Services | The Shadow Doesn’t Harm

Bulletin

Hymn # 334 “Blessed Assurance”

SCRIPTURE READING – John 10:27 - 30
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate

Praise and Worship
“Battle Belongs”
“God So Love”
“Good Grace”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“The Shadow Doesn’t Harm”

PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection

“Your Promises”
Benediction “Look to the Son”

Acknowledgements and Announcements

Sermon Notes
Psalm 23:4a Moving through the valley of the shadow of death
Psalm 107:10 – 16 God saves from the shadow of death
John 3:16 Whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life
John 11:25 & 26 Jesus is the resurrection and the life
1 Corinthians 15:50 – 57 Death is defeated and we have the victory through Christ
Job 19:23 – 27 My eyes shall see my Redeemer
Psalm 23:4b Do not fear harm/evil because YOU God are with me
Romans 8:35 – 39 Nothing not even death separates us from God
Psalm 23::4c Both God’s rod and staff comfort
Micah 7:14 May He shepherd His people with His scepter

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

It seems in today's world pronouns have come into great controversy, but in simplest level when I'm talking about myself me, I use a word I, me, my. If I'm talking about somebody who's not in my presence I will usually use he or she. So for instance if somebody's not in my presence I go he's a nice young man or she's going to graduate college. I'm talking about somebody who's not present but I'm referencing them. We're going to take a look today at Psalm 23 verse 4 that has a very significant change in what happens. The Psalmist says in the beginning, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." But now the Psalmist is going to change and talk about two things that are very significant related to fear that most people have that's going to come across in all of our lives. So see what the two things that the Psalmist talks about that gives us comfort at afraid of?

Two things often are registered some people say that death is the one thing that they're most fearful of. The other thing people say, which is kind of surprising to me, that public speaking is their greatest fear. I find that interesting because no matter what kind of public speaking you're doing, it may be a few seconds to a minute to maybe an hour. It's a definite period of time. Death on the other hand appears to be more permanent. And yet there seems to be this misplaced fear in both situations. There was a professional athlete who was diagnosed with a terminal condition. And his friend who also was a professional athlete asked him, "Are you afraid of dying?"

And his answer was, "Not really, but I've never done it before." And that's kind of like how we all are. Even though we as believers are not necessarily fearful of death, we've never done it before. And so there's a certain apprehension to it.

Psalms chapter 23 verse four kind of gives us two significant reasons why we don't need to be fearful of this seemingly permanent situation.

Unfortunately, most of the time when Psalms is read, it's at a memorial or funeral service, and the family and loved ones are kind of in the cloud of grief. And so they really don't fully comprehend

the passages here in Psalms 23 and significance of it. And so that's why we're taking a serious look at it because in the first few verses and the few verses afterward, there's tremendous significance that we should gain from the fact that the Lord is our shepherd.

Verse four gives us again, a look at that thing that most of us are fearful of. So if you have your Bibles and you should, please turn to Psalm chapter 23. And we're gonna take a look at verse four.

And we're gonna take a look at it in a series of bite sizes because it's very significant. And so I'm gonna read the first part of the verse, and then we're gonna break it down. This, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death."

So, "Even though it's regardless of the situation,

I'm gonna do this." So, "Regardless of the fact that I walk through." Again, walking means that I'm continuing going forward. I'm moving, or I'm not stuck in this situation. It is not a permanent situation. I'm walking through this valley of the shadow of death. Now again, the valley has different kind of meanings depending upon where your background is and the time that you're referencing. So for instance, my father grew up on a farm.

And for him, a valley had more value because you could plant crops and they would produce better because the soil would be rich. Whereas on a hillside or something, it would not be as fruitful because the soil wasn't as good and the good top soil would come down into the valley. So to him, the valley was valuable. So much so that when he passed away, even though he was buried in what's called Rose Hills, he did not want to be buried on a hill. He wanted to be buried in the lower portion because that's where the good land was. In today's world, everybody wants their house to be on a hill because you can have a nice view of the surrounding area. And so many of the more expensive houses that we see in our communities are built on hills. And so there's that preference to a hill versus a valley. In our kind of spiritual or emotional kind of connotations, people will think, well, I have this mountain top experience. You go on a retreat and let's say it's a religious retreat and you feel a real sense of presence with God. You feel like you have this mountain top experience. Whereas when you're in the valley, it's kind of like you're depressed or you're separated. And so there's this kind of this view that the valley is a depressing area.

I don't think that that's either reason why Psalmist who is David is using the valley as that. David was a warrior.

And as a warrior, you were at risk when you traveled through a valley because the enemy usually was on higher ground and the enemy would be a higher ground because he could observe your movements easier. It was more difficult for those who were at the lower points to go up the hill and fight the enemy position. And because you had the higher ground, your spear or even in today's world, your artillery could travel farther because you had higher ground. And so David understood as a military person that going through a valley may put you at risk. So he goes, "Even though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death."

He uses the shadow of death.

And that is significant.

You kind of wrap this up in the sense of...

I'm going to give two examples.

There was a professor of theology and a commentator who wrote numerous various volumes on Bible books.

And he had lost his wife and he had a daughter who was fairly young.

And as they were leaving the funeral site, he was trying to figure out how do I explain what had happened to my wife, her mother. And they were stopped at a signal light and there was a truck next to them and the truck was passing a shadow over them. So he turned to his daughter and said,

"Would you rather be hit by the truck or the shadow?"

And she said, "The shadow," which makes sense. And he goes, "That's right.

That's what happened to your mother. Your mother was hit by the shadow of death." And we're going to kind of explain that a little more.

The second example I want to do is one that's personal. When I was a very young boy, my bed was under a window

and our front porch was on the other side of my window. And one evening, this wind was blowing and I was laying in my bed. All of a sudden, there was a shadow outside moving and it scared me. So I called out for my mother and she comes running in and turns out on the light and the shadow disappears and then she gives me some comfort, turns out the light and leaves. Well, then a few moments later, because the wind's blowing, I see the shadow again and I call out and she comes running in, turns on the light and whatever. After a couple more times of this, we discover that the shadow that's being cast is a banana tree that's shaking in the wind

because there's a porch light on.

That was a shadow. It couldn't harm me even though I was afraid of it. So that week when we cut the banana tree down so it could never make me fearful again. But again, a shadow cannot harm you.

As the professor said,

it's better to be hit by a shadow than by the actual. And so David says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it is not the death that is the situation, it is that shadow." And so in Psalms 107 it says this,

"There were those who dwelt in darkness and the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and in change, because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High.

Therefore, he humbled their hearts with labor. They stumbled and there was none to help.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and in the shadow of death and broke their bands apart.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness and for His wonders to the sons of men. For He has shattered gates of bronze and cut bars of iron asunder." So this Psalm is saying that there were those who were rebelling against God and they were facing the shadow of death, but they cried out and God saved them from the shadow of death. So much so that He was strong enough, if you will, to break bars of bronze or the gates or whatever because of His power. But God came and delivered out of the shadow of death. The Scriptures always talk about this as not being a permanent situation, but a shadow.

And then a verse that we all know, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." You see, the Scriptures tell us that it is a shadow of death, that those who believe in Christ have eternal life. It's not life, death, life, but it is eternal life. And so it is not the actual death, but it's simply a shadow.

We don't need to fear the shadow because we have eternal life. Paul will talk about for those who are asleep, and he's not using this euphemism in the sense of, "Oh, He doesn't want to make us fearful about the term death, so use sleep." No, he's using it because the body when we pass away is at rest. But to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. There is not a passage of time between life, death, life. It is life, if you will, out of the actual presence of God, then into the actual presence of God. We are never to die.

And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it says this, "Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep." Again, he said, "We'll not all pass away before this happens, but we will all be changed." "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

But when this perishable will put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where 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." So Paul is saying, when we go through the valley of the shadow of death, in essence, what happens is we take out this mortal body, the one that is subject to pain, and distress, and anxiety, and the shadow of death.

We will then, when Christ returned, we will put on an imperishable, one that is no longer subject to pain, and sickness, and death. But we will have this imperishable body. And so again, we are confirming the fact that death is not permanent. Death only seems to be permanent. But the reality is that we have eternal life, and that in this eternal life is not just spiritual, but we will have a new perfect imperishable body. And then he says that we get this victory because death has been defeated, because sin has been defeated by the sacrifice of Christ, and Christ has given us this victory.

It's not our victory. We don't earn it. We don't deserve it. But because of Christ's sacrifice, we are given the victory.

So it's an essence, and this victory is overwhelming.

It's not you win by the skin of your teeth. It's 100 million to zero. God overwhelms all opposition, and we have been given the victory, even when it seems that death has won, because it did not win. It was a shadow.

My favorite verse about the resurrection

comes from an Old Testament passage of Job,

which I find very interesting, because there were those Jews back before Christ came

who said that there was no resurrection, that you lived, hopefully you had a good life and then you die, and that's it.

And there were others who said, no, there's a resurrection. I find it interesting. They would have read the Scriptures. They would have seen overwhelmingly that there is a resurrection. And this is, again, one of my favorite verses. It comes from Job, chapter 19. It says this, "Oh, that my words were written. Oh, that they were inscribed in a book, that with an iron stylus and lead, they were engraved in the rock forever." He's saying, I want to make this statement permanent. I want it, if I could, to write it in a book so others might read it, but I also want to inscribe it on a rock so that it lasts for eternity forever, that this statement is my statement of faith.

And he says this, "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. And that at the last, he will take a stand on the earth.

Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh, I shall see God, whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me." Job is saying, even after this body has turned to dust, or even if you burn it and I'm ashes, no matter what happens to this body,

in this body, I will see the Lord. My eyes will see Him, not another.

And that is so awesome that it's hard to even comprehend it. My heart faints with it.

Wow, God loves us that much, that no matter how long I have been deceased, no matter what has happened to my body, whether buried in the sea, or I have been gone so long that it's just turned into dust, or that I've been burned to a crisp.

God will reassemble, and I will have this immortal, imperishable body.

I will see my Redeemer.

What a marvelous testimony and reality.

The second part of the verse found in Psalms chapter 23 verse 4 is this. "I fear no evil."

The Psalmist says, "I'm going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and I don't fear any evil."

Why?

This is something that's so significant.

Up until this point, the Psalmist has used two types of pronouns. He's used the personal pronoun, "I, me, my," and he's used the third person pronoun, "he." So for instance, he says, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leaves me besides quiet waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." All of these things are talking about who God is and what God is doing, and why it is beneficial for you to have the Lord as your shepherd. But he's talking about the shepherd. Now all of a sudden he says, "I fear no evil. I fear no harm, even though I'm going through the valley of the shadow of death, for you are with me." Now he's talking to God specifically. He's not talking about God. He's talking to God. So when the Psalmist says, "When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil." Why? Because God is present with me as I'm going through that shadow.

(Silence) What a marvelous promise that when we are going through this most fearful time,

that God is with us. He's walking with us. He's making sure that we travel through that valley unharmed, that no evil happens. How awesome is that?

We kind of do this in our worship.

Oftentimes we talk about God as He.

And so I know a lot of people love the hymn, so I won't use a hymn as an example. And I know a lot of people like modern Christian music, so I won't use that as an example. I'll use some choruses back in the 70s and 80s. And so there's this one chorus that says, "Worship His majesty." And I'm not going to sing it for you because you don't need to bear that. But the title of the song and the first phrase is, "Worship His majesty." We're not saying that you're majestic. We're saying we ought to worship God because He's majestic. And so in essence, it's not a worship song. It's a song to get us to worship because we're talking about Him, not to Him. But there's another chorus that says, "I love you, Lord, and I lift your name."

"I love you, Lord." It's not, "I love the Lord. I love you, Lord." We're talking to Him. So when you're singing worship songs, I want you to make sure that you notice whether you're worshiping about Him, that you're saying this is why we should, or that in fact we're saying, "God, you're majestic. God, you're wonderful. God, you're awesome. Your loving kindness is forever, and I'm going to worship you." And the Psalmist David is saying, "When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no harm. I fear no evil." Why? "Because you are with me."

When we talk about the comfort in when we're talking about the funerals or the memorial services, we usually talk about the person who's already passed away. This verse is while they're passing away, that no matter how the circumstances was of their passing, God was there. God was there. Whether they died alone or in a room of people,

God was there. And He called them and walked through that valley with them.

And why is it that He fears no evil?

And so Romans tells us, "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword,

just as it is written, for your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered a sheep to be slaughtered." Paul is saying, "When Christians became early on, there was great tribulation that they were not just rebuked, that they were literally put to death either by crucifixion or in the Colosseum or by stoning, whatever it was, by Jews and by Romans, because they were outcasts. Christians were considered to be atheist because they believed that God was the one true God and they believed in all the other gods. And so they were persecuted to being even put to death and none. So we as Christians think, "Well, we ought to have a perfect life.

We are to be considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all of these things, we are overwhelmingly conquered through Him who loved us. Again, it is not even a close call.

We win big. Why? Because through Him who loved us. "For I am convinced," it's not, I suppose, I hope, maybe it might be, Paul says, "I am convinced by what I know about God and what He has told me, that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things that come nor powers nor heights nor depths nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Death doesn't separate us. As a matter of fact, the psalmist just said, "Not only does not death separate us, He's there with us." What a marvelous, again, and words, my words are so

inadequate to give you the full meaning of what's happening here. He's with us. And then there's another reason that the psalmist, that David says that he doesn't fear walking to the valley of the shadow of death, that he doesn't fear harm or evil. Not only is God with him and God with those who make the Lord their shepherd, he says, "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

So again, I want you to notice it's two instruments. It's a rod and a staff. A lot of people read it as rod staff. No, it says, "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." So there are two things now. A rod, it's basically kind of like a baton or a bat or something, that it's a way of protection,

it's also used, Proverbs will also talk about that to spoil the rod is, I mean, to spare the rod is to spoil the child. And sometimes a rod can be used as punishment. But in this situation, he's not saying, "Your discipline comforts me." It's no, that because you have this rod, this bat, this baton, you can use it as a weapon to defend me. So I don't fear, not only are you God, and not only do you have all powers to break the chains and the bonds that might withhold me, you have this power, this rod, but you also have a staff that comfort me. Well, staff is like a stick with a crooked portion. And the reason for the staff is that the shepherd would use it to make sure that the sheep don't go where they're not supposed to. So the the cooked part of the staff is used to bring the sheep back in so that they stay where they need to be. It's a form of guidance and protection. It goes, "I'm not going to get off the wrong path because your staff comforts me. I know that you won't let me go. You won't let me go places that I'm not supposed to do, that I'm going to walk through the valley. I'm not going to stay in the valley because you're leading me, you're guiding me, you're protecting me." So David says, "No wonder I don't fear,

because death isn't permanent. It's a shadow. It can't harm me. I don't fear because there's no harm that's going to come to me. No evil is going to happen to me because your love is with me. And not only is your love with me, and it doesn't separate me from you, you are there at that crucial time when I'm walking through this valley. And not only are you with me, you have these two implements to protect me and to guide me." See, these are the things that we can talk about when we're not in the fog of the grief at the passage of our loved one or the promises that we are experiencing that if someday, unless the Lord comes really soon, that all of us will experience. I frequently tell people, because as a lawyer I do wills and trusts, and people are somewhat reluctant to do it because they don't want to admit their mortality. And I read a will once that said, "If I die." And the deal is, is that in all of human history, only two people have not died, and they're not with us. Enoch, in Elijah. But unless you're going to be the third person, you're going to die. Or you might be the third person and God just takes you before you die.

So it's a reality. So we can be comforted in this, that He is there for us. And the last verse that I want to share with you is in Micah chapter seven and it says this.

"Shepherd your people with your scepter." So remember the psalmist starts out, "The Lord is my shepherd."

And at the end of this verse, he says, "Your fraud and your staff, they comfort me." Well now, Micah is talking, says, "Shepherd your people, the sheep of your pastor, with your scepter, with that instrument that shows your royalty, that shows your authority, that as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that you may shepherd your people with your scepter, with the fact that you are God and you are sovereign. The flock of your possession, which dwells by itself in the woodland, in the midst of a fruitful field, let them feed in Vashan and Gilead, as in the days of old." He's saying, "Lord, make it evident that you are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Make it evident that you are the sovereign of heaven and earth. Shepherd your people with your scepter. You know, that we His people would allow Him to shepherd us with this scepter." Rather than saying, "Well, this is what I think you ought to do, God. We ought to be saying, "God, what is it you want?" "Yes, Lord, I will do it. You are the one who are sovereign. You are the one who leads us and guides us, and I have no fear. So 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.

And may you shepherd us with your scepter."