Now, at the expense of sounding like a broken record, would you turn to Psalm number 23? Psalm number 23. And we come today to the final in a series of messages on this 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth 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 thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth 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. We have felt particularly led by the Lord to deal week after week after week with this section of God's Word. It is often a passage like this and a psalm such as this that we take for granted. Dear friend, this thing is loaded. It is spiritually loaded with benefits and provisions that our God has made for us. Not tomorrow, not yesterday, but he's made them for us today. And this is the 11th in the series of sermons. For 11 weeks, we've been in Psalm 23, and we're looking today in concluding this message on Psalm 23, verse six, surely. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Now, we've tried to cover this as best we could, and I hope you've been taking some notes, if you think it's important enough to take. And we've noticed several things that just stand out in several of these verses, and sometimes two or three things in one verse. First of all, in the very first message we brought to you, we spoke on the subject, the Jehovah Shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. And we laid a great deal of emphasis on that little word, is. The Lord is. is my shepherd, not was my shepherd, not one day when I die, he'll be my shepherd. But today, this day, the Lord is my shepherd. Is. Moses said, Lord, when I go to Pharaoh, whom shall I say sent me? And God said, you tell him my name is I am. That's present tense, isn't it? Said the same thing practically to John on the Isle of Patmos when he said, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending. God has no beginning and God has no ending. There's no such thing as there being a point in time when God originated or when God got his start. He has always been. The Lord is my shepherd. He's always been. He always will be the Jehovah's Shepherd. Then we spoke on the satisfied sheep. I shall not want. We tried to point out that he's dealing basically there with needs and not wants. Because we want for something every day we wake up. Always wanting for things. Wanting a little of this, wanting a little of that. But he is a God as our shepherd who supplies our needs. Then there's the provision of rest. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. That was followed by the provision of refreshment. He leadeth me beside the still waters. That is followed by the provision of restoration. He restoreth my soul. In our busy schedules, have you ever approached a time in your life when you felt like, I just can't go any further. I am so tired. I am coming apart at the seams. I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't have a vacation, if I don't get a break, if I don't get some rest. And all of a sudden you get in the word of God and before you know it, bam, you get your second wind. He restoreth my soul. And our shepherd does that. Not only that, but there's a provision of righteousness. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. There is an imputed righteousness. which God Almighty gives to his people based on the shed blood of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the righteous one. His righteousness is imputed to our account. So much so that when God looks at us, he does not see our righteousness. And aren't you glad he doesn't? Because all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, according to Isaiah. But he sees instead the righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ, which has been credited to our account. And then there's the practical element of this righteousness. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Somehow or another, God has a way of changing our habits. God has a way of changing our lifestyle. God has a way of changing the way we talk, the way we live, the way we act, the way we behave. He does that because he is our shepherd. There's that provision of righteousness. And then that was followed by the provision of protection. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. A very wonderful verse I really like to read from time to time is Psalm 4 verse 8. I will both lay me down in peace. and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety." God, our shepherd is not only with us when we are awake, but my dear friends, he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, and he watches over us, and he protects his sheep. There is the protection, my dear friend, of comfort, the provision of comfort. For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. The rod is for our discipline and the staff is for our direction. And then the provision of a table. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. He gives us more spiritual food than we could ever eat, and it's all summed up in the Word of God. Heavenly manner, if you will. And then he talks about the provision of joy. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup Runneth over. In Nehemiah 8, 10, the joy of the Lord is your strength. And that joy is not something we work up. It's not happiness. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit. And he gives it to those who belong unto him as his children. Now in this closing message, let's deal with the provision of security. Security. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Have you ever noticed how security is related to the home? Security is related to the home and to the family. A man with no home has very little security. There's no security in sleeping on the streets. There's something about the home and the nature of the home that God uses as an abode and as a refuge for security. I remember when I was a small child, I was raised in Roxborough, North Carolina, I was born on the wrong side of the tracks. And I say that because anytime I went to town, I had to cross the tracks to where the decent folks lived, you know, and the rich folks lived. And wherever I went, whatever I did, I knew one thing, in getting in late, and I didn't have a car, nobody else did except daddy, and I had to cross those railroad tracks at night. And it was the most scary thing, I tell you, because that's where the boogers hung out. down on the railroad tracks. And many times I just looked and best I could through the darkness to make sure there wasn't anybody that's gonna eat me up crossing those tracks. But I do remember this, once I crossed the tracks and went down the hill and went up on the steps of our home and opened the door and as soon as I stepped in, I was all right. There's something about security that is attached to the home You know, most folks who are in the hospitals, they sing the same song. And if you listen carefully, it goes something like this. When can I go home? When can I go home? You know, when it comes time to die, people wanna go home. They don't wanna die away from home. There's something about homes that provide security. When little children get hurt, they may be having a wonderful time, but if they get hurt, they want to stop playing and they want to go home. People like to revisit the old home place. The place where I was raised as a boy is no longer there. It's been torn down and what a disappointment it is. The times that we've had to go back and see the old home place, it's not there anymore. There's something missing, something missing. When we were little children outside playing, when it got dark, you know what? We won't go home. There's always that element of the home. One day, I believe the Bible teaches this, we're gonna leave this earthly home and we're gonna go to our heavenly home. And that is security, security. Let's look at this text in a threefold way. Number one, the certainty of our security. And let me say this to you. If you're depending on the stock market, just forget it. I mean, really and truly. You see, I'll tell you what I've done. We've taken all of our money, all of our cash, all of our bonds, we emptied our bank account, and we put it into gold. Did you ever stop to realize, my dear friends, who controls the gold? The certainty of our security, surely. That's how it begins. Surely, goodness and mercy, she'll follow. The companions of our security, goodness and mercy. And the climax of our security, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now let's very quickly get into this, the certainty of our security. The word there is surely. Surely, that Hebrew word means without a doubt and with absolute certainty. God used it with Adam regarding the forbidden fruit. Do you remember what he said? If you eat this particular forbidden fruit in the day you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die, not possibly die, not probably die, but you will die without a doubt. And he did die spiritually the day he ate the fruit. Every child of God without a doubt will experience the contents of this particular text. This surely it is a promise for every believer. If you're a Christian, it is a promise given to you. David could say surely because of a covenant keeping God. In 2 Samuel chapter 23 verse 5, he says, although my house be not so. God is speaking about the house of David and there's going to be some very disappointing things about it. He even tells David, my sword or the sword shall not depart from your house because of what you've done. And yet at the same time, David said, Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things sure. And this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he made it not grow. My house may not grow and develop as I think it should, but God has made a covenant with me that he will be with me." It was a covenant-keeping God who did that. And David got a great deal of security in that. David could say, surely because of God's faithfulness. If God makes a statement concerning his faithfulness, it will be carried out, it will be executed. In 2 Timothy 2.13, if we believe not, And there're gonna be some times when it's gonna be tough for you to believe. It's not always easy to believe. Maybe on Sunday morning when the wife and the children and everybody's present and there's no sickness and no sorrow and no death and everything's going fine, you don't have too much trouble with believing. But it's not always gonna be that way. Sometimes a wind of adversity is going to blow. Sometimes the clouds of doubt are gonna hang over your head. It's not always easy to believe. If we believe not, though our faith melts with fear, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. God cannot go back on his word. And that is security. Have you ever heard Be it far from us, a president going back on his word, or one of his officers or one of his staff members going back on their word. Your God, he is my shepherd, never goes back on his word. Faithful. David could say, surely because of a praying savior. Do you remember Simon Peter had a problem and his problem was himself? And he was always talking about how important he was and he said, Lord, if everybody else leaves you, I won't leave you. And in Luke 22, 31 and 32, the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. That, ladies and gentlemen, is security, that we have somebody praying for us today, and God always answers his prayers, and it's the prayers of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in John 17, nine, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Somebody's praying for us today. That's security. David could say surely because God's love is unchanging and everlasting. In John 13, one, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them to the end. Say what you will about those disciples, they were a motley crowd. I mean, my dear, you talk about rough edges, they really had a remodeling job done on them, did they not? A creating job of taking out an old heart and putting a new heart in. But having loved his own, and there never was a time when God didn't love his sheep. And if you're one of his sheep today, there never has been a time when he didn't love you. He loved you before you were ever born. And he loved you when he knew exactly what you were going to do and every mistake and sin you were ever going to commit your entire life. He knew that, but he loved you in spite of that. That is security. In Romans 8, 39, nothing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. David could say surely because God's promises are irrevocable. In John 10, 28, I give unto them eternal life. And by the way, who is he talking about there? He talking about the sheep. Read John 10. I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. God's word cannot be revoked and God's word cannot be amended. What he says is eternal and it is just as eternal today as it was the day it was given. A dear dying lady who had trusted in the Lord for salvation said that if she lost her eternal security, that the loss would be greater for God than for her. Listen to that. If I could lose my eternal security, the loss would be greater for God than it would be for me. She was questioned about it. And she responded, if my eternal security collapses, I would only lose my soul. But if my eternal security collapses, God would lose his faithful name. Powerful. Let's look at the companions of our security. Goodness and mercy. Goodness and mercy. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Please note, not fear and despair, not guilt and failure, but goodness and mercy shall follow me. Not go ahead of me, but follow me all the days of my life. David speaks as if these two terms were two guardian angels, which had been commissioned to accompany him on his earthly pilgrimage. If you're one of God's sheep today, mercy is always there. Mercy is always there and goodness is always there. We may not always be able to see ahead and see them there, but turn around, they're always behind you and supporting you. Goodness and mercy. Briefly, what are we talking about? Goodness and mercy, the definition of goodness and mercy. Goodness has to do with provision. We speak of someone being good to us because of what they have done for us, or what they have given to us, or what they mean to us, or how necessary our lives are depending on them. It has to do with provision, goodness. It speaks of benevolence, the loving kindness of God. Did you know this is in the Bible, Psalm 68, 19, blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with his benefits. He daily loadeth us with his benefits. Have you ever been in a traffic situation before where you were behind a truck that had more on it than it could hold? And you just wondered, man, some of that stuff going to fall off in a minute and fall right on my car. God daily loadeth, loadeth us with benefits. Mercy, however, has to do with pardon. Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. However, mercy is God not giving us. What we do deserve, mercy is the withholding of justice. I don't wanna drive you off and I don't wanna shock you into insanity, but do you understand my dear friends, if God did not withhold his justice, we'd all be dead and in hell today. Because we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. But mercy and goodness, those two things will follow us all the days of our life. Now the disposition of goodness and mercy, how does God dispose of goodness to the sheep? How does He dispose of mercy to the sheep? God disposes common goodness and mercy over all of His creation. Well, what about those who are really sinning and doing things they ought not to? God disposes common mercy on them. He most certainly does. Is there a scripture for it? Glad you asked. Psalm 145 verse 9, the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. Did you know that God is good to an infidel? God is good to atheist. God is good to the agnostic. God is good to the worlding. He gives us the heat from the sun. He gives us the refreshing showers that come in the form of rain. He causes it to blow one way, another way. He controls the wind. He gives us so many things. Think about all the different kinds of fruit He's given us to eat and all the kinds of meat He's given us to eat. Think of all the goodness of God and never one time sent us a bill for it. God's good to you. And don't you go around crabbing and griping about his goodness. God's so good to you and he's good to me. He disposes common goodness and mercy over all of his creation. Back in Noah's day, my dear friends, God destroyed the world with water. The only thing I believe that's keeping him from destroying it with water is because he said he'd never do it again. He said the second time around I'll do it with fire. By the way, have you ever heard of global warming? I am a firm believer in global warming. And one of these days the heavens and the earth will be on fire. And it would be going on today were it not the common mercy of God and the common goodness of God. God disposes His common goodness and mercy. He disposes, however, saving goodness and saving mercy only on His sheep. God does not bestow that on goats. He bestows it on sheep, those that belong to Him. It is called effectual goodness or saving goodness and mercy. We know that all things work together for good to those that love the Lord, to those who are called according to his purpose. Everything that happens is for the believer's good. And that's a tough one to swallow sometimes. Everything that happens to the Christian happens for his good and happens for the glory of God. You read in Psalm 136, Let me just turn over that right quickly. But remember the reference, Psalm 136. There are 26 verses in that Psalm and 26 times the statement, for His mercy endureth forever. How about that? Verse 1, His mercy endureth forever. Verse 4, His mercy endureth forever. Verse 10, His mercy endureth forever. Verse 22, right on down through 26, His mercy endureth, God is so good. And He is a God of mercy, and especially for His sheep. Now the direction of goodness and mercy, shall follow me. Goodness and mercy shall follow me." Let me restate, it doesn't go ahead of us, it comes up behind us. It's not something we can look out with the eyes of sight and say, well, I see goodness now and I see mercy out there. There are gonna be times when you can't see anything, but if you just turn around, it's always right there behind you. It shall follow me. Watch this. Well, I like this. The Hebrew word means to hunt down and pursue. There are some Greek words and some Hebrew words that don't always mean that, but the little word follow in this case means to hunt down and pursue. You are one of God's sheep today. Who's pursuing you? Goodness and mercy are following you. Goodness and mercy are like two heat-seeking missiles that'll find their target in the believer. He cannot get away from them, nor does he wish to do so. Let me pursue it just a little bit further. How is it that goodness and mercy would be like two heat-seeking missiles following us wherever we go? It is because we have heat on the inside, namely in the personality of the Holy Spirit of God, and these two heat-seeking missiles know where the Holy Spirit lives, and they're constantly going in that direction. That's why it says, He'll follow me. all the days of my life. Now, the climax of our security, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Duh! Isn't that the most boring thing you've ever heard in all your life? No six flags, boring, boring, boring. No, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now, the house of the Lord speaks of God's presence. When it talks about the house of the Lord, that's where God lives. You live in your house, God lives in his house. We come to his house to worship him. We sing praises to his name. We listen to the preaching of the word of God about him. We worship God because God is in his house. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The house of the Lord speaks of his presence. In Psalm 27, verse four, David said, one thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after. Now that's a classic statement, isn't it? What would you like to have today? The one thing you want more than anything else in all the world. And if you say lottery, I hope you'll choke. David said, One thing have I desired of the Lord. What is it, David? I'm going to seek after it. What are you going to seek after, David? That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. I've often had people say, Dan, what are we going to do in heaven? If we're going to be there 10,000, 10,000, 10 thousands of years for eternity, what are we going to do all that time? David said, two things you're going to do. Number one, you're going to spend most of your time just looking at the beauty of the Lord. And then you're going to be filled with some questions. I've got some things I want to ask. Don't you have a few questions you want to ask? Have you ever wondered what it's going to be like? You'll be able to ask those questions and have them answered. The greatest question I think you'll ask is this, why me? Out of all the people in the human race, Lord, why did you love me? Why did you seek me? Why did you save me? We'll never know the answer to that till we get up there. The house of the Lord speaks of his presence. That tabernacle in the Old Testament spoke of the presence of the Lord, did it not? Ezekiel, pardon me, Exodus 25, 22. God explicitly spoke to Moses and said, when you build that mercy seat and the cherubims are carved out and their wings touch, I will meet with you at that point where the wings touch on the mercy seat. And whenever that priest went into the Holy of Holies, once every year, he would meet with God. See, the house of God speaks of His presence. Same thing was true with the presence of the temple in 2 Corinthians 7, 1. You know, when the people began to dedicate the temple to the Lord, the Lord filled that house so much that everything had to stop. It was so wonderful and so great because God was there. But dear ones, is not His presence also in His church, the house of God? where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will I be in the midst. When I first started preaching 62, three, four, five years ago, I don't know how long it's been, been a long time. When I first started preaching, I said, Lord, I want you to give me thousands and thousands of people in church. I want to see, I mean, just have to bring in chairs and people standing around and one day don't know me, if they come, what are you going to do? And then I began to realize the important thing is, Lord, your presence is the most important thing. Not the presence of Dr. Smell Fungus, and not the presence of the people who have money, and not the presence of those who can maybe give me a good recommendation, but the presence of the Lord. And folk, if He's here, that's good enough for me. Is it not for you? And one day there will be the presence of a heavenly house. I will read that for you in Revelation chapter 21 verses 22 and 23. The Bible says the 12 gates speaking about this new Jerusalem. that John saw come down from heaven. The 12 gates were 12 pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold as transparent glass." Watch this. "'And I saw no temple therein.'" There's not going to be an earthly tabernacle up there. There's not going to be an earthly temple up there. "'I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.'" And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." His presence. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Not only does the house of the Lord speak of His presence, but it speaks of His pleasure. In Psalm 16, verse 11, thou would show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. Let me repeat that. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. And the house of the Lord speaks of permanence. Permanence. In Ecclesiastes 3.14, I know that whatsoever God doeth It shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it and nothing can be taken from it. There will be no remodeling to go on in heaven. There won't be any need for it. For whatever God does is absolute perfection for eternity. I've forgotten who wrote the song, but I remember somewhat of the lyrics. When I move to the sky, up in heaven so high, what a wonderful place that will be. I'm all ready to go, washed in Calvary's flow, and that will be the last move for me. had to move a lot being a preacher to the point of just saying, you know what? I'm tired of moving. And when I move to heaven, that'll be my last move. It'll be your last move. Psalm 73 verse 24, Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Death for the believer is a promotion. It is a promotion. And if there is a vacancy in your soul today and in your heart today because of the loss of loved ones, I certainly do not make fun of that because all of us have suffered to some extent from time to time because God took loved ones from us. But I can assure you this much, my dear friends, that when you and I get to heaven, we'll be received into his presence and it'll be glorious. Absolutely glorious. Death for the believer is a promotion. Let me close. Psalm 23 not only begins with the Lord, but it ends with the Lord. Did you notice that? Before you leave Psalm 23, verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd. How did it start? It starts with Him. How does it end? Last part of verse 6, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's because He's the beginning. and he is the ending. He's the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending. Hebrews 12, two makes this statement. He's the author and finisher of our faith. Is he your beginning? Is he your ending? Is he your everything in between? Is the Lord your shepherd? and are you one of his sheep?" Not all people are sheep. Some are goats, and they'll die that way. But God has a people and he calls them, my sheep, hear my voice, and I know them. and they follow me. Are you one of his sheep today?" And dear friend, if not, if there's a hesitancy to answer that question, and if there's a doubt in your heart about your spiritual welfare, just look to the Lord. and trust Him for what He did for sinners on the cross of Calvary. He died that sinners might be saved from their sins. And we become classified as lost sheep who have been found. Look to Christ today. Let's stand please for prayer.