COMFORT FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
PSALM 23:1-6
PSALM 23:1-6
Introduction:
God is the comforter of His people. God has provided every thing that we need to keep us in a satisfied condition. Many Christians are living lives of fear and doubt, instead of living in the will of God. Consider just a few things that the Lord has done and continues to do for those that love Him.
I. THE LORD IS THE SHEPHERD THAT LEADS AND PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE
A. He feeds His flock like a Shepherd, Isaiah 40:11, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”
1. Jesus is that Good Shepherd and He knows His sheep, John 10:11, 14, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 14- I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep , and am known of mine.”
2. He gives His life for the Sheep, Titus 2:14, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
B. His lovingkindness leads His flock, Psalm 40:11, “Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.”
C. His truth continually preserves His flock, Psalm 43:3, “O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.”
II. THE LORD CARES FOR HIS OWN
A. No man cared for my soul, Psalm 142:4, “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”
1. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, Psalm 69:20, “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.”
2. My friends had forgotten me, Job 19:14-15, “My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. 15- They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.”
B. Jesus loved me and died for me, Romans 5:6-8, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7- For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die . 8- But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
1. I was without strength to help myself, Titus 3:3-5, “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4- But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5- Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”
2. Jesus appeared in God’s own time to put away my sin, Hebrews 9:26, “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
III. THE LORD SHELTERS HIS OWN FOR ETERNITY
Psalm 61:3, “For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.”
A. He has showed us the good, Psalm 4:6-7, “There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. 7- Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.”
B. He is our strength, Psalm 81:2-4, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 3- For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. 4- I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings.”
C. He is our safety, Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”
1. He is the anchor of the soul, Hebrews 6:18-19, “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19- Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”
2. He is the author and finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
D. He is our Advocate and Intercessor, 1 John 2:1, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”
1. Jesus is there for us, Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
2. He is our Intercessor, 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
CONCLUSION:
God has taken care of His own. We are under His protection and care. Nothing can defeat us and our lives are in His hands.