He Restores My Soul!

"He restores my soul." Psalm 23:3.

We must always be grateful to the One who restores our soul.
The One who restores is our good Shepherd, and He brings us back from our wandering ways
when we have ignored His will.
"He restores my soul."
He, and only He!

Psalm 23:3 is filled with lessons and reminders.
First, we are reminded of our true position as believers.
The believer's true position is that of a sheep staying close to its Shepherd.
Verse 3 suggests that the sheep has gone astray. and the Shepherd brings it back
so that it can be back in the position which it ought to be.

The wonderful position of every believer is that of close communion with our great Shepherd
-- Jesus.
This is a privilege that we ought to enjoy every day.
We must abide in Jesus, and walk with Him, and live in Him.
"For me to live is Christ."

It is necessary that we have a close fellowship with Jesus every day of our lives.
Jesus said, "Abide in Me."
That is His Word to us for every day, and we must strive to realize it.
The proper position of a child of God is that he should sit like Mary at the Master's feet
at all times.

We should remember how thrilled we were when we first came to Jesus,
and received Him as our Saviour and Lord.
We were so thankful that all our sins were forgiven, and that God would never
remember them again.
We were ready to follow Jesus, our Shepherd, wherever He will lead us,
and to do whatever He asked.

He died for us.
He took all our sins upon Him.
And we were so grateful that we declared that we would love Him forever.
We are completely clean -- our sins were washed in His precious blood.
We became completely forgiven of our sins -- we were made a child of God.

So, we will praise Him and bless Him, and magnify Him, and live for Him all the days of our life.
We never ever considered growing cold and indifferent towards Him.
All of this is what our lives should be.
We have some very solemn obligations to Christ.

So, as I ask "How do you love?" as we study these amazing words: "He restores my soul."
Do you feel that you could do more for Him than you are doing?
Have you failed in your obedience to Him?
Have you failed to love Him with all your soul?
Have you failed to trust Him?
Have you failed in your zeal to serve Him?
Have you failed in your witness of Him to your loved ones -- your friends.
Has your life for Jesus become lukewarm and causal.
These are not the ways that we should treat our Saviour -- the Shepherd of our souls.

Do you not know who you are?
How can you be at peace in your soul if you are treating Jesus worse than
you would treat a stranger?
Should you be a child of God's, and never to speak to Him in daily prayers?
Do you think God is pleased with you when you are not feeding upon His Word?
How long as it been since you told God that you love Him?

There is no doubt that we are to abide in Jesus.
We must constantly abide in Him.
Our daily needs demand that we should live in fellowship with Him.

Since we are weak and sometimes foolish, we must look to our Lord for strength and direction.
We should go daily to Him who is our All in All.

Israel could not afford to go a single day without the manna,
and we cannot go a single day without the Bread of Life.
Jesus said, "Without Me, you can do nothing," and we have found that to be true.

We must never be satisfied with ourselves except when we are abiding in Jesus.
It is then that we are clothed with His power, and will bring forth the much fruit
that He deserves and expects from us.

We should remember that when we are out of fellowship with Christ, we can do nothing.
When we are unfaithful in our love to Him, we are easily seduced by every temptation.
Without His love in our hearts, we become victims to other loves that will lead us into idolatry,
and plunge us into hurtful lusts, and rob us of our joy.

We must either be enthralled by the surpassing love of Jesus,
or we shall be fascinated by the world's deceits.
One of the two masters will rule us.
It will either be the Prince of the power of the air, or the Lord of Life.

When Christ is with us, we are safe.
A wolf can't harm a sheep when it's close to the Shepherd.
When we are away from Jesus, we are not only in danger, but we are already out
of fellowship with Jesus, and then, even further calamity can occur.
Planes without a pilot, cities without policemen, babies without a nurse, describe us
when we without Jesus.

We cannot do without Him.
We cannot go about our business on any day without the presence of our Lord.
We might as well go to battle without our weapons.

We should pray -- daily pray, "If You go with me, I'll go anywhere."
How can we go to sleep until we have talked our Lord?

The benefits of fellowship with Christ should constrain us to abide in Him.
If we would grow in grace, we must be filled with His Spirit.
Our energy and strength to meet the demands of each day is realized only
in fellowship with Jesus.

All that I ought to be, or that I can desire to be, happens when I am in right fellowship
with my Lord, and when I am walking close to Him.
Bad things can happen when we are not walking close to Jesus.
Following Christ afar off is sinful.
Continually abiding in Him is peace, joy, holiness, and a foretaste of Heaven!

So, let us strive after that position in Christ which ought to be our habitual position,
and that is abiding in Christ.

Psalm 23:3: "He restoreth my soul" also reminds us of our frequent sin.
"He restores my soul"
He does it often.
He is doing it now.
The Lord will never do anything unnecessary and, therefore, this shows us
that we often wander from Him, or else we would not need to be brought back.

I am sorry to say that total selfishness, and no communion with Jesus
is the chronic state of many Christians.
Most of us have often wondered about the life that is lived by many who are called Christians.
It is not for us to judge their real condition before God, and we should not attempt to do so,
but we do notice the inconsistency of their actions and of their words.

We hope that they have believed in Christ.
We also hope that their faith will produce enough good works to demonstrate
that they do have a living faith.
But it does seem as though their religion is cold, joyless, and passionless.

There are thousands of Christians whose religion seems to be just attending
services on Sunday, and perhaps, occasionally attending a special service.
They may keep a Bible somewhere in the house, and that is about all.
To them prayer is a formality, praise is forgotten, and the reading of the Bible is a drudgery.
Meditation on Scripture is not important enough to them to be on their daily schedule.

Many Christians know nothing of the conscious enjoyment of the love of Jesus
and daily communion with Him
This is sad because they are starving in the midst of plenty.
They are living in spiritual poverty while all the treasures of God are theirs.
They live as hired servants, instead of living like sons of the King!
They perform the duties of religion without the enjoyment of it.
They wear its yoke, but do not feed in its green pastures.

They push aside the cream of our holy faith, and partake only of its skim milk.
They leave the warm moments of fellowship with God for the frozen regions of negligent living.
They shiver with fear while committed Christians are filled with gladness.
They have chosen to stay in the outer courts of the temple,
and never enter into the holy of holies.
They do not pass within the veil to behold the Glory of the Lord.
They are sailing to Heaven, but they are stowed away in the hold of the ship in the darkness.

Too often, we stray from the path that our Shepherd would lead us.
We may easily lose fellowship with Christ by pride and self-esteem — if He indulges us
with happy hours of sacred joy, we are very apt to think that we are somebody
— and then, we hold our heads up high with pride.

Jesus is ready to restore our souls.

We may lose the awareness of the presence of Christ by forgetting our Christian duty,
or of not considering His Truth.
We may also lose it by evil thoughts, and by being absorbed with fleeting cares.
We may also lose the fellowship of Christ by inconsistent actions or by idle conversations.

"He restores my soul."
This is not what He might have done, or would have done if He was as changeable as we are.
There are some who teach that Jesus leaves His roaming sheep to perish as a punishment
for their wanderings -- that He gives them up to the wolf.

I hope that Christians do not believe that -- for that is so dishonoring to the Good Shepherd.
Yet there are those who belief that.
But I am so happy that I can say, "He restores my soul."
He has not cast us off, or leave us to depend on our own strength or wisdom,
but with His gracious love, He has restored us over and over through the years.

Our Saviour would never leave His sheep to perish.
I can tell you that "He restores my soul."
He has done this so often that it may well be said that He is always doing it.
The Psalmist puts it in the present tense, as if the Lord was in the habit of doing so,
and is in the act of restoring many souls at this very moment.
As numerous as our sins have been, that is how numerous His restorations have been!

He embraces us again, and then, once more He leads us in the paths of righteousness
for His name's sake.
Although He has restored our soul a hundred times, He still restores it.
That is the nature of our Great Shepherd, and that is the depth His love to us.

Even now, "He restores my soul."

Christian, where are you in this very moment?
Have you grown dull and cold?

Jesus is waiting to make your heart burn within you.
Do you feel half-dead spiritually?
Your Lord and Master is even now ready to quicken you by His Word.
and to restore to you the joy of His salvation!

If you ask me why the Lord is ready restore His people, it is so that
He leads you once again in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
There are many ways that He does this.
Sometimes, it might be the rod of correction.
At other times, it might be the sweet whisper of His love.
He has multiple ways of dealing with His people.

These words, "He restores my soul," is a testimony of His immutable love.
These words reminds us of His supreme power.
"He restores my soul."
He, and only He, can restore my soul!
Every restoration and every refreshing of my soul has come from Him.

First, He brought your soul to life.
You had no life till Jesus passed by, and saw you dead in sin
and said to you, ";Live."
You were like Lazarus in his tomb.
You were beginning to stink with corruption and sin, and that same voice that said:
"Lazarus, come forth," spoke that same life into your soul.

You could not save yourself, and there was no way that you could earn your salvation.
He took the first step, and gave you life when you were dead in your sin.
You owe your new birth -- your salvation entirely to Him
And He, who regenerated you, can can restore you.
He, who created, can renew!

So, if at this time you have become proud, or petulant, or idle, or cannot pray,
then you need God to restore your soul.
If you have neglected or ignored God's divine will for your life, you need God to restore your soul.
If you are out of a close and sweet fellowship with your Lord, then you need your soul restored.
If the charms of the world have taken over the love of your life, then you need your soul restored.

I am praying that any Christian who needs their soul restored, will leave this service saying,
"I knew He could restore my soul," and "He did restore my soul.
I was very cold when I came in here, but Jesus has thawed the coldness of my heart."

Now is the time for you to confess that you are need your soul restored.
Now is the time to call upon the great Restorer.
Before you leave your seat, call upon Christ -- right now -- and by the power of His Holy Spirit,
He will restore your soul!

Come as you are!
Come as you are to Jesus.
I am talking to Christians.
Don't play the fool as sinners do.
Come just now.

Whatever you have been, and whatever the situation is between you and Christ
you need to know that He will, in this very instant, restore your soul.
And in that restoration, your fellowship with your Lord will also be restored.

Everyone who needs God's restoration, needs to pray that God will have His way with us.

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

"Have Thine own way, Lord!
Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way,
Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence, humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord!
Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord!
Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit 'till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me."

Then, God will restore your soul!


Sermon influenced by C. H. Spurgeon and was adapted by Dr. Harold L. White