Simple Faith

Bill Henry: Coming up today on Simple Faith, we study Psalm 23. Do you believe this: that God is always with you, that Jesus will never leave or forsake you? Again, sometimes our mistake is we look at the circumstances. Well, if God loves me, how can He allow this? If God loves me, how can this happen? No, you know how we know God loves us? Because of the cross of Jesus Christ.

That does not change, guys and gals. So all the other things that come, God has allowed in our lives for a reason. We need to let Him use it to work it for our good and His glory, and we need to trust.

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, the senior pastor here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver. So glad you could join us today as we continue Pastor Bill's new series through the 23rd Psalm.

We are now in the midst of a study in verse four of this beautiful poem written by King David. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me." Let's face it, the world we live in today is full of evil and it's a great comfort to know that God is with us.

Let's also remember that He will never forsake us or leave us. A beautiful thought to remember as we study Psalm 23, verse four today on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry. Let's join Pastor Bill now.

Bill Henry: We must not get bogged down in the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes we like to stop and camp out there. We set up our camp. Some people build wooden houses and get in the shadow of death, and so through their whole life they're dwelling on their hurts, their pains, their trials, and their disappointments.

Because notice here in verse four again, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." It didn't say, "Yea, though I camp out. Let's just stay here for a while." No, dude, we need to go through it. Our Good Shepherd, notice, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Keep moving forward, beloved in Christ. Keep moving forward in Jesus.

I've met too many people over the years who say, "Oh, I don't go to church anymore because there's too many hypocrites." I always tell people, "Well, when you left, we lost another hypocrite." Because we're all hypocrites. I'll stand up here and say I'm the greatest hypocrite because I'm vocal about it.

But you see, guys and gals, they all of a sudden leave a church, and maybe sometimes you need to leave a church because of false teaching or different things. But a lot of times it's just because we haven't done what Jesus calls us to do biblically and go to someone and say, "Hey, you hurt me, you sinned against me. This is what God tells me to do." And even if they reject you, well then you come back, then you go to the leadership, and then if it's not taken care of, maybe then it's time to leave.

But don't get bogged down and stay in the valley of the shadow. Maybe you lost a loved one years ago. Maybe something happened. Maybe you were abused, maybe you got attacked, maybe something terrible happened. And again, do not hear that I am belittling any of these things. I've been through too much in my life to belittle anything that you've gone through or been through.

But what I am saying is this: our Good Shepherd wants to lead us through the valley of the shadow of death. If you're camped out there, if you need to repent of being camped out there, then repent. Come to the Lord and say, "Lord, forgive me. I've just been clinging on to this death for too long. I've been clinging on to this disappointment, I've been clinging on to this hurt or this sin that somebody sinned against me." And just bring it to the Lord and let Him heal you.

As we talked about earlier in this psalm, He's the one who restores our souls. He's the one that restores what the locusts have eaten. Man, I love that picture and it's the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, guys and gals, we don't get bogged down there, but instead we lift the flag of our God even higher and higher because I am not staying here. I am on my way to heaven.

You see, again, remember we are just passing through. We're basically passengers, if you will. I remember when I lived in Australia for six months. I loved it down there. One of the things I loved the most was the mass transit systems. You didn't have to own a car in Australia. You would take a bus, you would take a train, and it was just so awesome.

But I never got on a train and I never saw anybody ever setting up their house. I never saw somebody putting pictures on the window and covering up the back and putting their bed in this bus because they were only going to be on it for a half hour, or a train for maybe 20 minutes. The point is this: sometimes we get too settled in this world and think that this is all there is. This is nothing.

I remember another pastor did an illustration and he had this rope all along this wall, just hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of feet. And at the very tip of the one tip, there was this little red part and said, "This is your life compared to all the rest of eternity. This is your life on earth."

You see, beloved in Christ, we have a certain hope in Jesus Christ. We walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Go through it, don't stay there. Now notice though too, check it out where David says, "I will fear no evil for Thou art with me." Notice he goes from "the Lord is my shepherd" to now he's saying it directly to the Lord: "for You are with me."

"Thou art with me." He's now speaking directly in a personal manner to the Lord. Man, I won't fear any evil, Lord, because You are with me. "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." He's our Father, He's my Father, He's your Father. And in Jesus Christ now we have access that even David did not have.

So we can now come personally and say, "Lord, You are with me. You are my Good Shepherd, You are always with me and I will fear no evil because You are with me." Again, when our kids were young, it was like when Mom and Dad were with them, they were bulletproof. All of a sudden, because my kids always love to jump off things to Dad, and all of a sudden sometimes they'd be doing it without even looking.

All of a sudden I'm like, "Whoa, they're starting to jump off!" because they just thought Dad's going to catch me, it doesn't matter, jumping off the roof or this building. No, I'm just kidding. But they would jump off these things and all of a sudden you'd run over and make sure I'm there. Our Lord is always there. Even if we do do something stupid. I will fear no evil for Thou art with me, for You are with me.

Now notice next that this is a decision that David has made. Notice that he chose to fear no evil. And you know what, guys and gals, by the power of the Spirit of God we can choose the same thing. We can choose to fear no evil and again we're motivated by the fact that God is with us, our Good Shepherd.

I love this. And again, it's the decision. I choose to fear no evil because it's based upon a solid fact that the Lord is always with us. David found great comfort in knowing that his shepherd was always with him, especially by the way in the dark times, the black times.

But you know what, as Christians, I love this. Jesus said in Luke 13:15, it said Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." You hear that, Christian? Jesus says to you, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Or Matthew 28:20, Jesus our Good Shepherd said this: "Behold, I am with you always."

Turn with me, please, to Romans chapter eight, a very familiar scripture to us. Romans chapter eight, but man again, this is one of those scriptures that we need to be reminded of from time to time: who we are, who God is. Because a lot of times in this world, especially the hectic world we're living in today, especially as the darkness is just growing exponentially around us.

As again what I believe, we're living in these last days and Jesus Himself would happen. Just remember we are never alone. And I'm not talking about people around us even here this morning. I'm talking about our God is always with us. Romans 8:31 says, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." Verse 35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

As it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We should all be singing hallelujah right now! Now here's the question though: just glancing back at verse 38, are you persuaded of this? Paul's persuaded, David in our text this morning is persuaded, but are you and I persuaded that God is always with us? You know, I've been through some very dark times in my life.

I've lost a brother to murder three months before he was to be the co-best man in our wedding. I've lost my father to an illness. I've lost a best friend to cancer. I've been through a lot of different things. But I tell you what, guys and gals, the Lord never forsakes us. The key is to learn to lean hard into Him, to rely upon Him.

I remember years ago Jesse Ventura, when he was the governor of some state, I forget what state it was. But he was making fun of his wife because his wife basically said that she was a Christian and that Jesus was her crutch. And I heard another pastor say, "No, Jesus isn't my crutch. Dude, He's my full-on life support system."

And I say that unashamedly. You want to make fun of me for having a crutch, I don't care. Jesus is my all in all. Is He yours? Do you trust, do you believe His Word? David here chose to believe God's Word. Do we? Especially in dark times, do you believe this: that God is always with you, that Jesus will never leave or forsake you?

Again, sometimes our mistake is we look at the circumstances. Well, if God loves me, how can He allow this? If God loves me, how can this happen? No, you know how we know God loves us? Because of the cross of Jesus Christ. That does not change, guys and gals. So all the other things that come, God has allowed in our lives for a reason. We need to let Him use it to work it for our good and His glory, and we need to trust.

I remember an old friend of mine, Al, years ago before I was married and had kids. He was talking about how his son had broken his arm and he was only three or four years old. Brought him in, they're having to do all this stuff and help him, and then the doctor said, "Okay, Dad, I need you to hold him down while we reset his arm."

And as Al was holding his son down, his son just like, "Daddy, Daddy, help me! Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" and crying. And Al just said he started weeping because he knew what was best for his son. He knew that this pain was actually helping him, but his son wasn't old enough to understand that yet.

You see, guys and gals, when the Lord allows things into our lives, we may not ever understand them this side of glory. I'm not going to stand up here and pretend to. But I know Him in whom we have trusted. I know that my God loves me and I know that He will never leave nor forsake me. Do you believe this?

You see, if we do, there's actually an easy way to know if we really believe this or not. If and when bad things happen or are happening even now, are your hearts troubled? "I can't sleep at night, I'm so worried about this, I'm so afraid." Well, there you go, there's your answer: you're not resting in the Lord. You're not trusting that He is here and that He's at work and that He's going to use it for good.

Now again, notice how I didn't say you don't cry, because sometimes we'll still cry because it hurts. But again we come to the Lord for comfort and for strength, knowing that He will never ever leave us nor forsake us. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me." Stand upon that truth, cling to that truth.

Now notice it ends here in this psalm, "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." Now the shepherd back then and even some shepherds today in the Middle East or in Africa, they have two main tools of the trade. They have what's called a rod and a staff.

The rod was basically something you could actually read where a fellow had gone down and he was studying shepherds in Africa and was watching them. And he was noticing that these kids that were six, seven, eight years old, they were going out with Dad and they were picking out these saplings, a young tree.

And they would pull these out of the ground, they'd pick it, and then they would carve it up and basically Anyone ever seen a shillelagh, an Irish shillelagh with the big thing on the top almost? That's almost what it reminds you of, this rod. And so you'd have this big thing at the end and so basically the first thing that it was used for was to protect the sheep.

So in other words, you'd hit predators if they're coming. But what's also interesting is he noted that right away they didn't just use it as a club, but they would also use it to throw at things. And they would practice throwing and have these contests of throwing. So if an animal was coming up, they could throw their rod to protect the sheep.

If a sheep was going off, and this is secondly, it was also used against rebellious sheep. If a sheep starts going off the path, they would take the rod and throw it at the sheep and hit it and drive it back. Because you know what, guys and gals, sheep are stupid. Read about sheep; they are stupid.

There's records, I remember just a few years ago seeing a video. It was the saddest thing where all these sheep just kept going over this cliff. It was, I forget, 20 or 30 feet high, so the first ones that went, they all died. But then the pile got so high that the ones on top thankfully were at least surviving.

But they didn't even look. "Oh, they're going off the cliff! I'm going to go off the cliff. Let's go! You want to go off the cliff? Let's go! Let's go! What's going on down there?" They don't look, they just go. And to be honest, that's how most of us are here too. All of us.

We think, "Oh, this is good, I'm going to go do this. Lord, you're going to I know you don't think you're going to I'm just going to do it. Let's go!" But you see, we need to understand that sometimes the Lord will chastise us because He loves us. "No, Bill, you see, I tell you in My Word I don't want you going there."

So He uses the Word as a rod in a way to correct us. "Hey, I don't want you going that way. Remember I told you not to go there, Bill." Proverbs 3:11 says, "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent His rebuke because the Lord disciplines those whom He loves, as a father the son delights in."

You see, we're living in a culture that's basically what Isaiah wrote about: good is being called evil and evil is being called good. You hear the word discipline today, especially if it's parents disciplining their children, it's always an evil thing. And yet God says if it's done in the correct manner, by the way, not in an abusive manner, that it's a loving thing.

Hebrews chapter 12 reiterates this and goes even more in depth if you want to read about that. You see, guys and gals, God our Good Shepherd, part of the reason that David found comfort in Him is that He had this rod that would protect David. Because remember, our enemy goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

But we're protected by God and His rod. But He also loves us enough to say, "Hey, if you're going the wrong direction I'm going to correct you." "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." So there's the rod and then there was the staff. It's the thing that we think of with the shepherd's crook. Just a crook.

And the crook had a couple different ways that it would be used. First and foremost, it was used to help sheep. I was reading about this one sheep that was a young sheep and it was a pretty stupid sheep. And it had gone to this little kind of small cliff, a falloff if you will, and there's water.

But there was a little bit of grass and this young sheep decided it wanted that little grass on the side of that kind of falloff. And so it would go down and all of a sudden it fell into the water. The shepherd came and took his crook and took the sheep out, put him back on.

Guess where the sheep went exactly right after he got him? Went right back up there, went right back in, fell in the water three or four times. And the shepherd had to get him three or four times. But isn't that us with our sin, guys and gals? We just keep going right back, right back, right back. "I'm not going to" and then we just go back because we walk in the flesh instead of walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.

But remember the Lord is there to take you out. Another beautiful picture of the crook helping the sheep: it was a beautiful picture that one of these guys painted in this commentary as he used to be a shepherd. But it would be like if the sheep had had a baby sheep, if you will, and it started wandering off from its mom.

The shepherd couldn't grab it because if he did, it would a lot of times get the smell of the shepherd on him or her, and then the mama sheep wouldn't want anything to do with it. So the crook end of it, they actually have a way where they would go under and they'd pick up these baby sheep and gently bring them back to their mama without touching them.

And again, that's our Lord. And you could almost say that the rod represents the Word of God and then the crook represents the Spirit of God. Because remember, Jesus said, "I'm not going to leave you orphans. I'm going to send you My Spirit." Basically, "I'm sending to you the Comforter."

You see, God will always bring us back. He will bring His sheep back. Now the second thing that the shepherd would also do is He would defend the sheep with it. And there were other things that they would do with this crook. But it was an interesting thing and so bringing it back to us, I love the picture here.

Because guess what, guys and gals: once we've repented of our sins, been born again of the Spirit of God and are in Christ, we are now His sheep. Nothing can separate us. He defends us, He keeps us, He strengthens us, He brings us peace and restoration even in the midst of the darkest valleys of our lives.

Now to close, this may still lead us to death. I'm talking about physical death, even as God protects us. Remember, death is not a unique thing. It is common to all. But here's the key: to the Christian, we need not fear that valley, for the Lord is with us. We need not fear it.

I mean, think about it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we love to talk about that story, right? That these guys were thrown into this fire so hot, but all of a sudden they look in and there's Jesus in there, a likeness of an angel, as a fourth guy in there. They didn't die.

Even when they came out, their hair and their clothes didn't even smell of smoke. But guess what? They all died later on. We don't know when, but they all died. Peter, Paul, John, all in all, they all died. You see, in reality in Christ though, we have to understand this too: that we no longer die in a way. We just literally close our eyes and we blink and we're there, we're in heaven. Because Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me shall never die." So again, we don't even we just change addresses.

Guest (Male): This has been Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. It's our sincere hope and prayer that you've been blessed by the Word you heard from Pastor Bill today.

And if you'd like to share today's message with someone, it's available at our website to either watch or listen, and you can even download an audio MP3 version. We have a large number of Pastor Bill's messages archived and you can find them all at simplefaith.org. That's simplefaith.org. Click the media tab.

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And if you'd like to write to us, our mailing address is Post Office Box 55, Battle Ground, Washington, 98604. Here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel, we have two services on Sunday morning at 9:00 and 10:45, and a great time of study in God's Word Wednesday night at 7:00 PM. We'd love to have you come visit us and make sure you say hi to Pastor Bill and let him know you listen to Simple Faith.

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