Shepherd Looks at 23rd Psalm Part 2

“I Shall Not Want”

Read Psalm 23 “A psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

ILLUSTRATION:

A few years ago there was a famous UFC fighter named Connor McGregor.

Not a fan of UFC

Used to wrestle with brothers.

goal was to SUBMIT one another (put your opponent in a position where he gives up and cannot continue).

So seeing professionals who are highly trained in martial arts do this to one another is an intense spectacle.

Briefly let me just give you some important context to this story.

MCGREGOR:

irish.

fan base is loud

weigh in face off, crowd chears.

KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV

Scary Russian guy.

Videos of his dad making him wrestle bears in middle and high school

Hates McGregor

At the weigh-in and face off for this fight. The arena is full of irishmen.

McGregor gets up and the crowd roars.

Everyone wants to see McGregor win.

Then Khabib gets up there

Everyone is booing.

The crowd is roaring with displeasure towards Khabib

and this is all he does.

“I”m gonna smash ya boy.”

“Guys… I’m gonna smash ya boy.”

It’s a terrifying to see and hear.

______________________________________

Now, neither Khabib nor McGregor are role models ok.

However, the confidence to stand in front of an arena of people against you and say “I’m gonna win. I’m gonna win big. I’m gonna smash ya boy.”

wow.

He backed it up too. Khabib won that fight decisively.

Tonight, do you realize we can have that confidence in our Shepherd?

We have many bad shepherds that want to take away your confidence in the good shepherd.

But each time a bad shepherd emerges in your life, we should turn to it, point to the good Shepherd and say, “He’s gonna smash you.”

Tonight I want to focus on some of David’s story and then give us 4 points to close.

David’s life was threatened at least 3 major times in his life.

Goliath.

Saul tried to kill him many times at the end of Saul’s life.

David’s son Absalom hunted him for several years.

Through this study of Psalm 23, we are going to learn more about who king David was.

In 1 Samuel 17, The Israelites are scared of Goliath.

Goliath has come out every day to the battle lines, cursed God and Israel and asked for a challenger to fight him.

Each day, Israel hides and is scared.

However, David then enters the narrative as a young, small boy.

Read 1 Samuel 17:32 “32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.””

1 Samuel 17:33–37 “33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.””

1 Samuel 17:43–47 “43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” 45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.””

In this part of David’s life, David wanted God to be honored.

David also knew that no matter the outcome, God is his savior.

The same God who saved him from the lion and the bear can save him from Goliath.

SO hear are a few thoughts tonight from this scripture.

Thoughts to apply:

David knew who His Shepherd was.

Whether he was fighting Goliath, or hiding from his son with the the very people Goliath came from, in both places, David said “I shall not want.”

For Goliath, David essentially looks at him and says, “My God will smash you boy!”

It is God who is my shepherd.

In Him, i shall not want.

In 2 Samuel 15-19, David’s own son tries to kill David.

Absalom had stolen the kingdom from David and was now hunting him.

David went so far in his hiding to go to the Philistines (the people Goliath was from ) and David hid there.

How could David, the king, flea Israel to a place like the Philistines?

Because in that season, that’s where the Shepherd was leading him.

God doesn’t call us to an easy life. God calls us to follow Him wherever he leads.

David knew His shepherd and he went.

2. “It’s the boss — the master — in people’s lives who makes the difference in their destiny.”

The only way David survives Goliath, being hunted by Saul, being hunted by his son, is because He followed the good Shepherd.

If we live our lives trying to please bad shepherds, we will live a life wanting.

Your life is dependent on the shepherd you’re following.

If we are never satisfied, always anxious, always trying to find our identity in different things, maybe we’ve lost sight of who our shepherd is.

Maybe we need to return to the fold of the Good Shepherd and realize. “I shall not want.”

3. Bad Shepherds hate you.

Read page 27 - 4 paragraphs.

Satan doesn’t want to win you to his side.

He just wants you not to choose God’s side.

You can choose whatever you want and be part of Satan’s team. Either way, Satan hates you. He doesn’t want you. He’s not trying to do some form of Hell’s evangelism to win people to his side. He doesn’t care.

He wants you not to choose God.

He will do whatever it takes to instill hate in your heart, to make you afraid, to make you insecure, to build up those anxieties inside of you.

But that’s no good shepherd.

Satan views you only in terms of the slaughterhouse.

In keeping with the sheep metaphor, we are not loved or viewed as an object of affection to Satan, we are only fit to be killed. that is our destiny.

He will do whatever it takes to try and get you to the slaughterhouse.

He doesn’t want to win you.

He just wants you to lose!

That’s the only weapon he has.

Satan will ignore your needs.

The Good Shepherd is attentive to them.

Luke 12:24 “24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”

Man we could teach a whole lesson on that verse right there.

But the value you hold to God is endless and relentless.

God has endless love for you and he is relentless in his attention to you.

He is so attentive to meet your needs, even if it’s not what we want.

God can align our desires with His so that we say “I shall not want.”

When more we rest in the security of the Good Shepherd, the less we desire anything more.

Because truly, anything we think is more, is actually less.

Ask Adam and Eve how it turned out for them when they thought they needed more than the good Shepherd.

There is nothing better than the fold of the Good Shepherd.

Are you content with your shepherd, or are you wanting more?

4. David was content with the Good Shepherd.

1 Samuel 17:47 David says, “The battle is the Lord’s.

On page 28 in the Shepherd book, Keller writes this:

“Contentment should be the hallmark of the man or woman who has put his or her affairs in the hands of God. This especially applies in our affluent age. But the outstanding paradox is the intense fever of discontent among people who are ever speaking of security.

Despite an unparalleled wealth in material assets, we are outstandingly insecure and unsure of ourselves and well nigh bankrupt in spiritual values.”

We are always looking for more.

Never satisfied.

But the believer in Jesus shouldn’t be this way.

With CONFIDENCE we can stand and say “The Lord is My Shepherd — I shall not want.”

If God takes care of silly birds like Ravens…

If God took care of a young boy versus a scary, massive warrior,

He will take care of you.

What else could Jesus give that was greater than his life?

In Chapter 1, what I skipped last week was that when a Shepherd would get sheep. He would also take his knife and carve a brand into each of his sheep’s ear.

This brand should be unique so the Shepherd, from a distance, can easily identify the mark of his sheep.

Since Jesus laid down his life for us, our mark is the cross.

Luke 9:23 “23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

The mark of being in Jesus’ flock is that I’ve accepted the power of the cross.

Galatians 2:20 “20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Are you content with Jesus?

APPLICATION:

Lastly, have you heard the phrase the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence?

what that means is that as we compare ourselves to others, we always seem to find ways to see other’s situations as better than our own.

Or even worse, Their situation is more desirable.

In the end of this week’s chapter, Keller talks about a beautiful sheep he had.

He loved her.

However, this sheep kept getting out of the fence and looking for grass elsewhere.

At first, the sheep was just one problem.

But each time, he kept finding the sheep and bringing her back.

However, then she had lambs.

Then she began helping her lambs escape.

So he brought them all back too.

Then the final straw was Girl sheep and her lambs now began leading other sheep out of the fold.

In a moment of sadness, Keller began to realize what he would have to do.

So he took his knife and sadly he had to put her down to protect the rest of his sheep.

He writes, “In spite of all that I had done to give her the very best care — she still wanted something else.”

Guys, the grass may be greener on the other side of that fence we are looking over.

But that same grass might also be turf.

It’s fake.

May we never leave the comforting fold of the good shepherd for anything else.

At the same time, we can confidently look at any enemies that come into our fold and then with confidence tell them, “my shepherd is gonna smash ya boy.”

That’s what David did.

I shall not want is a combination then of 2 things.

Comfort and satisfaction.

Peace and salvation from all that intends to harm us.

Why would we want for anything more?