WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:02.959 This morning, what a precious, precious psalm. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:09.919 I'm gonna read the whole thing for us this week uh this week and then we'll we'll dive in together. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:12.080 Psalm 23. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:14.560 It's a psalm of David. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:17.839 Yahweh is my shepherd. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:19.600 I shall not want. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.640 He makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.839 He leads me beside still waters. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:29.760 He restores my soul. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:35.439 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:42.799 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:48.159 Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:53.280 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:56.159 You anoint my head with oil. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:59.039 My cup overflows. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:11.760 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in Yahweh's house forever. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:30.799 I've been reading this week on how churches throughout Christian history have responded to plagues and diseases that have harmed their cities and their societies. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:36.640 And I've stumbled upon just troves and troves of encouragement from my own soul. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:49.680 It's not an exaggeration to say that the testimony of the early church was in many ways supported and solidified and validated by the frequency of plagues. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:55.519 And I mentioned this a few Sundays ago, but there were uh countless plagues. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:03.760 I mean, just about every 75 to 100 years through the first several centuries of church history that just devastated the Roman Empire. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:08.000 One particular plague killed about a third of the Roman population. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:13.120 This was in the second century, uh, sometimes killing thousands in a single day. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:23.599 That plague united the Christian church and how they would respond to these kind of devastating tragedies, and it's a legacy that remains to this very day. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:39.039 Christians determined to respond to the plagues by caring for the sick and by showing the love of Christ to neighbors, both believers and non-believers, and it became a way to authenticate that the church was different than the world. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:50.719 In many books about these different plagues, they, even non-Christian books, they point out somewhat ironically that it was often the doctors who were the first to flee. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:58.159 This is a world without, you know, newspapers or social media, of course, or really any way to gather news beyond word of mouth. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:05.599 And so doctors were generally the first to understand when a plague was coming to a society, and they were the first to leave. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:16.639 There's no shortage of stories of parents who would leave their children, husbands who would leave their wives, wives that would leave their husbands out of fear of spreading the plague. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:20.960 Christians, however, were different. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:28.000 Christians, for the most part, certainly there were exceptions, but Christians, for the most part, didn't flee. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:34.719 They they planted their flag there and really sought it as an opportunity to show the love of Christ to the world. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:45.120 Bishop of Dionysius of Alexandria writes this in a firsthand account of how the plague struck Alexander, which is in northern Africa. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:59.039 At the first onset of the disease, he writes, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead, and treating unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread of the disease. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:02.879 But do what they might, they found it difficult to escape. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:05.599 Christians, however, because they didn't flee, were left behind. 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:10.639 And the crazy thing about the Christians in these early plagues is that they were often blamed for them. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:19.519 Much like Nero blamed the Christians for the burning of Rome, Christians became the ones who were blamed for the plagues, and it will not be surprising to you to hear why. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:23.040 It's because Christians were so eager to be hospitable. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:29.600 They knew that they often had gatherings in their houses, and so they were pegged with this. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:43.439 Moses Lee, who pastors a church in Maryland now, but has written much on the history of the Christian church in Asia, he writes that the way Christians responded with hospitality to the plagues had two main effects. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:46.000 This is from, again, the author Moses Lee. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:54.240 He writes this quote Christian sacrifice for their fellow believers stunned the unbelieving world as they witnessed communal love like they had never seen before. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:59.279 And it's worth pointing out here that the Roman religions did not have an aspect of caring for each other. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:06.000 They didn't have a solidified code of conduct or belief belonging to paying homage to their own gods and to Caesar. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:10.399 And so they had never seen a religion in their life. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:14.959 They had never seen or heard of a religion that responded to calamity by love. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:24.879 And secondly, Moses Lee writes, Christian sacrifice for non-Christians resulted in the early church experiencing exponential growth. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:26.319 Did you hear that? 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:28.639 Exponential growth. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:39.600 As non-Christian survivors who benefited from the care of their Christian neighbors converted to the faith in mass when the plague subsided. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:42.800 What a stunning image. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:51.279 That people were convicted by how Christians cared for each other to the extent that when the plague did pass them by, they were converted. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:06:00.560 This kind of courage, and you know this, this kind of courage is not isolated to the first few centuries of Christian history. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:09.519 This is not a kind of chivalry that's relegated to the bygone era of a you know pre-Enlightenment world. 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:13.199 This is the kind of Christian conduct and Christian ethics that remain to this day. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:41.920 I mean, I'm sure if your Facebook feed is anything like mine, you're seeing picture after picture of doctors and nurses and believers that you know or in your family, they're going to hospitals, going to hospitals in Central Park, the Samaritan's Perses setting up, going to places where they are likely to be exposed to the virus, likely to be infected, and yet they're doing it for the sake of loving those that are in need. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:56.399 I got a message last night from a member at Emmanuel Bible Church who uh is a doctor and his own hospital is is running below uh capacity right now, and he's not able to work as much as he would have before this came. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:04.240 And so he's going up to a hospital that's overrun with coronavirus patients up in New York or New Jersey, up there. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:06.720 And you think, why would somebody do that? 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:08.959 What motivates somebody to do that? 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:11.519 And of course, it's love for neighbor. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:18.160 There's a lot of other answers for why Christians have that kind of courage. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:24.240 But the shortest answer I can give you this morning is this is the kind of courage that's described in Psalm 23. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:30.879 Psalm 23 is a psalm about this kind of courage in the face of death, this kind of courage in the face of calamity. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:36.079 This is a psalm that is, of course, known by non-believers. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:38.319 It's recited at funerals. 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:42.319 I've even heard it read at weddings, it's quoted in movies. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.240 It's clung to in despair. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:49.439 Very frequently memorized. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:57.759 In fact, for our own Iwana students, as they're going through Iwana, the first chapter of the Bible they memorize as a whole in Iwana is this chapter. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:03.360 It seems like everybody knows this passage. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:21.279 But what is so interesting about this passage, and why I'm excited to preach it this morning, and I hope it's encouraging to you, is that there are very few other passages in the Bible where there is such a great gulf between what people think the Psalm says and what it actually does say. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:25.439 People have in their mind the idea of what Psalm 23 is about. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:27.839 This is why it's so often read at funerals. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:34.639 There's this idea of it being about grief and sorrow. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:49.600 But then when you actually go word by word to this psalm, which you'll have an opportunity to do in a few minutes this morning, as you actually work your way phrase by phrase through this, you really will be stunned about what this psalm is actually describing. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:53.759 It is describing a life of courage. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.159 It's describing a life of comfort. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:59.360 It's describing a life of, and by comfort I don't mean ease. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:10.080 I mean a steadfast hope in the surpassing beauty of Jesus Christ that sustains you through a tumultuous world. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.399 It's courage for calamity. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:20.720 It is comfort for those who are confronted with a world they don't understand and can't quite get their arms around. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:23.360 They can't quite get their mind around all that's happening. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:28.639 They had a way of living and they have deviated from that way. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:45.519 The world has turned everything upside down, and there is a kind of comfort for the soul that is found in a very tumultuous world that this psalmist that David has discovered and relays it to us about the kind of comfort that produces courage in the face of chaos. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:48.320 That's Psalm 23. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:52.240 I want to give an outline to you this morning. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:59.519 I'm going to give you three truths for how the shepherd of our souls shows his glory. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:06.879 There's three different ways in this psalm that the shepherd of our souls reveals his glory to us. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:09.360 And this is the kind of glory that gives us courage. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:11.600 It's the kind of glory that gives us comfort. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:20.320 It's the kind of glory that helps us trust the Lord in uncertain times, that helps us have courage in a world of cowards. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:30.159 It gives us courage to trust Christ when all of our senses, when all of our lived experiences say otherwise. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:49.919 And this is, of course, a very common testimony of people that say when things go wrong and when loved ones are afflicted with not just corona, but with with cancer or disease or car accidents, it's very difficult in those instances for people to say, I trust the Lord, when everything in your experience is telling you he's not trustworthy. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:55.600 When you have somebody whom you love who has has died, and you think this was a good person. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:57.440 This person here was a good person. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:03.360 They tried hard, they loved their family, they were a somewhat moral person, and they died. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:07.120 So how can you trust God in those circumstances? 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:15.440 Or I had a business, I had a job, it was profitable, I was providing for my family, and then the world turned upside down for reasons I don't quite understand. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:21.039 And now I've lost my job, lost my ability to provide for my family, lost my ability to care for my kids. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:25.440 My retirement went from next year to, you know, next century. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.399 How do you trust the Lord in those circumstances? 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:33.039 That's what this psalm is about. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:39.279 And it's not satisfied with a minimal of trusting the Lord in these circumstances. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:49.360 David really expects and describes more than some kind of trust in the Lord that is general. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:55.200 He's really laying forward a path of courage, a path of transcendent courage. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.960 And it's transcendent courage because it transcends your circumstances. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:14.559 You know, this it does no good to tell somebody, hey, brother, you just need to trust God. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:22.399 While there is truth to that, and you understand the big picture is yes, you just need to trust God. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:26.559 Pastors and biblical counselors are often mocked for that kind of advice, right? 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:37.519 You have somebody who who is mourning death, and you know, the the idea of like, oh, you don't want the pastor to be involved, or you don't want a biblical counselor to be involved, because they would show up and put their arm around you and say, brother, just trust the Lord. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.639 And you think, I don't need to know, just trust the Lord right now. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:42.480 That's the way the old adage goes. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:44.559 And so, in a sense, that adage is right. 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:52.159 A person who is going through doubt and fear and confusion doesn't simply just need to be told, trust the Lord in some general way. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:13:03.360 But what they do need to be reminded of, what they do need to investigate, what they do need to be told is to trust very specific promises of the Lord. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:16.639 General platitudes aren't generally helpful, but specific promises, specific descriptions of the Lord, specific truths of the Bible are helpful. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:37.360 And if you're listening this morning and you are going through a period of confusion or doubt or fear in your own life, let me flip it around and challenge you to ask yourself: what specific promises are you having a hard time holding on to that would help battle your fear? 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:43.600 That would help battle your worry, that would help battle your doubts in the face of confusion. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:51.200 Are there specific things about God and his goodness and his sovereignty that you're having a hard time understanding? 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:53.360 Because that is where the action is. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:58.159 Where you find the kink in the armor, that's what you want to expose. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:02.720 You know, many people want to cover up their weaknesses, but not the person who's laying before the Lord. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:06.720 He doesn't want to cover up his weaknesses, he wants to find them and expose them. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:11.600 And that's why Psalm 23 is such a powerful, powerful psalm. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:16.799 It's not simply because of the image that Tyndale invented, the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:19.840 It's not simply that kind of image has such staying power. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:20.639 It's more than that. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:37.360 It's the kind of specific truths in this psalm that have a way of rescuing the anxious soul, encouraging the doubting believer, and giving really this kind of courageous Christian ethic to the person who would otherwise be weak. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:44.879 So ask yourself as we go through this psalm, which promises in here do I need to trust this morning? 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:48.159 Which promises in here do I need to remind myself? 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:52.639 Do I need to believe in this this week? 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:58.240 This psalm is riddled with statements and their effects and their justification. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:00.159 I'm going to phrase it this way. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:05.279 This psalm is a series of truths, followed by evidence for the truth, followed by a result of the truth. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:08.879 And everything in this is this whole psalm is put into groups of three here. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:14.320 You've got this claim and then the evidence of the claim and the result of the claim over and over and over again. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:19.039 I mean, you could choose probably six of those things from the psalm to dwell on. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:22.639 I'm going to choose three and draw them out to you this morning. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:26.480 The first of these truths is that Yahweh is my shepherd. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:29.360 Truth one, Yahweh is my shepherd. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:32.879 This is a very personal psalm. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:34.960 A very personal psalm. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:44.879 It doesn't start in the sense it's the opposite of Psalm 63, which went out of its way that we looked at last week, went out of its way to not use God's covenant name where you would have expected to find it. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:55.360 Here, David doesn't say, God is my shepherd, which would be a common way you might think of it, like God who rules the world, Elohim, the God of the world, is my shepherd. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:16:02.399 He doesn't even say the Lord is my shepherd, Ad and I, the idea of a God who is overseeing his subjects. 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:05.440 He doesn't use that word either, which is a common Old Testament word. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.960 He uses the name for God. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:08.720 He uses Yahweh. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:17.200 When God meets Moses in the wilderness, and Moses says, I'll go tell everybody what you you wanted me to declare, but I need to know what is your name. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:19.840 When they say who sent me, what do I tell them? 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:23.600 And Yahweh said, Tell them that Yahweh sent you. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.919 God's name is Yahweh. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:27.200 His name is Yahweh. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:31.840 It's a play on the Hebrew expression for to be or to have life. 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:36.559 God declares that his name is Yahweh because he alone has life in and of himself. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:40.159 Nobody else has life in and of himself, only God does. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:42.799 And so God's name is Yahweh. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:45.679 And that's how David begins this psalm. 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:48.159 In fact, he begins it and ends it that way. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.759 It's bracketed by God's name. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.759 Now, I explain this every now and then, but it's worth repeating again. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:01.279 And most English translations, they put the word Lord in these little small capital letters so that you see it. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:05.599 And when you see the little capital letters, that's letting you know that that's actually Yahweh in Hebrew. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:10.880 It's not that there's a totally different Hebrew word for Lord, and that's not the word that this is. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:18.400 This psalm begins and ends with God's name, Yahweh. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:33.279 And I want you to think about how critical that is for a person who is going through doubts or confusion or grief or worry or anxiety, who is who's dealing with those things. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:43.200 How important is it to know that God has a name and where we're going with this is that He knows you by name. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:50.079 The God who made the stars, the God who made the universe, actually is involved in your life. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:55.119 And brothers and sisters, in my conversion, this was a huge piece of my conversion. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:03.039 I remember when I went to a youth group for the first time, a friend in high school had brought me to church with him. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:17.119 And the the youth leader, who is actually a dad in the youth group, began by asking the high school students a question Do you believe that people's personality, ethics, and character traits are set in stone by age five? 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:18.400 That's what psychologists say. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:19.359 Do you believe that it's true? 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:21.119 That's how we started the youth group that day. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:22.400 And I didn't know any better. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:23.839 I sounded reasonable enough to me. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:25.440 I'm like, sure, psychologists say it. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:26.480 I'm in. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.000 And he looked at me with such pity. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.079 I didn't know the Christian art of the rhetorical question. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:34.079 I didn't know I wasn't supposed to answer out loud. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:35.440 I'm like, yeah. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:37.440 All the other kids in the youth group look at you. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:42.400 Nothing was weirder than a youth group than somebody actually answering a question the youth pastor asks. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:47.759 So that happened, and he looks at me with kind of compassion. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:58.079 And he tells me, we believe in a God that can step into the world and can change a person's life at any point in time. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:02.240 And that rocked my world until that moment. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:14.240 I knew that Christians believed in God, of course, but I had never met or heard or encountered anybody that believed that God was active in the world and could be active on your heart. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.960 We're so autonomous creatures in our mind. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:24.960 We think we're in charge of us and that nobody can do anything to me that I don't allow. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:30.720 And that's part of the reason there's so much fear, of course, when a disease spreads through the world, because it is something that's out of your control. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:38.880 And then God comes into the pages of Scripture and says, I can act on your life if I want to. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:41.200 And what are you going to do about it? 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:44.640 And I'll tell you what David's going to do about it. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:52.960 David is going to respond with love and affection to God because he recognizes that God is acting on David's life for David's good. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:55.920 He's caring for David. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:59.200 He's acting to him as a shepherd. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.720 And so, of course, David holds on to the name of God. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:04.640 He wants to know the name of his shepherd. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.599 He wants to know what his shepherd's name is. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:09.920 Who's guiding me? 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:11.119 Who's leading me? 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:14.880 He's not a hired hand that comes in and out and might trade places tomorrow. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:16.880 You want to know the guy. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:20.480 You think even of this in our own neighborhood? 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:30.240 We have a mailman, a postman who delivers the mail every day, and for the longest time we had the, we were on a street that didn't have an assigned mailman. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:31.039 He rotated out. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:31.680 There's a different guy. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:35.519 Whoever's picking up a ship, it was like substitute mailman every single day. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:37.920 And so we don't know those people. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:42.319 They deliver our mail and we might wave at them, but we don't know who they are. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.400 Then finally we get a guy who's assigned to our street. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:48.400 Cliff was his name. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:55.839 And we know him, and he knows our kids, and he knows where they park their tricycles, and he knows when they hide stuff in the mailboxes. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:00.000 And we we know the guy who's a believer who lived out in Maryland, and we get along with him. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:02.079 We wanted to know his name. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.599 How much more important is it to know the shepherd of your soul by name? 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:12.400 He's not just, God is not just some detached deity that is reigning over the world. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:16.400 No, he's caring for you, and he gives you his name. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:24.160 Let me explain this way: God is what he is, Yahweh is who he is, and shepherd is what he does. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:29.039 God is what he is, Yahweh is who he is, and a shepherd is his occupation. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:32.480 And he often refers to himself as a shepherd in the Bible. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:42.240 Ezekiel 34 is probably the most famous passage about that, where he rebukes the false shepherds and elevates himself as the good shepherd who cares for his sheep. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:48.079 That's the difference between God and the so-called false shepherds and in false religions. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:59.759 Ezekiel 34 describes those religious leaders in other religions as fleecing their sheep, getting their wool from them, fattening up to eat them, not protecting them, not willing to lay down. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.119 Their life for their sheep. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:04.480 And of course, we know the way this narrative plays out through all of the Bible. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:10.079 Jesus comes as the good shepherd and authenticates himself is because he lays down his life for the sheep. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:16.559 How precious is it that God is a shepherd and his name is Yahweh? 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:18.000 What does a shepherd do? 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:26.079 He heals the sheep, he protects the sheep, he feeds the sheep, he guides the sheep. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:27.599 That's what a shepherd does. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:34.079 So just I want you to just be astonished at God describing himself as a shepherd. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:38.720 It's not the kind of language that you would expect. 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:44.720 Shepherds were not well paid, they were not clean, they were not esteemed in society. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:50.640 I mean, if God described himself as a banker, you would think, oh, he has all the treasure of heaven, and that makes sense. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:52.799 Banker is dignified in attire. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:23:05.599 God is a lawyer because you know the lawyers are sharp and intelligent, and they also have possessions to dispense, and they have a knowledge of the law and what is right and wrong, and that would make sense to for God. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:12.480 And he doesn't use those kind of more dignified a king, that would make sense, and God does describe himself as a king because he reigns. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:17.359 But what captures our heart so much here is that he describes himself as a shepherd. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:21.920 That he cares for us. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:25.839 And that of course leads to the evidence. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.319 How do you know that Yahweh is your shepherd? 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:30.799 Because he cares for you. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:35.599 David says in the second part of verse 1, I shall not want. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:49.440 This is a quote of Deuteronomy 2, verse 7, when the Israelites first enter the promised land, where Yahweh tells them, Because my name is Yahweh and I will be with you, you will lack nothing, he says. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:56.480 And he gives it as evidence through Moses, the end of Moses' life to encourage the Israelites as they cross the Jordan into Israel. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:05.359 Yahweh speaks through Moses and says, Remind them that for 40 years they wandered in the wilderness and they never lacked anything. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:11.680 Now, 400 years later, you have David writing this. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:16.559 And he says, That testimony through the centuries is my testimony. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:20.400 I will not lack anything. 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:28.559 It doesn't mean he won't have the right clothes, it doesn't mean he won't have the right house. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:34.240 It does mean he won't lack anything that his shepherd thinks he needs. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:39.359 If your shepherd thinks you need it, you need it, he provides it. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:43.039 Here's examples. 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:44.160 He gives you. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:46.799 He makes you lie down in green pastures. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.680 That word makes me is kind of unfortunate in English. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:53.200 It you know, it sounds like he hits the sheep on the head and knocks him out in the green pastures. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:56.319 But it's a the Hebrew is a very strange verb tense. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:57.599 We don't have it in English. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:01.119 It's but it's this idea that he makes me by persuasion. 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:08.000 It's the idea that he's leading, and so the sheep see where the shepherd goes and follow him because the sheep trust the shepherd. 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:14.720 And so you're led to the green pastures, so it's not like he may it's a better translation might even be he allows me, but that's too permissive. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:17.680 I'm happy with he makes me, but understand it doesn't mean by force. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:21.759 It means the shepherd is allowing his sheep to go into the green places. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:25.279 And obviously, sheep like to eat grass, not dirt. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.119 And so it's good that the shepherd walks them to green pastures. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:34.240 He leads me beside still waters. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:40.079 You know, sheep gets into moving water, they'll likely get swept away. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:43.839 The sheep get wet and they drown, they're too, their wool is too heavy. 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:45.839 They're not the brightest creatures, of course. 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:50.640 And you can assert comments about why God chooses those as the example for Christians. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:54.880 But the bottom line is that fasting water is dangerous. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:56.319 Sheep need calm water. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:57.599 They need water, of course, to drink. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:58.640 They need calm water. 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:02.880 And our shepherd leads us to the green pastures and to the calm waters. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:05.680 And what a pastoral scene this is, isn't it? 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:07.920 Literally a pastoral scene. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:10.160 This is the sunny afternoon. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:21.359 This is the picnic in a park where there's a rainbow on the horizon and bluebirds in the trees, and it's just beautiful, and your blanket is spread, and everything is just delightful. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:22.960 That's this scene. 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:42.640 Last night we're sitting down to eat dinner, and Madison points out the window, and there's a hill behind our house that is kind of steep, and there's big trees that grow up on it, and the little leaves are just starting to come through, and the sun was setting, and so it was coming across the trees almost at a straight line, and it made the trees this brilliant green color. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:45.920 It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:48.319 And we all just stopped what we were doing. 00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:51.200 We had hot food on the table, we all just stopped. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:56.079 We walked away from our hot food and just stood speechless on the patio last night. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:02.000 We hadn't seen anything like in my life, I'd never seen something that looked like that, like the sky last night. 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:04.799 And that's this kind of image. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:08.160 That's where God leads you to those places. 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:10.559 How precious is it. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:16.480 You lack nothing, and he leads you to the green fields and the still waters. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:18.559 Now, how do you know? 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:20.160 What's the proof that God does this? 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:22.480 What's the proof that he's your shepherd and that he cares for you? 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:24.079 And that's where we go next. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:28.000 The result of this is that he actually saves us. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:30.720 The end of verse 2. 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:32.400 I'm sorry, the start of verse 3. 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:34.079 He restores my soul. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:36.559 This is the word for he makes my soul new. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:40.720 This is the New Testament concept of regeneration from John chapter 3. 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:46.640 Psalm 19, David describes it as something that all the beauty in the world cannot do in Psalm 19. 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:50.720 But when he begins to describe the Word of God, it says, He can restore my soul. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:52.960 That you can be saved through the Word of God. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:55.279 A common refrain through Psalm 119. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:58.160 That the Word of God can save a sinner. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.519 Your soul is dead in sins and transgressions, and the Word of God can make it alive. 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:05.279 That's what happens here. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:20.319 Your soul is in chaos in the world, and God rescues you, and He takes your sin away from you and gives you eternal life. 00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:23.920 That's what happens to David here. 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:25.839 And this is an ongoing action. 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:42.000 His salvation is a one-time event, of course, but throughout the rest of his life, he describes his soul as being restored because there are doubts, there are trials, there are difficulties that come in life, and David knows that he can always turn and look to the Lord and remember that his soul is restored. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:50.640 This is the image from the New Testament where Jesus describes himself as a shepherd, of course, but notice how his shepherd illustration goes. 00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:58.240 The shepherd had a hundred sheep, and one goes away, and the shepherd leaves the 99 to go fetch the one and brings him back. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:00.240 And then it goes into the coin analogy. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:01.759 What was lost is found. 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:05.839 The sheep was lost by going far away, the coin was lost by staying at home. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:09.440 The shepherd goes and finds both, restores both. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:10.880 What was lost is found. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:12.319 That's the image here. 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:15.119 It's an image of salvation. 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:19.039 The Lord pursues you, finds you, and saves you. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:21.759 And leads you. 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:28.000 And one of just the most, I think to me, precious parts of this is the last phrase in verse 3. 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:29.359 Why would he do this? 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:32.160 Why would he describe himself as a shepherd? 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:34.799 He does so for his name's sake. 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:36.880 I mean, why does God do any of this? 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:38.319 Why does he do any of this? 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:41.519 It's not ultimately for us, and I hope you appreciate that. 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:43.519 You're not the sun in the universe here. 00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:45.200 Things don't revolve around you. 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:46.079 Solar system, I guess. 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:47.759 You're not the sun in your solar system here. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:49.440 Things don't revolve around you. 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:50.559 They revolve around God. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:54.160 This is all happening for his glory, for his fame. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:55.279 God does this. 00:29:55.440 --> 00:30:00.079 He is the shepherd of his sheep so that he can save us for his glory. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:04.000 The glory of the shepherd, and here's where it's encouraging for you, I hope. 00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:07.680 The glory of the shepherd is seen in his care for the sheep. 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:26.559 If you see a pen of sheep that are diseased and disgusting, and the flies circling around them, and they're starving and they're muddy and they're caught in the thicket, and you see the shepherd over there, you know, kicking it with his feet propped up and sipping lemonade, you think that's a disgraceful shepherd. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:30.240 No wonder his sheep are such diseased creatures. 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:33.519 That's not how God leads us, though. 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:41.759 So do you see how this should be so encouraging to you that God puts his own character on the line in how you are fed? 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:47.599 He puts his own character on the line in how you get to water and how you get spiritual provision. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:52.880 God stakes his name and his reputation on your spiritual care. 00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:56.640 I mean, that is a precious promise. 00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:05.599 So when you think, verse one, Yahweh is my shepherd, when you hear that, go all the way down to verse three. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:11.279 Remember that God is our shepherd and he is staking his own integrity on how well he leads the sheep. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:14.400 On how well he leads the sheep. 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:22.559 I will not fear. 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:30.640 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:40.480 Now, the way verse 4 is arranged in the English is so poetic and so beautiful, but it you can lose the parallelism of verse 1. 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:47.200 In verse 1, you have the declaration, Yahweh is my shepherd, and then the movement to the water, to the field. 00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:49.119 Verse 4 is structured the same way. 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:54.160 The declaration is I will not fear, and then the movement to the valley of the shadow of death. 00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:56.079 They're paralleling each other here. 00:31:56.319 --> 00:31:58.079 So verse 1 is easy. 00:31:58.240 --> 00:32:12.400 God is my shepherd, and there is sunlight in the leaves, and there is smiles on the face, and there's a rainbow in the sky, and the birds in the trees, and it is so beautiful, how joyous it is that God is the shepherd. 00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:17.279 But then you get to verse 4, and the sun has set in verse 4. 00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:21.599 The verse 4 is the picnic you set up, and maybe you've had this experience. 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:29.200 You you see a nice field and you set up a picnic, and just as soon as you sit down, mosquitoes the size of horses come out. 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:40.400 They need their own FAA clearance, and they're coming after you, and flies that bite and make you bleed, and then the water is stagnant and it smells disgusting. 00:32:40.559 --> 00:32:42.400 You didn't realize this when you're setting out your food. 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:59.440 But now that you've walked five minutes from the car to this what you thought was a beautiful field, and you're being attacked by bats, and the swamp reeks of death, and you start to say, How much do we, you know, tell the kids just deal with this because that's lunch today, versus like, yikes, let's run fast for the car? 00:32:59.680 --> 00:33:01.359 This is that kind of experience here. 00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:09.359 The sunset is gone, and now it is just darkness, and it is the smell of death, and it is danger everywhere. 00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:11.519 How about now, hotshot? 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:14.160 Now do you say the Lord is my shepherd? 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:18.960 And that's the promise here in verse 4. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:21.279 I'm calling it a promise. 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:24.400 I was gonna call the fact, but a fact sounds too detached. 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:28.640 A promise sounds like too potential, so I went with the word truth. 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:32.079 The truth here, David says, I will not fear. 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:40.559 I won't fear at that moment, when the sun has set, when I am in the valley, and not on the mountaintop, I'm in the valley. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:44.240 You know, the mountaintop was earlier, and oh, praise God for leading me on the mountaintop. 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:44.720 That is gone. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:48.319 Now I'm in the valley, and the the topography of Israel here is interesting. 00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:58.319 That the sheep would have to navigate from Jerusalem over towards the Jordan River, and there's so many dangerous, dangerous, dangerous ways to go there, dangerous canyons to fall in there. 00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:10.079 The sun will set in some of those canyons an hour or two hours before it sets in the rest of the world just because of how deep and dark they are, and there's thieves and there are bandits, and there is death, and likely bodies on the side of the road. 00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:15.679 And the shepherd has to lead his sheep through that place to get to the next green pasture. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:20.000 The sheep get lost, even the Israelites get lost out there. 00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:27.519 But this shepherd knows we're leaving this green pasture, we're going to that green pasture, and yes, it will be a night in the valley. 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:38.960 It is, even though, as a good way of rendering the SV, it's not if I walk the valley of shadow death, it is very much a when I walk to that valley, when the darkness comes, because life is not lived in the green fields. 00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:46.639 You do have to move to the next place God wants you. 00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:55.679 One commentator writes this quote, the death David was referring to here is more than darkness. 00:34:55.840 --> 00:35:03.599 Metaphorically, David is speaking of an intense trial, a time of great uncertainty and danger, which would typically cause anyone to fear. 00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:09.280 The natural response to being in the valley of the shadow of death would be fear. 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:12.320 That would be the normal human response. 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:14.880 Some shepherds would be overcome with fear in this valley. 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:16.400 That would be the typical response. 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:19.360 You're in that valley and you are overcome with fear. 00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:22.400 Even the shepherds are likely to be afraid. 00:35:24.480 --> 00:35:28.880 And here David says, I will not be afraid. 00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:30.719 I will not fear. 00:35:31.599 --> 00:35:41.920