Sermon series: A SUMMER IN THE PSALMS

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

John 10:1-18
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

Message:
The twenty-third psalm is the most beloved of the 150 psalms in the Psalter and possibly the best-loved (and best-known) chapter in the entire Bible.
The great Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon called it "the pearl of psalms." Nineteenth-century preacher and

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commentator J. J. Stewart Perowne observed that "there is no psalm in which the absence of all doubt, misgiving, fear [and] and anxiety is so remarkable." Alexander Maclaren said that "the world could spare many a large book better than this sunny little psalm. It has dried many tears and supplied the mould into which many hearts have poured their peaceful faith."
The psalm is a masterpiece throughout! But if ever a psalm could stand almost on a single line, it is this one, and the line it can stand on is the first. In fact, it can stand on only a part of a line, the part which says, "The Lord is my shepherd."
The Lord! But who is the Lord? He referred to Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel. His statement was confirmed by Jesus Christ. When He was God incarnate amongst men, He declared emphatically, "I am the good Shepherd." But who was this Christ? Our view of Him is often small—too cramped—too provincial—too human. And because it is we feel unwilling to allow Him to have authority or control—much less outright ownership of our lives. He it was who was directly responsible for the creation of all things both natural and supernatural. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence." (Colossians 1:15-)
If we pause to reflect on the person of Christ—on His power and upon His achievements—suddenly like David we will be glad to state proudly, "The Lord--He is my Shepherd!" The word LORD that David uses in this psalm is the English translation of the great Old Testament personal name for God, first disclosed to Moses at the burning bush, as told in Exodus 3, and then repeated more than four thousand times in the pages of the Old Testament! The name literally means "I am who I am." It is an inexhaustible name, like its bearer. Chiefly, it refers to God's timelessness, on the one hand, and to His self-sufficiency, on the other. Self-sufficiency means that God needs nothing. He needs no wisdom from anyone else; He has all wisdom in Himself. He needs no power; He is all-powerful. He does not need to be worshiped or helped or served. Nor is He accountable to anyone. He answers only to Himself. Timelessness means that God is always the same in these eternal traits or attributes. He was like this yesterday; He will be like this tomorrow. He will be unchanged and unchanging forever!
The Almighty God, Creator of the universe-—Jehovah, has chosen to be our shepherd, David says. The great God of the universe has stooped to take just such care of you and me!
So when the simple—though sublime—statement is made by a man or woman that "The Lord is my Shepherd," it immediately implies a profound yet practical working relationship between a human being and his Maker! It links a lump of common clay to divine destiny—it means a mere mortal becomes the cherished object of divine diligence.

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The greater, the wider, the more majestic my concept is of Christ-—the more vital will be my relationship to Him!
[This is the reason for the MISSION STATEMENT of our church— HELPING PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE WITH Jesus.]
The staggering fact remains that Christ the Creator of such an enormous universe of overwhelming magnitude, deigns to call Himself my Shepherd and invites me to consider myself His sheep—His special object of affection and attention.
Who better could care for me? Christ demonstrated at Calvary the deep desire of His heart to have men come under His benevolent care. He Himself absorbed the penalty for their perverseness, stating clearly that "all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). Thus, in a very real and vital sense I truly belong to Him simply because He has bought me again at the incredible price of His own laid-down life and shed blood.
It is no accident that God has chosen to call us sheep. The behavior of sheep and human beings is similar in many ways.
Our mass mind (or mob instincts), our fears and timidity, our stubbornness and stupidity, our perverse habits are all parallels of profound importance. Yet, despite these advverse characteristics Christ chooses us, buys us, calls us by name, makes us His own and delights in caring for us!
Psalm 23 might well be called "David's Hymn of Praise to Divine Diligence." For the entire poem goes on to recount the manner in which the Good Shepherd spares no pains for the welfare of His sheep.
Observation! We are either a part of the flock of God or we are of the household of Satan! Either Christ is our "good Shepherd or Satan is our owner and master! It is a most serious and sobering thought which should make us search our own hearts and motives and personal relationship to Himself. Do I really belong to Him? Do I really recognize His right to me? Do I respond to His authority and acknowledge His ownership? Do I know rest and repose, besides a definite sense of exciting adventure, in belonging to Him?
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD...There is no sweeter chord in all the harmonies of the Hebrew Revelation than this representation of the shepherd-like care of the Almighty God for the people whom He had called into fellowship with Himself. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. "He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." This figure of the shepherd was often on Christ's lips. In the East the sheep were the wealth and possession of the shepherd. He lived with them and for them. It was this possession that made the Lord Jesus choose the figure of the shepherd. Again and again He dwells on it. When the scribes and Pharisees came murmuring against Him that He received sinners and ate with them, He turned upon them and asked, "What man of you, if he have a hundred sheep, and lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he called together his friends and neighbors, and saith, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep—my sheep which was lost." Protection grows out of possession; the rod first, and then the staff. In the consciousness of His authority, and in all this blessed

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sense of ownership, He stands and pledges Himself to us: "I give unto My sheep eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of My hand."
In the passage from John 10, we are told that Christ, the Good Shepherd, knows each individual sheep! Mr. Moody used to have a suggestive word, which he was fond of repeating, as to how the shepherd knows the sheep. Someone asked a shepherd that question, and he laughed as he answered, "I know them all by their defects. You see that sheep has a bit out of its ear, and that sheep walks a little lame, and that sheep has lost a patch of wool; I know them by their defects." Even after our most rapturous experience is it not true that the Lord will know us by our defects? At best we are a lame lot! But it is good to think that He knows us by our graces too—the graces He Himself has bestowed upon us.
The word "shepherd" is often applied to God in the Old Testament. In Psalm 80:1 God is addressed: "Give ear, 0 Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock." Israel's kings are also called shepherds. After denouncing the unfaithful shepherds of His people, God promises, "I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking" (Jeremiah 23:4). For David to call God "shepherd" therefore, is to acknowledge God as his King, his Savior, the One who meets all of his needs.
I SHALL NOT WANT...I do not lack. Please notice...It does not leave those who say it to fill it out with what they want out of their own subjective wills. It has its own agenda of what the Lord does to fulfill one's needs.
Jesus said: 'Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matt. 6)
"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). I may not possess all that I wish for but I shall not want.
God reminds the children of Israel: "For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing." (Deuteronomy 2:7) When Elijah was running from Jezebel and found himself deep in the wilderness, the Bible says: "But he [Elijah] himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die and said, It is enough; now, 0 Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then, an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee" (1 Kings 19:4-)

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Although there are many incidents recorded in the Bible where God wonderfully and miraculously provided for the physical needs of man, I believe that the main truth of this verse lies in the area of our spiritual needs. We are told that there was a time when David hungered; Paul, the great apostle went hungry at times. In the Book of Hebrews, chapter 11, we told that the great saints of the faith "had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment; they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth" (Hebrews 11:36-38). For this reason the Christian has to take a long, hard look at life. He has to recognize that as with many of God's choice people before him, he may be called on to experience lack of wealth or material benefits. He has to see his sojourn upon the planet as a brief interlude during which there may well be some privation in a physical sense. Yet amid such hardship he can still boast, I shall not want...I shall not lack the expert care and concern of my Good Shepherd...He will provide the essentials for my earthly sojourn and those are my spiritual needs.
Our need...SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT. Jesus said: "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6). "Ho, Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. (Isaiah 55).
Our need...PEACE! Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27) "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, who mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." (Isaiah 26:3) "The Lord gives strength to His people, the Lord blesses His people with peace" (Psalm 29:11).
"Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble" (Proverbs 3:17). "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7) "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) "But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5) Our need...REST! Jesus, our Good Shepherd, said: "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matt. 11:29). The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (Exodus 33:14).

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Observation! Great souls have always found their inspiration in quietness. Religion has been cradled in solitude. Its leaders in all ages have known the worth of rest. They have sought it far from the crowded city and the noise of the market-place. The Good Shepherd confessed its necessity for Himself and for that communion with the Divine Father which was His very breath of life. Only in quietness, which is the condition of spiritual receptivity, do men learn the true secret of life. "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6) "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17) "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22, 23)
Our need...GUIDANCE! Often we are perplexed as to what is our right path; and even when we have found it there are so many by-paths on either side that we are constantly liable to go astray. "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way." (Psalm 25:9) "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21) "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." (Isaiah 48:7) "But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come." (John 16:13)
And our prayer should be: "Lead me, 0 Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies——make straight Your way before me. (Ps. 5:8)
"Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long." (Psalm 25:5)
"Teach me Your way, 0 Lord, lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors." (Psalm 27:11)
Our need...DIVINE PROTECTION. Again the words of our Good Shepherd: "Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in My Father's name speak of Me, but you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (John 10:25-30) "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is My refuge and My fortress; My God, in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence, He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked" (Psalm 91:1-8).