Teaching on Psalm 23:1

The Lord

The Lord

When it starts off by saying “the Lord” my mind always draws back to Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

14 God said to Moses, “aI AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

The name literally means “I am who I am.” It is an inexhaustible name, like its bearer. Chiefly, it refers to God’s timelessness, on the one hand, and to his self-sufficiency, on the other. Self-sufficiency means that God needs nothing. He needs no wisdom from anyone else; he has all wisdom in himself. He needs no power; He is all-powerful. He does not need to be worshiped or helped or served. Nor is He accountable to anyone. He answers only to Himself.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.The name literally means “I am who I am.” It is an inexhaustible name, like its bearer. Chiefly, it refers to God’s timelessness, on the one hand, and to his self-sufficiency, on the other. Self-sufficiency means that God needs nothing. He needs no wisdom from anyone else; he has all wisdom in himself. He needs no power; he is all-powerful. He does not need to be worshiped or helped or served. Nor is he accountable to anyone. He answers only to himself.

Timelessness means that God is always the same in these eternal traits and attributes. He was like this yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He will be unchanged and unchangeable forever.

He is the great “I am.”

Also in Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 8 Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.

7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 8 Moses made haste ato bow low toward the earth and worship.

8 Moses made haste ato bow low toward the earth and worship.

So we see that He is the Lord and that He is merciful and gracious and abounding in steadfast love but at the same time He is just and will not by no means clear the guilty.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

So we see that He is the Lord and that He is merciful and gracious and abounding in steadfast love but at the same time He is just and will not by no means clear the guilty.

So we see that He is the Lord and that He is merciful and gracious and abounding in steadfast love but at the same time He is just and will not by no means clear the guilty.

So when we look at this knowing that Christ died for His sheep, and we see David declaring that the Lord is MY shepherd, he is speaking as one who belongs to the Lord, one who knows his shepherds voice and he follows Him. Which is exactly what says “my sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” So, we see a shepherd’s voice is very distinct to their sheep. If you was to go out to a shepherds field and tried to call the sheep to come to you they just simply would not come at all, because they knew that it wasn’t their shepherd voice and that voice is one of a thief who may come to still kill and destroy, it is a dangerous voice one that doesn’t protect and provide nor care for the sheep, so the sheep will not pay heed to the voice of another, but when the true shepherd calls out to them by name, they come, just as we did when the Lord called us to repentance and salvation.

1 john 1:6 says “if we say that we have fellowship with him but walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth. Verse 8 says if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 john 2:4 says “the one who says, I have come to know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

no one born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

1 john 4:20 says if someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

so is this you? Do you know without a shadow of doubt that He is your Shepard? I hope that you can say that today and if you can’t the Bible says that TODAY is the day of salvation. In Jesus said “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

My shepherd

Shepherd

What is a shepherd?

The shepherd assumes the well being of the sheep, sheep cannot take care of themselves, have no clue where green pastures are or where still waters are and they are continually in danger to wolves, thief’s, robbers, they get caught in holes and fall off cliffs. Sheep need a shepherd; we need a shepherd. The shepherd is not a cattle driver, he doesn’t push us but one who leads as we will see in verse two.

With all this going on we have so many questions like what this means for my work, for my salary, for my family, how am I going to function.

But remember the Lord is OUR shepherd, so we know that He is leading us, that he is guiding us, that He is protecting us, that He is providing for our every need, He strengthens us, and that He gives us joy even in these times. So, all your needs are met in the Lord, and that’s a promise we have as Christians.

My Shepherd

David here says the the Lord is MY shepherd. The sweetest word of the whole verse is, “My.” He does not say, “The Lord is the shepherd of the world at large, and leadeth forth the multitude as his flock,” but “The Lord is my shepherd;” if he is a Shepherd to no one else, he is a Shepherd to me; he cares for me, watches over me, and preserves me. Notice there is no “if” or “but,” not even “I hope so;” but he says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” We must have full dependence upon our heavenly Father and realize without Him we are nothing.

Can you say that like David did? That the Lord is my shepherd. What that means is that you have surrendered your life and everything that you are to Him, that you have entrusted your soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. So just a belief that says yeah, I believe in Jesus, the demons believe in Jesus and they tremble. Do you truly believe? A belief that you would die for? The Bible says to test yourselves to know that your are in the faith. We can go to 1st John to see these:

1 john 1:6 says “if we say that we have fellowship with him but walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth. Verse 8 says if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 john 2:4 says “the one who says, I have come to know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

no one born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

So is this you? Do you know without a shadow of doubt that He is your Shepard? I hope that you can say that today and if you can’t the Bible says that TODAY is the day of salvation. In Jesus said “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. These verses we are going over this evening are only promises to the believers. Believers take hope in these verses and notice what the last part of the verse says.

So is this you? Do you know without a shadow of doubt that He is your Shepard? I hope that you can say that today and if you can’t the Bible says that TODAY is the day of salvation. In Jesus said “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

I shall not want

In Isiah 46:10 it says: “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.”

So we have assurance that He is in control of all things, that God is completely sovereign in everything, so as Christians we have this comfort that He will sustain our every need, that ultimately all my need are supplied by the Lord. So, we need to look to the Lord in everything we do, He is the ultimate source for every blessing in our life.

This doesn’t mean that the Lord promises you health wealth and prosperity as some false teachers will teach, but what He does promise in is “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. He promised us an abundant life, but understand this , Stephen had an abundant life, yet he was stoned to death, but his life was abundant because it glorified God. He promises to work all things to our good, but He doesn’t promise that we won’t go through trials and tribulations. But when we do go through these, we have a peace because we know that at the end of it all it is for our good and to His glory.

John Calvin said:

We must not forget that our greatest happiness is to have God’s guiding hand stretched out to us, and to live under its shadow, so that his providence may watch over our safety.

James Montgomery Boice said:

But if we belong to the one who is self-sufficient, inexhaustible, and utterly unchanged by time, we will lack nothing. He is sufficient for all things and will provide for us.