Cross, Crook, Crown

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth. In the old days, it was

No Compromise Radio because lots of people compromise. That's still true. A lot of people compromise.

I mean, don't we all? I hate it when I do. But I saw a lot of compromise in evangelicalism and wanted to call it out.

By the way, our ratings were higher those days. Our podcast downloads were higher. Patreon was a lot more flush.

Discernment ministries, discernment. And we switched it around some. As the Lord has taught me, guilt, grace, gratitude.

As the Lord has taught me, duplex gratia, Christ for pardon and Christ for power. As the

Lord has taught me that the law doesn't animate, it doesn't have any power on its own. We need to have the personal work of Jesus.

We need to have a triune God to give us the power to do those things. As the Lord has taught me that we want our people to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus.

Romans chapter eight and second Corinthians chapter three, verse 18, talk about Jesus. And so we've rescued the name.

I've tried to rescue the name, no compromise, because we talk about the one who never compromised.

Can you imagine someone saying, I always do the things pleasing to the Father and actually doing it, to think that Jesus always honored the

Father. He always loved him with his heart, soul, mind and strength. And he always loved his neighbor.

That is sacrificial love, that is wonderful love. That's the truth of the gospel. I probably could say to you, is love law or is love gospel?

Well, it just depends on who's love. We're supposed to love, that's law. God's love towards us, that's gospel.

But neither here nor there, don't forget the new book, The Chosen is out. Hope I don't get sued.

I guess I have a tagline underneath here, a subtitle, The Beauty of God's Eternal Love. It's about election, unconditional election.

It's just kind of a play on the title. I'm blaming my brother. He's the one who said, do it. But he's, Mario's cracking up.

And then also the book, King. There's a one chapter here about election that's in here. So just to make sure you know that I'm not trying to bamboozle you, there's a chapter from here in there.

These come from there over and around and about The Chosen and The King. That makes sense? Of course, on amazon .com,

here we go. Probably the biggest trial

I've ever been in my life, a personal trial, a health trial, was when

I was in the hospital with COVID for 16 days. Had underlying issues, leukemia and other things.

And so when I got COVID, it was really, really bad. It was the Delta strain, it was 2001, I believe.

And so off I go into the hospital. And remember at that time, everything was isolated.

And so for 16 days, I had no pastor to come in to pray with me or another elder.

I had no wife, no sons, no friends. Some nurses and doctors came in, but it was really, here's what would happen.

The phone would ring and I would answer the phone. It would be a doctor. Tell me about your symptoms, this, that, and the other. This is what we're going to do.

Then he would hang up, put on all his like space uniform, come in, check my lungs and then go out, get out as fast as you can.

So he didn't get COVID. And I just remember isolation. Isolation just is horrible to be alone.

And the psychological effects, physical effects, practical effects, no one to share with, no one's shoulder to cry on, no one to just put their hand on my shoulder and say, you know what, you can trust the

Father. Actually a NoCo listener once said to me years ago, quit your complaining and moaning about this

COVID experience and being alone. You had God with you there. And I don't know who that person was, but I kind of wanted to reach through the thing and grab him and say, you don't understand how important touch is.

Actually, if I back up a little bit, you don't even understand how important the incarnation is of Jesus.

But anyway, without going into the old no compromise style, this is the new, this is

Jesus never compromised. This is grandpa Mike. That's what Steve Meister said. You know, it's the new grandpa

Mike because you're kind, you're nicer. Actually, as I think about it, part of it is older.

I'm 65. Part of it is suffering and struggles and a couple cancers and this

COVID issue. But part of it is, and I think it's mostly motivated theologically, trying to encourage

Christians. Certainly we can talk about the law and reprove and rebuke and exhort with great patience and instruction.

That's true. I would never say that's not to be the case, but preaching is a means of grace. And we wanna make sure we show people grace incarnate.

We wanna show people the Father sending the Son, who the Holy Spirit is, et cetera. And so back to the point, isolation is difficult.

Being alone is difficult. Anxiety, depression, fear. You need someone to come alongside.

Yes, the Spirit of God, He is a comforter to come alongside. Yes, God gave me comfort in the hospital, but just being alone,

I needed fellowship. And so today I wanna talk about a book of the

Bible and then a chapter of the Bible that would give you great comfort knowing that you're never alone.

Now, if I walk into a hospital and someone's hurting, I always think, oh, my hospital

Psalm is Psalm 46. There's this great strength in times of trouble.

And you can be still and know that God's God. If someone has a new baby, I think, oh, that's Psalm 139.

And we're gonna talk about Psalm 139 and I'll read it for them. If someone is saying, you know what?

I'm struggling with assurance. Hey, let's open our Bibles to Romans 8. I have certain chapters for certain things.

And the chapter for being alone and needing comfort, physically alone, feeling alone, feeling isolated, it's

Psalm 23. Sadly, most people think Psalm 23 is the funeral

Psalm. They think it's the Psalm to read when people are approaching death. That's true, it could be, but I want you to know it's the

Psalm for the living. Just like 1 Corinthians 13 isn't just for weddings, it's for many things.

It's Psalm 23 and how it combats isolation, how it gives you comfort, joy, and praise.

It's I am with you Psalm. It is the Emmanuel Psalm. It is maybe the

Psalm of all Psalms when it comes to comfort, care, and guidance. I know you've probably laid your head down on the pillow of Psalm 23 for comfort in the past, but I think after today's show, you'll even enjoy that pillow all the more.

You'll say, oh, I didn't know that. How could a Psalm so popular? How could a

Psalm so well -known? How could the Psalm, out of all the 150 Psalms in the Psalter, how could

Psalm 23 even look better? Not because of me, but because I've studied some theologians and I've come to see in my own eyes, with my own eyes, oh, if I just knew these three things about Psalm 23 two years ago, five years ago, 36 years ago, it would have been so much softer, that pillow of Psalm 23.

So today on the show, Psalm 23, and I wanna teach you three things about this

Psalm that if you understand, it'll make the Psalm seem like it's gonna come alive in technicolor.

Not like the Psalm isn't in technicolor now, but from your perspective, I understand it better.

You've memorized this Psalm, you've quoted this Psalm, you've read this Psalm. It's probably the best known

Psalm in all the Bible. One man said, there's no Psalm in which the absence of all doubt, misgiving, fear and anxiety is so remarkable.

Charles Spurgeon said, it's the pearl of all Psalms. And so how could it get any better? Today on No Compromise Radio, whether you're isolated, sick, lonely, happy, joyful, thankful, this

Psalm is going to encourage you. Three keys to understanding this

Psalm. Ready? On your mark, get set, go. I feel like I should get in a three point stance or something.

By the way, New England Patriots, they're back to being good. Finally, Mario, did you watch the game last night?

All right, you're not the sports guy. All right. So today, three keys to help you understand

Psalm 23 better. Unlock it as it were, not from insight that only

Mike Ebendroth has, not some Gnostic thing, not some weirdo stuff, but just truths.

Is that like an amen here? Mario's there like banging on the table. Bang. This is live.

This is live radio. That's just what we just do this. This is sit in a room alone, laugh at your own jokes.

Now I have Mario to laugh at as he fumbles and bumbles. And that's why he's a cameraman, not an audio man.

It's like, can I get some people that know what they're doing or what? Well, somebody was just in the news and they were, oh, oh,

I think it was a Congresswoman in California. And she was doing some Zoom several years ago and her assistant was in the background and she was on that assistant.

And they were trying to expose this Congresswoman as being a meanie because she was so rude to her assistant.

And so I have to be careful because this is live. This is, Mario's a pro. He gets paid to do this, but just video, not the audio part.

Three keys to help you understand Psalm 23. And the first one is verse four.

I'm with you always. Second one is where it is within the canon. That is 22 is preceding, 24 is after.

I'll explain what I mean. I know you already know that. Psalm 22 is God of Psalm 23 and then

Psalm 24. And then lastly, this is an interesting one. There's no law in Psalm 23.

There's no imperatives. There's no commands. It's only telling you who God is. It's only indicatives.

It's gospel. Wow. Sometimes there's things in the Psalms where we're to do things and praise the

Lord. But here we have, I'm with you always. Placement is between 22 and 24.

If you know what 22 is about, if you know what 24 is about, it's gonna give you a hint about 23. And then there are no commands.

Those are the three things we'll talk about today on No Compromise Radio. First thing, it's placement of verse four.

Verse four is the theological center to this Psalm. It's almost the center if you look at the

Psalm, oh, what's in the very middle? But the theological center is for you are with me.

And so to flesh that out, to make you understand that more, to have you read the

Psalm rightly forever, I'm going to read it with that middle emphasis, but I'm gonna read the whole

Psalm with that emphasis repeated. Here's what I mean. The Lord is my shepherd for you are with me.

I shall not want for you are with me. He makes me lie down in green pastures for you are with me.

He leads me beside still waters for you are with me. He restores my soul for you are with me.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake for you are with me.

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 for you are with me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies for you are with me.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows for you are with me. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life for you are with me.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever for you are with me. The theological center of this

Psalm is for you are with me. That's the key. You're with me. I'm not alone.

I'm not isolated. I'm not out by myself. And you think about sheep, a lone sheep, a sheep that's by itself out there.

It's just basically wolf food. It's bear food. It's lion food. This is the language of Hebrews chapter 13.

For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. To this day,

I have a three by five card. It's orange. And my family could give me things through the front desk.

And so they would give me protein bars and other things. Sneak and Ivermectin too. True. And they gave me a little card.

Luke gave me a card and he just wrote on there. Hebrews 13 verse five.

I will never leave you nor forsake you. He himself said that. For he has said. The language of the

Greek in Hebrews chapter 13 is with five negatives, I will never, never, never, never, never leave you nor forsake you.

That's Psalm 23. For I'm with you. That makes me think of all kinds of things with the incarnation and others, but we can confidently say,

Hebrews 13, six. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?

For you are with me. So the first thing, when you think of Psalm 23, I want you to think of, of course, shepherd sheep.

I want you to think of all those metaphors and then the dinner table metaphor, the host and the enemies and all that.

I want you to still get that, of course. But in addition today, I want you to think of the theological center for you are with me.

And by the way, pastorally, I could ask you the question that I asked even last week. What's your big trial that you're in now?

I need to get more work. I need to get this thing fixed and medically.

I need to restore this relationship with my child. I need to, whatever. I just want you to know you're not alone.

Isn't that good to know? I'm not alone. You might feel alone, but you're not alone. For the

Lord is with you. If you're a Christian, the Lord is with you. I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever leave you or forsake you.

Or if you want to be grammatically correct, never, never, never, never, never. Isn't that good to know?

Very good to know. Secondly, if you'd like to understand this Psalm better here on No Compromise Radio Ministry, it's understanding the canon placement.

Not C -A -N -N -O -N, but C -A -N -O -N. Where does this fit in the

Psalms? What's the order? Why is it in, why is 23 there?

Why isn't it put in 150? What's before it? What's after it? Is there any canonical reasoning or logic to have

Psalm 23 in the middle of the sandwich of Psalm 22 and Psalm 24?

And the answer is, it's perfectly placed. Psalm 22 is about the good shepherd

Jesus. Remember, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's about the good shepherd Jesus.

John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

This is Jesus dying for Christians, right? Well, dying for his bride, and they would respond in faith and be

Christians. Dying for his people, Psalm 22, the good shepherd. Psalm 22 is about Jesus.

Psalm 22 is about the Lord Jesus who gives his life sacrificially for his people.

That's Psalm 22. Psalm 24, the one after 23, is about the chief shepherd.

It's about the exaltation. It's about the return of Jesus. It's about everything from his exaltation, ascension, and return.

It's an enthronement Psalm. It's about the chief shepherd Jesus, 1 Peter 5, 4.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Psalm 22 is about the death of the good shepherd. Psalm 24 is about the exaltation, the ascension, the soon return of the

Lord Jesus. Psalm 24, the chief shepherd. Any guesses who

Psalm 23 is about? Psalm 23 is about the great shepherd.

This is about his present care. Psalm 22, what he did in the past. He died for our sins.

Psalm 24, the exaltation, ascension, enthronement, soon return of Jesus in the future.

And now Psalm 23, of course, we have the good shepherd 22, the great shepherd 24, the chief shepherd 24, and now the great shepherd

Psalm 23. Psalm 23 is about Jesus. Did you know that? Psalm 23, yes, is about Jesus.

Hebrews 13, 20, and 21 perfectly describe Jesus in Psalm 23.

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead, our

Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him.

Psalm 22, Jesus dies for his people. Psalm 23, he cares for his people.

Psalm 24, he's coming back for his people. Isn't that good? Think, oh, I first learned that the theological center is that you're with me for you are with me always.

And now I'm learning this is all about Jesus. Psalm 23 is about Jesus, the great shepherd.

He's a chief shepherd. He's a good shepherd. He's the great shepherd. These are called shepherd

Psalms. Psalm 22, Psalm 23, Psalm 24. One writer said this, in Psalm 22, we see the cross.

In Psalm 23, we see the crook, the shepherd's crook. And in Psalm 24, we see the crown.

That is so good. The cross, the crook, and the crown. I don't know what you do if you speak other languages and you can't alliterate these

English ones, but man, that is so good. Jesus is the shepherd in Psalm 23.

My shepherd, Augustine said, is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you should be reading Psalm 23.

James Boyce said, to see Jesus as our shepherd and to apply the lines of the Psalm carefully and in detail to ourselves.

That's what we need to do. That's what he was wanting us to do. And I could say it this way. The good shepherd is with you.

The great shepherd is with you. The chief shepherd is with you.

I think you can kind of get a glimpse of Psalm 23 in the lens of the Heidelberg Catechism. I finally got my book, by the way.

Scott Clark didn't send it to me. I had to buy it on Amazon and I knew it was gonna be big, but I didn't think it was gonna be that big.

His commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, his life's work, and that thing is heavy, 1 ,000 pages.

So what does that have to do with anything? Nothing, except you should get that book. Heidelberg Catechism. Doesn't this sound like Psalm 23?

And I'm gonna make one addition to the Heidelberg Catechism to draw this out. What is your only comfort in life and death?

Answer, that I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful savior and shepherd,

Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins and delivered me from all the power of the devil.

How about this? And so preserves me, it makes me think of Psalm 23, that without the will of my heavenly father, not a hair can fall from my head.

Yes, that all things must be subservient to my salvation. And therefore by his

Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life and makes me sincerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto him.

I only added the word in shepherd, my faithful savior, Jesus Christ. My faithful savior and shepherd,

Jesus Christ. If you want to understand Psalm 23 even better, I know you love it. I know you read it regularly. The Lord Yahweh, Jesus is my shepherd and he's always with me.

Lastly, to help us understand here today on No Compromise Radio, remember we're trying to understand Psalm 23 so that when you read it, you'll read it with greater joy, with greater understanding and more of a

Christ -centered way and more of a theological way and more of a devotional way. That's what I'm after. Thirdly, that will help you is there's no commands.

There's nothing to do. Only to think, only to meditate, only to believe.

Nothing about our duty to God, although we have duties to God, the shepherd, that's certainly true. But here, this song, this poem is all about God's grace.

It's all about God's provision. It's all about God's protection. It's all about God's nearness.

It's all about the Lord Jesus. And so we don't have anything here, except as one man called it, this is a

Psalm of privilege. Privilege to have that shepherd, to have that shepherd be my shepherd.

I could probably say we've got other things in here to help us look for all the personal pronouns.

The Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lie down. That would be another helper.

But right now, I just want you to remember that there's nothing to be done in this Psalm, simply to rest, right?

Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden. And Jesus said, I will give you what? Rest. This is a good

Psalm to rest in. And it's hard to rest if you're alone. It's hard to rest when you're isolated, your mind's going back and forth and just kind of loop after loop after loop, getting in that thinking, as my father would say, stinking thinking, just round and round and round and round and round.

And now we've got someone close to us, the Lord Jesus, in fact. And then we say, you know what? I can just rest.

He's doing it. I'm a child of God. I've been predestined unto adoption by himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

That's Ephesians 1 .5. And I can just rest. We talked about what shepherds do, what fathers do, lots of overlap.

Shepherds would take care of the sheep, provide for the sheep, protect the sheep, clean the sheep, you know, all kinds of things.

Correct the sheep. I don't know if it's true or not, but in the old days, I would hear that if there was a wayward sheep, that the shepherd might break the leg of the sheep and then he'd have to carry the sheep until the leg was mended and it would bring them together in a really close way as he would hold the sheep day by day by day.

But certainly shepherds take care of and help. This Psalm of David, you can remember

David as a shepherd, understands what sheep need and understand how dumb sheep are and how much care they need.

And here he says, the Lord is my shepherd. I don't lack anything. This is language that makes me think of Galatians chapter two.

I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me. And the life

I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is God providing, protecting the metaphor of a shepherd, authority, protection.

God is the shepherd. Psalm 28, O save your people and bless your inheritance.

Excuse me, bless your heritage. Be their shepherd and carry them forever. Psalm 95,

He is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

Revelation seven, for the lamb is in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

This is Ezekiel 34 language. There are bad shepherds. It's talked about in Ezekiel. So God's going to have to be the shepherd.

And in fact, as we know, Jesus is God. And so we have Jesus. By the way, think about the love and condescending love that Jesus has.

The eternal son assumes flesh and dwells among us. What kind of condescending love is that to be our shepherd?

Yes, King, but shepherd? What condescension

Spurgeon said is this, that the infinite Lord assumes toward his people the office and character of a shepherd.

That's Hosea 14 language. He has loved me freely. He has loved me freely.

So today on No Compromise Radio Ministry, I want you to know that Psalm 23, you already knew it was wonderful, but it's even more wonderful if you think about its closeness, personal pronouns are the

Lord is with me, about Jesus, and then it's something to just rest in. I mean, if you think about it, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, people trying to hurt, people trying to kill, people trying to get after David or you or whatever, and you can just sit down and have a meal.

You're not even worried about the people outside are gonna kill you. No, you don't have to worry about them because now we have a protecting powerful host.

The metaphor has switched from shepherd to host and powerful host, a protecting host.

If you're in my home, I will protect you. I love dogs and our dog,

Parson Jack Russell Jetty died a few years ago. She was 15. I love that dog. I know dogs don't go to heaven, but there are exceptions.

I always get asked the question, are there dogs in heaven? Well, there certainly could be. God could have anything up in heaven, but just won't be a dog that's already here, tainted by the fall and then dies.

There's gonna be, I don't think any resurrected dogs in heaven. I know there's no cats in heaven, but that's another story.

But if I were to ever get dogs again, I probably should get two and I should probably name them goodness and mercy.

That would be good because surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And it's interesting that language there, while I make a joke about it, it's like they're hounds chasing foxes.

That's the language, how God's mercy, how God's love, how His goodness, how

His loving kindness. It's like they're dogs tracking you down. There's no escape. They're just always at your tail.

They're always at your feet. They just go where you go. I mean, I remember being in the house with my dog and that dog, wherever I would go, like that dog would follow me.

If I go in to take a shower, that dog is laying right side out of the shower. Actually, she would try to get in the shower at a trainer, not to, unless I wanted her to.

Wherever I go, that dog would go follow me. Surely, well, I guess I could get three dogs. One could be named

Shirley. One could be named goodness. One could be named mercy. They're gonna follow me because God cares for His people.

The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. It's not like I don't want something, but everything I need has been taken care of.

So today on the show, I wanted to help you understand Psalm 23.

I want you to understand, even through the lens of Ephesians chapter one, blessed be the God and father of our

Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Psalm 23 is wonderful on its own, just read by a new believer, by an immature believer.

But it's also wonderful to know it's a song of closeness. It's a Psalm of Christ -centeredness and it's a song of, let's see what else could start with a

C, comfort because we don't have to do anything. We rest in Him. So next time you read

Psalm 23, I want you to think of Jesus close to you. Think of the incarnation and think of how

He takes care of everything you need. That's Psalm 23, ramped up with those three reminders.

You can always write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. Most of the time when people write me, they say nice things, they are thankful.

But once in a while, I'll get things that are more negative. Fine, I'm a big boy, I can take it. And sometimes people are asking for counsel, that marriage counsel and stuff like that.

I can't really give because I don't know you. And I always just say, can you talk to your pastor on that?

So just a heads up, or you could go to Psalm 23 for counsel. That might also work.

Don't forget, you can pick up the books, King and the Chosen on Amazon. And if you feel so led, hit like and subscribe on YouTube, Patreon, et cetera.