Turn to Psalm 23. Now everybody knows something about this psalm. We heard the incredible illustration from Brother Tozer the other day about the actor who knew the psalm and the old preacher who knew the shepherd. Everybody in this room would know something about this psalm. It's the one psalm the world seems to even know is in the Word of God. Even Hollywood pretends like this psalm is something that is important in the Word of God while everything they do is in violation of the Word of God. Everybody knows about this psalm or knows this psalm, but sometimes we fail to understand or fail to study and fail to find out why or when or something like that a psalm was written. It always helps us to understand the historical context of a psalm. It always helps us to understand the grammatical and all of those things that we study when we read the Word of God. As you read this psalm, as we're going to do here in just a moment, remember it's written in the latter part of David's life. And it is obviously, from the reading of it, written during the time of a great trial in the life of David. Now, most likely, several Bible scholars believe, and I'm not saying this with complete certainty, but I certainly hold this position as well. Many Bible scholars believe that the greatest trial and the trial that is taking place As David writes this psalm, is the rebellion of his son Absalom. Now remember this, Absalom had rebelled against his father. He had murdered his eldest, David's eldest son Amnon, when Amnon had committed immorality with Absalom's own sister Tamar. Absalom has fled from his father. He's been estranged from his father for a while. Then he comes back, and through some of the dealings of Joab, he finally comes back, and there's a tacit, if you will, there's a little bit of a reunion, but the relationship is never fully restored. David thinks that everything is fine. What he doesn't realize is that Absalom is sitting on the steps, and every time someone comes in to be judged by King David, Absalom would wait for them to come out, and then he would take the side of the plaintiff and the side of the defendant at the same time. He was the classic politician. He spoke out of both sides of his mouth with great oratory skills. Soon the hearts of the people began to turn toward young Absalom. He was, in fact, the heir apparent to the throne of the nation of Israel. He was, at this time, the crown prince, if you will, of the nation of Israel. And so the hearts of the people began to turn toward Absalom. He begins to lead a rebellion against David. David, in his great love for the city of Jerusalem, does not want a battle to take place there. So he and a remnant of his army, they flee. He is fleeing from His own Son who is out to kill Him. He is fleeing from His own Son that has taken His nation and His throne away from Him. It's certainly a dark trial in the life of David. Many of us have gone through dark trials. I realize some of you are young, but I've been amazed over the years at hearing some of the trials that people in their 20s and even in their teens have faced. And I look at my life and realize I've seen some trials, but oftentimes I'm almost speechless listening to some of your own testimonies as we've talked. David is going through a time of trial. We can all relate to going through a time of trial. His trial, though, is different in a couple of ways. It's different in this way. There's no good outcome for David's trial. There's no silver lining to this dark cloud over David's life. If he is to ever go back to Jerusalem and sit upon the throne that he has been anointed to sit upon, if he's ever going to rule and reign from the city of Jerusalem as its monarch, as God has called him to do, it's going to be at the expense of his eldest son Absalom, who he loves. Now think about this for just a moment, when Absalom does die, when Absalom's life has ended, and they tell David about it. Remember what happened? David began to weep and he rent his clothes and he said, Oh, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, what a God I had died for thee. It was so bad that Joab had to pull him aside and say, Your Highness, you're being disrespectful. You're weeping more for the enemy than your own men who lost their lives in the battle. Absalom is going to have to die. Oh no, Brother Harper. David could order the people not to kill Absalom. I remind you of this. David did order the people not to kill Absalom. Didn't stop him from hanging in a tree by his own hair with darts in his heart as he died. If David is to ever sit on the throne, it will be at the expense of his son's life. If Absalom's life is to be spared, it'll be at the expense of David's life. We've already seen some things, and we'll not recount them right now, that Absalom has done in the absence of his father there in the city of Jerusalem that are disgusting and immoral things that indicate a great hatred for his own father. There is no way that we could read the word of God and come away with the conclusion that if Absalom is to be victorious over David, he would somehow let David live a comfortable life. No, David is going to be killed by his own son. There's no good outcome to this. Either David dies or Absalom dies. He's going through a dark cloud. We can identify with that. He's going through a dark cloud with which there is no positive outcome. And some of us can acknowledge that and identify with that. But there's a third thing about the life of David as he's going through this rebellion of his own son, facing the possible loss of his own son, the loss of his own life. David has to know something that maybe on some occasions you and I don't know. He knew it was all his own fault. Remember when David had sinned against Bathsheba and his great sin, his sin with Bathsheba and his sin against Uriah the Hittite and that Bathsheba has conceived the child due to their affair and Nathan the prophet shows up a few days after that baby is born and he tells David that long story. You can imagine David rolling his eyes just a little bit as Nathan the prophet comes in to preach. He's not been living for the Lord and here's this confrontational preacher showed up to his house, but David is going to graciously listen to him and give him audience with the king. He begins to tell the story about the rich man who had flocks all over the place and had many lambs, and the poor man who lived next to him who had one little ewe lamb that ate at his table and slept in his bed. Let me tell you something, if you have an animal that eats at your table and sleeps in your bed, that's not livestock, that's a pet. And when the rich man had company come over, he took the poor man's ewe lamb and he slaughtered it and he fed it to his guests. Remember the story how David became incensed and David said, hey, that's just wrong. That man should repay fourfold. Listen, David killed one man by the name of Uriah the Hittite. David in the course of his life will stand over four of his own son's graves. He is going to repay this fourfold. As David realizes that he's going through this dark trial, as David realizes that there's no good outcome to this dark trial, as David realizes that it is the continuing judgment. By the way, we've said, Brother Tozer and I have both talked about how David confessed his sin. And please understand when David confessed his sin, his sins were, his sin was forgiven because he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But understand this, please. Even though a sin has been confessed and forgiven, that does not take away all the ramifications of that sin. David is going to go into a tent or into a cave there with his soldiers following him, probably very concerned about King David. They obviously love him or they would not have followed him when Absalom rebelled. And David walks in with his head down. He's away from his palace. He's away from his family. He's away from his throne and his scepter and his crown. There are no minstrels playing music. He doesn't have a comfortable bed. He's sleeping on the ground. Doesn't have a soft pillow. No, he's sleeping with a rock for his pillow. But David walks in with his head down. And as David got alone, something happens. David begins to remember. It's what we do, isn't it? When things tragic happen, we remember the good old days. We remember a positive memory. It helps us to go through those things, doesn't it? David begins to think about a time before Absalom rebelled, before Absalom had fled, and before he killed Amnon. David begins to think about a time before he became king over the nation of Israel, even before he was anointed king over the tribe of Judah, even before he went down in the valley and stood toe-to-toe with the giant Goliath. begins to remember a time before Samuel came to his house, back to when David was just a shepherd. And as David begins to remember the good old days, David begins to remember the simplicity of being a shepherd. He begins to remember his love and his care for his own father's flock and how he made sure they had a keeper before he left and all of those things, as he was willing to put his life on the line to fight a lion and a bear just to keep the sheep safe. His thoughts then turned, like they did so often in the Psalms, from himself to his shepherd. Do you know every trial, every single trial that you will ever face, every trial that I have ever faced or ever will face, every trial looks different through the eyes of the shepherd than they look through our own eyes. David begins to remember the Lord as his shepherd. And then he begins to write this incredible psalm. Now I will warn you, I'm going to have several points tonight. Most of them are pretty quick though, but since there are 14 of them and we'll spend about seven or eight minutes on each one, I do want to let you know, if the power goes out and the lights go off, I'm just going to keep on preaching. And when I get finished preaching, the auditorium will be empty, but I won't know because it'll be dark. No, there's not that many points and most of them are not that long, but we are going to have several points. I do want to warn you that I'm not going to preach a point on every single word of this psalm, although it's going to sound that way when I first get started. Let's read this passage with which you are so familiar tonight. Notice Psalm 23 as David begins, 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 namesake. 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. Truly, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Whatever is going on in your life, whatever you're going to face, take your eyes off of the problem and put them on the shepherd and it will change everything. Let's have word of prayer before we begin. The Lord and we finally thank you for this evening, Lord. We thank you for our time in your house. in your house here tonight, Lord. We pray, Father, especially once again, as has been mentioned already in the prayer room and here in this auditorium, we pray for the Bryant family, for the mom and the widowed wife, Father, the two widows, if you will. Father, we pray for the faculty, the staff at Pensacola, Father, that you comfort them as they've lost one of their own. Father, we pray that you'll help us to be comforted as you help them to be comforted. Help us to be comforted as we look at this psalm tonight. Help it to always encourage us. Help us to never lose sight of you as our shepherd. Have your will in your way, in Jesus' name, amen. You can't read the psalm without starting with that first word. You'll notice the first word is the word the, the definite article the. We often, as we read it, say the Lord is my shepherd. There is a separate word the, T-H-E-E, but we often pronounce the word the as the word the. The Lord is my shepherd. Now think about this. You will notice that it does not say a Lord is my shepherd. It does not say, some Lord is my shepherd. It does not say, one of the many Lords is my shepherd. You will notice it says, the Lord is my shepherd. I want you to notice that David first acknowledges that we have a particular shepherd tonight. There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. God said this, I am the Lord, beside me there is none other. Listen carefully, I don't mean to offend anyone or anything like that, but I just want to say for the record, Allah is not God. Joseph Smith is not God. The Pope is not the vicar of Christ. Siddhartha Gautama is not God. What I'm trying to tell you is there is one Lord. There is one almighty God. The Lord is my shepherd. Number one, I have a particular shepherd tonight. Notice what the next word is. The Lord. You'll notice that word, and I'm sure you know this in a Bible college setting, you'll notice as you look down at your Bible and see that second word, it is typeset differently than every other word in this psalm. You'll notice it is capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. When you read that in your Old Testament, you're reading the writer's way of telling you that they have translated the word Yahweh. They have translated Jehovah with this word Lord with four capitals. Now that tells us a whole lot of things about who David is talking about. He's not just talking about God, he's talking about the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. And as Jesus is described in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 20, I believe it is, Our blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That's who he's describing here. Now that tells us many things. It tells us about His power. It tells us about His sovereignty. It tells us about all of those things, but I want to focus on one thing that it tells us. It doesn't just tell us that we have a particular shepherd, but number two, it tells us we have a perfect shepherd. Here is David in the tent by himself, sleeping on the ground with one eye open, wondering if Absalom is going to come in and kill him during the night. He does not know how this is going to end. He understands he's going through a trial and yet he can still acknowledge that the God that he serves is the perfect God of heaven. The Bible is crystal clear about that, is it not? Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15, For as much as you know that you're not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold received by tradition from the vain conversations of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 26 tells us, such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21, he hath made it to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we might make the righteousness of God in him. I want you to understand something. I don't have a God that's right most of the time. I don't have a God that's right on the vast majority of the time. I have a God that is absolutely, perfectly sinless, without spot, without guile, without blemish, without any inkling of a sin in him whatsoever. He is holy, holy, holy. That's what David is saying here. I have number one, a particular shepherd. Do I not? I have number two, a perfect shepherd. By the way, when you're going through a trial and you're focused on the fact that he's perfect, it helps us to trust him as we face the trial, doesn't it? I do have to tell you, I love this third word. The Lord is my shepherd. You know, it's an easy thing to do, isn't it? We can almost picture David, can we not? We would understand if David walks into this tent, and he begins to sit there for a little while, and he says this, I remember that day. There I was watching my daddy's sheep, and all of a sudden the town began to rustle just a little bit, and we found out that Samuel was in town. I just did what I was supposed to do, and I stayed right there watching the sheep until they came and got me. And I remember Samuel pointing, oil over my head. And I remember when I stood down there in the valley with my foot on the chest of Goliath. I have to tell you, boy, oh boy, oh boy, he sure was a great shepherd on those days. The day I was anointed king over the tribe of Judah, he sure was a great shepherd on that day. Oh, when Saul tried to throw a javelin and pin me to the wall and God moved me out of the way, I'm here to tell you, he was a good shepherd on that day. We understand if David had said that. We would also understand, would we not, that David said, you know what? Wouldn't it be wonderful if Absalom rode up in the morning with a white flag and a banner of truce and came up to me and apologized to me and I apologized to him and I hugged my eldest son and he hugged his father and we rejoiced together at the reunion of our family and he took his army and I took my army and we put them together and we marched in a giant parade back into the city of Jerusalem and I sat down on the kingly throne and he sat beside of me on my right hand as the anointed next king of the nation of Israel, the heir apparent to the throne. I'm telling you, if God did that, boy oh boy, he sure would be a great shepherd. But that's not what David says. David says, here I am, sleeping on the ground. Here I am, not sitting on my throne. Here I am with my son, who even though we've been estranged, I still love him. He's trying to kill me. I don't know if I'm going to wake up tomorrow. I don't know how this is going to end. He doesn't say, boy, God was good in the past. Boy, God will be good in the future. He said, the Lord is my shepherd. In the midst of that trial, in that great storm, in that fourth watch of the night, while the wind is contrary, that's when he comes walking up. and says it is I, be not afraid. What I am telling you is I have a present shepherd right now. Whatever you're facing, whatever trial is coming your way soon, you remember this as you go through it. He still is the present shepherd. Don't you love that old song? Just when I need him most. just when I need him most. Jesus is near to comfort and cheer just when I need him most. The Bible says he's a very present help in time of trouble. We're told to come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help when in time of need. I have a present shepherd, don't I? Number one, I have a particular shepherd. Number two, I have a perfect shepherd. Number three, I have a present shepherd. But I will have to tell you, even though I acknowledge that every single word of my Bible is inspired by Almighty God, there is no word in the entire Word of God that is more important than another. John 3 16 is not any more important than Leviticus 24 and verse 21. Whatever Leviticus 24 and verse 21 says. But I do love this fourth word. The Lord is my shepherd. I have a personal shepherd tonight. Now you understand this, if you're sitting here tonight and you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, I am absolutely thrilled that you know Christ as your personal Savior. I'm overjoyed that you know Christ as your personal Savior. I love the fact that Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they're precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. Ever hear the other versions of that? English, Scotch, Irish and Jew, Russian and Italian too. Jesus loves the little children of the world. Did you ever hear this version? Orange, purple, pink and green. Strangest kids you've ever seen. Jesus loves the little children of the world. I love the fact that He loves the children of the world. But there is, and I've said it hundreds of times, there is no greater personal truth written by a human being in the history of the world than this one. That little simple children's song that we almost ignore, that has that incredible, monumental, monolithic truth standing in the midst of it when it says, Jesus loves me. When that ceases to overwhelm you, you need to find an altar as soon as you possibly can. You need to fall on your face and ask the Lord to restore unto you the joy of His salvation. The fact that the Heavenly Father, His Son, and the Holy Ghost, that He loves me, should overwhelm us in every stage of our life. It does make sense, doesn't it? that you and I with our personal shepherd, that you and I from here on planet earth, knowing that we're wretched sinners, knowing that he's perfect and holy, wouldn't we rejoice? Shouldn't it be a great truth that he, that we love him, that he's our shepherd? Doesn't that make sense? But here's what doesn't make sense. Won't you listen carefully. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't add up. It just doesn't work in our minds that from the very portals of heaven this perfect sinless holy God looks down on the wretched sin sick people like me and you and looks down from there and says and you're my sheep. It makes sense, doesn't it, for me to claim Him as my shepherd? Doesn't that make perfect sense? Here I am. I have shortcomings. I have weaknesses. I fail more often than I want to. It makes sense for me to look up and say, hey, you're my shepherd. Doesn't it make sense for Him to look down and say, my sheep, hear my voice. And they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Understand that carefully. He claims us. Another old song says this. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me, not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Remember the first verse of that song? Joy floods my soul, for Jesus has saved me, freed me from sin, which long had enslaved me, lifted me up from sorrow and shame, and now I belong to him. David walks into that tent all alone. I do want to point this out. At the beginning of the psalm, David is sleeping on the ground with a rock for a pillow running from his own son who's trying to kill him. At the end of the psalm, David is sleeping on the ground with a rock for a pillow and his own son out to kill him. His circumstances never changed, just his viewpoint. He said, I have a particular shepherd. I have a perfect shepherd. I have a present shepherd. Number four, I have a personal shepherd. Number five, I have a providing shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Then he says this, I shall not want. He's a need-meeting shepherd, isn't he? What does he provide for us as we look at this psalm in particular? We could go through the whole word of God about things that he provides for us, but just from the psalm, he provides for us rest. to lie down. Now you've heard this many times as people have preached here about about shepherds and sheep and all of those kinds of things and your home pastor has done the same thing and you know that sheep are not prone to lay down and sleep unless they feel completely safe. He maketh me to lie down. He gives us rest. You ever been so tired you didn't think you could take another step. You ever had that finals week and you're studying and you're studying and you're studying and you're studying and at that point you realize and you've asked for forgiveness because you didn't study all year long, you're just studying right before the final. You're praying without ceasing that God brings things to your memory that you haven't even looked at for weeks and weeks and weeks. But understand, that moment He gives us rest. You ever notice that the people who are doing the most for the Lord are the people who are always willing to do more for the Lord? Those several men in the auditorium are pastors or were pastors. Wasn't it true, and the old saying is this, that 90% of the work in a local church is done by, 90% of work is done by 10% of the people. I actually think 95% of the work is done by 5% of the people in most local churches. You ever wondered how one person could get more accomplished for the Lord than other people, even though they have all the other responsibilities that everybody else does? So maybe you have some students like that and you sit there and go, I don't know how they get all that done. Because the Bible does not say, come unto me all ye that sit on the sidelines and I will give you rest. Come unto me all ye that labor. and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest for your souls. I remember one of our alumni, Tracy Jones, saying one time, I believe it was right here, when I heard him preach, and he was talking about us taking the Lord's yoke upon us. And he said this, did you ever think that if you're in the yoke with Jesus, that you're not the one doing the pulling? I'm here to tell you, you let that sink in, oh, bless your heart. Listen, He provides rest. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. He provides rest. He provides refreshment. He maketh me to lie down where? In green pastures. He leadeth me beside what? The still waters. The two things that sheep have to have to live. With us it's bread and water and with us he's the bread of life and he's the springs of living water springing up within us, isn't he? He provides everything that you need and everything that I need. The simple truth is we have a shepherd that provides rest, he provides refreshment, he provides restoration. Once again, you ever been so tired you couldn't go on? And you said, I don't even know what to do. I'm too tired to even go and sit in the evening service tonight. I'm about to fall asleep. And you're trying everything. You're keeping one foot six inches above the ground to keep yourself from falling asleep. You're pinching yourself. You're doing all those things. I was here. It was a long time ago, but we did sleep back in the 1990s. You ever been so tired and you didn't think you could take another step and you came and you heard the word of God preached and all of a sudden you're ready to go out and fight the world, the flesh and the devil because your soul got restored? You want to see a Bible example of it? When you get a chance, read the book of Lamentations. You'll find the book of Lamentations in chapters 1, 2 and 4 and 5. Each have 22 verses in them and every verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And then you get to chapter 3 and it's every 3 verses or 66 verses. And each one of those begins, those three verse passages begin with the letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And Jeremiah gets to the place in this book where he is just literally complaining in a way that you and I would never be brave enough to complain about God. He's not complaining about those that have put him in prison. He's not complaining about the people that won't listen to his messages. He's complaining about God. He says, Thou hath put my life in travail. You've made my skin old. You've made my bones. You've made my skin thin and my bones old. He said, you put a target on my heart and you're shooting arrows into my heart. He said this, thou has broken out all my teeth with gravel stones. That's actually a disgusting picture, is it not? That almighty God has held Jeremiah down, filled his mouth with pieces of gravel and made him chew and chew and feel each of his teeth as they break out and fall out to all that's left inside of Jeremiah's mouth. Dripping down his cheeks is just bloody gums. That's how he described our God. And then he said this. Therefore, these things. Call I to my mind. Therefore, have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed for his compassions fail not. They're new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. How do you go from complaining about chewing gravel to singing about the grace, the mercy, then the compassion and the faithfulness of Almighty God in just a couple of verses? Because his soul got restored right before our very eyes as we're reading Lamentations chapter 3. He provides rest. He provides refreshment. He provides restoration. He provides righteousness. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. You know, we as Christians oftentimes act like our life is miserable. I understand maybe some of you, when you went home on Christmas break, you might have done something like this as you were with your old friends and not here at a college atmosphere when there were professors and faculty members watching over you and RAs, seeing your every move every single day, and you're doing your best to keep every rule and live for the Lord. By the way, you'll do better off just living for the Lord. That'll make sure you keep the rules. And someone at home while you were there said, let's go and do this. Let's go and party. Let's go and spend some time doing some things that you would never do here. And you probably didn't do much before you came here. And then you did that whole self-pity thing. You look down and with your toes, you began to draw a little figure eights on the ground. And you said in your most solemn voice, I can't go. I am a Christian. See, that's not the answer. It's not that I can't go because I'm a Christian. It's, I don't want to go because I'm a Christian. As Brother Tozer was mentioning that today, it's standing up and saying, I'm not interested in doing that. I've surrendered my life to Almighty God. Listen, you go, you have fun, you have a hangover, you have those pleasures of sin for a season, but at His right hand there are joys forevermore. I'm just going to go ahead and have a good time serving Almighty God while you struggle with the guilt of your sin tomorrow morning while I'm sitting here just smiling and praising my Lord. It shouldn't be that I can't do what you want me to do. It's that I don't want to do what you want me to do. It means enough to me not to displease my Savior that I don't care if it makes you happy. I don't care if it makes me unpopular with you. I'd rather please Him than all of you put together. That ought to be our response, shouldn't it be? But we're too busy lamenting that we can't do all the things that the world has. No, no, what's the Bible say? He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. He provides rest and refreshment and restoration and righteousness. As long as we're following him, we're going to be on a path of righteousness. Oh, Brother Harper, there's all the rules and regulations on the path of righteousness. But yes, there are some, as we mentioned yesterday, there are some do's and some don'ts in the Word of God. But you also remember on that path of righteousness, that's where the green pastures are. That's where the still waters are. That's where He's protecting us from the thorns and the thistles. He's protecting us from the rapids. He's protecting us from the wolves and the lions and the bears. He's doing all of that. See, the path of righteousness is the best place to be. Why would we ever want to leave the path of righteousness? Notice, I have, number one, a particular shepherd. Number two, a perfect shepherd. Number three, a present shepherd. Number four, a personal shepherd. Number five, a providing shepherd who provides rest and refreshment and restoration and righteousness. Notice the next point, though, though. I have a protecting shepherd. 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. Now somewhere along the line, almost every preacher that you hear preach on this passage, whether it was not taught to me in my homiletics class here. And I'm pretty certain it's not taught here now. But the truth is, most preachers read this passage as if it is the most ominous passage in the entire Old Testament. They'll actually say it with this grave tone to their voice. They go like this. Yay. Though I walk and it gets softer through the valley of the shadow of death. That's scary, isn't it? I mean, seriously, when you say it that way, That scares you. The valley of the shadow of death. That's a terrible thing. And there are a couple of interpretations for that. Of course, you've heard the one, I'm sure that there is a pathway that goes down into Jerusalem. Many people believe it's the very path that the Good Samaritan rescued the man that had been beaten, that he was on that very path and the Good Samaritan took care of him and took him back to the hotel. It was a path where robbers and marauders would be hanging out. It was dark and treacherous and mountainous and all of those things. I believe it's about a seven mile path. I have no problems believing that that's what this is talking about. My only struggle with that is I've never seen anything in anything that I've ever read that indicated that 3,000 years ago when David would have written this, it was already called the Valley of the Shadow of Death. It may have been. I'm not going to argue with anybody. If that's what you believe, that's fine. The other interpretation is this, that David has come face to face with his own mortality. That David knows that this might be his last night on earth. David knows that his own son has a burning desire within his heart to kill his own father. David said, yea, though I walk. See, that's not how he said it. You realize that? That's not the intentions of this. It's not scary. The first part of this verse isn't scary at all. The first part of this verse isn't ominous in the least bit. He's saying this, even if I go through the worst thing that you can possibly imagine, I will fear no evil. This isn't David saying, oh, my life is so terrible. My life is falling apart. It's so treacherous and it's so dangerous. David is saying, look, you think of it. You think of this pathway where robbers and marauders attack people. And you think of the fact that Absalom might come in and kill me tonight with whichever interpretation it is. He says at the end of this, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me. He's protected by His presence. Isn't that a wonderful promise that we have in the Word of God? We find it in Genesis chapter 26 in verse 3, when the Lord says to Isaac, certainly, He said, I will be with thee whithersoever thou goest. We find it when the Lord says it to Moses there on top of the mountain, when He says, certainly I'll be with thee and teach you what thou shalt say. We find that He says it to Joshua in Joshua chapter 1, when He says, as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee. He said it to Solomon on the date of the dedication to the temple when the Lord told him, I will be with thee whithersoever thou goest. Again, he said that we find him saying to the disciples when he came into that upper room and he said, Lo, I'm with you all the way, even the end of the world. But then we find him saying it to us in Hebrews chapter 13. When he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. You realize and I'm certainly not a Greek scholar. My worst classes when I came to Ambassador were second year Greek first semester and second year Greek second semester. I did OK with all the other classes but I absolutely hated those. Part of the problem was I took 21 and a half hours the first semester of second year Greek and I took 22 and a half hours the second semester of second year Greek. But I didn't like Greek at all. But I do understand that it's a double negative. It's actually I'll never never leave thee. and I'll never, never forsake thee." What a wonderful promise that is. No matter what you face, no matter what trial is there, David says, even if it's the valley of the shadow of death, it's not going to bother me. Because thou art with me. He protects me with his presence, but he also protects me with his power. Watch what he says. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Now you know the staff. Everybody's seen pictures of shepherds standing there holding the staff in their hand. That big old long stick with the crook at the top of it. And they used it like you would imagine they used it. If a little lamb's getting off the path, and in this case, the path of righteousness, and he's coming to a cliff or going to fall into some thorns and thistles, the shepherd would use that little hook if he was small enough around his midsection or around his shoulder, around his thigh, and pull him back into the path. And he would do that over and over and over again. Isn't it wonderful that the Lord uses his staff on us every now and then? When you're just getting ready to do the wrong thing and the Lord says, come over here. It's safer over here. The path of righteousness is here. You don't want to be over there. There are dangers there. There are things that can hurt you there. There are things that can destroy your testimony, uses the staff and pulls us back on. But he also says thy rod and thy staff. Now we understand the rod was used in fact to protect the sheep from enemies. The shepherd would have a thicker piece of wood that was shorter that he would use to protect the sheep from enemies or animals that tried to get them. We understand that Revelation chapter 19 tells us that our shepherd rules with a rod of iron. But the rod was used for something else that I think sometimes we forget about. When that little lamb had gotten off the path and the shepherd had used the staff and pulled him and he got off the path and the shepherd used the staff and pulled him and he got off the path, the shepherd used the staff and pulled him. Finally, after a while, the shepherd would take the rod out. And with the perfect amount of pressure, the perfect amount of power, he would take that rod and he would Thump that little lamb on the top of his head. And that little lamb would say, and I think audibly, Ow! It hurts when I get off the path of righteousness. It wasn't done because God is mean. It wasn't done because the shepherd is mean. And we're not hit with the rod every now and then because God is mean. No, no. The opposite is true. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. When the Lord hits us on the head with the rod, when the Lord really gets our attention, when the Lord convicts our heart, it's not because he just wants conformity. It's because he loves us. Oftentimes when we describe, and I've said this here, I'm going to say it quickly here. Oftentimes when we describe conviction, we describe it as almost a bad case of the flu. I was under such conviction. I couldn't stop crying. I was under such conviction. I was shaking all over. I was under such conviction. My knees got weak. I don't know. You might be sick. All of those things do happen when we're under conviction. But conviction isn't just God's way of being a bully and demanding conformity. Conviction is God's way of drawing you closer to him. He's not going to ever become more like us. But if you'll draw nigh to God, he'll draw nigh unto thee. He convicts our heart and says, correct this. If you'll correct this, you'll be more like me. And when you correct that and you're more like me, you and I will be closer than we've ever been before. You answer this question in your own heart right now. Every time you've sat in a seat, every time you've heard preaching, every time the Lord's convicted your heart and you got out of your seat or you knelt there at your seat, you came to the altar and you said, Lord, I'm going to keep short accounts of my sin. And you said with David against thee and the only have I sinned, done this evil in my sight. And you knelt there and you stood up. The moment you stood up that very second, you were closer to the Lord than you'd been when you got out of your seat. If we truly all of us and I'm not I'm not preaching a you message, I'm preaching an us message. If we truly understood what conviction really is, we would rejoice every time we were convicted. We would leave the auditorium after every message and saying, hmm, I wonder why the Lord didn't convict me about this particular message. And then you start getting convicted because you weren't convicted. How about that one? Heard a preacher say, one of the things you can do to help your pastor is to every now and then go to the altar. And he said, I know what some of you are saying. You're saying, well, the Lord didn't speak to me tonight. Well, then you really ought to be convicted now, aren't you? If you can sit in the house of God, hear the word of God preached by the man of God and the power of the spirit of God, and it doesn't speak to you at all, there's a bigger problem than just the fact that you didn't step out. There's your own self-righteousness that has to be dealt with, isn't there? He uses his rod to get our attention. When's the last time he convicted you? When's the last time you responded to the conviction? Notice, number one, I have a particular shepherd. I have a perfect shepherd. I have a present shepherd, a personal shepherd, a providing shepherd, a protecting shepherd. Then I have this. I have a preparing shepherd. In verse five, when you really study verse five, you realize that David has literally lost his mind. Brother Marco, I would never say what David says in this passage, in this verse. I wouldn't. And that's not said as a statement of pride or a statement of accomplishment in my Christian life. It's said the opposite way. He said, Thou prepares the table in the presence of mine enemy. They said this, Thou anointest my head with oil. Now, that is not the picture of David being anointed king. That Hebrew phrase there means that you keep blessing me. And then he says this. My cup. runneth over. David just said. Let me help. Let me help all of us with this. David just said, Lord, you know what? You are blessing me entirely too much. Have you ever said that? I'll be as transparent as I can possibly be. I have never said that. I have never thought that not one time. When isn't it true that when the Lord seems to be blessing and things are going great and all that kind of stuff, you and I are like this. All right. Couple more years of this, we're going to be in good shape. Oh, just keep going, Lord. We'll talk about being on a mountain and the next thing you know, we're complaining about being down in the valley. But you have to realize the geographical certainty, if you will, that there can't be a mountain without a valley. The truth is, David says, Lord, you're so good to me. I can't even hold all the blessings that you're giving me. Remember, he's not on the throne. He's not in the palace. Absalom hasn't come home. None of that's happened. He's still on the ground. He still has a rock for a pillow. His son's still trying to kill him. Nothing has changed. And David says, wow, Lord, you're just too good. Can you hold off the blessings for a little while? Because my cup's running over. My great uncle pastored a church in a holler in West Virginia. Yes, we have hollers in West Virginia and we like our hollers in West Virginia. You might not like them. We like them. pastor at a church, Davis Memorial Baptist Church in Chandler's Branch, outside of Charleston, West Virginia. And it was one of those churches, and some of you might have been in one of those, some of you might come from a church like this, where he would get up on a Sunday and he would say, hey, Miss Cindy, won't you come and sing that song that I like? Just out of the clear blue, no organization, no order of service, nothing like that, and that's just what he'd do. And when Uncle Warren would say that, Miss Cindy would get up, she'd come to the piano, she had a notebook full of songs that she had illegally copied that were copyright protected, but we'll leave the legal thing off of it for just a moment. They're all in these little vinyl protectors, and she'd turn through to the one that my Uncle Warren Anderson liked. And I don't remember anything about the song. And by the way, for those of you that are going to go home tonight and do a YouTube search and find the song that you can find on the Internet that has some of these words in it and think that you found the song that I can't find. Listen, I've seen that song a hundred times on the Internet. It's not the one I'm thinking of. I only heard it twice. Two times I was in service and she sang it both times. She would sing and I just remember this one phrase. She said, I'm drinking from my saucer. Because my cup is running over. It's one thing to say that when you just got your grades back and they're all good grades. It's one thing to say that when your bill is paid. It's one thing to say that when everybody at home is happy and healthy. It's one thing to say that when you know people are praying for you. It's another thing to say that when you're sleeping on the ground in a tent with your own son trying to kill you. Lord, hold up on that blessing business for just a little while. Because my cup's running over. You realize something, Christian? I have the same shepherd that David has. My cup ought to be running over all the time. The difference is I don't acknowledge when it's running over. Lastly, please. Now you have to end this psalm. It has to come to a conclusion. Psalms, of course, are musical. So in music, we would say that this song needs to have a big ending. Dr. Ream, wouldn't we say this song needs to have a crescendo, doesn't it? It needs to end with a hallelujah chorus, doesn't it? With the timpani pounding and the cymbals coming together and crashing. It has to have a big ending. You can't end the 23rd Psalm with, that's it. I want you to notice that David lastly talks about his permanent shepherd. Notice how he begins it. He says this. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. You know who's following David right now? Absalom. His own army that's rebelled against him is following David right now. But as David has taken his focus off of all of that and put it on his shepherd, all he sees behind him are goodness and mercy. Now that would be a good way to end this psalm, wouldn't it? But it's just not good enough. Here's why. Let me point this out. It's a promise, a wonderful promise that goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. That's a wonderful promise. But did you notice that it has an expiration date? Every person in here has one less day of your life today than you had yesterday. No matter how long you live, the simple truth of the matter is, if goodness and mercy are going to follow you all the days of your life today, you have one less day of your life than you had yesterday. This promise gets smaller every single day. It never goes away. Goodness and mercy are still following us, but every day I have one less day of goodness and mercy following me. It's just that simple. That's just the biological knowledge thereof. That's a great promise. But you can't end this song with that one. No, it has to end this way. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord. Listen to this. Forever, you will notice that David doesn't say I might dwell in the house of the Lord. You realize David sinned after this. David sinned many times after this, but wasn't in any way concerned about losing his salvation. You notice that? How does David know that I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever? How does Paul know that absent from the body is present with the Lord? Because you can't lose something that God is responsible for giving you when you trusted him as your personal savior. Notice, I'll tell you this and we'll be done in 2018. My dad was extremely sick. Now, my dad, I mentioned him when we were talking about David day before yesterday. My dad was a drill sergeant, a two tour Vietnam veteran in the United States Army. My dad was a tough guy. But over the years, he began to see his health fail. He'd had four heart attacks. By the way, when he had his first heart attack, he was in South Charleston, West Virginia, driving his car, and he got in a fender bender right there at the intersection where there's a Wendy's on one side and there's a Bob Evans on the other. And now there's a Lazy Boy furniture store on the other corner, right? He got in a fender bender. They filled out all the paperwork, and when the two cars collided, my father felt his chest seize up. He felt his left arm go numb, and he was pretty sure he was having a heart attack. They filled out the paperwork. He didn't say a word about it. After they filled out the paperwork and he was going to drive away, he knew he was going to drive straight to Thomas Memorial Hospital. But before he drove to Thomas More Hospital, he said to himself, you know, if I go to that hospital, they're not going to let me eat for a while and I'm pretty hungry. So he went through the Wendy's drive through and got a single cheese sandwich with everything on it, walked into the emergency room, eating a Wendy's hamburger and said to the nurse, I think I just had a heart attack. They did not take him seriously until they did an EKG. He'd had four heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery, two angioplasties, four catheterizations. He'd had two aneurysms on his ascending order, and at the time of his going home to be with the Lord, he had three aneurysms on his aorta going through his stomach. He had neuropathy, his kidneys had completely failed, he had bladder cancer, and his deaf in one ear had high blood pressure and sugar diabetes. I'm telling you, my dad's health failed. Remember, I got a phone call one time. We were going over to Ashland, Kentucky. We were going to stay in Ashland. I was preaching at a church just right there over the border in Ohio. And we stopped in Huntington, West Virginia, and my phone rang. It was my sister saying, Dad's on his way to the emergency room. He had congestive heart failure at the time. We didn't know that at the moment, but that's what it was. So I took Kimberly on to about 30 miles further, dropped her off at Ashland. I turned around and went back to the hospital. I'm sitting there in the hospital with my sister Cassie and my brother Philip that I've mentioned a few times. And it's about three o'clock in the morning. A doctor comes in and the doctor looks at us and he's talking about my dad. And you know how that is. If you've been in a hospital room when the doctor's talking, you don't want to interrupt him at all. It gives you to get so many, so few times to talk to the doctor. And so while he's talking to me, he's in the middle of a sentence. Remember, it's three o'clock in the morning on Sunday morning. My little brother looks at me and he says, where are you preaching tomorrow? Just out of the clear blue while the doctor was talking. I'm like, well, I'm preaching at such and such church and just out there, just there in Ohio. And the doctor stopped and he said, hey, are you guys Christians? And we said, yes, sir, we are. He said, I am too. He said, listen, I'm a really good doctor. He's a great physician. That's what you want to hear your doctor say. After that, we found out my dad had bladder cancer because of his failed kidneys. They couldn't do chemo. They couldn't do radiation. They couldn't do surgery. So they told us then that it would eventually take my dad's life. Over the next several months, every time someone would hear that story or hear what was going on with my dad, well-meaning Christians would give me a partial truth. They would say, well, I know the doctors aren't giving you any hope, The Lord's a great physician. He can heal him. January the 28th, 2018, my dad died. I was down in Florida. I drove straight back up after we found out. We thought we had another month or so with him, but he died suddenly. And so my father went home to be with the Lord. And I began to think about all those people that had told me. He's the great physician. He can heal him. Do you know that's accurate? It's true, but it's not completely accurate. You ever think about that for just a moment? It's not that he can heal him. It's that he will heal him. Brother Harper, you're not making any sense. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth right now. On one side, you're saying that the Lord will heal him. On the other side, you're telling us on January 28, 2018, your dad died. God didn't heal him. Oh, yes, he did. My dad died at 1215. I'm here to tell you at 1216, he didn't have a kidney problem anymore. He didn't have bladder cancer anymore. He didn't have sugar diabetes anymore. He could hear just fine out of both ears. Everything in his body was all brand new. See, the great physician has never lost a case. He's never walked out of an operating room and said, we did all we can and there's no hope. He's never looked at test results and said, I'm sorry, I've got to give you the bad news. Understand this. He's never at any time and unable to heal one of His own people. It's just a choice of whether He heals us now in His life that is but a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away, or whether He waits until we go to that place where there's no sickness and no sorrow and no sadness. I'm here to tell you, Christian, the truth is this. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Whatever happens here doesn't change that at all. If Absalom had caught David, he'd have just ushered him into the presence of his Savior a little bit earlier. The simple truth of the matter is, this psalm ends with a crescendo. It ends with everybody standing, singing, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. He shall reign forever and ever. It ends with this giant, big ending. I will dwell. in the house of the Lord forever. Listen carefully and we're done. Nothing changed in David's circumstances while he was writing this psalm. The same God that he's praising, acknowledging the eternal promises Of dwelling in his house forever. The earthly promise of goodness and mercy following all the days of his life. Rejoicing in the blessings that just keep coming until they're overflowing his cup and spilling over into the saucer. The protection that he offers when lions and bears and wolves attack us. the path of righteousness upon which He leads us and upon which He pulls us back onto and reminds us when He hits us with the rod every now and then. That He fills us with good, when He fills us up with the grass that's perfect and the water that's still, restores our soul. That He is my shepherd. Not that He will be my shepherd, we understand that. He is my shepherd. I don't know what trials you have coming. But when you go through a trial, just look at it through the eyes of the shepherd. And it'll change everything. Have your heads bowed and your eyes closed just for a moment. I wonder how many would say, and I acknowledge that the message was not one. That as we would often use the colloquialism, stepped on a lot of toes. But I do wonder how many would say, Brother Harper, the Lord has been using the rod and the staff on me. And he got my attention tonight. Would you slip your hand up, please, all over the auditorium? Thank you. I see your hands. Thank you so much. Christian, I don't know what you're facing. The vast majority of the message was just designed to be an encouragement. But I will challenge you with this one statement before we pray. Whereas the Bible is absolutely filled with people coming to an altar or falling on their knees, confessing their sin and getting right with the Lord and repenting. The Bible is also filled with people building altars and kneeling out of gratitude just to say thank you. When's the last time you stopped taking it for granted that he's your shepherd and thanked him for being your shepherd? The altar will be open in just a moment. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. Thank you once again for our time. In your word, Father, thank you for this incredible psalm that you have inspired and preserved and placed in our hands. Father, although we've only scratched the surface of such a rich text of Scripture, Lord, we thank you for you being our shepherd. Father, I pray that you'll continue to bless. Do what only you can do in this invitation. Have your will and way with everyone that is here in Jesus' name.