Sermon 7-25-2010

Psalm 23:1-4
The Promises of Psalm 23

Today, I want to look several promises that can be found in Psalm 23, but before I do I want to give a quick background about the author of Psalm 23. We are all familiar with David. He was the courageous boy who went out to slay Goliath, he was a psalmist, he was a warrior, and He was a King who helped unite Israel and lead the lsraelities into battle and was able to lead them to victory.
But for everything that David did and everything that we can say he was I know I often forget that David was first a Shepherd Boy. Why is that important? A Shepherd just like a King is the provider and protector of his flock the sheep are helpless without the Shepherd. In the Old Testament, the leaders or (Kings) of the people are called shepherds, In Jeremiah 3:15 it says then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. In (Ezek 34:23-24) it says 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. This leads us into the first verse of Psalms 23. King David wrote this Psalm in the latter part of his life and right away David tells us who The Great Shepherd is. Vs1 “The Lord is my Shepherd,” I shall not be in want.
David is not only telling us who the Great Sheppard is David is also telling us that He is placing himself as a sheep in the flock of Jesus. By doing this David shows that while in Christ he has no fears and all his needs are met in Christ. I will admit I know nothing about being a Shepherd and I know nothing about tending sheep but I have done a little research and I do know that in order for the sheep to follow you they must trust you. The must know that you will provide for them and keep them safe. This is the same exact thing that David is describing in this first verse. David has trusted The Lord completely and relies totally on HIM. Can we say here today that we rely totally on Christ?
What happens when we allow Christ into our lives and our hearts? V 2 tells us that “He makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters”. Let’ stop right there. In that one verse we find 2 promises. “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” We find Rest and “he leads me beside quiet waters” we find Refreshment. I remember when I first read this Psalm I thought of a time when I was young I used to like to stay up late because my parents were up and my 2 older brothers were up so I naturally thought I should be able to stay up as well. When I tried to explain my case to my parents they told me that I had to go to bed because they said so. For some reason they felt that if I stayed up I would be in a terrible mood in the morning. After some encouragement from my father I decided that it would be in my best interest to go to bed, but my point is my parents knew what was best for me. They knew I needed rest otherwise it was going to be a long day not only for them but for me as well, but as I read this Psalm more and more I realized that is not the type of rest or refreshment that is being described here.
If we look at the verse it says Lie down in green pastures. What does that look like to us? This is a picture of eternal rest or death. As Christians this is not something that we should dislike because from a Christian perspective to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This is where we all want to be anyway. In the first part of verse 2 David tells us that GOD makes us lie down in green pastures. Why would GOD make us do this?
God knows we need rest HE knows we need to be refreshed, GOD allows us to face death because for us it is a consequence of sin. Romans 6:23 says 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord. We will revisit that in just a little bit as well. This seems harsh but it is actually a blessing. Death brings the Christian into a state of freedom from the toil of sin. What do I mean by this? Let’s look back at Genesis for just a minute. When God created the world HE said it was good. The world was free from toil.
If we pick up in Genesis 2: 15 it says “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Notice that this took place before the fall of man. This is important because GOD gave work to man as a gift. This moment in the Garden is a picture of paradise because it is a picture of man working in a right relationship to his GOD. This is also a picture of the biblical rest and refreshment that David was referring to in Psalms 23: verse 2. In relationship with a Holy GOD, without the burden of sin we are at peace, we are at rest. This picture of peace, this view of paradise, this biblical rest and refreshment in the Holy GOD is what we lost when the fall of man occurred. The good news is that it is not too late we can still find that rest, we can still have that peace and we can still be a part of that paradise. GOD made the way possible for us through his SON Jesus Christ when HE sent him to die on the cross for us.
Notice what happens when sin enters into the world. Genesis 3:17-19 says "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." You see the connection? Now sin brings toil, rest becomes heavy labor. We lost rest, but the great thing about GOD is he wants to restore us.
Just like a Sheppard would lead his flock, just like David led his sheep as a young boy or the Israelites as King and just like God wants to lead us now. The first promise was the promise of rest the next promise was the promise of refreshment. This by the way is not the only time we see that promise. We also see that promise in Isaiah 49:10 “They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them
and lead them beside springs of water.”
So, in the first 2 verses GOD has provided exactly what we needed both mentally and physically in order to follow HIM, but what about the spiritual? Well verse 3 says “He restores my soul He guides me in paths of righteousness for HIS name sake.” Verse 3 brings us the 3rd promise which is Restoration, because we lost our rest and our ability to be refreshed He must lead us back and HE will do that through a process called restoration. If we look at Psalms 19:7 it says that the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. Why is that verse important to what we are talking about today? That verse is important because it tells us how the Lord is going to restore us. HE will do it through his law or HIS word which we know from this verse is perfect which causes it to revive the soul. Nothing in this world can save us, only God’s word can do that.
God is asking us to lie down and die to ourselves and in turn die to our sin. GOD wants us to leave the toil of sin behind. The type of restoration that we are talking about right now is not something that can be achieved by ourselves. This restoration can only come from one place and one GOD and it did through HIS son Jesus Christ. The rest of verse 3 says that He guides me in paths of righteousness for HIS name sake. In that second half of the verse we find yet another promise. It is the promise of Guidance. So why does GOD want to restore our souls and why would HE want to guide us in paths of righteousness?
GOD wants to revive us, HE wants to restore us and guide us so that the paths we travel, our daily decisions and choices that we will make are done for HIS name sake. David has written a Psalm in which he lists promises that we can count on GOD doing for us. GOD will provide us rest, GOD will provide us refreshment, GOD will restore our souls and GOD will guide us in paths of righteousness for HIS name sake so that we know that we have a GOD who loves us enough to not let the enemy prevail. In our lives we all face hardships, suffer through trials , have fears realized and are met with disappointment, but if we have trusted in the Lord and allowed him to restore our souls then we do not face those hardships alone, or suffer through those trials by ourselves because Christ is with us in those times of need Christ is guiding us through those times of need and HE is guiding us even when things are good.
I want to look at verse 4 and then we will close. Verse 4 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.” The beginning of this verse makes reference to the valley of the shadow of death.
We have already talked about Romans 6:23 which says “23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.” The price we must pay for denying Christ is death, but what we gain for accepting Christ is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Back when I was a freshman in college I had just moved into the dorm and my brother who had been talking to me about Christ all summer was trying to get me to meet with a man who wanted to talk to me about Christ as well.
I was not at all eager to meet with this guy but I loved my brother and I looked up to him so I met with him. We talked for 2 and half hours over lunch and he told me everything I had already heard from my brother, but this time was different. You see I had not made a decision for Christ because I kept focusing on what I would lose or what I would be giving up if I asked Christ to forgive me of my sins. What I did not understand was I was focusing on the wrong thing. I should not have been focusing on what I was giving up or what I would lose, but I should have been focused on what I would have been gaining in Christ.
I did not know it but for the entire year before when my brother was witnessing to me, praying for me, having other people pray for me something was happening and I was unaware it was going on. GOD was softening my heart so that when the time came I would not focus on what I would give up, but I would focus on that fact that if I refused GOD I was facing eternal death and no matter what I thought I was giving up it would not be worth facing, a life without Christ which is no life at all. So on that day in September I asked GOD to forgive me of my sins and I realized what Romans 6:23 was saying.
David knew this as well, which is why the valley of the shadow of death is a mere reflection for David. Death is not the ultimate enemy but only a shadow. You may not walk through a wall without getting hurt, but you can pass through a shadow unharmed.
The verse goes on to say that I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me. We notice here that David says your rod and staff which were instruments used by a shepherd to discipline the sheep are a comfort to him. God’s Discipline is a comfort. We may not enjoy discipline but GOD uses it to shape us so that when we see HIM we will be like him. Today we have talked about promises throughout the first 4 verses of Psalms 23. We have asked the questions why would GOD provide us rest or refresh us. Why would GOD restore our soul or guide us in paths of righteousness? The answer is this. God desires a personal relationship with us. HE desires the type of relationship that we looked at in Genesis before the fall of man and the only way we can have that type of relationship is to die to ourselves and allow GOD to restore our souls. David knew this and considered himself part of Jesus’ flock.
Today if you are looking for rest, if you need to be refreshed or if you are searching for restoration and looking for guidance, then if you are willing to die to yourself and live in Christ you will be able to rest not only the promise of Psalm 23 but you will be restored in Christ and you can consider yourself part of Jesus’ flock.