He Promises

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. NKJV

He promises 3 things: Goodness, Mercy, and Eternal Life!

1. Goodness

Goodness is an attribute of God

Attributes are not things God does

They are things that God is

If being good is just something that God does

What if He has a bad day? And one is immutability

That means since God is good, He can never be bad!

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the best thing about Him,

Jack Nicklaus – Golf; LeBron James - Basketball

What He was famous for, He showed him His goodness!

Exodus 33:18–19

18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” NKJV

He had talked to the burning bush. He had seen the miracles.

He had been on the mountain.

But He wanted to know the greatest attribute of God

All of the other attributes magnify His goodness!

God is infinite. God is infinitely good.

There are no limits or boundaries and can’t be measured

His goodness: No limits, boundaries, and can’t be measured!

The sun is bright but not infinitely bright because it can be measured.

God’s goodness cannot be measured and has no limits.

God is infinitely good!

God is immutable. His goodness can never change or diminish.

God is Omnipotent. His goodness is not limited by His power.

God is omnipresent. His goodness is everywhere.

God is so good that He cannot be bad or even better.

God cannot get better or be “gooder!”

There is never a time when God isn’t good!

He never wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.

Don’t worry about finding Him in a bad mood.

Why were we created? Did we deserve to be created?

How can nothing deserve something?

How could we earn the right to be created before we even existed?

James 1:17–18

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. NKJV

Why were we created?

There is only one answer: God is good!

Why were we not destroyed after we sinned? God is good!

Why does God continue to forgive me?

When I commit the same sin over and over again

What was the one thing God looked for in everything He created?

The only thing that wasn’t good was for man to be alone

He was probably running with scissors!

When we fell from God's created goodness,

God sent Jesus so that we would not fall from his infinite goodness.

Sometimes we think that God’s attributes are warring against each other.

His goodness is warring with His justice.

Let’s hope His goodness wins.

We even make statements like, “His justice demands that He act!”

Nothing demands God to do anything.

God does because He is!

Satan’s number 1 battle plan is to get us

To doubt or disbelieve God’s goodness!

“If God is good, then how come all these bad things have happened?

We as imperfect, finite creatures are analyzing and judging

An perfect, all-knowing, all wise, and all loving, good God!

Amy Wilson Carmichael asked God to change her brown eyes to blue

She would not have been able to save the lives (Neuralgia)

Of thousands of young girls in India without brown eyes. 55 years

2. Mercy

If attributes are something that God has rather than who He is,

Then He might misplace them, lose them or use them up.

Justice is giving someone what he deserves.

Mercy is not giving someone what he deserves.

How can God be completely just and completely merciful?

If He is just with me, giving me what I deserve,

Then how can He be merciful and not give me what I deserve?

Was God just with me or merciful?

Maybe He’s more merciful than He is just!

The problem is that we don’t understand justice.

Psalm 101:1

I will sing of mercy and justice

Psalm 32:1

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Psalm 32:2

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity

The word impute means to deposit into one’s account

How can the Lord not impute iniquity to me and still be just?

Easy! Because He imputed my iniquity to Christ!

God has imputed the iniquity of the whole world to Christ!

Now it’s up to each individual to accept His free gift!

Lamentations 3:22 (ESV)

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

Lamentations 3:23 (ESV)

they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

His mercies are new every morning!

Grace saved me and mercy keeps me!

I need mercy today as much as I needed grace 41 years ago!

I’m Barabbas! He committed murder during a robbery

The guards come get his 2 accomplices (The 2 thieves)

And let Barabbas go free! I’m Barabbas! That’s mercy!

3. Eternal Life

Psalm 23:6

… and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

His doesn’t mean going to church on earth forever

That sign is for the men who died in the service

Was it the 9:00 service or the 11:00 service?

Remember the title of the message is “He Promises” There is a verse that says,

“This is the promise that He has promised us”

1 John 2:25

And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

He is going to protect and provide for us, and He promises eternal life!

Let me sum up Psalm 23: All this and I get to go to heaven too!

Green Pastures and Still Waters; Paths of Righteousness

A banquet in the presence of my enemies

Protection with His Rod and Staff

Anoints me! My cup runs over

Goodness and Mercy follows me all the days of my life

AND I get to go to heaven too!

I can’t make it on my own! I’m just a sheep!

But I don’t have to!

I have a Shepherd!

Remember, our Shepherd became a sheep!

He knows what it’s like to be a sheep!

Do you remember what happened to Him when He was a sheep?

Isaiah 53:7

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter

He was slaughtered, so you wouldn’t have to be slaughtered!

I can’t provide for myself, and I can’t protect myself!

But I have a Shepherd who has promised that He will!

Think about that Jesus came among us

Think about that on the day he was crucified

It was a cloudy and dark day

Mark 15:33

Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Ezekiel 34:12

As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.

Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life

Goodness and mercy shall follow me

Follow: To pursue, to chase, to run after with aggressive intent

Run after and tackle: 300-pound lineman chase down quarterbacks!

Deuteronomy 28:2

“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you”

The goodness and mercy of God has been chasing you your whole life!

God’s judgment isn’t chasing you!

His goodness is chasing you!

Those of you who are running from God

If you’ll just stop running

His mercy will tackle you, not His judgment!

You have a good shepherd who wants to provide for you,

And protect you, and promise you eternal life

Just receive Him and follow Him every day!

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