Now, this is probably the most famous Psalm, if not the most famous chapter in the Bible.
And we've gone through all the other 22 weeks and here we are.
Probably most people who've been in church their whole life, or even people who haven't
been in church, have this almost memorized, even if you haven't tried to memorize it or
set out to memorize it, just because you've heard it so many times, and it's a great,
great chapter.
That's one of the reasons why it's so famous.
It's amazing, some of the greatest chapters in the Bible are so famous, even though they're
totally not understood by the people who know them.
John 3.16 is so famous, I mean it is the most famous verse in the Bible, but how many people
really grasp the truth that it's whosoever believeth?
You know, there's so many people who believe in work salvation, but they quote John 3.16,
and we meet them every week out soul-willing.
They'll finish the verse for you, but they'll tell you that they're going to heaven because
they're a good person, and it's amazing.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
There's foolishness on him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned.
Just like the Ethiopian eunuch who said, how can I understand?
He said, how can I except some man should guide me?
And that's why we need to go out soul-willing and guide people that are not saved and preach
them the truth.
And hopefully we can pull something out of this passage that maybe you hadn't thought
of, and that's the amazing thing about the Bible.
The Bible is so deep that even with a passage like Psalm 23, you can constantly be learning
new things.
It's unbelievable, but it's true.
I mean, even Genesis chapter 1, read it again, you'll pick up something new.
The Bible is as infinite as God is, and even though I've literally read this chapter hundreds
of times, I've quoted it from memory hundreds of times, I've heard it probably thousands
of times, there's always something new, there's things new and old, as the Bible says.
And so it says in verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
Now the first thing I want to point out here is that when David says here, the Lord is
my shepherd, this correlates with John chapter 10, flip over there if you would, you see
the Lord there, notice the all capital, the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D,
this is Jehovah, the Lord is my shepherd.
That's the name of God, not just a title of being Lord, but actually his name, the Lord.
And when it says the Lord is my shepherd, one of the reasons why that's significant
is because it says, for example, in John chapter 10, there's some other places in the New Testament
we'll look at, but look at verse 14, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.
And then you'll notice also in Hebrews chapter 13, you don't have to turn there, but it talks
about Jesus Christ as being that great shepherd of the sheep.
So Jesus Christ said, I am the good shepherd.
And then in the Old Testament it was Jehovah, the Lord, who was David's shepherd.
We see that Jesus Christ is basically tying that in and saying, hey, I am the good shepherd,
that's who I am.
And so just another proof that Jesus Christ is God, of course.
And so it says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters.
You see, well before we get into that, I'm sorry, I forgot to deal with the last part
of verse one.
It says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
What does it mean to want?
To want means you lack something, okay?
And so what David here is saying, because God is my caregiver, God's my provider, God's
my shepherd, I'm not going to lack anything, and so what that tells me is that God's going
to provide our needs, and if we don't have something, if we're praying, if we're walking
with God doing what we're supposed to do, if we don't have something, it's because we
don't need it.
You know, there's so many times we think that we lack, we think that we want something,
when in reality, it's maybe just something that we would covet, or that we have greed.
If we needed it, we'd have it, because God has promised, he said, but my God shall supply
all your need, according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
So the money that you have is what you need.
Now it might not be as much money as you want, it might not be the car you want, or the house
that you want, or the lifestyle that you want, but it's what you need.
Having food and raiment, let us be there with contentment.
If you have food and clothing, and you know, this fits in today's economy when people are
really lean on money, and a lot leaner than many of us would like to be, but we have what
we need, thank God, if Jesus Christ is our shepherd.
We just need to maybe adjust our expectation and understand that God isn't going to give
us everything that we want, that's not his goal, it's just to give us what we need.
So the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
We don't have to worry about the future, take therefore no thought for tomorrow.
Take no thought saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall
we be clothed.
God will provide our needs as our shepherd.
It says in verse 2, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the
still waters.
Now look at Proverbs chapter 3, another really famous verse, but even these famous verses
sometimes we miss the meaning.
See this is talking about God leading us, and in verse 5 of chapter 3 of Proverbs it
says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding,
in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
God will lead you, God will direct your paths if you are acknowledging him and trusting
in him with all your heart.
Another famous scripture says, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
Now what we need to focus on, instead of trying to figure out God's will, like so many people
today, they want to know God's will, so they go ask the pastor, I'm not God, I don't know
what God's will is.
Don't come ask me, if you are following God's word, you are in the will of God, if you're
obeying the commands of God.
Instead of worrying about the unknown, the will of God, some kind of an unknown, indefinite
thing that's out there that you're seeking the will of God for your life, who you're
supposed to marry, what you're going to be when you grow up, what you're going to do
for a job.
Instead of worrying about what you don't know, worry about what you do know, and if you are
following what God has already told you, he'll lead you the rest, he'll direct you the rest.
See, 99% of God's will, if not more, is found in the Bible.
So if you're reading and obeying God's word, he'll lead you in the 1% that he hasn't spelled
out in his word.
If you're doing all of God's commandments, you'll marry the right person, you know, quote
unquote.
If you're doing God's commandments, he'll lead you into a career, he can set things
up for you, he can direct your path.
The question is, are you trusting in him, or are you leaning into your own understanding?
Are you obeying God's word?
So focus on being the good man and letting God direct your path.
Instead of, you know, tell me God's will for my life, Pastor Anderson or God or flipping
a coin or whatever, if you do the part that you know, you'll be fine.
For example, how did I know that God wanted me to start a church in Phoenix, Arizona?
God does not speak to me in an audible voice, Phoenix is not mentioned in the Bible.
How do I know that?
The truth of the matter is, I was just more concerned with doing the right things.
The what of God's will is more important than the where of God's will.
I mean, anywhere I go and knock doors and win people to Christ and preach God's word
is going to be great.
But at the same time, even though I just seemingly at random, well, okay, I'll be honest with
you, I like the weather.
It's great weather.
I mean, you know, other people are all snowed in right now, we've got the windows down.
And so we love the weather.
But, and in reality, I do believe that God led me to Phoenix, but he didn't reveal that
to me, he didn't tell that to me.
I believe that just because I was doing God's will, I ended up where God wanted me to be.
And that's what you need to worry about in your life.
Just do what God told you to do instead of sitting around trying to figure out these
unknowns.
Worry about what you do know, and you know what, you'll be so busy doing what God told
you to do in the Bible, you wouldn't even have time to worry about the other one percent.
So let God lead you, and I believe that God will lead you, and I believe that as I look
back over my life up to this point, I can truly say like the song in the hymnal, Jesus
led me all the way.
I mean, I can see how everything fell into place one after the other.
But I didn't plan it that way.
It's that I seemingly just made it random, or that I actually did make it random.
Looking back, you can see how God's hand was in the whole thing.
And so, let God lead you by obeying him, trusting in him, following his word.
He said, he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me, again, reference, in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Now, let me ask you something.
If you're going, if you're somewhere outside of God's will, did God lead you there?
I mean, if you're doing something that's ungodly, because it says here he leadeth me in the
paths of righteousness for his name's sake, so is God going to lead you to the bar?
Is God going to lead you to a liberal church?
I see people go to a liberal church that's preaching out of some other version than the
King James, no soul winning, watered down, worldliness, and they say, I think God led
me here.
You know, no he didn't.
God will lead you in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
He's going to lead you in the right places.
Now, when I was a teenager, I spent five years going to very liberal churches.
They were preaching the NIV.
Nobody ever got saved.
Nobody ever got baptized.
There was no soul winning whatsoever.
And the music was a Christian, contemporary, rock and roll type of worship thing.
And I went to these churches for about five years as a teenager.
And I grew up when I was younger in a fundamental Baptist church, but our church fell apart
and we were having trouble finding a good church, we ended up in some terrible church.
And we went to these types of churches for about five years.
And then finally we found a good, independent, fundamental Baptist church that we got into
when I was just about, right when I turned 17.
Now, in that time that I spent for five years in that type of environment, was there some
good that came of it?
Well, I can tell you some good that came of it.
It showed me what not to do.
Because a lot of people who've grown up independent fundamental Baptists, and they've grown up
that way all the way on, they don't understand what's going on in these liberal churches.
They don't understand why they are so unscriptural and why they're never getting anybody saved.
And I guess I just saw it firsthand.
Not only that, but I sat in church with the King James Bible in my lap for five years
listening to the NIV preached.
So it showed me the differences.
So I basically have a very good understanding of the difference between the NIV and the
King James Bible.
Because I sat in these churches and saw the comparison right there every week.
Now there are some good things that came of it, because when I see things creeping in,
I can identify it right away.
I know what that's about.
I sat under that stuff for five years.
Whereas a lot of independent fundamental Baptists may not be able to recognize it because they've
never been on that other side.
So I can see some good things that have come of it.
Did God lead me to that liberal church?
Was God leading?
No.
God was not leading us.
My family, I wasn't the primary decision maker there, but my family was not following God.
God did not lead us into these liberal, watered-down churches.
We should have been out seeking and finding something better.
You know, hindsight's 20-20 and all that, but here we are.
But wait a minute, I'm not going to sit there and say, well God led me to that church to
show me what's wrong with it.
No.
Because I'm sure I picked up a lot of bad influences while I was there too.
That probably outweighed the good.
And sometimes people can do bad things or wrong things, and God can turn it into something
good.
Like remember when Joseph was sold of his brethren into Egypt, he said this in Genesis.
He said, ye meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
He used it to save alive many people.
You see, they did something wicked when they threw him into that pit and lied and denied,
but God turned it around and used it for his glory.
He used it for good.
And so God can use bad circumstances for good.
But don't say God led me to divorce my wife.
You know, and people say it.
God led me to commit adultery because now I understand his grace more.
But this is the kind of trash that comes out of some people's mouths.
God led me to commit adultery because now you just have to relate to people who know.
God is not leading you, and we just want to blame God for every wrong thing that we do?
You led yourself to the bar.
You led yourself to commit adultery.
You led yourself to turn on, I think God wanted me to turn on the TV and watch this movie
because I learned this important spiritual truth from this movie.
No.
God's not leading you to do wrong.
He leads you in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
He's not going to lead you in an unrighteous path.
If you're following Christ, you will be walking in the light as he is in the light, and you'll
be going to the right places.
And so you're only walking with God when you're doing righteousness.
So he said in verse 4,
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for
thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy stab, they comfort me.
And so we as Christians, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of
love and of a sound mind.
We should never be afraid.
The only person we should ever fear is God.
He said, Fear not, then, which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.
But rather fear him, which is able to destroy both soul and body and health.
We should have no fear of anyone or anything but God.
Now fear in God is mentioned in the Bible scores of times.
Fear the Lord.
Fear God.
And sometimes people say, well, fear doesn't really mean fear.
Well, then why do you say fear and trembling?
That sounds like fear when you're trembling.
And so fear is something that should not characterize us unless it's only just fear
of God.
That means if you're walking down a dark alley at night, you should not be afraid.
If you are afraid, that's the flesh.
That's not God's spirit that's giving you fear.
We should not live in fear.
You should go to bed at night, even if you live in the worst part of town, and put your
head on the pillow and feel safe.
You know, have a gun by the bedside.
You know, hey, have one in the chamber, you know.
But what I'm saying is, don't live in fear.
There's nothing wrong with taking precautions.
All throughout the Bible you see precautions.
Look at the book of Nehemiah.
They're building a wall.
The wall was for defense.
They carried a weapon in one hand and the work instruments in the other hand.
And so there's nothing wrong with being prepared, being diligent, having a sword, you know,
being ready to fight if need be to defend yourself.
You don't want to just leave yourself exposed to attack, but at the same time you don't
want to live in fear.
You take the necessary precautions and then you lay your head on your pillow, you go to
bed, and you sleep peacefully because God is going to protect you.
That's the way it is.
But don't live in fear.
Fear is one of the most destructive feelings that you can ever have because of the fact
that it will paralyze you from doing what you need.
Fear stops people from going soul-lending.
They're afraid to do it.
Fear stops people from standing up for what's right because they don't want to tell somebody
no because they're afraid to tell somebody no.
They're afraid of that confrontation.
They're afraid to get up and preach, maybe, and God wants you to preach and you're afraid
to preach.
You're afraid to give the Gospel.
You're afraid to say no to people who are trying to force sin on you.
You've got to have courage and boldness if you're going to live the Christian life.
You must not live a life of fear but boldness.
And by the way, you say, well, Pastor Anderson, how do I get rid of my fear?
I want to be more bold.
Pray for boldness.
Paul is constantly asking people to pray for him.
He said, pray for me.
He said that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known
the mystery of the Gospel.
That was his prayer request.
And that ought to be our prayer request.
We ought to be praying, oh God, give me boldness.
And when you feel fear coming over you, let's say you're walking through that dark, shady
area at night.
I've been in situations like that where you're somewhere in the middle of the night, it's
a high crime area, whatever.
You feel the natural feeling of fear.
That's where you pray to God.
Or how about this, quote this scripture.
So many times I felt afraid in a certain situation.
I quoted this scripture and then I was no longer afraid because God's Word can give
you the boldness to stand up and do what you need to do.
Every human being will experience fear at some point.
I mean, David was a mighty man.
David was a very courageous man, and yet there are times in the book of Psalms where he talked
about that he was afraid, that he was in fear.
And so fear is going to come upon us because we're in the flesh.
We're not perfect.
We're not totally walking in the Spirit all the time.
That's where we need to get in the Spirit, quote this scripture, quote other scriptures,
and rely on God, remember that He's with us, and if He's with us, there's nothing to fear.
Some things will happen to us that are bad.
We may be beaten up or killed or imprisoned or whatever.
The Bible says in Revelation 2, 10, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer.
Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried, and you shall
have tribulation ten days.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Some people will be killed for the cause of Christ, but we shouldn't fear that because
if God allows it to happen, then it's part of His plan.
Remember in Revelation chapter 6, when the fifth seal was opened, he said, and when he
opened the fifth seal, he said, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain
for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not
judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of them, watch this, and it was said unto
them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and
their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled.
That tells me that God was allowing for the fact that others would be killed for the cause
of Christ.
Do you remember how it was said of Peter that this was the death by which he would glorify
God, was to die a martyr's death, was revealed to Peter.
And so there are going to be people who die for the cause of Christ, but it's not going
to be just an accident.
It wasn't going to be because they didn't have enough rounds, you know, or they didn't
have enough ammo, or they didn't head for the hills fast enough, or whatever.
It's not going to be an accident.
It's going to be because it's God's plan that some people be killed for the cause of Christ
and perhaps many people be killed for the cause of Christ.
That's why he said to those martyrs when the fifth seal was open, he said to rest yet for
a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren which should be killed
as they were, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
So that had to be fulfilled.
And so therefore bad things will happen to us.
Maybe a sickness that we have to go through, an injury that we have to go through, a car
accident, whatever.
Some of those things are our fault.
Some things God may bring upon us for His glory, for His reasons.
We don't know.
But we shouldn't fear it because if God's with us and it happens, then it's part of
God's plan.
Now, if we're walking outside of God's will, okay, and we're just doing everything wrong
and we're living in sin and then something bad happens, well, okay, that may not necessarily
have been God's plan, but you're not in God's plan.
That's why the Bible says we should walk in the light as He is in the light.
Then we know He's with us.
Then we know He abideth with us when we're in the light, okay, when we're doing the right
things.
Now, look if you would at verse number four where he finished and he said, Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with
me.
That's why we're not afraid.
It's because God's with us.
Here's another great scripture.
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about, then the fear here.
That's a great verse.
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about, then the fear here.
There are angels that will guard us and protect us also according to God's word.
Hebrews chapter one mentions the same thing.
So it says here, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews chapter number 12, keep your finger on Psalm 23, obviously we'll get back there,
but Hebrews chapter number 12, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Now the rod and the staff, of course, we know that the rod all throughout the book of Psalms,
the book of Proverbs, is referring to God's correction.
You know, you've heard the expression, spare the rod, spoil the child.
The rod and the staff are used for correction, discipline.
Look what he says in Hebrews chapter 12.
It says in verse number five, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto
his children.
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
it.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the Father chastened not?
But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and
not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit
that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous.
Nobody enjoys getting a spanking.
No child enjoys being spanked during the spanking.
No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous.
And when there's no chastening, when you get off the hook and don't get disciplined, when
you did something wrong and you don't get the spanking, in fact, that's joyous to you.
You're cool.
Great.
I got out of it.
But afterward that chastening, the Bible says, yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths
for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be
healed.
The Bible says there that although we don't like it when God chastens us, we should actually
be rejoicing in the fact that God loves us, that God cares enough to chase us and discipline
us.
It means that God wants to use us.
It means that we're his children.
Now I strongly believe what he says in Hebrews chapter 12 there, that if there's no chastening,
you're not saved.
I mean if you go out and commit all kinds of wicked sin and there's no chastening, he
said, if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and
not sons.
He said you're not sons.
So if you're not sons, obviously you're not saved is what he's saying.
Now a lot of unbelievers and ungodly people can do a lot of wrong things without getting
chastened because of the fact that they're not God's sons.
I mean I don't go over to my neighbor's house and discipline their children.
I see them doing something that I don't like and I just go over there, I just take my belt
off and just spank their children.
Now do you think that would go over?
Now maybe it wouldn't go over, but let's say it did go over.
I still wouldn't do it because it's not my responsibility.
I'm not in the business of correcting my neighbor's children.
Sometimes you might like to, but anyway the point is I'm not going to correct someone
else's children and God is not going to correct those who are not his children in many cases.
So there are ungodly, wicked, unsaved people who will do some really wicked and wrong things
and seemingly get away with it.
And God's not going to discipline them.
But they're going to get it in hell, which is far worse.
They're going to be punished for eternity in hell.
And so nobody's getting away with anything.
But when somebody can just do everything wrong and not be disciplined, they're not saved.
Now this is not something maybe for you to always look at someone else and make that
determination because he says it in the second person.
If ye be without chastisement, he's saying if you are without chastisement, then you're
bastards and not sons.
Now sometimes you can see a really obvious example.
You see somebody like Billy Graham, who basically preaches lies all the time.
He literally got up and said that hell is not really fire.
He said the fire represents a longing, a thirst for God that can't be quenched.
Now I know a lot of people who have no thirst for God.
Do you know people like that?
They're going to be burning in hell and they're not going to like it.
And they're not going to be crying about the fact that Jesus isn't there.
They're going to be crying about the fact that they're on fire.
That's what the Bible says.
They're going to be begging for a drop of water, not for somebody to read them a Bible
verse.
It's a literal hell, my friend.
Don't let people water it down for you and turn it into something that it's not.
It's a literal, fiery hell that the Bible teaches.
Billy Graham says it's not.
Billy Graham said the Pope and I agree on just about everything.
That's what he said.
And he was talking about Pope John Paul II.
Did you know that while Pope John Paul II was being inaugurated as Pope, Billy Graham
filled his pulpit in a Roman Catholic church and performed masks?
I mean, did you know that Billy Graham preaches for Mormons and Mormons?
He said, I feel just comfortable in a Mormon church, a Seventh-day Adventist church.
He said that many Muslims will be in heaven because they're following the light that they
have.
Now, here's somebody who's just a total false teacher.
You can go back to the 1940s and 50s and see that he was preaching another gospel, even
back then.
So don't tell me that back then he was preaching it right.
Yeah, he yelled a lot and beat the pulpit, but that doesn't make it right.
It's not yelling and beating a pulpit that makes hard preaching, and that means you're
right.
No.
You could whisper the right thing and you could beat the pulpit and scream the wrong
thing.
Oh, it used to be fundamental.
Look how he yelled.
He yelled the wrong stuff, okay?
And so don't let that determine what's good preaching.
Oh, man, if it's yelling, it was a great sermon.
That has nothing to do with it.
Now, I believe in yelling when you preach because that's what the Bible says.
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.
Jesus cried out when he preached, the Bible said.
Okay, John chapter 7 is a great example where he cried out in the temple and was preaching
with power and conviction because he was preaching with urgency.
But you see, Billy Graham, where's the chastisement of Billy Graham?
He lives in prosperity.
The world loves him, even though the Bible says, woe unto you when all men love you.
That's what they did with the false prophets.
Yeah, he's on TV.
He's on CBS, NBC, ABC, loved by the world.
People write to me all the time and say, I can't believe I saw you on the internet
preaching against Billy Graham.
They said, I'm not even a Christian and I love Billy Graham.
I'm an atheist, but I respect Billy Graham.
I'm thinking, yeah, you're proving my point.
I could literally show you emails of atheists defending Billy Graham to me.
That's a bad sign.
They're the ones to think.
I worship Satan and even I like Billy Graham.
Okay, well, maybe I'm right.
Listen to how modern Bibles, in their attempt to sanitize God's word,
how they preach this confusion back to Sunday night Steve.
Listen to this.
This is the NIV from Hebrews chapter 12.
Hey, do me a favor, brother Garrett.
Turn to Hebrews 12 in this piece of junk too, would you?
But anyway, in the NIV in Hebrews chapter 12, in their zeal to clean up the Bible for you,
because they don't want to bruise your eardrums with the word bastard,
because it said in the King James version, if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons.
Look what they did to clean this up for you,
because God got a little bit too strong in his language.
He says this in verse 8.
You're looking at the King James, Hebrews 12.8.
This is the NIV.
He said, if you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline,
then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Now, here's the problem with that.
God just said you're not sons.
So how are you children if you're not sons?
Stop and think about that, okay?
If you're God's children, but you're his illegitimate children,
that's not what the word bastard means, okay?
Because the thing is, bastard can have a couple different means.
It can either mean that the child is, yes, the child of his father,
okay, but with a different mother, okay?
Is everybody following me?
Or else it's the child of the mother and there's a different father involved, okay?
So basically, God is saying here you're bastards
in the fact that God is not your father at all.
You are not God's children.
So you're not God's illegitimate children that he had with another mother.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
It just creates confusion.
You're children, but not sons.
You're illegitimate children, but not sons.
Now, here's the sad part about this.
A friend of mine was sitting in an independent, fundamental,
King James only Baptist church and they read this passage.
And the pastor just substituted it.
He didn't pull out another version or anything.
He's just reading the King James, but he didn't want to offend anyone.
And so he actually substituted the word and he just said,
then are you illegitimate children and not sons?
Now, wait a minute.
How dare you?
How dare you stand behind the pulpit and change God's word?
Now, I'm sure you had all the right intentions, but that's not what matters.
You don't get up behind the pulpit and change what the Bible says
so you don't offend people.
What else are you going to change so you don't offend people?
I mean, stop and think about it.
Now, just because someone has decided to say that the word bastard is a quote, bad word.
What does that say about God?
So are we saying God used a bad word?
You know, every word of God is pure.
And so where did you learn that that was a bad word?
Did the Bible tell you that that was a bad word?
Because the Bible used that word.
So obviously God doesn't think it's a bad word or else he wouldn't have used it.
And so what we're doing is we're letting the world stand in judgment of God's word.
And then we're letting a pastor get up and stand in judgment of God's word.
I don't have the right to decide which part of the Bible is appropriate and which part is not.
I'm just told to preach the word, preach the whole counsel of God.
So I'm not going to get up here and judge God's word
and decide which part is right, which part is wrong, which part I need to change.
And in changing it, a lot of times we mess up the meaning, like in that case right there.
And so bastard is the correct word.
You say, well, that word makes people uncomfortable.
There's a lot of things in the Bible that make people uncomfortable.
Have you ever noticed that?
And it's amazing the kind of filth and smut that is talked about on the television.
I mean, just ungodly things, filthy things, abominable things.
I mean, things that I wouldn't even mention behind the pulpit, wouldn't even allude to.
But come on, the adultery, the people going to bed on the first date,
that's just openly displayed, that the dirty jokes about the bedroom,
that the smut, I mean, all kinds of filth and garbage that's on the radio,
all the women singing in their in their sensual bedroom voices on the radio,
singing in a seductive, ungodly way, talking about things that no business about,
not to mention the blasphemy against God's name, God's name taken in vain,
irreverent mentions of Jesus, the cross, the Bible, the blood, I mean, whatever you want.
But oh, oh, oh, bleep out the word bastard.
You see, you see how the world's a hypocrite, my friend.
They'll bleep out the word hell, they'll bleep out the word damn,
because they don't want to be reminded that they're going to be damned.
And then one day they're going to go to hell.
And so you say, oh, hell is a bad word.
I've literally seen somebody preaching the Bible and just say the word hell,
not even yelling or preaching about hell, but literally just said,
you know, those who are not saved will be in hell.
And I saw a teenage girl go, and she literally thought the pastor's using profanity.
Okay, the world is hypocritical.
And this is what happens when you let the world determine what's right and wrong for you.
You end up being a hypocrite, you end up changing God's word,
because Tipper Gore told you what's right and wrong,
instead of God telling you what's right and wrong.
And so you ought to let God determine what's right and wrong, not the world.
Not teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
And so the word bastard is fine and dandy because it's in the Bible.
And what do you got there?
What do you got there, Garrett?
If you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers,
then you are illegitimate and not saved.
Okay, so here they just did a partial from the NIV in the New King James.
He just said, you're illegitimate and not sons.
Now, let me ask you something.
Which one's easier to understand?
Illegitimate or bastard?
I think probably more people would probably connect, you know,
because that's one of the new cool buzzwords with churches.
You know, connect, connect with the message, relevant.
What do you connect with?
Illegitimate?
I mean, it's a big word.
Why are they using these big, hard to understand words?
I thought they were making it so easy for me, you know?
Anyway, back to Psalm 23, though.
God's discipline should be a comfort to us.
He said, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Okay, it's not joyous for the present, but at least it let David know that God's there.
Because he said, I'll fear no evil for thou art with me.
And then the sentence isn't even over.
Thou art with me.
He said, well, how do you know God's with you, David?
Hey, thy rod and thy staff is how I knew that God's with me.
Sometimes God's leading is not necessarily pleasant,
but at least we know God's there.
When we do something wrong and then something bad happens
as a result of the wrong thing that we did, we say, hey, God's with me.
All right, God's disciplining me.
God's chasing me.
See, whenever I spank my children, I'm always with them.
I don't spank them over the phone, right?
So that's one way to know you're with somebody.
When they're smiting you with the rod, you know they're with you.
So he said in verse five, thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
Now you didn't say you took away all my enemies.
You made me peaceful with every single human being in the world.
No, you're going to have enemies when you do what's right.
But God will protect you from those enemies
and will prepare you a table in the presence of your enemies.
He's not going to maybe deliver you from all your enemies
to where you no longer have enemies.
Now, if we had a raise of hand, you could probably say,
who here has enemies?
You know, I didn't say we're having to raise my hand.
But if we did have to raise it, everybody, who here has people hate your guts
and attack you and criticize you and say all manner of evil against you falsely,
of course you do.
You're a Christian.
You go to faith for a Baptist church, of course you do.
But anyway, the point is that you're going to have enemies.
Don't expect to have no enemies.
But hey, at least God will prepare you a table in the presence of your enemies.
And he said, thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
Basically, he's just saying that he has so many blessings.
His cup, you know, the cup isn't half empty, right?
You know, people say the cup is half empty if you're pessimistic
or the cup is half full if you're optimistic.
He said, my cup runneth over.
You know, he's saying my cup is gushing over.
He's like, I have so many blessings from God.
I almost feel like it's too much.
So what that tells me is that he's thankful.
He's not whining about the things he doesn't have.
He says, hey, the Lord's my shepherd.
I shall not want.
And he says, my cup runneth over.
Now, I wonder if some people say the same thing,
my cup runneth over, when they have less than you have.
They might have less than you and say, oh man, my cup runneth over.
I have more than heart could wish.
This is great.
Oh man, God is blessing me so much.
I don't even know what I've done to deserve the wonderful blessings I've been getting from God.
And I bet you that there's people who say that who have less than you,
who live less of the life that you live.
Think about that.
But it's all relative.
I mean, people in other countries, to them, you would be very wealthy.
You'd be a millionaire to them because they live in total poverty.
And so it's all relative.
It's all just whether you've learned in whatsoever state you are, they're with to be content.
And why don't you decide to say, hey, my cup runneth over.
And I guarantee you probably everybody in this room could probably truthfully say that
if you really sat down and thought about all the things that God has done for you.
Verse 6 says,
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
And I wonder if this last part has something to do with it.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
You see, God's house is the local church.
The Bible says that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
God's house is the church.
But then God also has turned back to Hebrews 12,
where we were just a little bit earlier.
We'll close with this.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
This is the last place we'll turn, Hebrews chapter 12.
You see, the church, according to 1 Timothy, is God's house,
where he said the church of the living God is the house of God.
But not only that, look down, if you would, in Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 22.
It says,
But ye are coming to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of judgment made perfect.
There's a church in heaven.
The church of the firstborn in heaven.
God's house is also in heaven.
The tabernacle in the Old Testament was God's house, not in the New Testament.
But in the Old Testament, there was a tabernacle made,
and that tabernacle was made exactly after the pattern showed to Moses in the mount,
according to Hebrews chapter 9 and 10.
That was a figure of the true tabernacle not made with hands in the heavens.
So God in heaven had a tabernacle that had the holiest of all and the holy place.
It had all the accoutrements, the candlestick, the table, the showbread, the ark of the covenant.
It was all in heaven.
And Moses was shown that pattern, and he was told,
see that thou make all things according to the pattern shown to thee in the mount.
And so when they made that original tabernacle,
they were following God's exact specification,
and there was an eyewitness, Moses, who'd been shown the pattern,
had been shown an image of what it was supposed to look like,
and the Bible says it was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these,
but the heavenly things themselves would better sacrifice these,
for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are the figures of the truth,
but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us.
And so we see that in heaven there's a tabernacle, God's house.
God was in, it's mentioned again in Revelation chapter 15,
the tabernacle of the temple of the testimony in heaven.
You know, say that five times fast.
It's mentioned in Revelation 15.
Now, the temple was not designed by God.
You know Solomon's temple?
That was not God's design.
Okay, God's design was the tabernacle.
Of course, David was the one that had it in his heart to build a house for God.
It was told him that his son would build the house,
and it was built by Solomon.
But it was not the pattern,
it was not the exact specifications laid out by God,
it was one that was designed by man.
But God's house in the Old Testament
was a physical house.
Sacrifices were offered and so forth.
Now we're in the New Testament.
The church, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Bible says.
And the church, the assembly of God's people, the congregation,
is the New Testament house of God in heaven.
In heaven, there's another house in heaven.
You know, we're going to be at church in heaven,
All throughout eternity.
I hope you like church.
Because we're going to be going to church.
It's not going to be over when we get to heaven.
There's going to be church in heaven.
Jesus is the pastor.
And it's going to be great.
We're going to be singing songs.
Gordon Bowery is singing songs.
I believe Jesus will be teaching us his word,
expounding it to us.
And so we're going to be in heaven in the church of the firstborn,
in the heavenly Jerusalem.
That's why David could say,
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Because he was going to spend his life in God's house,
which is what you ought to decide to do.
Spend your life in God's house.
Don't be here just for the short term,
but say, hey, I'm in church for life.
I will be in God's house forever.
I'm not going to turn 18, you know,
and all my parents aren't making me go to church.
I'm going to quit going to church.
Then, yeah, go and be a fool like everybody else
who doesn't go to church.
And go ahead and mess up your life like those who don't go to church.
You say, oh, is everybody who doesn't go to church a fool?
People who don't go to church,
they don't have God's word to guide them.
They will do foolish things.
Wisdom comes from God.
And the fear of the Lord is where wisdom comes from.
And if you don't fear God enough to keep his commandment,
not to forsake the assembly of yourself together,
then you don't fear God enough to have any wisdom.
And by the way, he that win the souls is wise,
and everybody I know who doesn't go to church doesn't go soul-witting either.
Or maybe they go soul-witting once in a blue.
Church is what motivates you and equips you
and sends you out to go soul-witting.
How shall they hear without a preacher, the Bible says.
How shall they preach, except they be sent.
You need a church to send you out to preach.
To send you out soul-witting.
I've known people who did go soul-witting.
They didn't have a good church to go to.
They went to a lantern.
But once they got in a good church,
it's amazing how their soul-witting quadrupled.
Once they had a church, sending them out.
You see, church is something that needs to be a part of your life
at every stage of your life.
As a child, as a teenager, as an adult,
as an old man, be in church.
Dwell in God's house forever
and let it just be a seamless transition
that when you breathe your last breath,
you don't even miss a Sunday.
You don't even miss a Wednesday night.
You die on Wednesday afternoon
and you're there for the evening service.
Yes, they have a Wednesday night church in heaven.
Yes!
I'm sure they do, I don't know.
I've had a revelation about this.
But anyway, dwell in God's house forever.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for
allowing us to be in your house, dear God,
and for being with us everywhere we go.
Even in the valley of the shadow of death,
we know you're there with us.
Thank you, dear God, for your guidance,
for leading us, for feeding us,
for providing for us, dear God.
You truly are,
you were the shepherd in the Old Testament,
you're the shepherd of the New Testament,
and so we thank you, Jesus,
for guiding us and leading us, dear God.
Thank you for this great passage in the Word of God.
Please help it to sink down into our ears,
and if we haven't already memorized it,
help those that are here to memorize this passage.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.