If Jesus Is Your Shepherd Then You Shall Not Want

LaRue Baptist Church, OH

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Have you stand in honor of God's Word. Isaiah 40, verse 9 through 11.

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Go on up to the high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength,

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O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your

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God. Behold the Lord God comes with might and His arm rules for Him. Behold His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him.

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He will tend His flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in His arms.

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He will carry them in His bosom and gently lead those who are with young.

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The New Testament reading is in 1 Peter, chapter 2, starting in verse 21. For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in His footsteps.

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He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return.

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When He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

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He bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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By His wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

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You may be seated. Good morning.

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Open your Bibles to Psalm 23, please, Psalm 23. And I'm gonna be reaching for the water.

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It's right by the tithing. That's gonna look weird, so forgive me in advance. The FIRE Conference was excellent, and what makes it so excellent is the fellowship.

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That's what FIRE underlines, is the fellowship we can have there, but also the preaching was very good.

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The best sermon, I think, and you can look it up on YouTube, I commend it to you, was the last one, which was

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Josh Haase's. You guys all know Josh. And his sermon on the beauty of Christ and grace was excellent.

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Of course, it's grace, and so that's like a layup, but nevertheless, he did very, very good with it.

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And so I just commend that to you. If you got nothing going on and you're working out, pop that in your ear, listen to it.

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It was really good. We are in Psalm 23. It's the

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Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

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

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He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

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So even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

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Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me and the presence of my enemies.

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You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

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

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Lord forever. Let us pray. God in heaven, I ask for your help. Lord, your word is sufficient and beautiful in all its ways, and I ask

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God that you help me to be clear in proclaiming it now. Let the gospel be clear. Let Jesus Christ be clear, and may

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I call people to see him clearly. Lord, I'm so thankful that you have set up grace for us in Christ, and Jesus is not, it's amazing to me to think of how wicked we are, but yet Jesus comes to us as a loving, tender, patient shepherd.

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He gathers us as his own. When we were wandering away outside of the flock and even in the flock,

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Lord, we oftentimes are prone to wander. And he even still rescues us each day of our lives.

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Lord, I pray that we would all just see him a little more clearly today. Be with my simple words. They won't amount to the glory that you deserve, but I pray,

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God, that you would use it anyways. And I ask, Lord, that you would be with the hearts and the minds and the ears of the people before me.

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We know that there are many distractions, so I pray, God, that you would help them to listen with ears of faith.

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Thank you for being good to us in Jesus. May he be glorified now and these next few minutes.

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In Jesus' name, amen. Well, this is a very well -known psalm, one of the most well -known, one in which many people hear before they die and they recite before they die.

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It's one that is truly known well in the Christian community. And I can't help it, but as I look at the, just the first sentence, the

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Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I get a little offended. What does it mean not to want?

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What does it mean not to want? I want a lot of things. I want a peaceful home when I come home.

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You know, I want it to be quiet. And, you know, I keep on having more kids and that becomes increasingly more impossible.

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That's what I want. I want a bigger van. You know, like now, you know,

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I don't ever remember being in a car seat. I don't know if I was, I don't, but now everyone's gotta be strapped in.

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You take up so much room. In order to have a bigger family, you gotta have a bus. And, you know, I think back in the day, you just kind of threw them in the back and they figured it out, you know, but now you gotta make sure they're safe, you know, and all that.

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I want things. I want a bigger van, throw them in. I want righteous leaders in our government get tired of seeing the unrighteousness and their unrighteous laws.

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I want righteous leaders. I want a lot of things. I don't wanna get stopped by a train every time

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I try to go to Menards in Marion. That's what I want. I get so tired of that. And then it stops on the track.

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What are you doing? What could possibly be the explanation to this? I want a lot of things.

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You want a lot of things too. You want a spouse that shows love to you, don't you? You grow tired of the spouse who does not think of you, does not love you.

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You want a spouse that would actually lead you, right? Instead of being a weak leader. You want a boss that doesn't drive you nuts.

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You want friends at school. You don't wanna eat alone at lunch. You no longer wanna be single anymore.

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You're tired of it. You want a lot of things too. We want a lot of things. And so it kind of, it's offensive to me,

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I guess, if I can use those words to see, or maybe offensive, it's strange to me. The Lord is my shepherd,

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I shall not want. It is a complete negative there. And so we see here that the

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Psalm right away kind of just right there in our face. We all want a lot of things, but since the

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Lord is my shepherd, I, you shall not want. We see that a lot in scripture.

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The Lord is a certain way, and so therefore I shall be a certain way, right? That's the way theology works.

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The Lord is what, therefore I shall what. The Lord is my shepherd, therefore I shall not want is what is being said to us here in this beautiful 23rd

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Psalm. And so Jesus here as our great shepherd sets himself up as someone who transcends my wants and your wants.

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He goes above it, he's beyond it. We want a lot of things, and Jesus as your shepherd transcends your wants.

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It goes, he goes far above those little wants. Sheep can want many things that causes them to wander off to their death.

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It's amazing to see as you study passages like this, there's a lot of commentators that talk about sheep because of course, it's talking about the great shepherd.

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And sheep are incredibly stupid, and they wander off and they get themselves in trouble constantly because they have certain wants and they go off of them and they wander off.

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Even the want of just sitting down and relaxing, a lot of times that can lead to their death because they relax too much and they kind of fall back on their back and they just trail around like that.

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They can't get up and they die. And the way that they are, it cuts off circulation to their legs and they die within hours.

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They want a lot of things and it leads oftentimes to their death. But with their shepherd around, they can rely upon him to nurture their true wants and needs.

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They can just give themselves to the shepherd and the shepherd will take care of them, they know this. What does that look like for me and you with our wants that oftentimes seem so good, but it will lead us to our deaths or just say lesser life?

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What does that look like for me and you? What does Jesus do as your shepherd to cause you not to want?

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What does that look like? Well, look at what the text says there in the first few verses. Look what it says.

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He makes you, in verse two, lie down in green pastures. He leads you beside still waters.

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And I think the summary verse or the sentence there is he restores your soul. That's what makes

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Jesus deliver your greatest want right there. We want many things, but our shepherd feeds you on green pastures, leads you to waters to drink.

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And he, in summary, restores your soul. He restores your soul. I wanna kind of work backwards there.

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What does it mean that he restores your soul? See, of course, we got the imagery of a sheep. We got the imagery of a shepherd being taken care of eating green grass, drinking waters that does not terrify him, that's raging.

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It's very difficult to have sheep drink from a river that's going fast. They need still waters. And so what does that look like, you know, spiritually for us, right?

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We're not looking out for green pastures. We're not looking out for still waters. What does that look like? What is it saying? And I think to understand spiritually what's being said, by analogy there,

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I think we can look to 1 Peter 2, 25. We see that ultimately what

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Jesus does by leading us to green pastures, by leading us to still waters, is he restores your soul.

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Your soul is restored by the shepherd. And what does that look like by, spiritually, or what is it getting to?

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Well, look at 1 Peter. Look at 1 Peter. Look at chapter two of 1

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Peter and look at 25. We read it earlier. And the apostle says, for you, 1

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Peter 2, verse 25, were straying like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

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So we see here he's remarking on the same thing, right? We were straying. We want, and he wants, and it was causing us to stray, but now through Jesus we have returned to our great shepherd.

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But what does that look like? What is that? Well, I think he describes it prior. We're gonna work our way backwards. Look at verse 24.

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How did he do that and what does that look like for us? Well, he says in verse 24, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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By his wounds you have been healed. You see, we need our souls restored because of sin.

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We want, many wants, and they're not necessarily sin of themselves, but when they're everything to us, it's because of our depraved desires.

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And you see, our souls are restored by the work of Jesus. It's him who brought your sins upon him on the tree so that you may be restored.

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So that what? So that you may live a certain way, a way that is good for you, a way in which we need as leading every day, a way of righteousness.

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You see, our greatest want and desire because Jesus has restored our soul, your soul, should be that I would walk in the road or in the pathway of righteousness.

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This is what's good for me. I have many wants, but my greatest want will be this pathway of righteousness that my great shepherd leads me to.

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For without him, I shall wander off to many different errors. This is what

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Jesus does. This is the restoring of your soul. He has died for you.

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And as the living sacrifice, now it is your desire to follow him wherever he may lead you to give you your true wants.

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Look at Psalm 19, seven. We're gonna go back to first Peter two, by the way. But look at Psalm 19, seven.

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The law of the Lord is perfect and it revives the soul. That's quite a statement right there.

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Your soul needs reviving because it is deep rooted in sin. But the law shows us that righteous standard.

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It shows us what's righteous. And when it's applied to our hearts, it revives us. Now, can we do that of our own power?

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No, we go astray. But Jesus Christ fulfills that for you by applying his law upon your heart.

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He revives your soul. He restores your soul and he leads you in the path of righteousness.

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This is what Christ does as shepherd. So, despite your greatest wants that you set up for yourself,

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Jesus gives you your true greatest want himself for your righteousness.

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And so, if we go back to our want list, right? You want a spouse that shows love to you, right?

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That is a want. What is your greatest want through that? By being made righteous by Jesus as he leads you along in righteousness.

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Well, it is that my spouse does not love me, but I shall glorify Christ in righteousness by loving him or her.

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I will glorify Christ in that hard marriage because this is my food and drink to live for him in righteousness.

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Hey boss, that doesn't drive you nuts. Same principle. You have no friends at school. May you be comforted by following the lonely walk of Jesus.

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You know, we can apply this principle wherever. Our greatest want needs to be that I would follow Jesus in righteousness who made me righteous by his great work.

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And I think if we look here, Jesus as your shepherd leads you into blessed righteousness and look what it says if we remind ourselves.

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What does it mean here? Verse two, he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

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You see, here is the pathway that we walk to get to know and love and cherish and exemplify

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Jesus more. He feeds us. He gives us drink. What does that look like?

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Well, he gives us the means of grace. He provides you with the means of grace to see him clearly.

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The means of God's grace. Prayer is a means for this in which we can feast upon Jesus and drink the waters he provides.

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Prayer is an avenue in which you are feasting upon your risen savior, right?

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Reading his word, his enriching word that corrects you, that shows you what's righteous, that provides you the strength to walk that path.

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The fellowshipping with the saints, the sacraments, the hymn singing, the hearing of the word proclaimed, which is what you're doing right now.

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If only we would avail ourselves to these things in a way that Christ as our shepherd is providing for us, for our good, to enrich us, to feed us, to strengthen us, to provide for us.

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We would open his word in the morning with this ringing out of our hearts. Oh Lord, let this be your means of grace in which the shepherd leads me and feeds my soul, my needy soul in this moment right now.

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See, these are all activities your faithful shepherd is leading you to for your greatest wants, desires to be met.

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Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He feeds us, he gives us water, and he clothes us with his righteousness, and he provides us a pathway of his righteousness so that we can grow in this life.

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This is our great shepherd, this is our great need and want. But what happens when your wants are extreme?

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What happens whenever hard circumstances hit you and these wants are not just little wants there that you have, but now they become big wants?

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That train in Marion is extra long. Your doctor told you that the cancer's back and there's no defeating it this time, right?

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What happens when the government official takes down your name because you keep on going to Lord's Day's worship and proclaiming

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Jesus as Lord? What happens when those wants are even worse and greater because of circumstances? Well, look at 1

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Peter 2, 21, going back to 1 Peter. What happens when circumstances call for your wants to be even stronger?

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1 Peter 2, 21, look at what Peter says. For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so you might follow in his steps.

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You see, this pathway that Jesus is leading you through is a pathway of suffering. It's a pathway of great wants because of suffering.

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It's a pathway where Jesus says, and I am your greatest want, despite the fact that it grows with these circumstances.

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You see, this is what Jesus is doing in your life. He provides those great wants that you have because of circumstances.

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So he sets himself up as our greatest desire, met, met.

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Look at Psalm 23, three. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

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And look where that path leads to. Verse four, even though I walk a path through the valley of the shadow of death.

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Look at our shepherd there. Our shepherd leads us, he never abandons us. And where does that path lead to in our life?

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The valley of the shadow of death. A not so delightful place for me and you, is it?

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Some valleys are worse than others. Your valley may be worse than my valley, but nevertheless, your shepherd is kind enough to you to lead you in a valley that is extremely difficult for you so that your wants would increase in that valley so that Jesus would then meet you in those wants.

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That is something we need to be reminded endlessly because many of you have entered into this meeting hall and many of you have entered in through some sort of valley in your life to where you are so distracted by that valley that it's very difficult for you to see

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Jesus Christ proclaiming himself as better than those wants. In fact, he's allowing you or leading you through those wants for a particular purpose for you to see him clearer in those wants.

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Beloved, the shepherd loves you enough to bring you through your valley of the shadow of darkness.

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Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even though I'm going to want extremely, right?

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I think that's a common theme that's going through this song. I shall not want, and even whenever I'm going through the valley of shadow of death, shadow of death that my shepherd has led me and my wants are exemplified,

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I, he says, will fear no evil. Not evil from without, evil from within.

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Within those circumstances, those times that are very difficult, we have our deceptive hearts that want so bad to go to lesser things.

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It is in those moments and those times that we are especially tempted and here because he relies upon the shepherd, he says,

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I shall not fear that evil. And he says, even still, the explicit or the outside evils that we face, right?

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Those who hate the word of God, they hate God, they hate you for loving God, I will fear none of that evil as well.

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This is exactly what has helped our brothers and sisters in history as they've been persecuted by authorities to say that although I am amongst them,

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I shall not fear them. Why? Well, look what he says. Notice how it says you. Why is that unique here?

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In verse four, he goes to saying you, you are with me, you are with. See, it was he, but now that he's referred to being in a dark place, a shadowy place, a place that is difficult, he then goes to the you.

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I think it's talking personal there. Our shepherd comes nearer to us in those times of great difficulty, doesn't he?

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It's in those times of great difficulty that Jesus proves himself to be even more intimate to our souls if we cry out to him as our great shepherd.

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You see, our response needs to be intimacy with the one who has brought us to this place because that shows that he is with me.

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He says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. And then again, the analogy of the shepherd.

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The shepherd has a rod, it has a staff. You know what the rod does? It beats back the adversary, it beats back the wolves, it knocks them back, right?

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You know what else the rod does? It spanks the sheep a few times, right? Get them in the right direction.

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We have Jesus, his rod comforts us in the fact that he drives away our enemies and he also corrects us, but his shepherd brings us near.

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His shepherding's tool brings us near. We know that he is there, we shall go to him. He is intimate with us.

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And we got to see that he is most intimate to us, with us, whenever we see that we are in a very, very difficult circumstance.

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He brings you there for your good, for that end. Even though I walk through the valley of shallow death and I'm confronted with many wants as I'm going through this difficult time,

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I will fear no evil for Jesus, you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

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What a prayer you need to have when you are struggling with that valley.

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You need to speak truth to yourself when your emotions are lying to you.

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You cannot be run by your emotions. And the reason why this is prominent in my mind is just a few people that I've been counseling in which it is so easy to have certain emotions that are, doesn't change, we want

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Jesus to change that, change my emotions, change my desires here, but he doesn't. Why? So that you would learn to speak truth to yourself in that moment.

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That you would learn not to be a slave in the valley of darkness, but you would rather be a slave to the shepherd who's taking care of you in that valley.

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That your emotions would be so out of whack, but nevertheless, I shall stand firm on the truth that the

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Lord is my shepherd and he is revealing himself, especially in this moment.

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I shall not want because he's proven himself to be the fulfiller of my want even in my want, if that makes sense.

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Our great shepherd is with us. Even that, it goes beyond that though.

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It's beautiful. So beautiful that I'm afraid I'm gonna mess it up. But verse five, it goes further.

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You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You see that?

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In the valley of darkness where my enemies abound, it's in there that you prepare a table for me.

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What does that table represent? Well, it's feasting. It's festivities, right?

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I have this great hard time, but yet Jesus through this hard time is as if he's providing a table of feasts for me because he provides for me so well even in that.

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He says, you anoint my head with oil, my cup, it overflows. The arid temperature or the arid climate of the

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Middle East caused a lot of dry skin. And the skin would be irritable and hurt.

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And what would help with that would be oil. You provide comfort to me. You anoint my head with oil.

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And he says, my cup overflows. I know we're Baptists here, but I'm telling you, it's talking about the joy of wine overflowing the cup that makes the heart glad.

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Look at 104, Psalm 104, 15. Or you don't have to look, just here.

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And God gives wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart.

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Yes, man's heart, I got that wrong. And the point I'm getting at here is that this sort of stuff is something that is festive and joyful and happy circumstances.

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And so what's ironic is that he's saying that even though I'm in the valley of shadow of death, even though my enemies abound, because Jesus takes care of my wants and needs, it's as if I'm in the middle of a feast in those moments.

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It's a beautiful thing that in your worst days, you look to Jesus, your shepherd, and he cares for you.

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Your emotions might not be different. You still might be sad in a certain degree, but there's an underlining, this beautiful hope that Jesus provides for you.

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And I think that's what's going on here. It's as if my wine overflows. It's as if the oil is just going down my head.

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I am full of gladness and happiness, not because of my circumstances, but because my shepherd is taking care of me in those circumstances.

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David says, you prepare a table before me. In the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup, it overflows.

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And then he says in verse six, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

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What is being said there is that it's like goodness and mercy are pursuing me, right? As I go about my life, as if it's actively pursuing me, no matter where I go,

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Jesus is providing this circumstance where goodness and mercy, the righteousness is found in Christ.

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It's pursuing where I am. And that's what my shepherd is doing for me. He is providing me with this great comfort of righteousness, of blessedness, of mercy, of grace, of goodness.

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And it pursues me no matter where I go, whether it's the valley or the heights, it pursues me, it follows me.

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It says, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You see, this only makes sense whenever our greatest desire, our greatest want is to be in the presence of the

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Lord. This only makes sense is whenever Jesus truly changes your heart and he causes you to no longer be obsessed with the things of the world, but rather to be satisfied with the simplicity of knowing your

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Lord, with the simplicity of the beauties of Jesus Christ and him crucified and raised again to new life so that he can make you rise to new life.

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You see, whenever this is our greatest want and we see that Jesus works all things together for your good to have righteousness and grow in righteousness, you say, wherever that path may lead, just let me grab hold of righteousness in the presence of the

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Lord. See, this only makes sense when that miraculous power has been done in your soul.

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Beloved, there are people before me who that has not happened. They have many wants, they have many wants, and they are a slave to those wants.

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And there are Christians before me who have forgotten this, mine included, in which I am very often distracted by those wants.

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But it is Jesus Christ, our Lord, who provides us with the opportunity to be in a great season of want so we see, and Jesus provides for my needs and wants.

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He makes me righteous, he grows me in righteousness, and he uses all of these circumstances so that I would experience the presence of the

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Lord even more. This is what God is doing for you. And that's not just some of our situations.

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That's not just, well, yeah, that's most of the time, but this one's different. I can say, this is a promise, that each one of you, you follower of Christ, if you are in a hard time, it is because Jesus brought you there in love as a shepherd.

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And we need to begin our first step as we try to get our bearings to see that I am in this position because Jesus loves me.

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Even when the doctor tells you you are about to die from cancer. It needs to be our first step that somehow

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Jesus is showing me righteousness here and I can experience that here, oh

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Lord, show me what I want. And it's with this sort of, oh,

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I don't know, true gospel vitality that we live a Christian life that is completely different to the pagan, completely different to the unbelieving world, completely different to our enemies that surround.

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We live a life of gospel life. So may that be our resolve as God's people.

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You and I want many things. Blessed are you when you rely on the shepherd of your soul to provide your greatest needs so that even in the midst of great wants, you are satisfied with the merciful and good presence of the

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Lord. God in heaven, I thank you. I thank you for providing for all our needs.

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I thank you for being the great shepherd of our souls. Lord, how many times that I find myself in a season of wants because of certain trials, valley of darkness, my enemies abound, temptations to sin, the great enemy within abounds.

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Lord in heaven, I ask that you would help me to see that this is the purpose of Jesus. And he's in this, he's sovereign.

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And he's doing it for a very good purpose for my soul. Oh Lord, I pray that this would be the resolve within the

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Christians here today. Lord, that they would see that you are good always and you care for your people always.

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That they would look to Jesus in their hard times and they would see that my only wants, my only desire ultimately is this shepherd right here.

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Oh Lord, what a great benefit is to know that we just simply need to follow where you lead.

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We just need to grab hold of you and you'll take care of us just as a shepherd does to a sheep.

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God in heaven, I pray that this would be our great delight. Let us be a repentant people.

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May we be this example to a dying, hurting world that continuously follows their own wants and may they see the

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Christian community living completely different to this. May it be appetizing to them and may they come to know the

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Lord because of our great conduct that we follow the shepherd wherever he may lead. Thank you for this great truth in Jesus' name, amen.