I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside still quiet waters.
He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths
of righteousness for his namesake. Even though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I 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 have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows.
Surely, goodness and loving kindness will follow
me all the days of my life. I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Let's go to the Lord
in prayer. Father, we come to you this Lord's
Day, and as we approach your... Holy Word. Father,
we ask today that your Spirit would bless the
ministry of your Word. Father, the Spirit of
God would accompany the ministry of the Word
of God to work in the people of God. Lord, that
you would use it to sanctify, edify, and build
up. But Father, we also ask that you would use
it to draw men unto yourself. to convert lost
sinners who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ
by faith and repentance. Father, we ask that
you would be with us at this time because we
recognize that if you are not in our midst, that
if the Spirit of God does not accompany the ministry
of your Word, then Lord, everything we say and
everything we do is in vain. But Lord, if you
bless it, if your Spirit uses it, Then, Father,
we will be encouraged and strengthened and edified
and built up. We will grow. We will be nourished.
Father, we ask these things in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. There are some individuals
who I think most people would recognize are more
inclined to fall to extremes, either to the left
or to the right. in whatever it might be in life.
It could be hobbies, it could be family issues,
it could be any number of things. But I think
that there's a tendency in every person, to a
degree, to fall to the right or fall to the left
and to be unbalanced, in a sense, in their life
with regards to any number of things. We could
think about Christianity in general. We could
think about the Christian life or church life
in general. Some might be more inclined to what
we would call personal Christianity. A personal
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Others...
might be more inclined to corporate Christianity,
such as corporate gatherings and church life
and corporate activities. Now, there's extremes
on both sides. The Bible teaches us, and what
we need, and what I hope we learn from this text
today, Is that we need a balance between these
two. And that they're not in opposition to one
another. But they're actually meant to complement.
And they're designed to aid one another. We need
to be believers who have a vital personal communion
and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Personal
Christianity. But we also must be believers who
are involved in the corporate life of the church.
So we give ourselves to corporate Christianity.
When those two come together, Christians will
be what they ought to be. They will grow. They
will be sanctified. They will be mortifying sin.
They will be growing in grace. This is the design
that God has given to us as believers. If you
just take one, then you're going to be an unhealthy
Christian. If you just take the other, you're
going to be an imbalanced Christian. We need
to bring both together. We're going to consider
two things today that will contribute to our
understanding. The first is the one or the Lord
who relates to David as a shepherd. We read in
Psalm 23 .1, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. Then we read at the end of verse 6,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
So the one that relates to David as a shepherd,
the Lord. And then the second thing we're going
to consider is the personal sense in which the
Lord relates to David and the personal sense
in which David relates to the Lord. Because we
read in this text, the Lord is my shepherd. The
text does not say the Lord is a shepherd, or
the shepherd, or your shepherd, but the Lord
is my shepherd. So there's a personal aspect
that's vital for our understanding of true Christianity.
So first, the Lord who relates to David as a
shepherd. Notice that David addresses, The Lord,
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Not
capital L and lowercase o -r -d, but all capitals.
He's addressing the Lord God. The personal name
of God. One of the things that... we see throughout
the scriptures, old and new, is that the authors
were very specific and very cautious in how they
addressed God. And how they related to the living
God. And how they handled His name. And how they
handled... his works, or how they handled his
word. Why are the authors like this? Why are
they so specific? Why does he say L -O -R -D
capital and not minuscule? Because the Lord has
revealed himself uniquely and distinctly and
specifically in this way. And they're cautious
to address him in this way. This name or title
for God carries with it the idea that he is the
sovereign, self -existent, all -sufficient God
that always has been and always will be. If you
would, turn with me to Exodus chapter 3. In Exodus
chapter 3, we're shown the significance of the
name. The significance of the name and the way
that David is addressing the Lord. In Exodus
3, we'll go ahead and read a few different portions
of this text. In verse 10 we read, Therefore
come now, I will send you to Pharaoh, so that
you may bring my people, the sons of Israel,
out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I
that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should
bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? And he
said, Certainly I will be with you. And this
shall be the sign when you have brought the people
out of Egypt. You shall worship God at this mountain.
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? 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. God furthermore
said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the sons
of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name
forever. And this is my memorial name to all
generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel
together and say to them, The Lord, the God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, I am indeed
concerned about you and what has been done to
you in Egypt. Now, in this text, there's a few
significant things that are taking place. We
have the Lord specifically identifying himself
as I am. This means that he always has been and
he always was and he always will be. That he's
infinite, that he's eternal, that he's not dependent
or he's not contingent on anything outside of
himself. That everything else depends upon him.
He is the eternally existent God. the one being
that always has been and always will be, but
it also emphasizes his sovereignty, his power,
and his might. But in the same breath, we find
that this sovereign God is the one who is redeeming
Israel and bringing them out of Egypt. So the
God who is eternally self -existent and the all
-sufficient Lord is a redeeming God. Is a God
who buys back His people out of the bondage of
slavery and brings them out to worship Him. He's
a redeeming, covenant -keeping God. And He even
relates back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's
the God that keeps His promises. So when we see,
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, we
should think big, sovereign, self -existent,
all -sufficient God. But we should also think
redeeming, gracious, saving, promise -keeping,
covenant -keeping God. Now, as we consider the
fact that David is addressing the Lord as his
shepherd. We can come to certain conclusions
about how David is thinking about his shepherd.
If he's addressing the Lord as his shepherd,
brothers and sisters, what is the character and
the nature of the one who treats him as a sheep
in his flock? This means that David's shepherd
is the divine shepherd. The sovereign shepherd.
The all -knowing shepherd. The all -powerful
shepherd, brothers and sisters. The omnipresent
shepherd. The infinite and eternal shepherd.
This is who David is addressing as his shepherd
in this text. The God who is eternally self -existent.
And all sufficient. But also the God who redeems.
The God who saves. The God who brings his people
out of Egypt. And keeps his word. What are the
implications on that? For how the Lord is a shepherd.
And how the Lord shepherds his people. We could
think about this by. considering an example of
a human shepherd and the limitations and the
inadequacies of a human shepherd. We think about
David himself, a great man, a godly man that
the Lord used, a man after God's own heart. But
David was just a man, wasn't he, brothers and
sisters? He could only be in one place at one
time. When he was out shepherding his sheep,
when he was out protecting his sheep, he only
had so much strength. He only had so much time
and energy. He could only see so far. He only
knew so much about his flock. He only knew so
many things about the individual sheep. He may
or may not know the need of... the individual,
particular, unique sheep, because he may not
have seen it. He may not have recognized it.
But what about the divine shepherd? What about
the sovereign shepherd? What are the implications
on the fact that it is the Lord who is the shepherd
of his people? Does he have those limitations,
brothers and sisters? Does he need to sleep and
slumber? Does he need to rest and go down to
bed at night? Does he need to lay down and rest
in the midst of the sheep? Our shepherd does
not sleep. Our shepherd does not sleep. Is he
limited with regards to what he knows and what
he doesn't know with regards to the life of his
people? Are there certain things that... escape
his view in their life. No. He's the all -knowing
shepherd. He can lead his people into the right
pastures, brothers and sisters. Why? Because
he knows the right pastures perfectly. He can
provide for his people. Why? Because he's the
sovereign shepherd who is all -powerful and has
all might. There are many implications on this
reality. But it kind of leads us to a question.
If David is addressing the Lord as his shepherd,
and he says that the Lord relates to him as his
shepherd, it brings us to a question, and some
might be tempted to think this in their life,
and I'm sure that many of us have asked this
in our lives. all -knowing, sovereign, self -existent,
all -sufficient God who redeemed the nation of
Israel out of Egypt, can He really and does He
really relate to me individually? Does He really
know my situation? Does He know my struggles
and my difficulties and my hardship? Can I really
relate personally to such a mighty God? Or is
He too big? Is He too expansive? Does He really
care about my situation? Does He really care
about my life? Does He really care about the
difficulties, the struggles, the trials, the
hardships? That I am personally going through
in life. My family. As an individual sheep. Maybe.
He just relates generally and broadly. To all
the people of God. Corporately in a sense. Broadly.
To the church in the world. But not individually.
After all. The Bible. does clearly teach this,
that God relates as a shepherd to the whole flock
of God. That's a biblical truth. We need to understand
that and grasp that. We could look at a couple
different verses. We can look at Psalm 78. Psalm
78, verse 52. And we read these words. But he
led forth his own people like sheep and guided
them in the wilderness like a flock. He's talking
about the whole nation. All the people of God.
His own people. He's talking about the flock
in general. We could look at Psalm chapter 80.
Verse 1. O give ear, shepherd of Israel. You
who lead Joseph like a flock, you who are enthroned
above the cherubim, shine forth. He's the shepherd
of Israel, the nation, the whole people. These
verses teach us that he clearly and obviously
relates to the people of God as a national group
in the Old Testament in particular. In the New
Testament, the church is called a spiritual group.
So maybe God still only relates to his people
in this broad, general, group, national sense.
There's other texts like Jeremiah 31 .10 or Ezekiel
34 which clearly indicate that God relates to
his people in this non -personal sense. But that
brings us back to our original question. Does
the Lord relate to me? In my life? In my situation?
Does he relate to each individual saint that
he has saved through the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ? This leads us to the second thing we
have to consider this morning. The personal sense.
In which the Lord relates to David as a shepherd.
Now in this psalm. Consider several things. We
read the Lord is my shepherd. David says that
God relates personally to him. And that David
relates personally to the Lord. But let's read
through the rest of the psalm. And think about
the personal. pronouns in the psalm. I shall
not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores
my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. Even though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I 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 have anointed
my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness
and loving kindness will follow me all the days
of my life. And I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. Psalm 23 is very, very clear,
brothers and sisters. That David can relate to
the living God in a personal sense, and that
the living God does relate to this one man in
a personal, individual sense. It's not merely
a corporate identity or corporate relationship,
but it is an individual dealing that the sovereign
God has with David himself. God still has personal
dealings with his people. It's so clear in this
psalm. There's two aspects involved in this personal
sense in which the Lord relates to David as a
shepherd. The first is this. The Lord relates
to David. As a shepherd individually. Meaning,
he's not relating to all the people of God. He's
relating to David as an individual. We think
about this. This must mean that God is relating,
he's providing, he's guiding, he's directing
David as a person. As a man. As an individual
who believes in the promises of God. He knows
his heart. He knows David's mind. He knows David's
thoughts. He knows all about David's inner life.
But it's not just David. It's David's life. That's
everything that we see in this text. That God
knows his struggles. His difficulties. His valleys
and his green pastures. He knows his needs as
a person. As a man. He knows his struggles. He
knows his hardships. We could look at Psalm 139.
If you have time, I would encourage anyone just
to... meditate and dwell on Psalm 139 for a good
portion of time to find hope, encouragement,
conviction, and challenge in their own Christian
life. Listen to these words in Psalm 139. Oh
Lord, you have searched me and known me. Immediately.
There is absolutely nothing impersonal about
that statement. God has searched the depths of
David's heart. He has searched his motives, his
intents, his desires, his longings, and God has
in fact known David in the deepest parts of his
being. You know when I sit down and when I rise
up. You understand my thought from afar. You
scrutinize my path and my lying down and are
intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even
before there is a word on my tongue, behold,
O Lord, you know it all. The Lord knows. You
have enclosed me behind and before. and your
hand is upon me. The Lord knows the individual
hearts and minds and situations of each individual
sheep in the flock of God. That means that he
intimately understands every situation that his
people go through. It's as though He only knows
yours. It's that personal. It's that individual.
It's as though He only knows your life, your
heart, your situation, and nobody else's. But
because He is the Divine Shepherd, He does in
fact know all His people's persons and their
lives, their hearts and their minds. and their
paths and their ways and their lives. This is
the hope of Psalm 23, is it not, brothers and
sisters? This is where we find comfort and strength
and boldness in our lives from this psalm. The
fact that God doesn't just know everybody's heart
and mind and life and situation. He doesn't just
lead all men. He doesn't just lead Bob down the
road. He doesn't just lead the person sitting
next to me. But if a person has faith in Christ,
you can find hope and comfort in the fact that
the living God knows your situation. Your heart
and the things that you wrestle with. But that
also means, brothers and sisters, that He knows
your sin. That He knows Your temptations, your
inclinations, your desires, your longings, nothing
is hid from this great God. Nothing is kept back.
Nobody can stay His hand or cover His face. He
knows it all, brothers and sisters, yet. He is
your shepherd. So there's this personal sense
in which the Lord relates. To David. And this
is the basis for all our hope. And our confidence
and comfort in this psalm. But there's another
sense. And it's this. That David relates personally
to the Lord. As his shepherd. Now consider a
few observations from this text. In this text.
David is speaking. Of his own situation. His
own life. From his own lens. And he's conscious
of his own need for the Lord in his presence.
But also I think it's important for us to grasp
this. It's as though it's just the Lord and David.
There's no other actors in this song. It's just
God and David. So when David says, I will walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, he's
speaking of himself. It's not somebody else that
he's referencing. It's a personal act on his
part. He's using his mind to think about the
Lord and his provision, his guidance and his
direction. He's using his will that he will determine
that he will walk in these periods in his life.
He will be led. He is the one that is assured
and confident of the Lord's blessings and the
Lord's favor upon him in life and death by the
quiet waters and in the dark valleys. It's personal
on the part of David. Seeing this and understanding
this, we must conclude that David relates personally
to the Lord in faith or by faith. The way that
David relates to a personal God is through personal
faith in that God. Throughout his life. And in
the various situations in his life. David. In
David we see. A whole souled devotion. Submission.
Reception. And exception. Acceptance. Of the
Lord's plans. The Lord's purposes. And the Lord's
provision in his life. This is David. receiving,
submitting, and giving himself to the Lord who
is the shepherd of his life. It's faith, brothers
and sisters. But we also see that in David, there
is a personal, justifying, saving, active faith
that is determined to walk with God in all of
life. single situation. And then, we also find
in this psalm that it's not just that it's an
active faith in the Lord as His shepherd, but
He has the assurance of faith in His life as
well. We read this in verse 6. Surely, goodness
and loving kindness Will follow me all the days
of my life. We also read in verse 5. Or verse
4. Your rod and your staff. They comfort me.
David has an assurance in his heart. In his mind
he's been persuaded. And convinced. Of the goodness
of God. And the Lord's faithfulness toward him.
And he knows it. There's no doubt whatsoever
in his heart. He is assured that God has been
good to him and that the Lord will continue to
be good to him all the days of his life. So when
we think about this personal sense, I want us
to understand that God relates individually to
his people. but also that each individual who
knows the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and repentance
will personally exercise faith toward God or
the Lord as their shepherd. There's this mutual
relationship that's present in the two. So if
you are here today and you are in Christ, You
have turned from your sins and you have trusted
in Jesus Christ as the good shepherd who laid
down his life and took it back up again of his
own authority. If you are here today and you
believe that, be comforted. Be strengthened.
Because the Lord knows your heart, your mind,
your life, your situation, your struggles, your
hardships, your trials, and everything about
you, brothers and sisters. And the promises in
Psalm 23 are personally for you as a believer
in Jesus Christ. Every single one. This means
that you can take it and we can say you will
not want. You will not need. We can apply Psalm
23 in such a way that it says He will make you
lie down in green pastures. He will lead you.
beside quiet waters and so on. You can have comfort
in your situations because of his rod and his
staff, because these are personal promises to
individuals, not just the church corporately
or as a whole. He knows your habits, your struggles.
He knows your sinful patterns in life. He knows
the temptations in your life which tend to grasp
your heart a little bit more. He knows your proclivities
in life. He knows your family situation. He knows
them all, but he's committed, because of the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, to shepherding
you through them. He will not desert you. And
He will not forsake you because of the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ for God's people. But we
also learn and we understand it's not just that
God relates to the believer. We've seen clearly
in this text that true Christianity will always
be personal. Christianity. Every single time.
You cannot be a born again believer if you have
not personally been changed and transformed by
the Spirit of God. You cannot be a believer if
you have not personally received a new nature.
If you have not been called by the Good Shepherd.
If you have not heard His voice. then you cannot
be a child of God. True Christianity is never
less than personal. It will always be something
that is enjoyed and experienced in the soul of
a man or a woman, personally, brothers and sisters.
Now, when we consider that, why must it be personal?
Because in a sense, when a person comes to faith,
their Christianity becomes a part of them. It's
not like it's something they take or leave. They
want it, they don't have it. Their Christianity,
the work of the gospel, becomes a part of them
that they can't shake. That they can't get rid
of. Because God does a work in your life. He
gives you faith and repentance. The Spirit of
God dwells within you. So it will always be personal,
brothers and sisters. But because of this, that
will also mean, That personal fellowship and
communion with the living God is an active part
of the Christian life. That means praying to
the Lord yourself. Reading the Word of God for
yourself. Studying the Scriptures. Meditating
on the Scriptures for yourself. Of your own volition
and your own will. It's not something that others
can do for... It must be something that you enjoy
and you take part of in your own heart, your
own mind, and your own soul. To be a Christian
is to walk with the living God. As though there's
no other person on the planet. And it's just
you. The test for true Christianity with regards
to personal Christianity is this. Take away the
preaching, hypothetically. Take away the preaching
of the Word in your life. Take away the fellowship
meals in your life. Take away the singing as
a group in your life. Take away the church corporately
in your life. Take away your friends. Who talk
to you about the things of the Lord in your life.
Strip every single relational and corporate aspect
of your Christianity away. Get rid of it. Take
it away. Cut it off. And what is left? Is God
still dealing with your heart? And are you still
walking with the living God? Is God dealing with
you? Even if all of that is gone? Is your heart
still yearning and longing for the things of
God if all of that is gone? Are you still wrestling
with holiness and godliness and discipline in
your life if all of that is gone? Are you still
looking unto Christ faithfully, walking with
Him day in and day out, seeking to hear from
the living God if all of that is gone? Or are
you depending on all of those aspects? For your
Christianity, because you don't truly know the
living God, you just know about the living God.
You're just around Christianity. You don't have
true, personal Christianity in your soul. One
of the old authors said that regeneration is
called the life of God in the soul of man. Brothers
and sisters, that's not something that can be
faked. That's not something that can be worked
up. That's true religion. And it is absolutely,
completely, and totally personal. Do you possess
that kind of Christianity in your life? Or are
you riding on the backs of everybody else around
you? Are you riding the wave of the church? Is
this personal for you as a professing believer?
Does this matter to your heart and your soul
and your mind? Does this have to do with your
never -dying immortal soul and your eternal faith
as an individual who ascends against the living
God? Does this have to do, is your soul concerned
with the glory of God and the name of Jesus Christ
in your life? Is it personal for you? That's
the test to see whether you have true Christianity
in your life or not. Strip everything back and
what remains. But none of this is to say that
true personal Christianity is opposed. to corporate
Christianity. It's not. True Christianity is
personal. It's vital. But true Christianity is
corporate Christianity as well. The two have
to come together. Remember who's talking. King
David. David loved the Lord. The Lord is my shepherd.
But King David, brothers and sisters, his life
was intertwined with corporate religion. He was
the king of that nation. And that nation had
religion and spirituality intertwined at every
corner. It was the nation of Israel. He knew
a thing or two about corporate Christianity,
didn't he? Or corporate religion. The two are
not. We need both. The healthiest, most vital
believers will be those who are growing in the
grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ
personally, walking before the living God personally,
but they will be those whose lives are intimately
intertwined with the corporate church as a whole.
with the body of Christ in the world, with the
local manifestation of that in a setting like
this today. We need to study the Word of God
individually, don't we, brothers and sisters?
But we also need the Word of God preached to
us in a corporate gathering. We need to pray
as individual sinners wanting to know the Lord
Jesus Christ more. But we need to be prayed for.
In the corporate gathering of God's people. We
need to fellowship with the living God in prayer
and communion. But we need the fellowship and
communion of the saints around us as well. This
is God's good design for every believer. That
they be a vital, growing, healthy Christian.
That personally seeks Him. but they walk with
a corporate church, brothers and sisters. That
will lead to you growing and blossoming into
a healthy, vital, powerful, Spirit -filled believer
in Jesus Christ. So, from this text, we know.
That God relates to each individual. Then and
today. But we also know, brothers and sisters,
that each of us who know Christ, who believe
in His life, His death, and His resurrection,
must personally relate to the living God who
is our shepherd.