do you see what Psalm 23 is? it is actually an exercise in faith. It’s an exercise in drawing to your mind all that is yours in the Lord Jesus Christ. All that is yours when you belong to Him. And that is why for thousands of years God’s people have found it so encouraging. This is what you do when you feel tired and and drained and flat. When you’re rundown and you need to be refreshed, what do you do? You call to mind all that is yours in the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. And Colin, so what is ours in Christ? Well, that’s going to take way longer than we have for this program to describe that. I think to all eternity we will be rejoicing in all that is ours in Christ. I mean there is no end to the answers to that question. But we’re looking at Psalm 23 today and Psalm 23 lays out five very wonderful things that belong to all who can say, the Lord is my shepherd. When Jesus Christ is your shepherd, you can be sure that he will lead you. He will restore you. He will guard you, he will feed you and he will love you forever. And these are five very wonderful things to be going on with and particularly today we’re going to look at the love of Christ. A love that will never let us go. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You know these are the wonderful gifts that belong to those who are wholely owned by the Good Shepherd. Owned by the Son of God, it’s the greatest thing in the world to be able to say, the Lord is my shepherd. So today we’re going to look at how he loves us so join us if you can in Psalm 23. As we begin our message, he loves me. Here’s Colin. The first aim of these weeks that we’ve spent in this wonderful psalm together has been to encourage, these are difficult days for all of us, many of us feel tired and jaded and discouraged and flat and some of us are anxious and fearful and even distressed at what the future might bring. So we came to some 23 in order to be refreshed and I have to tell you, I have loved meditating on this Psalm for these last weeks and I have been blessed to hear from a number of you that you have been helped by the Psalm also. Now I think that the first person ever to be helped by Psalm 23 was the person who wrote it, King David himself. Picture what it was like for David to write this Psalm under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This man was a man who knew trouble throughout his life. We don’t know when he wrote Psalm 23 but there was not a period of his life when he was not afflicted by trouble, aggravation from Saul, opposition from the Philistines, division in the nation, trouble in his own family, it went on and on not to mention the plagues of sin in his own heart. And at some point in his life, no doubt pondering the difficulties that he was facing at that time, David’s mind goes back to the early years where he was a shepherd of the sheep and, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, the very Word of God comes to him, the Lord is my shepherd. And he begins to think about what that means. You know, when I was a shepherd to my sheep, they never lacked anything, and God is a better shepherd than I ever was, and so the same will be true of me. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And as David continues to think about it, what it means for the Lord to be his shepherd, the word of the Lord continues to come to him. Here’s what it means. He leads me. He leads me into rest. He leads me into righteousness. It means he restores me. I know how much my heart wanders, how much my spirit falters. But the Lord brings me back. The Lord picks me up. The Lord will never let me go. And as he continues to think about his life, he recalls the dark valleys that he’s been through and no doubt there are other dark valleys that lie ahead. And he’s able to say, even when I walk through the darkest valley, my shepherd will be with me. And my shepherd sustains me. Now the Philistines hate me, trusted colleagues may betray me, members of my own family rise against me, but the Lord will always stand with me and he is the one who gives me strength. He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Now do you see that the whole of Psalm 23 is really a meditation on what the Lord does for His people? And David’s faith is strengthened in the course of this meditation. So that the first thing he says after the Lord is my shepherd is, I shall not want. And that’s great. But by the time he gets to the end of bringing to mind all that is his in and through the Lord, he’s able to say something even better. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So do you see what Psalm 23 is? It is actually an exercise in faith. It’s an exercise in drawing to your mind all that is yours in the Lord Jesus Christ. All that is yours when you belong to him, and that is why for thousands of years, God’s people have found it so encouraging. This is what you do when you feel tired and jaded and drained and flat, when you’re run down and you need to be refreshed. What do you do? You call to mind all that is yours in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what David does in Psalm 23. That is why it is so helpful for all of us today. Because as you call to mind what is yours in Christ, what the Shepherd does for you now and always, your faith will be strengthened. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his Holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits. Now today we’re looking at the last verse of this psalm. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now what this is telling us very simply is that when the Lord is your shepherd, his love surrounds you now and always. And the love of the Good Shepherd is a love that pursues, that is, it follows us, and it is a love that welcomes us into his own home. These two things today then—first a love that pursues. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. One of the joys of farming life, where I come from, are the dogs that chase after the sheep, most often border collies. A shepherd’s dog is always with him. And typically, a shepherd will have a number of border collies that will chase after the sheep. When the sheep are being gathered in from the hills for the winter, you’ll see that the collies will run in wide arcs over the mountain. I mean, these animals will run for miles. And as they run these arcs, they gradually move the sheep in the direction that the shepherd wants them to go. They chase the sheep and move them in a particular direction. It is a marvelous, marvelous thing to watch. And when the sheep are gathered, the shepherd’s going to be in front, and then the dogs are going to be coming behind the sheep kind of chasing up, as it were, the stragglers. The dogs keep the flock close to the shepherd. So, get that picture in your mind. The shepherd’s leading the sheep. The flock are being gathered. The dogs are arcing around the back, catching the stragglers and the strays, keeping them together, and pushing them on in following after the shepherd. And I give that picture to you because I’ve been so helped by it. Years ago, a Scottish pastor by the name of Douglas MacMillan quoted an old Scottish shepherd, who had preached on the last verse of Psalm 23. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow my all the days of my life. And this is what he said. The good shepherd has two sheepdogs. One is called goodness and the other is called mercy. I just love that. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Like two sheepdogs, God’s goodness. God’s mercy are always moving me closer to the good shepherd. It’s always how it is for a Christian. So, let’s take a look together at these two lovely sheepdogs. The first is called goodness. Surely goodness will follow me all the days of my life. Now there maybe someone here this morning who’ll say, well my life’s filled with all kinds of trouble and difficulty and you can list many, many things that are not as you would want them to be. Of course you can list many things that are not as you would want them to be. Sin has brought a devastating affect into this world. And things are not as they should be in this world, in our country, in our work, in our churches, in our homes, or even in our own hearts. But here’s the thing to take in. Whatever trouble is in your life that is good in your life too. And every good gift, James tells us, comes from above. Every perfect gift, everything that is good in your life, where did it come from? It came from the hand of your loving Heavenly Father. So thank him for it. Here’s the great difference in our world. Sinners blame God for everything and thank him for nothing. Believers thank God for everything and blame him for nothing. And goodness is God giving us what we don’t deserve. And if you belong to the Good Shepherd God’s goodness will always be chasing after you. We’ve got to pause a message right there. You’re listening to Open The Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message, He Loves Me. It’s part of the series, The Lord is my Shepherd, based on Psalm 23. And if you’ve missed any of the series or if you want to go back and listen again don’t forget you can always do that by coming online. Come to our website openthebible.org.uk. There you can listen to any of the messages which have already gone out on air. And now of course, you can also find us as a podcast, if that’s a better way for you to keep up with Pastor Colin’s messages. So you’ll find the podcast on your regular podcasting site. Just search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates. There’s also a link on our website, which will get you straight to the podcast. Also on our website and available as a podcast is Open the Bible Daily. And that’s a series of short 2-3 minute reflections, a new one posted every day, which will help you simply reflect on your daily journey with God. Open the Bible Daily is based on Pastor Colin Smith’s teaching and is read in the UK by Su McLeesh. You’ll find Open the Bible Daily on our website and also as a podcast. Just again, search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to Open the Bible Daily to receive regular updates. There are a great many resources on our website for you and one of them is Open the Bible Story. That’s a series of Bible Studies covering the whole Bible, which as Pastor Colin often says, is one story starting in a garden ending in a city and all the way through pointing to our Lord Jesus Christ. You’ll find Open the Bible Story on our website. Openthebible.org.uk Back to the message now, we’re in Psalm 23, here’s Colin. Second, mercy. Surely mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Goodness is God giving us what we don’t deserve, mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. And think about this, friends, don’t you thank God today that He chases after you in mercy and not in justice? I mean, if God were to chase after us in justice, we would all be in big trouble. We’ve all been, I think, moved by the terrifying images that we’ve seen of wild fires sweeping across mountains, destroying all that comes in their path out in California. Absolutely terrifying. A wildfire. I wonder, did you know that the Bible uses that as a picture to describe God’s judgment of the wicked? You’ll find it in Psalm 83 in verse 14, That’s how God’s judgment pursues the wicked. Like a wildfire sweeping over the mountain, consuming everything in its path. It’s what it’s like. So, thank God that He does not chase after you with the wildfire of His judgment, but in Christ He chases after you in mercy. Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and this is how the Good Shepherd keeps us close to himself. That’s, of course, the teaching of Romans chapter two in verse four. God’s kindness, another way of saying that would be His goodness and mercy, are meant to lead you to repentance. This is how God keeps us close to the Good Shepherd, it’s His goodness and His mercy that’s bringing us close to the Shepherd, and David’s in no doubt about this. He says surely, surely goodness and mercy will follow me. Of this you can be quite certain as a Christian believer, in Christ, God is not chasing after you in judgment and condemnation. He’s coming after you with goodness and with mercy. And if it were the case that God were chasing you with judgment, of course you would run away from Him. But why would anyone in their right mind run away from a God who chases after us in goodness and mercy? A love that pursues us, and David says, goodness and mercy will follow me, follow me. This is fascinating because at the beginning of the psalm, he spoken already about how the good shepherd leads me, he leads me besides still waters, he leads me in paths of righteousness for His own sake. So clearly the picture is that the shepherd is out in front of the sheep, he leads me. Now he’s saying that the shepherds goodness and mercy also follow me. So you see the significance of this, you put these together, in Christ you are encircled with His everlasting love. There’s an ancient Celtic hymn. Goes all the way back to the fifth century. Must be one of the older hymns that are still around today. The words are often attributed to St. Patrick and it begins with this line, I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity. And then there are these remarkable words that I remember singing as a boy, Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger. Now that captures what David is saying here, when the Lord is your shepherd, you are surrounded on all sides by the love of Christ. Behind me, before me, beside me, beneath me, above me. Brothers and sisters, nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And this will be true of you, all the days of your life. When you belong to the good shepherd, there will never be a day, never be a circumstance where this is not true of you. Jerry Bridges says this so well. Your worse days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace. All the days of my life. Now we need this right now because these are days in which we are anxious. We are anxious about our world. We’re anxious about our country. We’re anxious about our jobs. We’re anxious about our families. And we’re anxious about ourselves. And who knows what the future holds? Well, actually, you know what the future holds. You know. that every day of your life God’s goodness, God’s mercy will always be chasing after you. And this love that surrounds you and will always be with you is not only a love that pursues, it is a love that welcomes. What a verse this is. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and, as if that were not enough, and I shall dwell in the heart of God I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now these words can be understood in two ways. If you are using the ESV Bible that we use here in the church, you might see that there’s a footnote right at the end of the psalm at the end of verse six that says that the last phrase can be translated for length of days. I will dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days. You may recall that a little later in the psalm, Psalm 27, David says one thing I have asked of the Lord and this I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. What does he mean when he says that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life? Well he means this. That because of God’s goodness, because of God’s mercy, because he is my shepherd, because he leads me and restores me and guards me and sustains me, because of his great love for me, I will walk with him, I will love him, I will serve him, I will worship him. I will trust him every day of my life. And that, surely, is a fitting response to everything that we have seen in this Psalm. But I think that David is looking beyond the future days of his life in this world. I mean, he has already said, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And when he looks beyond the days of his life in this world, what does he see? He sees the joy of eternity in the immediate presence of the Lord. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What will it be like to dwell in the house of the Lord forever? That’s what we’ll look at in our next broadcast. So, I hope you’ll be able to join us for that. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message called He Loves Me. Part of our series, The Lord is my Shepard, based on Psalm 23. And if you’ve missed any of the series, don’t forget, you can go back online at our website, openthebible.org.uk. You can also find us as a podcast and you’ll find the podcasts on your regular podcasting site, search for Openthebible.uk and subscribe to receive regular updates. At Open the Bible, we welcome contact with our listeners. If you’ve been blessed by Pastor Colin Smith’s teaching and you’d like to reach out to us, there are several ways you can do that. You can write to us at Open The Bible PO Box 1420 Cheltenham GL50 9PG or you can phone us on 0330 335 8089 If we’re not available when you call leave a message for us and we’ll return your call. And you can find all those contact details on our website Open The Bible.org.uk Open The Bible depends on the generous support of our listeners and if supporting Open The Bible financially is something you’ve been thinking about we have an offer for you this month. If you’re able to set up a new donation to open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month or more we’d love to thank you by sending you a new devotional by pastor Colin Smith. It’s called Green Pastures, Still Waters and like today’s message it’s based on Psalm 23. Colin, why did you write this devotional? This goes back to the pandemic and in these dark days I guess along with every other pastor I was asking the question What will help and encourage God’s people to get through these difficult days? And I turned to Psalm 23 and just found such joy and help in mining the wonderful treasures that are in this marvellous and my colleague Tim Augustine has now arranged that material in the form of a 31 day devotional and I’m just delighted that we’re able to offer this Looking at the Lord Jesus Christ through Psalm 23 will bring strength and encouragement and peace and joy and to do that for 31 days to meditate on one of the best known and best love chapters in all of the Bible and to get our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ So if you need some encouragement Green Pastures Still Waters is going to be a great help to you Well, we’d love to send you a copy of Pastor Colin Smith’s devotional Green Pastures Still Waters all about Psalm 23 to say thank you if you’re able to set up a new regular donation to The Work of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month or more Full details on our website that’s www.openthebible.org.uk For Open the Bible and pastor Colin Smith I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll join us again next time When the Lord is your Shepherd His love welcomes you Find out more next time on Open the Bible