Untitled Sermon (33)

Introduction

Hey everyone it is a joy to be with you tonight. If you have your Bibles tonight go ahead and open up to Psalm 23

If you are new here at fireside we have been slowly walking through this Psalm. So far we’ve looked at verse 1-3

In the first part we looked at Jesus as our good shepherd and we looked at

Who He is

What He Provides

and Where he leads

WIlliam Hollady wrote a little articale called “how the twenty third Psalm became a secular Icon”

it wasn’t really used in connection with death until the American civil war between that time and 1880 it become the passage read at funereals.

so what this means is you’ve enocureted this PSalm even at an unbelivers funereal

but I want to invite you to LOOK ClOSER tonight

Tonight for a few minitures I want to look at Us as the travler in this PSalm and Jesus as our compionion

we will look at how he leads and Where is he is on the path

and I think both of these realities will be helpful. Because when we find ourself on the paths of life it’s important to understand the Charchter and person of Christ in all of our Journeys

and maybe as we start tonight I’d invite you to slow down and pause to reflect on what’s going on

I want you to think back thorugh this last week and ask this question:Where have you expierenced Joy, comfort and peace?

next question: Where have you expirenced failure, disappointtment and discourment? What valleys might you be in right now?

that one can be a little tougher for me but it’s very important

because I want you to know that what we will see in this passage tonight is no matter what you face God is in charge

and what I want to do tonight is look at Gods oversight of our lives espically our valleys and I want us to see Where he is in the middle of our deepest darkest moments

Let’s read

Psalm 23 ESV

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.

Pray

Something I know and you know is Darkness can be scary. There are times in life that when i can’t see or things get really dark I find myself a little scared.

but deep darkness, like that long night of the soul kind of darkness, totla darkness can bring something unequaqled by antying else on the human soul

and I would say apart from the opening line of psalm 23 this verse vers 4 is the most famous part of the Psalm

you’ve probably heard it at some point and it’s probably comforted you at one point or another

becuase the reality is that valleys come in all shapes and sizes for us. and a many of us can spend time in the shadows of those valleys

weather it’s death, greif, depression or profound disppointment with ourselves or others we know what it’s like to live in the valley

Something really wonderful about this passage is how it’s written. In the Hebrew it’s 20 lines exactly and line 10 the exact mid point says this

“for you are with me”

don’t miss it. This would have been sung alonge the road, in the middle of the valley and in the middle of darkness and it was a reminder to those weary travelers that they would never walk alone

that’s really wonderful and something I need to be reminded of that no matter what I face, no matter what velly I find myself in I AM NEVER ALONE

and just like darkness and danger are on both sides of the Psalm they seem at times to be at both sides of my life but the centerpiece is the light of Christ he is our compionan on the road of life and that’s where safety is

PART 2

up to this poing the sheep have been passive in the Psalm. They are being made to lie down, they are being led, they are being restored. Wondrful pictures of what it means to be a sheep but now they are moving, they are going somewhere

teh sheep is on the move from the Lords leading on the right paths into his leading to the valley path

and this is an enxpected turn in the SPalm. that there are times the paths of rightouness include the valley of the shadwo of death

and if we find oursleves in the vally of deep darkness it is not outside his purpose for our lives

it would be unwise for us to think we have a shepherd who leads us to peace but has no say over how sheep come to find themelsves in a deep dark valley

When I find myself in the valley of shadow or the days of deep darkness I think maybe i’ve left hte path of rightouness

but I think what this Psalm holds out for us is that those dark days, that valley you are going through right now is sometimes where the paths of righoutsness are located.

THIS is how he leads

we don’t know what David had in mind when he wrote this but it could have been a number of things

from the terros of wild enimies, to enimies who wnated to killy him

it was the reality that death croucned at the door for any traveler

but in our day it’s proabably different when we encourter deep darkness

We know from the moment we are born we are always in the presence of death. But for most of us the shadow hasn’t reached us yet. It can take a valley- sickness, or the first sight of death’s shadow to make us realize this truth in this text applies to us by the same name as everyone else who has lived thorugh human history

we are always dying.

but God is sovvereign over even that. Think about the Garden. Adam and Eve sin. But God didn’t abadon them in thier sin. In thier darkness

no he came to them and provided for them

the hope of this Psalm is that nothing is outside of the care of our Loving father

that whatever valley you find yourself in you would know that it’s God’s valley and your good shepherd will be the one to led you through it.

and maybe right now you feel more lost than ever

in the deepest darkness but the good news is Jesus is standing there beside you lost or scratching his head wondering what to do next

no even in darkness he has a plan. There is something for you and I to learn and lean into.

because if he’s not in charge how in the world can he lead you through it

We have the opportunity to be content no matter what we face and that contentment comes from resting in the sufficiency of God’s providience as Leland Ryken says

It’s the God we meet at ever singl part of the Bibles story

When Adam and Eve sin Gods not suprised trying to unexpectedly consider options

Jesus wans’t a plan B.

No Jesus was the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world

and we learn that God stands over everything that happens in the world.

and when we walk through the valley we get to look at our God shepherd as he walked through a valley to deepst darkness that lead to his death on the cross

and it’s on the cross we are reminded Just how much jesus loves us and leads us THROUGH the valley

however bad the valley fells whether it’s depression or death or a thousand other kinds of darkness the valley not the point it is just the journey. and Jesus alone can lead you thorugh it and promsies to

and as you are walking through it Jesus is not ahead of you looking for directions. He is not lost. he knows where he is leading you

He knows ther eis a way thorugh it and out of it because of his own expirence in the valley

He has been there ahead of you and for you

and that word walk is really specail to me. Just pause and think about it. we norally don’t walk in darkness and as spurgeon says that word walk has a wealth of meaning

I can think about times when my kids where little and maybe you remember this as a kid

but it’s intresting as soon as we shut the lights off in the house they could be scared. and in the darkness and fear they would run from their end of the house to ours. There was no walking through darkness

we would pray with them and send them back to bed and they would run back

and isn’t that how we often face darkness? We run. It’s naturally to think how quick can I get out of this? How quick can things get back to normal?

How can I run through my suffering?

and while we might smile and laugh at those moments when we wer ekids it’s a picture of what we are all like wiht the unknown and what we cannot control

What kind of person simply walks thorugh deep darkness?

the answer. Only the person who has no reason to fear it.

I think some of the most amazing moments i’ve had as a parstor are the encouraters i have had with sheep who are able to follow their good shepherd into the darkness of death

I had a freind years ago. Get diagnosed with cancer. it was a shock to all of us. and he asked the elders at teh chruch to pray over him.

I had never really been around a person young and dying. so we gathered. I was young. and before we got started he looked at all of us and said I just want God to get glory

and then in beatiful humilty he got down on his knees and asked us to pray for him.

He walked through the deepst darkness

he had a steady advance that knew his road, knew how it ended, his was resolved to follow the path God had laid out before him and felt safe

I want to face death that way

and we are safe because we are on the shepards path. The road is simply how he is leading us, and becasue we belong to him we can walk and not run

because ultimently the our safety comes from his presence

think back to the story of the kid running through the dark. do you know when the wouldn’t run. When I would get up. take them by the hand and walk them back safely to their beds

I think not only do we need to know how he leads on the path we need to know where he is.

being alone is one of the greatest hardships any human being can ever bear

and what I want to do for our final moments together tonight is linger in the riches of the simple fact that our shepherd is with us.

it is amazing to be walking through a valley of deep darkness and not fear it for the simple reason you know you do not walk alone

and someone needs to be reminded of that tonight. no matter what you are facing.

You are not alone. No matter how alone you may feel

and this has really ministered to my heart this week. I have been walking through my own valley of deep darkness lately

my mom got a pretty tough medical diagonises last year. We had seen it coming but we got the offical diagonis in Febraury. It is the same thing that ultimently lead to my grandmothers death.

and I can remember when the doctor final said those words the wieght felt like more then I could bear

and i’ve spent almost everyday since that day walking through this valley and if I am honest I want to run. I want to run from it. I want to run through the valley

the last thing I want to do is walk through it.

and it’s that aloneness that’s been the hardest part. I am an only child of an only child. no family just me by myself trying to figure out how to surivie this valley of deep darkness where the shadow of death seems larger each day

but it’s hear in my disappointemnt, my despair, and discouragment that this psalm reminds me of something

even though I walk through the valley I shall fear no evil

because you are with me

the withness of my good shepherd is what I need the most in this valley. and it’s what you need the most.

it’s the first time in the Psalm we go from hearing about the dshepherd to speaking to the shepherd

and the words are simple. YOU ARE WITH ME.

He’s reminding himself and speaking to the shepherd. The shepherd hasnt’ abadon the traveler to the valley himself and He won’t abadon you either

and the withness that David realizes is not removing all the evil or eradicating the darkness in this valley. No it just means that the place you find yourself even though it can be really dark can also be filled with light and happineess

the comfort we find is the presence of the shephered with us in the midst of danager rather than the removal of the danger

don’t miss it. David is not reflecting on the truth about the shadows, or the valley, or the deep darkness. he is procamiling the truth about God!!!!

and there is something there for us. there is something you and I learn about God. He’s Charcter, his love, his grace, his mercy when we walk through the shadows

the reason david says I fear no evil even though he walks through the valley of the shadow of death is because he knows the valley doesn’t get the last word

his confidience dones’t rest in his own ability to overcome it resideds in

who the dhepherd is

where and how the shepherd leads

what the shepherd holds

how he wecomes

what he sends and where he invites

Calvin realizes that the confession “I will fear no evil” actually receives its beauty from the fact that, if left to his own devices, David would be very afraid

but he isn’t the Lord is with him

and maybe that’s where I want to finish tonight.

THe shepherd is not just ahead of us, dropping us off at life’s scary and deadly destinations

and then keeping a safe distance while we go at it alone.

he is not just ahead to lead. And he does lead

but I want you to see this picture he is besides to escort us

In this psalm he’s moved form walking in front to coming alongside

and I think having someone with you in the darkness is all that matters right? it changes everything

it’s the story of the Bible Luther said Psalm 23:4 is a little bible

It is a beautiful truth that the message of the whole Bible can be summarized in four simple words: “You are with me.”11

You are with me.

•In Eden, God lived with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8).

•On Mount Horeb, God promised Moses that he would be with him in Egypt (Ex. 3:12).

•At Mount Sinai, God came to live with Israel in a tent, and he spoke with Moses “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11).

•In the promised land, God came to live with Israel in a temple (1 Kings 8:11).

•In Jesus, God came to live with his people—as Immanuel, “God with us” (John 1:14).

•When Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure, he sent his Holy Spirit so that he could come and live in us (John 14:15–17).

•Jesus promised his disciples, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

•In the new heavens and the new earth, God will once again live with his people. This is how Revelation climactically puts it: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:3).

You have a shepherd who is with you

The Lord Jesus, your shepherd-king and Savior is with you in your valley, and he will always be with you, for as long as you are there. He will never leave you or forsake you there.

The fact he is with us helps us understand the depths of Gods lvoe for us

Read

Psalm 23:4 ESV

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.

Prayer and Reflection:

Andrew comes

Think about where you are right now? What valley are you in right now?

what’s your posture? Are you running? or Walking

and here is the invitation. Would you ask the Lord to show you where he is at? and as he reveals this to you would you just ask him to remind you that he is with you