Sermon Transcript

0:00:14.0

Let me read it for us again, Psalm 23.  It’s only six verses, but it’s some of the greatest verse you’ll find in all of the Bible, perhaps even all of literature.  Psalm 23 beginning in verse 1, “The Lord is my shepherd.  I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul.  He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.  For your rod and your staff they comfort me.  You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil.  My cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  You know, Psalm 23 truly is one of the most beloved passages of Scripture in all the Bible.  It’s really a classic poem, one of the most classic you'll find in all of literature.  In fact, I dare you to scour all of literature that has been written down through the ages and find something more beautiful, more classic, and more loved than Psalm 23.  It’s a classic poem, a classic piece of literature.  But we know it's much more than that.  It’s more than just a classic poem.  It’s also a sacred text because it tells us something about God's relationship with us and our relationship to Him.  It uses this ancient imagery of a shepherd and his sheep, something that is really foreign to us today because we live in a high-tech world, don't we.  And most of us have never met a shepherd.  Most of us don't have sheep as pets.  We have dogs and cats and goldfish and things like that.  So we kind of have to transport ourselves back in time to an unfamiliar place and sort of get ourselves inside the sheep’s wool, get ourselves inside the mind of the shepherd.  “The Lord is my shepherd,” David said.  “The Lord,” he said, “is my shepherd.”  He used the name of God that is most familiar to us.  It’s Yahweh.  It means “I am that I am”.  It’s the same name God used to introduce himself to Moses in that burning bush experience when Moses said, “Hey, tell me your name.”  And of all the names of God in the Bible, the Lord chose Yahweh.  “I am is my name.”  It means the all-sufficient One.  And David, who had come to a place in his life, I believe…late in his life when he penned these words, he came to a place where he realized that he was not sufficient in and of himself, even though he was a celebrated warrior and a celebrated king and a poet and a musician.  But he was also an adulterer and a murderer, and he covered up his sin for a year’s time.  I mean, David had moments of glory.  He had feet of clay.  And he realized he was not the all-sufficient one.  He needed a shepherd like the Lord, who is the Great I Am, to lead him and to guide him.  And it’s a very personal thing for David.  And I hope it's a personal thing for you.  David didn't say the Lord is a shepherd, like He is one among many that we can get to lead us.  The politically-correct police would love for David to say that and for us to say that Jesus is just one of many shepherds out there, one of many religious leaders.  David didn’t say that.  He didn't even say the theologically correct thing, the Lord is the shepherd, although that would be correct and the theologians would applaud him.  No, it was very personal to him.  And he said, “The Lord is my shepherd.”  And I believe that word “my” is the most important word in Psalm 23 because it personalizes it for you and it personalizes it for me.  The question that ought to be burning in your heart and in my heart as we go through Psalm 23 is this- is the Lord my shepherd?  Do I have a personal relationship with the One who is Jesus, who many, many years later, thousands of years later, said, “I am the great Shepherd?”  Is He your shepherd?  Is He your personal shepherd?

0:04:25.6

Well, last week we learned that the Lord is my shepherd.  And David said, “Because of that I shall not want anything.  The all-sufficient One is the one who leads me.  He guides me.  He shepherds me through life.  And because he is all-sufficient, I will not lack anything.”  And there were three things that we looked at last week.  I shall not lack, number one, His rest when I am weary.  Why?  Because He makes me lie down in green pastures, David says.  Secondly, I shall not lack His peace when I am afraid.  Why?  Because He leads me beside still waters.  And then thirdly, we looked at this.  I shall not lack His discipline when I go astray.  Why?  Because He restores my soul.  And we want to pick it up from there beginning in verse 3.  And here's the fourth thing that the David says I shall not lack, I shall not want, because the Lord is my shepherd.  Are you ready for this one?  You might want to write this down.  It’s His guidance when I need direction.  Now, why did he say that?  Because in verse 3 he says, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.  He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.”  Now, we all know that sheep are not the smartest creatures in the animal kingdom.  In fact, they're not only not very smart, but they easily go astray.  That’s why Isaiah the prophet said, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”  We talked a little bit about that last week and how when we go astray the Lord corrects us and He disciplines us when we are his children.  Sheep are not the smartest animals in the animal kingdom.  And when they go astray, they have a difficult time finding their way home.  In fact, they can't.  They’re not like the birds of the year, which are amazing creatures.  They’re not migratory animals.  You know, God created the birds.  And He put kind of an internal GPS system in them.  Some of these birds fly south for the winter, and they seem to make it from point A to point B, amazingly so.  And then they’re able to go back the other direction and go to the very same place.  They’re migratory birds.  Sheep are not migratory animals.  They need a shepherd to lead them wherever they go, and especially when they go astray because they can't seem to find their way back home.  Now, I don’t have any problem identifying with sheep at this point because I have absolutely no sense of direction, absolutely none.  In fact, my best friend right now is my GPS in my car, Maggie the Magellan.  I love her.  I love her when she speaks to me from the dashboard, for the most part.  And she guides me and she leads me.  She helps me get to places that otherwise I would not be able to get to, because I'm kind of like the sheep that easily goes astray.  And I can find myself lost in this direction or in that direction.  But, friends, something far worse than being lost geographically or lost in an unfamiliar place is being lost in life.  David says, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.”  I wonder if maybe you find yourself in the throes of an important decision right now, and you're wondering, Is there anybody out there to guide me in this?  Will anybody lead me in the direction that I should go?  This week I remembered a time in my life when I had an important decision to make.  And I had four very good options in front of me.  I looked at the pros and cons on each side, like often we do.  And I thought about how each option would lead me and my family down a similar but different path.  And we weighed all of that.  But I was just wanting somebody, maybe the Lord Himself, who could lead me, who could guide me, who could show me what the right path was.  And that's when I found some comfort in Psalm 23 that says, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake,” David says.

0:08:20.8

Now, what's all this business about the paths of righteousness?  He leads us, and, by the way, that’s the second time in Psalm 23 that the word “lead” appears.  First, He leads me beside the still waters.  Now He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.  A shepherd by nature is a leader.  And when we allow the Lord to lead us as a shepherd, when we see ourselves as sheep that need a shepherd, He is very much willing to lead us.  But it says here that He'll lead us in the paths of righteousness.  Was is that all about?  Well, I think there are two ways that we can understand this.  One is He leads us in the right path, the right path for us.  And the right path for me may not be the right path for you in life, and vice versa.  But God our shepherd always knows the right path for us.  God's will for your life may be different than God's will for my life, and, again, vice versa.  But if we assume our position as sheep who need a shepherd and we let Him lead us, He will always lead us in the right path for us.  Now, along with that, this word “righteousness” also speaks of the moral aspects of our life and the moral aspects of our decision-making.  So, yes, He will lead us in the past that is right for us, but that is never inconsistent with His moral character.  He will lead us in a path that is right for us, but it's always in keeping with His righteous commands.  And we need to remember that, friends, okay.  This good Shepherd will lead us in right paths, but He has moral boundaries and moral commands and righteous ways.  The right way for you to go, the right way for me to go, is always something that pleases a holy God.  And He will always encourage us to go that direction.  For example, you may be sitting here today and say, “Well, I think what's right for me is to live with my boyfriend or my girlfriend outside of marriage.”  And you may be even so bold as to say, “I believe God is leading us to do that.  That’s what is right for us.”  It’s a very popular thing to say in our culture today.  You know, what’s right for you is right for you.  What’s right for me is right for me.  But God will never lead you to live with your boyfriend or girlfriend outside of marriage because that's inconsistent with His holy commands, His righteous commands.  Likewise, it’s never the right path for somebody to live a homosexual lifestyle, because God will never lead somebody to do that anymore than He would lead somebody to be an adulterer, okay.  He will lead us in the right paths or the paths of righteousness that are right for you, that are right for me, even customized to our life.  But they will always be consistent with His righteous commands.  And I think that's very, very important for us to understand.  And this is a very encouraging truth, especially, again, if you’re in the throes of a decision and you need somebody to guide you.  The Shepherd of our soul says He will lead us in the right paths for His namesake.

0:11:31.1

Now, this isn’t the only place in the Bible or even in the book of Psalms that talks about this.  I did a little query this week and found some other passages that might be worth us just reading through.  For instance, Proverbs 3:5-6.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all of your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  We love that verse, don’t we?  Especially the part that says He will make straight our paths.  But let's not forget the front end of that verse.  Are you trusting in the Lord with all your heart?  Are you leaning to your own understanding or His understanding?  Because the path that your life may take may not make a lot of sense in the natural realm.  And are you, in all of your ways, acknowledge Him, walking in obedience to Him?  If we fulfill the front end of this verse, then He says He’ll lead us in straight paths.  How about Psalm 32:8.  “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.  I will counsel you with my eye upon you,” the Lord says.  How about Psalm 37:23?  “The Lord directs the steps of the godly.  He delights in every detail of their lives.”  And then Psalm 73:24.  “You guide me with your counsel,” the psalmist says, “and afterward you will receive me to glory.”  The Lord will guide us.  Again, this is comforting news.  This is good news.  He will lead us.  And He doesn't lead us in a remote kind of way.  He’s very personal, and He’s very purposeful in the way He guides us and in the way He leads us.  He’s personal in the sense that He is with us.  And He comes alongside us.  This is the way a shepherd leads.  He leads out in front of the sheep, but not so far out in front of the sheet that he can't come alongside the sheet and be with them.  The Lord is not like a travel agent who books our trip from an office computer but doesn’t go with us.  He’s not like the cartographer, the mapmaker who draws up the journey for us but never travels on that journey with us.  No, He’s very personal in the way He leads us and guides us.  He goes with us.  I remember just a couple years ago when we were in Israel with a number of folks.  It’s one thing to travel to Israel, or any other part of the world for that matter, and kind of have your own map and your own little directions.  It’s another thing to have a guide to go with you.  Somebody who grew up in the area.  Somebody who's an expert in the area.  Somebody who knows the area.  Somebody who has traveled the route many, many times before you.  And the Lord is much more like that guy than He is, say, a travel agent who books our trip from some office computer.  

0:14:12.6

Now, you may ask, why does the Lord do all of this?  Why does our good Shepherd even bother to lead us even in paths of righteousness?  Well, the end of the verse gives us a clue.  He says, “He leads me in paths of righteousness,” and circle this part, “for his namesake.”  In other words, God is very purposeful about His leadership and direction our lives. That little preposition “for” introduces a purpose clause, “for his namesake”.  In other words, God cares about your life.  He is involved in your life.  He wants to lead and direct your paths for this reason.  His reputation is at stake.  You see, friends, He called us.  He saved us.  He brought us into his sheepfold, as it were.  And now the direction our lives go has everything to do with His reputation.  And so He is not a distant and remote god.  The song that says God is watching us from a distance is bad theology.  No, He's up close.  He is personal.  He is God with us.  He is Immanuel.  He came from heaven to earth.  And He is our good Shepherd, who leads us, who cares about us, who is involved in our daily lives.  And it’s primarily because His reputation is at stake.  And where He leads us in righteous paths glorifies Him and helps fulfill His eternal purposes.  So let’s not miss that part in the psalm.

0:15:41.1

So David says, “The Lord, this all-sufficient One, is my shepherd.  I shall not lack his guidance when I need direction.”  But let’s go on a little bit.  He says another thing here.  He says, “The Lord is my shepherd.  I shall not lack,” and listen to this, “his presence in tough times.”  Let’s read on in verse 4.  He says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.  For your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”  That’s just a great section of Scripture, isn’t it?  And of all the phrases in Psalm 23, the one that we can probably quote from memory, if not the entire Psalm, but the one phrase that we remember the most is the one found in verse 4.  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”  I want you to see a connection between verse 3 and verse 4, because it all comes together here.  In verse 3, David says, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.”  And in the very next breath he talks about a valley, the implication being sometimes our good Shepherd, yes, leads us into a dark and difficult valley.  He calls it the valley of the shadow of death.  Maybe you’ve been there before, a tough time in your life.  And you’re wondering, God, did I miss something in You guiding me and in You leading me?  Because if You're my shepherd and You’re guiding me, why would You put me into this dark, difficult time, this valley that the feels like death has warmed over me.  This is not the place I wanted to end up.  I don't think there's a single one of us that couldn’t testify to a time like that.  There’s a wonderful author name Robert Morgan that I commend to you.  He is a pastor, and he’s written a wonderful book on Psalm 23.  And at this point he says this- “Those seven words, the valley of the shadow of death, represent one of the most enduring images in human literature.  To David it wasn't just a poetic notion.  He was describing a real place.  As he led his sheep from the folds of Judea toward the heights of Galilee, he threaded many canyons, some of them deep and steep, infested with thieves and predators, riddled with caves, rimmed by narrow trails.”  Morgan goes on to say, “All of this is metaphorical, of course.  What we’re really talking about are real-life problems.  Disease and disability, protracted legal problems, prolong financial pressures, loved ones in crisis, war, children in trouble, marriage on the ropes, loneliness, addiction, depression, terminal disease, old age, and, yes, even death.”  And then Morgan says, “Every hero of the Bible traveled these valleys.”  And that's a good thing to remember, friends. When you find yourself in the valley of the shadow of death, you will not (0:19:00.0) lack His presence in tough times.

0:19:05.7

 I think it's worth noting that this particular phrase “the valley of the shadow of death” comes in the middle of the psalm, smack in the middle of it, the beginning of verse 4.  There are only 6 verses in the psalm.  And that's because, you know, a valley appears between two mountain peaks, doesn't it.  And we would love to just sort of go from mountain peak to mountain peak in life just to, sort of, skip over the valleys and to skip from this mountain peak to that mountain peak.  But the reality is, to get from this mountain peak to that mountain peak, oftentimes we have to go through a valley, a dark, treacherous valley. And, yes, according to the Scripture here, our good Shepherd sometimes leads us into the valley of the shadow of death.  Actually, I said that wrong.  He doesn't lead us into the valley.  He leads us through (0:20:00.0) the valley of the shadow of death.  Did you notice that?  Just a little preposition there that says everything about what David is getting at here.  He says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”  Some you just need to hear these words this morning.  You’ll get through this.  You really will.  I don’t know what kind of valley you’re in this morning.  I don’t know what kind of tough time you're facing.  But you'll get through this.  The same shepherd the led you into the valley will lead you through and out to the other side.  You will get through this.  That’s the promise of Scripture.  In fact, that little preposition “through”- “He leads me through the valley of the shadow of death”- that reminds me of a wonderful promise that I encourage you to go to this week and commit it to memory.  Because you’re gonna need it in times when you're in the valley, that valley of the shadow of death.  It’s found in Isaiah 43:1-2.  Listen to this.  This is what the Lord said to the people of Israel who found themselves in some dark times and in some valleys on occasion.  He said, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you.  I have called you by name.  You are mine.”  And then He says these wonderful words.  “When you pass through the water, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.  And when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned and the flame shall not consume you.”  I mean, that’s a promise from Scripture worth going to the bank on, friends, and one that’s worth hiding into your heart.  Because if you’re not going through a difficult time now, you probably went through one six months ago or one is right around the corner.  And you’re gonna need to have the confidence to know that your Shepherd, who leads you in the paths of righteousness for His namesake, might, in fact, be the one who led you into the dark valley but will lead you through that time.  You’ll get through this.  You really will.  I can't tell you how.  I can't tell you when.  God has His own timing, but He has promised to get us through this, through this dark valley and to the other side.  That’s how we get from one mountain peak to the other mountain peak.  And the truth of the matter is- and we all know this- we learn more in the valley than we ever do on the mountain peak.  We squirm and we kick and we scream and we question and we wonder.  Where is God in the midst of all this?  Well, Psalm 23 tells us exactly where He is.  He is with us.  He’s right there alongside us.  He promised never to leave us and to never forsake us.  Read it again.  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”  Fear doesn't have to paralyze us in the valley.  Why?  “For you are with me.”  You’re not the travel agent who booked the trip for me in some remote office building but didn’t go on the journey with me.  No, You set the course.  You led me in paths that are right for me, consistent with Your godly character. Now we find ourselves in a valley.  You’ll get through this.  You’ll get through this.  I don't know when.  I don't know how.  But on the promise of Scripture, you’ll get through this time.  You’ll get through this time.

0:23:23.4

It reminds me of a time when the Israelites left Egypt under Moses’s leadership, who, by the way, was trained in the second 40 years of his life as a shepherd on the back side of the desert.  That’s where God drafted him into the leadership of the great exodus.  And when they left Egypt, it wasn't long after that that they came to the Red Sea.  Do you remember that story in the Bible?  And there was this apparent immovable obstacle in front of them, the Red Sea in front of them, a mountain on the right side, a mountain on the left side, and in their rearview mirror the Egyptians were charging toward them.  And they’re wondering, What are we going to do here?  We’ve come to this cul-de-sac in the desert.  And that's when God- and you know the story- He parted the Red Sea.  And they went through the waters to safety on the other side.  And the waters came crashing in on their enemies.  God got them through it.  You’ll get through this, and I'll get through this.  We’ve come to the valley of the shadow of death.  You know, there’s a place in California called Death Valley.  I've never been there, but I assume that it got its name honestly.  I guess it’s just a horrible place to go, and you might die in Death Valley.  Well, the valley mentioned in Psalm 23, friends, is not Death Valley.  It’s the shadow of the valley of death, okay, and a shadow can't hurt you.  Oh, a shadow can be dark and ominous.  It can be cold and scary.  But a shadow can't hurt you.  It can just pass over you.  And you may be going through a difficult time.  You may be even facing death itself.  But for the believer in Jesus Christ, death is a through passage to the next life.  And that's why the Scripture tells us, “Blessed are the death of his saints in the eyes of the Lord.”  Death is blessed to those who are His sheep because He knows, “I’ll get you through this.  You’ll get through this.  And we’ll get through this passage together and onto the other side, where you're going to experience unspeakable joy and happiness and eternal life that I have for you.”

0:25:39.6

David gives us just a little bit more comfort here in verse 4.  He says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”  And then he says, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”  A shepherd would carry two pieces of equipment- a rod that he would often use to ward off enemies.  A good shepherd was able to take that rod and throw it at a predator- a lion, a tiger, a bear, a cougar- and protect the sheep from his enemies.  And then he had a staff.  You know, again, sheep, they wander.  They get into all sorts of trouble.  Sometimes they’ll get into a thicket, and the shepherd uses that a crooked edge of the staff to pull away some of the branches.  Or maybe the sheep is heading toward a cliff.  And he can reach out and grab the neck of that sheep and pull him around.  When you go into the valley- yes, even the valley of the shadow of death- there are predators.  There are dangerous places.  And his rod and his staff was a source of comfort for David.

0:26:42.9

There’s much more that we could probably say there, but I’m gonna move on.  We’re talking about the Lord, this all-sufficient One who is our shepherd.  And because He is our shepherd and because He is the all-sufficient One, we shall not lack some things.  His guidance when we need direction; His presence in tough times.  And then, finally, His protection at the right time.  The rod and the staff sort of move us into the direction of the next statement that David makes in the beginning in verse 5.  He says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”  Now, some Bible teachers and Bible scholars believe that David at this point is changing the imagery from a good shepherd to a gracious host, because the word “table” appears in verse 5.  And then at the end of verse 6, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  But I actually think Philip Keller is right in saying otherwise, in keeping the imagery on the good shepherd.  Philip Keller was a shepherd himself and a very capable author, who also wrote a best-selling book titled A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.  And he says, “In thinking about this statement in verse 5, it is well to bear in mind that the sheep are approaching the high mountain country of the summer ranges.”  He says, “These are known as alplands or tablelands that were so much sought after by the sheep men,” he says.  Keller goes on to say that in some of the finest sheep country in the world, especially in the western United States and southern Europe, the high plateau of the sheep ranges are always referred to as mesas, which is the Spanish word for tables.  And he says, “Oddly enough, the Kiswahili or African word for a table is also a mesa.”  So what Keller pictures here when David says “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies,” he pictures the shepherd at a certain time of the year taking the sheep into the high country of the mountain range.  And he always goes before the sheep to prepare one of the tablelands or the mesas or the alplands there, where they would spend a certain season of the year.  You see, it's a picture of the shepherd who is always working on behalf of his sheep.  And in this case, he is going ahead of the sheep to prepare the tableland, to prepare the grazing area for this next season in the sheep's life.  The mesa must always be prepared before the sheep would arrive because the mesa might need some minerals.  And so the shepherd would spread some salt and some other minerals to prepare the tableland.  He would also prepare it by pulling poisonous weeds, because the sheep don't know the difference between something good to eat and a poisonous weed.  He would also have an eagle eye out for predators, for coyotes and lions and tigers and bears.  He wasn't able to eliminate all the risk for the sheep, but he could certainly mitigate some of the risk.  He would go ahead of them, and he would prepare the tableland, as David says, “in the presence of my enemies.”  Now, I love in the Psalms how David is never afraid to call out his enemies and to actually call his God to take care of his enemies, if you know what I mean.  And there is a whole section of Psalms known as the imprecatory psalms.  We earlier called them the “Lord, smite my enemy” psalms.  This is not an imprecatory psalm, a “Lord, smite my enemy” psalm.  But this is one where David mentions his enemies.  And every shepherd knows that sheep have enemies.  They have predators, natural enemies and predators like other animals that want to take the sheep out.  And it was the job of the shepherd to go into the tableland and into the mesa, to go ahead of the sheep and to prepare it.  To do the best he could to mitigate the threats against the sheep.

0:30:48.0

Now, what parallels are there in the Christian life as it relates to this idea of the Lord protecting us at the right time and protecting us from our enemies?  Well, the Shepherd of our soul certainly knows that we as believers in Jesus Christ have enemies.  And the three enemies that are most prominent for a follower of Jesus are the world, the flesh, and the devil.  And I know some people scoff at the idea of a real devil.  You may be one of them who believe in God but, you know, the devil, he’s kind of that cartoon character in a red suit with horns on his head and a pitchfork in his hand.  And we've cartoonized the idea of evil.  Well, the Bible tells us that we are in a very real and invisible war.  Ephesians 6:12 tells us that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, who exist in heavenly places,” those unseen present realities that Paul talks about in the book of Ephesians.  And for the follower of Jesus, we need to be very aware of the fact that the world, the flesh, and the devil are our enemies.  Well, Jesus came to this world, did He not, from heaven to earth?  And He encourages His disciples by saying, “I've overcome the world.”  He gives us His Holy Spirit so we can walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.  And He tells us to submit ourselves to God and to resist the devil and he will flee from us.  Just three ways that He has prepared a tableland for us.  He can’t totally eliminate the risk of living in this lost and fallen world that is controlled by the god of this world.  But he’s mitigated that risk, again, by saying, “I have overcome the world” through His death and His resurrection, by giving us the Holy Spirit, and by telling us that if we submit ourselves to God, we can resist the devil and he will flee from us.  

0:32:40.5

The church has enemies, does it not?  The church has always had enemies from without.  And I was reminded this week as I read a letter from Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham.  He was writing a letter to his ministry constituents at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  And at the beginning of that letter he mentioned a conversation, a recent conversation he had with the Vice President of the United States.  And he said to the Vice President, well, he said that he had the opportunity “to remind him that our main problem in America is that we have taken God out of our society and out of our government.”  He said to the Vice President, “We need God's Word and His laws now more than ever.”  Graham didn’t comment on the Vice President's response.  I would've loved to have heard that.  But he went on to say in his letter, “if we hold up God's standards, we are accused today of being intolerant.”  He says, “Tolerance is one of today's hot buttons, but in reality, the true and fast-growing intolerance is for Christianity, anything that stands for Jesus Christ.”  And Franklin Graham titled his letter to his constituents “Is Our Nation Intolerant of Christianity?”  And if you pay attention to the news today, it sure seems like it's becoming more intolerant of the faith.  The church has always had her enemies from without.  And, friends, I would agree with Franklin Graham that those enemies are growing stronger and stronger in America. But the church has also had enemies from within.  These are people who have made false professions of faith and often weasel their way into leadership positions in the church.  Or these are people who make their way into the church, and they’re false teachers who corrupt the doctrine of the church.  Jesus called both of them “wolves in sheep's clothing”, and He told us to beware of them.  David says, “He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies.”  He goes ahead of us.  And He mitigates the risk, but He doesn't eliminate it.  Jesus said in his high priestly prayer in John 17, “Father, leave them in the world, but they are not of this world.  I don't ask You to take them out of this world,” He says, “but when they're in this world, protect them and be with them.”  And this is what Jesus does for us.

0:34:59.8

How exactly did He prepare that table for us?  Well, I alluded to it.  He came from heaven to earth, didn’t He?  And He went ahead of us.  He lived a perfect life, fulfilling the righteousness of the law.  He went into the desert for 40 days, fasting, and at the end of those 40 days He was in a face-to-face encounter with the devil.  And three times He used the Word of God to submit Himself to God's truth and to God's word and to resist the devil.  And the Bible says the devil left for an opportune time.  He looked for another time to trick Him up.  He went to the cross for us.  And he died on the cross for our sins.  He took the punishment for our sins, and then He rose triumphantly from the grave.  He has prepared a tableland for us in the presence of all kinds of enemies.  My question for you today, in light of all of this- is the Lord your shepherd?  Is the Lord your shepherd?  Because the implication behind this wonderful psalm- and we’ll finish it up next time- is that you and I are sheep.  We easily go astray.  We easily wander.  We’re not migratory beings.  We don't have an internal GPS system where we can find our way back home.  But we have a Shepherd who goes out after us and brings back wandering sheep.  But do you know this Shepherd?  Is He your Shepherd?  Is He your personal Shepherd?  Do you have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ?  That’s the question today.  And if not, I just want to encourage you.  Today is a great day for it to be a day of salvation in your life, where you can say to this good Shepherd, the Shepherd of your soul, the Creator of the universe who died on the cross for your sins, “Come be my shepherd.  Because, like a sheep, I have gone astray.  And I want to come home.  I want to come home.  Guide me when I need direction.  Be present with me when I'm in tough times.  And protect me at the right time when I come face-to-with the enemy of my soul.”  Amen.

0:37:27.0