THE GOOD SHEPHERD – Part 2
First Baptist Church of Tawas City Michigan
Rev. Bruce A. Shields
www.TawasBaptist.org
• Psalm 23
1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4Yea, 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.
5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
PRAYER
Last week we had Abel, the missionary from Italy here to speak, but the week before we talked about the 23 Psalm.
1. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
As you know, David himself was a shepherd. He was known as the “Shepherd King” of Israel. But he saw the Lord, God of Israel, as his Shepherd.
2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
It’s not easy to make a sheep lie down.
For a sheep to lie down, the fowling is a must;
1. They must be free from all fear.
Like sheep, we also are easily frightened. We live in an uncertain life. Any hour can bring disaster.
But nothing quiets our souls like knowing our Shepherd is near.
• Our Lord is with us;
Romans 8:15
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
We are to have peace and assurance in our Shepherd.
He leads us beside still waters.
Sheep will not drink from noisy, turbulent water. They require a well or slow-flowing stream.
Jesus made it clear that the thirsty souls of men and women can only be fully satisfied by coming to Him.
3. He restoreth my soul.
We stumble, we fall, we become helpless in our lives. And yet our shepherd is patient and tender and helpful in getting us back on our feet.
God’s grace is NOT God’s approval.
Our shepherd wants to restore us.
Restore us to what?
Restore us to a relation ship with our Father in heaven.
4. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
If sheep are left to themselves, they will continue to graze on the same hill until it is a desert.
We are like the sheep, we prefer to follow our own fancies and turn to our own ways.
• Isaiah 53:6
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
But we are not left alone to our own way, because the Lord has shown us the path of righteousness.
He leads us as any great shepherd would, though example.
• 1 Peter 2:21
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.”
Follow our shepherd’s steps, as He leads us in the way we should go.
That way is narrow, and can seem treacherous.
5. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.
There are going to be valley’s in our lives. Some have many, some have few, but we all have them.
And we all have the shadow of death looming over us for we all must one day die.
This brings us to the second hale of the 23 Psalm today.
6. They rod and thy staff they comfort me.
A rod was a type of club. It was used for fending off predators like coyotes, wolves, cougars. In the brush it was used to beat away snakes.
But it was also used for discipline. If a sheep wonders away or gets too close to some danger, the rod is thrown to send the sheep back to the flock.
Remember a couple weeks ago, we read the scriptures about how the Lord disciplines those He loves.
• If He didn’t love us, he would allow us to do what ever we wanted and bring ourselves harm.
But this is not the case, when the Lord sees us heading in a direction other than His path of safety and righteousness, His discipline comes like that from a father to a child.
There is comfort in His rod which can strike at the wolves and snakes in our lives.
Remember we are warned that the devil is right now roaming as a lion LOOKING for whom he may devour or destroy.
Our shepherd is ready for him!
Our shepherd has already crushed that snakes head when He went to the cross!
What does the head represent? Power and authority, Satan had power and authority over the world when Adam sinned. But because the price for that sin was paid, Christ has the power and authority; He holds even the keys to hell!
We will fear no evil, because He is with us.
We will fear no evil, because we know our destination.
We will fear no evil because our shepherd is watching over us with His rod and staff.
The staff is not like the rod.
The staff was a long slender stick often with a hook on one end.
The shepherd would use the staff to guide sheep along a new path or through a gate.
He uses it to gently nudge the sheep along.
At times the hook may be used to pull the sheep out of trouble.
How appropriate for us and the Lord.
How many times in our walk with the Lord has He used the staff, or the Holy Spirit, to guide us, or nudge us through the narrow path? Even pulling us out of trouble we may have found ourselves in during our walk.
Those who are God’s sheep, the authority, power, might and guidance of the Lord are indeed a comfort.
7. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
David makes it clear that the Lord has prepared a pastureland.
In the spring, after the snows melt, the shepherd will take his sheep up the mountain to finer pastures. But first he will go up into the rough, wild country to check it out.
He will take along a supply of salt and minerals and distribute it over the range. He will decide where his camps will be located. He will make sure the vegetation is sturdy enough. He will check for poisonous weeds and uncover any snakes.
Our Lord does this for us. He has gone ahead of us, and prepared a way for us.
He has created a narrow path through the whiles of this sin filled life.
A path that He has cleared so that we may reach the table that He has prepared for us, as our enemy watches helpless.
Our shepherd has known our sorrows and endured our struggles in order to help us through.
God has made a way, when there seems to be no way.
8. Thou anointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.
A problem that sheep have is insects… flies, mosquitoes, gnats, etc…
So in the beginning of the season, shepherds would mix oils and apply them to the heads of the sheep to keep the insects away.
Oil was also used to cure scab, which is a highly contagious disease among sheep.
He anoints our heads with oil, like annoying little flies, sometimes thoughts, or sins make their way to us, surrounding our heads until they can land on us, and give us a disease.
A deadly disease, and sin just like sickness, if not dealt with grows and festers in our lives.
But our shepherd anoints our heads with oil, fighting off the flies and sickness in our lives.
Another way Our Lord takes care of us.
9. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
The sheep with a shepherd like this KNOWS they they are in a privileged position.
Our Lord truly cares for us as a good shepherd.
No matter what else may happen, we know that goodness and mercy will follow us.
And we are content in our flock and in our shepherd that there is no desire for anything else!
Like the little girl said in Sunday school, “The Lord is my Shepherd, and that’s all that I want.”
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!
The Lord desires to be our shepherd.
He wants to bless us.
He wants to care for us.
But Jesus has never hesitated to make it clear that when we come under His management and control, there would be a new and unique relationship between Him and us.
There would be something special about belonging to this shepherd.
There would be a distinct mark upon the man or woman that would make them different from the rest of the sheep.
When a shepherd would buy sheep in the old day, he would take his knife and notch the sheep’s ear, so even at a distance he would recognize his sheep.
For those who recognize the claim of Christ and gives allegiance to His absolute ownership, there comes the question of bearing His mark of ownership.
The mark is crucifying your flesh daily.
The mark of Jesus is the cross; Jesus told us;
“If any man would be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Are you distinct from the other sheep in this world?
Is your shepherd, your owner the Christ who leads you and protects you?
When people see you, can they tell who you belong to?
It’s a sad fact, but true.
Many people have never submitted themselves, their lives to Christ in obedience and still try to claim that “the Lord is my shepherd.”
They seem to believe that by merely admitting that He is their shepherd, they will enjoy all the benefits of His care without ever being marked. Not so.
The Lord is my shepherd. What a difference that little word “my” makes.
It is all the difference between joy and sorrow, purpose filled life and meaningless life, eternal life with the Lord or eternal life in hell.
I had someone tell me once that they don’t believe in hell. You may not believe in trains either, but when you stand in the way of one, there will come a point in time where you will realize that what you believe has no bearing on reality.
You can know the Psalm, but do you know the shepherd?
We are going to close now with music, if you would like to have the Elders pray for you, come forward.
If the Lord is calling you forward today, even if you’re not completely sure why, come forward and let us pray for you.
I want to close with;
Isaiah 49:15b-16
“I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, just as the tribes of Israel were engraved on stones and fastened to the ephod of the high priest as a memorial before the Lord.”
