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0:51Sorry that we stole Josiah from you, but it was God's will, I believe, that that happened. And we are so grateful to have him. And just everything that you all as a church has done for Christway. I'm not sure if you realize that, but John Gardner and Pat and Zach, Grant, and Josiah all played a major role in helping us enhance our worship at Christway. And so we thank you all for that. And so I would like to turn your attention to Psalm 23. If you have your Bibles, please turn there and join me. In Psalm 23. We're going to read that in its entirety in just a moment. As we turn to Psalm 23, the 23rd Psalm, I would say, and maybe you would agree with me, is probably arguably the most well-known psalm in all this altar. It is beloved, it is well-known. Many of you in here can probably cite it and state it verbatim without missing a beat. And maybe you learned that as a child, but we are familiar. And while that's good, while it's good to be familiar with Psalm 23, sometimes we can run into a little bit of a danger when we do that. We can become so familiar with something that we lose its significance. And Psalm 23, I believe, is one of those psalms, you know, that we can settle for maybe a superficial understanding. We come to it with, you know, we've memorized it, we've recited it from a young age. And what happens is when we recite the words without truly engaging the deeper meaning of the text, there's a risk there. We miss maybe what the author is trying to communicate in any of the books of the Bible. But here are specifically in Psalm 23. You know, oftentimes, and I've done it myself as a pastor, as a minister, you often hear Psalm 23 being recited at a graveside service. It's often associated with death and dying. And helping encourage people as they take that next step into their eternity. But I want to encourage you this evening and put before you that Psalm 23 is so much more than death and dying, it's about life and living right now in our life when we look at the shepherd. When we come to Psalm 23, we have to understand that it is in the middle of Psalm 22 and Psalm 24. It's in a trilogy. Psalm 23 is second. Psalm 22 is significant because what Psalm 22 tells us about the Messiah. It's a messianic prophecy talking about Christ and the cross and redemption and salvation that was secured for us. So Psalm 22 is significant for us to understand Psalm 23 when we get into the imagery of the shepherd. And with our familiarity with Psalm 23, we can miss the meaning of it altogether. You know, we can come away from Psalm 23 believing that we're promised to live a life free of opposition, a life that's free of pain and difficulty, free of discord and uncertainty. You know, we can almost come away believing the prosperity gospel that just because I'm a Christian, things are going to be okay for me, and God is going to bless me materialistically. And if we're not careful, we can run into that mindset.

4:22Now, I pray today and this evening that God's purposes would be accomplished. In the preaching of this Psalm, and that we all would come away with an appreciation for the richness in which David writes, and cherishing what it means to say that the Lord is my shepherd. And so that is my prayer for us today. And with that being said, let's read this Psalm in its entirety. And I'm reading from the LSB. So the LSB, what it does anytime that you see the word Lord in all caps in your Bible, the LSB just translates that as the name that is used for the Lord, and that is Yahweh. So beginning in verse 1, Psalm 23, we read, Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul, he guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I 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 have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy, or loving kindness, will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever. This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, a psalm of praise, a psalm that can impact the way that we live our lives today. And it is relevant to each of you sitting out there today. These words, I hope you come away this evening praising God for being the shepherd and sending his son, the great shepherd, for you and for me. And so, verse 1 of Psalm 23 really acts as a summary statement, if you will. And verses 2 through 6 after verse 1 really give us all of the details of what that looks like. And so I want to lay a roadmap out of where we're going this evening. And first, we're going to consider the shepherd's identity in verse 1. In verses 2 through 3, we're going to consider the shepherd's provision. Verses 4 through 5, we're going to see the shepherd's protection. And then in verse 6, we'll see the shepherd's promises. And so I bring your attention first to the shepherd's identity. And what does David say right off the bat? He says, the Lord Yahweh is my shepherd. And we think of David, and we sometimes read Psalm 23, and we think that David is a young boy here laying in the fields, and he's a young man. I want to put before you this evening that Psalm 23, I believe, is a mature David looking back at his life, considering his life as a shepherd, and seeing his life in Light of the shepherd. David saw himself as a sheep to the shepherd, the Lord. And he says, Yahweh is my shepherd. And this image of God as Israel's shepherd, it begins in Genesis, in chapter 48, and it continues all throughout Scripture. But notice David's phrasing. What does he say? He says, Yahweh is my shepherd. That is who the shepherd is, is Yahweh the Lord. This covenant-keeping God. Yahweh is his shepherd. But David says that he's not just a shepherd. Yahweh is the shepherd of Israel. Yahweh is the shepherd of God's people. David says, Yahweh is my shepherd. He is my personal shepherd.

8:22Now, that tells us something. He says that Yahweh is my shepherd. So that means that David was a follower of Yahweh, right? Which we can get the implication there: if we're going to call the Lord our shepherd, we first have to have a relationship with him, right? We have to know God. And so, many times, the familiarity with Psalm 23 can be repeated, and people can recite this verse, and they're not even born-again believers. To say the Lord is my shepherd like David, we have to know God intimately and we have to be in a relationship with him.

9:09Now, we get to Jesus' words, this identity of the shepherd. What does Jesus say in John's Gospel? I'll read these if you're taking notes. It's John chapter 10, verses 14 through 16. Jesus says of himself, he says, I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me. Even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Verse 16, and I have other sheep, which are not from this fold. I must bring them in also, and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd. Other sheep. Those are us. Those are the Gentiles. We are part of this. Yahweh is my shepherd, David says. And he says, I shall not want because the Lord is my shepherd. I have everything that I need. He's given a great summary statement. The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything that I need. He is making both a declaration and a decision. He is saying, all my needs are supplied by the Lord, my shepherd. The NIV renders that verse, I lack nothing. The NLT says, I have all that I need.

10:24And as a decision, what he is declaring is this, I decide not to desire more. Than what the Lord, my shepherd, gives me. Yahweh is my shepherd. He has given me all that I need, all that I could ever think that I wanted, but our wants and needs are different, aren't they? He gives us what we need, and he provides that for us. And so we need to look to the Lord to meet our needs. And what David is doing in Psalm 1 is he is identifying the shepherd because people will follow many, many teachers. We see it in our world today. We're being led by something or someone.

11:05And so he is saying, My shepherd's Yahweh. Who's yours? Who's your shepherd? And so when he uses the word Yahweh, this is evoking rich images of this provision and protection of the covenant-keeping God using his name Yahweh, which takes us to verses 2 through 3. I want you to see this: the shepherd's provision. Now, verse 1 and following, David recognized the Lord provided of all of his needs. And if the Lord is our shepherd, he provides for ours as well, friends. And the provision that God provides is twofold. He provides for our physical needs, and he provides for our spiritual needs. Look at verse 2 with me. It says, He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters. And so the implication. Here is that sheep don't always know where they're going.

12:04If you study sheep, you kind of figure that out. They don't always know where they're going, they don't always know what's best for them. And they're easily alarmed. I mean, my goodness, they will actually run over each other when they're alarmed. They just, they're not the smartest animals. Now, the shepherd corrects that problem. Look at the wording in verse 2. It says, He makes me lie down. He makes me lie down. You could look at that as the translation could literally be, he causes me to lie down. He causes me to lie down in these green pastures. In other words, he causes me sometimes in life to stop and rest. Because sheep don't know when to rest. And sometimes we need that rest. And God, Yahweh, the Lord, David's shepherd, our shepherd, if we know him, causes us to rest. The Lord provides a safe place for us to rest.

13:07The imagery here just isn't even of rest. It's also of nourishment. He provides a place for them to safely eat. You think of the sheep going from a pasture to a pasture. He is providing this. And he is setting the stage for them to just rest. And like I told you earlier, our church is going through the book of Genesis right now, and we spent We're taking our time. We're taking our time. I joked this morning, I made a reference to Genesis chapter 15, and I told them that we'll be there next year. Because at this rate, we're probably going to, Juliana is probably going to graduate high school by the time we're done. And my daughter is going to be 10 years old, by the way.

13:49But we're enjoying it. But what we touched on when we got to Sabbath rest, you know, how do we even make sense of that? We need to rest in the completed work of our Savior Jesus. We're always working. And sometimes, if we're not careful, we can get on this performance-based religious treadmill where we're exerting so much energy and getting nowhere. And we need to rest in what Christ has done on our behalf and rest in what God has done in providing Jesus. Amen?

14:22And so he leads me. He makes me lie down in these green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He is creating this hunger within me for his word. He leads me literally beside waters of rest. And David is painting this peaceful scene in Psalm 23, just this peaceful scene that's communicating God's comfort and his care for his sheep. Speaking of nourishment and refreshment, and that nourishment and refreshment is only found in the Lord Yahweh and no one else. He is the only one that can supply our physical needs.

15:00You know, and this doesn't mean that we're going to have health, wealth, and prosperity. This week, I have counseled with people from our own church that are struggling. And I've been there myself as well. Circumstances get tough in life, things get difficult. Let's be honest. But this week, I seem to be answering the same question: Am I not doing enough for the Lord? Why is it that I'm facing about to lose my job? The contract's not going to renew. And, you know, is God displeased with me? What am I not doing? What do I need to do? And it goes back into: you need to rest in what Christ has done for you and rest and know that God, your shepherd, is a good shepherd. He is not going to leave you. He's not going to forsake you.

15:46He's not going to put you in a situation where you will be utterly destroyed. Okay? Jesus says in Luke chapter 12, he says to his disciples, This reason I say to you, do not worry about your life as to what you will eat, nor for your body as to what you will put on, for life is more than food and the body more than clothing. He says, Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap. They have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds? I mean, think about that. If God cares and provides for even the birds, clothes the fields, how much more is he going to provide? For his own sheep, his own people.

16:34Trust in what God has promised in his word. Trust him. It's difficult sometimes, but the Bible testifies of his faithfulness. And so he doesn't only apply for our physical needs. Going to verse 3, he provides for our spiritual needs as well. What does he say in verse 3? David says, not only does he make me lie down, not only does he lead me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. And he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. He restores my soul. Literally, he revives me. When I'm in a situation in life, he revives me and gives me strength when I need it. He restores my soul. He renews me and puts me back on my feet to fight in the battle that I'm sometimes stumbling and falling in, the battle of life. And we've all been there. But God is renewing us. And I love the word that is used when he says he restores my soul. It's the same word that it means to return or to go back to where something once was. It is the same word that is used from God to Adam when he says, by the sweat of your face you will eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken. And then it is used in Genesis chapter 8 when Noah sent The dove from the ark and it returned. So the imagery here is of this restoration that God in our lives as Christians, as believers, as followers, He will restore us back into that harmonious relationship. The Bible says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Good Shepherd will restore our soul. He brings that refreshing, that restoration.

18:30What does He say? In Psalm 19, the law of Yahweh, literally, His word is perfect. And what does His Word do? The Bible says it restores the soul. This very book here restores our soul because it's the very words of God. This is what sheep feast on, by the way, is His Word. And you and I need that restoration of our soul because guess what? Sometimes we're careless. Sometimes we're careless. We are in difficult situations. We have maybe unconfessed secret sin in our life, or we're being impacted by the world's influence. And so we need that restoration. And David is saying, He restores my soul. He restores it, not me. David doesn't say, I restore my own soul. Look at what I've done. He says, No, no, no, no. The shepherd makes me lie down. He leads me, and he is the one that restores me. Only accomplished by the shepherd.

19:31But life is different, friends, for those who don't know Jesus. Life is different for those who can't name Christ as their shepherd. I love the poem by Marcia. I think I got her last name wrong because my iPad did an autocorrect. So I'll have to get back to you on that. I know that's not her last name. I'm not going to repeat it either. It's not appropriate. I'm just kidding. Or am I? You'll never know unless you have my iPad.

19:59Her first name is Marcia. God knows who it is, so I'm not copywriting. Okay? Psalm 23 Antithesis. I'm so sorry. That's where they mark you in the expositor's workshop. Do they use appropriate humor at the right time? We'll see where that lands. In thinking of people who can't name Christ as their shepherd. She captured an endless frustration and disappointment that so many people experience. Listen to her poem. The clock is my dictator. I shall not rest. It makes me lie down only when I'm exhausted. It leads me to deep depression. It hounds my soul. It leads me in circles of frenzy for activity's sake. Even though I run frantically from task to task, I will never get it all done. For me, ideal is with me. Deadlines and my need for approval, they drive me. They demand performance from me beyond the limits of my schedule. They anoint my head with migraines.

21:08Amen. My in basket overflows. Surely fatigue and time pressure shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the bonds of frustration forever. You know, that can describe many of us, maybe. Many people who don't know Christ as their shepherd or who don't cherish Christ as their shepherd. Without him, that's the kind of life that we're going to live. What does he say? David goes on, he says, He leads me. So we're still talking about this spiritual provision. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Well, what's that all about? It's talking about moral direction, personal holiness, and obedience. It's talking about sanctification, that as we are walking with the shepherd, we are becoming more and more like him, that we are making much of his name. Notice, David says that he leads me in paths of righteousness, in the right paths, not for David's sake, not for Justin's sake, not for your sake, of your glory and your name, he says, for his name's sake. He leads me in the right path so that he can get the glory, so that others can see Christ in us and through us. God agreed.

22:24He's saying, see, he's telling the truth. Psalm 5:8. He says, Oh Yahweh, lead me in your righteousness because of my foes. Make your way straight before me. And so God is always going to lead us in the right direction. But the question is: this: He's going to always lead us in the right direction, but are we going to follow His leadership? Are we going to submit to His leadership and our lives? He's so good. He provides for us physically, He provides for us spiritually. Now, I want you to see in verses 4 through 5 the shepherd's protection.

23:10The shepherd's protection. He says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I 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 have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. These verses mark a transition in the Psalm. If you notice, pronouns change. In the first three verses, David was speaking about the shepherd. He was saying, He, he, he. And now, in verses 4 through 5, David is speaking to the shepherd. He is saying, You lead me. You. And so I think that that's something significant for us to make note of when we're reading this Psalm. And so we go from. From green pastures and the still waters to the valley of the shadow of death, or literally the valley of deep darkness. And that is life sometimes.

24:11Now, I said earlier, just because we're Christians doesn't mean we're going to have an easy life, doesn't mean things are going to always be smooth for us. If we believe that and grown up believing that, we've been told a lie because there are going to be times we're going to have some difficulty and challenges. But I want you to think about sheep for a moment and what David is saying here. Like, sheep have to be moved from one place to another. Once they are done in one pasture, they have to move on to the next. And sometimes when sheep are moving, the predatory animals know it. And they know they have to move from one pasture to the next. And so they know where they're going, where they're coming from. And so if there's no more green grass over here, but there's green grass over here, the predatory animal is like, you know what? Right here looks like a pretty good space for me to hide out and get ready for an attack. And so it's in the valley that is the perfect hiding place for the enemy of our life. When God is moving us, when God is moving his church, and when God is moving his people, the enemy is always going to be right there, ready to pounce. Ready to pounce.

25:28Don't say that to. Make you afraid because David certainly wasn't afraid. He is saying, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why? Why does David fear no evil? What does he say? For you are with me. You're with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. And that the rod and the staff of the shepherd is referring to the Lord's means of fending off the enemies. Literally fending off the enemies that would come for attack. Or if the sheep tarried away and they got stuck in a thicket, he could take the hook and he could get the sheep to keep them safe.

26:13And so the enemy has to first get through the shepherd. And David is seeing, hey, I can have peace in this valley of uncertainty and the unexpected in life. He's even looking back at his life and the battles that he's been in, his personal struggles. And he knows that God has led him sometimes through the darkest valleys. This week I was telling you, I was counseling with some people. And I said, you know, in the Gospels, we read that Jesus gives the disciples a command to cross the sea. And Jesus goes and prays. And the disciples get in a boat and they go across the sea. Well, what do they run into? A storm. Well, did they run into the storm because they were being disobedient? They ran into the storm because they were being obedient to God. The Lord knew. That was going to happen. He allowed it to happen. And so sometimes those valleys that are dark and sometimes they feel long in our lives, God allows them for a purpose. But David is saying, We don't have to fear. We don't have to fear. He protects us. We'll never be utterly destroyed if he is our shepherd. That he's going to go before us. He's leading us. Not only is he with me and he makes me lie down in green pastures, but he's guiding me. He's going before me, leading me from one valley to the next. The shepherd goes before us. And as Paul says in Romans, if God is for us, who is against us? Again, not saying it's going to be easy or that it's going to feel good all the time. But the shepherd goes before us. And Psalm 23 is a psalm that has meant so much to me personally, and I'm sure it has meant a lot of things to many of you in here. But if you'll allow me for a minute just to share with you, early in mine and Liz's marriage, I met her coming to Texas. I'm from Kentucky. So we met on a mission trip. She was the VBS director at the church we went to in the evenings. And she was our VBS director. That's how her and I met, and God used that. And by his grace, after my pursuit of her, through God's grace, he spoke to my wife, and she's like, okay, this is. Guy, I guess.

28:32Her mom always gave her a hard time that you're, I think you're going to marry a minister one day. And oh, no, no, she said, no, I'm not. No, I'm not. And at the time, y'all, I wasn't in ministry. That was the first time I worked with children. And so, you know, I eventually became a children's minister. It's safe to date a children's minister. Well, then slowly, then God progressed, and then I became a youth minister. And then when we got married, literally, probably a week or two, I surrendered to the call to pastoral ministry. And it all came to full circle in my wife's life. I share that with you because I'm getting somewhere, I promise. I do this at Christway all the time. Stick with me, please. I'm getting somewhere.

29:14When we got together, we come from two different backgrounds, two different cultures. The Hispanic culture is different than Appalachia. Completely different. Completely different. Okay? And so we are newly married, trying to figure out life. We're in love. You know how that is. Josiah, you all know how that feels because he's newly engaged. And so we're in love. But then guess what happens when you live with somebody? Sometimes you wake up and you wonder what you did.

29:51Is this really God's will? She could say the same. We could all say the same. We laugh because you know it's true. Maybe you're not laughing because you're afraid. Of your spouse. And that's okay, we can talk afterwards. But we had a hard time, by the way. We really did. We struggled with these two different backgrounds. We were fighting. Just pride, arrogance was in the way. Liz became pregnant, and we were excited. And I'm going to tell you what, we were so excited for that. Then she began having all kinds of problems. She was just outside the first trimester, and she was having issues. And sadly, we had a miscarriage in our first pregnancy, and it was just a very sad time, an uncertain time, because we were in the ER, you all, she, I have never seen that. It's usually not like that. Anyways, I'm not going to get to the details. It was bad. It was emotionally draining. And I remember going to the home because I didn't realize they were going to admit her to the hospital, you know, and give her blood transfusions. I had no idea that it was going to happen. And so I'm driving back home and then coming back to Ashland, Kentucky, and the song Revelation song comes on in the car, and I just break down. I just break down.

31:20And it was in that moment. It was just like, I don't even know how to explain it, but a peace came over me. And I'm like, God, I don't understand why you're doing this. I'm just going to try to trust you, but I don't know why. We were looking forward to this. You know, we were looking forward to this. And I'm going to tell you what, friends, that was a hard time for us. God allowed it. If it weren't for that situation that happened, people look at me like I'm crazy all the time when I say it. If it weren't for that, we probably wouldn't be married because we were going down a wrong way. But God allowed that to happen. I can look at other opportunities. My first pastorate, preaching in a church that was just a toxic place, and trying to stick with it, and eventually resigning. And we took a moment of rest. You know, God, what are you doing? And where are you leading us? You know, so we've been there. This psalm speaks to me. I had to remind myself, God, you're leading me. You're guiding me. This valley is not going to last forever. You're going before me. And God, help me to continue to trust you in that.

32:35And believing his promises and telling ourselves his promises and reading his word and reminding ourselves of just how good God is. I had to do that. And it was hard sometimes. But there's something that happens when you pick up God's Word and you read His promises. And time and time again you see His goodness and you see His faithfulness. Time and time again. God. Yahweh, the Lord, is my shepherd. He leads me through the valley, not around it, not over top of it or underneath of it. God leads me through it.

33:16He goes before me. And like David, even though I walk, David didn't run ahead. David wasn't paralyzed. He had a steady pace. He walked through the valley. All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. We have to keep our eyes fixed on Christ. Then he says in verse 5, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows, David says. And so we get this transition almost. It goes from the shepherd to this host. And you can read many commentaries. And I'm going to share with you kind of where I land in this passage. If you understand the ancient Near Eastern kings, they were often referred to as shepherds of their people. So I don't really think that we're switching imagery of a shepherd. I think we're going into more of the kingly focus of the shepherd. Because kings were referred to as the shepherds of their people. And what a king would do is a king would have. Invite his most honored associates to live in his palace. And the king would spread out a rich banquet table at which the members of his court could feast. The guests were anointed with oil as a symbol of honor and joy of being in the royal court. And it was customary for the host to assume responsibility for their guests' safety. So you still have this picture of protection. Because he says that even in the presence of my enemies, you have prepared this table in the presence of my enemies. Even though enemies are surrounding you, opposition is around you, God is sustaining you in that.

35:13You know, we talked about Noah today. For a hundred years, Noah preached a message of righteousness. That God is holy, man is sinful. Turn to him. Judgment's coming. And he built the ark for a hundred years. He had enemies. Martin Luther said of Noah, he said, God had to certainly perform more than one miracle to keep him alive. If God is going to protect Noah, and we see it over and over again in David's life, he's going to protect us. Enemies are going to surround us, but as we are dining at the table with the king here and being protected by the shepherd king, it's a testimony to God's faithfulness to us. They would harm us. God would protect us. They would starve us, but God feeds us and provides for us. Jesus told us the world's going to hate us for his name.

36:10But David says, Look, you prepare this table before me in the presence of my enemies. You've anointed my head with oil. He says, My cup overflows. In other words, you are showering my life with blessings, blessings that I don't deserve, and I am praising your name right now. You are good. My life is full because of you. You have given me blessing after blessing after blessing. And then, lastly, closes it very powerfully in verse 6. I want you to see the shepherd's promises. He says, Surely goodness and loving kindness, your translation may say, will follow me all the days of my life. I like the LSB's rendering. It says, Surely goodness and loving kindness will pursue me all the days of my life. Charles Spurgeon says about this. He says about goodness and mercy. He says, They're like two bodyguards walking behind me for the remainder of my days. So picture this. The shepherd is with me. And if you know him, he's with you, beside you. But he's also before you, going ahead of you, and he's also in back of you. Following after you. What does that picture?

37:34Total protection from God, his care for his sheep. He's with you, he's before you, he's in back of you, he's all around you. His presence gives us everything that we need. Enemies are going to pursue us, opposition, difficulty is going to pursue us. But how much greater and more comforting is it to know that our shepherd is all around us any moment, in every moment. And so David is painting a beautiful picture, and he goes on to say, and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever. David isn't saying, I choose and desire to live in the house of Yahweh forever, or I expect, or what he is saying, sorry, is I expect assuredly, without a shadow of a doubt, that I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David believed not only that the shepherd could protect him and provide for him, but he believed that the shepherd was going to preserve him and keep him, and he would enter into eternity with his shepherd, the Lord. And so, Psalm 23, you see, is so much more than death and dying, right? It helps us right now.

39:00In living, and it gives us confidence for today, it gives us assurance for tomorrow. Jesus says in John 14, he says, Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. He goes on in John chapter 10, four chapters prior, he says, My sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish ever. No one will snatch them out of my hand. The promises of the shepherd is: if you know him as your shepherd, you are protected eternally. That he is going to pursue you in this day with his goodness and his mercy. He's going before you, he's with you, but in the end of it all, you're going to enter into eternity with him. That he has you, and no one, nothing can take that away.

40:11I'm simple-minded too. I have some family members that struggle with the doctrine of eternal security, and they really believe and fear that there's going to be something that's going to happen to them, that they're going to lose their salvation. And you turn their attention to passages that speak. Like this, that no one will snatch them out of my hand. That, you know, who is greater than God to do that? And they'll say, oh, but I can do that. Oh, so you're telling me that God has you in his grip, that you are stronger than God and you can pry God's hand open. I just having faith in the shepherd is understanding and believing that if you belong to him as his sheep, he has you now and forever.

40:58And the question before us today is: can we say with David that Yahweh is our shepherd? Because everybody needs a shepherd, and somebody does. Everybody has somebody they're following or a set of world views that they're following. Psalm 23 is a praise psalm. It is a thanksgiving psalm. It is a reminder of who Yahweh is. So this call isn't a call to follow a set of principles. It's a call to follow the shepherd. Namely, Christ, the great shepherd. And can we say with David that the Lord is my shepherd? Do we know God like that? Do we know and are we following him? And as our lives reflect that we are following him as his sheep, or are we living in fear? Are we living with questions? Are we doubting God? I challenge you and I encourage you this evening, read this Psalm throughout the week and remind yourself of just how good the shepherd is. Is that he's protecting you? He's providing for you, and he's made wonderful promises. Amen? Wonderful promises.

42:13He provides, he protects, he promises. He is truly, truly a good shepherd. And he loves his sheep. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, God, we thank you. Lord, for this time. I thank you for the privilege, Lord, to speak tonight. I just pray that you would accomplish your purpose in this psalm. God, that we could come away and that we can see the richness in it and the imagery that David speaks. Father, you are good. Your word testifies to your provision, your protection, and your wonderful promises. And we know what the Bible tells us, that all of the promises are yes and amen in Christ.

43:05I don't know where everyone is tonight, God. Only you do. I pray, Lord, that you can listen to your Holy Spirit, whether it's convicting us, encouraging us, whatever it may be, God, I just pray that each person would listen to the Holy Spirit through your word. Bless each one tonight. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And amen.