Now let us open to Psalm 23. Psalm 23. This is the word of the living God. A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in path of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen. May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his word. People of God, the Book of Psalms is a very precious book. As the 17th century Puritan says, quote, the Psalms are, as it were, the anatomy of a holy man. If the scriptures be compared to a body, The Psalms may well be the heart. They are so full of sweet and holy affection and patience. In another portion of the scripture, God speaks to us. In the Psalms, holy men speak to God. Within we have the passages of a broken, humble soul to God." End of quote. The book of Psalm is always there when we want to express our joy, when we look for a shelter, when we look for forgiveness, or when we look for strength. God has blessed us, thankfully, by giving this wonderful book, but there is even more to it. That is to witness how Holy Spirit uses this book in other people's life. And I had privilege to witness to those several times in my life, and I would like to share one of those moments. Seven years ago, when I was serving as an assistant pastor, I received a call from one of our church member. She was crying and stumbling to talk, but finally she could barely explain what was happening. She told us that her husband, Burak, which was a member of our church, they just learned that he was diagnosed with a very aggressive blood cancer. And he had only one week at max, two weeks left on this world. Doctors and Brock was one of the most active members of our church. He was only 41 years old. He was a very successful businessman and he was a great evangelist. And my pastor and I, we went to hospital to see Brock, what was happening and what we could do. And we found him in a great shock. He was crying and trembling in fear. And the first thing my pastor did, was reading several Psalms with him. As my pastor read the Psalms and explained to him, Burak began to calm down. He was not crying or shaking anymore in fear. But he died a week later. And these words were his last words to his wife. He said, do not cry for me, my love, and do not lose hope because I am going home and I will see you there. So whenever I remember Brock, I remember the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and unshakable hope we all have in Jesus Christ. This fearful man who was crying in agony was transformed to a fearless man in just a minute. And this incident and many others gives us a clear message about the word of God. Word of God is not an ordinary book. There's so much to it. The word of God is the source of eternal life. And today we will look at Psalm 23 to remind ourself where our hope lies and where our strength comes from. So we are going to look at our passage with these two points. The Lord providentially provides and the Lord loyally protects. The Lord providentially provides and the Lord loyally protects. So let us begin to look into our first point, the Lord providentially provides. We don't know When exactly David wrote this psalm, but the compression of God to a shepherd fits the early years of Israel's shepherding king, who was called from leading a flock of sheep to leading the flock of Israel. And it is not too hard to imagine David singing this psalm while he was leading his flock. But as I said, we don't know the exact situation why David wrote this psalm. However, what we know is that David begins this psalm with a very bold statement. He calls Yahweh is my shepherd, which is translated as the Lord in our English title. He says, Yahweh is my shepherd. Yahweh is the sacred covenant name of God which Israelites did not even dare to use it out of fear. They would never use it in their public worship services. Yet David pictures a very intimate relationship with Yahweh and says, Yahweh is my shepherd. In the original language we can also translate as The Lord, or Yahweh, shepherds me. So this gives us a clue about God's character. Yahweh shepherds me. And this is the most important message of this psalm, brothers and sisters. This psalm is about the source of David confidence. This psalm is about God. This psalm is not about David. This psalm is about God's steadfast love and faithfulness. for his elects. And having known the source of his faith, David declares, I shall not want. God provided his needs, even though David acknowledges that he doesn't deserve anything from God, because as he wrote in Psalm 144, man is like breath. In Hebrew, you can read This is the Hebrew word. This is man's life before God. We are there, but a second later, we are not there. This is how David describes us before God. We are just like breath, but God, the infinite God, came to help the finite man. God gave him a promise that he is not giving to no one else. God said to David in 2 Samuel, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." God gave David the promise of a savior. He gave his only begotten son as a sacrifice for the sins of many. We don't know how much David understood this, but he hold on to this promise. He was waiting for Messiah. And God has given life to those who believes the name of this great shepherd. That's why David says, I shall not want. How can we still like anything? Jesus Christ tells in Matthew 6 he says but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and All these things will be added to you therefore by faith, we join David and say, I shall not want, or we can translate as, I shall not lack anything. Because for from his fullness, we all received grace upon grace. David also finds rest in God, but we need to understand where exactly David finds his rest. David finds his rest in the promises of God. In other words, God's Word, not in his feeling or circumstances. The green pasture is the Word of God. Not just does God bring David to green pastures, but he comforts David with his promises. David finds rest in this promises because he knows that God is faithful and he would never ever return from his promises. Like David, brothers and sisters, we are giving the word of the living God today. God not just for giving us the direction through his word, but also we have given this precious book for our souls, for finding comfort, for finding our true joy. And our God is not far from his people. Our God is not insensitive how his people have been living in this fallen, sinful world. He is always with you, dear brother, dear sister, yes, always. He is with you right now. And He will be with you whatever you have to go through in this life. But let's stop here for a while. Do we really understand this, beloved? And how much do we understand this? Imagine how our lives could have been transformed if we had understood this truth fully. Imagine how we would hate sinning before the eyes of the Lord. Having known that God is always with us, we would have completely hated sinning. We would have understood that Holy Spirit always witnesses each time we sin in front of His eyes. How fearful we would have been. to sin, if we really understood that God is always with us, always watching us, seeing us, what we do, always, we would have hated sin, not just out of fear, but we would have hated sin because of God's love. The Triune God loves us more than anyone in our life. He is ever faithful. who he's with us all the time, who would never leave us in any circumstances. Yet we carelessly sin before his eyes. God is our true rest, beloved. He is our safe haven when we can take refuge. The pleasure of this Lord is like drinking salty water will only make you more thirsty. But Jesus says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow river of living water. And in verse three, David says, he restores my soul. The Hebrew word for soul actually represents the person's whole being. So David talks about a complete restoration. God restores David's feeling, his personality, his desires. God completely restores him. And this is not an unfamiliar idea. We also read that in New Testament, Paul says in 1 Corinthians, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. And the path that God leads his sheep is not a hard path to follow. Again, the Hebrew word for the path means wagon tracks. So this path is well worn. There are tracks on this path This path is clearly marked. It is not hard a way to follow as the Lord is not leading us sideways or around. So God has provided everything for his children to walk on this path. Even though he marked the way, he still leads his people as their shepherd. And God does all of these things, as we read in the psalm, for His name's sake. This is the main motivation of God. And this is why we are reminded every Sunday that we should not take God's name in vain, because His name is God's reputation. Whenever we use his name in vain, we damage God's reputation and we bring shame on his name. Samuel tells us in 1 Samuel, for the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. So for his name's sake, God will bring all those sheep to his fold as he promised in John 10, because no one can take them away from God. God also preserves them in every situation. The path might be an easy to follow. The journey might be a pleasant one. But sometimes, The great shepherd leads his flock through places that the sheep would never travel alone or would be so scared to travel. David says, even 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. God did not accidentally lead David into the valley of the shadow of death. This wasn't an accident. Yet, David walks through this valley. It would not be reasonable to read, to expect to see, to run, but instead, David walks because he is so confident of the protection of this great shepherd. In this darkness, In Hebrew, in this deep shadow, David just walks by trusting God. He walks by faith, not by sight, because he doesn't see anything. It is just deep darkness. Even though he doesn't see anything, even though he doesn't understand why he has to go through this valley of the shadow of death, he only trusts God. But why would a good shepherd, who would lay down his life for a sheep, lead a lamb into this so dangerous valley? Why would he do that? There's only one possible answer, brothers and sisters. To get to a better place. A commentator says, quote, When you are walking through some unfamiliar valley and the shadows linger. When you have cancer and have to decide whether it will be chemotherapy or some other way. When you're trying to decide as a matter of godless stewardship whether to take your money out of market or let it ride. When your finances are tight and you are taking on yet another job to make ends meet. Remember this, your shepherd has appointed even this hard time as one of his path of righteousness. He is leading you through this valley for reasons that probably won't be apparent, but rest assured, he's taking you to the high country where the sun is warm and the grass is lush. Every valley is a pathway to something better, as Psalms 84.11 says, no good does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly. Or Paul puts it, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. And the commentator finishes, the valley isn't good, but the shepherd is. He knows the way, and of course, trust the shepherd who gave his own life to prepare a better place for you. Don't worry, he knows the way. The Lord also loyally protects his children, which is our second point. But first of all, I would like to draw your attention to something that happens in verse five. Beginning from verse five, David shifts his focus from the shepherd metaphor to host metaphor. He shifts his focus from the shepherd metaphor to host metaphor. Yahweh is not just the shepherd, but he is also the host, David says. Especially today, it is normal for us to call Jesus or the Lord as our shepherd, especially after reading the Gospel of John, but calling God as our host who prepares the table is certainly an unusual image. The host prepares the table, serves the guests, cleans the table, washes the dishes, But David still says, he is my host. Yahweh is my host. And this is also what we read in New Testament. Our Savior Jesus Christ in Matthew 20 came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And being at the table of a king was one of the greatest honor you could ever had in the time of the Old Testament. When you were sitting on this table, no one could ever touch you because Lord secures also peace for his children at this table. No one can dare to touch the guest of the Holy One. They can only watch from a distance. Brothers and sisters, this is a great assurance for you. We tend to forget who we are as we go through many trials of this world. We feel depressed or anxious because we put our hope and joy onto visible things of this world. When we lose the source of our joy and hope, we begin to feel depressed. When we lose our health, when we lose our job, when we lose a loved one, we tend to think that we have lost everything in our lives, and suddenly we find ourselves living a meaningless life. Let me tell you, dear brother, dear sister, You are a child of God. This is your identity. This is who you are. You are His child now. And in Romans 8, what the Lord says, He says, neither death nor life will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Also at this table, the Lord pledges loyalty to His children because He loves them everlastingly. The faithfulness of God is the reason for our existence today. If He was not faithful, we wouldn't be here today. If He was not faithful, we wouldn't have hope to live in this sinful, dark world. Yet, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He will not leave His children alone. Beloved, you are never forgotten, and your true identity is always kept in Christ. God might lead you through some trials, but He will never forsake you or leave you. This is what the Lord says for His elect. This is what the Lord says for His children. Can a woman forget her nursing child? That she should have no compassion on the son of her womb. Even this may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hand. Your walls are continually before me, says Isaiah. His communion with his children will not be limited in this world, dear brother and sister. He will loyal to his children even in their death. That's why David confidently says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And the Hebrew word, to follow is usually in the sense of pursue to harm. So David says, God's love, God's goodness, pursue me to harm. And this is the irony. God would never leave David. He would always, always pursue his children. And this is a beautiful picture for us in Psalm 23, last word, about the goodness and the love of the Lord. They will always pursue us. God will never, ever leave his children because they belong to him forever. Beloved, our most important need is not to have nourishment for our bodies, but the salvation for our souls. We must care for our souls as much as we care for our bodies. And Jesus Christ is the only one has granted salvation from death and sin by giving his life. So we can say, like David, I shall not lack for anything and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever. People of God, this psalm is about only one thing and one thing alone. This psalm is about the gospel. This psalm is about Jesus Christ who abolished the power of sin on the cross and gave his life for his sheep and gathered them together under the banner of the kingdom of God. This psalm is not about giving you false hopes about your life in this world. You will continue to live in this fallen world among fallen people. And even Jesus Christ doesn't lie to you about this life, this world. He says, in the world, you will have tribulations. But he doesn't stop there. Yes, we will struggle. Yes, we will suffer. Yes, we will get sick. Yes, we will witness the death of our loved one. But Jesus hasn't finished speaking. He continues and tells to you, But take heart, I have overcome the world. He conquered the death and the tomb he has overcome. He is victorious. And there is even a greater news for you today. Do you know what is it? You are heirs of the victory. Paul tells us, The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him. So let us rejoice today, dear brothers and sisters. Let us rejoice because you are sons and daughters of the Living God who made you partakers of this victory through the work of Jesus Christ. You will not be alone whatever you have to face in this world, even the death itself, the darkest valley that we will all have to walk through in our life. You will not be alone. The shepherd who leads you knows the way. Do not worry, he knows the way. So we sing, and Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Let's pray. Almighty God, graciously grant that your word, which we have heard, may be inscribed inwardly on our hearts. As we receive your word meekly with pure affection, may our hearts be filled with love and reverence for you. All this we pray for the honor and praise of your name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.