Meadowbrooke Church

A God Above All Others

Thursday morning, while at Gold’s Gym, hours before news broke of Israel’s attack on Iran (ironically named “Rising Lion”), my thoughts were consumed by the crazy protests in Los Angeles and the posturing of California’s governor and our President against one another.  I also thought about the fragile state of our world, Putin’s unrelenting push to take Ukraine and Ukraine’s resolve to remain a sovereign state.  While on the Stair Climber at Gold’s gym, as I thought about the above current events, I typed the following on my “Notes” app on my phone: “The kings of the earth will mourn when Jesus returns because they do not want to give up what belongs to the King of kings.” 
 
We are promised by God’s Word: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.”  Of His return to judge the nations, Jesus said: “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30).  When Jesus comes again, He will come with “power” and “great glory.”
 
Jesus is coming, He will judge the nations, and He will come with power and great glory!  I do not know when He will come and neither do you, but what I do know is that time is running out!  My dear brothers and sisters, the hour is late and His coming draws nigh (Luke 21:25-28)!  It is possible that you are here or watching the livestream, and as you do... you are still sleeping.  Men, it is possible that you are here, or you are watching the live stream, and you are currently suffering from an identity crisis.  Permit me to explain what I mean.
 
After God created all things, on the sixth day, He created man; more specifically, we are told that He said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image according to Our likeness...” (Gen. 1:26).  We are later told in Genesis that God put Adam in the Garden and before He formed Eve from His rib, God commissioned Adam as the first man to “cultivate it and tend it” (2:15). God also said of Adam as a man, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (v. 20).  The man and the woman were to complement each other, but the man was also responsible to cultivate and tend to his wife, or as the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:25, Adam was to love his wife in such a way that would later be demonstrated upon a cross by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 
 
God Created You to Know and Enjoy Him (vv. 18-21)
Adam and Eve were to serve as His ambassadors in His creation; Adam was to serve as priest in his home in the way that he loved his wife and eventually parented his children alongside and with his wife.  All that was good in Adam’s home and the peace that he and his wife knew in the presence of God was vandalized by the first couple’s sin and Adam’s failure to shepherd his wife as a lover of her soul.  The serpent sought to destroy God’s image bearers bypassing Adam while targeting Eve.  Although Adam was right next to his wife while the serpent tempted and deceived her, the man did not provide, nor did he protect by refusing to protest the lies of the snake on behalf of his wife.  Eve believed the wicked serpent and ate of the fruit that God warned would bring death, and after Eve took the first bite, she then gave it to her husband, and he ate of the forbidden fruit. Both Adam and Eve were then filled with shame. 
 
I would like to suggest to you that I believe Adam bit into the fruit because he wanted glory and power that did not belong to him.  In fact, ever since Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit, mankind has pursued a glory and a power that belongs only to the Creator.  I would like to suggest that the underlying motive of idol worship in whatever form it takes is a desire for power and glory.
 
What do I mean by “power and glory,” and how do they relate to idol worship?  What I mean by power is chasing after the thing, person, or experience that God has said you cannot have or that you cannot have on your terms, but on His. In the garden, God said no to the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but He provided every other fruit in the garden for their enjoyment.  Another example of how idol worship is really a pursuit of power is determining that you will go outside of God’s prescribed moral boundaries so that you can get, receive, or experience what you think is best for you.  When you do that, you make yourself to be “like” God in the same way Adam and Eve desired to be like God when they ignored His word to receive what they believed was best for themselves.  This is the point of Isaiah 45:18-21; for a moment let verse 18 settle on your soul: “For this is what the Lord says, He who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it as a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited): ‘I am the Lord, and there is no one else.’” In other words: There is only one Creator, He is Yahweh, and you are not Him.  His creation that He made was designed with your living and thriving in mind within the way that He designed all of it.  When you make decisions or act in such a way that goes against what Yahweh has declared to be good or bad, you assume an authority that is not yours.  Idol worship is assuming the role of Yahweh and the power to determine what is right and wrong, apart from Him. 
 
What I mean by “glory” is by making yourself the center of Yahweh’s creation.  By default, because He was able to create all things, He is God.  There was no one before Him and before all things, He existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Not three different forms at different times, not by three different titles, but as One God in Three Persons.  There is no God like Him!  The good news is that He is equally holy as He is good.  He is not like the idols we humans create that can only burden and crush those who worship them.  However, when we do bow down to idols, we do so because we have determined that they can give us what God cannot.  Anytime we make something ultimate in our lives (even the good things), we essentially have determined that the thing, the person, the experience, can give us what God cannot give.  When we do this, we become guilty of self-worship and have removed God from His rightful place in our lives and placed ourselves at the center of His universe. 
 
Listen, just as it is true that any idol you create is a god of your own creation that you must carry that will only burden you... so it is true that any idol you create and bow down to is self-worship. To do this is no different than those, “Who carry around their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save” (Isa. 45:20).  Your idols will lead you away from the life and joy the true God intends for you, not to it!  This is why in Isaiah 45:21, Yahweh calls to all under the crushing burden of their idols: “Declare and present your case; indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this long ago? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me.”  His call is one of mercy and grace that is motivated by love, but He will not share your heart with any of your idols!
 
God Provided a Way to Know and Enjoy Him (vv. 22-25)
There is a way to be free of your idols, there is a way that leads to life, there is a way to experience the kind of joy for which you were born, but it cannot be in and through any idol of your making!  This is why the Bible says, “There is a way which seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 16:25).  Any way that you seek, that excludes God, to find and experience life, joy, your best life now... can only and will only lead to death because the kind of life and purpose you were born for can only be found in the One to Whom there is no comparison.  The God who made you, calls to you: “Turn to Me and be saved...” (v. 22).  Who can turn to Yahweh to be saved?  God tells us: “...all the ends of the earth.” On every continent and in every nation, God invites all to turn to Him for their salvation, and it must be on His terms alone!
 
You cannot come to Yahweh for salvation with your idols, for the only way to come to Him is by first laying your idols down before Him. We learn from Isaiah 45:19, that He is not far off and He is not hidden.  He is within reach because He alone is God and there is no other like Him!  In Isaiah 45 alone, it is repeated not twice, not three times, not even seven times, but ten times that there is no God like Yahweh.  Why is this repeated ten times?  There are 10 commandments that were given to Israel; the number ten symbolizes the divine law and the God who created mankind to know Him.  It is this God who not only has made Himself available to you and has invited you into a relationship with Him, but it is He who has pursued sinners who do not run to Him but from Him.  It is this God and no other who declares with the same power and glory that spoke creation into existence with just the word of His mouth: “I have sworn by Myself; the word had gone out from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance” (v. 23). 
 
What does it mean to bow one knee and what does it mean for one to swear allegiance to Yahweh?  It means to come to Him in humility, contrite in spirit, and trembling at His word. 
To tremble at God’s word is to recognize that He is God and you are not, and that you have nothing to give Him but your broken self; to tremble at God’s word is also to come to Him as one who is poor in spirit.
 
To be contrite in spirit is to not only recognize and see your sin for what it is, but to grieve over your sin; to be contrite in spirit is also to be one who mourns over your sin.
 
To be humble before God is to recognize that to Him alone belongs all glory, honor and power (see Rev. 4:11); to be humble is to be meek.
 
We are all born into sin, and because of our sin nature... our hearts are idol factories from the moment we come out of the womb and take our first breath.  The verdict according to the Word of God is this: “There is no righteous person, not even one; there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks out God...” (Rom. 3:10-11; Ps. 14:1-3).  However, God offers peace, and His offer of peace is not to be confused with an offer of truce.  A truce is an agreement between enemies to stop fighting or arguing for a season and it usually requires a compromise on both sides; this is NOT what Yahweh offers to anyone. What he offers is the unconditional surrender of sinners so that we can be saved from His wrath and experience a redemption only He can make possible: “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word had gone out from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance” (Isa. 45:22-23).  Why? Because “only in Yahweh are righteousness and strength” (v. 24).
 
What Adam failed to do while the serpent tempted his wife, was to lead her away from the danger of the serpent to the safety of their Creator who alone is all powerful and to Whom belongs all glory.  Adam was called to tend and cultivate the heart and soul of his wife by leading her to Yahweh, but instead he led her to an enemy and to idols that can only, “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). 
 
After Adam and Eve sinned, God promised a deliverer who would crush the serpent’s head, but also would ultimately rid the world of idols.  Eight chapters later, in Isaiah 53, we discover that God’s terms of peace is a Person who would take upon Himself the sins we are all guilty of for the purpose of saving and redeeming sinners.  This Person would be afflicted, struck down, and humiliated (Isa. 53:4).  This Person would be pierced for our offenses, He would be crushed for our sins, He would be punished for good, and it would be through His wounded body, that sinners like us would find our healing (v. 5).  This Person would bear the sins of Adam’s race by being oppressed, afflicted, and ultimately crushed for the forgiveness of sins we committed for the purpose of our redemption (vv. 6-10). 
 
It would be through this Person that salvation would be made available to all people from every tribe, nation, and tongue.  The Person Isaiah prophesied about would not be any ordinary person, for over 100 years after Isaiah wrote those words, the prophet Jeremiah declared: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, ‘When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.  In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord Our Righteousness.’” (Jer. 23:5-6).  The person Jeremiah spoke of is Jesus. He is the righteous Branch of David and He is “The Lord our Righteousness” who was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our wrongdoings, and died for our sins.  He not only died, but after He was buried, He rose on the third day!  What motivates Yahweh to offer salvation to sinners everywhere?  Love! 
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Rom. 5:8-10)
 
Of this Jesus, the apostle Paul wrote the following:
And being found in appearance as a man, He [Jesus] humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:8-11)
 
Do you see and understand what the apostle is saying here?  The One through Whom salvation will be made available to the nations and deliver us from our sins and rescue us from the crushing and weary weight of our idols is Jesus! It is to Him that every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance by confessing, “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 
 
Husbands, fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and every person in this room today... hear me: We are not called to chase after idols, for they will only lead to burdens that crush and ultimately steal, kill, and destroy.  Every part of you was made for a purpose to know and be known by the living God whose image you bear!  God’s terms of peace is Jesus, so if you have not done so already, run to Him before your time runs out. 
 
Husbands, fathers, and grandfathers, do not fall for the tempter’s lies like a fool; do not follow in the way of Adam!  The most loving thing you can do for your wife, your children, and your grandchildren is NOT to lead them to their idols, but to lead them to the idol crusher, Whom is Jesus Christ.  There is coming a day when the time God has allotted will run out, and every idol worshiper will one day stand before the King of kings and Lord of lords.  If you are leading your wife, your children, or your grandchildren to their idols... you are ultimately leading them to God as a Judge instead of a Father they could have known had you led them to Jesus instead of the idols of their hearts.  For it is only in and through Jesus we can sing these words: 
No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven
The future sure, the price, it has been paid
For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon
And he was raised to over - throw the grave
To this I hold: my sin has been defeated
Jesus now and ever is my plea
Oh the chains are released, I can sing: I am free!
Yet not I but through Christ in me
 
Amen.

A God Like No Other

Last Sunday, I mentioned Solomon as an example of a life of faith that began so wonderfully but ended very tragically.  Solomon knew the scriptures well, we know this because of what he wrote in the book of Proverbs, and one such verse that he wrote was Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”  In fact, according to Proverbs, real wisdom is the Old Testament Law applied to all of life.  Yet, at some point, Solomon’s heart was turned away from God and foolishly pursued what God warned would lead to heartbreak, shame, and disaster. 
 
The thing that Solomon’s father, David, was known for was that he was a man of war (1 Chron. 28:3), which Solomon was not. Solomon was known as a man of peace.  The problem was that he pursued peace even if it meant that he ignored the very Law of God that influenced his writing of Proverbs.  One of the ways the kings of other nations would enter into a peace agreement or an alliance (i.e. covenant) was by marrying the daughter(s) of the king of that nation.  We are told that Solomon, “loved many foreign women” (1 Ki. 1-2).  The problem with this is multifaceted, but here is what God commanded in His word that Solomon ignored:
Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones, and cut down their Asherim —for you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they would prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons also to prostitute themselves with their gods. You shall not make for yourself any gods cast in metal.” (Exod. 34:12–17)
 
Solomon, who had been known for his godly wisdom and the building of the Temple, “loved many foreign women” (1 Ki. 11:1-2).  So what happened?  Listen to what the Bible says about Solomon’s ending legacy:
So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as his father David had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, on the mountain that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abhorrent idol of the sons of Ammon. He also did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.” (1 Ki. 11:6–8)
 
 
 
What Solomon thought would bring peace, contentment, and success... created a crushing burden the wrecked his life and led to the dividing of the nation of Israel into the North and the South. 
 
After the death of Solomon, the divisive spirit Solomon was responsible for creating through his many compromises led to the splitting of the nation he loved.  The king of the northern kingdom (Jeroboam) established two alternative places to worship to keep those in the North from traveling to the Southern kingdom to worship Yahweh in the Temple that Solomon built.  King Jeroboam set up golden calves not unlike the one made by the Hebrews after Moses was up on the mountain receiving the commandments of God; Jeroboam then said to the people: “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt” (1 Ki. 12:28).  The Northen Kingdom in Israel was known for its rampant and evil idolatry that included child sacrifice and gross perversions of marriage and sex, all while promoting a worldview contrary to the one of their forefathers.  After many years of God warning the Northern Kingdom through His Word and His prophets to repent from their sins, and after many years of ignoring those warnings, God used the Asyrian Kingdom to judge, destroy, and exile many of the people.
 
The Southern Kingdom was initially led by Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.  In many respects, the Sothern Kingdom remained somewhat loyal to the faith and vision of their forefathers such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David.  There were no doubt periods of idolatry, but there were also seasons of religious reform with an emphasis to return and maintain the worship of Yahweh at the Temple in Jerusalem.  Many in the Southern Kingdom believed that because they had Solomon’s Temple, that they had the presence of God.  Eventually the Southern Kingdom grew increasingly nominal in their faith to the point that God also sent them prophets to warn them of a similar fate that the Northern Kingdom suffered if they did not repent.  Because they had Solomon’s Temple, were more conservative, and were ‘not as bad’ as those in the Northern Kingdom, that they were safe.  Eventually the Southern Kingdom became known for their worship of the idols of the nation’s, instead of their worship of the God of Abraham, Moses, and David.
 
Both the Southern and Northern Kingdoms eventually experienced the crushing burden that their idols created.  But it was after the Northen Kingdom’s demise and God’s repeated warnings to the Sothern Kingdom to turn from their sins that Isaiah wrote what we read in 46:1-13.    
 
Creaturely Idols Create Crushing Burdens for those who Bow Before Them
Idols come in all shapes and sizes; they are not only physical creations made with human hands.  Idols include established gods worshiped by people groups and cultures, but they also come in the form of ideologies, things, or people that are made ultimate in the heart of their devotees.  Some of the ancient idols of long ago have taken different shapes or even cloaked in a different dress... but they are not new. 
 
In Isaiah 46, the prophet calls out the worship of the Babylonian gods known as Bel and Nebo about a century before we are introduced to Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel.  Bel was the chief god worshiped by the Babylonians who was also known as Marduk and believed to be responsible for creation and worshiped as the supreme god.  Nebo, the son of Bel (Marduk), was worshiped as the the Babylonian god of wisdom, writing, and scribes. 
In Isaiah 46, Bel and Nebo are depicted as burdens pulled by cattle; the irony of the way they are depicted is that in the days of Isaiah, when a nation was conquered, because it was believed that their gods were unable to save, the victorious army would put on display in a parade the idols of the defeated people. At least the defeated worshipers of Bel and Nebo can move, but the gods the Babylonians attribute power and knowledge to are stooped over because they are powerless, motionless, and without life.  Like every other idol in the world, Bel and Nebo have no power to save or produce what they promise. 
 
The weight of Bel and Nebo is crushing even to the cattle forced to transport them.  Why?  Because according to verses 6-7, “Those who lavish gold from the bag and weigh silver on the scale, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; they bow down, indeed they worship it. They lift it on the shoulder, carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may shout to it, it cannot answer; it cannot save him from his distress” (Isa 46:6–7). 
 
Those who worshiped Bel and Nebo, essentially worship a god of their own creation.  All that the gods add to the lives of those who worship them is a “burden.”  The word for burden that is used (mǎś-śā) can be translated “weight.”  There is a universal fact about what people chose to worship: Anything we create to worship... will require its creator to carry it.  Idols always promise what they cannot give, and rob those who worship them the life, joy, and salvation that those idols offer.  The only thing that created idols offer is the crushing weight of their burden.
 
Unlike the idols of the world, there is only one God who created all things!  Because He is the Creator, all of His creation is dependent upon Him.  Because He is the Creator, He is the One who carries those who worship Him: “Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will carry you! I have done it, and I will bear you; and I will carry you and I will save you. ‘To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal, and compare Me, that we would be alike?’” (vv. 4–5).
 
The Uncreated God Powerfully and Purposefully Saves (vv. 8-13)
Just as He did with the gods of Egypt, the God of Abraham, Moses, and David promised to do the same with the gods of Babylon.  The reality and existence of Yahweh puts everything and anyone who would set themselves up to be more than what they are... to shame.  Lucifer attempted to usurp the God who made him, God cast Him out and Jesus said of that day: “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18).  In Isaiah 14, we are given a glimpse into the heart and motives of Lucifer:
How you have fallen from heaven, you star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who defeated the nations! “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” (Isa. 14:12–14)
 
Because God is God, He declares the end from the beginning.  What does that mean?  It means what He wills, He not only does but accomplishes!  What else could verse 10 mean? It is God who is responsible for, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’”  There is no room for luck, chance, or karma in a universe with a God who “declares the end from the beginning.” 
 
Because Yahweh is God, he does not need anything from us.  There is no deficiency in Him because He is complete; but not complete in the way we think of completion... no, He is infinitely and eternally complete.  Only six chapters earlier, we are reminded of how big and great our God really is:
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.... To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him? As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, and a silversmith fashions chains of silver. He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot; he seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter. (Isa. 40:15, 18-20)
 
Think about the foolishness of worshiping something you create with your own hands.  Is it not just as foolish to bow down to idols of other shapes and sizes?  As great as Solomon’s Temple was, it ultimately became an idol to the people in that they became more concerned about the performance of worship than who they were worshiping.  In Isaiah 66, God reminded Judah why it was that He did not need anything they created: “This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is My throne and the earth is the footstool for My feet. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? ‘For My hand made all these things, So all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. But I will look to this one, at one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My word’” (Isa. 66:1–2). 
 
God does not dwell in temples, and He does not need anything from us.  Because there is not a God like Him, He does not need us to carry Him and His promises are not dependent upon our strength.  However, what He desires from us is our hearts and our devotion. 
 
Now here is the crazy thing about what we learn of God in Isaiah 46, and we see it in verses 12-13, “Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, who are far from righteousness. ‘I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; and My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel’” (Isa. 46:12–13).  The God who has no equal and cannot be added to, is He who brings His righteousness to those who are far off!  If you are a Christian, you were once far off, but now you have brought near!  If you are not a Christian, you are still far off, but it doesn’t have stay that way!  Oh dear Christian, this is great news for you!  We have seen Isaiah 46:12-13 in another passage in the New Testament, and that place is in Ephesians: “But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). 
 
Listen, there is only One who spoke all that exists by the word of His mouth in six days and rested on the seventh day (Exod. 20:11).  There is only One who reduced Pharoah and his gods to nothing with the Ten Plagues (Exod. 7:14-11:10).  There is only One who was able to part the Red Sea (Exod. 14).  There is only One who is able to make time stand still (Josh 10:13).  There is only One who is able to move kingdoms and empires to bring about the birth of His promised Son!  There is only One God and there is no other, and it is He who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – He is Yahweh!  Christian, it is He who brought you near through the blood of His Son!  It is He who made you “His Priesthood,” “His People,” and “His Treasured Possession.”  You who were once far off, have become the objects of His love, His mercy, His grace, and are now the apple of His eye! 
 
You who ran from Him, have been found by the One who said: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28–30). You who were weary and burdened, have found rest in Jesus. 
 
Conclusion
So here is the rub regarding what we read in Isaiah 46: If it is true that the God of the Bible is God and there is no other; if it is true that the God of Isaiah 46 is God and there is no one like Him, and because of God, that which He wills will come to pass, then don’t you think that it is foolish to make or treat anything in your life as equal or greater than He? 
 
Yet, there are all kinds of things, dreams, and people in your life competing for the greatest and most valuable place in your life.  This is nothing new, for it has always been the tension since the garden of Eden. Just because God found you, does not mean that you will not struggle with and fight against the pull and temptation to substitute God with something else.  Adam and Eve faced this struggle in the Garden, and they lost.  Abraham wrestled throughout his life with this same struggle.  King David struggled and lost on several occasions, the most notable was his desire for Bathsheba.  Judas struggled and lost, Ananias and Saphira struggled and lost, and you may be struggling and now you find yourself losing.  Anytime we place a thing, person, dream, or ideology above the God whose rightful place in your life in preeminence... you will find the burden to be crushing.
 
We will look at Isaiah 45:22-24, but for now, I want you to consider what it is saying:
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. “I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. “They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’ People will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.”
 
There is only one to whom all will bow, and there is no God like Him... and His name is Jesus:
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:8–11)
 
What you need and what this country needs most is not for anything other than Jesus Christ to be great in your life.  He is the hope of the nations.

Be Watchful, Be Wise, Be Aware!

From the Pulpit of Keith Miller
Last fall, I preached a series of sermons on the armor of God as part of a series in the epistle to the Ephesians.  Today, I am not preaching any of those sermons.  I am preaching this sermon on a familiar passage out of a sense of urgency for all of us (me included). It might be because we are honoring six of our own from Meadowbrooke Church who have graduated from High School.  It may also be because of multiple examples we are given in the Bible of individuals who started well, but whose lives ended poorly; people like Solomon, Uzziah, Judas, and the two men Paul lists in 1 Timothy (Hymenaeus and Alexander) who did not do the things Paul urged Timothy to do, which was to, “...fight the good fight, keep the faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith” (1 Tim. 1:18–19).
 
Then there are the repeated admonitions throughout the New Testament; permit me to share some of those with you this morning:
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” (Matt. 24:42)
“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” (1 Cor. 16:13)
“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” (Heb. 2:1)
“So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:15-16)
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world.” (1 Pet. 5:8-9)
 
Aside from the multiple examples of the moral failure of key individuals in the Bible who started off strong spiritually and then ended badly, and the many appeals throughout the New Testament to “be careful,” to “pay attention,” to “be alert,” and to be “sober minded.” Over the past 18 years and nearly 180 hours I have spent in the book of Revelation, the thing I have seen and keep seeing is the repeated appeal throughout the book to persevere until the end:
“Be faithful until death...” (Rev. 2:10)
 
“The one who overcomes, and keeps My deeds until the end...” (2:26)
 
“Hold firmly to what you have...” (3:11)
 
“The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.” (Rev. 21:7)  
 
The question is how do you finish well, stay alert, and endure until the end?  I believe Ephesians 6:10-18 provides us with that answer. 
 
The Enemy is Demonic and Real (v. 12)
We are specifically told that the struggle we face is both demonic and real.  We are told in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” The reason we are told to be strong in the Lord is because our struggle is with powerful forces that are demonic in nature: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).  
 
The rulers, powers, world forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness are those angels who sided with Satan in his war against God.  Although Satan is only one demon who cannot be in more than one place at a time, he has authority over millions of demons who obey his every command. The rulers, authorities, powers, and spiritual forces of wickedness are different demons with various ranks and responsibilities; some influence governments and kings, others have a more global influence, and many focus their attacks on individual Christians. 
 
Now to be clear, we are told that when Jesus saved you and redeemed you through the life He lived, the sin-atoning death He died, and His victory over the grave... that He, “disarmed the rulers, powers, world forces, and spiritual forces of wickedness” and, “made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him [Jesus]” (Col. 2:13-15).  In his [1]book, The Warrior Savior, Owen Strachan wrote, “The crucifixion represented a real death, but not a real defeat.” 
 
Listen, the demonic powers have no claim or authority over you Christian except what you give to them.  Paul does not mince words here and leaves no room for confusion: “For our struggle...” our fight is not just a fight, but it is a wrestling match in the way that it is not off in the distance but in your face, around you, on you, and is only interested in choking you out!  And “our struggle” is not only with our flesh, but also with, “...the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Our enemy’s attacks come from afar and they come to us up close! The enemy brings his fight against us in all different way and techniques!  It comes in the form of slander, false teaching, and the temptation to sin.  Our fight can come in the form of doubt, depression, and deception.  The battle can come in the form of persecution from friends, family, or state authorities. Believe me when I say this: the enemy knows you better than you know you, and he is strategic, deceptive, and is set on silencing or sidling you in any way possible.  It is possible that you have already given the enemy ground, and you are trapped and not sure out to break free. There is One who is mightily greater than they!  
 
The Strength of the Lord is Necessary (vv. 10, 13-17)
There is no persevering, no conquering, and no victory apart from Jesus!  There is only one remedy against Satan, against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places... and that remedy is the One who disarmed them, “...having triumphed over them” (Col. 2:15).  There was only One capable of doing such a thing: “And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:13–14).
 
Listen, when it comes to the Christian life, when it comes to standing firm, when it comes to persevering, when it comes to being a Christian, you CANNOT do it apart from Jesus!  He alone is “the first and the last, and the living One; He was dead, and behold, He is alive forevermore, and it is He who holds the keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:17-18).  The One who died is the Lamb of God, and because He is the Lion of Judah, He conquered death when He got up on Sunday morning and because He is both the Lamb and the Lion, He alone is worthy, “to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing” (Rev. 5:1-14). 
 
When it comes to living the Christian life, you cannot do it with Jesus at a distance, you cannot do it with Him being second, and you cannot do it out of your own strength!  You can only do it if He is your strength.  The biblical definition for the word “salvation” is not confined to a date when you believed and said some prayer.  No! The biblical definition for salvation includes the day you were saved but is only complete when you receive a resurrection and all things in creation are made new.  It is of this salvation that the great multitude in heaven that includes every nation, all the tribes, peoples, and languages who cry out at the top of their lungs: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev. 7:10).  The completion of your salvation in the biblical sense, cannot be done on your own, but ONLY in the strength and might of King Jesus (Eph. 6:10)! 
 
Okay, so how can you be strong in the strength and might of Jesus?  We are told that we do that by putting on the full armor of God (v. 11). What is the armor of God?  Let me first tell you what it includes:
The belt of truth, which is God’s truth.
The breastplate of righteousness, which is Christ’s righteousness.
The shoes of the gospel of peace, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ that that we stand firmly in.
The shield of faith is our hope in God that is saturated by the truth of God’s word.
The helmet of salvation, which is the security that we have in the assurance of our salvation.
The sword of the Spirit is the word of God as our offensive weapon in all the armor we are to put on.
 
For those of you who were here for the armor of God part of the Ephesian series, what I am about to say probably will not surprise you.  Each piece of the armor of God belongs to Jesus. Jesus is our belt of truth, Jesus is our breastplate of righteousness, Jesus is our peace, Jesus is our shield of faith, Jesus is our helmet of salvation, and Jesus is the Word of God.  I am convinced that the way one puts on the armor of God is by abiding in Jesus.  This is why the phrase “in Christ” or “in Him” or any other phrase related to “in Christ” is repeated about 36 times in the short six chapters that make up Ephesians.  The only way to put on the armor is by abiding in Jesus. 
 
What does it mean to abide in Jesus?  There are scores of passages we can turn to answer that question, but I will show you two: The first is in 1 John 3:24, and this is what the apostle John wrote: “The one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (1 John 3:24).  Listen, the only way you can know how to keep His commandments is if you know what His word says; His commandments are His words.  The second passage that unpacks what we just read in 1 John is found in the Gospel of John through the words of Jesus:
“Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.... If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.... If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.” (John 15:4, 7, 10)
 
The word “remain” can also be translated “stand.” In John the Greek word that is used is abide, menō, which is a different word than the one used in Ephesians 6:10-11, (histēmi).  The point is the same though, there is no standing firmly against the devil’s schemes unless you are abiding in Jesus by keeping His Word and making it apart of you.  There is no taking up the armor of God if you are not remaining, abiding, or standing in fellowship with Jesus.  
 
The Power of Persistent Prayer is Needed (vv. 18ff.)
There are six pieces of the armor of God that are typically emphasized in sermons and in books, and I listed all six that are mentioned in the Bible, but there is one more that does not get the kind of attention that it deserves. 
In the Bible, certain numbers are important.  The number 3 signifies divine wholeness and perfection, the number 4 symbolizes completeness in relation to creation, the number 1,000 symbolizes an extended period of time or an indefinite but great amount of time, and the number 7 symbolizes completion, wholeness, and perfection.  The number 7 appears throughout the Bible over 700 times.  In six days, God created everything and on the seventh day, He rested, which marked the completion of creation. 
 
The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit are only six pieces and do not complete the set!  Yet we are specifically told in Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” There is a seventh piece that completes the set and that seventh piece that belongs to the “whole armor of God” is how you know you have put on the armor of God and how you know that you are abiding in Jesus!  The seventh piece of the armor of God that completes the set is found in our dependance upon Jesus through prayer; look carefully at verse 18: “With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints...” 
   
How does one stay alert?  How can the Christian persevere?  By putting on the full armor of God?  How do I put on the full armor of God?  By standing in the One to whom six pieces of the armor belongs and by dependently going to Him, “With every prayer and request...”  How often ought we to pray?  We are to pray, “at all times in the Spirit...”
 
So important is prayer as a part of the full armor of God, that the apostle Paul asked that these Ephesian Christians also pray on his behalf that God would do the following four things in his life:
That God give Paul the words to say.
That God open Paul’s mouth.
That God embolden Paul in the opening of his mouth.
That God use Paul to clearly make known the mystery of the gospel.
 
What is the point?  The point is this: There is no persevering, no conquering, and no victory apart from Jesus! The only way to stay awake and watchful, the only way to keep yourself from falling into the foolishness of sin, the only way to be aware of the schemes of the devil is if you are, “strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” (v. 10).  The only way you are going to do that is if you are abiding in the Lord by keeping His word, and the evidence you are abiding in Him is if you recognize that your only recourse against His schemes is to run to God in prayer.  
 
[1] Own Strachan, The Warrior Savior (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing; 2024), p. 21.

Becoming the Servant of the Lord

The year was 1933. The United States, indeed, the entire world, was in the throes of the Great Depression. Often, it is difficult to pinpoint a date when something like an economic recession begins, but this time it was not. 
 
In October of 1929, Black Thursday witnessed one of the largest stock market declines at the opening bell ever seen, with an 11% drop. Everyone was hopeful the market might stabilize after stocks closed at a much more palatable 6% decline that day. The nightmare, however, was just beginning. The following Monday, Black Monday, the market fell another 12%. The next day, another 12% was lost. Now, my academic background is in economics and finance, and I’ve realized that economists are not the most creative bunch. So, naturally, that next day was called Black Tuesday. In the 1980s, there was another Monday when the market crashed. Want to guess what it was called? That’s right. Black Monday. The moral of the story is: don’t ask an economist to do your creative writing assignment. 
By the time it was all said and done, the market had shed 85% of its value. Global GDP had fallen by 15%, but in the U.S., it fell by over 30%. At the peak of the Depression, unemployment soared to 25%. Recovery would not happen until 1939 - that’s 10 years later! 
 
This was the state of the world when Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933. In the years to come, Hitler would begin his invasion of other European nations and start the systematic, and I would argue, demonic, murder of those he and his followers did not deem worthy of living. Further, Japan would begin its imperial expansion and, on December 7, 1941, attack Pearl Harbor. This event brought The U.S. into the largest conflict the world has ever seen. 
FDR would become the only President to serve more than two terms. For over 12 years, he held the nation’s highest office through some of its most challenging yet formative events. However, this pales in comparison to the time that Moses led the Israelites. 
 
For forty years, Moses led his people through the desert. If you were an Israelite child living in Egypt, you would have heard how Moses confronted Pharoah. You would have witnessed the plagues and known it was Moses who stood in front of this tyrannical king. You would have seen the Passover lamb slaughtered and blood painted on the doorposts of your house because Moses told your family they must do it to save the oldest son in your household. Maybe that firstborn son was you. You would have left quickly in the middle of the night after Pharoah finally relented. Moses was at the forefront. You would have seen Moses wade into the sea and split the waters. Moses was the man who talked with God in the tent and met Him on the mountain, coming back glowing with radiance. You would have gotten married and had children. Moses was leading the people. Your children would have grown up and gotten married themselves. Moses was still leading the people. In all likelihood, you had grandchildren, and Moses was still there, leading the people!
As with all leaders, FDR had his supporters and his detractors. Yet, when he died, the nation and the world were shocked to their core. And that is the point to be made here; when a country loses an extremely influential leader, especially during a time of significant change and tribulation, the people are going to feel that loss. Winston Churchill later recalled hearing of the President’s death being like getting struck by a physical blow. His impact was so significant that even today, when asked to rank presidents' influence on the nation, FDR consistently ranks in the top three. The other two are Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
As much as this nation went through under FDR, the nation of Israel went through much more under Moses. He was the one who led them out of slavery. He was the one who gave them the commandments of God. The loss of this man would have rocked the Israelites’ world in a way that you and I likely cannot understand. We read in Deuteronomy:
 
10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.(Deut 34:10-12)
To this day, Moses is preeminent among all the prophets for the people of Israel. He is considered greater than Elijah or Isaiah and more elevated than Jeremiah or Ezekiel.
 
And it is at this moment in history that we pick up the book of Joshua following the death of this great man. But notice how Moses is identified. He is not the leader of Israel. He is not the worker of miracles. He is not the prophet. He is simply called the servant of the LORD. In Hebrew, the term is עבד יהוה (ebed Yahweh). This is only the second time this phrase has been used in the Bible up to this point. The first is in the chapter preceding this one, the last chapter of Deuteronomy, when Moses dies. The Hebrew term rendered here as “servant” actually means something a bit more intense than this English word suggests. This word is often translated as slave. In fact, this is the exact same word used to refer to the Israelites in Egyptian captivity. 
 
3 Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery (עבדים), for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. (Ex 13:3)
But the interesting thing here is that while slavery or servitude to Pharoah is obviously seen as a negative situation, when Moses is called the servant, or the slave, of the LORD, it is a title of honor. Nobody wants to be the servant of a despotic tyrant. But to be the servant of the most High God is the utmost honor. We see this repeatedly throughout scripture. Let me list some for you.
 
·       Paul called himself a slave (Rom 1:1. Gal 1:10, Phil 1:1, Tit 1:1)
·       James, the brother of Jesus, called himself a slave (Jas 1:1)
·       Peter identified as a slave (2 Pet 1:1)
·       Jude, another brother of Jesus, likewise called himself a slave (Jud 1:1)
We see consistently through scripture that “servant of the LORD” is the most incredible thing that someone can be called. However, because of our nation’s history, the words servitude and slavery can have very loaded meanings. The idea of repression and oppressive suffering is not what the Bible has in mind when calling somebody God’s servant. Keith said something compelling last week that is directly applicable here. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. So, let’s put that into practice. Turn with me to Philippians 2:5-11
 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
Here, we see who Jesus really is; he is, by his very nature, one with God. He is the glorious one, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. At His name, every knee will bow. His name is above every other name. And one day, every tongue will confess that He is Lord! He is the uncreated and eternal one. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Word made flesh. He is the first and the last. And yet, what did he become? He became a servant! And we’re called to be the same. Check this out. Turn to Matthew 20:25 with me.
 
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28)
            Now, here’s the rub. Our culture rejects the idea that being a servant of any kind can be a good thing. It is a part of our cultural reality that we seek after possessions, experiences, and our own pleasure. Who is most important? I am. Our success is often measured in how big our house is, how many toys we have, the vacations we get to take, the schools our kids go to, or any number of things. The idea that the most fulfilling thing, the best thing, that we can possibly be is a servant is foreign to us. In fact, our culture is so much a part of who we are that we often don’t realize we actually have made ourselves slaves. Not to God, but to our own pleasures.
            Remember our series in Ephesians? Many of you are thinking, “We spent almost 40 weeks in it, how could I possibly forget?!” But look back on what Paul says.
 
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1-3)
            Brothers and sisters, this is the language of slavery and servitude. And not the kind of servitude that Moses participated in. This is oppressive. This is the language of chains. 
And it may be easy here to think, “But our culture isn’t really all that bad.” But look back at the passage again! 
·       We were following the course of this world. What is the course of this world? Is it not to buy as much stuff as you can? Get the newest car, engross ourselves in entertainment, and obtain the most pleasure we can? All of this to make ourselves feel like we are fulfilled. But, let’s be honest. Does it really? All the evidence says no. 
·       We were living in the passions of our flesh. Watch TV for an hour and tell me that seeking out the passions of the flesh is not the defining feature of our time.
·       We were carrying out the desires of our body.
·       We were carrying out the desires of our mind. Isn’t this what the world tells us to do? Be true to who? God? No, seek your own desires. 
·       What was our nature? Our nature was being a child of wrath. 
And listen, I’m not casting stones here. This was my story. This is my story. I’m preaching to myself as well as to you. Do you remember what happened with the Israelites after they went through the sea? They wanted to go back to slavery! They wanted to run back into the arms of Pharoah! Their true King was going before them in a pillar of fire and cloud, and they wanted to run back to the tyrant! 
 
2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16:2-3)
Brothers and sisters, we suffer from the same spiritual amnesia! Remember the fire we got to sit by? Remember how good the meat was? Oh, and that bread! Never mind that we were in slavery, that food was so pleasurable to eat. This sounds stupid until we take a moment to contemplate how this is like us. We feel the constant pull back to slavery. Why? Because of the instant gratification. It feels good. It may not be meat in a pot for us. It probably is something more like what we view on the internet, whittling away our time on YouTube, or trying to make our own name great through any means we can. And again, this was me. I still feel the pull to define myself by my accomplishments rather than the King I am supposed to serve. I still find myself thinking about how happy I would be if only I had that bigger house or that car that is more fun to drive. But none of these things mean anything; none of them can possibly bring true happiness. 
            Now, the Bible does not teach that money is inherently bad or that having affluence is bad. However, it clearly and consistently teaches that when we prioritize our stuff and our money over God, there is a big problem. When our bank account or our stuff becomes our god, we are at risk of becoming like slaves in Egypt again. Look at what Jesus says to us in Matthew 6.
 
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
And then he says.
 
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
There is that pesky term again: serve. Here is the core of this. We need to, I need to, you need to stop and analyze our own lives. What are we serving? What do we put as primary in our lives? Are we laying up treasures that won’t follow us into eternity and will rot away? If someone you didn’t know looked at your bank account and where your money goes, would they know you are a Christ follower? If your conversations were transcribed, would a reader know you serve God Most High? If your activities were put on a calendar, would someone be able to tell that you are a servant of the LORD? Or would we rather be found to be a servant of something or someone else? 
And this is why it is so important to read the Bible for what it is. It is not a collection of stories that have been cobbled together. It is a book that contains the entire narrative arc of salvation. This story is my story. And it is yours too. I recently came across this quote in a book called The Epic of Eden and it speaks right to the heart of this truth.
 
We forget that this book [the Bible] was cast upon the waters of history with one very specific, completely essential and desperately necessary objective – to tell the epic tale of God’s ongoing quest to ransom his creation. And to, thereby, give each generation the opportunity to know his amazing grace. The Bible is the saga of Yahweh and Adam, the prodigal son and his ever gracious heavenly father; humanity in their rebellion and God in his grace. This narrative begins with Eden and does not conclude until the New Jerusalem is firmly in place. It is all one story. And if you are a believer, it is your story. (Epic of Eden, 15)
In this part of the story, we find Moses, the servant of the LORD, has died. Joshua, his assistant, is now being addressed by God. 
 
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. (Jos 1:1-2)
Despite all he had done and how fervently he followed God, Moses was not without fault. He disobeyed a direct order from God and was, therefore, not allowed to enter the land of promise. Being a servant of God does not mean that we will not stumble sometimes. When we do, we run to God and ask for forgiveness. He is faithful to forgive; there may still be consequences to our actions as there were for Moses, but He is faithful to forgive. But we don’t stop there; we pray that His grace would strengthen us. We seek the help of others. We meditate on God’s word; more on that in a moment. However, we do not boast or exaggerate ourselves; this was the sin of the Pharisees. If you come across somebody teaching that they do not sin, that they never have an occasional lustful thought, that they are perfect… run. That is nowhere to be found in the Bible. We pursue holiness and sanctification, but it is a process. We should not be afraid to confess sin and continue, as the people of God, to pursue holiness. But we cannot do that if we deceive ourselves. Look at what the apostle John wrote in 1 John.
 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)
Moses was not perfect, Joshua was not perfect, David was not perfect, and Paul and John were not perfect. But praise be to God, Jesus is. He was enough for our forefathers, and He is enough for me. I am not sufficient, but His grace is more than sufficient.
This is the reality of the leadership position that Joshua was stepping into. He was to fill the shoes of the greatest prophet Israel would ever know. He was not a perfect man, but he was a man who would, for all of history following, be known as the first to be called the servant of the LORD. He led his people faithfully for 40 years. Since their rescue from Egypt, Moses was all they ever knew. But the work of God was not done. It was time for the next generation to take their place. And we see this throughout the history of the Church. Paul, John, and the other apostles died, but the work of God goes on. Aquilla and his wife Priscilla were faithful servants, leading people to Jesus in the early church. Church fathers like Justin Martyr and Augustine have been buried, but still, the work continues. John Calvin and Martin Luther have passed, yet the Church works on. Men like Tim Keller and Billy Graham finally met their Savior face to face, yet we toil on. 
The people of Israel mourned for 30 days after Moses died. But after that time of mourning, there was work to be done. Fortunately, God had been preparing Joshua, and Joshua had been preparing himself for this moment. 
 
Joshua was the military commander who led the Israelites into their first battle. While others would have seen this as a position of authority, Joshua would have learned from that experience to trust in the might of God. You see, while Joshua was leading the army, Moses went up on a hill. While Moses’ hands were raised, Israel would do well in the battle, but when his arms were down, Israel would start losing the ground they gained. So, Aaron and Hur actually had to sit Moses down and hold up his arms. The lesson? It was not Joshua’s military prowess that made him successful; it was the God who went before him.
 
It was Joshua who would follow Moses up the mountain when he met with God and received the commandments. On their way back down, when Israel was worshiping the golden calf they made, Joshua heard the commotion and thought a battle was raging. Moses gently corrected his young assistant and said it was rather singing as the people had turned from God to worship something they had created. Joshua learned how easy it is to turn away from God. Another time, Moses corrected Joshua more harshly when Joshua heard two other people who were not Moses prophesying. Joshua wanted them to stop, but Moses said he wished all the people would have the Spirit of God rest on them. Joshua learned that God’s promises and His Spirit are for everyone, not just the elite few. 
But it wasn’t just mentorship and taking on new responsibilities that shaped Joshua. Spending time with God had the most impact on him. Turn with me to Exodus 33.
7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.(Ex 33:7-11)
Joshua went with Moses to the tent, where he met with God. He would have seen the pillar of cloud come down after Moses entered the tent. He would have heard God speak to Moses, his servant, as a friend. But after Moses departed, Joshua would remain. Notice how the people would stand at the doors of their tents, but Joshua would be at the tent? It must have been a fearful thing to see, a pillar of cloud descending and knowing it was the presence of God. Yet, Joshua seemed drawn to the tent when all the others stood back. 
It is worth pointing out that Joshua’s name is significant to this story. His name, in Hebrew, is pronounced Yeh-ho-shu-ah. And if you’re thinking, “That name sounds familiar.” It’s because Joshua and Jesus shared a name. Jesus, Yeh-shu-ah, is a shortened form of Yeh-ho-shu-ah. But this wasn’t always Joshua’s name. Moses gave him this name before he was sent with the other 11 spies to explore the Promised Land and give a report on it. Before this, Joshua’s name was Hoshea. 
 
This name, Hoshea, means “salvation.” The name Yeh-ho-shu-ah adds just one syllable to that name. But oh, what a syllable it is. This new name means “God is salvation.” Yah is a shortened form of Yahweh, the covenantal name of God. As another example, the word hallelujah is actually two words, hallelu, which is a command that means “you all praise.” But who are we praising? We are praising Yah, Yahweh, our LORD.  I think Moses gave Hoshea a new name that day before he left to spy out the land because he wanted his assistant to remember that it wasn’t by his own power and might that he would gain the salvation he was looking for. Salvation belongs to God. And Joshua seems to have taken this new name to heart. He and Caleb were the only two spies who said, “Yes! Let’s go! God has given this land over to us.” The other spies, of course, said that the people were too mighty, the walls were too high, and the cities were too large. They weren’t looking to God for their salvation but were viewing things in human terms. 
The people believed and followed the ten instead of the two, which led Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Two years after departing from Egypt, the spies went into Canaan. That should have been the end of it. But that generation's disobedience meant they would not be allowed to enter the land; only Joshua and Caleb would, for their faith and trust in God. That is why it says “now, therefore.” That entire generation had passed away without entering the land, and Moses had also because of his disobedience. 
 
2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. (Joshua 1:2-3)
As Joshua and the people are about to embark, God reminds Joshua that He is the one giving them the land. They did not earn it; it is a gift. But to get that gift, they have to take possession of it. Joshua and the people must get up and cross the river. But, notice how it says “this Jordan.” Why not just “the Jordan?” Jump with me really quickly to Joshua 3:15:
3:15b Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest.
 
This wasn’t just the Jordan. This was the Jordan during the spring harvest; we know this also because the Israelites celebrated Passover right after crossing. This was the time of the spring runoff. The river was high and dangerous. This was the Jordan they were crossing. The one filled with danger. 
 
Does anybody here remember playing the game Oregon Trail? What was the most likely way you met your demise in that game besides randomly dying of dysentery? Exactly! The most dangerous part was crossing a river. 
And remember, this is the river that runs through the lowest valley in the world. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth and the Jordan is the river that feeds it. Remember our series we just heard on Psalm 23? Well, Joshua and the people are just about to enter into a deep and dark valley. This was not an easy task. A steep valley that descends lower than any other was before Israel. A raging river that is ready to swallow a person followed after that. And, on the opposite side of the river were walled cities with trained warriors waiting for you. These are not what one would call small obstacles. But it is God who goes before them, and Joshua and the people have seen God working miracles for 40 years. And God promises that He will be with Joshua, just as He was with Moses.
 
5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. (Joshua 1:5-6)
Now, this is interesting, isn’t it? God just told Joshua that He was giving the land to the Israelites, yet here, it clearly says that Joshua will cause the people to inherit the land. This is not a mistranslation. This is a very specific type of Hebrew verb. We see it as two verbs in English. Joshua “will cause” is the first verb, and the people “will inherit” is the second verb we see in our language. However, in Hebrew, it is all one verb, and it is unmistakable. And this is where it is important to not oversimplify the Bible. Remember when I said that the people must take possession of their gift? They had to rise up and cross the Jordan. There is work to be done. The story of the Bible is God operating and His people cooperating with Him under His leadership and His divine guidance. 
Now, this is where this all gets extremely interesting and very, very deep. When I was first introduced to it, it blew my mind. Remember when I said that the Bible's story is our story? That is because the Bible uses what are called types to point to significant theological concepts. These types can be people, groups of people, nations, places, or even entire stories to point to a much bigger part of the story of salvation that the Bible is about. 
 
·       Moses is a type of Messiah – He delivers God’s people out of slavery
·       Pharoah is a type of oppressor – He is a human who is like the prince of the power of the air, that’s Satan, that we see in Ephesians
·       Egypt is a type representing a spiritual state – When we were in bondage and held captive by sin. Remember, the Bible clearly says that we were slaves of sin before we were saved through the atonement of Jesus.
·       The promised land is also a spiritual state – It is a representation of God's rest
To see how this idea of types can play out in the biblical narrative, turn with me to Hebrews 3:16.
 
 3:16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. 4:1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. (Hebrews 3:16-4:2)
Do you see how the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament uses the historical story of Joshua to show a much higher spiritual reality? If you want better proof of God’s sovereignty and evidence of His eternal plan than this, I am at a bit of a loss. God orchestrated the history of Israel to point directly to our desperate need for Jesus. 
What, then, does Joshua represent? You’ve probably already guessed it. Joshua is another type pointing to the promised Messiah. How was Israel going to enter the promised land? Joshua was going to lead them over; he was going to cause them to inherit the land. This land had been promised to their ancestors since Abraham. How are we to enter into the eternal rest we so desperately seek? We enter through Jesus. Let’s jump a bit in that Hebrews passage to see this play out until its end.
 
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:8-12)
Just as Joshua caused the people to obtain their inheritance, Jesus has created a way that we could be saved. Yeh-ho-shu-ah points us directly to Yeh-shu-ah, Jesus, the only way, the only truth, the only life. Just as God foretold that He would bring Abraham’s family into the promised land, He also foretold of a Savior through whom God’s people would be brought back to Him. Jesus is the suffering servant. Moses was a servant of the Lord but Jesus is the servant of the LORD. 
This passage in Hebrews and the passage in Joshua share one other common trait. They both point to God’s word as central. In Hebrews the word of God is said to be living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. In Joshua, we read.
 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 
Joshua and the people are about to enter into battle. Does God command them to go and practice their military formations or train with their swords? No. He commands Joshua not to take up a sword and practice but to take up the sword, the word of God, and meditate on it. Military training will not lead to success in this war. Spending time in God’s word will. To meditate in Hebrew literally means to mutter something. The words of God should be on our lips. And how often does the text say we should do this? That’s right, day and night. What in the word of God should we be careful to do? Exactly. All of it. 
It is not in Joshua’s own might that he derives strength and courage. It is through God’s promises, God’s word, and God’s strength. 
God’s final words to Joshua in this passage are:
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)
If God is with you, who can be against you? Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. Be strong and courageous.
Abraham was a nomad, wandering far from home and serving a God his ancestors did not worship. Yet God promised that his ancestors would inherit the land he walked. Be strong and do not be frightened. 
Joseph was sold into slavery, forcefully taken to Egypt, and then wrongly imprisoned. Yet he became second only to Pharoah and saved that nation, the surrounding area, and his own family from starvation. Brothers and sisters, be strong and very courageous. 
Moses was placed in a basket in the Nile. He should have died. Yet he grew into the man who would bring his people, who were in Egypt for over 400 years and had been forced into slavery, out into freedom. Men and women of God, do not be dismayed and do not be frightened. 
Joshua, though he was born a slave in Egypt, ultimately led God’s people into the land of promise. Only be strong and very courageous. 
This is the story of the Bible. This is the story of God’s salvation. At the beginning of this book, Joshua is known as the assistant of Moses. However, by the end of his life, he, like his mentor, was called עבד יהוה, the servant of the Lord. We see it in the last chapter in Joshua. 
29 After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old.
I don’t know where you are in your walk with the LORD. Maybe you are stuck in Egypt, awaiting your release from captivity. All I can say to you is call on Jesus, He will answer. If you have questions, we have a room full of disciples who want to help you. You are not alone.
Maybe you are wandering through the desert, God is with you but you haven’t entered His rest. You’re still trying to earn your own salvation and prove your worth. You can’t. The grace of Jesus is enough. He has already accomplished everything. Follow Him down the dark valley and across the raging river that has been stopped. He is enough for you. 
Maybe you are Joshua under the mentorship of Moses. Spend your time wisely and learn well, the time for you to lead will come and you should be prepared. Too often in our world people want to become influencers before they have anything to teach. Learn from those who have gone before and hang back, like Joshua did, and bask in the radiance of God.
Maybe you are the Joshua at the beginning of this passage we studied, taking over the reigns of leadership. Your work is not done. Strive on until you go home or Jesus returns. The highest calling we have is to be known as God’s servant and what we learn from Moses and Joshua is that title isn’t bestowed on a saint until they go home.
Maybe you are Moses, the mentor of the next generation. Don’t just finish your race. Help others walk the path you have. Others look up to you and will follow. Paul once told others to follow him as he followed Jesus. Help guide us along the path.
And no matter where you are in this journey. Dive into the word of God. Meditate on it. Don’t turn either to the right or to the left. Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. If you belong to the LORD, He is with you wherever you go.

The Delighting Shepherd

The Bible begins with a garden, and it ends with a garden.  In the first garden, Adam and Eve sinned and what they received and what we inherited was a curse. To Eve and all her daughters, God said: “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall deliver children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Gen. 3:16).  To Adam and all his sons, God said: “Cursed is the ground because of you; with hard labor you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; yet you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:17–19).  Essentially, what the curse would produce for them was the kind of suffering that sticks.
 
What do I mean by characterizing the curse with the kind of pain that sticks with you?  If you have ever suffered from nerve pain, you know from experience the kind of pain I am talking about.  There are some prescription medications that can help numb you to the pain, but nerve pain is very difficult to treat.  If you have had sciatica, any form of back pain, a pinched nerve, or anything of that nature, you have experienced the kind of pain that sticks. 
 
Sometime ago I read a quote from someone who said, “Our first parents’ bit into the forbidden fruit and our teeth have ached ever since.”  That person was not referring to the kind of ache you might experience when you bit into something cold or hard, no... the kind of ache is the one I experienced after having all four impacted wisdom teeth taken out of my jaw in my late 20’s.  The curse has left us with a kind of aching that sticks and is with us until our final breath, and it is this ache that leaves us with tears.  Tears over our broken world, tears over a relationship, tears over wayward children, tears over the hurt and damage caused by parents, tears over the problems sin causes in our world and to our own selves. 
 
The House that Adam and Eve Had
Adam and Eve enjoyed the presence of God in a Garden that was not at all dissimilar to the tabernacle the Israelites set up and tore down as they journeyed in the wilderness, nor was it unlike the temple Solomon built after David’s death.  The tabernacle and temple were designed as a model to reflect Eden as the “house of the Lord.” 
 
What Adam and Eve had in the garden was a gift from God that included the presence of God; In his excellent book, The Warrior Savior, Owen Strachan wrote of Eden, “From the start, God sought faithfulness on the part of his people through testing.  He gave them a forest-garden overflowing with beauty and gladness, trees spilling unblemished fruit, but he also gave them a prohibition—one delivered under the starkest terms: death from disobedience.”[1]
 
The tabernacle and the temple served to remind God’s people not only of the beauty of Eden but the promise that His people would one day be where He is... in His presence.  So, when David wrote the last line in Psalm 23, it was the promise of God to restore what was lost in Eden that he had his heart and eyes set upon.  To be in the house of the Lord is to be with the Lord.  David does not have a building in mind here, but to be in the presence of God.  The house of the Lord is not a structure but wherever it is that He dwells.  What made the loss of Eden so devastating and catastrophic was not Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the garden, but that they were driven away from the presence of God.  In other words, what made Eden home was the presence of God not the other things that were a part of Eden’s beauty. 
 
Before Adam and Eve were driven outside of the garden, God cursed the snake and promised the first couple that things would not stay cursed because He would send a Deliverer to reverse the curse of sin.  The serpent entered God’s house (the Garden) and enticed Eve and her husband to doubt God and question both His goodness and faithfulness! In the garden the crafty and cunning snake spoke: “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?” Eve replied: “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die’” (Gen. 3:2–3).  The serpent then went in for the strike: “You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4–5).  Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s temptation and bit into the forbidden fruit, but that is not how the story ends!
 
God found the couple and He spoke to the great serpent what is a promise to all mankind: “And I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15). Strachan observes: “In Genesis 3, the snake spoke first. But the snake did not have the last word in Eden, just as the devil will not have the last word in history.” Strachan continues: “When God shows up, the hiding stops, and justice rolls down.... the God who comes to earth is not only pursuing a mission of justice.  This God is, even more, about to unleash a great rolling flood of mercy.”[2] 
 
It is the promise of a better Eden through the promise of a snake-stomping redeemer that David had in mind when he wrote: “Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, and my dwelling will be in the house of the Lord forever” (v. 6).  Who can guide me, who can restore me, who will keep me, who will bless me, and who is it that loves me?  It is the Lord of the 23rd Psalm and He will lead me to the place where I will be able to see Him face-to-face in His house forever. 
 
The House that We are Promised
We have seen over and over again throughout this series that the Lord of the 23rd Psalm is Jesus the Good Shepherd, for He said of Himself: “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15).  The serpent is a thief, and Jesus said of him: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).  The 23rd Psalm is the promise of the abundant life that can only be experienced through the good shepherd.  The abundant life includes the table He has prepared before me in the presence of my enemies (v. 5a).  The abundant life is to have His favor in the form of the oil He has anointed my head with and the cup he has placed in my hand that is overflowing with His blessing!  This is what Paul meant when he wrote Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ...” The cup of God’s favor is Ephesians 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace.” 
 
Now, think again what it is that the 23rd Psalm is saying to those of us who have been found by the good shepherd. 
The good shepherd leads me: “The Lord is my shepherd, I will not be in need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”
 
The good shepherd restores me: “He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.”
 
The good shepherd keeps me: “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.
 
The good shepherd blesses me: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.
 
The good shepherd loves me: Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, and my dwelling will be in the house of the Lord forever.
 
What does this all mean?  There are no green pastures or quiet waters without Jesus leading you.  There is no restoration for your soul or the righteousness you need apart from Jesus as your guide.  There is no walking THROUGH the valley of deep darkness apart from Jesus keeping and guarding you.  There is no blessing and treasuring of God upon you without Jesus. Finally, there is no goodness, faithfulness, and a better Eden apart from the God who loved you so much that He sent His one and only Son! 
 
Why did David long to dwell in the house of the Lord? What is it that makes heaven great? For what reasons does the promise of a better Eden outweigh all the sorrows of this world?  These questions have nothing to do with the place and location of the house of the Lord, heaven, a new and better Eden, but everything to do with the One who is in the House David longed to dwell, heaven, and the new and better Eden.
 
When Jesus prayed hours before His crucifixion, He prayed this: “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).  This is one of the reasons Jesus assured His disciples: “In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be” (John 14:2–3).  For David, the blessing of being in the house of the Lord forever was that he would be with the Good Shepherd forever. In his commentary on Psalm 23, James Johnston commented on this very point: “Take away the people and a house becomes a sad and empty place. The joy of Heaven is not mansions or streets of gold. Jesus is the joy of Heaven. It will be home because he is there.”[3]
 
The Better House that David Longed For
For starters, what we know from verse six is that it is “certainly” ours, which means that without any doubt, for those of us whose shepherd is Jesus, our dwelling will be with him.  How long will our dwelling be with Him?  The answer is simple: Forever. 
 
What is the House that we will dwell in forever, besides the fact that it is the Lord’s house?  It is the restoration of what was lost in the first Eden, but better!  It is the city that David’s great, great, great grandfather longed to receive, for we are told from the book of Hebrews: “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he left, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as a stranger in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:8–10). 
 
Abraham was looking for a city not made with human hands because he longed for the same thing David longed for in Psalm 23:6.  The house of the Lord is the city that belongs to the Christian: “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come” (Heb. 13:14).  We will receive the city we are looking and longing for when God makes all things new once and for all.  It is the thing that Paul wrote about in Romans eight,
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:18–21)
 
The “house of the Lord” that David was looking forward to spending forever in is a resurrected and redeemed earth free from the curse of sin.  The Bible is full of images describing what it will be like to live in a resurrected earth free of the curse of sin.  In Revelation 21, we are told that when God does make all things new and we inherit the city He has promised us, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). On that day, we will see God face to face in the same way that Adam and Eve did; here is what we are told in Revelation 21:3, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them...”
God will wipe away our tears because there will be no curse to cause them ever again.  The new earth will be like the Garden of Eden but better; it will also be like heaven today, but better.  We will enjoy physical bodies and a physical planet where the veil that shields our complete interaction of all that is spiritual will be pulled back.  We will walk with angels; enjoy a full and perfect creation that will include trees, mountains, and rivers.  There will be one City… the City of God where we will be able to go in and out.  We will run through the forests, climb mountains, eat amazing food, run barefoot through the prairies, enjoy the light of something more powerful and radiant than the sun.  We will dwell on a new earth that will never again know the cold of night, but the light of a day illuminated by the Glory of God.  But understand this: none of it will be worth it if our Triune God is not there!   
 
Listen, we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever because of the certainty of His goodness and faithfulness that pursues His sheep.
 
[1] Owen Strachan, The Warrior Savior (Phillipsburg, NY: P&R Publishing; 2024), 3.
[2] Ibid., 6-7.
[3] James A. Johnston, Preaching the Word: The Psalms: Rejoice, the Lord Is King—Psalms 1 to 41, ed. R. Kent Hughes, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 251.

The Relentless Shepherd

Have you ever been chased by a dog?  I have been chased numerous times, and not once did I ever feel wanted, special, or loved by any of the dogs that pursued me. Of all the times I have been chased by dogs while on a bike, my experiences have mostly been in Cheyenne.  I now arm myself with canine safe spray that will not harm any dog that decides to pursue me but will most definitely stop them from continuing!  So, what does any of this have to do with the 23rd Psalm? 
 
In the 23rd Psalm, we have discovered that in pursuing the Lord as our shepherd, we find in Him all that we need.  In following Him, He causes me to lie down in green pastures.  When I pursue Him, He leads me to refreshing and lifegiving waters.  He is the one who restores my soul when I look to Him to satisfy my hunger and thirst for righteousness. Because the Good shepherd atoned for my sins on a cross I deserved, and then defeated death by rising from it, I fear no evil as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  Why do I fear NO evil?  As He leads Me, He is the one who carries a rod to protect me from my enemies and a staff to protect me from myself.  He is the one who sets a feast before me in the presence of my enemies, He is the one who anoints my head with oil, and He is the one who gives me the cup of His favor that is overflowing! 
 
From the first verse to the fifth, the 23rd Psalm compels me to follow the Good Shepherd for my good and the sake of His name until we come to verse six: “Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life...”  I hope to show you why David shifts from our need to follow the shepherd to the degree, nature, and length “goodness” and “faithfulness” follows His sheep.  I hope to do this by answering the following three questions:
 
What is the nature of the “goodness” and “faithfulness” that is following the Jesus’ sheep?
To what degree is “goodness” and “faithfulness” following me?
For how long can I expect “goodness” and “faithfulness” to follow me?
 
What is the Nature of the “Goodness” and “Faithfulness” that is Following Me?
So, where is the “goodness” and “faithfulness” coming from and to what degree is it “following” the Lord’s sheep... and what if anything does this have to do with dogs?  To answer that question, we need figure out how in the world “goodness” and “faithfulness” follows anyone or anything? 
 
To answer this question, you need to see the verse that precedes it; look at verse 5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies...”  The “You” in verse 5 is Jesus, and it is He who prepares a table in the presence of my enemies.  Now, if He prepares a feast on a table before those who belong to Him in the presence of their enemies, what was it that the enemies were doing before the table was prepared?  Well... to answer that question, you need to consider verse 4, which states: “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.”  Now, follow the logic and flow of these verses.  If all that the enemies of those who sit at Jesus’ table can do is to angrily watch you feast on the banquet He has prepared for you with the oil of His favor upon your head and the overflowing cup of His blessing in your hand, then what do you think the nature of the “goodness” and “faithfulness” is that is following you? 
 
To get a clearer understanding of the nature of what it is that is “following” Jesus’ sheep, you should understand the manner in which goodness and faithfulness is following them.  The Hebrew word for “follow” can be translated “follow after” but it is most commonly translated “chase” or “pursue.”  The NASB, the NJKV, and the NIV all chose to use the English word “follow” while the CSB and the NLT have chosen to use the word “pursue.”  Listen to how the NLT translates this verse: “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps. 23:6, NLT).  The image that should come to mind from Psalm 23:6 is not that of a shepherd who passively follows His sheep with the hope to bless them, but a shepherd who pursues His sheep to lavish goodness and faithfulness upon them! 
 
Okay, but what of the goodness and faithfulness that is pursuing Jesus’ sheep?  What does that mean for you Christian?  The Hebrew word for good that is used here is used in Nahum 1:7, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him.” It is the same Hebrew word used for “good” in Psalm 196:1, “Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy is everlasting.”  Do you know why it is that “goodness” follows God’s people?  It is because He is good! 
 
There is another word we need to consider together to understand why Psalm 23:6 is good news, and that word is “faithfulness” and it comes from the Hebrew word, khesed, and it literally means, “mercy,” “loving-kindness,” God’s “steadfast love,” and His “enduring faithfulness.”  It is a word that describes God’s covenantal faithfulness towards His people, and it is a word God used to encourage and embolden Moses after he asked if He could see God’s glory; this is how God answered Moses: “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion” (Exod. 33:19).  So God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock and passed by Moses, and as God passed by Moses, this is what the Lord declared:
“The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness [chesed] and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” (Exod. 34:6–7)
 
So, for God to make all His goodness to pass before Moses, He declared His covenantal love and faithfulness.  These are the two Hebrew words David uses to describe what it is that pursues and chases after those who belong to the Good Shepherd!  The oil on your head and the overflowing cup in your hand is because of the “goodness” and “faithfulness” that chases after you.  And oh, dear Christian, there is more to consider, and we will do it by answering the second question.
 
To What Degree is “Goodness” and “Faithfulness” Following Me?
The goodness of God and the covenantal faithfulness of God is who He is!  He is infinitely good, and He is infinitely faithful!  Do not misunderstand what it means to have the “goodness” and the “faithfulness” of verse 6 pursue you!  The “goodness” is God’s goodness, and the “faithfulness” is God’s faithfulness, and both chase after you because He chases after you!  He found you dear Christian!  He pursued you when and while you were still in your sins!  What does it look like to have “goodness” and “faithfulness” pursue you?  It looks like Ephesians 2:1-5,
“And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ...” (Eph. 2:1–5)
 
What does the “goodness” and “faithfulness” of God look like?  It looks like Romans 8:28-30,
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” (Rom. 8:28–30)
 
What does it look like to have the “goodness” and “faithfulness” of God chase after you? It looks like Jesus and His promise to His sheep:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.... My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:10-11, 27–29)
 
The “goodness” of God and His covenantal “loving-kindness/faithfulness” is pursuing me because Jesus is not interested in tagging along, hanging back, and no... Jesus is not waiting to see what I will do!  Jesus is the good shepherd who pursues His sheep!  Listen, it is because of the goodness of God and His khesed (mercy, loving-kindness, steadfast love, and faithfulness):
That while you were dead in your sins, He made you alive together with Christ. It had nothing to do with your performance and what you could offer God and everything to do with His rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace.
 
He pursued you not because He had to, but because He wanted to cause all things to work together for your good and His glory for His glorious purposes. He called you Christian to, “become conformed to the image of His Son” and that is why He predestined, called, justified, and one day will glorify you.
 
It is not because God needed you that His goodness and faithfulness pursued you; no, it is because the infinitely good and faithful shepherd laid down His life for you so that you would have life and have it abundantly in Him.
 
To what degree is “goodness” and “faithfulness” following you?  Oh dear Christian, the “goodness” and “faithfulness” of verse 6 are not two sheepdogs that the Lord sends from the rear to keep you close to the Good Shepherd. NO! The “goodness” and “faithfulness” that pursues you is the Good Shepherd Himself!
 
For How Long Will His “Goodness” and “Faithfulness” Pursue Me?
So, how long should I expect the goodness and faithfulness of God to pursue me in and through the person of the Good Shepherd?  All the days of my life!  “All” means while I am sleeping and while I am awake... God’s goodness and His faithfulness pursues me!  “All” means that in my failures and my successes... God’s goodness and His faithfulness pursues me!  “All” means, in the words of Abraham Kuper: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
 
So we know what “All” means, but for how long will the “goodness” and “faithfulness” of God pursue me? Here is the answer we are given: “All the days of my life.” What does this mean?  I will tell you what it does not mean.  It does not mean some days His “goodness” and “faithfulness” will pursue me. It does not mean that only when I am faithful that His “goodness” and “faithfulness” will pursue me.  It does not mean that only on my best days that His “goodness” and “faithfulness” will pursue me.  It means that in my waking and in my sleeping, in my living and even in my dying, on my good days and throughout my bad days, God’s “goodness” and “faithfulness” is pursuing me because I am held, secured, and loved by the Good Shepherd who has promised His sheep: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). 
 
What this means is that every person whose Shepherd is the Lord of the 23rd Psalm is that He is the One who pursues us and keeps us, which is also the kind of reality we sing about:
From life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destinyNo power of hell, no scheme of manCan ever pluck me from His hand  
 
God’s goodness and faithfulness pursues His sheep, so instead of running from the pursuing Shepherd, the safest place is to run into His goodness and faithfulness.  Don’t run away in shame because of your sin(s) but run to the One who is faithful even when we are faithless (2 Tim. 2:13).  Run to the One who promises to satisfy what you really need.  Run to Him who will fill your hungry and thirsty soul.  Run to Him who promises to restore your soul. Run to Him who carries a rod to drive away your enemies and a staff to protect you from yourself. Run to Him who prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies who have no claim over you. Run to Him who has already blessed you with everything you need in Him.  Run to Him whose goodness and faithfulness is more than you will ever need.  Run to Him who promises to never leave you nor forsake you (Deut. 31:6-8; Heb. 13:5).  Run to Jesus who is infinitely good and faithful; run to the One whose goodness and faithfulness is running after you.  Amen.

The Benevolent Shepherd

In 1939, J.R. Tolkin took Robert Dickman’s hypothesis one step further in a lecture he delivered titled, “On Fairy Stories.”  In his lecture, Tolkin said the following about fairytales and those who create them:
Probably every writer making a secondary world, a fantasy, every sub-creator, wishes in some measure to be a real maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes that the peculiar quality of this secondary world (if not all the details) are derived from reality, or are flowing into it…. The peculiar quality of the “joy” in successful Fantasy can thus be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth.
 
The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind, which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories….  But this story is supreme, and it is true.  Art has been verified.  God is the Lord, of angels, and of men—and of elves.  Legend and History have met and fused.[1]
 
In the Bible, the three great antagonists that we face in our story include the great serpent, the problem of sin, and death (in that order).  Satan entered into the Garden as a serpent where the first man and woman enjoyed true love with both God and each other, they were tempted to sin against God by the Serpent.  Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit that God commanded them not to eat and a curse was pronounced upon all of creation, and ever since that fateful day, sin and death have vandalized the peace we were created to enjoy with God.  In the wake of Adam and Eve’s rebellion and under the shadow of evil and death, God gifted Adam and Eve a promise: The great serpent would one day be destroyed: “And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
 
So who or what is the serpent? In The Lord of the Rings, he is the Dark Lord Sauron.  In The Wizard of Oz, he is the Wicked Witch of the West.  In The Matrix, he is Agent Smith.  In The Chronicles of Narnia, he is the White Witch. In Superman, He is Lex Luther.  In Star Wars, he is Darth Vader and every evil Sith Lord before and after him.  The serpent is Lucifer, the devil, the father of lies, the accuser, and the great dragon.  There is another antagonist that is the consequence of our sin and rebellion, and that is “death.” 
The word “gospel” simply means good news, and oh is there good news my dear brothers and sisters!  The apostle Paul spoke of it in his epistle to the Romans: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). The gospel of Jesus Christ from Genesis through the last chapter of Revelation has everything that every great story requires, and it is a story that has the power to not only transform, but to save! The gospel of Jesus Christ is supreme because it is indeed true, and it is seen and heard throughout the 23rd Psalm!  
 
The Good Shepherd Guides His Sheep through the Valley of Deep Darkness
On resurrection Sunday, we looked at the first part of verse 4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me...”  Even if your first Sunday at Meadowbrooke was on that day, you should know by now that the Lord of the 23rd Psalm is the Good Shepherd, and His name is Jesus! He is my shepherd; therefore I will not be in need.  Why will I not be in need?  Well... because He is my bread of life who satisfies my hunger and quenches my thirst (John 6:35)!  Why will I not be in need?  Well... because He is the Light of the world who lights up the darkness that surrounds me (John 8:12)!  Why again will I never ever be in need so long as Jesus is my shepherd?  Well... let me tell you: He for me is the resurrection and the life who has promised that not even death can take from me what I already have in Him (John 11:25-26)!
 
Now, just because Jesus is my Shepherd, that does not mean that I am exempt from walking through the valley of the shadow of death.  As I said on Easter Sunday, we all must experience the valley of utter darkness that includes suffering, sickness, a broken world, and even death; however, those whose shepherd is Jesus only must walk through it while everyone else must walk in it.  For the one who does not know Jesus as the bread of life, the light of the world, and the resurrection of life will never know the kind of hope that transcends the grave.  For the one whose shepherd is not Jesus, the grave is death’s victory dance over you, and the news only gets worse beyond the grave.  Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).  Again, to all who would refuse Jesus as the good shepherd, He warned: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13–14). Jesus is the narrow gate!
 
For those whose shepherd is Jesus, then the valley of the shadow of death is a temporary experience that you are only passing through.  Do you know what that means?  It means that there is life at the end of the valley!  There is a table, and there is oil, and there is a cup placed into your hand dear Christian that is overflowing with His goodness and faithfulness all the days of your life!  At that table, we will hold high that cup and toast: “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57). 
 
The Good Shepherd Comforts His Sheep with His Rod and Staff
What is the significance of Jesus’ rod and staff?  For starters, He is the one leading us through the deep dark valleys on this side of eternity; while in the valley, we have no reason to fear evil because He is with us, and while with us... He is armed with His rod and staff.  In their commentary on the Psalms, Josh Smith and Daniel Akin comment: “We are going through the deep, dark valleys because our good shepherd is leading us! The dark valley is part of the path of righteousness.”[2] Not to belabor the point I made previously, but what does the dark valley include?  It includes pain, it includes suffering, it includes disease, it includes achy joints, it includes persecution, and it even includes death!  After all, Jesus did say: “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b).  You may be saying in response to this: “Pastor Keith, what about what Jesus said in John 10:10?”  Here is what Jesus said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.”  The thief is anything or anyone that promises to give you what only Jesus is able to give, and the abundant life is a life with Jesus. 
 
Now, what about the rod and staff?  Why not just the rod or only the staff?  Why both? The rod was typically used as offensive weapon against any predator that would threaten the sheep from the outside while the staff was used to direct, round up, and pull in the sheep.  While the rod is used to protect the sheep from enemies, the staff is used to protect the sheep from themselves.  Jesus guides me with His staff, and as He does, He leads me through the valley to the table where He has prepared a feast for me.  Because it is Jesus who carries the rod and the staff, I can be confident that Jesus will lead me to where I need to go, or as the apostle Paul put it: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6), and He will use His rod and staff to do it.  Or as one person wrote: “Jesus Christ, our Shepherd, is no emaciated weakling. Our Shepherd is a warrior, as shepherds had to be. No one can snatch his sheep out of his hand (John 10:28). The muscles of his arm are flexed to defend his flock; he doesn’t carry a club for nothing. He is obviously enough for whatever the valley throws at us.”[3]
 
What is the point of verse 4?  Here is the point: If Jesus is my shepherd, then even in the darkest moments of life I have all that I need because I have Him.  Or, as the modern hymn, Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me, so adequately and helpfully states:
The night is dark, but I am not forsakenFor by my side, the Savior, He will stayI labor on in weakness and rejoicingFor in my need, His power is displayed
To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend meThrough the deepest valley, He will leadOh, the night has been won, and I shall overcomeYet not I, but through Christ in me
 
The Good Shepherd Prepares a Feast for His Sheep in the Presence of Their Enemies
So, where is He leading me? Where is He leading you dear Christian? What is waiting for me, and what is waiting for all who are being led by the Good Shepherd?  A table that has been prepared by Jesus is what is waiting for His sheep.  What is on that table?  A feast is what is on that table!  What is the meaning of this feast that He has prepared?  It is a testament, it is proof, and it is a witness to God’s favor upon His sheep.  This, my friend, is the “abundant life” Jesus provides!  Again, another set of verses from Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me rings true!
No fate I dread, I know I am forgivenThe future's sure, the price, it has been paidFor Jesus bled and suffered for my pardonAnd He was raised to overthrow the grave
 
To this I hold, my sin has been defeatedJesus, now and ever is my pleaOh, the chains are released, I can sing, "I am free"Yet not I, but through Christ in me
 
Where is the table set for His redeemed to feast?  It is set in the place that my enemies are made to watch and not permitted to touch, take, or taunt because of the One who has prepared the table for me. But do not miss that before my enemies and yours, He has anointed us with oil and placed a cup in each of our hands!  Besides the fact that in the dry and hot climate of the valley, oil would be used to sooth the skin and wine would be consumed to clear the throat.  However, there is more to the oil and the cup! The imagery of oil and wine in the Bible speak of joy and prosperity. 
 
Conclusion
When I think of the table in Psalm 23:5, I cannot help but think of three feasts mentioned in the Bible.  The first happened while the Hebrew people were surrounded by Egypt under the bondage of Pharoh.  On the eve of their deliverance they marked their doorposts with the blood of a lamb with no defects and feasted on that lamb.  After they feasted, God delivered the Hebrews from the bondage of slavery and defeated Pharoh and his army, and then they sang a song known as, “The Song of Moses” that included this verse: “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him...” (Exod. 15:2), and concludes with these words: “The Lord shall reign forever and ever” (15:18).
The second feast is the one Jesus celebrated with His disciples on the eve of His crucifixion and death. Like Moses and the Hebrews before, Jesus and His disciples sat at a table to the feast of the Passover.  During the meal, Jesus and his disciples no doubt recited or even sang the Song of Moses: “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation...”  There were four cups that the disciples drank from during the Passover which were,
The cup of sanctification (holiness) to start the celebration and a reminder of the holiness of God.
 
The cup of salvation (deliverance) symbolizing God’s deliverance which was drunk after the retelling of the Exodus story.
 
The cup of redemption (blessing), which was drunk after the meal which represented God’s act of redeeming Israel.
 
The cup of glory (praise) which was drunk at the very end representing the future redemption and coming of the Messiah. It was this cup that Jesus said, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.... I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it with you, new, in My Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:26-29).
 
After that feast, Jesus atoned for sin on the cross and then defeated the curse of sin and death by rising on the third day.  Just before He died on the cross, He declared: “It is finished” (John 19:30)!
 
The third feast has not happened yet, and we learn of it in Revelation 19:7-10; it is the Marriage feast we will celebrate with Jesus as His Bride.  I believe that at this coming feast Jesus will pick up the fourth cup and drink it with us.  Do you know what will come after that feast?  The defeat of the nations gathered against Jesus and the final defeat of Satan.  According to Revelation 15, do you know what song all of heaven will sing on that day?  Here is what we are told:
And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! “Who will not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For all the nations will come and worship before You, For Your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Rev. 15:3–4)
 
So, can you guess what comes after the banquet prepared before His people in the presence of our enemies in Psalm 23:5?  You guessed it!  What comes after is the triumph of the Lamb of God over all that stands against those whom He has redeemed! 
 
[1] J. R. R. Tolkien. On Fairy Stories (1939).
[2] J. Josh Smith and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2022), 175.
[3] David Gibson, The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023), 90.

Philippians 2 w/Dr. Ed Hardesty

The Triumphant Shepherd

Nobody expected Jesus to rise from the dead, not even His disciples and those closest to Him expected Him to get up and walk out of the tomb.  It did not matter to His disciples that Jesus said that He would “suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise from the dead” (Mark 8:31), because what He said fell upon deaf ears at the time. On the day of Jesus’ death, everyone believed that He had lost, and evil had won.  There was no coming back in the minds of all who watched Him die, and for good reason!  When a person was sentenced by Rome to be crucified, it was a sentence that was equally horrible as it was terminal. Jesus died and was buried in a tomb.
 
When Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to Jesus’s tomb, they went to anoint a decomposing and dead Jesus to cover up the stench of death while His disciples mourned. What these women were expecting was a very dead body.  When they arrived at the tomb and found the stone moved, they were alarmed not because they expected the resurrection, but because they thought someone messed with the body (see Mark 16:1-5).  This is why the young man, who most likely was an angel, said to them: “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; see, here is the place where they laid Him” (Mark 16:6).  What was their response? They were terrified: “...they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8).
 
What the disciples saw as defeat, the angels viewed at the edge of their seats, if Peter and the rest could have heard the chatter from heaven, maybe they would have heard: “You just wait and see what’s coming!”  If it were possible to hear the angels, and if they were listening closely enough, maybe they would have heard all of heaven ask: “Did you not hear what Jesus said when He was with you?  Did you not hear Him say, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.... No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.’” (John 10:14-15, 18)? 
 
Some of you are feeling the way the disciples and those closest to Jesus felt in the wake of His death.  Some of you are feeling like the disciples did when they woke up on Sunday morning: stuck, unsure, afraid, frustrated, angry, and hopeless.  I want you to know today that there is a hope within your reach that can swallow up your paralysis, uncertainty, fear, frustration, anger, and hopelessness.  For me to do that, I need you to see some things in the 23rd Psalm.
 
Everyone Experiences the Valley of the Shadow of Death
Death is the great antagonist and for some strange reason, we act as though we will never experience it, and when it does come... we are surprised by it.  Just before Frank Sinatra died, he said, “I’m losing.”  The comedian, Groucho Marx’s last words were, “This is no way to live!” Caesar Borgia (chay·zaa·ray bor·zhuh) said on his deathbed: “While I lived, I provided for everything but death; now I must die and am unprepared to die.” 
 
In Psalm 23:4, we come to a very familiar sentence that has served to comfort the anxious and fearful: “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.”  Death is something that we all must face and not one of us will be able to escape it. 
 
The “valley of the shadow of death” is not only death, but the deep darkness of sin, and it is a deep darkness that “envelops all humankind.”[1] The valley of death is a darkness that no one is exempt from, even if you are a Christian.  You see, the valley of deep darkness represents the curse our world is under and the curse that affects us all, and that curse is sin. This is why our world is a mess, this is why there is sickness and disease, and this is why we have to say “goodbye” way too often and sometimes way too soon.  The Bible says that all of us are guilty of sin (Rom. 3:23), and that it is something that has been passed down from one generation to the next. Here is what the Bible says: “...through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned.... Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the violation committed by Adam” (Rom. 5:12, 14). 
 
What the valley is to you really depends on whether or not you can say with the Psalmist: “The Lord is my shepherd, I will not be in need.”  You see, there is one group of people who will be swallowed up by the valley and then there is another group of people who will walk through the valley.  The question is this: “What group do you belong to?” 
 
Not Everyone Remains in the Valley of the Shadow of Death
Jesus said of the 23rd Psalm: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).  Here is what the Bible says about all of us: “All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way...” (Isa. 53:3). Or to say it another way, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).  All of us have sinned and fall short of meeting the standard of a Holy God.  So what was God’s solution to address our sin problem?  Listen to the rest of Isaiah 53:3, “All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the wrongdoing [sins] of us all to fall on Him.”
 
Jesus said, “I am the Lord of the 23rd Psalm” but He did not stop there, He went on to say, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep” (vv. 14-15).  The way that you know that the Lord of the 23rd Psalm is your Shepherd is whether or not you believe who He claimed to be and that when He laid down His life for you because of your sins, that His death on a cross is sufficient for the forgiveness of your sins.  And listen, if you really believe in Jesus, if you really belong to Him, and if you really know Him... you will believe the things that He said about Himself:
“I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
 
“I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)
 
“I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)
 
Anyone can say the things Jesus said, and everyone will die one day.  If all that Jesus did was lay down his life for the sheep, then all that He is... is a dead martyr and nothing more.  But consider what Jesus said to the disciples that they missed, most likely because of how impossible they found it to believe what He said to be:
I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and they will become one flock, with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:14-18)
 
What the disciples missed was the most important part of what Jesus said: “I lay down My life for the sheep.... I lay down My life so that I may take it back.... I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back.”  In other words, “I will die for your sins to redeem you, and then I am coming back by way of a resurrection!”  It should not have surprised any of the disciples or the women who knew Jesus that the tomb was empty on the third day, but because the resurrection was so impossible and so beyond the limitations of their imagination that the Good Shepherd, the Lord of the 23rd Psalm, could die for sins and then conquer death by rising from it.  This is why the angel said to the women when they arrived at the place Jesus was buried: “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; see, here is the place where they laid Him” (Mark 16:6).
 
Conclusion
We all want a “happily ever after” story.  We go to the movies, and we watch sporting events just so that we might experience the impossible! We want to experience the Fellowship of the Ring and Frodo and Sam’s impossible mission to destroy the evil ring of Sauron.  For you romantics in the room, you want Jerry Maquire to walk through the door finally believing that the love of his life is his wife, Dorothy, and maybe your heart fluttered when Dorothy told Jerry to shut up, followed by the words: “You had me at hello.” If you like the kinds of movies I like, then you wanted to stand and shout just before the great battle scene in Avengers: End Game. 
 
However, when it comes to experiencing the impossible for real and in our lifetime, we are shocked. When fantasy and reality merge and the impossible really happens, we are shocked.  Perhaps you think your game is over because you are at the bottom of the 9th with three balls, two outs, a man on second, and you are down by one run! But wait, there is still a player on second and one more pitch to go over the plate.  
 
It was during the first game in 1988 World Series that Kirk Gibson, who played for the Dodgers, was injured and unable to run.  It was surprising that he was put in as a pinch hitter at the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs.  Gibson hobbled up to the plate to everyone’s surprise.  With Mike Davis on first base, Tommy Lasorda was hoping Gibson could hit a ball far enough to get Davis to home for a game tying run. Gibson fouled two pitches for two strikes, swung at another ball down the first base line for a foul, and eventually ended up with 3 out of 4 balls giving him a full count.  What this meant was that if he got another ball, he would be forced to walk or if he got one more strike, he would lose the game against the A’s by one run.  When Dennis Eckersley, the closing pitcher for the A’s, threw a backdoor slider, Gibson swung with just about all his upper body to hit the pitch and sent the ball over the right-field fence for a homerun.  The Dodgers won the world series that year, the only time Gibson was able to step up to the plate was that one time at the bottom of the 9th in the first game to hit one of the greatest homeruns in baseball history.  After Gibson stepped on home plate, the announcer said this: “In a year that seemed so improbable, the impossible has happened.”
 
There is a greater event that happened that did not happen before, nor has it happened since, and that event was the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  When He walked out of the tomb on Sunday, the impossible happened, and because it happened, it changed everything.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ affirms all that He did and claimed to be!  Because of the resurrection, we can know and experience Him to be the Bread of Life, the light of the world, the resurrection and the life, and the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm. 
 
Jesus’ tomb is empty and because He defeated sin and the grave, He alone is qualified and able to guide me “in the paths of righteousness... even through I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” His rod and staff comfort me because He swallowed up the deep darkness of the valley through His resurrection!  Jesus not only walked through the valley of the shadow of death, but He also defeated it and came out on the other side as the victor and Lord of Life!  Jesus Christ is risen from the grave!  If you don’t know Him, then the 23rd Psalm is not for you and there is no going through the valley of the shadow of death. 
 
But, if you do know Him, then not only will He lead you through the valley of the shadow of death, but there is a table at the other end of it and because of the Good Shepherd, Psalm 23:6 is for you and all who hope in Jesus as the Lord of Life: “Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, And my dwelling will be in the house of the Lord forever.” Amen.
 
[1] Christopher Ash, The Psalms vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2024), p. 271.

The Shepherd Who Guides and Restores

In Genesis 1:1, the Bible begins with a simple but profound sentence.  Most English translations of the Bible begin with ten words and end with ten words. In Genesis 1:1, we are told: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  In the final verse of the book of Revelation the Bible concludes: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen” (Rev. 22:21).  What these two verses tell me is this: We are alive and are here today because of God and by His grace. 
 
In Psalm 23, we discover that it is by the grace of God that I am brought into the fold of His sheep, and it is for His glory that He has done so.  The invitation to be included as one of His sheep has nothing to do with my performance and everything to do with His grace and glory, as John Piper put it: “God is the beginning and God is the end of all my righteousness. The path of righteousness has his grace as its starting point (for he leads me into it) and it has his glory as its destination (because his leading is for his name’s sake).”[1] What happens in the in-between is the messy part.  After He finds us, it is His goodness and faithfulness that keeps us with no intention of letting go.
 
The 23rd Psalm sounds like a pilgrimage because it is.  Remember that there are five images in this Psalm.  We looked at the first image, which was: “The Abundant Life” (vv. 2-3a).  God lets and makes me lay down in green pastures in that He causes me to do so.  How does He cause me to lay down in green pastures?  He does so by removing all that prevents me from doing so.  I was made to lay down in green pastures by waters of rest, but without the Good Shepherd we blindly go astray; according to the prophet Isaiah we were both hopeless and helpless: “All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way...” (Isaiah 53:6).  The next four images are as follows:
Image #2: The Secure Life (v. 3b)
Image #3: The Hard Life (v. 4)
Image #4: The Victorious Life (v. 5)
Image #5: The Everlasting Life (v. 6)
 
It is to the “Secure Life” that we now turn our attention.  What is it that makes His guiding in paths of righteousness for His namesake that brings security to those who belong to Him?
 
Where Does the Shepherd Lead?
Where does the Shepherd lead and how does where He is leading relate to our security?  For starters, it is in the nature of His guiding that brings His sheep security: “He guides me in paths of righteousness.”  The nature of His guiding is that it does not end and that it is ongoing; it is not a onetime event where the sheep are guided by Him such as a prayer that is said or a decision that was made. 
 
So, what are the “paths of righteousness” that He guides me into?  We are given an answer through the nature of David’s prayers like the one we find in Psalm 5, “Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before me” (v. 8).  The answer to David’s prayer is Psalm 23:3, and those paths of righteousness are descripted for us in scores of verses in both the Old and New Testament.  One such passage in the Old Testament is Psalm 1:1-3,  
Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
               Nor stand in the path of sinners,
               Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
 
But his delight is in the Law of the Lord,
   And on His Law he meditates day and night.
 
He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
               Which yields its fruit in its season,
               And its leaf does not wither;
               And in whatever he does, he prospers.
 
The paths of righteousness according to Psalm 1 includes delighting in the Law of Yahweh and meditating on His Law day and night.  The Law of the Lord is the Word of the Lord.  That which you delight in is where you desire to spend your time.  If you delight in a particular person you will want to spend time with that person.  If you have a hobby or job that you delight in, you will look for ways to spend time participating in that hobby or job that you delight in.  The evidence that you delight in the Law is seen in the amount of time you spend in the Law. 
 
The one who delights in the Law of the Lord will thrive in the kinds of ways we were meant for.  God wants you to thrive and considering the fact that it is His image we bear, thriving must include our Creator.  Later in the Psalms, David wrote: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105).
 
Jesus said something similar to Psalm 1:1-3 and 119:105; He said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31). The Greek word used for “continue” is menō, which, as you may recall from last Sunday’s sermon, can be translated “abide.”  If you abide, if you remain, if you continue in My word... “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  The Greek word for “know” is ginōskō, which is the kind of knowledge that is much more than head knowledge.  Jesus said, “If you remain, if you continue, if you abide in my word, you will really know [ginōskō] the truth, and the truth will set your free.”  Let me say it a different way so that you get what is being said here: “If you take up residence in the word of the Good Shepherd, you are truly His sheep, and by listening to His voice, you will live!”  Listen, the Shepherd’s guiding does not happen apart from our abiding!    
 
I am not sure if you will find this as cool as I do, but going back to John 10 where Jesus identifies as the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, He uses the same Greek word for know that He used in John 8:31. In John 10:14-16, “I am the good shepherd, and I know [ginōskō] My own, and My own know [ginōskō] Me, just as the Father knows [ginōskō] Me and I know [ginōskō] the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and they will become one flock, with one shepherd.”
 
Okay, so why does any of this matter and how does Psalm 1:1-3, John 8:31-32, and John 10:14-16 help you understand the 23rd Psalm better?  So here we go: You cannot be led in the paths of righteousness if your knowledge of the Good Shepherd is only about filling your head without your heart being engaged.  I will say it another way: If you are not abiding in the Lord of the 23rd Psalm then you are not finding in Him what you need.  If you do not find in Him what you need, then you will not find in Him the green pastures and waters of rest that you were made for.  If you do not find in the Good Shepherd the green pastures and waters of rest you that were made for, then you will find that the paths of righteousness that He guides His sheep on as displeasing instead of delightful.    
 
Jesus is the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, and it is He who causes me to lie down in green pastures because He is the green pastures that will never leave me hungry.  It is He who leads me to waters of refreshment because He is the Living Water who satisfies the thirsty soul.  Jesus restores the soul because He makes all things new!  As the great Shepherd of your soul, Jesus guides those who abide in Him in paths of righteousness.  There is no guiding apart from abiding in Lordof the 23rd Psalm!
 
Why Does the Shepherd Lead?
So, why does He do it?  Why does the Good Shepherd guide his sheep in the paths of righteousness?  He does it for the sake of His name!  What does that even mean?  It means that He rescued you from the condemnation of your sins, He gives Himself to you as the Great Shepherd of your soul to meet your need for Him, He provides the green pastures and quiet waters for your good, He renews and restores your soul, and He delivered you from your crooked paths of this world and set you on the straight path of righteousness that only Jesus can provide.  God did it all, and He did it by putting His reputation on the line!
 
Our story is summed up in one verse from the prophet Isaiah: “All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him” (Isa. 53:6).  “To fall on who” you ask?  Ah... I am so glad you asked!  The sins of us all... fell upon Jesus who is the Lamb, the Lion, and the great Shepherd of our souls!  This is why the apostle Peter wrote: “...and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls” (1 Pet. 2:24-25).
 
In response to all that Jesus accomplished, Paul wrote those glorious words that ought to thrill every soul that belongs to His flock: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things” (Rom. 8:31-32)?  And He does so for His namesake!  This is why, when you read Ephesians 1:3-14 regarding how and why God saved you from your sins that we are given three answers:
The Father chose us before the foundation of the world and made us sons and daughters through His Son, and why did He do it that way? He did it, “to the praise of the glory of His grace...” (1:4-6).
 
The Son redeemed us through His blood and now we have the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. Why did He do it that way?  He did it, “to the praise of His glory” (1:7-12).
 
The Holy Spirit made our redemption and salvation a guarantee by sealing us as God’s own possession. Why did He do it that way? He did it, “to the praise of His glory” (1:13-14).
 
He chose his lambs for the sake of His name, He redeemed his lambs for the sake of His name, and He marked His lambs as His treasured possession by His Holy Spirit for the sake of His name!  Listen, if the Lord is your shepherd, it is only because you have turned to Jesus for the salvation of our soul: “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other” (Isa. 45:22).  Listen to what Jesus said concerning all who hear His voice and come to Him for salvation: “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).
 
Psalm 23:2 is a picture of the secure life because of who it is that causes us to lie down in green pastures, leads us to inexhaustible and quiet waters, restores and renews our soul, and leads us in the paths of righteousness.  The Lord of the 23rd Psalm is the God of Isaiah 46:9-11,
Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
 
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My plan will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
 
Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a distant country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, I will certainly do it.
 
This is why Romans 8:1 is for you Christian: “Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
   
Conclusion
So, let me say something you may need to hear.  Just because you belong to the Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, does not mean that you will not struggle with sin.  Just because you are abiding in Jesus and love Him truly, does not mean that you will never be tempted by the enemy’s lies of greener pastures and more satisfying waters.  The enemy is a dragon and a thief who comes, “only to steal and kill and destroy...”  Jesus, the Great and Good Shepherd, has come so that we would have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).  There are no greener pastures or quieter waters than what can be found and experienced in Jesus. 
 
The danger for some is that the less that you listen to His voice, the less you will delight in His Word and the less frequent you will want to abide in Him.  Permit me to close with a warning from David Gibson:
Life is a journey, not a viewing gallery; we are always on the move, always traveling, and we’re going with either Jesus’s paths or a different shepherd’s paths. Maybe it’s what you’re consuming online. Maybe it’s the choices you are making with your money or your time. Two degrees of divergence this year might mean a mile’s divergence next year. Take time to consider the road you are walking, who is leading you, and where that path might end. In my experience I have found that wrong steps in life are nearly always the outworking of a prior neglect of listening to Jesus speak in the Bible. When devotion to hearing his voice begins to dwindle, then eventually, inevitably, departure from his paths begins to follow.[2]
 
There is no greener pasture outside of Jesus, for He alone is the Lord of the 23rd Psalm. Amen.
 
 
[1] J. Josh Smith and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2022), 174.
[2] David Gibson, The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023), 49.