When I cared for the sheep, they lacked nothing, and the Lord is a better shepherd than I was so the same will be true for me. . If we turn to the fourth Gospel in which the Holy Arno GaebeleinThe Lord of Glory, The Great ShepherdHe 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. We take the faith and feeling of the man to expand and enlarge, till they embrace the great and ultimate future of the life that is to be, and he says, "I feel that I have been led onwards to that. He will guide you to springs of living water (Rev 7:17). No wonder, then, that David felt so secure when thinking of the future. Biblical IllustratorSurely goodness and mercy shall follow me. Who is the Lord? Someone may say, Well my life is filled with a great deal of trouble. You can easily list many things that are not as you would want them to be. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In Psalm 23, the crisis is described as "the darkest valley" and "a table in the presence of my enemies.". III. 1-21. Gal 5:52. Here we have . Campuses in Arlington Heights, Barrington, Itasca, Marengo, Northfield, and Vernon Hills. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD Psalm 23 is the best-known psalm in the book of Psalms. Enlarge it towards the sunny south; take in many a piece of ground which is now covered by worldly occupations, business, or pleasure. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. These are just the two things into which God's beneficence, generally considered, naturally divides itself. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows, (Psalm 23:5). All the topics of the former Discourses are now resumed and applied. Location: Boise, ID Date: February 22, 2023 Scripture Lessons: Joel 2:1-17; Psalm 103:8-14; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Sermon: Rev. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of Gods grace.[3]. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. If you have the pledge that "goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life," should not those days be spent for the glory of Him whose you are, and whom you serve? Title: Living with Faith Text: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. It is contrary to sorrow, which is a perturbation, My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear of death has fallen upon me.--Ps. 3 He restores my soul. A Good Man's Thoughts in His Old Age: Thomas Binney. I. It is when "the hoary head is a crown of glory, being found in the way of righteousness" when there are no marks upon the countenance of extinct volcanoes, dark shadows from wrought-out passions, impressions of darkness and crime, but when the life has been spent for God. We hope you have enjoyed the journey through some . And it reminds us of the "certain king who made a marriage supper for his son." Dr. Philip W. McLarty. What will become of us after we die? There is a very interesting commentary called, "A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-third Psalm." It's, by far, one of the most familiar passages of scripture in the Bible. Its certainty is founded upon the Divine existence; its communication upon Divine veracity; its possession is the fruit of immutable, unwavering, undying love. When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will have great fear, for sin will be with me. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Everything good in your life comes from the loving hands of God. 3 He renews my strength. [8] From the hymn, The King of Love My Shepherd Is, Henry Williams Baker, (1821-77). As he remembers what he did for the sheep, some words come to him The Lord is my shepherd. Heres why eternal life will never be dull. In the midst of affliction my table is spread; With blessings unmeasured my cup. God is able to meet all our needs. The Lord the Good Shepherd.--Ps. 13. PHILIPPIANS iii. If I could only get away from the past! The days are coming when God Himself will measure the temple, His house, to see who are His, and who shall dwell in His tabernacle. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. By just giving a little turn to the, last expression of the text I see three things 1. Psalm: Psalm 119:129-136 132. David led the sheep, .read more. A Table Among Enemies: W. C. E. Newbolt, M. A. Psalm 23:5: A Table Prepared: W. Forsyth : Psalm 23:5: Bounty Should Lead to Charity: O. Sedgwick, B. D. . Psalm 23 is one of those places. Poor man! He leads me beside still waters. All the topics of the former Discourses are now resumed and applied. The relationship you have with Jesus in this world will continue forever. Jonathan Edwards points out that the joys of heaven will accumulate. Its sins are ever at my heels. Verse 1 - "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" - is really the theme of the whole Psalm. IN WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES, OR BY WHAT PERSONS, THIS STATEMENT MAY BE PROPERLY MADE. Cecil Frances Alexander, (1818-95). Now today, we are looking at the last verse of this Psalm. In all probability its prosperity was chiefly due to the neighbouring Tiberias, which Herod Antipas [2583] had built, about ten years previously. It is remarkable how much, connected not only with the Ministry of Jesus, but with His innermost Life, gathers around that little fishing town. When you can say, The Lord is my Shepherd, you will be able to say, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Your experience in heaven will be very different from your life in this world, but your relationship with Jesus will be the same. They will run in wide arcs over the hills, chasing the sheep in the direction the shepherd wants them to go. Your own god? Firm faith. But man is not a mere intellectual being; he is a moral being, a spiritual being, and therefore he cannot dwell here. II. Read the Scripture: Psalm 23:5-6. So, thank Him for it. What is heaven like? Most of us learned it as children in Sunday School, can say it by memory with a little help, have . Scriptures: "But in the house of the Lord," says David, "I will dwell forever." Please open your Bible for the last time in this series at Psalm 23. Sin has brought its devastating effects into the world, and things are not as they should be in our world, our country, our work, our churches, our homes or in our own hearts. An angel is the object of one; man of both. "Innocent until proven guilty" - that phrase is a simplified expression of how the legal system in this country is supposed to work. It is your hops and desire, and, please God, it will be your privilege, to dwell much in the house of the Lord. "Goodness and mercy." His first thought is I shall not want but by the end, he is able to say something even better: Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Who wants to say that? J. LawlorSt. And who knows what the future holds? Heaven will not be a world in which you meet Jesus and then go off to pursue your own thing. The Collection and Divisions: In all probability the book of one hundred and fifty psalms, as it now stands, was compiled by Ezra about 450 B.C. 2. We conclude our Sermon Series on PSALMS this week. So there will be one flock, one shepherd (10:1-5; 11-16). 1The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Though I walk the downward shade, Deepening through the vale of death, Yet I will not be afraid, But, with my departing breath, I will glory in my God, In my Saviour I will trust, Strengthen'd by His staff and rod, While this body falls to dust. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His names sake. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. He came into our world. "AND I WILL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD FOREVER." Surely, etc. 4. 1141. iii:14). This language implies the assurance, on his part, of the existence of a state of future blessedness. [2] I Bind Unto Myself Today, Attributed to St. Patrick, (385-461), tr. Goodness to creatures; mercy to sinful creatures. The joys you experience in life remain with you. They are not in any way softened or modified, but uttered in accents of Alfred EdersheimThe Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Discourse on the Good Shepherd. Joy is setting the soul upon the top of a pinnacle - it is the cream of the sincere milk of the word. There is quite enough here for the satisfaction of the animal; and the mere animal lives here in contentment, and takes its fill of happiness for its little inch of time. And if thats your reality why should you stay there? In 1970, W. Phillip Keller wrote a book titled, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. The Philistines hate me. Then comes the assurance of expectation and hope. Enlarge it towards the west, where the sun of our life is gently dipping towards the grave, in a life of preparedness. Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6. "How great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for the children of men. And the more you love God the more happiness you will have in Him.[6]. Psalm 23:5-6. Psalm 23:1-6 shows us the Lord's provision for his people. I. It seems, as if Jesus could not part from the City in holy anger, but ever, and only, with tears. "I thank God," says the one, "that ever I was born," because he can take the 23rd Psalm, and in the 23rd Psalm he can read the history of his inward life. His friend was nervous, tense, and he had literally worried himself sick. Psalm 23 is an exercise in faith. But suddenly in verse 5, the picture changes, and we no longer have the image of a shepherd, but rather that of a host in his home. Have follow'd me through all my days; Thy strengthening staff, and guiding rod, Upheld my steps, made straight my ways: Lord, till I reach thy holy hill, Goodness and mercy guard me still. In one John WesleySermons on Several Occasions, Joy'The fruit of the Spirit is joy.' Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to. 1. "Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity," etc. 4-6. W. McGarveyThe Four-Fold Gospel, The Return to Capernaum - Healing of the Centurion's Servant. Enlarge it towards the east, where we look for our Saviour's coming. There is also the idea of settled purpose. This phrase is based on a system of law that does not hold . 5. Green pastures. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, (Psa 103 1-2). When we began this series, I set out two aims: To encourage and to entice. -- Psalm 23:4. I t is not easy for those, whose habits of life are insensibly formed by the customs of modern times, to conceive any adequate idea of the pastoral life, as obtained in the eastern countries, before that simplicity of manners, which characterized the early ages, was corrupted, by the artificial and false refinements of luxury. The good man says, "I have needed both; I have had both all my days, and surely they shall follow me all my days."2. Colin S. Smith. The original is 'lead gently.' Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Open the Bible, 1-877-673-6365. Please follow along as I read Psalm 23:1-6: 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Enlarge it towards the north, on the frontier of Satan. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water (Rev 7:17). Below are some of his most touching and eloquent comments on each verse. I. Noteworthy is it also, how many of the most attractive characters and incidents in the Gospel-history are connected with that Capernaum, which, as a city, rejected its own real glory, Alfred EdersheimThe Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Jehovah. The best is to come. No one can expect goodness and mercy to follow him save in virtue of God's promises. Mercy and goodness, O my God! THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN. They can stab me in the back! And Samuel said, How can I go? 4. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Psalm 23:5-6. But the treatment has been so extremely imperfect, in view of the importance of that section, that a few further remarks must be made. iv. The perfection of manhood; the "rest that remaineth;" the "fulness of joy;" the glorious fellowships that know no break, and that bring no pain, are in our Father's house. So when wandering sinners John NewtonMessiah Vol. There is no restoring there, no troubling there; no dark misty shade of death to chill the sunlight of the road. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Man is never satisfied here. The deliverance has made the singer look forward to the end, and his confidence in the issue is confirmed. As one scholar said, "The psalm itself is green pasture; the psalm itself is still water; the psalm itself restores my soul." Hear it again in the joyous voice of a . --Ps. When John was given a glimpse of what it will be like when all of Gods redeemed people are gathered in His presence, he says, they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. Then, he tells us that, For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water (Rev 7:17). 1, Sin Charged Upon the SuretyAll we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. 25. they smothered him with flowers and killed him with fame and it came to this! STRENGTH FOR LIFE'S WORK. 12-16 Christian exultation--Christian confidence--"Not in the flesh"--"In Jesus Christ"--The prize in view--No finality in the progress--"Not already perfect"--The recompense of reward--What the prize will be In a certain sense we have completed our study of the first section of the third chapter of the Epistle. His writing has informed much of my meditation today. Let us ponder one weighty verse, The Valley of the Shadow of Death.--Psalm xxiii. Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance," etc. As we conclude our meditations on Hope in Troubled Times, I would like to look at Psalm 23. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. Gods kindness is meant to lead you to repentance (Rom 2:4). "Shall follow me." 2. (Jerusalem, December, a.d. Our Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. The Psalms are filled with affirmations of God's love for us: Psalm 13:5, 31:7, 86:5, 136 - 25 times. Goodness and mercy will follow me. It is a rich study from the perspective of a shepherd on Psalm 23. He only sojourned in it here. 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. ", II. 4. All shall be well. It seems, as if Jesus could not part from the City in holy anger, but ever, and only, with tears. Thats how Gods judgment pursues the wicked. God chases after us with mercy. This is just a statement of a fact; and if such persons believe that the dispensations of God's providence with reference to them are intended to cause "goodness and mercy to follow them all the days of their life," or that they will in fact do so, they are labouring under a fatal delusion. Cf. S. B. Ps. [1200]Carey: Henry Carey, 1723 Psalm 23 Joseph Addison, 1712 DOXOLOGY The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And feed me with a shepherd's care; His presence shall my wants supply, And guard me with a watchful eye; My noonday walks he shall attend, And all my midnight hours defend. What is your position if the Lord is not your shepherd? To save items to a SermonFolder, please sign in to your account. He says Surely goodness and mercy will follow me . When you belong to the Good Shepherd, you can be sure about this: God chases after you, not in judgment and condemnation, but in goodness and mercy. And the other man, though he had great ability and great genius, and had a long and wonderful life, which, however, nobody would say, or pretend to say, that he spent it in walking with God, he says, "I wish that I had never been born." "Hath He promised, and shall He not bring it to pass?" Why not "go before"? The "I Am. As David thinks about all that he is facing, his mind goes back to the early years of his life when his work had been keeping the sheep. In Matthew 6:22 he said, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light" (KJV). So he calls the Lord his shepherd as a beautiful illustration of his own relationship with God. "And God said unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Note the number of psalms in Books 1 and 2. Goodness to creatures; mercy to sinful creatures. I. Through the valley and shadow of death though I stray, Since Thou art my guardian no evil I fear; Thy rod shall defend me, Thy staff be my stay; No harm can befall, with my Comforter near. The great God of the universe has stooped to take just such care of you and me. Joy is setting the soul upon the top of a pinnacle - it is the cream of the sincere milk of the word. xxiii. It was this Lord whom David called my shepherd. James Montgomery Boice writes: In Israel, as in other ancient societies, a shepherds work was considered the lowest of all works. "I will dwell in it. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Picture what it was like for David to write this Psalm under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Firm faith. 6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. THE MANNER OF ITS CONVEYANCE. The psalm begins, ''The Lord is my shepherd'' (v. 1). Trusted colleagues betray me. SUPPORT UNDER LIFE'S TRIALS. Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. The certainty of it. Psalm 23:2-3 ESV. 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