The Shepherd and The Host
Notes
Transcript
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Subject: Fulfillment
ETS: David found fulfillment because of God’s provision.
ESS: We can find fulfillment because of God’s provision.
OSS: Christians would find ultimate fulfillment in God’s provision.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 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.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
psalm 23:1-
Introduction:
My grandfather died last Monday and went home to glory. There are many grandfathers that have died and went to heaven, and so, my grandfather’s death doesn’t seem to be anything but typical. However, it is important for you to know a bit about my grandfather’s life.
My grandfather was the toughest and most stubborn human being that I ever met. He was once kicked square in the forehead by a horse and simply stood up, shook his head, and went home. He once nailed his middle and index fingers together with a nail gun and simply apologized that he got blood in my father’s floor. I visited him numerous times for “the last time,” fully expecting him to die. He once laid in a hospital bed with six blood clots in his lungs as the doctors waited for one to dislodge, go to his heart, and kill him. He did not die. I spent hours and hours across many years sharing the Gospel to him to no avail. I earnestly begged him to put his faith in Jesus Christ hundreds of times, but he was not interested.
The last time that Grandpaw was in the hospital, I visited with him, laughed with him, and did not share the Gospel with him. Shamefully, I thought, “I have shared the Gospel with this man hundreds of times and he did not listen. I am not going to cast my pearls before swine, and I will wipe my feet.” However, a friend that was with me shared the Gospel with my grandfather as I was walking out, and I listened as my hardheaded Grandpaw gave his life to Christ within a month of his expiration date. A week or so later, I visited with him and someone told him, “The Lord is with you.” and my grandfather smiled and violently shook his head like I have never seen him do before.
On the day of my grandfather’s death, I was, unfortunately, unable to be with him as he passed away, but I was blown away by the story that those who were with him told me. They said that he went peacefully. They said that he struggled to breathe. They said that between his gasps for breath, he pointed toward the ceiling and said, “I’m going home.”
I will never again read again without thinking of my grandfather. I wont think of Grandpaw when I read because it is read at every single funeral and is mistakenly associated with death. I will always think of Grandpaw when I read because his life was so parallel to the life of the psalmist.
You see, we often think that is about David or about the reader, but the Psalm is about God!
And in , we see what is a linear story of life
What you find is a provisional God that fulfills His followers beyond their wildest dreams.
What you find is a provisional God that fulfills His followers beyond their wildest dreams.
What you find is a provisional God that fulfills His followers beyond their wildest dreams.
You find a provisional God that fulfills His followers in the most desperate of situations.
You find a provisional God that welcomes His followers home.
You find a provisional God that is a Shepherd and a Host.
And in , we see what is a linear story of life
Body:
In , we see God in two different ways
So, I want us to look at these two different ways that God is portrayed and see how fulfilling and satisfying this holy God of is to us today.
God as Shepherd
God as Shepherd
The concept of God as Shepherd was common all throughout Israel’s history.
The sheep was the most economically profitable livestock in all of Palestine
I will never forget coming over a hill in Lebanon and seeing flocks of sheep across the country side with men wrapped in robes and holding a big wooden staff- just like you would picture in the Bible.
And that is exactly what the Psalmist wants us to picture here: God as Shepherd and us as sheep.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
psalm 23:1-2
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
The concept of a Shepherd was common all throughout Israel’s history.
The Shepherd Provides
The Shepherd Provides
A Shepherd had to constantly move his sheep around and be in search for green grass and a good water source
In this middle eastern environment, green grass and good water is not near as plentiful as it is here
And if a Shepherd kept his sheep in one location for too long, it would attract predators and they would attack his sheep
But the picture the Psalmist is painting here of God is a wonderful environment of plenty and longevity.
At the beginning of our story, the sheep is in a blissful state of happiness
The Hebrew word for “lie down” here is “Rabats” and literally means to “stretch out.”
The Hebrew word for “lie down” here is “Rabats” and literally means to “stretch out.”
The Psalmist is saying that Yahweh - as Shepherd - is so fulfilling and so satisfying that he - as the sheep - has no need to worry about what he will eat, no worry about what he will drink, and he can lie down and take comfort because he has no need to fear a predator.
God - the Shepherd - provides everything that the sheep could ever desire or want
But don’t miss it, its not the green pasture, the water, or the safety that the sheep ultimately wants and desires; it is God; it is the Shepherd
Therefore, the Psalmist shall not want because he has everything he desires in God.
.
If he were to be stripped of everything he owned and all he had left was God, he would be more content than if he owned the entire world.
Why? Because God is his number one treasure and his number one desire.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
We live in a society that constantly wants more and more and more, and we never get enough.
We never get enough because the stuff we acquire is not ultimately what we want.
We ultimately want God Himself.
“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” - Augustine
Whether man wants to admit it or not, he will never ever be satisfied until he has God.
Whether man wants to admit it or not, he will never ever be satisfied until he has God.
A man who looks at God from afar is like looking at honey in a jar. He can look at the golden liquid and be admired, but he doesn’t know what he is missing until he reaches into the jar and has a taste. But once he has a taste, he can’t get enough.
And when we get Him, we find true joy and lasting happiness and unquenchable thirst for Him.
Psalm 23:
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
The Shepherd also provides guidance through instruction to His sheep.
What does it mean to lead me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
In verse 3, the Psalmist is making a big and bold claim about God and he is uncovering a profound spiritual truth.
The Psalmist is boldly proclaiming that God will lead him in righteousness because His name and His reputation depends upon it.
God cannot lie.
The Psalmist is boldly asserting that God has to lead him in paths of righteousness - God must show him the difference between right and wrong, truth and falsehoods - or He is a liar.
And if God lies, He ceases to be God.
But God does not lie.
He did provide a way to see the difference between right and wrong
I hold a blood soaked binding of 66 books, written by over 40 authors, over a period of thousands of years.
Thousands - millions of people have sacrificed and cut their lives short so that you can hold God’s path of righteousness in your hand today.
This is our path of righteousness
This is our guidance and instruction from God.
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes!
13 With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
16 I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
psalm 119:9-
Not only that, but God will give us a supernatural ability to see what we could not see on our own in this book, if we will just ask him.
Please pay close attention to what I am about to say:
Just ink on some paper does not save a human being.
Something supernatural and otherworldly has to happen.
That is not a small view of the Bible - I have a very very high view of Scripture
And for a person to be saved he must have that word breathed upon his heart by the Holy Spirit.
Many a man have read the pages of this book and have walked away bitter.
It is because a supernatural transformation has to accompany the reading or hearing of His Word.
How many times have you read over God’s Word and got nothing out of it?
You know there must be wonderful truths in what you just read, but you did not see it!
We see His Word with eyes of our head, but the eyes of our heart are closed shut
Listen! God said, “I will give you my Word, but I will also give you the ability to see my word!”
Do you realize that that is one of the reasons we come to church and why we have Bible Studies?
So that we can collectively share what God has supernaturally showed us.
God provides paths of righteousness to His sheep by giving us His Word and by giving us the ability to supernaturally see His Word like we could not on our own, if we will ask Him.
And here is the profound spiritual truth: when we follow His Word, we make His name look great!
When a man leads his family spiritually, it is glorious, for God’s name sake!
When a woman submits herself to God and decides to go and do whatever her heavenly father asks of her, it is glorious, for God’s name sake!
When a young man refuses to resist the temptations a depraved and lustful world throws at him, it is glorious, for God’s name sake!
When a teenage girl saves herself for the groom God has chosen for her, it is glorious, for God’s name sake!
When we take this book and apply it to our lives, the name of our King shines bright like the noon day son
God fulfills our paths of righteousness
And He says He will lead us in paths of righteousness to glorify His name and make His name known.
When we get to verse 4 the Shepherd changes gears and the story takes a twist
A Psalm of David.
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle!
9 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory! Selah
Psalm 24
4 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 never promises His children that they will be excluded from suffering and persecution.
God never promises us that he will coast us over the valley of the shadow of death.
On the contrary, He promises to push us into the valley of the shadow of death!
Listen to what Jesus tells His disciples:
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 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.
Romans 8:16
The Shepherd calls His sheep to suffer
But it does not end there
Though the shepherd calls His sheep to suffer, He protects His sheep in the valley of the shadow of death
The Shepherd Protects
The Shepherd Protects
It is interesting that the psalm changes from third person to first person in verse 4
In the first verses of the psalm God was referred to as “He”
“He makes me lie down in green pastures”
“He restores my soul.”
But when we get into the valley of the shadow of death, the Shepherd becomes much more personal.
4 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.
When a sheep is in green pasture, it will bounce around all over the field and get quite a distance away from the Shepherd
But as soon as the sheep drop into the valley of the shadow of death, the sheep wants to be right up against the Shepherd.
The sheep wants to be as close as it can get to the Shepherd
It is in the valley that the sheep will experience the Shepherd use his rod to ward off predators that try to attack the sheep.
It is in the valley that the sheep will experience the Shepherd use his staff to guide the sheep and show him where to go - sheep him to make each and every step
The Story of Magid
And this is why God pushes his children into the valley of the shadow of death
Because it is in this valley that we experience God like we have never experienced him before.
And when we experience Him in our sufferings, suddenly our suffering becomes an instrument of intimacy with Him
Romans 8:31-
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The valley is the tool of the Christian to see and taste and feel and experience God like he or she has never experienced him before.
And so, the Shepherd calls His sheep to share with Him the valley of the shadow of death.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
John 10:14-
You cannot convince me that Jesus did not have in mind when He made this bold statement
Because in one statement He firmly declares himself God - declares Himself the Shepherd - and the Pharisees try to kill him
And he proclaims that the Shepherd has come and will die for mankind and raise from the dead
And suddenly eternal life becomes possible
Suddenly reconciliation becomes possible
And because of what Jesus did on the cross of calvary, verses 5 and 6 of become true.
God as Host
God as Host
Verses 5 and 6 introduce a new twist on the story of the Psalm and a new understanding of God
The picture we get is God who is the host of a large gathering and He does two major things
First, He invites
The Host Invites
The Host Invites
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Picture this: A sheep was frolicking in a green pasture and he didn’t have a care in the world. He knew he had a Shepherd, but he wandering off from him often. But then the Shepherd leads the sheep down into the valley of the shadow of death and the sheep realizes how wonderful the Shepherd really is. And when the sheep comes out of the valley, beaten, muddy, smelly, and bloody, he is invited to a royal and majestic gathering at a luxurious House where the Shepherd is now the Host.
This is the Gospel - explain
Suddenly, the most unqualified and most undeserving sinner is sitting at the King’s table
The sinner is feasting with the Savior
Not only that, he has anointed my head with oil.
In Middle Eastern tradition to anoint someone’s head with oil was a very hospitable thing to do and declared the person to be set apart at the table.
Mary anointed Jesus’ head to proclaim that he was the holy set apart Savior of the world
In , not only does the Host invite the sinner to the table, he anoints his head, sets him apart, and makes him holy.
Because Jesus died on the cross for my sins, He can impute his holiness and righteousness and holiness onto me and I can rightly sit at the table with the Lord of lords and the King of kings.
But believe it or not, the Host does more
The Host Houses
The Host Houses
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalm
The story of Grandpaw
The Hebrew word for “follow me” is “radaf” and it means “to pursue or to chase”
God pursued my Grandpaw all the way to the end of His life
Highway patrolman story
Praise His holy name that we serve a God that will pursue and chase after individuals that care nothing about chasing after him
When we were screaming down the highway - running from Him with all our might - He kept chasing us! - to tell us that he had our wallet.
To tell us that He had a home with Him in eternity
The problem is that we get too comfortable with where we are at now.
When I was little, I somewhat dreaded Jesus coming back. I was convinced he was going to come back and I wasn’t going to get to grow up and experience all the wonderful realities of life.
But it was because I was a little boy with a skewed view of eternity
What we are far too often is little boys and girls with skewed views of eternity.
We enjoy this world so much that we miss how wonderful our eternal God is
He says, “In my father’s house are many mansions.... And I go to prepare a place for you.... And I will come again and receive you unto me.”
But far too often, God promises us eternity with Him in his house and we settle for a damp box under a bridge
Why? because we just cant seem to let this world go.
He tells us that He wants to be more than we could ever imagine, but we have to let go of the love we have for the things we have now.
But we tell Him no
He tells us that He is greater than anything we could ever possibly imagine and that He wants to give us joy and love and peace and glory
But instead we tell Him no and replace Him with a world of misery and torment and tragedy and sadness.
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
“Oh Father I want more!”
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Conclusion:
Where are you at in the Story?
