David says, You prepare a table before Me in the presence of My enemies. You anoint My head with oil. My cup overflows. Verse 5 of Psalm 23 serves as the text tonight. And we turn once again to Romans 8 in connection with this. We just read this portion of Romans 8 last week in connection with the intercession of Christ. This is one of those portions that can be read with regard to a number of sermons, obviously. And tonight, again, I want to read with you verses 31 through 39. The previous few verses are familiar and Paul has just been given what we call the beautiful golden chain of salvation, the order of salvation, as it were. And then in verse 31, the Word of God says, What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is He that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, Neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Again, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Dear people of God, not only does the presence of the good shepherd turn fear into comfort in the face of deadly dangers as David walks through the valley of the shadow of death. But the beauty of his confession, his earlier confession, that he shall not be in want. The beauty of that confession is seen in God's provision now as He provides in the very sight of those who would seek to take it away from the sheep. David, that foolish, ignorant, helpless, undeserving sheep, is now the special guest at the table of the heavenly host. He enjoys fellowship with and is blessed by communion with his shepherd. And his shepherd exalts David with his blessing before the very eyes of his enemies. I preach to you tonight, loving provision demonstrates the good shepherd's tender care. We notice the generous feast, the symbol of honor, and the confession of bounty. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, David says. That fear turned to comfort in the shadow of death among deadly dangers, that fear turned to comfort finds itself now seated at the table of peace. And it's there that he enjoys the generous feast. You see, beloved, it's not just any old kitchen table that David is talking about. He's talking about a special table prepared in a special way for a feast. We might say, figuratively speaking, the best china, the best silver, the best crystal are used, and the table is filled with good things. David is talking about the king's table. Imagine the king's table where only the king entertains his special guests, and on the king's table. You can be sure that everything will be right. The Lord Himself prepares this table for David. Our shepherd pastor friend, Philip Keller, speaks of the summer grazing spots that we talked about before. Those summer grazing spots that we said are located on the mountaintops. But these mountaintops were not sharp, jagged peaks, you see, but flat-topped plateaus or mesas that were like tables. And in the spring, the shepherd would go by himself to prepare these grazing plateaus for the sheep. And painstakingly, he would remove the physical hazards. He would destroy the poisonous plants. He would drive the predators away. He would work hard to make it safe and comfortable for the sheep. He would seek to provide the best, the safest, and the most bountiful table for his sheep. Dining around a table with a feast before you is a symbol of peace. Not many of us, I suspect, can eat if there is a lack of peace. And that's what David had the comfort of the Lord providing for him. Now, he's not necessarily talking about a Thanksgiving Day table physically placed before him day by day. He's not necessarily talking about a physical table. As we'll see in a moment, it includes our physical blessings. But David is talking about the believer's table, as it were, of good things. The Lord prepares His table before His people and spreads that table with His covenant mercies. And believers, as it were, dine at the Lord's table with a generous feast of spiritual blessings before them. The Lord prepares His table before His redeemed children that they might be satisfied with the good things of His hand. Now, to be sure, again, this includes temporal and earthly blessings. It includes our daily bread. David knew this very vividly. In 2 Samuel 17, we read about David and his men fleeing from Absalom. They were weary and worn out and weak and hungry. But when they came to Mahanayim, a friend had basins for washing, beds for sleep, and plenty of food. It says wheat, barley, and flour, parched grain and beans, lentils and parched seeds, honey and curds, sheep and cheese of the herd for David and the people who were with him to eat. Such a bounty when he was running for his life. And our God, we know, each one of us knows, continues to crown our tables with the good things of this earth. But even when our stomachs growl, beloved, we must confess that He always gives us what we need. He never fails to give us what we need. David says in Psalm 37, verse 25, I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. But again, it's not only our physical, temporal needs that we're talking about. That even may be less than spiritual needs. The Lord's prepared table is before us for our spiritual needs as well. Jesus Christ has earned these blessings for believers once and all on Calvary. He secured them in the past. In that sense, the table has been prepared. But you see, David is talking about something that never ends. He's talking about something that goes on day after day after day. He's talking about a table continuously prepared for Him. Christ's secured blessings are granted to us each and every day. The covenant mercies of God have been purchased already, but they are applied to God's people day by day. Christ's blood. Christ's blood was poured out for the forgiveness of all of our sins, But God applies the blessing of forgiveness to our lives daily. Each time we ask for His forgiveness in faith. Jesus earned for us the right of adoption as sons and daughters into God's family. But by the grace of God, we enjoy, we experience the joys and privileges of that father-child relationship every day. Our Lord earned for us His Holy Spirit through His suffering and death. But the Spirit dwells within us daily, giving us more and more sweet communion and peace in fellowship with God by faith through His daily sanctifying power. Our Savior earned for His people the everlasting joy and blessing of heaven, but by the grace of God, congregation, we don't have to wait until we get there to taste some of its delight. The joy that lives within a Christian. is but a small foretaste, yet a foretaste, of the glory of heaven. But our God also prepares a table before us in the generous feast of the Word and sacrament. As we gaze at this pulpit, even before the service starts, beloved, as you enter into the auditorium and you look at this pulpit without a minister standing in it, As we gaze at this pulpit, we are to see in this pulpit a symbol of the feast of God's Word. That Word which alone gives new life. That Word which gives strength for the pilgrimage. That Word of peace which feeds with the joy of salvation those who believe in Jesus Christ by grace through faith. And as well as we gaze upon this communion table before us, it's always there. Do you see it every week? Do you see it every service? It's always there in the baptismal font as well. As we gaze upon this communion table, though empty now and only physically shining with the silver bread and wine trays seven times throughout the year, we are to see each and every time we look at it that generous feast of the body and blood of our Savior which has been sacrificed for His sheep. And the same is true of the baptismal font, that we see in it the feast of Christ's cleansing blood. We said a moment ago that the shepherd goes alone to prepare the mountain tabletops for grazing. He works hard. He works hard to remove the deadly dangers so that the sheep can graze in peace and in safety because the sheep, we know, will not avoid the dangers on their own. And the shepherd does this at a great cost, at a great sacrifice. The sacraments, again, remind us that Jesus Christ has gone ahead for His people and He has made every possible provision for the welfare of His sheep. And therefore, beloved, when you look at the communion table, do you truly understand and appreciate and come with thanksgiving for what it cost Him to prepare this table of blessing for you. He came to live among His sheep in order to deliver them. He laid aside His splendor and glory. He was exposed to insults, false accusations, rumors, gossip, and malicious charges that labeled Him as a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of sinners, and an imposter. He endured physical suffering, mental anguish, spiritual agony, as well as the full wrath of God against your sin and mine. And, beloved, He did it alone. He endured the lonely agony of Gethsemane and of Pilate's Hall and of the cross. Beloved, the cost was great. Jesus Christ, with His laid down life and poured out blood, delivered His people from their own selfishness, foolishness, and ignorance as lost sheep, which are unable to save themselves. And He did this, beloved, to exalt His people, to exalt you and me as guests at His banquet table. And through this table of blessing, He rekindles our love. He revives our faith. He renews our strength. He nourishes and refreshes our souls unto eternal life. And because of Christ's saving sacrifice, we can now enjoy His table of peace where in the presence of our enemies. Now that's weird, isn't it? This is certainly out of the ordinary. Enemies being in their presence in peace? Something doesn't fit there. When a soldier is in the midst of his enemies, if he eats at all, he grabs something quickly that he can eat while he continues to keep watch or to fight. But David confesses that he is able to enjoy the table of the Lord in the presence of his enemies. And there is peace. All his enemies can do is look on at the provision of the Lord in David's life. And indeed, beloved, our enemies, the world, must see the provision of the Lord in our lives. The Hebrew word for enemies is talking about deadly foes, those who are godless persecutors. They deny God. They have no shame before God or man when they execute their evil, deceitful, murderous plans. The enemy is the fool that has said in his heart there isn't no God. They persecute and they attack the helpless. They seek their prey to hunt them down with the purpose of killing them. Sometimes, as we said this morning, Satan does that by making friends with us. It doesn't seem like he wants to kill us. But again, he's deceitful. He'll use whatever means he can. Those enemies are like wild, ravenous beasts that suddenly spring on a person when they're least ready. Paul describes these enemies as the devil. His principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this age. His spiritual hosts of wickedness. And as Romans 8 points out, these work through trouble, through hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. These enemies, beloved, are deadly. Make no mistake about it. With no mercy. But they are rendered powerless against the sheep of the Good Shepherd. They are rendered powerless against you and me. All they can do is look on as God's people enjoy the generous feast of divine blessings at the Lord's table. They cannot take away the Lord's blessings from David. They can never separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The child of God has enemies. That's a fact. If he didn't, then he wouldn't be like his Lord who said, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. And James says, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? This doesn't mean, however, that our enemies, the devil and his hosts, including the wicked men of this world, this doesn't mean that they cannot do God's people physical harm. That's not what we're saying here. The martyrs, those who have suffered and died for the sake of Jesus, they knew this. Some were burned at the stake and became human torches while their executioners looked on with delight. Others were torn in pieces by wild animals simply for the entertainment of the wicked who watched. The martyrs had that comfort that Paul speaks of, though, that their enemies could not remove them from the love of God. As they felt the stinging burn of the fire on their bodies and as they experienced the excruciating pain of having their flesh torn by beasts, yet they could confidently sing the body they may kill. But God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. As Stephen felt the deadly blows of the stones, he gazed into heaven where he saw the glory of God. And Jesus, standing at the right hand of God, And he had the confidence that his enemies were rendered powerless to do him any eternal harm. Satan seeks to attack us from without and from within. He attacks us with our own doubts. At times, causing us to recognize our sinfulness and wondering, how could God ever love me? Certainly, there's too much sin for God to forgive. It's not possible. Or on the other hand, making us believe, well, I'm not that bad. Certainly I haven't done something so bad for which God would send me to hell. Or through troubles and burdens, beloved, He causes us to worry instead of trust and obey. Causing us to wallow in self-pity instead of casting our burden on the Lord. He works to make the Word and the sacrament nothing more than a meaningless ritual in our lives. Oh, I've come to church, I've done my duty, I'm good for another week. Yet, beloved, we have the comfort of knowing that because of whose we are in Jesus Christ, Satan can never take away the generous feast of the Lord's loving provision from His people. And therefore, beloved, we are able to live before the eyes of a watching world with confidence. demonstrating and may we demonstrate the grace and the blessing of God and be able to say with David, I will not fear. In fact, David expresses his security in the Lord because the Lord anoints him with the symbol of honor. You anoint my head with oil. This table with which the Lord prepares for his people indeed is a feast of joy. And oil is a symbol of joy and prosperity. Oil was highly valued, especially in the hot, arid lands of Palestine where the sun shines bright most of the year and the temperatures regularly soar well up into the hundreds. And the skin becomes dry and cracked and parched and broken. And the host who takes in a guest or traveler provides oil for his head and face for comfort and to restore the skin. And by anointing visitors with perfumed oil, the host expressed his welcome and his love for the guests, making them know that they had found refuge and relief in his house and that he wanted them to be happy and prosperous. But to fail to anoint with oil was a sign of disrespect. In the summertime, which is fly time, sheep may suffer from insect diseases planted on their heads that can drive them crazy looking for relief even to the point of killing themselves. But the shepherd works to treat the sheep with special oil to provide relief and that ointment brings about an incredible transformation and immediate change in behavior. Instantly, because of the soothing oil, the sheep experiences no more aggravation or irritability or restlessness. But instead, there would be gentle feeding and peaceful contentment. And beloved, because of Christ's finished work on Calvary, God anoints His people with His Holy Spirit who produces joy and contentment, love, patience, gentleness, and peace. Jesus told His disciples that He would send the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, and they would know true peace. The Holy Spirit gives believers that comfort of rest from the wicked and instead fellowship with the heavenly host. Beloved, anointing the head with oil is a sign of God's tender love and favor for His own, and only His Spirit makes that love and favor real in the heart of His child. That's what we enjoy, beloved, from the hand of our God. His love and His favor. This morning we said that one of the greatest gifts God has given to each of us as believers is each other. He's given to us each other. Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, just as God, as it were, honors us with His oil, His favor, His love, we are called to honor each other. Each one of us should be able to find a place of refuge and relief in the very presence of each other. David had that joy of God's favor which moved him then to make a confession of bounty. My cup overflows. Even in the presence of his enemies, David is overwhelmed by the love and the goodness of God knowing that he was an honored guest to enjoy a generous feast of blessing at a table the Lord Himself prepared. In fact, God's love and mercy and grace is so abundant that David's life was saturated with it. You see, that's what the Hebrew word for overflow means. David's life was saturated with it. God had filled David's life so full that it could contain no more. The saving benefit of Jesus Christ is so complete that it fills every part of the believer's life. In faith, the Christian can say all this and Jesus too. Even the poorest experiences the overflowing goodness of God so that we can sing with confidence as we have, so shall no part of day or night from sacredness be free, but all my life in every step be fellowship with Thee. God's goodness is overflowing. Let me give you some examples. God does not just simply forgive our sins, but leave them there in our sight to remind us once in a while. He removes our transgressions as far as the east is from the west, as David says. Far out of sight. Jesus didn't come to just simply give His sheep life, but to give it abundantly. to give it eternally so that they shall never perish neither shall anyone snatch them out of His hand. Not only does God make His people conquerors over Satan and His hosts but He causes them to be more than conquerors to overwhelmingly conquer through His love. People of God, Jesus Christ didn't come into this world to make salvation possible for you and me but to really and effectively save us. And God doesn't simply offer His grace to us. It is irresistible, overflowing goodness. David, by the grace of God, had confidence in the God he served. Is it any wonder that he could confess my cup overflows? Is this your confession tonight? Do you have that same comfort of the overflowing abundance of the Lord's bounty? You see, we must confess, as someone once said, that we don't always like the cup into which God's abundance is put. Perhaps it is a stone cup, or glass, or tin, and we would like it to be gold or silver, but the abundance within is what we must see. In other words, beloved, we don't always like the circumstances of our lives, do we? but it's not what's on the dinner table, but that something is there to eat. It's not what the style or condition of my clothes are, but the warmth that they give. It's not the deadly sickness that I am to focus on, but the fact that it cannot separate me from the love of God. My abundance is to be seen in Jesus Christ. He is the Christian's true wealth. In Him is wealth overflowing. Wealth that neither moth nor rust consumes and that thieves cannot take from our hands. Wealth that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate from us because we have this hope as an anchor of the soul. Again, is this your comfort? You see, if it's not, then being in the presence of your enemies will be the most deadly place you could be. But for those who enjoy the gracious, loving provision of the Good Shepherd's tender care, their enemies can do no more than look on in disbelief. The world around the believer is dumbfounded as they see the provision of the Lord that brings comfort and peace to the believer in times of persecution. That brings joy to the believer in the midst of sorrow. That brings patient endurance in the midst of pain. That brings contentment in the hour of death. That truly only the Lord can prepare this table of life. Where does David's confidence come from? Well, not from his own faithfulness, but from the Lord's faithfulness. That's our comfort. that the Lord daily prepares for me His table of blessing. Great is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand has provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, thank You again for this truth of Your Word. We must confess that so often we want to complain. We want to complain about the situations and the circumstances of this life that we face. We want to say that we do not deserve the things that we have to deal with at times. And Father, help us to take our eyes off of those selfish things and to turn our eyes to Your selflessness, to all that You give to Your people, all the generous blessings that we enjoy because of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And indeed, O Lord, may the song on our lips, may one of the songs on our lips every day be great is by faithfulness. That every morning we might indeed begin, as we begin a new day, see Your mercies which are new every morning. And Father, may we praise You. May we never cease to praise You in all that we think and say and do. Father, may we desire that the world see in us and through us Your grace, Your mercy, and Your peace. May it be our desire that the world would be able to look at us and see Your bounty poured out upon us, not because we have deserved it, but for the sake of Jesus Christ. We pray too, O Lord, that if it is Your will, You would give to us as Your people opportunity to share the good news with those who have never heard, that others too might know the bounty of Your blessings prepared for Your people. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Amen.