Psalm 23 Devotional:

GNV: 1 Because the Prophet had proved the great mercies of God at divers times, and in sundry manners, he gathereth a certain assurance, fully persuading himself that God will continue the very same goodness towards him forever.

A Psalm of David.

23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou dost anoint my head with oil; and my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

As we previously noted the covenantal nature of this Psalm and the restrictions placed on it by God Himself, as He also set a flaming sword to guard the garden of Eden, so that Adam would be barred from the tree of life, to humble him and cause him to remember his mortality apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, so we noted that this Psalm is utterly prohibited from heretics and nonbelievers and they cannot profit an ounce from it though they flock to it and imagine themselves safe because they delight in the bare words contained in it. God will not be mocked but requireth faith on our part before we are afforded the comforts of the Spirit, even as it is written, “in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” intimating that God must grant us faith before we have access into the comfort afforded by the word. The law must bruise and break us before we are enabled to take delight and comfort in the gospel. Even as it is written, “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” and again, “And [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” wherein we see the marvelous mercy and condescension of God in sending us Christ as a Mediator, Savior and Redeemer for us and the necessity of faith to the right receiving of comfort contained only in the gospel. Even as it is written, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Therefore in all of our love and devotion let us above all learn to reverence and fear God according to His great glory and power, for that He is a great King and worthy of it. As it is written, “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts” and again, “But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.” But we also ought to note the office and work of the shepherd which is to lead the people of God to green pastures and beside still waters. And this is done by faithful ministers when they administer comfort and consolation by the word of God, that is as shepherds under Christ through the skillful ministry of the word, grace is imparted and the sheep of the pasture learn of the many benefits promised to them by God through Christ, as it is written, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” and again, “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon” and thus being transported from this world, and lifting their eyes to heaven where our glorious Father dwelleth, and Christ dwelleth, the substance of our faith and hope, we are the more free from the cares and troubles of this world, and thus have immeasurable peace. And this is what is meant by the prophet who saith here, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” For it is not so much that we are always and immediately afforded these physical comforts (which doubtless encourage and refresh us), but even amidst fierce trial and affliction, yea even though we were cast into prison and delivered unto death, this word would speak invincible comfort to our souls, as it is written, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” wherein we see that even amidst these trials, having not yet been afforded the heavenly vision that awaiteth all the faithful in heaven, we might with all the faithful be led by the ministry of the word to comfortable pasture to rejoice in Jesus Christ made manifest to us and to patiently wait for His return. And therein we find rest for our souls. We should also briefly note the two-fold nature of this provision, for inasmuch as God provides meat for us by the word, “green pastures” that is good food for our souls, He also provides His Spirit without which we cannot profit in the word. And so when God sends His ministers to preach to the people for repentance and salvation, he sends also His Spirit of promise that they might not be dull and stupid before the word, but through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit might make diligent progress in the faith. For the Minister is nothing and can do nothing apart from the grace of God, and this is a remarkable instance of God’s providence, to send us ministers to lead us to the right understanding of the word, and His Spirit to effectually teach it to us. As it is written, “they shall all be taught by God” and again, “I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” And so the Lord’s supper containing bread and wine also signifies this very thing, even the necessary food we are benefited by and also the infinite and immeasurable pleasures at the right hand of God, the fulness of which we shall enjoy only with Christ in heaven. Therefore while on earth, let our appetites be moderate and let us hunger and thirst only for that heavenly water which never dries, but rises like a fountain unto eternal life, for the word of God is life, and blessed are all they who hear the word of God and keep it.

Henry,
The comforts of a living saint. God is his shepherd and his God–a God all-sufficient to all intents and purposes. David found him so, and so have we. See the happiness of the saints as the sheep of God’s pasture. (1.) They are well placed, well laid: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. We have the supports and comforts of this life from God’s good hand, our daily bread from him as our Father. The greatest abundance is but a dry pasture to a wicked man, who relishes that only in it which pleases the senses; but to a godly man, who tastes the goodness of God in all his enjoyments, and by faith relishes that, though he has but little of the world, it is a green pasture, Psalms 37:16; Proverbs 15:16, 17. God’s ordinances are the green pastures in which food is provided for all believers; the word of life is the nourishment of the new man. It is milk for babes, pasture for sheep, never barren, never eaten bare, never parched, but always a green pasture for faith to feed in. God makes his saints to lie down; he gives them quiet and contentment in their own minds, what ever their lot is; their souls dwell at ease in him, and that makes every pasture green. Are we blessed with the green pastures of the ordinances? Let us not think it enough to pass through them, but let us lie down in them, abide in them; this is my rest for ever. It is by a constancy of the means of grace that the soul is fed. (2.) They are well guided, well led. The shepherd of Israel guides Joseph like a flock; and every believer is under the same guidance: He leadeth me beside the still waters. Those that feed on God’s goodness must follow his direction; he leads them by his providence, by his word, by his Spirit, disposes of their affairs for the best, according to his counsel, disposes their affections and actions according to his command, directs their eye, their way, and their heart, into his love. The still waters by which he leads them yield them, not only a pleasant prospect, but many a cooling draught, many a reviving cordial, when they are thirsty and weary. God provides for his people not only food and rest, but refreshment also and pleasure. The consolations of God, the joys of the Holy Ghost, are these still waters, by which the saints are led, streams which flow from the fountain of living waters and make glad the city of our God. God leads his people, not to the standing waters which corrupt and gather filth, not to the troubled sea, nor to the rapid rolling floods, but to the silent purling waters; for the still but running waters agree best with those spirits that flow out towards God and yet do it silently.

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Therefore as our God and Father has blessed us with innumerable benefits in this life and given us joy and pleasure also, both in our temporal delights and especially in the gift of the Spirit, let us come before him as meek and quiet lambs, ready to feed in that pasture whereto he leads us and submit to Him as to our faithful shepherd and governor.

Opening Prayer.

Intro.
Calvin’s Institutes Book 4
CHAPTER 17
The Sacred Supper of Christ, and What It Brings to Us
(The Lord’s Supper, with the signs of bread and wine, provides spiritual food, 1-3)
1. Sign and Thing
God has received us, once for all, into his family, to hold us not only as servants but as sons. Thereafter, to fulfill the duties of a most excellent Father concerned for his offspring, he undertakes also to nourish us throughout the course of our life. And not content with this alone, he has willed, by giving his pledge, to assure us of this continuing liberality. To this end, therefore, he has, through the hand of his only-begotten Son, given to his church another sacrament, that is, a spiritual banquet, wherein Christ attests himself to be the life-giving bread, upon which our souls feed unto true and blessed immortality (John 6:51). The knowledge of this high mystery is very necessary, and in view of its very greatness, it demands a careful explanation. Furthermore, Satan, to deprive the church of this inestimable treasure, has long since spread clouds, and afterward, to obscure this light, has raised quarrels and conflicts to estrange the minds of simple folk from a taste for this sacred food. He has also tried the same trick in our own day. For these reasons, after summarizing the matter in a way intelligible to the unlearned, I shall resolve those difficulties with which Satan has tried to ensnare the world.
First, the signs are bread and wine, which represent for us the invisible food that we receive from the flesh and blood of Christ. For as in baptism, God, regenerating us, engrafts us into the society of his church and makes us his own by adoption, so, as we have said, he discharges the function of a provident householder in continually supplying to us the food to sustain and preserve us in that life into which he has begotten us by his Word.
Now, Christ is the only food of our soul, and therefore our Heavenly Father invites us to Christ, that, refreshed by partaking of him, we may repeatedly gather strength until we shall have reached heavenly immortality.
Since, however, this mystery of Christ’s secret union with the devout is by nature incomprehensible, he shows its figure and image in visible signs best adapted to our small capacity. Indeed, by giving guarantees and tokens, he makes it as certain for us as if we had seen it with our own eyes. For this very familiar comparison penetrates into even the dullest minds: just as bread and wine sustain physical life, so are souls fed by Christ. We now understand the purpose of this mystical blessing, namely, to confirm for us the fact that the Lord’s body was once for all so sacrificed for us that we may now feed upon it, and by feeding, feel in ourselves the working of that unique sacrifice; and that his blood was once so shed for us in order to be our perpetual drink. And so speak the words of the promise added there: “Take, this is my body which is given for you” (1 Corinthians 11:24; cf. Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19). We are therefore bidden to take and eat the body which was once for all offered for our salvation, in order that when we see ourselves made partakers in it, we may assuredly conclude that the power of his life-giving death will be efficacious in us. Hence, he also calls the cup “the covenant in his blood” (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25). For he, in some measure, renews, or rather continues, the covenant which he once for all ratified with his blood (as far as it pertains to the strengthening of our faith) whenever he proffers that sacred blood for us to taste.

2. Union with Christ as the Special Fruit of the Lord’s Supper
Godly souls can gather great assurance and delight from this Sacrament; in it, they have a witness of our growth into one body with Christ, such that whatever is his may be called ours. As a consequence, we may dare assure ourselves that eternal life, of which he is the heir, is ours; and that the Kingdom of Heaven, into which he has already entered, can no more be cut off from us than from him. Again, that we cannot be condemned for our sins, from whose guilt he has absolved us, since he willed to take them upon himself as if they were his own. This is the wonderful exchange which, out of his measureless benevolence, he has made with us: that, becoming Son of man with us, he has made us sons of God with him; that, by his descent to earth, he has prepared an ascent to heaven for us; that, by taking on our mortality, he has conferred his immortality upon us; that, accepting our weakness, he has strengthened us by his power; that, receiving our poverty unto himself, he has transferred his wealth to us; that, taking the weight of our iniquity upon himself (which oppressed us), he has clothed us with his righteousness.

39. The Lord’s Supper Cannot Exist Apart from the Word
This very well confirms what I have said elsewhere: that the right administering of the Sacrament cannot stand apart from the Word. For whatever benefit may come to us from the Supper requires the Word: whether we are to be confirmed in faith, exercised in confession, or aroused to duty, there is need of preaching. Therefore, nothing more preposterous could happen in the Supper than for it to be turned into a silent action, as has happened under the pope’s tyranny.

40. Of Unworthy Partaking of the Sacrament
We see that this sacred bread of the Lord’s Supper is spiritual food, as sweet and delicate as it is healthful for pious worshipers of God, who, in tasting it, feel that Christ is their life, whom it moves to thanksgiving, for whom it is an exhortation to mutual love among themselves. On the other hand, it is turned into a deadly poison for all those whose faith it does not nourish and strengthen, and whom it does not arouse to thanksgiving and to love. Physical food, when it comes into a stomach occupied by evil humors and is itself also vitiated and corrupted, harms rather than nourishes. So also this spiritual food, if it enters a soul corrupted by malice and wickedness, casts it down with greater ruin—not by the fault of the food itself, but because to polluted and unbelieving men nothing is clean (Titus 1:15), however much it otherwise be sanctified by the Lord’s blessing. “For,” as Paul says, “any who eat and drink unworthily are guilty of the Lord’s body and blood, and eat and drink judgment upon themselves, not discerning the body of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27 and 29, conflated). Men of this sort, who, without any spark of faith, without any zeal for love, rush like swine to take the Lord’s Supper, do not discern the Lord’s body. Insofar as they do not believe that that body is their life, so far do they dishonor it, robbing it of all its dignity; and finally, they profane and pollute it by so receiving it. And, since they are estranged from and out of accord with their brethren, and dare mix the sacred symbol of Christ’s body with their discords, it is not on their account that Christ’s body is not torn and dismembered. Therefore, they are deservedly held guilty of the Lord’s body and blood, which they so foully defile with sacrilegious impiety. Hence, by this unworthy eating, they bring condemnation upon themselves. For while they have no faith fixed upon Christ, yet, in receiving the Sacrament, they profess that their salvation is nowhere but in him and abjure all other assurance. Therefore, they are their own accusers; they bear witness against themselves and seal their own condemnation. Then, although they are divided and separated by hatred and ill will from their brethren—that is, from the members of Christ—and thus have no part in Christ, they still testify that this alone is salvation: to partake of Christ and be united with him.

On this account, Paul enjoins that a man examine himself before eating of this bread or drinking from this cup (1 Corinthians 11:28). By this (as I interpret it), he meant that each man descend into himself, and ponder with himself whether he rests with inward assurance of heart upon the salvation purchased by Christ; whether he acknowledges it by confession of mouth; then, whether he aspires to the imitation of Christ with the zeal of innocence and holiness; whether, after Christ’s example, he is prepared to give himself for his brethren and to communicate himself to those with whom he shares Christ in common; whether, as he is counted a member by Christ, he in turn so holds all his brethren as members of his body; whether he desires to cherish, protect, and help them as his own members. Not that these duties, both of faith and of love, can now be made perfect in us, but that we should endeavor and aspire with all our heart toward this end in order that we may day by day increase our faith once begun.

Reasons for the due and proper use of the supper.
1. They are authorized in the word of God. Commanded by Christ, do this.
2. They are a means of grace.
3. They depend not on the worthiness of the minister.
4. They are undoubtedly the outward signs of the church by which we distinguish ourselves from false religions.
5. By doing it we bring the work of Christ fresh into our minds. “in remembrance of me”
6. Jesus Christ is glorified in them.

Thomas Manton’s Epistle to the Christian Reader.
Lesson 32. A Pattern for Raising Children to the Glory of God.

The author having bewailed the great distractions, corruptions, and divisions that are in the Church, he thus represents the cause and cure: Among others, a principal cause of these mischiefs is the great and common neglect of the governors of families, in the discharge of that duty which they owe to God for the souls that are under their charge, especially in teaching them the doctrine of Christianity. Families are societies that must be sanctified to God as well as Churches; and the governors of them have as truly a charge of the souls that are therein, as pastors have of the Churches. But, alas, how little is this considered or regarded! But while negligent ministers are (deservedly) cast out of their places, the negligent masters of families take themselves to be almost blameless. They offer their children to God in baptism, and there they promise to teach them the doctrine of the gospel, and bring them up in the nurture of the Lord; but they easily promise, and easily break it; and educate their children for the world and the flesh, although they have renounced these, and dedicated them to God. This covenant-breaking with God, and betraying the souls of their children to the devil, must lie heavy on them here or hereafter. They beget children, and keep families, merely for the world and the flesh: but little consider what a charge is committed to them, and what it is to bring up a child for God, and govern a family as a sanctified society.

O how sweetly and successfully would the work of God go on, if we would but all join together in our several places to promote it! Men need not then run without sending to be preachers; but they might find that part of the work that belongeth to them to be enough for them, and to be the best that they can be employed in. Especially women should be careful of this duty; because as they are most about their children, and have early and frequent opportunities to instruct them, so this is the principal service they can do to God in this world, being restrained from more publick work. And doubtless many an excellent magistrate hath been sent into the Commonwealth, and many an excellent pastor into the Church, and many a precious saint to heaven, through the happy preparations of a holy education, perhaps 3 by a woman that thought herself useless and unserviceable to the Church. Would parents but begin betimes, and labour to affect the hearts of their children with the great matters of everlasting life, and to acquaint them with the substance of the doctrine of Christ, and, when they find in them the knowledge and love of Christ, would bring them then to the pastors of the Church to be tried, confirmed, and admitted to the further privileges of the Church, what happy, well-ordered Churches might we have! Then one pastor need not be put to do the work of two or three hundred or thousand governors of families, even to teach their children those principles which they should have taught them long before; nor should we be put to preach to so many miserable ignorant souls, that be not prepared by education to understand us; nor should we have need to shut out so many from holy communion upon the account of ignorance, that yet have not the grace to feel it and lament it, nor the wit and patience to wait in a learning state, till they are ready to be fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. But now they come to us with aged self-conceitedness, being past children, and yet worse than children still; having the ignorance of children, but being overgrown the teachableness of children; and think themselves wise, yea, wise enough to quarrel with the wisest of their teachers, because they have lived long enough to have been wise, and the evidence of their knowledge is their aged ignorance; and they are readier to flee in our faces for Church privileges, than to learn of us, and obey our instructions, till they are prepared for them, that they may do them good; like snappish curs, that will snap us by the fingers for their meat, and snatch it out of our hands; and not like children, that stay till we give it them. Parents have so used them to be unruly, that ministers have to deal but with too few but the unruly. And it is for want of this laying the foundation well at first, that professors themselves are so ignorant as most are, and that so many, especially of the younger sort, do swallow down almost any error that is offered them, and follow any sect of dividers that will entice them, so it be but done with earnestness and plausibility. For, alas! though by the grace of God their hearts may be changed in an hour, (whenever they understand but the essentials of the faith,) yet their understandings must have time and diligence to furnish them with such knowledge as must stablish them, and fortify them against deceits.

1. Thankfulness to God for the gift of salvation through the gospel.

2. Double thankfulness if our children are saved by it.

3. Watchfulness against error and superstition.
i. Errors of the church.
ii. Errors of the world.

4. Obedience to the word preached.
i. Believe the doctrine unto eternal life.
ii. Heed the warnings against sin, and pursue virtue and purity.

5. A Sound Education.
i. Theology.
ii. Church History.

6. A life full of reading, meditation and prayer.
i. What material is best suited for their current stage.
ii. Questions and conversations. “Understandest thou what thou readest?”
iii. Correction and admonition.
iv. Prayer unto God for blessing of the same.

7. A solemn warning to marry only in the faith, and raise up children who will follow this pattern.

Deut. 7:3-4, Ezra. 9-10, Neh. 13, 2 Cor. 6:14-18

Conclusion.

Closing Prayer.

YouTube Audio: https://youtu.be/kOYRuPFj5Zk