So I say to you, hear the word of God, the Lord is my shepherd, 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 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. You are 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. Let us pray. Jesus, I pray now that you would simply come by your spirit and teach us that you would open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the death so that they might see and hear the gospel. I pray that you would be in my head and in my thinking and in my hearts and in my understanding and in my mouth and in my speaking. Amen. You know, one of my greatest sources of amusement and even encouragement in life is watching my two oldest daughters deal with the theological challenges of my youngest daughter, Mercy. Many of you have heard of Mercy. See Abby is seven and every night I should probably write a book someday that's called entitled Dinner with Mercy. You see that every night Abby sits at my right hand and Flannery sits immediately at my left hand and Mercy sits beside Flannery and Judy is at the other end of the table. And Mercy is very fond of just making bold statements at the dinner table and she always begins them. You know what's coming because they always begin with this. Hey, Dad! Shout it. Yeah, Mercy. This happened two weeks ago. Hey, Dad. Yeah, Mercy. I don't love Jesus anymore. Really? Yeah, I just love you. I said, hmm, what do you think about that Abby? And Abby leaned across the table to Flannery and whispered, H-E-L-L. And Mercy can't spell so Flannery is gracious as she is turned to Mercy and went, that spells hell. And there was silence for a couple of minutes and then Mercy went, hey, Dad! Yeah, Mercy. I love Jesus now. Good. Good, Mercy. Yesterday, we were driving in the van on the interstate. We have a large van, so Mercy is way in the back, which of course means she has to shout, hey, Dad! Yeah, Mercy. I want to be God. Don't we all, Mercy? Why do you want to be God, Mercy? I just want to. And then Flannery turned around and said, that means you get crucified. And Mercy went, no, no, no. And Flannery said, Jesus was God and he was crucified. Silence. Hey, Dad! Yeah, Mercy. Never mind. So there's moral to that one. The moral to that one is that the description of the job defines the qualifications needed for the job. Right? So there's Mercy. It might sound good to be God until you hear what the actual job description is. Become a man and die. Compare the sins of the world. You see, the qualifications, the description defines the qualifications. And that's what we're doing now in the sermon series. You see, I'm preaching through the book of First Timothy, which is odd, because I'm in Psalm 23, but it will make sense, I hope, in a minute. You see, in the book of First Timothy, Paul is writing about how one ought to order a church. And if you remember in the first chapter of First Timothy, he talks about the substance of the gospel. What it means to trust Jesus, who you are before God, what the law means to you. And basically that all of us are dependent completely upon the mercy of Jesus, if we are to have a relationship with God. So he goes from the substance of the gospel in chapter 1 to the scope of the gospel in chapter 2. If the only way to have a relationship with God is through Jesus, then who's at four? Who's at open to? Who's at offered to? And the answer, of course, Paul would say, to everybody, to all men and women. And that's why it needs to be preached to all men and women. The scope of the gospel is universal. It goes out into all the world. On one hand, on the other hand, he begins to narrow some when he begins to talk about leadership in the church. And he talks about roles according to gifts and gender and things like that. And so in chapter 3, which I would have preached next, he immediately begins to talk about the qualifications for the office of elder. Right? Those who had shepherd God's flock. And it only made sense to me that before we talk about the qualification for to be an elder in God's church that we ought to talk about the job description first. That we ought to talk about what it means to be an elder. You see, because what it means to be an elder is to be a shepherd. And most of us have no clue what it means to be an elder because we have no clue what it means to be a shepherd. So with that said, last week I began a short series on Psalm 23 as we look at God who is the model shepherd, God who is David's shepherd. And remember last week I said I wanted to preach one sermon on Psalm 23 and then I said I changed my mind it was going to preach two. And this week I had to say I'm going to preach three, I think. I know I'm definitely preaching three, maybe four. So nonetheless, we're working through this in order to see David's perspective on God as shepherd. And if you remember as we look last week David opens up the Psalm by making what is what amounts to a very theological statement and he says the Lord is my shepherd. Now what that's an incredibly theological statement and really all of the gospel is encompassed in that because on one hand we know that being a shepherd in the ancient Near East was one of the most nasty, miserable and lowly jobs that anyone could have. You probably wouldn't have taken it unless it was forced upon you. You might be the youngest son in a family, you might be poverty, stricken, whatever, but you probably wouldn't have sought it. And David said God has actually sought to be a shepherd. God has condescended to take care of me. See, that's the first statement is that God has condescended to pursue lost sheep and the second theological statement is that I am not lost sheep. You see the reason being a shepherd is so hard is because sheep are so high maintenance and David says I the sheep am high maintenance. In a sense David opens up this whole Psalm with faith and repentance. Faith and God, God is my shepherd. He promised me that he would pursue me and care for me. Repentance, I am a sheep. I need someone to pursue me. I need someone to care for me and I'm completely dependent upon God. And so we last week we looked at the first three verses of Psalm 23 and saw that God has a shepherd that the shepherd pursues in convenience. The shepherd gives rest and the shepherd feeds the sheep. And so this week we're only going to look at verse four. We're going to look at verse four and we're going to look at we're going to see at least three things and the three things are this that the shepherd gives security. The shepherd defends the sheep but not only that the shepherd disciplines his sheep. So with all of that said let me read verse four again and we will begin with the looking at the shepherd giving the sheep security. In verse four he says even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil for you are with me. You're rod and you're staff. They comfort me. And one of the reasons I'm doing this in at least three parts is because as we look at the shepherd giving the sheep security what it hit me this week that what David has done is he has based the Psalm on geography. This is sort of geographical Psalm and what I mean by that is he's taking that he's looking at the life of a shepherd both seasonally and geographically because seasonally a shepherd would spend the winter in the lowlands with the sheep. And in the winter they would go to the highlands where the grass and things were better which by the way the highlands were called maces and the shepherds would call them tables which will make sense next week because he says you prepare a table before me. So David goes from the highlands and the beginning or from the lowlands and the beginning of the Psalm winter to the highlands at the end of the Psalm which is summer however there's a problem and it's a principle that's all throughout the Bible is that you can't get from the lowlands to the highlands without first passing through the valley of the shadow of death. You can't do it right the shepherd couldn't do it so it seasonally the shepherd every every year would have to take the sheep from the low pasturelands through valleys of shadows to the high pasturelands. And that's what they called this could could also be translated not only as the valley of the shadow of death but the valley of the shadow of danger or even the valley of shadows. So if I say the valley of shadows that's that's what I mean and the principle is this is that many people think that when you become a Christian that somehow God is going to keep you from ever having to walk through trials and tribulations in the valleys right. And yet we see this as well with Israel what happened in Israel God came to them they were in bondage and slavery to the nation of Egypt and God came and he made a promise to them I'm going to get you out of your bondage in Egypt and I'm going to deliver you to the promised land in Canaan. And what happened he delivered them from Canaan and he was taking them or delivered them from Egypt he was taking them to Canaan and yet something got in their way and of course that was the wilderness in what happened in the wilderness the wilderness was hard. And we know that the first generation of Israel did not enter the promised land why he was for says because they didn't believe the gospel preach to them and what was the gospel preach to them. It was God's promise to get them into the promised land and what happened was they knew they've been delivered from Egypt but once they were in the wilderness and things got hard. They began to do what most church members do and that's grumble and complain. They grumbled and complained and got angry and began to follow after other gods and chase their own way and they just did not make it into the promised land. Because they forgot the principle that you don't get from Egypt to the promised land without going through the wilderness you don't get from the lowlands to the highlands without going through the valley of shadows and the thing is that most Christians it's amazing to me that most Christians are surprised by that. Most Christians are extremely surprised that God after they become Christians hard things would happen in their life. In fact many Christians the biggest problem in the church I know the biggest problem in this church and I'm not pointing fingers it's just since I've been here is grumbling and complaining. It just is Christians tend to grumble and complain and the reason they grumble and complain is because when they go in the valley of shadows they get upset because God has brought them there. They just do. Maybe you're single and you want to be married and you're angry at God because you're not married yet. Maybe you're married and you're angry at God because he's giving you a terrible spouse and now you're stuck with them and you don't know what to do. Maybe you've got some disease maybe something is wrong and you're angry at God because you have to go through a valley of shadows or you have to walk in the wilderness and the Bible says he never promised to keep you from having to walk through the wilderness and you never promised that you would never have to walk through the valley of shadows. What instead is the promise. I will be with you. I will be with you. You see David's comfort was not that God would somehow elevate it would would air lift him from the lowlands to the highlands and helping to avoid the valley of shadows. But that as he walked through the valley of shadows God would be with him. That was David's major comfort in life. That was the David's major comfort was the fact that the shepherd is immediate. He's there. Right. The shepherd is immediate. You see most people most Christians and most people I guess when they think of God they think he's only present in miracle. Right. That God somehow is hanging out in the heavens and he's just doing whatever God does in heavens. Right. He's probably playing football reading fortune magazine. Whatever he does up there and every now and then he shows up. I'll show up and make myself known and get some glory and a praise and applause and then I'll go back to heaven and join myself for a while. He shows up in miracle when you need something but that's not what the gospel says. That's not what the Bible says. You see God is not only present in miracle when good things happen but God is present in providence as well. What do I mean by that what I mean is that God is present behind every molecule of air that you and I breathe. He is behind every action that happens that he is there and he is always present but it's bigger than that. He's not just present behind every molecule of air that we breathe and he's not only present behind every action but where else is he present? If you're Christian he's present within you. So now what does it mean when you walk through the valley of shadows not only to say is God going to be present he's going to show up at something bad happens while he knows he's present in providence. You know, hopefully he's guiding my path but the gospel says is that the Holy Spirit is actually within you if you're a Christian. Now the question is why it's because Jesus your shepherd has for a number of reasons has already gone in the valley before you for one. It's good it's comforting to know that the Holy Spirit is within you the spirit of Jesus why because he's already been to the valley he knows what it looks like. In fact not only did Jesus go to the valley of the shadow of death but he walked it alone and when he walked it alone he went into the valley of shadows alone and he faced that roaring lion the devil and he defeated him. But even better than defeating that roaring lion the devil is he defeated something bigger and he defeated it through his own defeat. He defeated death he defeated death because when he went into the valley of the shadows he not only had to face the devil but he had to face the wrath of God and he faced it on your behalf and my behalf and he went to the cross and bore all of our sins and all of our guilt and all of our fears and all of our insecurities. And when he bore them he took them away that the moment you trust him all of his goodness is imputed to you. And so now as you walk through the valley of shadows not only you are you not guilty and not only the Holy Spirit live in you but you have the security of knowing all of these things. That's what David says. I fear no evil for you are with me. You see most of us are insecure beyond belief right we're insecure and afraid and we're guilty. And what David says here of the shepherd is that my security is not based upon my own goodness my security is not based on my ability to fight predators David was a great warrior my security is not based on my ability to be good remember David was a man after God's own heart my security is not based on my intellect. David says my security is based upon the presence of the shepherd and because he is there I have nothing to fear you see the gospel says of view with your fears and your insecurities most of us deal with our fears and insecurities by simply doing the time tested method of avoiding them. But what happens when you avoid them they just come back bigger and better the more you avoid them the bigger they get the more you avoid them the more they seem to chase you. And what the gospel says is you can stop and you turn around and face them because your shepherd has faced the valley and he has defeated all of your fears and now remember I said it before that most people struggle to be free in their lives and what the gospel says is your free to struggle. Now you can look at your sins and your fears and your failures in the face and you don't have to worry at least if the gospel is true. That's what David said David says man I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and I fear no evil why you're with me right the shepherd will provide my need he is there he will protect me and that's the next point you see because not David's security is not only based on the fact that the shepherd is present with him but his security is based upon the actions of the shepherd and the shepherd really does two things at least in this verse. The shepherd protects and the shepherd defends or the shepherd protects and the shepherd disciplines look at the last verse. This should strike you as odd the 23rd Psalm is so common it's almost hard to be for something there to strike you as odd but try and hear it a new and it should I hope he says I fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me. Now the question is why does he need a rod and a staff? Do you ever think about that? Aren't there just like two sticks? I mean that's what I'm thinking a stick of the stick of the stick. What does he need a rod and a staff and how do the rod and the staff both come begin to comfort David as a sheep? And the answer is first is that the rod is for protection right the rod you see as they walk through the valley of shadows apparently wolves and lions and bears and enemies would lurk in the shadows. And as the flock would come by if the shepherd wasn't looking or maybe if the shepherd was looking in the predator was brave he would jump out and begin to tear apart the flock and kill the sheep. And what the rod was for was for the shepherd to intervene and to strike a death blow to the predator. So David says as I walk through the valley of shadows your rod comforts me. And if you're David right the thing about David whenever you're in a leadership position people generally tend to either love you or hate you and David many people hated him right he was a man after God's own heart. And yet he was betrayed he was attacked even his own son turned against him and tried to take over his kingdom and so at the end of the day what was David's prayer? God unless you show justice to these people I have no hope because I am broken and simple and unable to defend myself people mock me in court they tell lies about me and my hope is that you will show justice. You see the rod is also synonymous with justice and so David was saying not only will your rod protect me for my enemies but your rod ensures ultimately justice on my behalf and many of us in here need that comfort. Right you've been abused and you've been taken advantage of and you don't know what to do and you can't forgive and what the gospel says is that someday those who have abused you and hurt you will be shown justice. They will either be shown justice in and of themselves or they will be shown justice on the cross of Jesus but either way justice will be will be meet it out. And that brings us to our problem which again is like the ones who have offended us is justice. You see because it's it's sort of a weird thing for God to promise to kill anything that might harm us because the thing that harms us most is our sin. And it's in you. So what does it mean when God promises to kill and to take care of and destroy that which defines you how does he do it? Well he does it by bearing the rod himself. There were numbers chapter 17. Israel is grumbling and complaining and God is tired of it. And he finally says alright Moses I've had enough judgment is going to take place. I'm going to bring judgment down on this people and it's going to be over. I'm not going to take it anymore. He says what I want you to do is I want you to get the elders and Moses knew when God says get the elders that means there's going to be a court trial. Because I want you to get the elders and I want you to go to the rock and you know what Moses don't forget the rod. Remember that rod that you struck Pharaoh with bring the rod. And so imagine the elders thinking they're going behind the wood shed to get a whooping Moses has been told to bring the rod there to go out to a rock. And God says Moses here's what I want you to do. I will stand upon the rock and I want you to bring down the rod upon me. That's the numbers. God says Moses there's going to be judgment and the rod will be taken out on somebody. And so God says Moses I will stand upon the rock and you take the rod out and strike the rock. And when he strikes the rock judgment is needed out but it is God who takes the judgment and we know what happens water flows from the rock and Israel is saved. And that's what happens at the cross of Jesus right that you and I deserve the rod. And yet at the cross what Jesus does is he goes there and he says give me the rod. They deserve it. They're defined by their sin. Give me their sin. Give me their fears and insecurities and brokenness and I will bear them in Jesus bore every bit of the wrath of God on your behalf. That's what the gospel says. And so now you could see how you could say that the rod comforts me and comforts me because I don't have to bear it. It comforts me because I know not only will it defend me from my enemies but it defends me from myself that you have brought down the rod on Jesus and because of that you have taken care of the thing that will kill me. The rod your rod comforts me. Now what's more interesting is the staff in my opinion. You see the rod it makes sense that the rod would comfort us because the rod is for striking our enemies. The staff on the other hand is for striking sheep. One to hit enemies, one to hit sheep and yet David says comforts me. You see the staff is for discipline. You see the shepherd not only defends the sheep but he also disciplines the sheep. Right you imagine how hard it must be to be a shepherd and I can't only imagine because I know how hard it is to be a pastor on one hand. You're constantly defending the flock. Right and the elders of the elders of a church defend the flock by defending the very message that I just preach that Jesus offers the gospel free and clear. So the elders of the church defend them from guilt. They defend them from people who would come in and teach them bad doctrine. They defend them from people who would come in and tear them apart and yet the other hard thing about being a shepherd is not only are you constantly having to look out for those who would come in but you're having to look in for those who would go out. Right because just to the same extent that the predators are coming in to attack the sheep sheep are seeking to go out and wander about among the predators and so what happens with the shepherd you can never sleep. You can never rest. Now let's say if you get sympathy I'm just saying that's a fact and so if you're considering if you're here an elder training remember that. It never ends because if the sheep aren't wandering the predators are coming in and if the predators aren't coming in the sheep are wandering and what makes it so difficult to be a shepherd is that the shepherd bears not only the rod for the enemies but he bears the staff and from the sheep's perspective the staff is basically an unpleasant thing. Right the staff is unpleasant why because the shepherd is either using the staff discipline the sheep to sort of swap him and get him back on the path or he is reaching out and pulling him from danger and either way it's unpleasant for the sheep but guess what sheep. If you think discipline is unpleasant for the sheep it's equally unpleasant for the shepherd why because whenever a sheep is disciplined their first response is to bite and to kick and to buck. You should keep that in mind that's an incredibly important thing to remember here at Grace as we have elders that one of the primary jobs of elders is to implement discipline. To restore sheep to keep them from going out into danger and to keeping them on the path and it's very hard to be a shepherd because sheep instinctively bite when the staff is applied and you need to know that because the root of discipline at its very bottom is love. And think about it what person if they did not care about you would not face danger on your behalf what person if they didn't care about you would actually risk being bitten by you. You might not bite him with your mouth although some of you I wonder but you can definitely bite with words. Right it happens every week happens every single week and Grace is a good church so why do I say that to the sheep because instinctively and I've seen this over and over again as a pastor instinctively what a sheep church member will say when discipline is applied even mild discipline even a question about what you're doing the first response is you don't care about me. You don't care about me you're just being mean to me when in fact if a shepherd didn't care about you he wouldn't go after you he wouldn't stay up night after night after night he wouldn't do those things he wouldn't risk being bitten in fact if he didn't care about you he would let you go he would let you walk out into the valley of shadows and see what it's like out there and yet he doesn't you see because the root of discipline is love and concern most of us somewhere along the lines picked up the idea that what love means is tolerance and acceptance. And what I mean by that is that we are simply what it means to love someone is to support them in any decision and endeavor they seek to follow and to the extent that you support them is the extent that you love them and if you don't support them you don't love me. And yet that's not true even according to secular wisdom right we see commercials that say what friends don't let friends drive drunk right that we know if there if you see something it's one thing to support someone there's truth in that. On the other hand what if they're doing something that's dangerous to themself and to others if the loving thing to leave them alone or is the loving thing to pursue them in intervene the gospel says that the loving thing is to pursue them in intervene I would say that's even just common sense and so I tell you that say that you remember when the shepherds come after you when you think about biting at least don't accuse them of not loving you bite them but say thank you I guess right and the beautiful thing is is that when David thought about God's discipline he said this comforts me you said that's what's odd because counterintuitive in the church he says your rod comforts me and that makes sense because you're defending me from my enemies but he also says your staff comforts me why does the staff comfort David because David isn't assured of this he knows that God cares about him so much and God wants him so much that he is not only willing to guard him from predators but he is willing to guard him so much. David knows that David says God you care so much about me that you are willing even you're not even willing to let me go by myself even when I want to even when I want to stray even when I want to go in the valley of shadows you are willing to both spank me and to pull me in and that comforts me and to the extent that you understand to be disciplined is to be loved is the extent you understand that to be loved is to be comforted right and you walk through the valley of shadows. Because now not only do you not fear but you walk through the valley of shadows sort of with your head up you walk through the valley of shadows waiting saying who's going to jump out I dare someone to jump out you see earlier this week and hit me you know mercy back to mercy the three and a half year old I've been trying to get a grip on what in the world makes her so the way she is why is she so confident why is she so reckless in her relationships why is she willing to say anything to anybody? Not really worry about it and I got a glimpse of it this week because you see the girls were sitting at the table again dinner with mercy and Abby said dad what do you want to be when you grew up? I said what do you want what do you mean in flanery said when you're a kid what did you want to be when you were when you were an adult and before I can say anything mercy said I know I said what's that mercy and she put her head back and she said you want to be my dad right and I just started balling and of course I didn't say anything and she became a patient and she said I'm sorry. She became a patient and she said right you just want to be my dad that's what you wanted to be right right and I could I was crying so hard I couldn't say anything she looked at having flanery she said see she put her head back down it started eating and I had to wonder is her confidence based on the fact at some level not only in knowing that she has a dad right I always wondered because I didn't have a dad growing up and I said God what would have you like to have a dad just to have one there and yet mercy apparently is convinced I hope for good reason that she not only is a dad but she is a dad who actually wants her. She wants to be her dad and that's what David is saying comforts me because God it's not just that God is my shepherd he wants to be my shepherd he wants to and I know he wants to because he doesn't just take care of me in the lowlands or take care of me in the highlands but right in the middle of the valley of the shadow of death in the midst of everything that is hard and terrible in my life he is with me and he protects me with that rod and better yet he reigns me in with that staff can you believe it. Think about that this week God's just not your shepherd but he wants to be your shepherd God's it's just your father but he wants to be your father and he's wanted to be your father before the foundation of the world. Let me pray Jesus I thank you for the fact that you have seen fit to come in the form of a sheep that you as our shepherd actually became one of us not only so that you would understand what it means to be a sheep and to identify with all of our weakness but in fact to bear our weakness. To bear that which we could not bear ourselves and that is the wrath of God in the schemes of Satan and you overcame and on the third day when you rose from the dead you declared victory over death and you offer it to us and I pray this morning that we would take it I pray that we would embrace the valley of shadows for what it is. A temporary thing until you take us home and I pray that we would be comforted in your presence but not only that I pray that we would be comforted by your rod and your staff even as it is unpleasant through times and so we thank you in your name amen and amen.