Series: The Sheep and the Shepard

Title: He Guards Me

Text: Psalm 23:4 (Psalm 23 KJV, all others NASB95, unless specified)

Psalm 23:4

I. The Reality of the Valley

i. Gen 15:12, “and behold, [p]terror and great darkness fell upon him.”

b. God is with you in the darkness as much as he is with you in the light.

i. Timothy 6:15-16. “...He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King

of [k]kings and Lord of [l]lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and

dwells in unapproachable light...”

ii. 1 Kings 8:12 (ESV) “The Lord[a] has said that he would dwell in thick

darkness.”

iii. Psalm 139:7, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from

Your presence?”

iv. Psalm 139:8, “If I ascend to heaven, You are there;”

v. Psalm 139:8, “If I make my bed in [f]Sheol, behold, You are there.”

vi. Psalm 139:9-10, “If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest

part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand

will lay hold of me.”

vii. Psalm 139:11-12, “If I say, 'Surely the darkness will [g]overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night,’ Even the darkness is not dark [h]to

You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to

You.”

viii. 2 Corinthians 5:19, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world

to Himself,

II. The Shepherd in the Valley

a. Mark 10:45

b. Hebrews 12:2 that says, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross”

c. 1 Cor 15:55

d. Quote, Matthew Henry says, ‘The shadow of a snake cannot bite you. The shadow

of a sword cannot kill you.’ And the shadow of death will not destroy you.”

III. The Sheep in the Valley

a. Ps 23:4, “...thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”