YOU CAN COME HOME

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
9 October 2005

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bible to Psalm 23

1. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3. he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4. Even 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 overflows.
6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

-- several years ago, heard a preacher talk about coming home after being gone for several years -- he lamented the fact that things had changed and all that he had remembered -- all the good things that he remembered about home -- were gone -- he summed up his experience by saying, "you can never go home again"
-- now, I understand what he meant in that sermon -- but I felt like jumping up and saying, "that's not right -- you can go home again -- no matter how far away you wander, you can always find your way back home"
-- that's the heart of the gospel message -- that's what we proclaim when we sing the great hymn, "Amazing Grace" -- "I once was lost, but now am found" -- you can always come home again

-- as I was preparing this message, I thought about the life of Franklin Graham -- if there ever was anyone who believed in the fact that you can always come home again, it was Franklin Graham -- we know Franklin as the fiery preacher following in the footsteps of his father, Billy Graham -- we know him as the president of Samaritan's Purse -- but, before all that, Franklin was a prodigal son
-- during his teenaged years, Franklin rebelled against church and against God and against his family -- in his book, "Rebel with a Cause," Franklin tells how he spent his teen years drinking and partying and wandering in far-away lands -- just like the son in the parable of the prodigal son
-- Franklin left home physically and spiritually because he resented his father's ministry and he felt like God had taken his father from him -- for years, Franklin wandered about far from home -- but finally, just like the prodigal son, he found himself hitting bottom -- he was in a hotel room and found a Bible and turned it to the gospel of John -- reading the good news that night at the age of 22, Franklin made a decision -- he turned around and headed home -- and he found that both God and his family were ready to take him back again - you can always come home again
-- while we don't usually think of it in this way, the 23rd Psalm is a message of hope for those who are wandering in far off lands and it is a message of hope for those who love them -- in this Psalm, God promises restoration to those who wander -- to those who turn from their ways and head back home to their God once again
-- let's take a few moments and look at this Psalm together and let's revisit the message in this familiar passage

II. The Lord is Our Shepherd
-- verse 1

1. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

-- in these first two verses, we are introduced to Yahweh Roeh -- Jehovah my Shepherd -- in this passage, David is representing the relationship between God and the nation of Israel to that of a shepherd and his sheep
-- now, we're pretty familiar with the concept of shepherds -- a shepherd is defined as a person who tends sheep -- someone who raises sheep and looks after them and keeps them from harm -- but the concept of shepherds in our day is entirely different from the concept of shepherds during the time this Psalm was written
-- during this period, shepherds weren't merely someone who looked after sheep and kept them from harm -- being a shepherd meant a lot more -- shepherds identified with their flock -- they lived with their flock -- they spent every moment of every day with their flock
-- for the shepherds in ancient Israel, their flock became their family -- and every individual was important -- the loss of a single sheep from the flock might be the difference between the shepherd making it through another year
-- in our day, sheep are kept in fenced pastures, and shepherds don't spend all day with them -- they just check on them throughout the day -- but, during the time when this Psalm was written, there were no fences to keep sheep in -- if you weren't careful, the sheep would just start feeding and wander away -- before long, they could get lost or get in danger -- either from physical hazards, such as rushing water or rocky slopes, or from predators who were seeking to eat them
-- so, the shepherds lived with the flock when they were moving around from feeding ground to feeding ground and they were responsible for taking care of them -- the sheep trusted that the shepherd would take care of all their needs -- giving them green pastures to eat in -- leading them beside still and quiet waters, where they could drink without worrying about predators sneaking up on them or about drowning in raging rivers
-- in the same way, David tells us here that God is our shepherd -- He takes care of us just like a shepherd takes care of a flock of sheep -- providing for our needs and protecting us and giving us the peace that comes from knowing that He is in charge and that nothing will happen to us without His knowledge

III. The Lost Sheep
-- if the shepherd noticed that one of the sheep was starting to feed off too far or was starting to wander away, then he would just speak up and the sheep would hear his voice and rejoin the flock -- as Jesus pointed out in John 10:27, His sheep hear His voice and follow Him
-- but, occasionally, sheep did wander away and get lost -- who knows why? -- maybe they just kept straying so far away that they couldn't hear the shepherd's voice and didn't notice they were separated from the flock -- maybe they just had a rebellious streak and chose to ignore the shepherd and wandered away on their own -- or maybe they just thought they knew better than the shepherd and thought that their path would lead to even greener pastures and even better places to drink
-- regardless, sheep sometimes strayed and wandered away and became lost -- when this happened, the shepherd would go and search for the lost sheep and try to bring it home again -- in Matthew 18:12, Jesus said, "If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?"
-- it is not the will of the shepherd that any of the sheep should be lost -- he goes out and tries to find the lost sheep -- he wanders through the wilderness and calls out to the wayward sheep -- in the same way, God calls out to us when we stray away from Him
-- through prevenient grace -- the grace that goes before us -- calling us to God -- wooing us back home with Him -- God calls to us
-- we typically think of prevenient grace as the grace that drew us to God before we were saved -- but prevenient grace doesn't stop at that point -- the Holy Spirit is constantly calling to us and keeping us from straying too far away from the flock -- and when we do stray too far away, it is the prevenient grace of God that calls out to us and knocks on the door of our heart and calls us home once again -- it was God's prevenient grace in that hotel room with Franklin Graham that led him back home after he had wandered away -- and it is God's prevenient grace that works in the lives of all of us who have slipped and wandered away
-- no matter how far we stray -- no matter how far we may wander away from God -- we can always come home again -- if we just respond to His voice and turn from our ways and turn back to Him, then He will gather us back into His flock once again

-- look at verse 3

3. he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

-- God restores my soul -- He brings me back to the place of righteousness -- the place of right relationship with Him -- to the safety and security of the flock -- He restores me when I wander
-- through prevenient grace He guides us back from the far off country -- from the wilderness of life -- and back onto the path of righteousness -- if we listen to His voice, He will lead us back home again
-- I was watching Survivor a couple of weeks ago, and I thought about this as I was watching one of the challenges -- everyone was blindfolded except one person, who called out directions to them during this challenge -- the only way they could find their way to him with all the things they needed to compete in the challenge was by listening for his voice and following his direction -- his voice guided them down the path they should follow
-- in the same way, the voice of our shepherd guides us down the path of righteousness if we will just listen and respond to his directions

-- verse 4

4. Even 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 overflows.

-- these verses speak of a person who is on the path of righteousness and headed back home -- they are walking through the valley of the shadow of death -- now, that's a curious phrase, isn't it? -- the valley of the shadow of death
-- note that death is not a threat to them -- the only thing in the valley is the shadow of death -- if you are a Christian -- if you have been saved by Christ and have responded to His call and have accepted Him as Lord and Savior, then death has no power over you -- the shadow of death will still fall over your life -- you will still die a physical death -- but, you won't fear death because you know that death is just the door to home -- to eternity with Christ -- in 1 Cor 15:55, Paul says, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
-- for a Christian, there is no fear of death or evil or the evil one, because Christ has overcome death and sin and Satan through the power of the cross -- note also that this verse says that we pass "through" the valley -- we're not called to stay in the valley but we are enroute to our heavenly home -- we are assured that we will go home because the shepherd is with us all the way

-- these verses go on to say that the Christian is comforted by the rod and the staff of Christ -- the rod alludes to the shepherd's crook -- the shepherd uses this to guide the sheep as they feed in green pastures -- as they pass by, he uses it to count them to make sure none are missing -- the rod is security for the sheep
-- some scholars suggest that the word "rod" in this context may refer directly to the word of God or the gospel message -- Solomon used the same word when he wrote, "spare the rod and spoil the child" -- in both instances, we could take this to mean that staying close to God's word -- living life in close proximity to the Word of God -- will keep us from wandering away and will restore us when we do stray
-- the staff refers to the protection of the shepherd -- the staff was used to fight off wild dogs and other predators that might harass the sheep -- if we remain in the protection of the good Shepherd, then we have nothing to fear, because His staff will keep us safe

-- verse 5

5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

-- here we see a picture of a sheep rescued from the wilderness and living under the protection of the Shepherd -- even though enemies may encamp all around us -- even though we may be walking through the valley of the shadow of death -- God is with us -- protecting us and providing for us
-- even here in this world, He prepare a table for us and anoints us with oil -- our cup overflows from His goodness and His mercy and His grace -- this overflowing cup points out to us that we have grace to offer to others -- we have more than enough for us and we need to share the good news of the gospel with those around us -- with other sheep who have wandered away and who need to find their way back home again

IV. Closing: Home at Last
-- verse 6

6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

-- and here we find ourselves back where we started -- God promises us that we will one day be at home with Him forever
-- if you come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior -- if you trust Him not only to save you but also to take care of you and to provide for all your needs -- then you will find yourself at home with Him in heaven
-- maybe some of you have strayed -- maybe some of you have wandered away from where you should be in your life with Christ -- maybe you've drifted far away and don't know if you can come back
-- His message in this Psalm is quite clear -- you can come home again -- His grace and His voice is calling out to you this morning -- and if you just reach out and take hold of His hand, He will lead you back down the paths of righteousness and back into His fold once again
-- if you hear His voice this morning, don't turn away from Him but come home
-- maybe God has been speaking to you in a different way -- maybe you know someone who has wandered and who is lost -- maybe God is calling for you to intercede for that person this morning -- maybe He is calling for you to go out and bring them back in -- to witness to them and share with them the good news of Christ, "you can always come home again"
-- regardless of what God is saying to you this morning, I would invite you to respond to His word as you feel led
-- let us pray