WWUTT 974 The Lord is My Shepherd I Shall Not Want?

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. What am

I quoting? Surely you know. The most popular psalm of all time, and I don't think there's even any contest when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. Well, it's Thursday, and on Thursday we've been doing our Old Testament study, and that study has been in the

Psalms. Today we come to what is unquestionably the most popular psalm, and that is

Psalm 23. I know sometimes whenever we talk about the most popular something, we will say arguably the most popular.

I don't think there's any argument here. I think it is unquestionably the most popular psalm.

If there is any other psalm that even comes close to the popularity of Psalm 23, a very, very distant second would be

Psalm 42, as the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after you.

But that's all that a person would be able to quote from that psalm, just that line. Psalm 1 as an entire psalm may have a second place ranking, but if you were to take all 150 psalms as songs and put them on the billboard charts,

Psalm 23 would be at number one, uncontested. It appears in so many different places in popular culture.

There was a basketball player that was being interviewed recently, and I happened to notice one of his tattoos was

Psalm 23. It appears in rap songs and hip hop, particularly that line, you prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.

Rap guys seem to like that line in other music,

TV shows, movies. Becky and I were watching a series just recently, and one of the episodes of that series,

Psalm 23, was quoted by one of the characters. The lines from Psalm 23 are generally known by the population as some of the most popular lines from scripture, apart from maybe in the beginning,

God created the heavens and the earth and for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Number three on that list in popular lines from scripture might be the

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want people know and love this psalm, and I don't believe that's overrated either.

As a matter of fact, all of scripture tends to be vastly underrated by us most of the time.

But Psalm 23 is truly a wonderful song that expresses the singer's confidence in the

Lord and in his promises. This is, of course, a Psalm of David, and the shepherd motif plays heavy at the beginning and then switches to another form of imagery, which we don't talk about as much, but you'll notice it here and you probably know what

I'm talking about. As we go through Psalm 23, let's look at this all six verses starting in verse one.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. 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. 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. 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 shall dwell in the house of the

Lord forever. It's beautiful. My wife just recently took the kids in our church through this particular psalm and she broke it down line by line from one

Sunday to the next. I can't remember how long that took, 12 weeks or something like that, but she did a wonderful job. R .C.

Sproul has said that there were two passages of scripture that he would come to and quote any time he needed to calm his mind or be reminded again of the promises of God.

One of those passages, I can't remember which one it was. He said that he would quote, but the other one was Psalm 23.

He said that he had probably quoted Psalm 23 to himself over the years more than any other passage of scripture.

It is just that comforting. It is that reassuring. I said recently in a sermon that whenever I get to a place where temptation might even be taking hold of me or I feel unsatisfied and I have a certain sense of longing that if I'm not careful,

I might reach to something in the world to try to satisfy it. Whenever I get in those moments of weakness, the passage of scripture that I go to first, that in my mind, in my heart,

I cling to is Psalm 23, verse one, the

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, meaning that in my heart,

I have nothing else that I desire for. I am fully satisfied in Christ.

Whenever you hear teachers talk about the doctrine of inerrancy, that scripture is without error, that every word from the

Lord is perfect and the Bible, what we have in scripture, this is the word of God.

It is perfect in all of its ways, in all of its precepts. Whenever we talk about the inerrancy of scripture, we are also talking about the sufficiency of scripture.

Scripture is sufficient for our every spiritual need. There's nothing else in this world that can satisfy, that can fill up something that has been left behind because scripture couldn't fill that void.

If there is a void in your heart that you don't think scripture is filling, well, that is something that you need to take before the

Lord because it means that you are not holding scripture higher than every other word on planet

Earth, every other word in the universe. God's word is higher. It is above everything. There's nothing in even a close second.

God's word is above all. If you're not satisfied with this word, then take that to God because the devil will certainly use that to get a foothold.

Wherever you feel a void, that thing that you're going to reach to in the world to try to fill that void is going to have the priority even over the word of God.

So when we hear God's word and we know his promises, we know our sins are forgiven in Christ and by faith in Jesus, we have been given such precious, very great and precious promises from our

Lord God. We've been made fellow heirs in his eternal kingdom. We have a place in this forever kingdom that he has promised us, that he is going to be ushering in when

Christ returns, removing all who are evil. But those who are in Christ will not fall under that judgment.

We will be brought into that place to dwell with him forever.

All of those promises we find in scripture and they are, they are satisfying. They are soothing.

They are our hope and peace, all of it bought for us and gifted to us by faith in the person and work of Christ.

We don't need anything else except what God has given us through his son and he guides us and leads us and protects us.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, I am following the one that gives me all good things, not just here on this earth, but in eternity.

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

I don't know if some of you guys remember a Christian rock band a few years ago called kids in the way.

Anybody remember kids in the way, not kids in the hall. That was a very stupid comedy show.

I'm talking a Christian rock band. It was a, not one of the bigger bands, but a great bunch of guys actually had the chance to visit with them and talk with them a couple of times at a couple of different shows.

And the lead singer of that band, I was driving them from the place where they had done a concert, the civic center where they had performed, and I was driving them from that place to their hotel.

And the lead singer was in the passenger seat next to me. We talked about Psalm 23 from the civic center to the hotel.

I don't know why. I can't remember what brought that up, but that's what we were talking about. One of the things that he said was huge for him in coming to understand how

God disciplines us. He disciplines us as sons. If he did not discipline us, we would be illegitimate children, according to Hebrews chapter 12.

And he said one of the things that helped him understand that was Psalm 23 and it was his pastor.

He was telling me was showing this to him where we read in verse two, he makes me lie down in green pastures.

Because the concept here is that when a sheep is constantly going astray, is leaving the good ground that the shepherd has led his sheep to, then the shepherd might, after like the fourth or fifth time chasing this stray lamb down, will break the lamb's legs and lay it down in the good grass, in the place where it is in the safety of the fold and under the care and watch of the shepherd so that the wolves will not get it.

Sometimes the shepherd actually must for the for the sheep's good, break its legs and make it lie down.

And he said for him, that was that was huge in helping him to rely more on the promises of God and knowing that the difficult circumstances that he's going through are actually for his good, that they're teaching him to rely more upon Christ.

Dave was his name. I can't remember how you pronounce his last name. But anyway, he was he was the lead singer of of kids in the way.

I still remember that conversation. And I think about it every time I come to Psalm 23, verse two.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. There is another way to read that also that that doesn't sound as harsh, though.

Sometimes the Lord does have to deal with us that harshly. But another more peaceful, calming way that we come to an understanding of that is that knowing that we are satisfied in Christ, we're going to lie down and be at peace wherever he is.

He makes me lie down in green pastures because we just know that in the presence of God, we are satisfied, we are taken care of.

He is with us. He makes me lie down and relax and be at peace in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. Comedian Ken Davis, I've mentioned to you before that I've traveled with him as well.

And I remember him doing a comedy bit one time, even on Psalm 23. And he was talking about why

God calls a sheep throughout the scriptures. And he, I think, grew up on a farm. Somehow he worked on a farm because he was talking about working around sheep.

And he said, they're so easily startled. They won't go to running water.

They won't get their noses in it because they just don't want to be splashed by the water. They're wimps. Sheep are easily scared.

So they have to have still water. So it's almost like the Lord is taking care of us despite our wimpiness, despite how weak and timid we tend to be.

Most of the time, he's going to lead us to the still waters that we may drink and be refreshed.

He restores my soul, David says in verse three, all of the trials and tribulations and struggles and stresses and things like that you're going to be going through today.

And yet we come back to the promises of God and the things that he has guaranteed us in his word.

And there's a restorative quality to that. There's power in the word of God to get the world out and bring our minds, our focus back upon Christ and his kingdom and his righteousness.

Jesus said in Matthew six, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the other things you need will be added to you as well.

Our Lord God does look out for us and does take care of us. He restores my soul.

One of the things that I've shared with my church is that over the course of the week, you've been exposed to the world and the world is toxic, man.

And they're trying. Satan is trying. Satan, the prince of the power of the air, is trying to get in your mind all of the different philosophies and ideologies and nonsense the world is trying to throw at us.

It is toxic. It's terrible. The stuff that I listening to the briefing from Albert Mueller as often as I listen to it and I'm reminded over and over again just how sin sick this world is.

And but then likewise, how grateful I am to the Lord that he rescued me out of it.

And so we go to church to be reminded of God's promises. We get that toxicity flushed out.

We're in the presence of the people of God. We are worshiping together and lifting up praises to his name with the congregation, our voices together as one.

And by the way, you can't get that online. You can't get that watching teachers online or even reading your little devotional in your devotional book or magazine or whatever it is that you're using.

You need the people of God. You have to be with people. That's heaven practice, because we're going to be doing that forever in heaven, hearing the promises of God quoted to us and rejoicing in those things together.

It's restorative. He and he does it. The Lord restores our soul.

He leads us in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

He does it for his name. Yes, indeed. He does it for our good. But ultimately,

God's ultimate purpose in all things that he does is for the glory of his own name.

And he has no reason to apologize for that because he alone is worthy of our worship.

The moment God elevates us above himself, then he no longer is the one worthy of worship.

So there are skeptics who will get upset at this or what an egotistical, arrogant

God that he would demand worship from his subjects. Well, who else are we supposed to worship?

The moment we worship ourselves or another person or somebody else, or we think to ourselves that God needs to be putting our needs ahead of his own, suddenly something gets above God and he's no longer worthy of worship.

So he alone is holy. He alone is righteous. There is none that compares, and he alone is worthy of our worship.

He does all things for his namesake, including forgiving our sins, which is wonderful.

It is a it is it is a reason to wake up and rejoice every morning because our sins are forgiven by faith in Christ.

And yet God has done this, though it is certainly for our benefit. He's done it for his namesake.

First, John 212, I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his namesake, to the praise of his glorious grace.

All glory be to Christ, our king. We'll go through the next half of Psalm 23 a little bit quicker here because I do want to play my favorite song version of this psalm getting to the end of the program here.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Even though I go places that could cost me my life, I could die today.

Even though I am reminded day by day of my own mortality, there are things that will remind me of how fragile life is.

It could be taken from me in a moment, though my life may be at risk at any given moment of the day.

I fear no evil, no evil that could come upon me for man cannot take from me what

God has promised me through his son. For you are with me, David says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Now, why is God's guiding instrument described as a rod and a staff?

Well, because the rod corrects and the staff leads. So in the moment when we need correction, the rod does that.

And in the moment when we need guidance, the staff is doing that, leading us on, helping to steer us in the right direction, protecting us from evil, picking us up when we fall into the thicket and setting us back in with the fold.

He's got that little crook on it, right? The shepherd's crook so it can grab the sheep, kind of lead it over, put it down in a certain place.

Your rod and staff are a comfort to me. God disciplines me so that I may remain on the path of righteousness, leading me in that way for his name's sake.

Verse five, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Now, here's where the motif changes, because through the first four verses, it's definitely a shepherd motif.

And that's a motif, an analogy that we find throughout scripture from Genesis all the way into Revelation, a reference to God as shepherd.

And and that is probably most prevalent or most obvious here in Psalm 23, as we've been going through the

Gospel of John together. Of course, Jesus uses it in John 10 as about how he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

But here when we get to verse five, the motif changes a little bit. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

And now it's not Lord as shepherd as much as it is Lord as host. We are with the

Lord of hosts, he who even sits enthroned above the heaven. So we've gone from the way he guides us on Earth to now looking at his place, his presence in the heavens among the hosts, the heavenly hosts, the angels.

He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies. I am with God enthroned on high.

So what are these puny men here on Earth going to do to me, especially thinking of this from the context of David and all the enemies that were trying to kill him, trying to destroy him, even

Saul and his own son. And yet his enemies have no power or hold over him, for he is with the

Lord of hosts. He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows. There's kind of a reference there also to the covenant that God had made with David.

And that covenant was to establish his throne forever, which he did through Christ.

So that covenant applies to us in that we are anointed by faith in Jesus Christ.

So we likewise have received that same blessing that God had given

David. Our head has been anointed with the oil of gladness. Our cup overflows, abundance, eternal provision from God, our king.

Verse six, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the

Lord forever. And there's another kind of comparative usage there with the days of my life on Earth and the days

I will be with the Lord for all eternity. And we're promised that in Christ.

He is with us now as we traverse this life and he is with us forever in glory when he brings us from this transitory existence into his glorious eternity.

I want to finish this out today with Keith Green. This is my favorite version of Psalm 23, his version of the

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. And God's my power, his righteousness for his name's sake, surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the

Lord forever and ever and ever.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will not fear, thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me, thou preparest the table before me in the presence of my enemy.

I lift my head with all my cups overflowing, goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the

Lord forever and ever and ever.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

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