Scriptures: Psalms 23:1-3; Isaiah 53:6; John 10:14-18; Rev. 7:17
Introduction
This morning my message is titled “JEHOVAH-ROHI which means “The Lord Is My Shepherd” and is a continuation of the series I started a few weeks ago. If you recall, in my first message we examined Psalm 23 where David expressed his gratitude and understanding of God being his shepherd and therefore he had everything that he needed and was in need of nothing. I told you that Psalm 23 gave an excellent overview of some of the names and/or attributes of God as the Hebrew understood Him. In my message three weeks ago, I told you about JEHOVAH-JIREH (which means The Lord Will Provide.) I told you that the name JEHOVAH meant “I AM” and that God was self-existent and that JIREH stress that He would provide all that we need. In that message I used the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac in proof of his love for God. I shared with you that although on the surface the request seemed cruel it was something that God had already decided to do with His own Son. Remember, after Adam and Eve sinned, God made the decision with Jesus’ agreement to send His only Son to be a sacrifice for man’s sin. He did this because of His love for mankind. God provided for us 2000 years before we ever came into existence and continues to provide for us. I asked you to make this statement every morning and night “I AM will provide today!”
This morning I want you to share with you JEHOVAH-ROHI, the Lord is My Shepherd. If you recall from the first three verses of Psalm 23, it states “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters; He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:1-3) These three verses spell out in examples what the name JEHOVAH-ROHI means. The name gives the understanding that the Lord provides, directs, leads, and cares for His people. God tenderly takes care of us as a strong and patient shepherd. This week I want you to say every day – “I AM will provide for me because I Am is my shepherd!” Say it like you mean it and by the end of the week you will! Turn with me to Isaiah 53.
I. Sheep Gone Astray
Have you ever heard the term “backsliding Christians”? This term is used to define a Christian who has “lost” their way. They have slid back into their old ways of doing things. Let me see if I can give you a visual of what this looks like. Imagine driving your car up a hill the next day after a snow storm. During the snow storm cars were driving along the road packing down the snow and causing it to turn to slush. During the night when there was little to no traffic, the slush froze and became a sheet of ice with some snow mixed it. The next morning you’re driving up the hill and you hit the ice. All of a sudden, your wheels are spinning and you’re not moving. As soon as you let up off the gas and put your brakes on, you start sliding back down the hill. If you’re lucky you do not slid all the way down and your tires grad hold and you start back up. But oftentimes what happens is you keep sliding backwards until you hit something that stops you. This is the image of a Christian who has backslidden. They were making progress and then for some reason they stalled in their relationship with Christ and then started going backwards.
In Isaiah chapter fifty-three, Isaiah opens the chapter by describing the life of Christ. He describes Him as no one that people would take notice of and He would be one that people despised. He states that Jesus would be acquainted with grief and sorrows describing Him as the suffering servant. Let’s pick up the chapter in verse four. “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5) Remember what the name JEHOVAH-ROHI means – The Lord is my shepherd? In application it means that He protects, provides, directs, leads and cares for His people. This is what Jesus did when He took everything from us and placed it on His own shoulders. He took all of our sins and the punishment which accompanied it and placed it on Himself. He did this to protect us from the penalty of sin which is death but also to make provisions for us while we live here on this earth. The sixth verse records the following: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:6)
In this verse Isaiah paints a picture of Jesus taking on the sins of His sheep who went astray and in doing so the sheep is not held to the penalty for straying. Think about it like this. The shepherd has a group of sheep that he is tending for his father, the owner of the sheep. Two of the sheep wanders off as sheep tend to do. They have had a history of doing this and the father, the owner of the sheep, had grown weary of their straying. As he was contemplating what he would do to the sheep, the son steps forward and tell his father that it was his fault the sheep had strayed because he had not paid close attention to those two sheep which had a history of doing so. In reality he was not at fault but he took the blame in order to deliver the sheep from whatever punishment his father was about to dispense on them. This is the image that Isaiah paints of what Jesus did for us. We have the tendency to stray, but Jesus paid the penalty once and for all. Now we have the gate of forgiveness opened to us but it is our responsibility to walk through the gate and receive it. Turn to John 10:14.
II. Jesus: The Good Shepherd
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:14-18)
Jesus makes it clear that He is the good shepherd and He knows His sheep and they know Him. When He was speaking this He was speaking to the Jews but He also used this moment to stress that He had other sheep (the Gentiles) that would be brought into the fold also and they would be joined together under one shepherd. As the good shepherd He started that he was laying down His life for His sheep voluntarily. He was not being made to do it, it was His own initiative. This is important. Remember when David talked to Saul before going out to face Goliath? He told Saul about the bear and lion that God had delivered him from when they had come and attacked his sheep. David said that he went after the lion and bear and delivered the sheep from them (1 Samuel 17:34-36). David was not made to do it; he chose to put his life on the line to save his sheep. This is exactly what Jesus did for us, except that He gave up His life because He was the ultimate shepherd. I told you earlier that what Jesus said about His sheep knowing His voice. In verses four and five of this chapter He says, “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow. But will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of the stranger.” (John 10:4-5) A sheep will only follow the voice of its shepherd, a stranger’s voice it will not follow. Some of us are trying to follow a stranger’s voice!
I heard a story in a song once about a son who was waiting on his father to pick him up. I do not know if the story is true or not, but it fits this example perfectly. The son’s father told him to wait for him at a certain place until he arrived to pick him up. The son arrived at the place and began to wait for his father. After a short period of time, a car pulled up, and a stranger rolled down his window and offered the son a ride, but the boy said he was waiting on his father to pick him up. The son kept waiting on his father. It started to rain, but the son kept waiting for his father. Another car pulled up and another stranger offered the boy a ride in order to get him out of the rain. The son said no that he would wait for his father. You see, this son remembered what his father had told him. His father had told him to never get in a car with a stranger no matter what and this boy listened. As he waited for his father, he heard his voice. When it started raining, he heard his father’s voice and continued to wait. Finally a car pulled up and he heard his father’s voice. He jumped up and got into his father’s car. This son refused to listen to the voice of a stranger – he waited for his father’s voice. Jesus said that His sheep would not listen to the voice of a stranger but would only follow His voice. There are times when we are tempted to follow the voice of a stranger even though we are waiting to hear the direction of our Father. When the rain starts and we are waiting for deliverance, we get tempted to yield to the voice of the stranger so that we can get out of the rain. Jesus said that His sheep know His voice and will not follow a stranger. So in the midst of my storm, I am listening for His voice. When the sun is shining, I am listening to His voice. Regardless of my situations, whether they be good or bad, I am listening for His voice. I may be hearing a lot of voices speaking, but I am listening for Jesus’ voice because only His voice will lead me in the way that I should go. Are you listening for His voice? Are you hearing His voice? Turn with me to Revelations 7:17.
“For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” (Revelations 7:17) John was speaking of a number of people that he saw in heaven that could not be counted. Earlier in the chapter he spoke of this multitude of people from every nation and tongue standing before the throne and the Lamb. This multitude that could not be numbered included both Jews and Gentiles, all those who had accepted Christ and had been washed in His blood. Verse seventeen closes with the fact that Jesus would be our shepherd and would guide us to the water of life. But I like what he said in the last part of the verse, that God will wipe every tear from our eyes. What he was saying was that before the tear could ever leave your eye, it would be removed by God. Tears form for a variety of reasons, some being happy some being angry or sad. They are the result of an emotional response to some circumstance. Well, when we are standing before the throne of God, all tears will be wiped from our eyes as we will be in the presence of God and our good shepherd!
Conclusion
JEHOVAH-ROHI, “The Lord Is My Shepherd.” Again, this name gives the understanding that the Lord provides, directs, leads, and cares for His people. God tenderly takes care of us as a strong and patient shepherd s I believe that the Lord will provide for me because He is my shepherd. I might not understand it or realize the depth of His love for me, but I know that He loves me just the same. When I am filtering out things throughout my life, I filter out all other voices but His. I seek His voice so that I can follow Him. I might not get it right every time, but my heart is turned towards my shepherd. I wait for Him and His direction. Where He leads me I will follow. I recognize my place as a sheep and His place as my Shepherd. Next time I will continue with the name JEHOVAH-RAPHA.
