FBCWest 629 | I Can Trust the Shepherd Because of His Name
Recorded On: 10/20/2024
Bulletin
Hymn # 339 “It Is Well with My Soul”
SCRIPTURE READING – Hebrews 6:17 - 20
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“In the House”
“This Is Amazing Grace”
“This Is What We Live For”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“I Can Trust the Shepherd Because of His Name”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“Egypt”
“Look to the Son”
Acknowledgements and Announcements
Sermon Notes
Psalm 23:3a Jesus restores (returns to the original condition) my soul
Genesis 1:26 & 27 God made us in His image
Psalm 23b Jesus gives direction in the road of righteousness
Romans 1:17 The righteous live by faith
Matthew 7:13 & 14 The gate iand the road are narrow that leads to life
John 14:2 – 6 Jesus is the Way and you only get to the Father through Him
Psalm 5:8 Wants the Lord to lead him in Righteousness
Psalm 23c Seeks these things because of Jesus’ name so that the name of the Lord will not suffer
Exodus 32:7 – 14 Moses tells God that God’s name will suffer if He destroys Israel and starts over
Psalm 29:2 Give the glory due His name
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
A few years ago, my wife and I and some founding members took a trip to Boston. But before we went, my wife booked a travel, I mean a tour guide. And that tour guide took us around Boston to certain historical points and other points of interest. And he was able to do so because he knew the city and he knew about the various points of interest and gave explanation. He knew what he was doing and he took us directly and we didn't have a circuitous route. We went to the most direct route, not wasting any time.
The psalmist talks about the shepherd and the shepherd is going to guide him. But this guidance is far more important than going on a trip to someplace. It's about a trip in eternity. See what the shepherd does?
The only times we ever hear about this Psalm is during a funeral or a memorial service. And there is so much in this Psalm that leads us and guides us in life that we should contemplate it. And so the first verse talked about that the Lord is the Psalmist's shepherd, and I hope that the Lord is our shepherd as well, that it's personal. It's not something that somebody else is, but the Lord is my shepherd. And because of it, I make a statement of faith. I shall not want. It wasn't that I in the past time didn't want is that I shall not want.
And then he does certain things that are both physical and spiritual in my protection, that he makes me lie down in green pastures, pastures that are his.
That leads me beside quiet waters that are both refreshing and secure, but lead to life.
But now the Psalmist is going to continue on to what the shepherd does and the benefits of having the Lord as our shepherd. And it's very specifically spiritual, if you will. And so the first part of verse three is he restores my soul.
Now, a lot of people like to restore things.
You'll see a comment that people will restore older classic vehicles.
And those are, and I'm not saying easy to do, but are accomplishable. You can go. And even if you're not a mechanic, you can get a bunch of books and the warranties and all those types of things. And you can look on YouTube and you can figure out how to restore a particular vehicle.
So much so that not that far from us is a donut shop where people come on on the weekends to show the classic cars that they've restored and they show them off. And other people showed their classic cars off and they're very proud of it. But it is something that is accomplishable, but is physically possible.
But notice that the.
Psalmist here says he restores my soul.
Not accomplishable.
By effort, you can't find on YouTube to restore your soul.
And so how is it that our soul needs to be restored to begin with?
So in Genesis, when God made man, it says this, then God said, let us make man in our image.
Now, there was a sci-fi movie a long time ago
and the alien looked much like us.
And the person then said, well, I'm surprised that alien looks a lot like us. And the person in the movie said, well, how many images does God have?
Well, let me. Correct that movie. This isn't the image of God. It's the spirit that he placed inside us that is the spirit of God so that he made man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle, all the earth and over every creepy thing that creeps upon the earth.
And God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. So God made us in his image. But the problem is this. I don't know how long that Adam and Eve were in the garden. It could have been a day. It could have been a thousand years. I don't know the scriptures don't say. But at one point, Adam and Eve made a critical.
Error.
I won't even say a mistake. It was a sin. They did what God told them specifically not to do. They decided to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when they did that, they marred their spiritual image of God.
So to put that so that you might think of, I want you to think of somebody who made took a block of of marble.
And sculpted it into your image.
But your image that was as perfect.
In the sense of made all of your attributes the most favorable so that if you're very sexist, if you're a woman, you would have been the image would have been beautiful. And if you're a man, you would be handsome.
And the reason I say that, I remember when my son was first born and his born cesarean, which meant that his face was pushed out of thing. And people would literally say to his mother, my wife, he's too beautiful to be a boy.
So that's why I say if you're a woman, you're beautiful. If you're a guy, you're handsome because apparently you're too beautiful. You can't be a boy and be beautiful. And so you have this this image and it is the image that is the most beautiful or handsome version of who you are.
And then you knock off the nose.
You can't fix it. You can even call Michael Angelo back from the dead.
This thing isn't going to be replaceable. You can't whatever.
And that is what we did when we sinned. We marred the image of God.
And you can't read any mechanics books or or
sculpting books to become perfect in making that image.
Better or correct.
But God can do the impossible.
He can restore our soul.
This verse in and of itself should cause us to say hallelujah. What a savior. What an awesome God that we have, that he made us beautiful and we rekt it and he restores us to the original image again.
That someday, when he returns and we are changed in the twinkling of an eye, we will be like him.
And all the beauty of who he is, is because we will once again have that image of that, our God
placed upon us again, he restores my soul.
No wonder it is well with our soul
because he restores it.
Like no one else can do.
The next part of this verse, verse Peter says,
he guides me in the path of righteousness.
He guides me in the path of righteousness.
Again, I use.
An example.
As we're traveling down this road, we call the road of life and we come to an intersection and on the right of the intersection is a large highway and on the left is a large highway and in front of us is a small road.
Now, we men, even though we don't know where we're going, generally don't ask for directions.
We just go where we think we ought to go.
Sometimes our wives or girlfriends will say, well, why don't you ask for directions?
And if we are able to get our ego out of the way, ultimately. So let's say we're actually wise this time and we don't know which of these three possibilities we should go.
But we notice three things.
The roadway to the right has a dead guy in the middle of the road
and the roadway on the left has a dead guy in the middle of the road.
And in front of us is a person who is alive.
Which of those three people should you ask for directions?
Think of it.
If you ask for the guy on the right, which way to go, he probably won't give you an answer because he's dead. And the guy on the left probably won't give you an answer because he's dead. But the person in front of you who's alive
probably knows the answer.
Guess what? All the other religious leaders are dead.
All the other philosophers that we think were so
Kant and Schopenhauer and Descartes and all these guys, Locke and Hume and all these guys, they're dead.
But Jesus is alive.
Ask him for directions.
So he guides by me in the paths of righteousness.
What is the path of righteousness for in it? The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written. But the righteous man shall live by faith.
The pathways of righteousness is to live by faith.
Jesus says, 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 it.
On this road, when we see to the right, there's a big highway and on the left, there's a big highway. That's where most of the people go because they don't follow directions.
They don't take advice from the guy who is living. They take advice from either their own experiences or others.
And even though they think that that's the fastest way to get there, where they're going is not where you want to be.
You can make excellent time going to hell.
But the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. And there are few who find it.
We wonder how come the world doesn't like us because there are few who find it. It's a narrow way. Yeah, the way on the right seemed really important and right because it was a major highway and the way on the left seemed important because it's a major highway.
But the true path of righteousness is a path. It is a narrow way.
And few find it
because they don't ask from directions for the one who leads us in the path of righteousness.
Also, Jesus says, in my father's house or many dwelling places, if it were not so, I would have told you for a go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, you may be also and you know the way where I am going.
And Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way?
And Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the father, but through me. Jesus has just told us that he is the way, that he is the path. He knows where he's going. We know he knows how to get there. How? Because he came from heaven to earth and he's gone back. He knows the way to eternity because he is the way. He is the path of righteousness.
He's an expert at it.
If you were to go to a place that you've never been to before.
Africa on a safari, you probably want to take a guide.
Because there's a lot of animals that can eat you.
And when you go on the plains of Serengeti.
It's a plane. It's a you can get lost.
Few years ago.
Libby and I and a few
family members took a trip to Boston.
So what did Libby do?
She hired a tour guide.
And we went to her guide, showed us the various place in Boston, the historical places and other places of interest because he knew the city. He didn't try to figure it out as he went because he was an expert at Boston. And he knew about the sites. And we would go to Reed's Hill or
which was actually bunker. And he took his places and he explained the historical significance. And then he took us to a direct path to another place and explained historical significance because he knew it didn't have to figure it out. Jesus is the way.
He is an expert.
At it.
The psalmist says this, oh, Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of my foes. Make your way straight before me. It's going, Lord, lead me in your righteousness.
And it is Jesus' righteousness that we claim.
I am not righteous because of who I am and what I have done or not done. It is because of his righteousness and because of his sacrifice and because of who he is that I am now righteous because by faith I choose to live.
I am now righteous because the righteous shall live by faith. So he says, Lord, lead me in your righteousness.
Because let's face it, I'm unfamiliar with righteousness. I'm not an expert at it. I need an expert. I need the Lord to lead me in righteousness because he is the one who is righteous. And can show me that way.
And he says, again, because of my foes, it is easy to get off the path because the enemy doesn't want you there.
The enemy wants you off the path. And because the path is narrow, it is easy to go off the path because we're not talking about a 12 lane highway. We're talking about a narrow way that few who find it. And he's saying, because of my foes, make your way. Again, not my way. Make your way straight before me. Don't give me any bit. Let me know where I'm going and I can continue to see the destination that I continue to see the city on a hill. And that is not America. That is heaven.
For the Lord God dwells. Make my way straight so that I don't wander here or there.
Or his name.
Again, I want you to catch this.
He leads us in the paths of righteousness.
Or his name.
When we started the service, we saw that it said that it is impossible for God to lie.
And even though it's impossible for God to lie, he made an oath.
And even though it's impossible for God to lie and he made an oath, he also gave the spirit as a pledge, as an earnest money, as a down payment, guaranteeing that we are his.
But there's even a fourth reason that we will arrive where God tells us on this path for his name's sake.
A while ago,
it used to be that a person's word was their bond.
If you said it, you didn't need a contract, you didn't need a Philadelphia lawyer to write it out. Your word was your bond. And then we kind of had where we shook on it. And if I didn't shake on it, well, then whatever. But if I shook on it, it was OK. And then all of a sudden we moved it to we made oaths like.
On my mother's grave or all these weird statements, somehow guaranteeing.
But it used to be.
That your name was important to you. That you wanted to be known as a person of honesty.
A person who could be relied upon. A person that you would want to be a friend of.
Because your name was important.
Well, God has never devalued his name.
His name is important to him. His name is valuable to him. And so I want to share with you.
And a situation that happened in Exodus, it says this, then the Lord spoke to Moses, go down at once for your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt and have corrupted themselves, and they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them, and they have made for themselves a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, this is our God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
So the situation is this, is God had invited his people up to Mount Sinai to meet with him and the people said, you know, the smoke and the earthquake were scary. So Moses, you go and we'll wait here. And Moses went up to meet with God and was meeting with God and God was giving him the commandments because.
Even like today, it was kind of like microwave.
Moses took too long. So let's let's start something else. So while after God had delivered them from slavery out of Egypt, crossed the waters on dry land and came to this place where God had provided food and water.
They said, guess what? It's taken up. So we're going to have another God. We're going to make a molten calf or we're going to worship it and say, this is our God who brought us out of Egypt.
Liars.
They could have at least said, well, this is going to be our God in the wilderness.
Because it was the Lord God that got them out of Egypt. It was the Lord God that delivered them out of the waters on dry land.
But they lied and said this golden calf, God is here.
The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people and behold, they are an obstinate people.
And so are we.
Let's face it.
I've been faithful to him several times.
And I will be faithful to him several times. Because I'm an obstinate person.
Now, then let me alone that I'm in my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them and I will make you a great nation. Let's start over.
What's interesting, what Moses is going to say.
Is good or whatever.
But Moses was told by God what was happening.
When Moses sees what's happening, he gets angry.
He breaks the commandments by throwing them down.
He's not at a time happy.
But he is a good leader at this point.
And this is what Moses says. Then Moses, a tree to the Lord, his God and said, oh, Lord, why does your anger burn against your people whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand, Moses saying, God, you did it. They're lying. I know you did it. You're the one who did it.
But I'm hoping that that your anger kind of comes down a little bit. Why should these Egyptians speak, saying with an evil intent, he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth, turn from your burning anger and change your mind about doing harm to your people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your service to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and all this land of which I have spoken, I will give to your descendants and they shall inherit it forever.
I'm saying, God, remember what you promised.
If you
semi, you know, Moses is still from a descendant of Abraham, so he could theoretically continue on. He just would start over.
Maybe wait another 430 years for them to become a nation.
When Moses, no, no, no, if you start over, your enemies will stay. You
do your whole plan was wrong.
So the Lord changed his mind about the harm which he would said he would do to his people. Why? Because his name was important, that his name was not going to be malign in this world.
You restore my soul.
You guide me the paths of righteousness for your name.
God is not going to give up on you because you're an obstinate people. God is not going to forgive up on you
because he will do what he said he will do when he said he will do it, how he said he will do it. And he said that if we believe in his son, that he sent
to die for us and was raised again on the third day.
That if we believe in our hearts.
That Jesus rose from the dead and confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord, as boss.
Then I will be saved.
His name is on it.
We don't need a contract.
But he gave one in his blood.
It was a covenant that said, I have sworn it
and I approved it. I can't lie.
I gave an oath.
I gave my spirit.
I gave my son.
And my name will accomplish it.
So.
We can trust the shepherd.
The great and good shepherd.
Who leads us.
Provides for us to protect us.
Who restores our soul.
And will guide us.
In the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
And all the