Owned, Not Rented: The First Secret of Psalm 23

Sermon outline

The Lord is your shepherd and he owns you, so he carries the responsibility for you; say so in the language of faith every day, in every season, and you will not want.

1. Picture the Lord as your great shepherd: guide, protector and constant companion

   Psalm 23 is David's song of trust in an unfailing and good God. David pictured the Lord as his great shepherd, and believers should do the same. The figure of the shepherd shows three things: God is your guide in whatever job or business you are busy with, God is your protector whatever you face, and God is your constant companion who will never leave or forsake you.

   Illustration: Reading the King James Version he says 'my cup runs dry' to catch the church out, then tells everyone who talks that way to change their confession: the word says 'my cup runneth over'.

   “We should picture the Lord as our great shepherd.”

   • Psalm 23:1-6
   • Hebrews 13:5

2. With your mouth you confirm your salvation

   The heart is what connects you with the living God, and the mouth confirms it. Salvation, from the Greek word soteria, is all-encompassing: deliverance, preservation, blessing and financial provision as well as eternal life. It is not a once-off transaction but a daily lifestyle of confirming what God is doing and paving your future with your words. Religion puts you on a treadmill of trying to please God by doing, but it takes faith to please him.

   “So it is with your mouth you confirm your salvation. Your ongoing salvation.”

   • Romans 10:10
   • Romans 14:23
   • Hebrews 11:6

3. You were created to be filled with faith

   Faith is of central importance to solving life's problems, and we are the product of faith. When we block the flow of faith, spiritual and personal frustration follows, and the blockage enlarges every other problem because we keep talking about the problem until it grows. God does not want us passive. He wants us to address the mountain and tell it to go.

   Illustration: You look at a good Christian and wonder why he or she is going through so much. He says it is their mouth that has got them where they are.

   “They eat today what they have spoken yesterday.”

   • Proverbs 18:21
   • Mark 11:23

4. Faith is confidence in God, and it functions in three ways

   First, the knowledge of Jesus and of God's word forms the basis of our commitment to Christ, not stories, fables or cultural things; faith is the door by which we begin the Christian life. Second comes the faith of development: we move beyond human reasoning and feelings and learn to speak God's language, so that we agree with God and he can partner with us. Third, it is only through faith that you can receive miracles, at home, at work or at church.

   Illustration: He goes to church and gives his tithe because he is commanded to, not because he feels like it. And he has found that short, clear prayers get the same results as an hour of shouting until you are hoarse: God is an intelligent God who understands Afrikaans, English or Zulu, and moves on the authority of a few words.

   “It's not the amount of words you speak. It's the force behind those words.”

   • 1 Timothy 4:7
   • Amos 3:3
   • 2 Corinthians 5:7
   • James 5:16

5. Faith and language are closely linked: speak it every day

   Language is the channel of our thoughts and it shapes how we think, believe and behave. A person's words confirm the validity of their faith, so listen closely and you can tell faith from unbelief. A language must be spoken daily and practised sincerely, and this one releases God's power for miracles. Psalm 23 is one of the clearest examples of it, a language for normal times, for times of danger and for the sight of your enemies. He promises ten secrets from the psalm and says he will not finish them that day.

   “You must learn to speak the faith language every day in every situation of your life.”

   • Matthew 12:34

6. Secret number one: the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want

   This is the language of faith for normal times, when things are good. David was prophesying the coming of Jesus as the great shepherd of his people. He saw the redeeming good shepherd; the resurrected shepherd, alive at the right hand of God, touched by our weaknesses and interceding for us; and the returning shepherd who is coming for his church. Whether a believer steps out of this body or is caught up at his coming, the shepherd is with them.

   Illustration: He pictures Jesus the high priest pleading for his church: 'God, remember so and so. God, please have mercy on them.' Satan says no, Jesus says yes.

   “We don't have a shepherd that's stuck in a grave somewhere.”

   • Psalm 23:1
   • John 10:11
   • Romans 8:34
   • Hebrews 4:15
   • Psalm 115:5-7
   • Hebrews 13:5
   • 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
   • 1 Corinthians 15:52

7. There is power in the blood

   You belong to him, bought, redeemed and protected by the blood, and the blood has been sprinkled on you from head to toe. Believers too often concentrate on the tokoloshe and on who is doing what against them. Let people do what they want to do; it will not affect you, because there is a blood line around your house and your family.

   Illustration: When you were almost in a serious accident on the road, it was not an 'almost' and not a coincidence. He looks back over his own life and says that many times he could have died, and that it was not his smartness or his reflexes that saved him but the blood.

   “It's a blood line around your house. It's a blood line around your family.”

8. You have not been rented: God owns you

   The psalm is not a religious recital. David was saying that God owns him and therefore has to take care of him fully. Whoever owns something carries the full maintenance: the bond, the rates, the lights and every bill. So your enemies, your friends, your problems, the difficult family member and the children giving you an uphill are his, and even the church is his and not the pastor's. That is why Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow, and why there is no need to fear lack.

   Illustration: He had just rented a little car. He slammed the door, drove it hard and did not feel like washing it, because a rented car gives you no sense of ownership. With the car he pays for, nobody may slam the door, and he winces at every bad bump.

   “He owns you. You are not rented.”

   • 1 Corinthians 6:20
   • Ephesians 2:22
   • 1 Corinthians 3:9
   • Ephesians 2:10
   • Philippians 4:19
   • Matthew 6:25-34
   • Matthew 10:29