At present we are looking at ways in which our Good Shepherd Lord Jesus Christ guides His sheep. So far we have seen that He our Lord God guides through circumstances, through other individuals, and through the group of believers with whom we have close Christian fellowship. God guides also through our own spiritually developed reason and discernment. Any scheme of guidance that neglects the mind is not helpful. God wants us to love Him with the whole of our being –including our mind/heart. Guidance will flow into our mental processes if we are inwardly honest with ourselves and accept all the facts, and He will enable us to think things through to the right conclusions without overriding our personalities. He guides, remember, not overrides. Another way God guides us is through the inner witness of His Spirit to our hearts. Some call it the ‘Inner Voice’. For instance, Peter heard it when the Spirit said to him, ‘Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them’ as seen in Acts 10:19-20. Sometimes we need a special word for a special situation. Then the Inner Voice speaks. And when God speaks, believe me, you will know it, for the message is self-authenticating. The fact that God is Jehovah Rohe –the Lord my Shepherd. This means that in the life of every one of us the Good Shepherd is guarding, guiding, and governing with the most tender and loving care. On their earthly pilgrimage God guides His sheep by suiting or tailoring His guidance to their individual need. Sometimes He guides us through circumstances. Perhaps a door opens before us unexpectedly, and as we walk through it we find that this has been God’s way of directing us, or He may close a door in front of us, and the closure of that door proves to be His preventative guidance against what otherwise would have been a disaster. But, remember, God shuts lesser doors so that He may open bigger ones. In all of these, sometimes we do not understand exactly what God is doing! Our Divine Shepherd guides us not only through circumstances but also through those with whom He brings us in contact. Finally, however, we must always remember that God’s chief way of directing us is through the Scriptures. In fact, all guidance, however it comes, must be checked against the Bible. Lord Jesus said, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures’ (Matt. 22:29). The way to keep from erring is to know the Scriptures. If you ever receive any ‘guidance’ that is contrary to the Scriptures then think again because God never guides in opposition to His Word. Sometimes you have got your wires crossed.

Now let us read Psalm 31:1-15; 1 In You, O Lord, do I put my trust and seek refuge; let me never be put to shame or [have my hope in You] disappointed; deliver me in Your righteousness! 2 Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily! Be my Rock of refuge, a strong Fortress to save me! 3 Yes, You are my Rock and my Fortress; therefore for Your name’s sake lead me and guide me. 4 Draw me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for You are my Strength and my Stronghold. 5 Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth and faithfulness. 6 [You and] I abhor those who pay regard to vain idols; but I trust in, rely on, and confidently lean on the Lord. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy and steadfast love, because You have seen my affliction, You have taken note of my life’s distresses, 8 And You have not given me into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a broad place. 9 Have mercy and be gracious unto me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; with grief my eye is weakened, also my inner self and my body. 10 For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing; my strength has failed because of my iniquity, and even my bones have wasted away. 11 To all my enemies I have become a reproach, but especially to my neighbors, and a dread to my acquaintances, who flee from me on the street. 12 I am forgotten like a dead man, and out of mind; like a broken vessel am I. 13 For I have heard the slander of many; terror is on every side! While they schemed together against me, they plotted to take my life. 14 But I trusted in, relied on, and was confident in You, O Lord; I said, You are my God. 15 My times are in Your hands; deliver me from the hands of my foes and those who pursue me and persecute me.

What is the main point of Psalm 31? Psalm 31 appears explicitly only one time, in Luke 23:46 when Lord Jesus quotes verse 5a at the highest moment of His need of You, saying: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” But the entire Psalm provides appropriate backdrop for Lord Jesus' passion. The Psalm is a prayer by one who suffers unjustly and in that suffering puts complete trust in God. So may the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts have a similar impact on us as we open our ears to hear the voice of God while His word is preached today in Psalm 31:1-15. Psalm 31 was written by King David during a difficult time in his life. The details are obscure but the difficulties are obvious. When you read the Psalm you see that David was in danger, he prayed for deliverance, trusted God for protection, and found courage through faith. In light of this Psalm, my message is simple: As you are born into the world, you go into a dangerous world; you go with a dependable God; go out with a durable faith and you will triumph by and by. First, be aware of this foundational fact: You go into a dangerous world. I hesitate to mention this because many of your family members are present and the last thing they want to hear from me or anyone else is any mention of the danger that awaits you in the world that surrounds you. I understand their feelings. Now all of that is true but it’s really nothing new. The world has been a dangerous place for a very long time. Illustration: A week ago the narrator was visiting with Lieutenant Commander Dan Hall. Dan is a bit of a genealogist and he told me a remarkable fact about his clan. Beginning with his 9th great grandfather who fought in King Philip’s War – a war between Native Americans and English colonists living in New England in the late 1600s – every generation of Halls has had a member fight in some sort of war or conflict. Including Lieutenant Commander Hall, who saw combat in Iraq if memory serves me, that’s 10 generations of fighting Halls! Maybe the world is a dangerous place because the fighting Halls are in it! But long before the fighting Halls, the world was still a dangerous place. We see this in the 31st Psalm which was written 3,000 years ago. Nearly every verse of the 31st Psalm alludes to some danger David faced. • In verse 1 there is need of refuge and deliverance. • In verse 2 there is need of rescue and salvation. • In verse 4 he mentions a net hidden to entrap him. • In verse 7 he mentions afflictions and adversities. • In verse 8 he mentions his enemies. • In verses 9-10 he mentions distress and grief, sorrow and sighing, failing strength and wasting health. • In verse 11 he speaks of scornful adversaries and neglectful neighbors. • In verse 13 he hears the whispering of many as they scheme against him and plot to take his life. • In verse 15 he alludes again to enemies and to persecutors. • In verse 18 he speaks of lying lips and insolent foes. • In verse 20 he speaks of human plots and contentious tongues. • In verse 21 he describes how he was beset as a city under siege. • And in verse 22 he speaks of conditions that caused him alarm. Yes, David lived in a dangerous world and so do we. But David served a dependable God and we do too because David’s God is our God and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Yes, you go into a dangerous world but you go with a dependable God. Eleven times in eight different verses, David paints a picture of God’s dependability. • In verses 2-3, God is described 4 times as a rock of refuge or a strong fortress –both of which are pictures of steadiness and reliability. • In verse 5 David speaks of God’s faithfulness. • In verses 7, 16, and 21, David speaks of God’s steadfast love – a dependable love that stands fast without moving or wavering. • In the 19th verse David mentions God’s abundant goodness. • And in the 20th verse David says God is a sheltering presence. One gets the sense from all of this that God can be counted on. Clearly, David was counting on God to see him through whatever danger or difficulty was driving him to his knees and pushing him to prayer. And like David, you can depend on God to see you through whatever danger or difficulty comes your way. You can depend on God for at least three things. You can depend on Him to shield you, lead you, and deliver you from evil. First, in many instances, God will shield you from dangers or difficulties. They may come close but they will not get you because you are hidden in the fortress of God’s protective care. In the words of verse 2, He will be a rock of refuge and a strong fortress to save you. Yes, in many instances, God will shield you from dangers or difficulties – they may come close but they will not touch you. Secondly, if God doesn’t shield you then He will lead you through dangers or difficulties. They may surround you on every hand but God will show you what to do and He will guide you safely through. In the words of verse 3, you will pray, “…lead me and guide me (O Lord), take me out of the net that is hidden for me.” And God will answer that prayer. He will lead you through dangers and difficulties until you are safe on the other side. And as a leader, you will lead others through them, too. Finally, in addition to shielding and leading, God will deliver you from dangers or difficulties. And He will deliver you in one of two ways. He will either take you out or take you up. In many instances, God will pluck you out of dangers or difficulties. When all seems lost, God will intervene to take you out and set you down in a better place. Your experience will be like David’s as described in verses 7-8 where David prayed to the Lord saying: “7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy and steadfast love, because You have seen my affliction, You have taken note of my life’s distresses, 8 And You have not given me into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a broad place. That will be your experience on many an occasion. God will pluck you out of dangers or difficulties. When all seems lost, He will intervene to take you out and set you down in a better place. But sometimes He won’t take you out; instead, He’ll take you up. Do the words of the 5th verse sound familiar? “5 Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth and faithfulness.” They should. They were uttered by Lord Jesus from the cross of crucifixion. Did the Father fail His Son when He refused to take Him out of harm’s way? No! He didn’t take Him out; instead He took Him up! He led Him through danger and took Him up through resurrection and ascension to sit beside Him on a throne in heaven. Just as Lord Jesus uttered those words, Stephen uttered similar words as he was being stoned by his enemies. Acts 7:59 says, “While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Moments prior, as an angry crowd surrounded and threatened him, Stephen, “gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55) Now the New Testament typically depicts Lord Jesus as sitting at the right hand of His Father in heaven. Why then was He standing as Stephen was about to be stoned? He was standing because He was preparing to snatch Stephen up! In John 14:1-3, Lord Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” As Stephen was about to be stoned, Lord Jesus stood to His feet to receive Stephen into His presence and to reward him with a mansion above. Did God let Stephen down? No! He took Stephen up! Children of God– Listen! You go into a dangerous world but you go with a dependable God. He is absolutely dependable. You can count on Him. He will shield you. He will lead you. He will deliver you in the end. He’ll take you out or He’ll take you up so long as you do what David did; so long as you do what Lord Jesus did; so long as you do what Stephen did; so long as you put your trust in Him! This brings me to my final point. As you Children of God receive your commission, you go into a dangerous world; you go with a dependable God; go out with a durable faith. A durable faith is a faith that endures. It’s a faith that clings to God no matter what. David had a durable faith. The 31st Psalm is a Psalm of faith. David’s faith is demonstrated throughout the Psalm. In the 1st verse he says, “1 In You, O Lord, do I put my trust and seek refuge; let me never be put to shame or [have my hope in You] disappointed; deliver me in Your righteousness! In the 3rd verse he says, “3 Yes, You are my Rock and my Fortress; therefore for Your name’s sake lead me and guide me.” In the 5th verse he says, “5 Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth and faithfulness.” In the 6th verse he says, “6 [You and] I abhor those who pay regard to vain idols; but I trust in, rely on, and confidently lean on the Lord.” In the 7th verse he says, “7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy and steadfast love, because You have seen my affliction, You have taken note of my life’s distresses,” In verses 14-15 he says, “14 But I trusted in, relied on, and was confident in You, O Lord; I said, You are my God. 15 My times are in Your hands; deliver me from the hands of my foes and those who pursue me and persecute me.” He said all of this despite the fact that he was in grave danger and passing through a terrible trial as is evidenced by verses 9-13 where he speaks of distress and grief, sorrow and sighing, failing strength and wasting health, scornful enemies, neglectful neighbors, whispering crowds and plotting foes! Yes, David had a durable faith – a faith that endured dangers and difficulties – a faith that clung to God through trials and troubles. As you go into a dangerous world with a dependable God, go out with a durable faith and you will triumph by and by. For the last two verses of this Psalm say, “Love the Lord, all you His saints. The Lord preserves the faithful…Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait (or hope, or trust) in the Lord.” One way or another, the Lord preserves the faithful. Strength and courage will be their lot. Let me close with a true story from a friend. Two years ago while I was deployed to Afghanistan, my plane stopped in Germany to take on fuel. Along with everyone else, I got off the plane and went into the terminal to wait while the aircraft was prepared for the second long leg of our journey. It was the middle of the night and aside from a small restaurant and a tiny gift shop, there was nothing to do but roam through the empty building. While doing so, I made a remarkable discovery. Back in a dark and secluded corner of the airport, I found a beautiful little chapel tucked away all by itself. When I entered it, I was amazed at how lovely it was. Its walls were covered with paintings of angels, and an icon of Christ hung above the altar. But it wasn’t just any old icon. It was the exact same icon that hung over the altar in the Naval Chaplains School where I was once stationed – an icon that always brought me comfort whenever I saw it. And as I sat in that little chapel, I realized that I had nothing to fear. Yes, I was going to war and I would be separated from my family for over a year, but I was surrounded by angels and accompanied by Christ. I knew I could depend on Him come what may. I trusted Him and it was enough for me. I left that little chapel with a calm assurance – an assurance that sustained me through the coming months – an assurance that never let me go – an assurance that brought me home. Strength and courage were my lot! In a few moments you will be afforded an opportunity to dedicate your commissions to God by signing the book of dedication. None are required to do so. But if you choose to sign it, may you do so as a demonstration of your sincere faith and your deep desire to cling to God as God Himself clings to you. I close with the words of the 31st Psalm: “Love the Lord, all you His saints. The Lord preserves the faithful…Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.” And all God’s people said – Amen!