All right, good morning, everyone. We're continuing in our study of Psalm 23. Let me open us up in prayer. Come on in, y'all. All right, Father God, thank you again for this opportunity to study your word, especially Psalm 23. And Father, we ask that you would open our eyes and give us ears to hear your word. And Father, may it sink deep into our hearts and help us to become more like Christ, the good shepherd. It's in his name we pray, amen. All right, so come on in, sit down. So last week, we started our study in Psalm 23, and we opened that lesson with a look at who God is, and the fact that this magnificent God that we worship is also our shepherd. So this week, we're gonna take a look at what this awesome shepherd we have provides for his sheep. So let me read us Psalm 23 again, just to get everybody in the right frame of reference here. Psalm 23, 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 paths 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. So as we start looking at, again, verse one, and looking at the second half of it this morning, It's good that we take a look at the Heidelberg Catechism. And it goes along really well with our study this morning. And so we're gonna look at the question and answer to one and two. The question in the Heidelberg Catechism one is, what is your only comfort in life and death? And then two, what must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort? Excuse me, so let me read the answer to that. I'm sure you all have it memorized, but I'll remind you again as I read through it. All right, so what is your only comfort in life and death? The answer is this, that I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in Heaven. In fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him. Second question, what must we know to live and die in the joy of discomfort? Three things is the answer. First, how great my sin and misery are. Second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery. And third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance. So these words are a profound confession of faith. and they express our trust in God and the beautiful implications of that trust and what it means to know Him. So this catechism makes a declaration of trust in God's total care, body and soul, and in life and death, physical and spiritual. Every part of life is in God's wise and good hands. And so Psalm 23 is the Hebrew version of this catechism. And of course it was obviously written before the catechism was, but we're going to see some very similar parallels as we look at this second half of verse one. of this psalm, you're going to see it kind of tie together and you'll see how David's proclamation in these six verses is really played out in the catechism as we saw. So last week we said we got three main parts of this psalm. We have the shepherd and the sheep. We have the traveler and the companion. And we have the guest and the host. And so that's how we break it up. And there's three sectional themes in each of these parts. And it's important for us to understand these sectional themes. Because the three sectional themes follow David's personal testimony of the Lord being his shepherd. And so like the Heidelberg Catechism, they express the meaning of this relationship with these three great confessions of faith. that confidently express implications of knowing the Lord. So let's look at it. So the first sectional theme from the shepherd and the sheep is, I shall not want, for you are my shepherd. So you see the implication. I shall not fear, for you are my companion. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, for you are my host. You see how we're pointing back to these things. We're saying, we have a statement of fact. I'm not gonna want, why? because you're my shepherd, and it follows those sectional themes. And so Psalm 23 is really, like the Heidelberg Catechism question number one, is an expression of total trust in God's total care. And this is what I want you to focus on as you're listening this morning, is Psalm 23's expression of this total trust that David has as he describes God and what God does for him. And we see that in that, he's pointing us to this total care that God's giving us as his sheep. So the shepherd, I can put my total trust in him, and as a sheep, he's providing everything I need, as he is the shepherd. All right, now it's an interesting statement when you look at the second half of verse one, where David says, I shall not want. You know, all of us want things, right? We all have desires in this life. And so David's expression of not wanting is quite something for him to say. He has no wants. You're like, that's interesting. And is this really true? Don't all of us have these desires? Better health, better bodies, better homes, better jobs, better salaries, better relationships. We all tend to have these things that are our desires. So how should we understand David's confident assertion here? So I think first we need to make sure we understand that verse one contains an implicit logical flow. So if you look at this logical flow, David's making a very simple but profound statement. He states, the Lord is my shepherd, and then it's this therefore is the logical progression. So you gotta understand that. Therefore, because he's my shepherd, I shall not want. Do you see the logical flow? So in other words, we lack nothing because he is our shepherd. And if we have him, we have all we need. And this is a profoundly God-centered worldview. The universe and everything in it centers around God in this. And so, you know, if you look at these six verses that we've just read, so much can be said in those six verses about him. But even more amazing, the whole psalm is really summarized in the first verse. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Everything after that builds on that statement that he makes. It is a, and when you stop and look at that statement, It is everything. It is, you know, it's like the Bible in a nutshell. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And so, all the other verses build on this. So, part of our attentiveness to this verse, though, is to take a closer look at this English translation of this word here, want. Because, you know, over time, Views of words change and of course this is this is important for us to look at So this English translation of want was actually Elizabethan error word meaning not desire like we think want is like I desire something But want where them was was more lacking in other words what it says is better interpretation would be I shall lack for nothing and I shall not want. It's not that I don't have desires. I do. It's that I'm going to lack for nothing. And I think that's a better way to look at it. So God's going to provide all I need. He's my shepherd. What more do I need? And the issue of my desires, what I want in life, is really beside the point. What David is pointing out is everything you're going to need is going to be provided. You shall lack nothing. And that's what he's saying. I lack nothing because the Lord is my shepherd. So verse one is really pointing to the reality of whatever God decides I need, He will provide it, and it is indeed all that I need. So let me say that again. So whatever God decides that I need, He's gonna provide that, and that is all that I need. You know, when we start thinking about our lives and start thinking about the things that we want, especially when we're under some kind of trial and we wanna get out of that trial, You know, we've got to have some place to go with our confidence of how do I trust the Lord in these trials? What is the Lord teaching me in it? And we see David making this very profound claim that no matter what, because the Lord's the shepherd, I have all that I need. In other words, I shall lack for nothing. And as we look at this this morning, you're going to see where that confidence comes from. And you see that David is really is really pointing out, because the Lord is his shepherd, he has everything already. And so, as Gibson says, this understanding of this section of this psalm is really an oasis of our materialistic wasteland. You know, we run around chasing things in this world. You know, we're constantly bombarded with You have to have this in order to be happy. You have to take this vacation. You have to have this type of family. You have to have all these things, this career, this whatever. And it's all materialistic things. And then David comes along and says, no, think bigger. bigger picture of who God is, what he has really done. And when we step back and look at that, as us being sheep, needy, and God being the shepherd, we can relax. We can say, okay, like a sheep, I'm trusting the shepherd, and he's gonna give me everything I need. And so this is that oasis from this wasteland of materialism we live in. It's not so much the stuff we have as who we know as our shepherd. So, we can see this as Paul echoes in 2 Corinthians 6, he goes through a list of paradoxes about the Christian life. And at the end of those various paradoxes he gives, he says one thing and then contrast it to another. The last one is, having nothing yet possessing everything. Think about what he's saying there. This is Paul. He had a lot of good things in life. He had a lot of good relationships. He had some struggles there as well. But this statement is really profound. Having nothing yet possessing everything. Why is he able to do that? Because he's echoing again what David's saying. The shepherd is God. You're the sheep and the shepherd is God. Therefore, you shall lack for nothing. And it puts that confidence in us of, huh, I know my shepherd, and he's going to provide everything I need, just like the sheep does. The sheep doesn't go out there and go, I hope the shepherd doesn't take me to the wolves. He has a trust in the shepherd that he's not, that there's going to be good things that are going to come from this. And so this is really a beautiful rest and a whole person restoration that we see in Psalm 23. What we see is the shepherd provides food. When we look at the rest of the psalm, what is David going to point us to after he makes that big statement in the beginning? He points to this. The shepherd provides food. It's a green pasture. The shepherd provides drink, the still waters. He makes us lie down. Now, I understand it's difficult to make animals lie down, especially sheep, because they're always wandering and trying to find food and whatnot. So to get them to lie down means that you've provided enough for them that they don't have to go wandering around in search of more food. So it's a restful place. You're lying down. You're not worried about the wolf coming in. You're not worried about not having enough water and food. It's all there for you. This is a place that's so bounteous and secure that it actually restores our soul. That's what it says there. In essence, the shepherd is near and is therefore taking care of everything. So Gibson writes this in his book. It's a pretty good summary here about this. It talks about... He says, apart from everything else, the logic of the opening verses is that because the Lord is mine, I lack for nothing and I have his provision. physically, spiritually, and emotionally, so that I am completely at rest. So the images of the green grass, still waters, and restored soul speak to a sense of whole person refreshment that the Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, brings. They're word pictures for the totality of His care. In short, they're what it feels like to be shepherded by Him. So what does this look like in everyday life for us as we kind of wrap around this thing? So we can put it in the context of an Exodus story. And so when we look at Psalm 23, it does echo the Exodus story, and we're gonna see that it echoes our own story. So leading to a place of rest. Think about Israel, you've got them in Egypt, they're captured, they're under They're under slavery and God's leading them out. And you see Moses in Deuteronomy reminding the people of what he has done. And you see it again in Exodus. And so let's look at these two verses and you're going to see that God is leading his people to a place of rest. So this is Deuteronomy 2.7, for the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands, for he knows you're going through this great wilderness. These 40 years the Lord your God has been with you, and here's the kicker, you have lacked nothing. So 40 years of wandering the desert, now granted they were living off of manna, And there was things the Lord was providing, but everything they needed, He gave them as He led them through this desert. Exodus 15, 13 echoes this and says, you have led in your, and it's talking about God, you have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. And if you look at that word abode, it means pasture. You've brought them, you've guided them by your strength to this place of rest, this pasture. So we got to notice the sense of guiding or leading that's in both these passages. So the goal of Exodus was that God's safe leading of his people to the promised land. Remember, that's what they were doing. He's taking them out of captivity. They go through a very difficult time after they win the victory of going through the desert. And then he eventually gets them to the promised land. And so David's connecting his psalm to how God led his people to their promised land you see it in Psalm 23 to he said he leaves me besides still waters that term still waters literally means besides waters of rest and The idea being having arrived at the resting place. It's a promised land He's at the place where he can now rest And he says and this is the picture he's getting and we also see that at the end of verse 3 that that David points to the fact that God does this for his namesake, and that this mirrors what's written in the Old Testament again about Exodus. And so we see this in Psalm 106, 8. He says, Yet he saved them for his namesake, that he might make known his mighty power. So again, God has a purpose of our redemption. It's certainly for our good, but more importantly, it's for his glory, it's for his namesake. You know, you have this great creation He makes, it gets wrecked by sin, and yet God says, for my glory I'm going to show you how I'm going to fix this too. And He leads His people. So Isaiah 63 says, Who caused His glorious arm to go to the right hand of Moses? Who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name? So David's life mirrors that of Israel when you really look at this. And so what we're seeing is that David's pointing out something deeper than what we may have first noticed when we read Psalm 23. He's showing that his life is a mirror, mirrors that of Israel as God leads them out of Egypt for his own glory and their redemption. And we see this, we see it again in Psalm 78, he struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham, Then he led, again listen to this, then he led his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them to safety so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. So we can see that David has initial triumphs over God's enemies too. You know, initially they have the triumph over Egypt, and God brings all those disasters upon Egypt, and finally they win their freedom. And of course, then at the end, he kills them all when they come to try to kill them. So David's similar. Look at his life. He starts out fighting Goliath. There's this boy who takes on Goliath. And like Israel, after his victory over Goliath, where does he go? He doesn't become instantly the king, right? He goes through his own wilderness, right? He's wandering with his mighty men. And as a matter of fact, like Manna, He actually goes and has to eat the showbread because he's out there. He doesn't have any place to live. He has no food. And so David has this kind of exodus life that we're looking at too. And so we see that David's being saved by the Lord from his enemies in a hostile land, just as the Lord did for Israel. And so Alistair Roberts, in his book called Echoes of Exodus says this, David sang exodus-shaped songs because from start to finish he lived an exodus-shaped life. And so this is what it's like for you and me to belong to Christ. We too are on a journey through this wilderness world in exodus-shaped lives and we're on our way to a promised land of a new creation and where we're going to dwell with God forever. And so if we look at another imagery in the New Testament, we're going to see this as well, is Christ's whole life is a picture of this. And you see some of the things that go on in his life are pointing back toward this Exodus type story. Matter of fact, it's very interesting when we look at Mark 6.31. And so let's take a look at that. If you've got your Bibles, we're going to read through this Mark 6.31-39. Let me set the context here. So John the Baptist has just been executed, and his disciples come to Jesus and tell him this, that John the Baptist has just been executed. And so it's kind of a low point. They're feeling the weight of this ministry. They're feeling the weight of following Jesus. There John is, and he just got his head cut off. And so you can imagine what they're feeling. Jesus is kind of talking to them, and he says this to them. He said to them. This is 631 And he said to them come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest for a while For many were coming and going and they had no desire even to eat and And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. But many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and listen to this, because they were sheep, they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. And they found. And when they had found out, they said five and two fish. Then he commanded them to sit down in groups. You see this imagery sitting down in groups on what? Green grass. And so they sat down in groups by the hundreds and by fifties, and taking the five loaves and two bread, two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied. So we see this green pasture, this satisfaction, this sitting down. You see the picture, this imagery of Christ as the good shepherd here with these 5,000 people as he was attempting to take his apostles out and give them a little rest. All the people surround him and yet he has compassion on them because they were sheep without a shepherd. So it's really a really good picture as again you see this shepherding imagery that shows up. You see, come to a place and rest for a while. Sheep without a shepherd. Sit down in the green grass, fed with abundance. And we see it mirroring that psalm that we just read. Psalm 78 says this, They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God saying, can God spread a table in the wilderness? He struck the rock so the water gushed out and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread and provide meat for his people? And of course, we see the answer to that in Mark 6. So Jesus is providing for his disciples and those around him. You know, in John 10, 9, We see that, again, the same picture of Jesus' actions are exactly what he explicitly states in John's Gospel. So he says this in 10.9, John 10.9, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he'll be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. You see, he's constantly pointing to himself. And, you know, Gibson says this, these pastures are the pastures of rest that humanity has been longing so since the exile from Eden. They are a restoration to us of what has been lost through our sin and our rebellion. And they return to us only as we place ourselves within the care of Jesus as our shepherd. Can you see it? It's like this constant imagery of God as our shepherd, Jesus being the good shepherd. He's leading us to these pastures where we can lay down. He's restoring our soul, all because of what we had lost at Eden. This is the rest that we're talking about. And so not only does David have an Exodus story, but so does Jesus himself. His story begins with the desert period as well, right? He suffers and then He's resurrected to heaven and also He can be our good shepherd and for His people to lead us so He can lead us out of our slavery and sin and new life with Him. And so again, we should see our own Exodus story. All of us have an Exodus story that we're going through. And do we see that Christ provides all that we need because what we really need is Him. He provides it all. He's the shepherd. We're the sheep. So understanding the Exodus themes in verses one through three are really anchors of our faith there. And so how do we in the modern church experience this confidence of faith? This is one thing I love about the PCA and our reform faith is we're gonna talk about covenant now. And so what's interesting about this, when we look at this confidence that David has, where did he get it from? You might say, well, he got it from his own experiences. Well, there's much, much more than that. David, remember, he's echoing Old Testament. He's looking at the Old Testament. He's looking at what has happened, and that's what I want you to focus on here. David's confidence and trust are linked to great acts of divine salvation of the past. This is something we've got to understand. In our modern churchiness, we tend to talk about our own experiences, and we ignore what God has done in the past. It's all about me. It's all about what I feel. Jesus is my boyfriend. All that garbage, okay? We don't think that way in Reformed faith. We look and say, what is it about this covenant relationship that God has with His people? We are His people. What does that mean to us? And David's confidence is from the same thought pattern. And so, before we think about our own limited experience with Christ, we need to realize that our relationship with Him is shared with all other believers. David sings Exodus songs not because he's living this Exodus life, he was, but that they're songs about his people, his ancestries, his ancestors, their Exodus. We sing Exodus songs for the same reason. It's our song because the people of God are redeemed and our ancestors of the faith, right? So Psalm 23 is our song because David's our ancestor. And so our confidence is strengthened as we consider our Christian history before our own experiences. This is a key point for you to understand. David has this incredible confidence. He sees it in his own life, but more importantly, he sees it in his ancestors. He sees where God has guided. From the very beginning, from Adam and Eve on, he's seen this incredible God bringing his people in, shepherding his people, and he sees the confidence, he takes confidence in what he sees that God has done. And so I think that's something for us to understand, too, because too often we want to look at our own experience. Why is this happening to me? Blah, blah, blah. Instead of looking and seeing what God has done in the past and say, I can have confidence in that. So Psalm 23 celebrates the rescue provided by God through Christ and the rest that he provides and offers in this life and the life to come. So we have both rest now as he is leading us. We take confidence in him and we know where we're going. And so we're a covenant people with a history full of God's redemptive work. And it's so important that we grasp a hold of this idea. So again, David's confidence is much deeper than his experience. He has an expectation that the Lord is going to provide for him based on the precedent that God has set in the refreshment and guidance in the Exodus story and what he sees throughout history. what he sees as he looks back and he says, look at what God has done for his people and we need to have that same confidence. You know, again, we're not dispensational. We don't think God has a whole bunch of redemptive plans. He has one plan for one people all through history. And when we look at that, it should give us a great confidence in our shepherd. What God has done shows that there should be more than sufficient grounds to believe that He will do the same for us. So in the midst of whatever trial you're going through, as you look to yourself, also look beyond and say, what has God done in the past? What have we seen Him do for His people? What has He done? He has redeemed them. He has provided all they need. He is the Good Shepherd. He's bringing them along and He's going to bring us along as well. So I want to read Gibson's quote here. He has a good summary here. I think it's worth looking at it. He said, God has a track record I can rely on because he has already done it for my family in the faith. I can trust his track record of keeping and leading his people as he leads me from this world to the next with Jesus as my good shepherd. You know, I think that's a really great summary of this part of, you know, I shall not want. And be looking with confidence in that statement and what God has already done. And so, let's go to our summary here. So, I hope you can see these green pastures that David's picturing here found and experienced only as we find ourselves in relationship with Jesus, the Good Shepherd. In John 10, 7 and Ezekiel 34, 14, we see these words. So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Here's a bunch of I am statements and a lot of them are connected to shepherding. He's the door for the sheep bringing in and out of the pastures. He is the good shepherd. And so in Ezekiel, you'll see this prediction made about Christ. I will feed them with good pasture and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. And they shall lie down in the good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. This is a clear pointing of what God is going to do through Christ. We're moving to these green pastures. He's guiding us there. And we're going to find these green pastures as we're coming to and walking with and being led by Christ. And so this brings us back to David's statement about wanting. I shall not want. So there may be things in this life we desire, and in Psalm 23 reminds us that there's nothing we need that Jesus will not supply. Like the good shepherd for his sheep, Jesus is leading us and will provide for all of our needs until we reach the promised pasture of heaven. And I'm gonna finish with a Matthew Henry quote. He says this, he's comparing those who believe and those who don't. He says, the greatest abundance is but a dry pasture to a wicked man who relishes only in that which pleases the senses, but to a godly man who tastes the goodness of God in all his enjoyments and by faith relishes that though he has little in the world, it is still a green pasture. And so again, we see this idea of the Lord is my shepherd and I have everything I need. And so in following and trusting Jesus, we shall lack for nothing. So our Exodus story is just like David. It's the good shepherd leading us home, just like he's done for countless other Christians. And what does he provide? He provides all that we need. Any thoughts or questions about this passage? I think I say to our kids all the time, we've seen I do we kind of have these discussions and conversations with them. We're like, you know, there's something they want, and they describe it as needing it. I need this and we'll say is that is that do you need it? Or do you just want it? And again, not that wanting something in and of itself is a bad thing. It can be a good and okay thing to want certain things. But I think passage does a great job of just reminding us that God gives us everything that we need. And I think it's interesting that that word want is there because, again, our hearts go to what do we want? But wanting is that we don't want for anything, meaning it gives us all that we need. Right. You know, you think about it as a thing about the sheep on the hill there. He's confident that that shepherd is going to provide what he needs. they follow confidently behind the shepherd, regardless of where the shepherd is going. And we're even going to see in this passage that he says, yea, though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, that didn't sound like a fun place to go, but he has confidence, right? You're right, and the staff, they comfort me. And so we're seeing David build on this idea of this good shepherd that he has complete confidence in that no matter what, even in the valley of the shadow of death, he has confidence. He says, that's the shepherd. I'm good. I can get through this. And as we go through trials in life, as we go through difficulties, we got to realize that God has said, you know, Romans In Romans, Paul says it too, you know, he's going to give us all, you know, for those, he's going to do all good for those who love him. He's pointing to that same thing. The shepherd loves the sheep and he is doing everything for their good, even when we walk through very difficult times. So we have this massive confidence that we, or we should have a massive confidence in him. And then remember the Exodus story. And you see that so many of his people that he has done the same thing for over and over and over in history. And it should again, bolster our confidence. You know, I think of, you know, I love the Civil War history, especially some of those guys that were Christians like Stonewall Jackson, you know, his confidence in standing there in the middle of battle. And he was not afraid. He was like, God takes me, I'm good. It's like, this is what I'm going to do. And he had an incredible confidence. And I think it comes from this kind of understanding of who God is as our shepherd, that we can have confidence in no matter what situation we're in, that shepherd's got me. I think when God puts us in places where nothing in this earthly life can satisfy nothing, and our only want is Him, because that's what we want the most, I think that's when we understand that every single one of our needs is met. Right. That's ultimately it. He is the apex of our desire, or should be. And that's what we're working toward. And we recognize what he's done for us. It should move us to worship. It should move us to love him in such a way to say, that's my shepherd. I have been praying this song for the covenant people of California who have lost everything, everything. And this is their song this morning. Right? They're going through a serious exodus story, aren't they? These people have lost everything, and yet they have that good shepherd. All right, let me wrap this up in prayer. Father God, thank you again that you are the good shepherd. Father, that you are the one that provides all that we need, that we do not have wants because we understand who our shepherd is, that we can have great confidence not only in What we see is you and the shepherd, but we see what you have done for your people and that we have an expectation of confidence that you will do it for us. And father, help us to have that trust. Help us to be like David, to be confident in our statement about who our shepherd is and what he has provided for us. And father, we asked that our hearts returned to you and father, we would take this teaching this morning that it would go deep into our hearts and soften those hearts of stone. And father, that we will return worship of which you are worthy. And we pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.