The Abundant Life John 10:10

Well, good morning everyone Good morning to those that are here and tomorrow good morning and maybe good evening to those that are tuning in online

As we always say we'd love you to be here and there's plenty of room to distance here If you're concerned about that and masking and so on so But we miss you

Two announcements ladies Bible study is on the 20th that got shifted a little bit. So 10 o 'clock on the 20th ladies

Next Sunday is our business meeting our annual business meeting. We're gonna have it right after our morning service

So if you can make it, please come it's going to be an important meeting to be a part of and again,

I just think if there's lots of plenty of measures here to stay comfortable for you to be comfortable and safe, so Please put that on your calendar and try to make a point

That's it for announcements I think let's open up in prayer Our dear

Heavenly Father. We are blessed to be here this morning father. We Come before your throne father and may be in a humble manner that we can acknowledge your majesty your acknowledge your love and your grace and What a magnificent God you are father that the

God of the universe we can serve you and may we honor you now Lord as we lift our voices in song as your word is preached and teached taught

Lord That you would bless pastor John that each of us would be led by the

Holy Spirit to Bring honor and glory to you father So we thank you we pray for those that aren't here today

Lord that you would have your hand upon them that they would be in the word they would be walking with you father and If not

Lord, I just pray that you would challenge each that is that is maybe found it easy to stray

Lord And that is we are all prone to do that Lord But may we find rest and peace and hope and assurance in you

So Lord go before us now we commit our time to your care. We pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen As I was preparing and reading some Sermon notes and pastor

John, you know that some people do look at old notes and This was at least ten years ago and is on worship and there were seven points of how we should approach our time

And I think it's a good idea to assess and to consider before we come to this point

Of how we should approach God in our worship and I'll rattle these off biblically Christ centric

Lee Centric it centrality of Christ centrality centrally humbly prayerfully personally

Patiently and confidently and I just want to share a couple verses there the humbly come to him humbly and Heaven is my throne and Earth thus says the

Lord Important introduction there the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool Where's the house that you will build me?

And where's the place of my rest for all those things? My hand is made and all those things exist says the

Lord But on this one I will look will I look on him who is poor his poor spirit and of contrite spirit and who?

Trembles at my word. Are we trembling before his word this morning and To be approached the throne

Confidently even in that contrite manner with our heads bowed and we can still approach him confidently because of What we are in his kingdom

Hebrews 4 14 through 16 seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens

Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses

But was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need

We need our Lord now more than ever. So let's stand together. We're going to sing

Oh church arise Oh church arise

Hear the call of Christ our captain For now the we

Can't say that we are strong in the strength that God has given

We'll stand against the devil's lies an army bold Whose battle cry is love reaching out to those in darkness

Our call to war to love the captive soul but to rage against the captive and with the sword their call

The day when Christ will stand in glory

And Let's sing when I sir survey the wondrous cross very contemplative song that we should just think about the words

I Oh Demon We're gonna sing lamb of glory

Here the story from God's Word that kings and priests and Prophets There would be

Sacrifice and Precious Love's most wondrous

Oh Excellent.

Please be seated. Jim, will you come forward and read scripture? Good morning.

The last scripture we're reading for this morning is Psalm 23. Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.

Thou art with my staff, to comfort me. Thou prepare'st a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup when I'm sober. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. May the Lord bless you, too.

Read of his word. Thank you, Jim. Let's stand again together as we're gonna sing,

We Will Glorify Him. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lord, be praise and honor and glory.

We will glorify the King of Kings. We will glorify the

Lamb. We will glorify the Lord of Lords, who is the great

I Am. Lord Jehovah reigns in majesty.

We will bow before his throne. We will worship him in righteousness.

We will worship him alone. He is

Lord of Heaven, Lord of Earth. He is Lord of all who live.

He is Lord above the universe. All praise to him we give.

Alleluia to the King of Kings. Alleluia to the

Lamb. Alleluia to the Lord of Lords, who is the great

I Am. Before John comes, we're gonna sing,

Thou Art Worthy. Indeed he is. He is worthy.

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory.

Glory has created, has all things created.

Thou art worthy to receive glory.

Glory has created, has all things created.

He is worthy. Excellent, please be seated.

Pastor John. Thank you so much, Harold, and praise the Lord. Hello to those of you at home, on the internet, watching on our

YouTube channel. And hello to those of you that made it out. Amen?

Amen. And I'm so glad there is plenty of room here, plenty of room for social distancing, as Harold said, so we'd love to see you once in a while.

So turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 10. So you're gonna get a lot of bang for your buck today, because I could not make this message any shorter than I made it.

And on top of that, next Sunday we have a business meeting, so I have to make it short.

So I'm giving you, I'm spreading it out. Have you ever heard that term, amortize? Amortize? I'm amortizing this sermon over two

Sundays. And if you have your notes, you'll see that the message title is today,

An Abundant Life. An Abundant Life. John chapter 10, verse 10,

Jesus says, the thief does not come except to steal, to kill and destroy.

I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

And this fits where we were last Sunday in verses six, seven, eight and nine.

And I wanna finish those verses today. And before we go any further, let's pray. Father, we're so thankful for this day, this time that we can be in your word.

Father, in many, many challenging days in which we live, we're thankful the Supreme Court found that what's been going on in terms of closing churches is unconstitutional.

And Lord, we now across the country can now worship freely once again. And we're thankful for that.

I don't totally understand all the language of the decision, but we're thankful, God, for the way that you work, the way that you cause all things to work together for our good.

We thank you, God, that the promise of this verse is that Jesus came to give us life and to give it abundantly.

So Lord, we're grateful for that. Father, whether we're a Christian in North Korea, Somalia, Iran, whether we're a

Christian in South Africa, the United States or Canada, if we are truly born again, we have an abundant life,

God. And we're thankful for that. And so we pray now that the Holy Spirit would be our teacher this morning, that our hearts would be open in our eyes to see your word, understand your word,

God, that it might be planted in our heart, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So this verse, if you've been in church for any length of time, is very often quoted.

It's well -known. And it's very often quoted in the context, in our country at least, of material prosperity.

Abundant life, overflowing. And in these verses,

Jesus is in this middle of a very long discourse. It ends in verse 21 of this chapter, presenting himself as the good shepherd.

And what verse 10 does is it contrasts the good shepherd's ministry with those that are not good, those that are thieves.

So he presents this stark contrast that serves as a rebuke to the law -based righteousness that was being taught by the

Pharisees and the faith -based righteousness that is taught by the good shepherd.

See, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.

I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

Now, what a vivid contrast. The thief who only comes, whose only mission is to steal and to kill and to destroy, referring to the

Pharisees, contrasted with the good shepherd, verse 11, that lays down his life for the sheep, the good shepherd, verse 14, that knows his sheep and who his sheep know, the good shepherd that calls his sheep and they hear, and the good shepherd that comes that the sheep may have life more abundantly.

Now, let me ask a question. Why did Jesus Christ come into the world?

What does Scripture say in answer to this question?

Over in Mark, chapter 1, verse 38, he said to the disciples, let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also, because for this purpose,

I have come forth. Luke 19, verse 10. Luke 19, verse 10, for the

Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost over in Matthew 20, verse 28.

Jesus emphasized his death on the cross, Matthew 20, verse 28, just as the

Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

So, to sum up the reason for Jesus' first advent, he came to fulfill prophecy.

Jesus came to fulfill God's promise that he would send a Messiah. He came to glorify his

Father and to preach the good news of the gospel to a lost and dying world. He came to seek and save the lost.

He came to live a sinless life and to die a cruel and horrible death on the cross of Calvary to be buried and rise again after three days.

And he came that all men might not have death, but have abundant life.

Now, as try as we might, we are not going to find in Scripture giving people big houses or big cars or big bank accounts or big retirement accounts in the list of reasons why

Jesus Christ came to the earth. You're not going to find that. So, here in verse 10, in the midst of this ongoing attack by the

Pharisees and in the context of him teaching about the good shepherd, how he is the good shepherd, we come to another aspect of Jesus' coming, namely this idea of an abundant life.

Now, if you look carefully at verse 10 in the English and in the Greek, the word life and the word abundantly or more abundantly, they're linked grammatically and they're linked contextually.

So, they have to be put together. They relate to one another. They modify and properly understand this statement and see how they're related.

We need to see what Jesus says in verse 10, listen to me, is the conclusion to what he says in verse nine.

What does he say in verse nine that we covered last week? I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

Now, is the Lord Jesus in verse nine talking about material prosperity? No, he's talking about salvation.

He's talking about those who trust in him and enter through him will be saved and they would be safe going in and out and they would be satisfied finding pasture.

Now, to drive home this point that he makes in verse nine, he gives this contrast.

The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. So, life not death, a new life in Christ by faith, not more wealth.

The context of what Jesus is saying here is salvation and eternal life and it was to give eternal life that Jesus came and then he adds that those who receive that life will have it how?

Abundantly. So, we must keep the context and the flow of the passage all the way back to chapter nine, all the way through the rest of the chapter to really understand what he's saying.

Jesus is saying these things in the midst of this ongoing dispute with the

Pharisees. Everything that Jesus says about himself in chapter 10 is intended to contrast with the attitude of the false religious leaders that were confronting him and that's why he begins verse 10 with the thief.

You Pharisees, you whitewashed sepulchers, they do not come except to steal and kill and destroy.

So, he's identifying the Pharisees as thieves and robbers but the larger application in context is also applies to false religious leaders or teachers, any.

The clear idea is that those who preach the way of salvation based on good works or ritual performance or doing what the

Pharisees said, paying money anyway other than by faith in Christ alone, other than how?

Through that door, that narrow path, right? They are wolves among sheep, wolves in sheepskin clothing.

In our day, in the form of false religious leaders, false teachers, including those who preach having a tolerance for sin, that is the big thing right now going on.

You may not realize it, but it's big right now in churches the last year or two.

Those who preach a tolerance for sin but who will not tolerate the clear meaning of scripture.

Thieves and robbers and wolves also include those who minister for personal gain and twist the gospel to attract followers.

Jesus by his atoning death on the cross is the one and only door to true life and faith alone is the one and only way to enter by him, right?

All others who try to enter themselves and would lead others over the wall are thieves and robbers.

And Jesus says that these only come to what? Steal, kill, destroy.

So look at verse 10 and think about it for a moment. Salvation, eternal life, a new life in Christ.

This is what Jesus is talking about it. But see, when we think about eternal life, very often we tend to think in quantity.

Listen to me. Quantity, not what? Quality. Very often when we think of eternal life, we're thinking about quantity.

Oh, eternal, eternity lasts forever, right? We tend to think about quantity, not quality.

We would say the phrase eternal life or everlasting life refers to eternity in heaven.

But notice that Jesus emphasizes the quality of life.

I've come that they might have life, and we know that it's eternal life and that they might have it more abundantly.

That word abundantly in the Greek is a very strong word. It means extraordinary in the amount, extraordinary in the amount.

It's like, you know, you're going to have a pizza for lunch, but not one, but 50. And or profuse.

And the reason I picked this title is because verse 10 is talking about the assurance of eternal life.

And that life is coupled with the assurance of the life that we have in Christ.

Listen, being abundant under the care and the protection of the good shepherd.

Who, what lays his life down for the sheep? Now, if you can think back to last week, you remember

I made mention you might in verses one through five, the kind of sheepfold that Jesus is talking about.

There were the bigger sheepfolds that were more secure with tall walls actually had a door that were near the bigger towns and cities of that day.

Then he turns his attention to verses seven, eight and nine, and he changes to the sheepfolds that were more less permanent in nature, out in the wilderness, lower wall.

And in those sheepfolds, the shepherd himself would be the door. Remember, we talked about that he would lay across the door.

So inside the sheepfolds is what eternal life. That's the picture, right?

So clearly there is some application to the word abundantly to our present life. But the specific application is the new life that believers have in Jesus Christ.

Now, mark your place here, if you would, and go to Psalm 23.

And we're going to go to Psalm 23 because Psalm 23 is a vivid testimony by David, King David, the third king of Israel, of what it's like to live under the shepherding care of the

Lord. And listen to me, the assurances the sheep of the

Lord's fold have in him. See, verse 10 has to be taken in the context of Jesus as the good shepherd that by faith gives new life to those who are dead in their trespasses and sin.

So what better place than Psalm 23 to learn about what the good shepherd does for his sheep?

In Psalm 23, there's at least three encouraging truths about what it means to have an abundant life that the gospel of Jesus Christ under the lordship of King Jesus, the good shepherd offers.

There is the assurance, there is in Psalm 23, the assurance that the good shepherd will provide.

There is the assurance that the good shepherd will protect. And there is the good shepherd, there is the assurance of physical and spiritual comfort.

And I want to begin with the assurance of the good shepherd's providing care.

Notice verse one of Psalm 23. Jim, thank you, by the way, good job reading it. Verse one, the

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

What is he saying? What is David saying? He has the assurance of the shepherd's providing care.

Psalm 23 poetically describes the life provided to those who trust the Lord as their shepherd.

If you've been around church for any length of time, you might have heard of the book, The Shepherd's Psalm by a gentleman by the name of Philip Keller.

Philip Keller worked as a shepherd for many years, and he writes a book about this psalm based on his own experience as a shepherd.

And he points out the importance of the shepherd's care in the sheep's well -being.

I want to quote just quickly from that book. The welfare of any flock is entirely dependent upon the management afforded them by their owner.

For him, there is no greater reward, no deeper satisfaction than that of seeing his sheep well -contented, well -fed, safe and flourishing under his call.

I'm sorry, under his care. He will go to no end of trouble and labor to supply them with the finest grazing, the richest pasturage, ample winter feed and clean water.

Listen, from early dawn until late at night, this utterly selfless shepherd is alert to the welfare of his flock.

Can we say amen in the midst of COVID? Night and day, the good shepherd is watching over his flock.

Amen. And see, based on this analogy, when Jesus says that he came to give abundant life, this doubtless involves providing care, meeting the needs of his sheep, absorbs the shepherd's time, energy, mental faculty.

And because of those who belong to Jesus, they can say the

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

So we have the shepherds providing care. And when Psalm 23 says,

I shall not want, what sort of provision is promised? Now, this is very important to answer because understanding what is meant by the good shepherds providing care is important because of the spread many, many years in this country of the so -called prosperity gospel.

See, one reason that understanding what is meant by Jesus saying abundant life and the good shepherding providing, or I'm sorry, the good shepherds providing care is important because of the spread of the so -called prosperity gospel.

Time magazine, not too long ago, ran a cover story, not person of the year, or did they recently have one object of the year or thing of the year?

I don't know, but they recently ran a cover story. Does God want you to be rich?

And one example of a false prosperity teacher that is named in the article is the popular prosperity teacher,

Joel Osteen. Osteen's inspirational bestseller, one of the bestselling books in recent history is called

Your Best Life Now. This book is widely credited for taking the prosperity gospel of the

Pentecostal movement and moving it into the evangelical mainstream. He preaches a

Christian faith that not only provides blessings in heaven, but also consists of happiness, success, and fulfillment here on earth.

This man is so popular in Christian circles that this last year with the livestream services that churches are doing where they're not meeting in person, are you ready for this?

One Sunday, 4 .3 million people tuned in to hear his false gospel on a

Sunday. 4 .3 million people that say,

I'm a Christian. Over 40 million a week watch him on TV.

Osteen expresses his version of the prosperity gospel. Listen carefully, listen carefully.

I'm quoting him. I think God wants us to be prosperous.

I think he wants us to be happy. I think he wants us to enjoy our lives.

And then he unabashedly with no shame defines them in materialistic terms.

Tell that to the Christian in a concentration camp in China. Preach that gospel to a

Christian in North Korea that can't even tell his own wife that he's a Christian because she will report him.

And he will be arrested and most likely put to death. See, let me be clear.

Osteen and others like him are false teachers. They are false teachers preaching false gospels that Jesus Christ compares to what?

Thieves and robbers. And there's so many examples. I don't have time to go down the list.

But if you want to know some more, just turn on any so -called Christian TV network.

And 90 % of them are exactly like that. They're flying around in private jets.

They raise money for a second private jet. And people are sending this money in.

So this word abundance. David says in verse one, I shall not want.

And he says that in the context of Jesus saying, give us what? Give us this day our daily 401k deposit.

Give us this day our new BMW. No, he says, give us this day our daily bread.

Going all the way back to Israel's wandering in the wilderness where God said, take only enough for what today.

And he says, if you happen to think that I'm not going to provide for you tomorrow and you take more, it's going to rot.

And the Israelites did it anyway. And you know what happened when they got up the next morning? It was rancid and stank up their tent.

But on Saturday or Friday, you could gather enough for the Sabbath because you don't work on the

Sabbath. Right. Now, quickly, like I told you, you're going to get your money's worth today.

There is a positive side to this idea of posterity, right? Prosperity teachers often point out that many people feel downtrodden and hopeless.

They're inhibited by poor self -esteem. They frequently point out that Christians should not approach life pessimistically or doubtful of God's favor.

And they're right in this, right? When they emphasize that changes in our life demand or require changes in our thinking.

Listen to me. They are right in one sense of the word. After all,

Paul says in Philippians 4, verse 8, Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report.

You ready? If there's any excellence in them, think on these things. 2

Corinthians chapter 5. Paul says we are taking captive every thought. We are taking captive every thought.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. Listen, and we are taking every thought captive and bringing it obedience to Christ.

So does our mind play a role in living under the good shepherd's care? Yes, it does.

Yes. But it has to be the kind of right thinking that is what?

Filtered through the word of God. And given the widespread depression in our society today,

I don't know if you know or if you've been following how many suicides there are, how many drug overdoses, alcohol.

I mean, do you have any idea this last year what it's done to families and people's lives?

Where people, it's what a, I don't even want to give you the statistics. However, listen.

Their brand of prosperity is promised by the sheer power of believing as though our faith exercised its own divine power on its own.

Moreover, one does not receive God's favor merely by believing or declaring it to be so.

As prosperity teachers emphasize. Now, what about this claim that the abundant life means that God wants his children to enjoy earthly wealth, perfect health and worldly success?

Is this biblical? No. Hey, you get a prize on the way out.

If you're watching by video, somebody said no, and they were right. See, prosperity gospels, preachers typically teach that trials such as illness, the loss of a job, relationship problems are the result of a lack of faith.

Again, not true. The Bible says that trials are part of God's fatherly plan for growing believers into maturity.

James says, count it all joy when you face various trials, knowing, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience and let patience have its perfect work that you will be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.

Mature is the idea. Over in Matthew six. Moreover, prosperity teachers define salvation almost exclusively in terms of houses, ponds, stables and other possessions.

And Jesus says in Matthew six, 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.

Does that include jet planes and big houses? I guess so. Isn't that a treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal?

He concludes this stinging rebuke in verse 21.

This is all we need for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This means that those whose treasures are on earth do not have a heart set on God. Jesus called his followers to self denial.

Luke nine, Luke nine, Luke nine.

923, then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

John 10, 10 is frequently quoted by prosperity teachers because Jesus states he came to give abundant life, but Jesus did not say that he came to give life the way they say.

They say, look at Luke 12, 15. He said to them, take heed and beware of covetousness for one's life does not consist.

There's our word in the abundance of the things he possesses. See, the

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want needs, not wants.

Jesus promises a satisfied soul and needs not wants.

See the sheep go in and out and pasture as they feed on the plentiful pastures of his life giving word.

They don't head out of the sheepfold for a vacation in Jamaica. Not that that's bad.

Don't don't don't email the church and say, well, he said I can't go on vacation.

That's not what I'm saying. You see, it's true. Some Christians will often enjoy worldly success.

There are those who are blessed with material riches and they need to understand that God's blessing on them financially with that wealth is a very high calling.

And those with excess wealth are to give often to the ministry of the gospel, because that's why

God has blessed them that way. Luke six. Jesus warned that money is a spiritual snare.

Luke six, 20. Blessed are you poor. For theirs is the kingdom of God.

God does not spoil his children, but trains them in righteousness.

Philippians. He promises to meet all the genuine needs.

Philippians Philippians four. He promises to meet all the genuine needs of his people, but not to gratify our earthly cravings.

Philippians four. And my God shall supply all your need.

A 2021 BMW. Yeah, right.

When you only have money for a. 2003

Camry. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory.

See, our main needs are spiritual, and God especially delights to cause us to prosper spiritually in the midst of earthly difficulties.

And by the way, that is the whole point of the book of Job. Read it sometime. Satan argued that Job trusted

God only because God had blessed him so abundantly financially. He had so much earthly prosperity.

But when God but when Job continued to praise God in the midst of suffering,

God was greatly glorified. The believers true wealth is that his or her joy does not depend on earthly prosperity.

Amen. Jesus supplies us with abundant spiritual life in any circumstances so that Christians can content contentedly praise him.

Go back to Psalm 23. Just amazing. The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want those who pursue worldly happiness will ever be restless, always needing more.

But those who find their contentment in Christ can say with the psalmist, look what he says.

He goes on. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

Second, in the abundant life that Jesus promises, there is the assurance of guidance. There is the assurance of his provision.

Now there is the assurance of guidance. Look what he says. Verse two, he leads me.

That's guidance beside the still waters. Verse three. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

See, another aspect of the abundant life that Jesus gives is guidance for our journey through the pastures of life.

See, the comparison between Christians and sheep is not a compliment. Ask any real life shepherd.

Sheep are stupid creatures. They are known to be the hardest livestock to maintain.

Now, don't be offended. One aspect of sheep's stupidity is seen in the fact that they so easily wander away.

Sheep like to eat foods that poison themselves. And they like to do things that cost them their life.

Sound familiar? I was about to tell you the story when

I first got my driver's license. But if my mom watches this, she'll be really mad. First time she gave me the keys to the car.

They like to eat foods that poison them. They like to do things that cost them their life. Therefore, sheep require a shepherd to survive.

And the same is true for us spiritually. When Jesus says that he came to give life to his sheep, the new life in him involves his ongoing guidance.

This is why we have the Bible. The abundant life that Jesus gives is one that is lived under the guidance of his word.

Right? Because John 1 tells us that he is the word. Amen? The word became flesh,

John 1, 14, and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

God. And the Jehovah Witnesses changed that verse. We don't. And the word dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.

This is why we have the Bible. He provides leaders in the church like Victor and Harold.

He provides fellowship among believers, which is why this whole thing is so anti -God.

This has been an attack on the church. This has been an attack on believers.

It's not allowing us saying we can't join together. Thank God for the

Supreme Court. Amen? Come back to church. If you're nervous, there's all kinds of room.

When needed, he is willing to extend his staff to pull us back in a line. By all these means,

Jesus promised life -giving guidance to those who follow him. So what do we have? The abundant life, right?

First of all, we have the assurance of his provision. Then we have the assurance of his guidance.

And third, there is the assurance of spiritual comfort. Psalm 23 begins with the assurance of spiritual comfort, which the good shepherd gives to his flock.

Jesus promises abundant life, but we still live in this world shadowed by death.

And notice what he says. He says in verse four, and by the way, please note that this is in the middle of the psalm.

Six verses, verse four is in the middle. 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.

See, the shadow of death deprives many people of the joy of life, but not so the Christian who knows the

Lord's promises. We must face death, but we don't have to fear it. Why? Because the

Lord promises to be with us, and his sin atoning cross has removed everything that the

Christian has to fear about death. There was a Christian man, he was facing the rapid approach of death, and he shared how

Psalm 23 comforted him with his message that the valley of the shadow of death is not the end.

And that's why I emphasize that this is in the middle. The shadow of death is not the end.

He goes on with his testimony that for the believer, and I'm quoting, death is now but a shadow, the substance of death having been conquered on the cross.

The Lord has promised to be with his children for comfort, no matter what the circumstances. And that's why

David says in this Psalm, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. So even more

Christians have every reason to look forward to the life that awaits us beyond the grave. Now, if you look carefully at verse five, there are three comforting promises about the life to come.

Look at verse five. First, he begins with the good shepherd prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Now, if you've ever read the Psalms, you know that David is constantly talking about his enemies that surround him.

They encompass me, my enemies encompass me all around him, right? And what was comforting to David should be comforting to believers that in spite of the impending danger, the

Lord spread out a table for him. God provided for him. And there is more because there is this great banquet coming for believers in heaven.

And there are a number of scholars that I read this past week, where David speaks here of this table that that suggests that this is talking about the believers acceptance into God's glorious present.

See, despite of the accusation of sin, despite of the accusations of the devil, right?

A place has been prepared for every believer in Christ. Whatever famine lies before us here, a table of feasting awaits us above.

That's why Jesus said in John 14, in my father's house are many mansions.

I go to prepare a place for you. The table's waiting.

And then he says, you anoint my head with oil. Ancient hosts in the

Middle East provided when a guest would come. Remember, you didn't hop in your BMW with air conditioning, right?

Or your Corolla or your Camry. What did you do? You walked or rode a donkey, right?

It was dusty. They didn't have asphalt paved roads. So when you went to somebody's house, you were generally covered in dust and you were generally thirsty.

So your host would anoint your head with oil.

The oil was used to soothe the skin from the harsh sun or the cold.

Wine was given to cleanse the dusty throat. Psalm 104, verse 15.

And the wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine in bread, which strengthens man's heart.

So here we have a vision of Christ welcoming us back in Psalm 23 into heaven with oil to soothe the hurts of our passage through life into death.

And then we come to the third promise, which is my cup overflows. See, whatever we hope for in heaven, holding out our longings as a cup to the

Lord, what we actually experience will cause that cup to overflow.

You know, I had to preach a sermon once for a young man who was autistic and he died.

And his mother asked me to preach a sermon on heaven. And so being a new pastor, you know,

I all hours of the night I was studying heaven and I got a book on heaven, an entire book. And one of the things that the author says at the beginning of the book is he says, you know, this is a big book on heaven.

I go, yeah, it is like 410. I don't remember 375 pages. It's been a while since I looked at it.

But anyway, he said at the beginning, he says, there is no way, even as big as this book is that I can adequately describe all that God's word tells us about the glories of heaven.

So whatever you think heaven is, our cup will what overflow when we get there and see what it really is.

John chapter one. The Lord is a believer shepherd.

He is the good shepherd. He came to give not money or possessions or earthly positions of power and prestige.

He came to give us life. And that life is found through fellowship with him.

Verse four in him was what life. And the life was the light of men.

Back in Psalm 23. At the end. Notice how this ends.

David ends this psalm in much the same way. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life here.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord. How long? You know, let me close with a question before we pray.

Wow. I'm early. I can tell you about second

Timothy. What is the key?

Think about this question. It's a short psalm. It's an open book test.

What is the key to the abundant life that David describes in this psalm? See, does prosperity depend on our cultivating high self -esteem, a bright, positive confession, checkbook be filled, bank account be filled, be filled, be filled, disease, sickness, go away, go away.

Get behind me. Does our prosperity depend on cultivating high self -esteem, bright outlook, developing effective skills?

No. According to this psalm. Listen, the abundant life depends not on the supposed strength.

There is nothing in this psalm about what the sheep do, the characteristic of the sheep.

What matters is having the right shepherd, a good shepherd who will provide for us, guide us, comfort us and receive us into the green pastures of the life to come.

Jesus came as the life giving savior. He promises, I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and he will go in and out and find pasture.

Jesus died to set man free from the bondage of sin's false advertising.

His cross is the gate to the sheep pen, so that while we are there, we can confess our sin and we can have the burden of our guilt drop from our back and be received into the fold of his purchase privilege flock.

You see, in response to what Jesus says about the abundant life, may we say the

Lord is my shepherd. Knowing that we say that by faith.

And then John 10 again. I have come that they may have life.

And then they may have it more what abundantly, which means extraordinarily huge.

Take a few moments to pray before Harold comes. Number one, do you know him for sure?

Can you say with David, the

Lord is my shepherd? And a second question to really ask about is, is, is, is that how

I live? Do I understand? When I get that phone call from the doctor, when

I get the results of that blood test. The Lord is my shepherd.

When the stuff at work doesn't go like it might go, the

Lord is my shepherd when the president is elected, that we don't think should be elected.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want when things happen around us that we just can't even imagine.

Do we understand the Lord is our shepherd? Do we really know that?

And do we understand that he has promised to guide us? Please take a moment or two to pray.

Think about that passage. Think about that psalm. And then I'll close us in prayer. Father, as we close out this service,

Lord, I pray, especially for those that are watching. There's 20, 25 people every week seem to go to YouTube and watch this message.

We don't know who they are. Some weeks it's 32. But I pray,

God, if they're a part of this church, God, that they would know how much we miss them and want to see them, that they would understand that the

Lord is their shepherd. He will protect. He will protect.

He will guide. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep.

Pray, God, for any that don't really know the good shepherd, that,

God, you would open their eyes to that truth, that they don't they don't really know him.

And, God, those of us that do know you, God, we need we need the good shepherd to guide us,

God, to lead us to green pastures,

God. And, God, healthy sheep are valuable sheep.

We need to be healthy, God, because there is a world out there that needs the gospel.

God, they need to hear about Jesus. They need to hear about the good shepherd. And and how are they going to hear?

Romans 10 tells us if if there isn't one that preaches and shares the gospel,

God, there might be. Right now, people that we know that we have never once told them about Jesus Christ.

And it's a scary thought. Help us to be healthy sheep,

God. Help us to be sheep that hear the voice of the good shepherd and listen to it.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, let's stand together. Thank you,

Pastor John. Take my life and let it be.

Take my life and let it be,

God's great and Lord to thee.

Take my moments and my days.

Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.

Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.

Swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my silver and my gold, not amid thy withhold.

Take my intel, thou shalt choose, every power as thou shalt choose.

And maybe each day, let us start our day saying, the Lord is my shepherd. What a great way to have be the first words out of my mouth to say that.