THE DAYS OF MY LIFE
PSALMS 23:6
David wrote this most famous of all of the Psalms. As you know, a Psalm is a song, and this song has topped the charts for over 2500 years. It is the best known Psalm, the best loved Psalm and the most quoted Psalm.
This whole psalm is a sermon that is evidently delivered by a very unusual preacher. It is a sermon delivered by a sheep.
There are some unusual preachers in the Bible. One time a rooster preached a sermon. He preached that sermon to Simon Peter. The Lord said, "You’ll deny me." Simon Peter said, "I won’t deny you." The Lord said, "Before the rooster crows three times you will
deny me." When the rooster crowed, that rooster preached a sermon to Simon Peter.
A donkey preached a sermon one time to a man named Baalam. The Lord opened the mouth of a donkey and that donkey preached a sermon to Baalam. To be honest with
you, I would rather hear a donkey than some liberal preachers I’ve heard preach along the way.
Here is a sermon that is preached by a sheep. I’m referring, of course, to David who had been the great shepherd king of the children of God. Now, he has placed himself in the role of a sheep.
David is a sheep. He belongs to the Lord. Now, he is coming to the conclusion of a year in the life of a happy sheep.
I-NOTICE THERE IS A STATEMENT OF CONFIDENCE:
Surely
He begins by saying, "Surely..." the word, surely, is a word of affirmation. It is an exclamation point. He is not saying-maybe. He is not saying-perhaps.
A-INVOLVED IN THIS SURETY IS A PAST LOOK:
As we look back over our all the days of our life, we can look at life as being something positive or as something negative. We can look back with regret or with rejoicing. It all depends on what we look at. There are those who see the glass half full and others who see it half empty.
Rhyme:
Two men looked through bars
One saw mud
The other saw stars.
Two men were traveling together on an airplane. One was taking a nap and the other was busy working on a crossword puzzle. He nudged his napping friend and asked, "What is a word with three letters, with the letter O in the middle, meaning, man’s best friend?" His friend mumbled, "Dog." But "dog" didn’t fit. He worked at the puzzle a little longer and then said, "The last letter is D." Even with the two letters OD in a three letter word describing man’s best friend, they never did think of the first letter as being G.
Well David knew God for he had experienced Him in his past life. He had experienced the mercy and goodness of God in his life.
When I say Union Springs Baptist Church has good cooks, I know because I have experienced their cooking and by the way I evidence it too.
David too had experienced and evidenced God in His past life, and this gave him confidence to live out his life in the Lord. . (WE CAN SAY DO IT AGAIN LORD)
B-INVOLVED IN THIS SURETY IS A PROSPECTIVE LOOK:
David is pointing toward the future. He is saying no matter what the problem might be, there is a promise to overcome it.
I read the story of a preacher’s mother who had died. As he opened her Bible, he found three things in the margin of Psalms 23; (1) the secret of a happy life (2) the secret of a happy death (3) the secret of a happy eternity-THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
II-NOTICE THERE IS A STATEMENT OF CONTINUATION
all the days of my life
All the days, not some, part of, or almost all, but all of my days.
A-THERE IS THE VARIETY OF THOSE DAYS:
The sheep went through some difficult days, and so will you and I. We can’t say what those day will bring.
(1)It Might Be Discouraging Days
Have you ever had those down days? The sheep did for sometimes it would cast, that is, it would roll over on it back and couldn’t get up until the Shepherd helped them back up
In this computer age, it’s easy to begin feeling like a number instead of a person. We are identified by our social security number rather than by our name Such impersonal methods may cause some people to feel a lack of significance. They may even conclude, "No one cares for me." But that’s not true. Jesus cares. In fact, He knows everyone by name.
We never need to feel disappointed like the young British student who thought the king had slighted her. When Edward VII, the King of England from 1901 to 1910, was visiting a city to lay the cornerstone for a new hospital, thousands of school children were present to greet him and to sing for him. Following the ceremony, the King walked past the excited youngsters. After he was gone, a teacher saw one of her students crying. She asked her, "Why are you crying? Did you not see the King?" "Yes," the young girl sobbed, "but the King did not see me." King Edward couldn’t have taken notice of each child in that throng. But we are never overlooked by Jesus, for He gives individual attention to every one of us.
(2)It Might Be Distressing Days
The sheep would get bugs in their nose and in their ears. They would bang their head against a tree trying to get them out.
Have you ever felt so distressed that you felt like banging you head against a wall or a tree?
It is those little things that bug us, that get us down. Such as car won’t crank, hung up in traffic, lawn mover wont crank, kids making a mess, wife late for Church, etc. We lose our patience sometimes.
But the shepherd would take care of the problems of the sheep by putting oil on the sheep.
The Lord takes care of us too, the oil of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the One who guides us in the right way.
Years ago I was stationed in Columbus, Ohio at Lockbourne Air Force Base. One weekend I thought I would get out into the countryside and look around. But I got lost. I pulled off the rood, and a man in a car pulled up and said where you trying to go? I said,
Back to Columbus. He shouted out, just follow me.
When we can’t find our way sometime, and we get stressed out, the Holy Spirit says follow me, I’ll guide you to the right way that leads to peace.
(3)It Might Be Dangerous Days:
It might have happen in the past or it may happen to you in the future, but many will have or will come close to death. When those days come, we need the help, the deliverance of the Lord.
Several years back I was coming back at night from the Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham, Al. I had gotten off the interstate and was on springcreek road when I met two cars coming at me. It looked like 8 headlights coming at me. What had happen was one was passing the other. I thought the death angel was coming, but God send his delivering angel and I didn’t’ hit the cars.
B-THERE IS THE VICTORY OF THOSE DAYS:
goodness and mercy shall follow me
Mercy for all my failures and goodness for all my needs-that is victory.
Everywhere President Bush goes he has bodies guards. They are in front of him and they are behind him.
Our Shepherd , the Lord Jesus loves His sheep and he has his two sheep dogs, goodness and mercy following us.
Paul Harvey told a story about a little three-year-old boy who was in the grocery store with his mother. He had said to her before she went in, “Mom, I want some chocolate chip cookies today.” He knew exactly where the aisle was. He knew where all those different kinds of cookies were, and his favorite kind were the chocolate chip ones. He wanted those chocolate chip cookies. His mother said, “Look, you’re not going to get any today, so don’t even ask.” Well, they went grocery shopping and they went down that aisle. He said, “Mom, I sure would like to have some chocolate chip cookies.” She said, “I told you not to even ask.” They continued to shop and they went down another aisle. They came back down the same snack aisle where the cookies were. He asked her again and she said no. He asked her another time and she said no. Finally, when they were in the checkout line, he stood up in the shopping cart and raises his voice and said, “Mom, in the name of Jesus, please give me some chocolate chip cookies.!” Do you know what Paul Harvey said happened? He said everybody in those busy checkout lines started laughing and applauding, and twenty-three people went and bought chocolate chip cookies and sent that kid home with twenty-three packages of chocolate chip cookies that day.
I believe in a God like this. He want to bless you.
III-NOTICE THERE IS A STATEMENT OF CONTENTMENT:
and
David now talks about his final destination and his contentment there.
A-WE SEE A PERSONAL CONTENTMENT:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
It is the end of the day, the sheep is back in the flock, he is back home with the Shepherd.
A little boy was asked one day if He knew where the Lord lived? He said, Yes! The Lord lives in our bathroom!" The Sunday School teacher said, "Whatever makes you think that?" The child responded, "Well, every Sunday morning I hear Daddy banging on the bathroom door and hollering, `Good Lord! Are you still in there?’"
The child was obviously confused about where the Lord lives. But you and I who know the Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, will go over the waters of death and live with Him in His Heavenly Home.
A little lady had walked with the lord for many, many years. She was a saint by every measure of the word. At last her body grew frail and her life was ebbing away. And she was on what many would call her death bed. And her loved ones were around her and they were wringing the hands and they were crying and they were weeping. And she looked up at them. She said, Now, go ahead and cry if you must; but, "she said, "don’t cry for me." She said, "I am tickled to death to die."
Why could she say that? Because she was getting ready to go to her glory land, the land of the unclouded sky, the land where her Lord lives.
B-WE SEE A PERMANENT CONTENTMENT:
for ever.
I read about a preacher who flies a lot. He said whenever he checked his baggage, he is asked many times, what is your final destination? He said, it rally shakes them up when he say, Heaven.
Praise God, we are not going for a few days, for a few weeks or months, not even a few years but forever. (Always disappointed as a child, the time would come, when I would have to leave my grandparents and go back to home)
The truth is, we all have final destination, and that destination is eternity. I don’t know what you can put before you “forever:. But your final destination is going to somewhere for a long time.
CONCLUSION-Peter McKenzie, the famous Methodist preacher, was being shown over Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks in London. Coming to one object, his guide said, “This is the chair in which Voltaire sat and wrote his atheistic blasphemies.” “Is that the chair?” asked Peter; and then, without seeking permission, he stepped over the cord, sat down on the chair, and sang as only a real believer could:
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Doth His successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
O child of God, one day, Jesus will reign completely and we will reign with Him too in Heaven.
Note-Sermon Ideas-Dr Jerry Vines
