Today, we’re going to look at a perpetual praise. We’ve looked at a personal possession, a plentiful provision, a precise place, a perfect pathway, a present protection, a prepared prosperity, and now a perpetual praise.
Sermon Series: The Lord is My Shepherd
Psalm 23 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Note: What an incredible journey we’ve had together in this beautiful Psalm.
Note: David is expressing his relationship between himself and His God, as the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep.
Note: We’ve learned some important things about ourselves and also vital truths about God.
Note: We’re on a journey. That’s what Psalm 23 is all about. It’s a journey in the valley of the shadow of death.
Note: The day we put our faith in Jesus for salvation, we’ve been shepherded by a loving God.
Note: We find our significance in Him.
Note: He leads us, feeds us, and guides us.
Note: We are placing our life in the good shepherd’s care.
Note: As David comes to the end of this Psalm.
Note: We notice two perspectives.
Note: We all have different perspectives.
Note: We come to church, and we sit in our spot. We have our perspective of the service and the building.
Note: But if someone is in our seats. Then our perspective changes.
Note: David had two perspectives.
Note: All the days of his life – This is life in this world. This is today, tomorrow, or the unknown future.
Note: Then He ends the psalm with the word “forever.”
Note: Life beyond this world
Note: So many people live their lives for just this life
Note: They ignore the life to come.
Psalm 17:14 “From men which are thy hand, O Lord, From men of the world, which have their portion in this life, And whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: They are full of children, And leave the rest of their substance to their babes.”
Note: They have no perspective of the world to come.
Note: The message of the Bible is to live your life for the eternal.
Note: Notice what Paul said in 2 Cor 4:16-18.
2 Corinthians 4:16–18 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Note: To confine our perspective to that which is time-bound is to live for just the temporal.
Note: So David ends this psalm with the life now and the life to come.
Note: Let’s notice these closing truths.
I. A Perpetual Provision
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
Note: David summarizes the whole of his life here in this world.
Note: God’s goodness and His mercy would follow him
A mother was concerned about her kindergarten son, Timmy, walking to school.
He didn’t want his mother to walk with him.
She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence, but yet know that he was safe.
Her neighbor learned about the mother’s dilemma and offered to follow the young boy to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn’t notice her.
“I’m up early with my toddler anyway; it will be a good way for us to get some exercise as well,” said the neighbor.
The relieved mother agreed.
The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor boy he knew.
She did this for the whole week.
As the boys walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy’s little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.
Finally, he said to Timmy, “Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week?
Do you know her”?
Timmy nonchalantly replied, “Yeah, I know who she is.”
The friend said, “Well, who is she”?
“That’s just Shirley Goodnest,” Timmy replied. “And her daughter Marcy.”
“Shirley Goodnest? Who is she and why is she following us”?
“Well,” Timmy explained. “Every night, my mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, because she worries about me so much.
And in the Psalm 23, it says, ‘Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life,’ so I guess I’ll just have to get used to it!”
Note: No matter what David faced or experienced, these Christian Footmen (As Spurgeon Called them) traveled by his side.
Note: All though this valley of life goodness and mercy was there.
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