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[00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, good morning, everybody. We're in that series 23 andme, where we're looking at the 23rd psalm. But before I get to that, I hope you had a wonderful week. This past week, the kids sent me out on a fishing trip with Joey, who is Whitney's father, my daughter in law's father. And so the two guys went out for a fishing trip. The kids did that for us for our Father's day. So we went out with Danny golden, who's a member of our church. He's a wonderful guide. If you're ever looking for somebody to take you for a great largemouth bass fishing experience, Danny's your man. So he takes us out. So we're fishing, we're having a great time. We're catching a lot of fish. All of a sudden, my back starts bothering me, right? So I'm fishing, I'm catching fish. My back's hurting. So I tell Danny, man, I gotta sit down. I gotta take a little break. So I sat down, and after a little while, you know, they're going on, not saying much. And Danny says, well, man, I've got something on the boat that might help you. And I said, what's that? He says, I have something called triactin. And I said, triactin? Really? Is it like a muscle relaxer? I mean, what is it? He goes, no, it's tractin like a man and get up and fish.
So I took some triactin and got up and fished.
But we had a great week. I hope you had a wonderful week. It's wonderful to see you. No better place to begin our day together, our week together, than here in the Lord's house, celebrating baptisms, enjoying and experiencing worship. And now to spend a few moments in God's word. You know, the 23rd psalm really opened in verse one where we talked about the shepherd's provision. The Lord is my shepherd, he said, therefore I shall not want whatever you need in your life. You'll find that answer in that relationship to the shepherd. So we talked about how the shepherd provides for his own. Last week, we took the next step in verse two. We talked about the shepherd's peace. How God can provide peace to his sheep. How? Sheep will not lie down unless they are free of anxiety. A sheep will not lie down unless it's free of fear. And so you and I cannot rest. We will not have peace as long as our lives are filled with anxiety and full of fear. And so, once we follow our shepherd and we press into the shepherd, he maketh us to lie down in those green pastures, and he leads us beside the still waters. And so the shepherd can give us peace. This week we're looking at verse three. And in verse three, I want us to consider the shepherd's protection. How the shepherd protects his own. Now, I told you before, sheep's, their natural defensive instinct is not fight, it's flight.
Sheep don't have the instinct that you and I have. Most of us have the fight or flight instinct when we're frightened or when we're threatened. Sheep are not that way. They have one instinct, and that's to run. And they will run. And so therefore, a sheep has to be protected. The shepherd's role in caring for the sheep, part of his role is to protect the sheep. Now, we'll say this about sheep. They are animals that feel safer in numbers, kind of like cattle or horses. They are herd animals. Well, sheep will flock together. They will come together, because there are. There is safety in numbers. And I think we would all agree you feel a little safer when you're around people. I was talking to Shannon the other night. She's picking Emma up from a volleyball practice. It was at night. And so I said, well, honey, have you parked close to the door? Yes. I said, are there other people around? Yes. Isn't that funny how you still do your kids that way, even after they're grown? They're like, dad, I've been alive a long time. I can do this. And I just felt better just knowing she was by a door and there were other people around. Because there is something to be said about safety in numbers. Well, sheep are made that way. Sheep are made with that instinct to flight. They'll run when they are threatened, and they feel much safer when they are in numbers. And so the under shepherd, or the shepherd's role is to make sure the sheep are protected. Now, I told you that one of the analogies the Bible uses to describe the role of a pastor, and it's certainly analogous to those of you who own businesses or you manage people, is that we shepherd the people who are under us, who we are responsible for. And in shepherding them, we are to nurture them, to guide them. The shepherd's staff has two purposes. One is the hook on the other end, the crooked end of the staff, and that is to pull a sheep back. The other end is the rod, which, when he rolls that around, it can be a club. It can be used as a defensive weapon against animals that would threaten the sheep. And sometimes it is used against a wayward sheep. The Bible. And we'll get into this as we talk about the psalm a little later on. If a sheep is prone to wonder, sometimes the shepherd will break the leg of the sheep to teach it a lesson, to bring it home. He'll then put the sheep on his shoulders and he'll carry that sheep back into the fold. Some of you have seen those images depicted. Artists have depicted the shepherd with the sheep as he's bringing the wayward sheep back home. Well, sometimes to get the sheep to comply, he has to break his leg. I don't know about you, I was one of those hard headed kids. I didn't always learn when I saw the light. I tended to learn when I felt the heat. It was all about motivation. And so God knows what gets to his sheep. He knows what his sheep needs. And the role of that shepherd is to oversee and take care of the sheep. Poimain is the greek word. And then I told you, the other word is episcopos. Episcopos. Episcopos. It is to be an overseer. You oversee. It doesn't mean you have to do everything. It means you have to see that everything gets done. You have a job like that. It doesn't require you to do all the things, but you are required to see that all things are done. It's a good manager. So it's poimein episcopos. And then the third one was presbuteros. Well, we get the word presbyterian or presbyterian from that word. It means to be mature. To be mature. It has nothing to do with age. It just means I am sober in my thinking. I make good judgment, good calls. You are mature, you think clearly. And those are requirements for an effective leader, and those are certainly biblical requirements for a pastor. Listen how Paul talks about this in acts 20, verse 27. Take heed to yourselves. Now he's speaking to pastors and to all the flock. The church is called a flock. All the flock which the Holy Spirit has made you, episcopos, overseers, to note. Now, shepherd the flock of God, because he said, after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and not spare the flock, the wolf is always at the door. So the shepherd's role is to protect the sheep. As an under shepherd, my role is to protect our church. One of the things we do is we try to protect the unity of the Holy Spirit within our church. Now, what a pastor cannot do and what a church cannot do is create unity.
You can't say those of you on row two, why don't you go meet the people in section four on row seven? You might have a lot in common. Why don't y'all try to, you know, find some connection there? You can't legislate unity. The Holy Spirit can take people who are very diverse, and they can cause very diverse people to have things in common and can unite those people under a common cause. We have the same holy spirit living within us. And so when the children of God, the spirit of God, connects within another child of God, there can be unity in the midst of diversity. The Bible doesn't say we all have to be alike or think alike or even look alike.
It's diversity of the Holy Spirit that the Bible speaks of there in Ephesians four. And so to be diverse means you bring to the table your uniqueness. You bring to the table everything God's created you to be, and you learn how to fellowship with other people. My point is, that is only something God can do. Only God can bring unity. Now, Ephesians four, when he's talking about the role of a pastor as an under shepherd, he says this. He says, keep the unity of the Holy Spirit. All right? And that's the role of the shepherd as a protector. I am to keep the church unified. And one of the ways you do it is you have to deal with dissension from time to time. Listen to what the Bible says. The Bible says, proverbs 22 ten, cast out the scorner, and contention will go out. You ever have a troublemaker on your job? Somebody that just creates problems with other people, they affect the chemistry of your team. Well, that's an important thing that you address that, and you have to fix it one or two ways. Are you ready for this? You have to fix it with a shot, or you have to fix it with a shot, but you have to deal with that because it can affect the unity of your team. And so the Bible is very implicit about that. In fact, he talks about in proverbs 619, the thing God hates, you want. One of the things he hates is someone who sows discord among other people. In other words, someone who doesn't unite people bring them together, but divides people. He pushes them apart. And so part of the role of an under shepherd in protecting is you have to watch out for those sorts of things. Another thing, first and second Timothy addressed in protecting the church. He talks about false teaching. One of the things a pastor has to be certain of is that a church is doctrinally sound, that we are biblically sound. And so that's why we try to base all of our teaching on God's word. We have to support what we're saying. If you hear me say something to your heart that I cannot support from the Bible, regard it as my opinion, and we all have opinions. But if I share something with you that I can support from scripture, it's no longer my opinion. Now it's something you need to take up with the God. So my job is to make sure that the teaching squares with God's word. I'll be responsible before God one day. I'll give an account for how I've handled that. So the role of an under shepherd is very important. It's not unlike the role of our God in protecting and watching over us. So now let's get to the heart of what we want to talk about. Psalm 23. Read these words with. I hope you're trying to memorize this psalm as we go through it. Let's read it aloud and together. Verse one. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Now, verse three again is the verse we're going to focus on where it speaks of the shepherd's protection. Now let me give you a complimentary passage. John ten is a beautiful complimentary passage because in John ten, Jesus is referred to himself as the good shepherd. And he talks a little more in detail about his role as a shepherd in John Ten. So let's pick that up in verse eleven where Jesus said again, I am the good shepherd. And notice, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. In other words, a good shepherd is willing to die for the benefit of his sheep. In fact, jesus did die for his sheep. So the good shepherd is willing to lay down his life for a sheep. But notice how he contrasts that in verse twelve. A hireling. A hireling who is not the shepherd, who does not own the sheep, will see the wolf coming. He'll lead the sheep and run, and the wolf will then catch the sheep and scatter them verse 13. The hireling flees because he is a hireling. He doesn't care for the sheep. Now, he contrasts the good shepherd to a hireling. It's somebody that's hired in, but they're not bought in. It's somebody you bring in to your organization that doesn't really love your organization. They're just there for the paycheck. It's somebody that's not there for the betterment of everyone else or the betterment of the overall institution. They're there for the betterment of themselves. And he contrasts the role of a hireling. And he said, they can happen in ministry, they can happen in business. You get people who don't care about the company, they don't care about other people. They're in it for themselves. Narcissistic, egotistic, entitled. You ever run into one like that? And so he's saying, this is the hireling. The shepherd is willing to do what is best for the sheep, what is best for the company, what is best for the overall organization, even if they have to sacrifice themselves in order to do it. And so Jesus is contrasting this here in verse 14. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. I'm known by my sheep as the father knows me. Even so, I know the father. And he said this, I lay down my life for my sheep. So the shepherd will protect his sheep, even if it means giving up his life. Now let me share four quick things, four ways whereby the shepherd protects us, and then we'll go home. Number one, the shepherd protects his sheep with his Providence over them. His providence over them. Providence is not a word that really belongs down here. Providence is a word that belongs more up there. It is a word we speak of when we speak of God. He's providential. Now, what do we mean by that word? I've given this to you before, but let me share it again. Providence comes from two words, pro video. Pro video. It means to be able to see ahead. I don't have that benefit. You don't either. Wouldn't it be nice sometimes to be able to see ahead? We don't know that. How do we live life? We live life a frame at a time, a day at a time. The Bible says in the 119th psalm, thy word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path. If you've ever walked anywhere with a lantern, you know it will only illuminate a few feet in front of you. It won't show you a long way down the trail. It'll just light up. Where to place your next step. That's life. We live life a day at a time step, time frame at a time. But God isn't that way. The Bible says, concerning God, he said, I'm the alpha and the omega. I'm the engine and the caboose. I'm the God that sees what was, what is, and what will be. I work in Providence. I have the ability to see ahead. That's why we have to trust our shepherd, because he knows what lies ahead. God works in our lives through Providence. I told you last week, he doesn't cause everything that we go through to happen, but he allows all things that we go through to happen. He has a purpose. Romans 828 says, we know with confidence that all things will ultimately work together for good. He didn't say all things were good. He said all things ultimately will work together for good. To those that love God and those who are called to his purpose, God is a God of providence. He has the ability to see ahead. David or Joe, brother, in considering his life, said this about God. He said, he knows the way that I'm going. And when he has tried me, when I've gone through this experience and I come out on the other side, I will come forth. He said as gold. Job didn't understand all that he had gone through. It didn't make fair. It wasn't fair, it didn't make sense. God did not even explain himself to job. But Job had confidence that God is a God of providence. And when I get through what I'm going through, I'm going to be better for the experience because God can be trusted. So I'm suggesting to your heart this morning that whatever you're going through today, God is providential. He's ahead of it. He knows where you are. He knows where you're going. That's why verse three opens with this confidence. He restoreth.
Now that's a beautiful phrase when you think about it. The idea of having your soul restored is something that means something to you. If you've ever had your soul crushed, if you've ever had your heart broken, if you've gone through grief or you've gone through sorrow or you've gone through loss, you've suffered with death or disease or divorce, you've gone through something devastating in your life. It is a soul crushing experience. And the Bible is saying concerning the shepherd, the shepherd restores my soul. What does that word restore means? It means to reset. In Galatians six, verse one, the Bible says, if any of you are overcome in a fault those of you then who are spiritual, restore that one. It's the idea of resetting a bone. Restoring is resetting a bone. I don't know if you've ever broken a bone, but if you've ever broken a bone, you want the people who are resetting that bone to be gentle. You want them to be very compassionate, you want them to know what they're doing. That's why in Galatians six one, he said, those of you who are spiritual, restore that one. You're going to be sensitive and you're going to care about the care of the person that you are helping. But the part of the role of a church, part of the role of a shepherd is to find people who have been crushed by life, by life's experience, and put them on a path so that God can restore, he can reset their soul. And for a period of time, I've talked about this, you may have to go through ICU. Once you've been hurt and devastated, there may be a time when you are not able to function. I get that we have broken people coming to our church all the time. And I love them, I relate to them, I understand them now probably in this season of life more than ever. And I'm just suggesting you the last place on the earth, and I'm the last person on earth who's going to be hard on someone who's been broken. Sometimes people need to come and just sit and listen. They don't need to come and engage and do. Now, if you're at a point where you're healthy and you're ready to engage, we want you to do that. Because part of the role of ICU, you know, what it is, is to get you out of ICU.
They want you in there so they can get you out of there, treat them and street them. I mean, they want to get you healthy, they want to get you on your feet, because Icu is a place, if you don't get out of there, you can die in there, believe me. So it's necessary, but it's a temporary necessity. It's not a permanent place to reside. And so when you go into ICu, you've gone through something in your life. You may have to come to a church like this and set for a while and just allow the worship and allow the message and allow the spirit of God to heal and restore your soul. And it takes different times of that for different people. Some people, they get rid of their soul restored quicker than others. Some people, it takes longer than others. And I don't care how long it takes. I just hope you keep coming. And I hope you allow God to restore your soul. Allow him to reset you. Allow him to put the broken pieces of your life back together. Because he's providential. He has a plan for you. He's your shepherd. He's willing to give his life. In fact, he gave his life for you. And so part of the ministry of our shepherd is to restore our soul. 1875. Fanny Crosby wrote these words all the way. My savior leads me. What have I to ask? Beside can I doubt his faithful mercies, who through life has been my guide? She recognized God was guiding her, and God was governing over her, and God was providing for her through his providence. So, you see, he protects us with his providence over them. Number two, he'll protect us by his presence among them. Not only does the shepherd look out in the future and he sees what's best for his sheep, he also walks among them. He also identifies with them. The shepherd never takes his eyes off of his sheep. One of the most comforting passages I've shared with you, and I share it with you. Because if it helped me, I hope it can help you, is in Hebrews, chapter 13 five, where the Bible says, God has promised, I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you. And then the next verse says, therefore, we will not fear. And I'm suggesting to your heart that his presence among us takes away the fear. His presence among us gives us courage to face whatever tomorrow will hold. He said, I will not leave you, and I will not forsake you. It almost sounds redundant when you read those words, leave and forsake. But there is a difference and a distinction within the words. To leave means to remove his presence from you. To forsake means to emotionally disconnect from you. And you can be physically connected to someone you are emotionally disconnected to. You can be emotionally connected to someone you're not physically connected to. And God says, when it comes to you, you're his sheep, you're his child. He said, I will never remove my presence from you. And I will never emotionally disconnect from you. I will never leave you. He said, I will never forsake you. Now the hireling will leave when the threat comes and the fear comes. The hireling's gone. He's the first one out the door. But Jesus said, I am the good shepherd, and I will not leave you. So you have the presence of God among you. You may not always feel his presence, but it's there. Why? He said, I'll never leave you. He's promised that he cannot lie. Just because you can't feel him doesn't mean he's not there. Have you gone through experiences in life where you just didn't feel God? You know, emotions are important, but they're probably the shallowest part of our life. That's why it's doubtful, listen. That God will do the deepest work in the shallowest part of our life. Emotions are important, but be careful living too heavily on your emotion. Be careful making emotional decisions because you are more than your emotion. God made you with a will, he made you with a mind, and he did make us with emotion. Emotions are important. They're so important, and we need to feel what we're feeling when we feel it. But you need to be healthy emotionally. You need to have a high EQ as well as an IQ.
And I'm saying emotions are important, but be careful making decisions based on your emotion. Martin Luther once said, feelings come and feelings go, but feelings are deceiving. He said, my warrant is God's word, not else is worth believing. So you have to make sure the facts line up with your emotion, what you're feeling, because you can feel anything. You can feel things sometimes that aren't even real when you're feeling them. And so here it is, a strong encouragement to us that we have emotions. Be careful not to make our decisions based on those emotions. So the shepherd is so good to have his presence, even when we don't feel him. His presence is among us because his word, the facts of his word, says, he's there. I'll go. Let me go this far. When you can't see him at work, he's still working. When you don't know what he's doing in your life, he's still doing something. When you don't think he's active, he's active. In your life. He is constantly at work. The beautiful psalm said, he who keeps you will neither slumber nor will he sleep. The God that watches over you doesn't take naps, he doesn't disengage, he doesn't take time away. You are in his mind, you are on his heart. We are in his hand. And the shepherd's presence among us will never go away. So how does he protect us? Well, he protects us by his providence over us, by his presence among us. Number three. He protects us with his partition around them, the fencing, the fold, that which he surrounds us with, it is our protection. I will say it this way, the shepherd will always shelter, he will always shelter his sheep. Listen to Psalm 91, verse four. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. I remember years ago reading about forest rangers, and they were going after the fire. They had gotten it under control. They were going, looking for hot spots. And these rangers would take a stick, kind of a probe, and they would probe hotspots because they didn't want that fire to regenerate and to start over again. And so one of the forest rangers came to a tree, a large tree that had burned. It was just still smoldering. And they saw a bird at the foot of the tree, and the bird had her wings cupped, and she was obviously dead. And he took his stick and he just poked the little bird and out from under her wings ran these little baby birds. And that Mama bird had cupped those wings and protected her babies from the fire and paid her life to make sure that her babies could live. Every time I read the verse, I think about that mama bird, that God will cover us with his wings. He took the fire, the wrath of God's judgment on the cross. He took the payment of sin for us so that you and I could go to the cross and be covered by forgiveness, by the grace of God, never to face the fires of God's wrath, because Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. So how does God protect us with his partition around us? Now? When I think about partition, one of the things I think about is the church. The church is a partition. It is a safe place. And remember, sheep are flock animals. Sheep feel safer in numbers. Sheep have that instinct to come together. And one of the great values of the church when we gather is we can encourage one another, we can pray for one another. We're not all going through the same thing, but everybody's going through something.
We're all broken over something. And one of the great things about a church is we can find protection, we can find encouragement. We can find the energy and the direction that we need to face a brand new week. And so God has given us the church as a flock, as a place to gather. Another word the Bible uses describe a church is a fellowship. A fellowship where metroport city's fellowship. We're a fellowship. It's where people have something in common with one another, and we are enjoying fellowship. A psychologist watched these porcupines. He talked about these porcupines on a cold night. He said these porcupines would come together because it was cold and they would begin to get close to one another, and they would huddle with one another because the cold was forcing them to touch each other and to be a part of each other until it started warming up. And he said when it started warming up, he noticed that the porcupine's quills would come out and they would drive each other away from one another. And then because of the cold, they're forced back in together. And so to keep warm and to keep safe and to stay alive, they've got to stay together with each other. He said. In observing that, he said, that looks like christians, he said, we're forced together because we have no choice. We got to survive. But the minute, all of a sudden, we realize somebody's in my space, somebody knows a little too much about me, somebody's a little too. Out comes the quills and we go, whoa, wait a minute. I've been burned. I'm not getting burned again. I've had a church experience, and I'm not having another one of those. Well, I'll tell you this morning, if you hadn't been hurt in church, you just didn't go long enough. Everybody's got a church experience. I've got one. And I'm just suggesting to your heart, at some point, you have to see the value of it more than the risks that you have of being associated with it. And realize the Bible says God loved the church and gave himself for it. And he instructs us in Hebrews, don't forsake the assembling. We need this assembly. We need this encouragement that we get from the church. And I suggest it's one of the petitions that God places around us. He says the church is a flock. The church is a fellowship. He says the third word. The church is a family. A church is a family. That's why in my tradition, when I grew up, we call people brother sister and brother so and so and sister so and so. Now, we don't do that now. But if you grew up in a more conservative, traditional church, like I did, that was kind of our tradition, and you just called them brother and sister because that's just how we grew up, knowing one another. We're brothers and sisters in Christ. So a church is a flock, and it's a fellowship. A church is a family. A church is a place where we can belong, and it's something God has left here on this earth, though it's imperfect. The only thing perfect. Let me. The only thing perfect about a church is we serve a perfect savior and we preach from a perfect Bible. Everything else is just three steps forward and two steps back. We don't have a perfect pastor. We don't have per. I would tell you this morning, if you're looking for a perfect church, if you find it, don't join it. You'll mess that thing up.
Every church has its problems, and if you think a church is perfect, you hadn't gone there long enough to figure it out. All of them have problems. They have strengths and weaknesses. So you just join and you just say, here's the deciding factor. Is this where God wants me to be? And if God wants you to be there, just come on. You know, that's where I tell people I love. We have so many families that come to our church each weekend looking for a church home. I love that. But I always tell them, you need to follow the leadership of God. You'll know when you know. And you may not know right away, or you may know right away, but if God is telling you to be a part of that church, you will not make a mistake. We're not in competition with other churches. It's not, you know, it's not. If we go and they, we pull one from there, they pull one from here, we're better. No, we don't even think that way. We want you. I want you to be where God wants you to be. That's the bottom line. Where you can serve and grow and enjoy fellowship with one another, be a part of a family, because it is God's partition around us to protect us. Here's the fourth thing. Not only his partition around them, but fourth and final, his power. His power before them. His power before them. The shepherd is always watching for the wolf. I said a moment ago, there's always a wolf at the door. And the devil is constantly trying to seek and destroy those who are seeking after God. I've shared this with you before, but the devil has two strategies. Two strategies. They're pretty simple. Number one is to keep you away from God. That's number one. He tries to keep you away from God. He doesn't want you to have a relationship with God because that's the only thing that makes the difference in eternity. What makes the difference in eternity is not where you go to church. It is not what religion you ascribe to. It is not the baptistry, as important as that is. It's the first step of obedience for a child of God. But the baptistry does not mean that I'm saved. You go down a wet center, you come up, I'm sorry, you go down a dry center, you come up a wet one. It is a step of obedience. There's nothing salvific about that water. That's Fort Worth water.
There's nothing in that water that's going to save your soul. We do it because Jesus did it, and he told us to follow his example in baptism. It is an outward testimony of an inward transaction. When I go down into the water, it pictures his death. When I go under the water, it pictures his burial. When I come up out of the water, it pictures his resurrection. But you can be saved and never be baptized. You can thief on the cross today, Jesus said. He didn't say, we gotta get off this cross. I get you baptized. He said, today you will be with me in paradise. So I'm suggesting the most important decision you'll ever make. The most important decision you'll ever make is the decision to trust Jesus. The devil knows that. So if he can keep you away from Jesus, that's all he wants to do. Now, if he can't keep you away and you trust Jesus, you place your faith in him. The second part of the strategy is to try to keep you from ever making a difference for Jesus, because God designed you with a purpose. The purpose, the primary purpose for every Christ follower is to bring him glory. What does that mean? That sounds a little Christianese. Let me explain it. To bring God glory means to be a reflection of who he is. A reflection of who he is. In ephesians three, it says unto him, be glory in the church. That means when a church collectively is showing a little bit about who God is, the church collectively brings him glory. When through my life, I'm bringing God glory, that means people are able to see a little bit of who God is in and through my life. When I'm forgiving, when I'm loving, when I'm accepting, when I'm sharing, when I'm willing to sacrifice for the benefit of other people, that's a little bit of who God is. When I can go through something and come out on the other side stronger, that's a little bit of who God is. And sooner or later, somebody's going to see the difference in your life and they're going to know there's something about you that's different. When that starts happening, that's because your life is bringing him glory. That's the primary purpose he's left us here. And then the other purpose he's left us here is to fulfill his will in and through our life. God has a will for you. Some of you, you are in a work, you're in a career, you're in a profession. You're touching lives that I'll never touch, you know, people that I'll never meet. And God has strategically placed you in the world. The Bible says to be salt and to be light. So if the devil can keep you from doing those things, that's the second purpose of his life, of him in your life. So the wolf, I'm suggesting, is always at the door. And so Jesus power is constantly fighting off the power of the enemy. In fact, in two Thessalonians, chapter three, verse three, the Bible says, God is faithful. He will establish you listen, he will guard you against the evil one. Now jump back in verse three again and let me close with this. He said, what he will do with his power is he will lead me to green pastures. He will lead me beside still waters. Now, sheep have no idea where to find green pasture. They have no idea how to find still water. But the power of God, the providence of God, the presence of God, can bring the sheep to a place where they can be replenished and they can be helped and they can be protected. In fact, there's a beautiful psalm. I love it. In psalm 32, verse eight, the Bible says, God will guide us with his eye. Guides us with his eye.
The best illustration I can give you of being guided with an eye. If you're in a relationship, especially if you've been married very long, you have been guided with an eye. If you had good parents in your life, at some point you were guided with an eye. Let me illustrate it this way. Cindy and I would go to dinner with couples from time to time. And guys, have you ever had this experience where you felt led to share a story about something funny that you thought she did, and you didn't actually ask her permission before the story, and you just started sharing it. And in the midst of the story, it might be something that could be embarrassing about her, but it was so funny that the funny part of your brain overrode the logical part of your brain, and you thought, I'm gonna share it anyway. Okay. Many, many, I'm a stupid man. I'm just telling you some of my experiences.
So I'm sharing this story. I'm laughing. It was so funny, I thought. And the other couple are laughing, anticipating how the story is going to end. And all of a sudden, I looked at Cindy and I caught her eye.
Should I say she caught my eye? And in that moment, all of a sudden, my brain is telling me abort the mission.
Whatever it takes, abort this mission. Somehow in the story where you are the butt of the story and she's not. So my mind's going, how am I going to, you know, all this kind of thing? And I'm just saying that what they do is they guide you with their eye. Have you ever had that with your parents, where your parents could just look at you and you go, uh oh. My dad was a pastor. I used to sit on the front row, not because I inspired him, but because he couldn't trust me any further back than the front row. Sat on the front row. Sometimes I'll tell you about shooting spitwads at him while he preached. That's a whole other story.
But I'd sat on the front row, and when he'd be up here, that old traditional church, the pastors would sit on the platform. You know, you've seen that. And he was sat on the platform. I'm on the front row, and somebody might be up giving a testimony or singing a solo, and I'm bored out of my mind. I'm looking for something to do, and so I'm sitting on the front row. My dad would look at me. It's like a third base coach, you know? He'd look at me and he'd nod his head at me, and then he'd look at the speaker. I knew what that meant. Pay attention. If I was chewing gum, he'd touch his mouth. That means lose the gum. If he straightened himself up in his seat, that means I need to set up straighter. I'm slouching.
If he. What was the other signal? I don't remember bunt or steel, but I do remember those.
What's my point? My point is I knew my dear old dad, and he had a way of guiding me with his eye. What's the point of the psalm? The point of the psalm is when you're in a relationship with God, you sense what he wants you to do. He can literally guide his kids with his eye. In other words, you say, well, I'm not sure. Well, just trust your heart. God will guide you as you lean into him. He knows how to guide you with his eye. He will lead you to the green pastures. He leads you beside the still waters. The Bible says, he leads me in paths of righteousness. What does that expression mean? That means right living. That means the right path. God will put me on a path. It doesn't mean that it's easy. It doesn't mean the path is always, you know, not fraught with danger or fear, but it's the right path for my life. So as I'm trusting my shepherd, he will lead me in the paths of righteousness. And why does he do it all? He does it for his name's sake. He does it because we belong to him. He does it because he loves us. And he will not leave us. No. One day in heaven, no angel will ever say, one of those sheep are missing down there because they wandered away. The shepherd won't let that happen. No angel in heaven will ever look out and say, one of God's sheep are missing because they made some mistake and God just let them go. That will never happen. Let me tell you how firmly I believe that the shepherd loves his sheep and we are as sure for heaven as though we're already there. I believe if once in heaven, we were to get there with the unnumbered multitudes of people who will be there, and God would look out across that vast multitude of people singing and giving him praise, and all of a sudden he realizes you're not there.
You're not there.
You're one of his kids that placed your faith and trust in him, but you're not there. You know what I believe? I believe God would bankrupt heaven and put the angels on half ration before he'd leave one of his kids behind. Says he'll leave the 99 and he'll go find the one that has gone astray. What a great protection that we have with our shepherd. Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you, Father, that we always find encouragement when we open it and we read it. And I pray this morning that now that we've heard your word, that we won't just absorb it, but instead we'll consider it and act on it. As James said, not just be a hearer, but a doer. So, Father, I pray that your word would penetrate our mind and heart. I pray we'll take something away from this service that will help us be more effective this week, to love our families more, to do better in the things that you've called us to do. Thank you for those, Father, who followed you in baptism and those in the next service that will follow. Thank you for the worship. Father, you are a gracious and you are a loving shepherd and we're grateful for the protection that you provide. And finally, Lord, I pray for any of my friends this morning or those watching online who may never have trusted you. I pray this might be the moment they humble their heart and they pray. A simple prayer like this and say, Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, be a reality in my life, and I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
