to read one of the most familiar portions of the book of God. And I wonder if you know what it is. I learned this when I was a small child. And now that I'm older, it becomes increasingly precious to me. What do you think it is? Hmm? This might be a very hard song. That's what I want to speak about this morning. And I want to look at it in a very, very simple way. I don't think I have anything absolutely new to say about it, but I just want to go over the beautiful phrases of your kind in the song so that it may be an encouragement on a health truth in a Christian life. So shall we read the Pentecost Psalm? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He made it me to lie down and gain answers. He made it me to find that there was still water. He was sure of my soul. He leads me in the path of righteous man, for his name save. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil or dark with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Lord prepares the table before me in the presence of my enemy. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy. shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell on the heart of the Lord forever. And my God had his blessing with the public reading of his precious word. I don't think I need to tell you that there are quite a number of shepherd passages in the Bible. There are five of them in the Old Testament and five of them in the New. And it would be a very profitable study to look at the other shepherd passages in the Word of God. but I want to confine myself with this central one on the different classes that are in it. Over the years I've tried to collect some books and some expositions of the Twenty-Third Psalm. And I have at least about half a dozen, maybe more than that, expository messages on the Twenty-Third Psalm. The first one that I found was a man called, by a man called Alan Knight. And the type of a fifth exposition of the Twenty-Third Psalm was The Song of Assyrian Guest. I wonder if you've ever seen that book. It's a very, very precious exposition of the Twenty-Third Song. The Song of Assyrian Guest. Some years afterwards I found a book written by a Scottish evangelist called John McNeil. And he has what he calls the musical interpretation of the Twenty-Third Song. And he calls his exposition the seven strings. of David's heart. And he too was a very lovely exposition of it. And then there was a more deep and more theological exposition. And it was written by Dr. A.T. Pearson, the great Bible scholar. He called it the dispensational aspect of the twenty-third Psalm. And it takes certain causes that are ended and applies it in a dispensational way. For instance, the term, thou preparest A table before me is the presence of mine enemy. That is the table. The monarch has my head with oil. And he speaks about the sync of the Holy Spirit at Acts chapter two when the Holy Ghost comes to came down. And then might not run it over, he expounded that as the expression of worship and what it really gave. It's a very, very deep and also a very precious exposition of the sound. point recently there has been another beautiful book it's finally the song it was written by Philip Taylor he quite recently he's a modern quite recently he has written quite a number of books now the book of the twenty third song that he has written he calls it a shepherd looks at the twenty third song have you read that book well if you haven't I think you should It's a beautiful, beautiful exposition of the Psalm. Now this morning I want to look at it in a slightly different way. I want to suggest that in the Psalm David is speaking about himself. He's an old man. I don't think that any young man could have written a twenty-third Psalm. I believe that David is coming to the end of his life and is looking back at a number of episodes that took place in his life. and he puts it in its form in the twenty-third psalm. So I want to look at it in that way. And I want to look at the first two verses of the early part of his life. Notice what he says. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down and dream pastures. He leadeth me to the same in the still water. I would suggest that these first two verses in the psalm referred to David's early life when he was a shepherd. It would be interesting to go back over the Old Testament in the book of Samuel and see the different episodes that took place in David's early life. He was the youngest member of a family and he was given a very menial task and that was to take care of his father's sheep. But there's one thing that I'm quite convinced of in those early days possibly the first sixteen years of his life. I believe that it was at that time he came to know, experimentally, the good Shepherd. And that little personal pronoun that we find at the very first clause, in the sound, I think is very, very important. The Lord is my Shepherd. Not just a Shepherd or the Shepherd, but he is my Shepherd. Oh, I do hope that every one of us here this morning can use that little personal pronoun. It is very important. The Lord is my shepherd. You know, I believe that David had a personal experience while he was shepherding the sheep, when the Lord himself revealed himself to him as the good shepherd. And I believe that it was at that time that the Holy Spirit of God spoke to it, his heart, and he was able to say, The Lord is my shepherd. And I want to ask, personally, here this morning, are you able to use an expression like that? The Lord is my shepherd. Have you ever had that experience? It's a wonderful thing to have within early life. And if I were to ask those that have been brought to Christ in early life here this morning, if I've entered this way, then the eternity of our audience will say, yes, It was in my early life that I came to know the Lord. Every time I look at the cloth, I think something had happened in my native land. I was born in Ireland. And there was a man in Ireland many years ago that was an outstanding scholar. He graduated in Trinity College in Dublin. His name was John Nelson Barry. And that man, he became an outstanding creature. In the early part of his life, after he graduated from Trinity College, he became an Episcopalian churchman. And he preached in the lit church where I have been a number of times. It's not a very large church. It's hardly as big as this room in which we are, here this morning. But that was the place where he ministered. I went into that church the last time I was there. And right on the desk is a little brass plate. And on that brass plate that the words, serves, we would see Jesus. Now I wonder if it was Darby who put that there. I believe it was. Serves, we would see Jesus. But the story is told about him. He was while he was visiting among his parishioners of the clergyman. He came through a little hut at a roadside in that area in County Wicklow, in Parnell. And when he knocked the door of the week boy said, Come in. And when Mr. Darby went in, he found a boy lying on a very rough bed, covered with a blanket. And he could see that he was on the last stages after Berkeley lost. And he could see that the boy hadn't very long to live. Mr. Darby was a sympathetic man. And he sat down beside the boy and started to speak to him about the good shepherd, started to speak to him about the Lord. And the boy, he replied, he said, sir, he said, I don't know what you're talking about. He said, I have never seen a Bible. He said, I'm a Roman Catholic. He said, I have never cared what you're talking about. And Mr. Darby realized that the boy was, that he was dying, and they had to get into him with the gospel. He said, tell me, what is the reason that you're lying here on the verge of death? Well, sir, he said, you know, I'm a shepherd. And I said, I take care of my father's sheep. And I said, in the wintertime, When I was putting the sheep into the corral, where they were, he said, I found it because the lamb was missing. And it wasn't there. He said, I couldn't go to there. So I started off, trying to find it. It was the month of November, and he said, I spent the whole night going through the valleys and up over the mountain top, looking for that land. And I said, just as the sun was breaking, I found it, and I picked it up, and I brought it home. And I put it in the bowl. But he said, I caught a very bad cold, and it was developed into this. And he said, I know that I haven't long to live. And as the Derby got his view, and he read in that lovely story of Luke chapter fifteen, that the Lord spoke about the boot shepherd who went back after the sheep. And not only that, but he told him, how did he give his life for the sheep? And then he applied that to the boy. Oh, he said, lift your hand. Lift your left hand. He said, I want you to repeat these words after me. This Lord is my shepherd. He said, I want you to repeat that again. This Lord is my shepherd. I said, you grip my forefinger in your hand. And he repeated it to him. And again he told the story of a good shepherd on the sheep. And he said, that little word, my, is the important word. and just in the simplest of terms he'd given the Bible. Mr. Darby had a word of prayer, and they left and then home. And a couple of days later he came back, and he pointed with a hoss of mourning. There was a lady there taking care of the boy's body. He had died in the meantime. And Mr. Darby went in and asked her, just how she found him, when she came in. Well, she said there was something extraordinary about that boy. said, you know, I had known him for quite a long time, and it was a very sad, morose type of an individual. Such it did, when I went in and threw back the cover of it, I finally was gone, with a smile on his face. And he said, his right hand had firmly grasped the forefinger of his left hand. And Mr. Garvey said, do you know what that means? It means the Lord is my shepherd. And I went to the hope of that pure voice. before he passed in, to meet the Lord, that he had masked the meaning of that little personal pronoun, the Lord is my shepherd. Every time I look at that first verse, I always think of that experience that that dear man of God had. Later on, Mr. Darby became an outstanding servant of God when he was of the world and died when he was eighty-two years of age after a long life of ministry among the people of God. He has written quite a number of books. I have a complete copy of every book that Mr. Darby wrote. I don't agree with everything in his book, but I do believe that that man was one of the greatest outstanding expositors of the Word of God. So here in this verse, I believe it indicates that at the early part of David's life, He had that experience of being in contact with the good shepherd himself. I can use a personal pronoun, the Lord is my shepherd. He maketh me to my diamond green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. But in the historical apportion, the historical apportion of the Old Testament, he finds that David had certain experiences as a shepherd. Remember one time a lion and a bear. came along and tried to take a lamb part of the flock. Now David, he met that lion. And later he met the bear. And God helped us to overcome both a lion and a bear. You know, every time I look at this, this reminds me of a number of experiences that I have in my own life. In the forty years that we spent in Central Africa, We had many, many experiences from the lion. And I knocked off here this morning to start and tell lion story. I think that's something for young people, really other youth meeting. But we know a little bit about lions. And we have had a good many experiences with them. And I tell you, any man that's able to tackle a lion with a bare hand, I take off my hatchet. I have seen the lion jump on the back of a bull and steady himself. And with that pointy paw, take that paw and hit the bull on the side of the cheek and break its neck with one blow. It's one of the most powerful animals that there is in creation. I have seen the lion jump on a man and not on the back and put one paw between his shoulder and head and then the other paw just grasps them by the forehead and break its neck. That's the way he generally will kill a victim. So if you're a lion, if he's not hungry, he might even pass you by and not even turn his head over that. He knows he's a king. But I tell you, if he is looking for a lead, it's a good thing to have a high-farm rifle and to have a bullet in your rifle and your finger from the tiger come with a steady nerve. If you meet a lion, fish, the fish, the fish. Leave a pet in the middle. David, he encountered a lion, and the fish. Now, I've never met bears. If you look to Shenanah in the landscape, you'll find Kodiak bears. There's a friend of the sandal from behind legs, and I come to stand. Some of them are about twelve feet tall, and a big, big arm. And if a lion wants to attack a person, he does it in an entirely different way from a lion. He'll come with those arms out straight. And they'll come to you, and you think it's the most probable being that you've ever met. But it's exactly the same idea as the lion. He'll put his arms around her neck. And he'll squeeze you the neck. That's what a bear does. Now David met a lion and a bear. And my Bible tells me that the devil is a roaring lion walking about whom he shoved upon. And the lion is a picture of the devil, but the bear. is a picture of the word. The word, the flesh, and the devil are the enemies of young people today, as they were called the Shemongol. And that happened in his early days in the historical part of his life, as recorded in the word of God. And then he learned to play the harp. Our friends here have learned to play the mandolin. I love this kind of a mandolin. I've spent some years among Portuguese people, and they love They loved the mandolin. I loved a stintly song. So David loved to play the harp. I was at a wedding a little while ago, and there was a visitor playing a harp. And I sat with my wife open and listened to her playing that harp. So David, he became the sweet singer of Israel, and he learned to play the harp in those very days of his life. But the important thing is, David could say the Lord is my shepherd. and he had those experiences and the Lord trained him at the back side of the desert from the work that day ahead, I would say that that was the delightful time of his life. Oh, he had experiences of the grace of God and the preserving care of God in the early part of his life. The next verse, we find something different. He said, He was the steward of my soul. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness. or his namesake. I believe that this is an expression of David's sorrow. That's something that happened in his life. Now, if I was writing the life of David, there's something there that I would most believe of, that God doesn't leave out anything. One of the most prophetic statements in the whole of the word of God is this. David wholly followed the Lord itself. That little word accepts. He wholly follows the Lord except in the matter of Uriah and his life. You know that is a very, very sad statement in connection with David's life. I'm not going to go to the story. I feel too sorry and too sad to think of what happened in David's life. He wasn't a boy at this time. It was later on in his life. David had committed three sins. He broke three of God's commands. He broke the Sixth Commandment, he broke the Seventh Commandment, and he broke the Tenth Commandment. When he goes into detail about it himself, later in his confession, the first thing he did, he committed the sin of adultery. On the second thing he did, he was responsible for taking the life of the man whose home he had wrecked. On the third thing he did, he covered up what he had done. that the word of God is very same. That's what happens. David, he doesn't modify the law. He doesn't pollinate it. He goes into detail about the whole business himself. And it's one of the saddest stories in the whole of the word of God. I believe that this is what David is speaking about here. He is not, if I so. You know, a non-believer in this world can do these things and apparently get away with it. But for a believer, a person who is a real believer commits sin like this. God has to take a healing witness. And God sent him the prophet through David. And he told him the story of the little Hugh Lamb. And when David heard it, he said, the man that has done this shall surely die. Ah, he pronounced his own death sentence there. The man that has done this shall surely die. And then the Luke Adam. He says, David, you're the man. You're the man. And when David knew that his sin... had been conquered, and that a sin was known, he truly repented of what he had done. Now there are three songs that refer to that experience. The first one is the fifty-first song. And that is David's repentance when he sinned. The fifty-first song. And the second is the thirty-second song. That is his temptation after he had been forgiven. And the third sound is the one hundred and third sound. And I believe that David wrote that after that experience, on a show that he had been really restored through the Lord. So here we get the dark day in David's life. That dark, dark episode is a true place in his life. He doesn't tell the evidence at all. He confessed it. And God forgave him his pen. And this is what he says. He restores my soul. He made it. He leadeth me besides, he restores my soul. He leadeth me in the plant of righteousness for his name's sake. First of all, the delightful time in his life untangling the dark day in his life when he sinned against God and his sin was forgiven. Then the next experience. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. I rose on thy scent, they comfort me. Many, many times, I'm sitting beside the dying bed, when one of God's dear saints were going out into the presence of the Lord. It is then a joy that the sons would find them and hold their hands and breathe these heavenly words. Yea, though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for God but me. I rose on thy cross, they comfort me. And that, I believe, is a legitimate complication of the earth. And I believe it has a primary obligation. What David is speaking about here is the body of Eli. Another story about the giant. In first Samuel chapter sixteen, we get the whole story told there of how the giant Elias became the priming armies of Israel. David was sent by his father through the battle for Adel, who was mentioned for his brother. And when he got there, And he found that great braggard, and he was boasting of what he would do, and the people were running away, and they were counting for fear. David said, Is there not a man among you able to take on this man? He had never mentioned the lion on the bear. He was too late. But when he started to speak to him, he said, I met a lion on the bear, and the Lord preserved me. And he's able to preserve my life, and he's able to preserve me against this foolish mind. And when Saul heard that, he said, Now you come along here. And so David went along. And they put his armor upon him, an armor of Mabel, just like a soldier. And he said, Now you go and meet the lion. And David, he tried them. He said, I've never proved this. I've never proved this armor. And he took it off, and he laid it aside. And what he took was the equipment of a shepherd. The thing that he had proved was a sling and a stone. and he had the rod and the staff in his hands the equipment of a shepherd. And instead of going down to meet Goliath and the soldier, even down there of a shepherd, and he had the rod and the staff and his hand, and they were slinging a stone. This was a weapon that he had proven, again and again in a securely light. He takes the sling and puts a smooth stone in the sling, sling the rod of the head in that part. And the giant, he's got it right on the forehead. And he measured his life on the ground. And David went forward to him. On taking the giant's sword, he slashed off his head. And with that great big crippling head of the giant in his hand, he come up out of the valley of Elam. And the women started to say, Saul has slain his thousands, but David is ten thousands. That was a wonderful, wonderful victory. It's a wonderful picture of the cross of Christ. but this was at the Valley of Elah, and I personally believe that what he's speaking about here, I believe that it was this great victory that was given through him in the Valley of Elah. Many years ago in England there was a preacher, and I happened to know him in a later life, and his name was Robert Stratton. And he was preaching on David on the giant at a Gospel meeting. And there was a man sitting in the meeting with a rather sad face. And after the meeting was over, Mr. Scott went down to the back and shook hands with the people who were going out. And when he came to this man, he shook his hands. He said, Are you a Christian? Are you a believer? And the man said, You know, every time that question is asked me, I think of a little hint that I heard when I was young. The hint is, with all that hint, of dark. And then I remember the little hymn. So it was a hint of dark. And this is what I said. Now I want you to think of David coming up out of the valley of Elah through the head of the giant and his hand. So it is a thing I long to know. And often it is me anxious, though. Do I love the Lord or no? On my days I might not. That is a little hint that the man repeated. And this is what he said. You think of David coming out of the sight of the valley with that head in his hand? And this is what he said. That is a thing I long to know. And often it gives me anxious thought. Is this Goliath's head or no? Is he dead or is he not? And the long head looked at him. You heard what I was teaching about. The contrast of the giant. Now that little picture of Christ upon the cross. And the man said, I think I hit your point. I think I hit your point. So here we get David to the valley of Judah. And I think that this verse, which finds a wonderful deliverance that was given to him, this was the dangerous day in his life. First of all, the delightful day, and then the dark day, and here the dangerous day. So look at the next verse. Lord prepares the table before me in the presence of my enemies. And if you think after that episode in David's life, you remember Saul invited them to his home. He given his daughter Martha, that would be his wife, and he sent them on, on his table, on his son-in-law. Now David, unto the city there is a terrible thing to happen. You must know, he heard the song with the hymn of the Lord singing. Saul had slain his father and son David his father, and they began to think, is this one ten times better than me? on that evil, evil wicked thing, inmate, and jealousy, took hold of his heart. And one day while David was sitting in that table, Saul he takes out the jabber, and he tries to kill him. He tries to strike him in the jabber, and take his wife. I believe that that is what David is speaking about here. That prepares the table before me in the presence of my enemy. David knew what it was to suffer. on the count of that evil wicked thing, ending and jealous. You know, I believe that some of the worst crimes have ever have been committed, have been committed by that evil wicked thing. When David had a supper for her, he had to get up and flee, went to the Cape of Adama, and he became an outcast or a captive man, and he had to suffer some period on the count of end, and share it. you know, some nice features of strange experiences. In the local part of the country, I know the part of the world, I was having meetings. And I was having a week of meetings on the first of the time. And after the meeting was over, I went down to the door and I was shaking hands with the people and I was a young man. And I was shaking hands with him and he whispered in my ear, he said, Could you use a gun? You've been talking about a lot. And as far as firearms are concerned, it's just about the fruit that came on my mind. I said, can you use a gun? Well, I said, you don't advertise the fact that anybody that lives in the middle of Africa, you generally wear a gun. And if you're traveling, you generally have a rifle. If you're lying beside a fire in the middle of the forest, just for self-attention. So then he said, I have a sherry shawl over, and he said, if you can use it, you'll have them both. I went through the door. The next night he came to the meeting and was wearing a heavy order cloth, and I had a bulky pocket, and I put the pocket in the pocket he had something heavy on both ends. One of the shrieking hands was on the drawer. He pulled this thing, a paper flying out of his pocket, and they handed it to me. He said, there it is. And within that paper flying, There's a service revolver, a record you've been saying, on the ammunition, on the license, on the cleaning out the house. The whole work was in that paper box. And I tried to conceal it. I didn't want the little people in the meeting, well, that I had a revolver in my house. And when I got to the, that was a home word I was saying, and by the way, it was a fellow Irishman, and I took this, and surprised him, and I took this paper flying and stumbled it out on the table, and I could see his eyes opening. He says, where did you get that? And I told him. And I could see a child and look at that man's face. He said, do you know what happened in that car? He said, no. So I said, there are two boys in the home and both of them were in the forces during the war. And both of them had a service of honor, but they got home with them. And one of the boys got married and before that boy was able to find the home, he lived with his father and mother in the home and his wife was with it. So the mother-in-law, she became insanely jealous of that girl. And one morning while she was sitting at the table at her breakfast, the old lady went upstairs and you were with a gun. She aborted and came back, and while the girl was sitting at her breakfast, she parted with her head and pulled the trigger and shot her. I was shocked. I said, is that a gun that said that? Oh, no, he said. That the gun that said that was in the hands of the police. The other brother, the man that you met, that was his gun. And that was the reason he wanted to get rid of it, and that's the reason he didn't do it. You know what I heard of that. I have that gun for years. Many a time I kept it all to my fellow because I was sleeping. right in the bush at Antwerp, but Antwerp sang on with Paris, and I couldn't help but think of a horrible crime. I could wait the old day and wait and suggest that he insane, and she was put in the mental home for the rest of her life. But Genesis, I'm envious of him, he ended up. Agatella, whereas along that line, it was the man, my dear missionary, and indeed, a convoy of his name, William Cherry, He was one of the greatest missionaries that India has ever seen. He had a very modest upbringing in Nottingham, in England, but he gave his life to the Proclamation of the Gospel in India, and it was there for over forty years without a further, never did more, but spent his life there. But that man was a genius in language, and he did translation work, in all the different languages and dialects in India. And that was a record that never, never has been equal. He was an absolute genius in learning languages and in translation works. And on the end of his life, as a whole time he was sitting at the very small table where he had been invited through a banquet, and on the other side of the table there were the great great people in the land, and on the lovely officer, sitting on the opposite side of the table, And he reached across the table, he said, Mr. Perry, I understand that in your early life, you used to be a shoemaker. And the old man smiled. He said, oh, no. He said, not a shoemaker. He said, not to go great with that. He said, in my early life, he said, that's a problem. I've just accomplished it. But he said, I want to hear you. He said, that my business was a priest that I don't know, but I come on shoes that pay expenses. And he said, I'm not ashamed of that. But here was a man sitting in the presence of the first rye, and the one takes the dagger in the presence of other people. He goes to the bed here and there. England, shall I say, beloved, here this morning, never, never be guilty of that. Give it experience that how prepared the table before me in the presence of my enemy. And then the next one here is, how unlike with my head, with art. Do you ever notice three different times that David's head was anointed? It's a part of a coronation ceremony. And when Saul was dead, the next thing that Satan wanted God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse who anointed David. When David's head was anointed, thereby Samuel, that was the first time in the midst of his brethren in his father's home. But they were after Saul was dead. That heaven. When David was anointed as king over the royal tribe of Judah, he was anointed the second time. But then a third time, in Jerusalem, after he had brought all the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel together of the United Nations, he was anointed with oil. The third time. Now anointeth my head with oil. That's what this English man is like. Have you ever seen the coronation ceremony? When Queen Elizabeth was in England, when she was brought back from Africa where she was at the time, when her father died, she was brought back to her coronation of the Queen of England. It's a very moving ceremony. And among other things, before the cross, it says upon her head, the Archbishop of Canterbury, he takes off the oil and the water. And it is a part of the coronation ceremony. David had it three times. first in his own home, secondly, over the tribe of Judah, and thirdly, over the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel, and that's what he's speaking about here. So, and not just my head with God. One time in Africa we were having a Bible story. We had a lot of African men there. And the Bible says in the Lord, please come. And I was speaking about the Amount's head. And I did a statement that there were only three men in the Bible that had an Amount's head. There was a prophet from the priest when they came, and all three, so there were an underage of their office, and there were anointed to the Lord. So I'm going to put my head to God. Because when I'm sitting in the front seat of the King of Rungonga, I'm most intelligent after him. And he put it at his hand. He says, Henneth, there was another man that had an anointed head. And I said, Rungonga, you come up here and tell the name. He was the fourth time in the Bible, one of the hands of anointed head. I wonder if you could tell me of another man who will have a passion, the confidence of the priest and the king, with a sign of the murdered head? Does anybody tell me? Well, I'll tell you what goes on with that thing. Now, here was a friend of the Baptist. There was a separated commentary on his wife. And they looked at me with a physical look in his eye. He says, Ken, he says, have you never ever ever been to get to get there, King? Yes, I have. You must have been correct. Remember the doctor? When did The deed was discovered, diagnosed, and discovered. And then he was in, so he flew outside the camp. And I said, that's the Leviticus verse came. And the leper outside the camp, he said, did you never read the verse of Paul came? And I said, of course I did. I said, now is it? You just come right up here and tell the men what happened to the leviticus Paul came. And again, there was a loop in his eye on a smile. were pleaded to the vector on the left hand. First of all, three little words were taken alive and changed. One was held in the earth and vessel over-running water. We took another lovely picture of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, filled in the earth and vessel with that humanity from her Lord over-running water. And then we took a look at the words of the Shemai. the blood of the birth of the child, and put it in the wings of the other day of the earth, and let it fly open to heaven, with the blood upon its wings. He said, this is another lovely figure of the resurrection, on the essential of Christ the God-drightness, and that of course it is, on a beautiful day, because it was the first day, on all the seventh day that it was raised, and on all the hair came off its head, and then it was washed in the water. That happened in the seventh day. But on the eighth day, before he was brought into the camp, There was a multiple sanctified hour, and the Lord was placed on the sacrifice on his ear, his thumb, and the great soul of the right foot. And then the priest, after the priest, the Lord was placed upon the ear, and his thumb on the right, he said, isn't that redemption? He said, your ear, your mind is redeemed by the Lord, your hand, your work, redeemed by precious blood, your foot. Receive my precious blood, your walk. And he said the Holy Spirit, But then stood the corner on top of the beard, on the thumb, on the graceful of Christ God. On that was the day, on the morning of the Holy Spirit, on top of the blood. But then he said, The last thing that happened to the leper was, the rest of the Lord, he pulled into his left hand. And the anointed said, There are two men on the Bible, the son of the mother, and the leper, on the day of the same day, He was put for a long time upon him, the preaching of the king, the fourth man on the Bible, the tenth and the ninth on the head. Oh, this is a distinguished day from David's mind. So in notice on the head of the Bible, I come upon it over. I come upon it over. I read about David the second time of your chapter chapter. Going into the presence of the Lord, and God made a covenant with him. When he turned on me, and he said, Oh, Lord, God, I'm not looking at it. It seemed to me to read about that problem that he was living in the air. And I saw the speaker's little talk. And he went forward in and forward in and forward in. And then the cook ran home. And on that, the talk he said, Glory, O Lord God! I thought my nurse had mine in the air. I was here to see like that. You hear what you're saying about the Lord coming? You know, this morning as I was sitting here, I had a little time off, that I didn't know my heart at all. So the Lord just poured in. for them and for them. And then let it become a soul. So they continued to for them and had it over for them. And then I went to worship. So it was up to God. For upon which he has known for it, this is the devotional day in the day of the night. The oil in the temple is the distinguished day. But here it is the devotional day. And I thought they can. So it was at this time. And then I said, I want to go. He says here, Brootness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, and I will dwell on the heart of the Lord forever. And the motive of having an ambition in this life, and that ambition was to build a temple, to build the heart of the Lord. So all this military camped me in, the object that you have in this world, and all this treasure that has been accumulated, be one that builds the heart of the Lord. It is the final great ambition of this life. And again this friend... And it came through him. He said, David, you are the man of blood. Blood has saved your hand. You've been the man of war from your youth up. He said, you can't take it off. But he said, your son, son of man, you will have the privilege and the honor of those in life. Is that a discipline? A very, very kind discipline. Who can? But here on the end of this, I shall have it. And I hope it has longed forever. Oh, I can't build a hut down here, but I thank the Lord. I've got a hut up there, and I shall dwell in that month of the Lord forever. And then the feet do live alone. The goodness of the nation shall follow me all that lives in the world. Every time I look at these words, I think it's an experience that happens in the book. In the nineteen forty-five, on the border of the border in Europe. We were, the evening day, we were in Cape Town. I had a great learning problem in the garden home. When I was going to Cape Town and I was living for transport, it was the last year of the war. And there were thousands and thousands of refugees in Cape Town at that time. And all the transports that were in service were paying service on home. We had about five months. But through the court of day, some friends, we were able to get a package on a free transport bringing home four thousand five hundred men, which had been engaged in the war in North Africa, on day three and one of the Ethiopian other parts of Africa. And my wife and I, and our two children, were given a package on that free transport. But the Japanese war was too long. And there were Japanese submarines just outside the harbour of Cape Town, and they were waiting for transports from Amak. And there were just many, the procedure, and the two words, terrible words. We heard about that ship, and before we set up a fossil harbour, we received a ship that had been sunk, and I'm not shaking up the ship that was broken-tunk. We were set outside Cape Horn Harbour, and we were pulling up. The captain and the general captain of the ship came through the wind. There was a naval base there called Simon's Fan, and they saw two destroyers, two long, low shapes of war vessels, coming out of the naval base, and one two cup position on one side of the ship, and the other two cup position on the other side of the ship, and they were coming out in a dangerous area. There was a Perturb England clergyman, and they were standing looking over the rail, and I was standing beside him. And he turned around to me, and he said, I'd like to put a name on those wires. I said, what name would you put on us? He said, I want goodness. And I said, that one's mercy. Goodness and mercy. And we're going through those difficult, difficult, dangerous waters. We had goodness on the one side, and we had mercy on the other. And by the grace of God, in sixteen days we landed safely in Southampton. Oh, thy God, so they escorted me out. Goodness and mercy. And we can say it from the Son of our heart. goodness and mercy has followed us on the days of our life. We shall dwell, we shall dwell in the heart of the Lord forever. But there are seven days here, and I believe that David is speaking of seven episodes in this life, and including them down here in black and white. First of all, that day is a delightful day when he came to know the Lord, and then that dark day when he sinned against the Lord. And then the dangerous day, when the fight was jeopardized in meeting the triumph of life. And then the typical day when a man trying to take his wife on account of the elitist. And then the distinguished day when the oil was set upon a table, and it was made change. And then the devotional day, when they said, My cup run is over, and God made a covenant with them. And then here at the end, the discipline. The discipline. not able to build a temple. But I said, Oh, Lord, he said, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I believe that there's something like this. When we get to the just and see the Christ, and I look back at my little life, I can see different episodes that take place there. And I believe that when I arrive at the Lema, the just and see the Christ, the Lord will be able to show this, not the other one. On whatever substance of the Lord's honor and glory, Well, we receive our award of His gracious. We're not looking for the Lord. But what a joy it will be when earth is fast to go over these different episodes in our life and realize that God himself and the good shepherd of us taking care of them, the sermons, the sermons, and so that moment when we receive Him, says, just a little bit. Our Blessed Son and Father, we lift our hearts united into thee in the name of the Lord Jesus. And we do thank thee, our Father, for these beautiful portions of our Word. What a comfort they are to us. And we know our Father is just like snow on a fevered road through our hearts. And our Father, we thank thee for these beautiful words. And we do pray, our Father, that the episodes in David's life, some of them repeated in our own lives, And our poverty, thank you that at the end of the journey, we can say that goodness of mercy must follow this moment, is of enlightenment, and that we shall dwell in the heart of the Lord forever. Blessed, my dear people, here this morning we pray, each in the middle of that. As we answer in the name of the Lord Jesus.