Well, may it please Almighty
God to bless us together as we meditate in His Word this morning.
Well, the text that I will speak from is probably the most well-known
verse in the Bible. And I guess you all know it very
well. And it's the first verse in Psalm 23. So Psalm 23 and
verse 1, the words of David, And they are, the Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want. Well, David was a man of God. David was blessed in his life. He had many difficulties, many
trials, many temptations, left to sin very seriously, and yet
he was able to confirm that the Lord was his shepherd. And it's
a lovely picture that we have of a shepherd. We see it throughout
the world. Shepherds leading their flock. And it's a wonderful thing, therefore,
as we perhaps look and see sheep and realize there is a shepherd
looking after them naturally. So the whole Church of God have
a heavenly shepherd. And every true believer will
be able to confirm with David, the Lord is my shepherd. And so it is something all of
us need to consider. All of us need to ponder many
things you and I may think are important. but the Lord Jesus
spoke to Martha and told her one thing is needful and how
important that is. We're often taken up with the
things of time which perish and pass away but the things of eternity
will never pass away and how often we fail to realise the
vast difference between time and eternity. And yet we are
all here this morning living in time. Soon all of us will
be out of time and we will all be in eternity. And the great blessing will be
if all of us are found then with the heavenly shepherd, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, if we are to be found with
the heavenly shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, we won't arrive
in heaven as a stranger. We won't find that we come there
and We don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a real consideration. Because the truth is, as we read
and as we referred to already, those most important words of
the Saviour don't cast them aside. Recognise the relevance of them,
the truth of them, the importance of them, and they're in this 27th verse
of this 10th chapter. The Lord said, my sheep, hear
my voice. That's very true and it's very
clear. And then he says, and I know
them without doubt. The Lord knows all of his sheep,
all of his chosen ones, all of his people. The Lord knows them
and then and they follow me. So the three very clear statements,
then if the Lord is our shepherd. These words will be true of us. And the Word of God encourages
us to examine ourselves, not other people. We are to examine
ourselves as to whether we are in the faith or not. There are
many things we may examine, you young people, No doubt most of
you have taken or will take exams. And those exams are taken so
that you are examined as to how well you know the things that
you have been taught. And it's important that you pass
that examination. Well, you see, the Word of God
encourages us to examine ourselves, each one of us, I wonder if we've
ever done that. If we've ever really, as it were,
come before God, stood before God, the God who is the almighty
one, the creator of all things, and desired to know whether this
great, almighty, all-powerful God is our heavenly shepherd. And if we are therefore one of
his sheep, if we are one of his children, these things are so
important. We spend time, we spend time,
we spend time on trivial things, things which will pass away,
things will disappear. And yet, you see, the great important
thing is that all of us have this wonderful
knowledge. We know the Lord Jesus Christ
as our saviour and as a crucified saviour. You may say, well, why
is that relevant? It is relevant because we need
to know that the Lord Jesus Christ died for us. He stood in our
stead. You may ask, why is that? Because
every one of us is a sinner. And that means that every one
of us has disobeyed the commands of Almighty God. Every one of
us is guilty before God. And the Word of God tells us,
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. All of us. And the important
thing is that we know the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who
has died for us. He's bore the punishment due
to you and me. You see, the punishment for our
sin is eternity in hell. And that is the truth. The Lord
Jesus tells us in the 17th chapter of John, thy word is truth. The Bible is true. Never think
it's not. Because if we think it's not,
and think it's irrelevant, it will be to our eternal damnation.
When we stand before The judgment seat of God, which all of us
will. All of us will. And we need to know then that the Lord Jesus Christ has
died in our place. He bore the punishment instead
of us. The punishment due to you and
me because of our sins. There is no sin in heaven. No sin in heaven. It is a pure,
wonderful place. A wonderful place of peace and
eternal happiness and glory. But there's no sin. There's no
pride. There's no lust. There's nothing
that separates us from the love of God. and therefore how relevant
and important for all of us to have the great evidence that
the Lord Jesus Christ is our shepherd. To be able to say that. You see, if I was to ask you
this morning, every one of you, can you say before God, The Lord
is my shepherd. Bless God, if you can. And don't
deny it, if you can. The devil is a great tempter.
The devil is a liar from the beginning. He always has been.
Never listen to what the devil says. But the great thing is
to have the evidence. The Lord is my shepherd. And to know, therefore, the Lord
Jesus Christ has died in our place. Now, we will have the
evidence of this in our hearts. It won't be something which is
just void, because the Holy Spirit works in the souls of all of
his children. And we're thankful to be here
today. and to know that the Lord has worked in the heart of Lydia
and Joshua quite differently. My friends,
the Lord works in every soul, every soul, differently. But you see, there
is a common vein that runs through
the spiritual life of every true believer. And it's a very important
test for every one of us. And it's summed up in a very
simple phrase. To know ourselves as a perishing
sinner. And to know the Lord Jesus as
a precious and glorious savior. It's two very simple statements,
isn't it? But every true believer knows that before they pass out
of time into eternity. We know ourselves before a holy
God as one who has offended the law of God and sinned and come
short and deserve eternal punishment. And then to be found having fled
to the Saviour to receive the glorious gift of eternal life,
and to therefore have the evidence that we are one of his children. And so to be able to say this
morning, the Lord is my shepherd. And if we are, we should have
known that this great and glorious King of Kings, yes, he comes
as shepherd, but he's the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
the ruler of the universe, to think that he has come and
looked upon you and looked upon me as an individual. Your real religion is individual.
You and I can't go to heaven on someone else's religion. It's
the personal work of the Holy Spirit into
our heart. which convinces us of our lost
and ruined state and directs us to the glorious salvation,
which is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we are
able to come and say, the Lord is my salvation. He is the one in whom is all
my hope. Well, my friends, what an important
thing it is, therefore, to be able to trace out that this Lord
is my shepherd. Now, the Lord then speaks to
his people. He calls us. He calls us. He calls us. To alert us to our
condition and our situation. And again, I can't tell. Only
you can tell. where the God has called you. And you know, if the Lord has
called you, you will be able to testify this. And you hath
he quickened, that means made spiritually alive, who were dead,
spiritually dead, in trespasses and in sins. The unbeliever knows
nothing spiritual. He may think they do, but they
don't, because they don't realise the glorious work of the Holy
Spirit in the soul, which changes us. We're a changed person. We're a new creature. A new creature. Because we possess the great
and wonderful gift of eternal life, the light of the Gospel,
has shone into our heart. Oh, this morning, do you know
this shepherd who shines the light of the gospel into our
heart? The Lord is my shepherd. How many people today count the
things of God of little consequence, don't want to worship The great
God. Don't want to bow down before
the almighty ruler of the universe. No, they want to please themselves. My friends, you and I will please
ourselves, if we like, for a mere few years, and then eternity. And then eternity. Let us not
forget the great and important consideration. Eternity. I have said sometimes to our
young people here and to other places where I've preached, and
I just say it again. You may remember I was a very
godly preacher in the 19th century, Robert Murray McShane. And he was greatly blessed in
his preaching. And hundreds or perhaps thousands
were converted under him. He died when he was 29. He wasn't
an old man. But he had a great view of the
value of a soul and of eternity. And he ministered at the church
in Dundee in Scotland. And he had placed outside, I
think it was outside the doors leading into the church, a stone,
a large stone. And on the stone was inscribed
just one word. Well, I wonder if you can guess
what that word was. Well, that one word was eternity. What it meant was everyone who
went into that church passed over this stone and saw this
word eternity. Well, when you come to worship,
when you come to worship, do you worship for eternity? You see, there was a stark reminder. And it's good for all of us as
we come to worship. And I hope we all come to worship. There's many here I don't really
know. But I hope you do go to worship. And I hope you do go
to worship for the benefit of your soul. To hear what the Heavenly Shepherd
has to say to you in directing you and leading you as you travel
on through this life. And may it be you travel on to
your eternal home. And may that eternal home be
in glory with the Saviour. Won't it be a wonderful blessing
if it is? and a wonderful favour if it
is. And may we all be found indeed
journeying in this right way and hear then the words of this
heavenly shepherd. Again, let me revert to that
question. Have you heard the voice of Jesus? Has he called you? Has he spoken
to you? Well, the apostle Paul tells
us he was called by the grace of God. You see, you and I don't
deserve anything because we've sinned, because we turned our
back upon God. We don't deserve any mercy. But
what a wonderful thing it is if the Lord has mercy upon us
and he does call us And he does speak to us. And we do have the
evidence of that voice in our hearts so that we can come and
say, I know whom I have believed. Sometimes people seem to be afraid
to speak with a humble confidence. But yet, if the Lord has come
and has spoken to us, we should not deny it. We should acknowledge
The great God has looked upon me. The Lord hasn't dealt with
me as my sins deserve, but in love to my soul. Just think of
that. The love of God, the love of
God, the great God condescends to look upon us unworthy sinners
of the earth. And it's because he's loved us. with an everlasting love. Once
the Lord has set His love upon us, He loves us always. He will never remove that love,
never remove it. Well again, is the Lord our Shepherd? Has He shown us something of
His love toward us? Can you say this morning, by
the grace of God, yes, He has loved me, unworthy sinner, loved me with an everlasting
love. It's a very wonderful truth. It's a very humbling truth to
think that God, again, let's not lose sight of the greatness
of God, the creator of all things, the root of all things, whoever
was and is and ever will be. A truth that our minds cannot
assimilate. God is so great and yet to think
this great God has looked upon us. He's known where we were
from the second that we were born. He knows where you are
this morning. He knows you're here. He knows
you're listening to the gospel. And what a blessing, therefore,
if you're able to come and say, yes, by the grace of God, I believe
the Lord is my shepherd. Oh, the grace of God. Isn't it
a wonderful truth? A free, unmerited favour. You could never stand and say,
I'm a good person, I deserve God's notice. None of us deserve
God's notice at all. That's why John Newton wrote
that beautiful hymn, Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. It is grace that's made me free. Well, no doubt you've all sung
that. So many people in the world.
What a blessing if it's true of you and me. If we can join
hands with John Newton. Naturally, he was a wild and
a bad man. But you see, no one is too bad. No one is too wild because the Good
Shepherd knows where they are. And the Good Shepherd goes after
them. Yes, remember the wonderful account
or the parable the Lord Jesus spoke When he was on the earth,
he spoke about the sheep and the flock of sheep. And he left
the 99 and went after the one that had gone away, wandered away. The good news is we can't go beyond the sight
of Almighty God. Yes, well, the Lord went after
that one sheep, found that sheep, put the sheep on his shoulders,
carried him back. Oh, the mercy of God. Oh, the
love of God. It's wonderful, therefore, to
be able to meditate, to be able to contemplate the great and
wonderful truths that we have contained in the Word of God. Well, the Lord is my shepherd. Let me ask you a question. Do you read the Bible? I guess
you would probably, probably everyone here would say yes,
they read the Bible. Why do you read the Bible? Why
do you read the Bible? Do you read the Bible because
you believe it to be the Word of God? Or do you just read it
perhaps to satisfy your conscience and think you're getting some
ticks in heaven because you're doing this? Well, you want to
read it because You love to read it and because it describes to
you what this heavenly shepherd does and is doing. You want to
be able to trace out your life, your spiritual life in the words
of the word of God, the Bible. The Bible is so complete. It describes the spiritual position
of every true believer. Every true believer. You will
be able to find a description of your spiritual life. You might
need to read it hard and long. You'll find it. Because the word
of God tells us, seek and you shall find. Never give up. Remember, we all
have a great adversary who doesn't want us to know the Lord is our
shepherd. Well, don't forget the devil
has always been a liar from the very beginning in the creation
of the world when he tempted Eve and Adam in the Garden of
Eden. And he posed that question, hath
God said? Yes, a temptation. And of course,
poor old Eve, she was taken in by his cunning. My friends, let
us not be taken in by his cunning. Let us seek unto the Lord in
a time when he may be found. And so let us not
pass over these great and important things. We read together in this
10th chapter about the Lord. He put forth his own sheep and
goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. And the sheep follow
him. Is the Lord Jesus going before
you today? Do you see Him? He sets before
us a wonderful and glorious example. And as we're told, He pleased
not Himself. He pleased His Father. He came
into this world to do His Father's will. He didn't fail. My friends, today are you and
I doing the will of our Heavenly Shepherd. Be honest. Don't pretend. Don't be fooled
by the devil, who may try and convince you, well, you're okay,
you know, you can carry on doing all those things, or these things,
and you'll be alright. Don't listen to the devil. Listen
to the Word of God. Listen to the truth of God. Listen
to the warnings which are given to us in the Word of God. What a mercy it is then if we
have and know this heavenly shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. And
then the last clause says, I shall not want. I shall not want. And we can place that really
in an eternal context. You might not receive all the
things you want in this life. Well, it doesn't matter. But
it does matter if you don't receive eternal blessings. And so what
a favour it is if you believe this truth. I shall not want. And you will believe it if you
have the evidence. The Lord is your shepherd. And that heavenly shepherd, the
savior is directing you and leading you. Remember, he goes before. We're told he led them forth
by the right way. They might go to a city habitation yes my friends God
makes no mistakes it may be a difficult journey on this earth in actual
fact I could probably say it will be a difficult journey because
the Lord Jesus tells us it is through much tribulation that
we should inherit the kingdom but be of good cheer I have overcome
the world And there is therefore that wonderful and glorious inheritance
which is set before all the sheep of Christ. It's not something
that you and I work for. An inheritance is given. We don't work for it, we're given
it. And so it is with regards to
the great gift of eternal life. The inheritance which is incorruptible
and undefiled and that fadeth not away and then those wonderful
words reserved in heaven for you well what a
blessing it is today if we are the sheep of Christ and if we
are there is a place reserved in heaven for each one who is
called by His grace, a place that cannot be removed. It's
reserved. It's wonderful, isn't it? But the vital thing is that we
have a place. And we will have a place if we
have the evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ is our shepherd. If he's our shepherd, you know,
we will realise the wonderful favour that he died upon that
cross at Calvary to redeem our souls, to pay the price. And the price was the price of
blood. Without shedding of blood, there's
no forgiveness. There's no remission. Christ
Jesus shed his most precious blood. How valuable it is! And
you need to recognise it with regard to eternity and to realise
it's through the precious blood of the Saviour that we are delivered
from spending eternity in hell. Well, may we be found amongst
those who truly desire to praise God from whom all blessings flow. We shall sing that after the
baptisms and it's a good thing to sing and I hope you and I
can sing it from our heart. You've probably sung it many
times and it's never meant anything to you what a blessing it is
if now it does mean something and you can so bless the Lord
my soul Let all within rejoin. Yes, bless the Lord. Well, the
Lord knows, my friends, where we all are here today. We've
gathered here on this occasion. May it not just be for the occasion,
but may it be the Lord God has come and graciously favoured
us with his presence and blessing so that we may have come With
no desire may we go away with a hunger
and thirst after righteousness. This glorious shepherd is referred
to in Hebrews as a great shepherd. Is he a great shepherd to you
and me? In Peter, as the chief shepherd, Again, is he your or
my chief shepherd? Be a blessing if he is. And then
in this chapter that we read, refers to him as the good shepherd. What think ye of Christ is the
test. What do you think of him this
morning? If you're asked to write down what you thought of Christ,
what would you say? What would you say? Would you
be able to say, truthfully, he is the one thing needful. I, without him, perish must. Well, the things of God are the
most important. The knowledge of Christ is more
precious than gold. You may be seeking after gold.
You may be seeking after the things of time. They will vanish. They will pass away. But the
knowledge of Christ, the personal knowledge of this heavenly shepherd will stand forever. It will be
a strength in time. It will be with you in eternity. Well, may the Lord graciously
condescend to come and to bless us indeed and remember these
simple words. It couldn't be more simple, could
it? The Lord is my shepherd.