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PSALM 23:6
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"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever." (Psalms 23:6)
INTRO: The verse is address two truths. One, the assurance of God’s presence in the believers life. Second, the absolute assurance of heaven when our present life is over. Think of what blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46) saw when he received his sight! Think of the wonders of seeing for the first time a crowd of human beings just like himself, the walls and palm-tree groves of Jericho, the sky, so blue above him, and the hills of Moab in the distance. But that was not the first thing that he saw. The first thing that he saw was the face of Jesus, the face of the one who had healed him. And for you and me, too, that will be the greatest of all sights. When the child of God wakes after death, when we put off the image of the earthy and break the bonds of time and mortality, when the scales of time and sense have fallen from our eyes and the garment of corruption has been put off, when this mortality has been put on immortality and this corruption has put on incorruption, when we awaken in the everlasting morning, that will be the sight that will stir us and hold us. Oh, there will be many wonderful sights there—the sea of glass mingled with fire; the great white throne; the river of the water of life; and the tree of life, that yielded her fruit every season; and those marvelous twelve gates, every gate a pearl; and those marvelous foundations of the walls, garnished with all manner of precious stones; and the faces of the patriarchs and the prophets, the apostles and the martyrs; and the faces of those we have loved long since and lost awhile. But most wonderful of all will be that face into which Bartimaeus looked that morning outside the gate of Jericho, after his eyes had been opened—the face of him who loved us, suffered and died for our sins, redeeming us, having washed us in his own precious blood. It is clear that for most people eternity means nothing to them. That is why it is so hard to win people to the Lord today. They have no fear of God or of hell. Go to any funeral and listen to them proclaiming that person is better off because they are in heaven. It does not matter that they lived an ungodly life....they still get to go to heaven. It does not matter if they rejected God’s free of grace or refused to believe in Jesus Christ. It does not matter that they would not believe God’s word or even acknowledge His existence other than when they used His name as slang "Oh, my god" or in swearing. The only person who will have heaven when they die are those who by faith have believed Jesus Christ and have a relationship with God through His Son. Christians get the best of both their lives, now and in eternity. We have an abundance of blessings every day on the earth and we have the assurance that someday we will go to live with the Lord in heaven. This verse tells us about:
I. Psalm 23:6 addresses the two existences of the believer, who truly has believed in Jesus Christ and accepted His grace and mercy.
A. The first existence is our present one. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life"
David reassures himself of the provision and protection of the Great Shepherd when he confidently proclaims his belief that goodness and mercy shall always follow him. What is the basis for the confidence that sheep have in their shepherd?
B. They are confident and secure because:
1. The shepherd owns the sheep. Since he is the owner they can be confident he will care for them.
2. The shepherd loves his sheep. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love him, because he first loved us."
3. The shepherd always sees his sheep as a valuable possession. And our Lord sees people as being valuable enough to cause Him to sacrifice His own Son for us. 1 Peter 2:9 repeats the theme of the OT that we are a special people to the Lord. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people...."
4. The shepherd always gives his best for his sheep. And so it is with the Great Shepherd. His love for us is so great that we can be sure that we always receive His best.
5. The sheep are satisfied with the shepherd's care. Since he cares for their every need, they are satisfied. In the same way, God cares for us. We are satisfied knowing that He is watching over us. What do we know about the way the Lord cares for us? We know that his care is marked by a combination of goodness and mercy.
C. "Goodness" What is goodness? If you get a promotion on your job or you are able to accumulate many of the material things in life, perhaps you would say that goodness is following you. This is especially true when all around you there are people who don't have many of the things that you have. When your health is good and your family is secure you can say goodness is following you. If you are in school and you are making good grades and the course work is going well you can say goodness is following you.
But what if things are not going so well for you? If you lose your job, a member of your family gets ill, your spouse walks out, when bill collectors dog your every step, you flunk out of school; in any of these cases could you say that goodness is following you?
We are inclined to see goodness and "good luck" or "good fortune" as the same thing. Can we still say that goodness follows us even when things don't go well for us? Is material prosperity, physical health and a general state of happiness the measure of whether goodness is following us?
ILLUS: Through the centuries hundreds of thousands have lost their lives because they are Christians. Even at this very hour....in the middle East Muslims are murdering Christian men, women, and children because they will not deny Jesus Christ and covert to Islam. The actions of the Muslim show plainly the evil of their religon and that is totally of Satan.
However, do you think those who are being presecuted and murdered have biblical goodness in their lives?
There are two times when the Psalm can mean a great deal in the believer’s life.
One, just in every day normal living. Being assured of God’s guidance and sure promises.
Second in the times when this Psalm means so much to us is when our world seems to be crashing down around us. Can you say at such times that goodness is following you?
Even people with great faith have a natural tendency to ask "why" when things do not go well. Since before the time of Job, God's children have wondered why the righteous have to suffer.
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12)
Please note the verse qualifies persecution as coming to those who live godly lives.
"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;" (Philippians 1:29)
The first word of the verse is "for" which is a preposition and means "because." The phrase "it is given" in the Greek language means "to be granted a favor" or a gift from God.
But in spite of our own faltering faith, the goodness of the Lord still follows us. Believers are the children of God and heirs.
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:17-19)
Even when we are tempted to find our own way in life, the goodness of the Lord still follows us. His love for us never fluctuates. He loves us with supreme love and is good to us even when we don't recognize His goodness.
C. "Mercy" What is mercy? When we think of mercy as Christians, we often couple it with grace seeing it as two sides of the same coin. That is, grace is God giving us what we don't deserve and mercy is God withholding from us what we do deserve. In this verse, we realize that God's goodness and mercy are inseparable. When He shows His goodness to us, we also experience His mercy.
II. SECURITY IN HEAVEN
". . . and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever"
To dwell in the Lord's house means to be "at home" with the Lord. When we use the word "home," we may be referring to a place or perhaps even our house. But "home" is more than wood and brick. We are home when we are with the people we love. You can have an "at home" feeling anywhere you find a family atmosphere. Even if none of your relatives are present, you can have a family feeling and be "at home."
But it is also true that it is difficult to feel "at home" if you are not around people who care about you. It doesn't matter how beautiful your surrounding or how many possessions you may have, if there are not some people you call family or can love like family, you never really feel "at home."
As your pastor I try so hard to lead this congregation to become a closer family. Why can’t we all be loving and close to one another here....in our church? This church should reflect a little of what heaven will be like. It should be a place of refuse, comfort, and solace. But folks have to want it for it to exist.
1. In Heaven we will dwell in the presence of the Lord. David knew that "home" was where God was. He knew that he was in the presence of the Lord when he wrote this Psalm but he was looking forward to being in the physical presence of God in heaven.
When the Israelites were wandering through the wilderness, they carried with them a moveable house of worship. The Tabernacle was a tent. It was made from animal skins and other materials so that it could be easily moved when necessary. Inside the Tabernacle, the Israelites placed the Ark of the Covenant in a small room called the Holy of Holies. The Ark inside the Tabernacle symbolized the presence of God.
In the book of Revelation, John spoke of heaven as the "tabernacle of God." Revelation 21:3 says, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." He looked into heaven and said that heaven is the place where God dwells.
John used the same language as David in describing heaven. He said heaven is a home. John 14:2 says, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."
The KJV uses the word "mansion" to try and capture the beauty and majesty of heaven. But actually, John was saying that heaven is a great house with many, many rooms. I believe it is accurate to call our heavenly house a place filled with mansions. The many rooms in our heavenly house will surely be greater than an earthly mansion. And because God is there, it will be home to us.
2. The Lord Himself will care for us. When we are in His presence, we know that nothing can harm us. He is the Great Shepherd who watches over us. John 10:27-29 says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
3. We will stay with the Lord forever. As believers, we know that someday we will go to live with the Lord forever in heaven. Our time in heaven will never end. On earth, we measure time by hours and seconds. Longer periods of time are measured by days, weeks, months and years. We may talk about decades, centuries or even a millennium. But in heaven, time will not be measured by earthly terms. We will live in heaven forever.
CONCLUSION: All of the material possessions we have will someday be gone. Every human relationship must someday end. Our health will fail someday. But even when those things happen we can say with David, "goodness and mercy have followed me always." And when our time on this earth is over, we will be taken to a home much greater than anything we have experienced on the earth. We will go to live with the Lord in heaven forever.
Until then, are we seeking to be a comfort and help to each other in this church? Is this congregation important to you? One gets little out of something he puts little in.
Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Have you placed your faith in Him? Would you do that today? There is not a better time to give your heart to the Lord than now. Come to Him as we sing this invitation hymn....
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