalm for you. Now, here�s what we�re going to do today. I�m going to give you three interpretive keys for this psalm so that you can understand the Lord better and appreciate this psalm more.
I love to preach well-known things because there are so many nuggets hidden in there that you will learn even if you�ve heard this psalm preached 25 times. So, let me give you three interpretive keys for this psalm before we go through it, and I think it will help you in the end.
The first interpretive key is the placement, the theological center of this psalm. Do you understand the theological center of this psalm? And it is found in verse 4. If you take a look at poetry, sometimes you�ll see things at the front or at the end.
It will help you as bookends would help you understand something. But here, there�s a theological center, and it�s found in verse 4. If you don�t understand the theological center, you�re going to miss this psalm.
For you are with me. If you can understand in verse 4 that this ties everything together, you�ll get this psalm better. He starts off as a shepherd, then he talks about himself as a host, and then dwelling in the house of the Lord together.
How can all these things go together? With this theological center, you are with me. Let me read you Psalm 23, and let me highlight by adding in this refrain to make my point. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, for you are with me.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, for you are with me. He leads me beside still waters, for you are with me. He restores my soul, for you are with me. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake, for you are with me.
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, for you are with me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, for you are with me.
You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, for you are with me. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, for you are with me.
This is the unifying theological theme behind this whole Psalm, that the Lord God is with you. I can think of the Lord Jesus, and he would say at the Great Commission, and behold, Arlo, I am with you always, what, even to the end of the age.
If you understand this, you will grasp this Psalm better. Hebrews 13 says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Can you imagine? And in the book of Hebrews, that language is with about five negatives.
There's no way I will ever, ever, ever, ever, ever leave you. Jesus is not the hireling. He's not the shepherd that just runs. He says, I'll never leave you. And so whether there are joys or sorrows in your life, this theological center is that God is with us.
God is Emmanuel, God with us. Well, secondly, to understand this Psalm better, I want you to think about where it's placed in the canon. There's a theological center, God is with us, and there's a placement in the canon.
And so, what do you mean by canon? Well, as God has arranged the books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, there are also arranged Psalms, and the placement of Psalms is by no coincidence, no happenstance, no chance.
Psalm 23 is surrounded by two other Psalms that you need to know, Psalm 22 and Psalm 24. These are three Psalms that go together, and we'll call them a messianic trilogy. We'll call them a shepherding trilogy, where we have the good shepherd in Psalm 22.
We have the great shepherd in Psalm 23, and we have the chief shepherd in Psalm 24. Psalm 22 is about the shepherd who dies for his people, and I can hear Jesus say, John 10, I'm the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Remember, Psalm 22 starts off with my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's a Psalm about the good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. Psalm 24, on the other end of Psalm 23, is about the chief shepherd, and he's going to return for his people, and he's the king of glory, and the king has a crown, and he crowns others, and it reminds me of 1 Peter 5, when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
And so if you've got the good shepherd that died and rose in 22, the good shepherd that's ascended in 24 and is going to come back, and in the center you have the great shepherd, Jesus Christ himself.
Hebrews 13 says, brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, will equip you with everything good for doing his will. And this is the present care, the present comfort, the present protection of the shepherd.
And so you have Psalm 22, the death of our shepherd, you have Psalm 24, the return of the shepherd, and in the middle, what is he doing now? He's the great shepherd of the sheep. He cares for the people.
I don't know if you remember J. Vernon McGee, I used to listen to a lot of Christian radio, and there was a man with a southern drawl, J. Vernon McGee, he was the man that Bill Bryan told me that he showed up at Dallas Seminary building with a cigar in his mouth, he was not allowed to enter after that, but he put out the cigar and then went in.
J. Vernon McGee sees this tie-in between 22, 23, and 24 with this messianic trilogy of three great shepherds who were the same, the Lord Jesus. Listen to what J. Vernon McGee said, without the drawl.
In Psalm 22, Christ is the Savior. In Psalm 23, He's the Satisfier. And in Psalm 24, He's the Sovereign. In Psalm 22, He's the Foundation. In Psalm 23, He is the Manifestation. In Psalm 24, Jesus is the Expectation.
In Psalm 22, Jesus dies. In Psalm 23, He is living. In Psalm 24, He is coming. Psalm 22 speaks of the past. Psalm 23 speaks of the present. And Psalm 24 speaks of the future. In Psalm 22, McGee says, He gives His life for the sheep.
In Psalm 23, He gives His love to the sheep. In Psalm 24, He gives us light when He shall appear. What a great picture of the Lord Jesus in Psalm 22, 23, and 24. I could say it this way, I dare you to read Psalm 22, 23, and 24 without saying, that's Jesus.
Like Augustine, who would say, my shepherd is the Lord Jesus. Friends, the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, session, and soon return of Jesus changes everything. You mean to tell me you can look back at the Old Testament and not see Jesus?
James Boyce said, even if you only use an analogical application, quote, to see Jesus as our shepherd, and to apply the lines of the Psalm carefully and in detail to ourselves. Everything changes with Jesus.
And so when we look back at the Old Testament, I don't think we say to ourselves, well, I don't want to read Jesus into too many places. He's already there. Let's not read Him out of these places. Psalm 22, 23, and 24, three great Psalms that talk about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.
Maybe if I had to summarize this theological center and the canon placement, it would be with question one of the Heidelberg Catechism, which is essentially derived from Psalm 23 kind of theology. What is I only comfort in life and death, that I with body and soul, both in life and death and not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins and delivered me from all the power of the devil, and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head, yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation.
And therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life and makes me sincerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him. By the way, I don't know how long that took, but that seems like about a good 20 seconds if you want to hand washing.
Forget singing happy birthday when you wash hands, you could do some Bible verses, or how about Heidelberg Catechism question one. It really emulates Psalm 23. And then the final thing about Psalm 23 before we dive in, not only is the theological center, you're with me, verse four, not only do we think about where it's placed in the canon, 22, 23, and 24 always go together as we see the Messiah Jesus there, the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, and the Chief Shepherd, but also number three, the Theological Center and the third hermeneutical helper, is that there's nothing in here to do.
There are no imperatives. There's no law. I love the law. I love God's imperatives. I understand that Jesus was a man born under law, and He kept those laws, not for Himself, but for us. I get all that, and that's important.
And even now, as Christians, we want to use God's law as a guide and try to obey Him. I understand all that, and it's good. But here in Psalm 23, you're not going to see anything except an extolling and praising of who this Great Shepherd is, who this Good Shepherd is, who this Chief Shepherd is.
It's about the grace of God and the comfort of God and the character of God and the promises of God to His people. And of course, when you see this and when you read it, there should be kind of an eliciting of, oh, thank you, oh, praise you, oh, I want to respond rightly, I want to believe in this, I want other people to believe in this great truth about this Shepherd.
But it's not a psalm of duty. Peter Jeffrey said it's a psalm of privilege. What has God done for His people? He's not saying, God, would you please do this? God, would you do that? Oh, God, be merciful.
It's a psalm about what God has done, and He's rejoicing in that. It's a great way to look at this psalm. Maybe that's why it's so beloved, the care of God and the praise of God. This psalm, yes, invites your praise and trust, but it doesn't demand it.
Now let's look at verse 1 with those hermeneutical helpers in mind. Psalm 1, Psalm 23, verse 1, the Lord Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want. Now there's so much to be said even here, but let's just think about a couple words, Lord and Shepherd.
You have Lord, and if you see it's all capitals there, this is the personal name of God. And you'll notice right away, this is not a we psalm, this is an I psalm, a my psalm. This is a very personal psalm.
The Lord is my shepherd. So you've got the covenant-keeping God who keeps His promises to His people, who loves His people, and He is going to be their shepherd. Lots of personal pronouns here. And I read this and I think to myself, God is triune, Yahweh the Father, Yahweh the Son, Yahweh the Spirit, and you should be thinking, the Lord Jesus is my shepherd.
Now when you think of that word Lord, other things should come to your mind. Remember Moses meets God Himself, and God says, I am who I am, at the burning bush. This is the God who is independent, this is the God who is self-sufficient, this is the God who is of Himself.
He has a seity, He is completely transcendent and different, and yet what does He do? He stoops, as it were, He bends low to be the shepherd of His people. He shows Himself to be compassionate and kind, and full of forgiveness and warm care, even though He's this transcendent, I am who I am, Lord of the universe.
Galatians 2 says, I've been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh. Present tense, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
And now David, the psalm writer, who knows a lot about shepherding, understands this God of the universe is His personal shepherd, Jesus is His shepherd. The eternal, self-existent, covenant-keeping God of Israel is my own shepherd, is my own personal Jesus, is my shepherd.
He's going to praise God for that, that He would be my shepherd. We talk about Jesus as my personal Savior, yes He is. And the Lord, eternal, omnipotent, self-existent, self-sufficient, says, I'm going to be your shepherd, I'm your shepherd, I'll take care of you.
That's amazing to me. Calvin said, we're by a taste of His fatherly sweetness. There is nothing into which we more fall easily than to have a forgetfulness of Him when we are enjoyment, an enjoyment of peace and comfort.
Under the similitude of a shepherd, He commends the care which God in His providence had exercised toward Him. His language implies that God had no less care of Him than a shepherd has of a sheep who are committed to His charge.
God in Scripture frequently takes to Himself the name and puts on the character of a shepherd, and this is no mean token of His tender love toward us. He has a strong affection for, like a shepherd does to a sheep.
And those sheep then can say, He's my shepherd, and then can rest and know He's taken care of. I don't know if you remember, but there were a lot of bad shepherds in Israel, and eventually, God had to say this in Ezekiel chapter 34.
Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
I will bring them out of the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the ravines and in all the inhabited places of the country.
I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain places of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.
Listen, Ezekiel 34. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.
I will feed them in justice. All the other shepherds are bad shepherds, so the Lord says, I'm going to have to be the shepherd, and we know who that shepherd is. The great I Am, the Lord Creator, God of Israel, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And by the way, when David says, the Lord is my shepherd, he's saying, I trust Him, I'm committed to Him because He's committed to me, and He loves me because of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm part of His flock, I'm part of His church.
Psalm 28, be their shepherd and carry them forever. Psalm 80, give ear, O shepherd of Israel. Psalm 95, He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Psalm 100, know that the Lord, He is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Revelation 7, for the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and He will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Can you imagine the Lord God Almighty, the King of the universe, has taken up the small task, the shepherding task, the menial task of being a provider and protector to us, to me, to you, if you're a Christian.
And when you read, the Lord is my shepherd, I know you're automatically thinking, the Lord Jesus is a good shepherd for His sheep. Of course He is. Suppose one of you had 100 sheep and loses one of them.
Does He not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until He finds it? And when He finds it, He joyfully puts it on His shoulders and goes home. Then He calls His friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep.
Jesus said, I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent. The Lord Jesus is my shepherd.
He'll take care of me. He'll take care of you. And because He's the shepherd, what's He say? Verse 1, I shall not want, I lack nothing. That's what that means. It doesn't mean I need new things, I'm desiring new things, I want to have a bunch of new things.
It means there's nothing that I need, spiritually or temporally, because I've got a good shepherd. I mean, if you had a bad shepherd, you probably need water and you need health care and you need this, that and the other.
But if you have a good shepherd, there's nothing you need. I shall not be and want, the NIV translates it. Since God is such a good shepherd, a chief shepherd, a great shepherd, since the Lord Jesus loves His people, won't He satisfy them?
Won't He provide for them? Won't He protect them? Left to myself, I lack everything. Left to yourself, you lack everything. But when the Lord is your shepherd, there's nothing that you lack. I don't lack anything, because He's a good shepherd.
Sheep, as you know, are helpless animals. And they are not self-sufficient. They are not able to take care of themselves. But when the Lord takes care of you, you're set. One writer said, the Lord of heaven and earth came for me, lived for me, suffered for me, died for me, rose for me, ascended for me, prays for me and constantly cares for me.
I don't lack anything. I don't lack temporal things. I don't lack spiritual things. What does Ephesians chapter 1 say? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every what?
Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He takes care of everything. True, young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Jesus is your compassionate Savior, who's both a Lord and shepherd.
He's a king who also stoops down low to be a shepherd. So how can anyone lack nothing? Let me give you two reasons. If you want an outline, everything so far has been an introduction, a theological centering, and then an introduction, verse 1.
Let me give you two reasons why you're not going to lack anything with this great Lord Jesus. The first is, he's an abundant provider and protector. Now, I don't usually do alliteration. But today I'm going to do double alliteration.
Abundant provider in verses 2 through 4. And then we're going to see, secondly, that he's an amazing proprietor. An amazing proprietor. I don't know if you know this, but alliteration comes from the Latin word litera, meaning a letter of the alphabet.
And in the 15th century, an Italian humanist came up with this idea of alliteration. At least he coined the term. Giovanni Pantano is the one who did that. Sounds like a race car driver to me, does it not, to you?
So, how can Jesus be such a great shepherd and we don't lack anything? Number one, he's an abundant provider and protector. Let's take a look at verse 2 and 3. 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 namesake. Now, you can tell, without even me saying it, that this still has the sheep-shepherd metaphor. It's the similitude of an idea of a pasture and where sheep need to go and what they need to do when it comes to aiding and care.
If you live back in those days, you would realize that water's not very available. You have to be careful where you go. And there's lots of undeveloped lands in the Bible and not a lot of drinking water.
But this particular sheep, these sheep, they understand that the shepherd's going to take care of them and they don't have to worry about any of this. God knows his sheep need food and water and clothing and everything else.
The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest for a while. For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat.
And they went away in a boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now, many saw them going and recognized them. And they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like what?
Sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. God knows his people need things and he takes care of them. That's the point with the shepherding metaphor. I don't know if you've read the book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Philip Keller.
Keller says this quote, it's almost impossible for sheep to be made to lie down unless four requirements are met. Owing to their timidity, they refuse to lie down unless they're free from all fear. Because of the social behavior within a flock, sheep will not lay down unless they're free from friction with others of their kind.
If tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lay down. Only when free of these pests can they relax. Lastly, sheep will not lie down as long as they feel in need of finding food. They must be free from hunger.
And so Keller says, whether it's fear, friction, flies or famine, sheep need help. And here we have this great shepherd of the sheep, this good shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus. He knows everything.
Matter of fact, he says, I'm the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry. And he who believes in me will never be thirsty. And so what does he give? He gives what the text say. Green pastures.
I mean, if you were a sheep and you had to pick some place to go, you would pick this lush, rich, green, verdant pasture, would you not? And that's what this God provides because he's a good shepherd.
He's the Lord God's shepherd. He's our Savior, the Lord Jesus. He cares for his people. One man called it a refreshing care for his people. And not just physically, but spiritually. Does this sound like a good shepherd to you?
Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is what?
Light. God provides everything. And by the way, he also restores. Do you see it in verse three? He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. He restores my soul. I don't know if you realize how ugly, and gross, and defiling, and dirtying, and sullying, and deforming sin is.
But this shepherd, he restores. He cleanses. He grants repentance. He recovers those who are in the misery of their own sin. That's what that means. He restores my soul. In the Old Testament, this restoration often means repentance and conversion.
And it can mean relief and refreshment. My soul is tainted by sin, and I've sinned this week. And what does this shepherd do? Well, you know, you used to be part of my flock, but you've sinned, and now you're out of the flock.
No, he restores my soul. Because if the Lord Jesus says, you're my sheep, you'll always be a sheep. He restores and refreshes. That's what a good shepherd does. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.
I mean, a sheep, when they go from one place to the next, they're going through a certain path. What kind of path does this shepherd take them on? Dangerous path, by the precipice path. No, a path of righteousness for his namesake.
He guides us in a way that says, this is what I want you to do. This is how I want you to live in light of who I am. This is how I want you to live a holy life. And he guides us in that way. The Lord Jesus, who is the shepherd, who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, guides us on the right pathway.
So he restores and he guides because he is a good shepherd. And we need this kind of shepherd. Isaiah 53, we all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
We need this guidance. And God does it for one reason and one reason only. Primarily, and that is, do you see it in the text? For the sake of his name. Why does he do all this? Yes, he loves us. And that's a wonderful spillover.
But this is for his namesake. Because what if God would not be a good shepherd, a providing shepherd, a protecting shepherd? And he just said, you know what? I'm that by name, but I don't really do it.
I don't follow through. But for the glory of his name, for his namesake, he acts in a manner that is completely consistent with who he is. And he protects, too. Verse 4, he is an abundant provider and protector.
Even though, by the way, we're switching gears here from verdant luxury, water, streams, restoration to now dark, terrifying times. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil for you're with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. I mean, we go from, oh, we're just kind of laying by the water and eating grass to there's a threat. There's a fearful threat. And something's going on here. You can just imagine back in the day if there's a shepherd with sheep in Israel and there could be threats of rain and torrents of floods.
There could be wolves and lions and other kind of ferocious animals after the sheep. And here he says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The Hebrew is very interesting. It's two words, shadow and death jammed together.
And it's kind of makes a superlative. It's something like saying he's the king of kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's the great, great one. And here it's kind of like you put these words together. God takes care of you in the shadowest shadows.
Is that a word? Shadowyest. I look over at my kids, the shadowiest. There's danger. Will the shepherd run? Am I on my own? But remember, underlying everything, the Lord's with me. The Lord's with me. The Lord's with me.
Whether it's dying moments or danger. Jesus isn't a hireling. He's not going to forget you. What's the problem on earth today? If I could summarize everything, I told myself I probably wouldn't say the word virus in the sermon, but I just said it.
The problem is fear. People are panicked. And of course, the ultimate fear is the fear of death. This shepherd here, though, for all you dear Christians, you ought not to fear. The only fear you should have is the fear of the Lord is the beginning of what?
Wisdom. And if you fear God properly and reverence him and give him awe and have even a fear fear of him because he's so great and transcendent. Yet, you know, because of the person and work of the Lord Jesus, that the scepter that he's handed to you and extended out to you is one of love and not judgment.
It's one of kindness and not punishment. You say to yourself, you know what? Why do I fear anything? When this God is my shepherd, he's provided everything I need in life and death, spiritually, temporary, temporarily.
Why would I be afraid? The shepherd's right by me. He's not afraid. Why should I be afraid? Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, this talks about a threatening, awful place. It's left open.
So we might say whatever trials we're going through, even up to and including death, the Lord will be there. And by the way, do you notice the text? He's not walking in the valley, but he's through the valley.
We're going through this and he will bring you together with himself through this. And therefore, this writer can say, and you can say, dear Christian, I fear no evil. Everybody else is afraid, but I'm fear Yahweh.
And therefore, I'm not going to fear anything or anyone else. John Stevenson said, danger, my darling. Oh, do not use that word. There can be no danger to the Christian. Whatever may happen. All is right.
All is well. God is love. All is well. Everlastingly well. Everlastingly well. Because God is your shepherd. James Janeway said, come muster up all your jovial blades together. Call for your harps. Add what you will to make the concert complete.
Bring in your richest wines. Come lay your heads together and study what may still add to your comfort. And then I was reading something I found fascinating. I don't know what you did when you were a kid.
I grew up in Nebraska and we didn't have a lot of animals around that would be dead or ferocious animals that would die. But I could identify with this as a writer talked about it. As boys, when they see a bear, a lion or a wolf dead in the streets, they will pull their hair, insult over them and deal with them as they please.
Right. You got a dead wolf. What's it going to do? They'll trample on their bodies and do that under them being dead, which they durst not in the least measure venture upon while they're still alive. Such a thing is dead.
And such a thing as death, a furious beast, a ramping lion, a devouring wolf. Yet Christ has laid him at his length, has been the death of death so that God's children triumph over him, such as those refined ones in the of the church, those martyrs of the primitive times who cheerfully offer themselves to fire this hungry beast by the faith that they had in the life of Christ.
Death is dead. The death of death and the death of Christ, as John Owen would say, dear Christian, the darkest of your valleys, the deepest ravines, God's with you. The text says it, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.
And by the way, do you like the text there in verse four? Thy rod and thy staff, or your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You're with me. And these things that you use both to protect and ward off animals and to kind of get in line and make us kind of go on the right path.
They're there. You save us with those instruments, Lord. You drive away predators with those instruments, Lord. You keep us. You defend us. You guide us. The rod basically was something to club down wild, ferocious animals.
And the staff, you just kind of keep the sheep in line. Keep the sheep going the right way. Well, and then we need to speed up a little bit. Jesus is your shepherd. How can you lack nothing? Number one, he's an abundant provider, protector.
And number two, he's an amazing proprietor. Verses five and six. This is why I don't do alliteration very much. He's in this part of the Psalm. He's a host. There's a victory feast and he's the host and you get to go to the banquet.
The first part, he's a shepherd and we move from shepherd to host. So when I looked up several synonyms that start with P for a host, the only one I could find to make this work was proprietor. So he's a generous host.
Verses five and six. 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 will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Now, if you're not careful, you forget about this section. Everything's about Jesus as a shepherd and he's a wonderful shepherd. He's a great shepherd. He's a chief shepherd. He's a good shepherd. He lays down his life for us.
He's coming back. He's with us now. That's all true. But now it changes. The metaphor moves from shepherd to host. Well, now you get to go to the king's banquet. You get to go to this wonderful God's special festive banquet.
I don't know if you've been to big banquets or not. I remember years and years ago, Kim and I were in Hawaii for the first time. And she and I thought it might be good to go to a luau. And so we paid for this luxurious banquet luau, I think with 18 different courses.
And it was a total tourist trap ripoff. If I remember right, it was held by some kind of nuclear power plant or something. Is that right? Pretty close. This banquet isn't going to disappoint you, though.
When Yahweh the king, because of the son's work, has you for a banquet, what must that be like? The children of God are now the guests, friends, the privilege of sitting at the table of God. This reminds me of David, who would say to the crippled Meshivatheth, You know what?
You can sit at my table and dine with the king. How would you like to dine with the king of kings? Jesus is not just a shepherd. He's a host. This is table fellowship. It doesn't just stop with, He's rescued me from hell, and He's assured my pardon, and He's purchased my soul with His blood, and He reigns victoriously, He intercedes for me, but He's given me this big banquet.
And it's not, Would you please treat me as one of your hired servants? This is the God who now brings the best robe for His people, and the best ring, and the shoes for the feet, and the fattened calf, and kills it, and says, Join with the celebration and dancing.
Enjoy the fellowship and communion of God, because of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is, by the way, in the presence, what's your text say? In the presence of my enemy. By the way, God's blessing on me is so great, that it's just, it's done in front of enemies.
Hey, you enemies, you ought to see my blessings for my people, because I love them, and I care for them, and I'm such a great shepherd. I'm going to declare it in front of you. They have security and blessing.
You might be an enemy right there in my presence, but they're not going to be afraid. One Egyptian writer, in not a Bible context, said, May it please him to give gifts to his servants, while our enemies look on.
If you are a great king, you bring in your enemies, and then you treat your beloved ones, really well in front of those enemies, just to show them who is king, who to show them who is the shepherd. And by the way, when you see language like this in Psalm 23, of oil and a cup, you ought to be thinking, lavish hospitality, blessings.
We can go to the store anytime, and buy about anything until this last week, but it would be difficult to have this special oil, and this wonderful wine, and having everything that it would take to go with it.
And you've got to have the olives and the grapes, and you just can't grow wine. You know, you can't just get it out of the river, and you have to have the grapes, and take care of them, and do this, and do that, and then get the wine.
Same thing, the olives, and what they have to do, and how to prepare them. It takes a lot of domestic tasks to do. And here you walk into the king's banquet hall, and what do you get? Oil, and you get wine.
And you get so much oil, there's anointing on your head, and you get so much wine, the cup is never empty, because he is such a gracious host. I don't know if you're a Baptist, and you want to make it, there's so much grape juice around, Welch's grape juice, that it never stops.
You can say whatever you like. You know, it's kind of hard to preach in a congregation, of just the sound guy, the sound guy, and my three peeps there, my family. The shepherd, it's almost like, you know, the shepherd guides the sheep into the banquet hall, and now they just have this huge banquet.
It's amazing. What great imagery here. Lass, lavish hospitality. You anoint, you refresh, you soothe. What a gracious God we have. One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and went into the Pharisee's house, and reclined at table.
And behold, a woman of the city, who was a servant of God, when she learned that he was reclining at table, in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment. And standing behind him, at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of his, her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment.
Now, when the Pharisees, who had invited him, saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who, and what sort of woman is touching him, for she's a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you.
He said, say it, teacher. A certain money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii, and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon answered, well, the one I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.
And he said to him, you have judged rightly. Then turning to the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.
You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.
For he who is forgiven little, loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Those who were at the table with him, began to say with themselves, who is this, who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you, go in peace.
I came to your house, and you didn't anoint my head with oil, she's anointing my feet with oil. You didn't kiss me, she kissed me. When you're gonna have a banquet, when you're gonna have a time of food and plenty, there's certain things you do.
And this guest, this host that we have, this proprietor, he doesn't forget any of that. And you get the overflowing cup of God's gracious, wonderful, lavish grace. What's the text say? My cup overflows.
So much food, so much wine, so much drink, it never runs out. This host is generous, this host is wise. This is the kind of wine that satisfies, this is the kind of food that overflows. Psalm 104, wine which makes a man's heart glad, so that his face may glisten with oil, and food which sustains man's heart.
And it doesn't just last on earth, it follows you to eternity. Verse six, how good is this proprietor? What kind of a wonderful host is this? Not just with temporal things, but eternal things. You ever wanna talk about assurance verses?
How do I know I'm saved? How do I know God will get me home to heaven? Surely, confidently, exactly, goodness and loving kindness, will pursue me, follow me, track me down, all the days of my life. For I dwell in the house, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
This is not God saying, you know what, hope you make it. This is God pursuing, and tracking, and actively, aggressively. There's nothing passive about any of this, is there? It's like God's steadfast love, hunts down aggressively his people, to make sure they get home safely, to the Lord's house of eternal dwelling, that is heaven.
It's amazing to me. Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back, and take you to be with me, that you may be there also with me. He's gonna bring us.
It's all on him. It is sure. It is certain. It is trustworthy. David, think about him. He understands a sheep motif. He understands what it's like to be a host, as a king, who would have these big banquets.
But this banquet's not gonna just end. He, can I be a guest for a day, and be at your banquet? Well, there's something better than being a guest for a day. Eternally. I'd like to live in your bountiful presence forever.
I mean, if you went to some kind of lavish banquet, that a king would give back in those days, you would say this when you walked out, I wish that would never end. And that's exactly what's happening here.
And God's gonna make it happen. We don't keep ourselves safe. God preserves us. Oh, we respond with perseverance of the saint. That's true. But it's all on God. What's the text say? I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.
All my length of days. Forever and ever and ever. Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. Well, it's pretty amazing, is it not? God is an abundant provider, protector. And he's an amazing proprietor.
I don't know if you want to know the alternative to Jesus as shepherd. Psalm 49 says, death is the people shepherd who don't believe. And if you're watching today, listening today, everybody has a shepherd.
You either have death as a shepherd, or you have Jesus as a shepherd. And you have to lay down your arms as it were, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, this great shepherd. That tells you how bad sin is when you say, you know what?
I don't want this good shepherd. I don't want these blessings, temporally and spiritually. I don't want to dwell in the house. Of the Lord forever. I don't want him as a shepherd. I'll be my own shepherd.
And I don't want to be a guest at his table. Only sin says that. But when God opens your eyes, you realize what a magnificent, gracious shepherd and host he is. Romans 8 32, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
How he also not with him freely give us all things. So Jesus said to them again, truly, truly, I say to you, I'm the door of the sheep. I'm the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it what? More abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd.
I know my own and my own knows me. Dear friends, Psalm 23 is not a psalm of death, even though it is very apropos. Because God is with us even under death. It's a psalm for living. It's a psalm that talks about the presence of our savior, the Lord Jesus as the good shepherd, the great shepherd and the chief shepherd, your shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd.
And if you're trusting in the Lord Jesus, you can say that. That's amazing to me. And therefore we can fear no evil. My homework for you this week is every day. I'd like you to read Psalm 23, excuse me, Psalm 22, 23 and 24 together.
So you can understand what it's like to have the shepherd who died, the shepherd who lives and the shepherd who is coming back. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. Bow with me if you would please. Our father in heaven, we're thankful that we lack nothing because of your great abundant kindness found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You provide everything we need through him. Nourishment, peace, restoration, guidance. Thank you. You've never let us down, nor will you ever let us down. I pray for those who are in different trials that they might recognize that in fact, Jesus is Emmanuel God with us.
Thank you that you'll never leave us nor forsake us. Thank you that you're a protective shepherd and a gracious host. Oh, what will heaven be like? So many pleasures on this earth, but what will heaven be like to dwell in your presence forever without sin and to be able to see you face-to-face.
We look forward to that day. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Well, thank you for watching today. If you've got friends and you wanna have them link to this or see it, I think in light of our YouTube difficulties, we'll probably get it burned on YouTube and then we'll send out that link as well.
We are just going day by day, dear congregation and I don't know what's gonna happen next week. We've thought about maybe expanding this a little bit or just continuing as we go. I think a couple of you have been in home groups with Zoom and other things.
Some have wondered and said, well, you know what's gonna happen to churches because everybody's gonna be all discombobulated and they won't understand this, that or the other. And I don't think that's gonna happen at all.
I think the real saints of Bethlehem Bible Church, while we long to worship with one another, the Lord will take care of us even though we're at home and we wanna do the right thing and obey the government.
And of course, if the government says we can never get back together, then of course we don't obey the government in that regard. We'll all be the Lord Jesus Christ. But I'm not worried. You can have a great day today knowing that Jesus is your shepherd and a great banquet provider.
And that would be enough for us today. It does make me think, Lord, it would be good for you to come back soon. That would take care of a lot of problems. And so that also is another thing. So may you be blessed by God.
I think about the great Aaronic blessing. Remember in Numbers chapter six, because I'm thinking about oil and wine and those other things about God's face and how it glistens as it were with pleasure because of the Lord Jesus Christ toward us.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you and lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you.
With Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.
Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
Thank you.