SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Taylor Gare, and I have the privilege of being the pastor here at First Baptist, and I want to thank you for listening into our sermon this week.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to tell you this if you're in our area and you don't have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist El Doredo.
SPEAKER_00: Would you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Open with me to Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_00: He makes me lie down in green pastures.
SPEAKER_00: He leads me beside still waters.
SPEAKER_00: He restores my soul.
SPEAKER_00: He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
SPEAKER_00: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
SPEAKER_00: For you are with me.
SPEAKER_00: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
SPEAKER_00: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, and you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.
SPEAKER_00: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, would you now speak through your word by your spirit to our hearts?
SPEAKER_00: We ask this in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: The legendary actor Richard Burton, I was reminded of this story as H.B.
SPEAKER_00: Charles spoke it this week.
SPEAKER_00: The legendary actor Richard Burton was returning to his boyhood church.
SPEAKER_00: And he returned and he was very famous by then.
SPEAKER_00: And as he returned, the church asked that he would do something for him.
SPEAKER_00: If we've got Richard Burton in the building, let's have him do something for us.
SPEAKER_00: And they asked him to recite the 23rd Psalm.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I will recite the 23rd Psalm for you.
SPEAKER_00: On one condition, if afterwards my boyhood pastor, who by now was uh elderly, but uh he said on one condition, if you'll allow my boyhood pastor to recite it right after I'm done, they said, Fantastic.
SPEAKER_00: So uh the great actor recited the 23rd Psalm in beautiful fashion, and right after that the whole congregation uh cheered and applauded a grand ovation.
SPEAKER_00: Following that, his boyhood pastor stood up and recited Psalm 23, and the response to that was everyone ended up in tears as they listened to this elderly preacher read this psalm.
SPEAKER_00: Richard Burton stood up and said, You see, I spoke to your ears and to your eyes, but this man has spoken to your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I know the psalm, but this man knows the shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: I know the psalm, but this man knows the shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: The question for us this morning is, Do we know the shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: Um maybe for you the answer is is no.
SPEAKER_00: I I've never met the shepherd, and this morning's a good morning for you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but maybe for the believer in this room, do you truly know him as shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what it means that he is your shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: I want to see three things this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And the first is this that our good shepherd provides.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at verse one.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop there.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Now you'll notice, uh, probably in your translation, that word Lord is in all caps, telling us that that is the divine name Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: So what what the psalmist David is saying here, Yahweh is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh that that that ought to strike us as absolutely wild that David would say this.
SPEAKER_00: That that Yahweh is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's hard to put into words what that would mean.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine this morning if my family and I were going on a vacation and we have a little golden doodle named Lucy, and we needed someone to watch Lucy, you know, come a couple times, take her out, the whole deal, go fill up her food, all that.
SPEAKER_00: And you out of the kindness of your heart, you come to us and you say, Hey, do you have it taken care of?
SPEAKER_00: Is there any way I can help you?
SPEAKER_00: And I say, Hey, don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_00: Lucy is taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: We've got someone to do it.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, who is it?
SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you, it's a couple that we know, Donald and Melania are coming over to handle that.
SPEAKER_00: Barack and Michelle have offered to come over and take out Lucy twice a day.
SPEAKER_00: You'd say, that's odd.
SPEAKER_00: That someone of that caliber would stoop to a job of just taking care of a little dog.
SPEAKER_00: How is that possible?
SPEAKER_00: And yet, right here, we see something infinitely more grand than even that.
SPEAKER_00: That Yahweh is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you think about Yahweh, who is he?
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1 and 2, what do we see?
SPEAKER_00: That Yahweh creates everything that is, the God over and above all, the creator of all.
SPEAKER_00: We see Yahweh give us his own name in Exodus chapter 3, right after he tells Moses that you better take off your sandals because the ground that you're stepping on is holy.
SPEAKER_00: He gives the name Yahweh, which means I am who I am, which means, you know, my character will show you exactly who I am, the infinite God able to bring this whole people out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They get to Sinai and they get more of a picture of who Yahweh is when Moses goes up on the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: And what does it say in Exodus chapter 19 that Yahweh descended upon the mountain in a thick cloud?
SPEAKER_00: And so the people of God at the bottom of the mountain looked up and they saw this thick cloud of God Himself, Yahweh is up there.
SPEAKER_00: This is someone big, this is someone infinite, and so we we might expect for David to say that Yahweh is my king, is my authority, is my ruler.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, all of those are correct, all of those are good things for us to say.
SPEAKER_00: But what does David say in this moment?
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's also interesting David is saying this because David knows probably better than anyone what it means to be a shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 16, we talked about it a few weeks ago when uh Samuel goes to Jesse's house looking for the next king and finally finds the boy who's left out into the field.
SPEAKER_00: And what does it say in chapter 16 that he's doing?
SPEAKER_00: He is tending the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: That was his job.
SPEAKER_00: One chapter later, in 1 Samuel chapter 17, he's about to fight Goliath, and he's giving his credentials, his resume as to why he is worthy to fight Goliath, and what does he say?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Uh, when I'm keeping my sheep and a bear or a lion comes for the flock, what do I do?
SPEAKER_00: I fight them off.
SPEAKER_00: He says Goliath will be no different than a bear or a lion.
SPEAKER_00: He has these credentials because he is a shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: But what he knows is this that a uh the job of a shepherd is a very incarnational job.
SPEAKER_00: What do I mean by that?
SPEAKER_00: It's very hands-on.
SPEAKER_00: It is boots on the ground type of work.
SPEAKER_00: You get all the sights, all the sounds, all the smells of being a shepherd, and your job is to keep this flock alive, whatever it takes.
SPEAKER_00: This is the job of a shepherd, but it doesn't sound like a job of Yahweh, does it?
SPEAKER_00: The mighty King above all.
SPEAKER_00: And yet David has made no mistake here in saying the Lord Yahweh is my shepherd, which means God above, the ultimate ruler and creator, is not only the authority over all, but he's very close.
SPEAKER_00: He tends to my every need.
SPEAKER_00: He is up close and personal with me.
SPEAKER_00: And because Yahweh is my shepherd, what does it say this next?
SPEAKER_00: I shall not want.
SPEAKER_00: That term literally means I have no lack.
SPEAKER_00: I lack nothing.
SPEAKER_00: What he's not saying is everything on my wish list is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: Every want and desire of these kind of frivolous things in life, if I if I name it and claim it and ask for it, the Lord provides.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying that.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that I lack no good thing.
SPEAKER_00: That the the Lord, in his goodness, me being the sheep under his care, my my shepherd, make sure that I lack no good thing.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder, and I know it's the case, but I wonder in this room, even now, if in your own heart and mind you you can just give testimony, and you're thinking about those moments in your own life where uh maybe uh you didn't have everything you thought you wanted.
SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe things in life didn't turn out exactly as you thought they would, and yet behind the scenes, you knew this, even in those moments, that all I have needed, thy hands have provided.
SPEAKER_00: That God has been faithful to me and provided everything I need.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Yahweh is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2, he makes me lie down in green pastures.
SPEAKER_00: He he brings me to good places.
SPEAKER_00: Places where I can find nutrients.
SPEAKER_00: The shepherd's job would be to get the sheep to these green pastures where they can gain nutrients.
SPEAKER_00: But not only that, he leads me beside still waters.
SPEAKER_00: This is the waters of refreshing.
SPEAKER_00: You know, water is good for a couple things, for cleansing and for refreshing.
SPEAKER_00: Does our Lord not do both of those things for us?
SPEAKER_00: The cleansing that we need in our own lives from sin, the refreshment that comes by being with our shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord provides these things.
SPEAKER_00: And as we are the sheep of his care, of his pasture, and we need these things, and you and I know very well that we need green pastures, we need the still waters, he provides, and not only that, verse 3, he restores my soul.
SPEAKER_00: He restores my soul, literally, uh meaning he returns it to the place it should be.
SPEAKER_00: He returns it to its proper place, its proper orientation, uh, how it should look before the Father and how it looks in the hand of the faithful shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: He returns me to that place.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: He leads me in paths of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Quite literally, this verse is saying, leads me in the wagon tracks of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: He leads me in the wagon tracks of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Any good shepherd would know to seek out the wagon tracks that have gone before you.
SPEAKER_00: As you are seeking good pasture, you're seeking home for these sheep.
SPEAKER_00: Where have faithful shepherds in the past already gone?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna put my wagon tracks in those wagon tracks, and we're gonna head towards home by that faithful path.
SPEAKER_00: What it says is the Lord leads us in these paths of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: In 1922 at Ohio State University, on the large quad there in the middle of campus, they were gonna pave some sidewalks, and normally some company would just plan where these would go and make some kind of symmetrical design to make sure the campus looks as good and as symmetrical as it can be across this quad.
SPEAKER_00: But in 1922 at Ohio State University, they said, let's do something different.
SPEAKER_00: Let's find the faithful paths, the paths that have worked for students before, and let's pave them.
SPEAKER_00: So what they did is they would go look where the foot traffic has seemed to gone to go in the past.
SPEAKER_00: And so where where students have cut across the lawn for years now because the grass is dead in those areas, where students have cut across the lawn because they needed to get from this side, point A, to this side of the quad, point B, let's just put a path there.
SPEAKER_00: And you look at the campus of Ohio State University and where those paths are, and it's not symmetrical.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't look perfect, but what it looks like is this that the faithful paths were paved over.
SPEAKER_00: And where the faithful paths have been in the past, there it has been paved so future students can walk in them.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the good news that the Lord Jesus, our good shepherd, knows the faithful paths that you and I need to walk upon, and he has faithfully paved the way that we can walk in them.
SPEAKER_00: And in your own life, you can probably see the paths of righteousness that you've walked upon, and you can probably see paths that you did not see coming.
SPEAKER_00: You can probably see roads that you didn't think you'd walk down.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord took you in a different direction than you ever thought possible, and yet you look back and you realize, all the while, my my good shepherd just placed me on these righteous paths.
SPEAKER_00: And why does he do it?
SPEAKER_00: It ends here in verse 3, for his name's sake.
SPEAKER_00: Because the shepherd's reputation is on the line.
SPEAKER_00: How would it work for the shepherd who was uh known for losing his sheep?
SPEAKER_00: How would it work for the shepherd who is known for the the second the wolf comes, uh the the the shepherd's long gone.
SPEAKER_00: He's not messing with that.
SPEAKER_00: How would that go for him?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll tell you, he wouldn't be employed very long.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a very good reputation.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the Lord says, For my name's sake, I will show that I am a good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: I will show that you can trust my name, you can count on me to lead you in these paths, to restore your souls, to bring you to green pastures, to bring you to still waters.
SPEAKER_00: His reputation is on the line and it always holds up.
SPEAKER_00: And so the good shepherd, first of all, is our provider.
SPEAKER_00: But this text continues as we see this.
SPEAKER_00: Our good shepherd, he protects.
SPEAKER_00: He protects us.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, let me read that again.
SPEAKER_00: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, these may be words that you've heard many times.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Psalm 23 are words you've probably heard many times.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I I would imagine most non-believers, if you just said, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, they they'd say, I, yeah, I know those words.
SPEAKER_00: I think those are in that that book that you read.
SPEAKER_00: Even on September 11, 2001, in the president's address to the nation from the Oval Office, what does he quote?
SPEAKER_00: He quotes verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, this is a well-known verse, so well-known text.
SPEAKER_00: But what does it mean for us?
SPEAKER_00: First of all, I want us to see this because we might be led to believe that there is a disconnect between verse 3 and verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's where I left off in verse 3, Lord God, my shepherd, you lead me in paths of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And here's where I begin in verse 4, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we might ask the question: how in the world do those two things go together?
SPEAKER_00: How could it be, Lord, that you promised me that you would lead me in paths of righteousness, and the very next breath, I'm being told that I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death?
SPEAKER_00: I want us to see something that is very important for us.
SPEAKER_00: That there will be times in your life where being in the very center of the will of God, by being uh clearly and directly on the path of righteousness, it will mean that you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_00: And let's be clear.
SPEAKER_00: There will be times that we walk through trial and they are totally because of us.
SPEAKER_00: There will be times where because of my sin, I'm walking through the consequence of that sin.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: That happens.
SPEAKER_00: But let's be clear about this.
SPEAKER_00: Being in the valley of the shadow of death does not itself mean you are outside of the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: It might mean you are right in the will of God, and God is walking you even in this moment on his paths of righteousness, and he is gonna do his best work in the midst of these trials.
SPEAKER_00: Even when I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, here's the interesting news.
SPEAKER_00: I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
SPEAKER_00: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
SPEAKER_00: James Hamilton, in his commentary on this, paints a beautiful picture really of what this really means.
SPEAKER_00: As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you've got this low country, this low area, and all around the hills and the mountains, you can almost imagine the wolves are just encircling in the hills and the mountains around this valley.
SPEAKER_00: And in their mind, the next meal is coming.
SPEAKER_00: The the robbers up on this mountain are looking in and thinking, uh here's someone I can devour.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, in the midst of it, our good shepherd walks us through this valley, and David says here, I will fear no evil.
SPEAKER_00: Even when the enemies are around, and we know they're around, we'll see it in the next verse.
SPEAKER_00: I will fear no evil.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you are with me.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what I also want us to see.
SPEAKER_00: You'll notice the verse three verses are spoken in the third person, which is beautiful, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is my shepherd, he leads me, he leads me, he restores my soul, he leads me to the waters.
SPEAKER_00: And then something happens in the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_00: We move to the second person.
SPEAKER_00: In the valley of the shadow of death, I know this.
SPEAKER_00: I know that you are with me.
SPEAKER_00: Your rod and your staff, they come from me.
SPEAKER_00: Have you just seen in your own life that there's something about the valley of the shadow of death that we just get a little more personal with our shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: There's something about being in the valley of the shadow of death that we can get to know our shepherd in a way that we might never up on the mountaintop.
SPEAKER_00: I praise God for the mountaintops.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you're on a mountaintop this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I praise God for it.
SPEAKER_00: But there's something in the valley that can touch us in a certain way where we look up and we We realize our Savior is with us, and we can get to know him in a way in the valley that that that that is so deep.
SPEAKER_00: Dill Ralph Davis says it like this, and I like this.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that Christ is closer in the valley, but that we realize in the valley how close he has always been.
SPEAKER_00: When all of our supports have been kicked out from under us, when everything we thought would sustain us has proven itself unable to hold us up.
SPEAKER_00: When we have nowhere else to turn, we can look up and see that our shepherd has been with us all along and will not leave us.
SPEAKER_00: And there is something about the valley of the shadow of death that lets us get to know our Savior in a beautiful way.
SPEAKER_00: And it says this your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord protects us.
SPEAKER_00: The staff certainly to pull me close.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the problem.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are tempted to wonder a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: I love uh that that that that that uh verse of Come thou fount.
SPEAKER_00: Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever felt that?
SPEAKER_00: Prone to wonder.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the shepherd, I'm so thankful for him, he'll just reach out the staff and he'll say, Taylor's right there, and he's trying to wonder, he'll just pull me right back.
SPEAKER_00: Taylor, these are the paths of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: You stay right here.
SPEAKER_00: But not just the staff is with my shepherd, but also the rod.
SPEAKER_00: Because when the enemies come and try to take the sheep, the shepherd springs into action to protect the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: And isn't it good news that we have a shepherd that carries the staff and the rod that fights for his people?
SPEAKER_00: That in the midst of the valley our shepherd is protecting us.
SPEAKER_00: And not just protecting us, but doing even more for us.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: You, again, this second person, you are doing this.
SPEAKER_00: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
SPEAKER_00: So think about this for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: We're in the valley, we're walking through the valley of deep darkness, the valley of the shadow of death, the hills all around, they have wolves all over them just watching us, thinking it's almost my time to come and devour.
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst, our shepherd is walking us through.
SPEAKER_00: But not only that, our shepherd pauses, and for us, he sets up a table and provides for us a five-star meal.
SPEAKER_00: Right there in the valley, he comes to prepare this table for each one of us.
SPEAKER_00: And it's fascinating to me, he prepares the table in the midst of my enemies.
SPEAKER_00: And so the wolves, the enemies are up watching as we dine with our shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: As the Lord provides for us in such a way that he provides with such extravagance.
SPEAKER_00: Not only does he set the table, he's an unbelievable host, it also says, You anoint my head with oil.
SPEAKER_00: And this time, certainly, if you have someone over for dinner, you would, if you were a good host and you were grateful for your guest that has come, you would provide for them this oil, this perfume, and you might even anoint their head with oil.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine you come over to my house for dinner, and before we even walk through the door, I say, wait just a second.
SPEAKER_00: I've got something.
SPEAKER_00: I anoint your head with oil, I let it run down your head.
SPEAKER_00: And I think of uh Psalm 133.
SPEAKER_00: He says, How good and pleasant it is when the brothers dwell together in unity.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, This it's like the precious oil running down Aaron's beard.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not some of the strangest words in our context, in our time?
SPEAKER_00: And yet, those were some of the most beautiful words because that's what it meant to be a good host.
SPEAKER_00: You come in and I will provide for you.
SPEAKER_00: I will anoint your head with oil.
SPEAKER_00: What does it say?
SPEAKER_00: That our shepherd is for us a very good host.
SPEAKER_00: That even in the presence of my enemies, I will set up this five-star meal, the greatest cuisine, right here, and I come and I anoint your head with oil.
SPEAKER_00: You are my welcomed guest.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, my cup overflows.
SPEAKER_00: Filled to the brim, even to the point of overflowing, is what our good shepherd has provided for us.
SPEAKER_00: He is the shepherd who provides, he's the shepherd who protects.
SPEAKER_00: But I also want to see this he is the shepherd, our good shepherd preserves.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at these last verses.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_00: Surely goodness and mercy, that word mercy, God's covenant, loyal love.
SPEAKER_00: The loyal love based on God's covenant promises.
SPEAKER_00: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.
SPEAKER_00: That word follow me, quite literally, will pursue me.
SPEAKER_00: It is chasing after you.
SPEAKER_00: It is chasing after me.
SPEAKER_00: And how long will it do it?
SPEAKER_00: Today, tomorrow, no, no, all the days of my life.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that goodness and mercy shall pursue me.
SPEAKER_00: As David is writing this, you think about the life of David, he he knows about pursuit.
SPEAKER_00: Think about how many chapters uh throughout uh 1 Samuel we have to see, or we get to see, I should say, Saul pursuing David.
SPEAKER_00: Saul's nervous because he knows David's an impressive young man, and he's nervous because he knows God's about to put him on the throne, and he is pursuing David, seeking David's life, and from every pursuit, the Lord protects David.
SPEAKER_00: Well, later on, when David's king, there's another pursuit.
SPEAKER_00: His son Absalom spends a lot of time pursuing him, chasing after him, and David is on the run, and yet, even from that, uh, God provides and protects and preserves David's life.
SPEAKER_00: But it is fascinating to me that we see in Psalm 23, 6 that there is one pursuit in David's life of which he was not able to escape.
SPEAKER_00: There is one pursuit that he could not outrun.
SPEAKER_00: And what was it?
SPEAKER_00: The pursuit of God's goodness and God's loyal love over him.
SPEAKER_00: It is following you in such a way where it will accomplish its goal.
SPEAKER_00: The Good Shepherd, as he leads you and guides you in those paths of righteousness, even through the valley of the shadow of death, has placed his favor and loyal love upon you, and it is a love that will not let you go.
SPEAKER_00: That's the beauty of the shepherd's love.
SPEAKER_00: It says this, follow me all the days of my life, and then it says, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_00: I think there's two ways we look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, in the here and now, and uh number two, into eternity.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, in the here and now, when David was writing this, he probably was quite literally talking about dwelling in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning, I'm continually gonna go up to the sanctuary in worship.
SPEAKER_00: My life is gonna be defined by worship in response to what the good shepherd has done for me.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's one way we can talk about this: that I'm gonna dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_00: For all of us, I'm gonna worship him.
SPEAKER_00: And quite literally, I'm gonna come to this place on a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna meet with all of you on a Sunday morning to return to give thanks to the Lord who has done so much for me.
SPEAKER_00: Not that that only happens in this room.
SPEAKER_00: How about every day of our lives?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna return to give thanks for what he has done.
SPEAKER_00: But also, we look at this in an eternal sense.
SPEAKER_00: That we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been, and I know quite a few of you have, to a uh a graveside service with me, you've probably heard Psalm 23, 6.
SPEAKER_00: And until the Lord writes something better, you're probably gonna keep hearing it.
SPEAKER_00: Because I believe it's the perfect verse, even in the saddest moment of standing at a graveside, because it reminds me of this, and I love reminding families of this, I love reminding myself of this.
SPEAKER_00: That is this not a picture of the Christian life?
SPEAKER_00: First half of that verse, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, that that is true of the believer in Christ Jesus, but then we look at the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Even past death, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_00: That in this life God is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Second half of the verse.
SPEAKER_00: Beyond this life, God is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: That I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, that my good shepherd, your good shepherd, he he doesn't just love me in the here and now.
SPEAKER_00: This is a covenant for all eternity.
SPEAKER_00: That he is my good shepherd today, he is my good shepherd tomorrow, and and uh ten billion years from now, he will be my good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: And I will dwell in his house forever.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the reality for David as he writes this.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reality for all believers.
SPEAKER_00: Now, think about the life, think about your life and my life as shepherds in the hands in the care, excuse me, sheep in the hands in the care of our good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what your life looks like: you lack no things, you lie down in green pastures, your soul is restored, he is with you, even setting a table for you in the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_00: Goodness and mercy are running after and pursuing you, and the rest of your life unto eternity is found in him, and you shall dwell in his house forever.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we ask the question: how can that be possible?
SPEAKER_00: How could God be so good?
SPEAKER_00: How can that be true of me?
SPEAKER_00: I think of some people in this room, and they're extra polished and extra cleaned up, and I certainly see how it could be true of them.
SPEAKER_00: I certainly see how they could know the shepherd well, but have you met me?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the roads I've walked down?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the mistakes I've made before I knew Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the mistakes I've made after I knew Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know there's days that I don't fully feel like uh am I really a sheep of the shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: You may have all those thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: How do we do this?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know this shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: And who is this shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: I've been spoiling that one all along because John 10 tells us, Jesus says these words, I am the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't he say that?
SPEAKER_00: I am the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: The one who's a hired hand and not a shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: He does not own the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: He sees the wolf coming and he leaves the sheep and he flees.
SPEAKER_00: The wolf snatches them and scatters them.
SPEAKER_00: He he flees because he's a hired hand.
SPEAKER_00: He cares nothing for the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: I am the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: I know my own and my own know me.
SPEAKER_00: Just as the father knows me, and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know the shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: Know the shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have a relationship with the one who has laid down his life for the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus Christ, our good shepherd, thought so highly of his role as our shepherd, and so lovingly of his sheep, that of his own accord he came and laid down his life for us.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, we could take it a step further.
SPEAKER_00: We could say that our good shepherd has been willing to become a sheep himself.
SPEAKER_00: I love this moment in Revelation chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's so sad because no one can open the scroll.
SPEAKER_00: We need to get this scroll open.
SPEAKER_00: And then someone speaks up and says, Well, there is one who can open a scroll, the lion of the tribe of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: We're all excited now.
SPEAKER_00: We're about to turn around and we're gonna see this grand lion of the tribe of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: Then we turn around, and who does it say is standing there?
SPEAKER_00: It's actually not a lion.
SPEAKER_00: It says, There was a lamb as if he had been slain.
SPEAKER_00: Because the lion of the tribe of Judah is the lamb who has been slain, and so the great shepherd has become the lamb who has been slain, so that you and I, the sheep, can live eternally in his flock.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know the good shepherd, first and foremost, by knowing Jesus Christ and his forgiveness of sins and his work on the cross dying for us, and day by day, as believers, if we know the good shepherd, we remind ourselves continually that we are found in him.
SPEAKER_00: We remind ourselves that we are sheep of his flock, and we remind ourselves of this, and don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: That that is enough.
SPEAKER_00: And if it keeps you up at night, I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_00: It keeps me up at night.
SPEAKER_00: Is Christ enough for you?
SPEAKER_00: Is the good shepherd good enough for you?
SPEAKER_00: Because if we talk about practicing the presence of God, we talk about the contentment that comes from knowing our good shepherd, even as a believer, are you content in him?
SPEAKER_00: Here's how you can ask that question How would you finish this sentence?
SPEAKER_00: I will finally have enough once I have Jesus and blank.
SPEAKER_00: I will be enough, I will finally be content once I have Jesus and blank.
SPEAKER_00: If you filled in that blank, we got work to do.
SPEAKER_00: Because the sentence is, I will be content.
SPEAKER_00: For all of us, it should be with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That He is enough for me.
SPEAKER_00: That uh He is my shepherd, and so I lack no thing.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one that restores my soul, so I am found in Him, restored in Him.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one that is with me in the valley, He's the one that's prepared the table, He's the one that is pursuing after me.
SPEAKER_00: This is what our shepherd does.
SPEAKER_00: He does it for you, He does it for me.
SPEAKER_00: This is really the story of Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_00: That you and I have the shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: And we can find contentment in that.
SPEAKER_00: We have a good shepherd that lays down his life for the sheep, that loves us so deeply and invites us in to be found in him.
SPEAKER_00: Is the good shepherd good enough for you?
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus enough for you?
SPEAKER_00: I pray this week that you will find over and over again that all I need is found in him.
SPEAKER_00: All I need my shepherd has provided.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, would you show us again and again that you are enough?
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, I confess, and I would imagine not only do I confess, but probably on behalf of everyone in this room, Lord, we confess that so often we seek to find contentment in anything else.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, help us remember, remind us again that all that we need is found in you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, as we seek to practice the presence of Jesus, let it begin right here, that in Jesus we have enough.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we thank you for being our good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: How undeserved is that love, and yet how freely you give it.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you that you hold us, you provide for us, you protect us, you preserve our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, let us give our lives for your sake.
SPEAKER_00: Being sheep of your pasture.
SPEAKER_00: We pray all this in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand and if you need to respond in any way to come join our church family for me to pray over you, talk about baptism, whatever it may be, to come to know Jesus for the first time, I'll be down front.
SPEAKER_00: So you come.