To Best Believe Psalm 23, Pt. 2 (09/08/2002)

Psalm 23, verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. Not the kind of shepherd that is hired, but the kind that watches the sheep of his very own father.

The kind that giveth his life for the sheep. The kind that knoweth his sheep.

The kind that nameth his sheep. The kind that can lay down his life and has the power to take it up again.

There's only one shepherd like that. The kind that gives eternal life. The kind of shepherd that keeps the sheep, and they never perish.

Neither can any thing pluck them from his hand. I shall not want, the scripture says, the promised provision.

But the power of this provision comes from Psalm 22, as we discovered last

Sunday morning. Sunday before that, I should say. We also discovered it last

Sunday morning, and last Saturday, didn't we? But in Psalm 22, we see that this shepherd was tempted as we are in all points.

He suffered everything we could ever suffer, and he asks some of the same questions that we ask.

Psalm 22, 1, he says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He asks three important questions.

It's important because it helps us understand that when we ask these questions, we're not the only ones that ask them.

Why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me? Why are you so far from the roaring words of my prayers?

But also in Psalm 22, Jesus immediately reminded himself of the holiness and the faithfulness and the deliverance of God, and he focused on the very character of his

God, even while he was asking these questions. And then we saw that he had the feeling that even though God had delivered others and himself in the past, he had the feeling that God was forsaking him now.

Psalm 22, 6, we see that because he says, But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of people.

But in the midst of that thought, what did he do? Can you remember from the sermon previously?

He reminded himself of his own calling and purpose and of the fact that that had come from God himself.

Thou art he that took me out of the womb. I was cast upon thee from the womb.

Thou art my God from my mother's belly. He realized also that the enemy's ability to kill was not an ability to kill the soul.

In verse 20, Deliver my soul from the sword, but my darling from the power of the dog.

Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Jesus realized that God's presence was not always to deliver the body, but always to deliver the soul.

And he has testified to this victory in every city, every town, every nation, every church, every barn where church is held, every underground church, every prison, and every fiery stake where the elect have met for 2 ,000 years.

Psalm 22, 23 says, Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him.

And fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. He said these words in the same breath that he said,

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He has reminded himself even while on the cross who

God is and of his own purpose and calling and of the fact that it was God behind it all.

For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Jesus can testify of that now.

Neither hath he hid his face from him. He would testify of that now and has for 2 ,000 years.

But when he cried unto him, he heard. So there was a time, a moment, when

Jesus was asking, are you hearing me? But for 2 ,000 years, he has testified in the churches.

Psalm 22, 25, my praise shall be of thee and the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever.

Psalm 23, 1, now, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

Do we not realize that we come to Psalm 23 by the way of Psalm 22 and because of the power of the cross and the empty grave, all of this is behind the promise of provision that we find in Psalm 22.

After all, Romans 8, 32 says, he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Now, verse 2, Psalm 23, 2, it says, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.

Think about that for a moment. Picture it. He gives my soul rest, peace, and the beholding of beauty of his creation, fruitfulness.

But it says, he leadeth me beside still waters. Isn't it true how he speaks to our hearts as a slowly moving spring, not as a raging river, not as the waves of the ocean, not as a pond of water that's stagnant, but as a slowly moving fresh spring.

He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.

His word restore in the Hebrew is fascinating to me. It's shub. It literally means to turn back.

So it says, he turns back my soul. Turns back my soul from what and to where?

Well, he turns it back from the depressive mode that it's in.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God immediately begins to turn us back from that mode to the mode we should be in, the mode of faith, the mode of understanding the presence of God is right here and now.

And so he restores our soul to the place where it ought to be, the place where it ought to be considering that we're in green pastures and that we're beside still water and that God is there with us.

It's interesting that this word for restore in the Hebrew shub is translated circumcised many times in the

Old Testament. You think about he circumcises my soul, my heart.

Only that kind of circumcision saves circumcision of the heart. He restores, he turns back my soul, back to him, back to his nearness.

And he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Isn't that something?

How many things are mentioned in the word of God that are done for his name's sake? In Psalm 106, eight, nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake that he might make his power to be known.

He rebuked the Red Sea also and it was dried up so he led them through the depths as through the wilderness and he saved them from the hand of him that hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy all for his name's sake.

First John 2, 12 says, I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.

I write unto you young men because you've overcome the wicked one for his name's sake.

Third John, verse four says, and I'd say verse seven says, because that for his name's sake, they went forth taking nothing of the

Gentiles. The early church, when they were persecuted from Jerusalem, they went forth, they took nothing from the

Gentiles even though they were very poor. They did this for his name's sake. So salvation of God, the redemption of God from those that hate us, the enemy.

Our sins are forgiven and we are sent forth walking in truth all for his name's sake.

As the little song we just learned this morning says, when my son goes down and the dark surrounds,

I will not cry out for another at that time. It's your name, it's your name, for your name.

Psalm 23, verse four says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

It's important for us to note verse four that this is but a walk through the valley. This place is not the place where we are called to stay.

This is not our home. It is but a walk through it. And we notice that it is called the shadow of death.

Matthew Henry says this, it is but a shadow. There is no substantial evil in it.

The shadow of a serpent will not sting, nor the shadow of a sword kill.

Looking down into that valley, however, we may feel fear. As we look at it from a distance, maybe we see others walking through it.

But it's interesting that the scripture says, yea, though I, when it's my turn to walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will, that's not what I'm looking at it now from a distance, but I, when

I am there, I will fear no evil, that's a promise from God. Looking down into the valley,

I may well fear it, but while I'm walking through it, I will fear no evil because of the obvious presence of God at that time.

He goes on to say we are comforted by his rod and his staff.

This word for rod is shebet, and it means literally a stick, but it's often used in these meanings, a stick for correcting, sometimes it's used as a writing, for fighting, for ruling, for walking, and all these different uses.

This is obviously the rod of the shepherd that's spoken of here, but it points out that God uses this sometimes to correct us, maybe even when we're in the valley, if we begin to think wrongly, he would turn us back, he would return our soul to the right way of thinking.

If it is as a writing stick, it reminds us of his written word, which brings untold comfort to us, when we're in this valley.

It is a rod that the shepherd uses to fight off both the lion and the wolf. It is a rod that he can use to rule me and direct me in the right direction, as a sheep, as the shepherd takes me in the right direction, even when

I'm going through this valley. And as a walking stick, the shepherd uses, it reminds me that I'm walking, following the great shepherd.

Complete trust. The next verse, verse five, says, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup running over. Picture this now.

You're in the valley of the shadow of death. It's interesting to understand here, where it says, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

This word presence in the Hebrew, neged, means a front, as a military front.

It comes from another Hebrew word, nogad, which means to front, in other words, to stand boldly in opposition against someone.

So as we understand what this means, and we're here in the valley of the shadow of death, and the enemy is arrayed boldly, face front to us and staring us down.

The enemy is arrayed against me. His aim is to destroy me. He is standing boldly against me.

I can see the glistening steel of his sword, and I can see the sharpened tips of his flaming arrows, and I can see the boulders and the catapults aimed at my camp, which is my family and my church, and I can see the ladders prepared to scale my walls, and I can see the bloodthirstiness in the very eyes as he looks at the darling of my soul.

And all the while, I'm sitting at the table of my Lord, being fed by the bread of his life, and the wine of his blood, and the water of his word, and the oil of his spirit, and the butter, and the grapes of the promised land are on this table.

His word tastes like honey, yea, better than the honeycomb. And in verse six, surely, therefore, goodness, in Hebrew, that's tov, it means good in the widest sense, and mercy, chosed, kindness, shall follow rodot, to run after me, all of my days, yom, which means to be hot.

When you understand the colors and the senses of the Hebrew, we're promised surely goodness in the broadest sense, and mercy, the very kindness of God, shall run after me, the whole of the hot, dry, thirsty days of my life.

Life is an interesting word in the Hebrew here, it's kahi, and it means flesh, so that means specifically in the life of this world, in this time and space.

Surely goodness and mercy shall be the days of my life in this flesh.

And I will dwell, yoshav, to sit down, in the house, vayit, the courts of the

Lord, Yahovah, the self -existent one who revealed himself.

So as we walk through this valley, we must remember, we do not stay there.

But while we have to be there, his presence is with us. He gives us the peace of the green valleys, he gives us the still, small voice, his own voice, as slowly moving waters.

And as we look and we see the enemy arrayed to destroy us, we see the hatred in his heart for God and for us, we turn our focus back to the table, to the master who is sitting there with us, and to all that he has placed on that table.

And then we realize that surely goodness, the broadest sense of that, and the very kindness of God shall run after us all of our lives.

The self -existent one is there with us. I will sit down in the courts of the

Lord, the self -existent one who has revealed himself to me.

This is the promise that we have. That valley of the shadow of death will be there for each one of us, except for those who are still alive on this planet when the rapture takes place.

But you'll have a shadow, a valley of shadow of death, even before that takes place, perhaps.

And so it's something we all face, none of us face it alone. Yes, we face it alone in the sense that no other person, no other human can help us.

Not our own mother, not our own father, not our own daughter or son, not our pastor.

There are only two people at that table. You, at any time in your life, when above all other times, it is pure fellowship with God.

And that table and his presence is what keeps our view away from the enemy. It's so interesting that Brother Otis gave that beautiful illustration at Sunday school that I never thought of or heard before.

He just had a thought about death this week. He said death is like a bridge that goes over a very deep valley.

And when it's time to go across that, you don't look at the valley. You focus at the opposite side.

You focus at the opposite. When you're in the valley, you don't look at the enemy.

You look at the table. You look at what's on it. And you look at the preparations that have been made.

You sit in probably the sweetest fellowship on this earth in time and space that you will ever have with your

Lord. And then, in an instant, he had revealed himself to you by just saying this prayer.

Father, we thank you for your word that it comforts our souls and turns our soul back to the right place of thinking.

The fact that when we're at your side, we have nothing to fear.

That even the fears themselves are mere shadows of evil. And a shadow cannot really hurt us.

It can only lie to us and make us fearful. But at the times when we need your presence the most, you've promised us in this beautiful psalm that you are the great shepherd.

And you never flee from the wolf or the lion. It is these sheep where you will be right with us.

With that rod in a protective mode. And we need you. We thank you so much for that knowledge.

Comfort our hearts with it today. Father, we thank you for the beautiful music and the sweet fellowship in this place.