This morning, I've entitled this,
The Provisions of the Shepherd for the Sheep. The Provisions
of the Shepherd for the Sheep. This psalm is probably one of
the most well-known psalms in all of Scripture. The Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want him. He maketh me to lie down
in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restored my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake. Yea, 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. Thou preparest the table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. This psalm, as I said, is probably
one of the most well-known psalms there is. Every time you turn
around, you get a birthday card, or you get a get well card, or
you see it on Facebook a hundred thousand times. this Psalm, the
Shepherd's Psalm, Psalm 23. You see it all the places, everywhere
you go. In most churches, they consider
this to be a prayer. You'll see that most churches
will have this and they will begin to recite this as some
form of prayer. I tell you, this is most likely
being one of the most well-known passages of Scripture. It's most
likely the most misunderstood, the most misused passages of
Scripture in all the Bible. First of all, I want you to see
this is not a prayer. This is not David asking the
Lord to be his shepherd, is it? David said what? The Lord is
my shepherd. This is not a psalm asking for
contentment. This is a psalm praising God
for contentment. I shall not want. It's not a prayer to make us.
He makes us to lie down and read pastors. He leads us beside us.
This is certain. I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. It's not a prayer asking. This
is a prayer of thanksgiving, of praise and honor to Christ
our shepherd. David, by his own experience
as a shepherd, clearly understood what this psalm means. He was himself a shepherd. But I want you to know that because
David was a shepherd, that's not the reason he wrote this
psalm. He may have understood a little bit better what it means
to be a shepherd than we do. He could have been a fisherman
and wrote this psalm. Why? This title of Shepherd was
not something David came up with as he was in the fields watching
sheep. This was a title that God gave His Son many, many years
before David. So there are two things that
I want us to see before we enter in. I'm going to show you two
things. First of all, the shepherd and the sheep. Who is the shepherd
in this psalm and who are the sheep? Necessary. If this is
not written to you, then it's not your psalm. If you're not
a sheep, the Lord is not your shepherd. And this psalm is not
for you. So who is the shepherd? Who are
the sheep? And the second thing I wanted
to see are the provisions that the shepherd makes for the sheep. Things the shepherd does so as
to sustain and keep his sheep in safety with him. Who is the Shepherd? This is
easily answered. It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Shepherd is Jesus Christ. Now, go back to Genesis chapter
49. Go back to Genesis 49. Look at verse 22. This is Jacob. At the end of his life, he is
prophesying concerning his sons. really is prophesying concerning
Christ. And look at verse 22. He says, Joseph. I want you to
know Joseph here is a picture of Jesus Christ, is he not? Joseph
was abused, Joseph was persecuted, Joseph was, by all pretense,
before Jacob killed, and yet, what, he rose to deliver his
people. Deliver Jacob, that's exactly
what Christ is. Joseph is a fruitful bough. The
word bough means son. He's a fruitful son. Even a fruitful
son by a well, whose branches run over the wall. Is that not Christ? He is a fruitful
son. He is a successful son. He is
a faithful son of God to do the work of God. He is a son by a
whale, a fruitful son whose fruit, whose sons that he produces shall
go over the wall. There'll be abundant production
of sons. How shall he make sons? The archers
have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. Isn't that
what they did to Christ? They shot at Him with the arrows
of their mouths. They hated Him without a cause. And listen, they grieved Him
when they crucified Him. What is the result of this? But
His bow aboded strength. and the arms of his hands were
made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Listen,
from thence is the shepherd the stone of Israel, Christ. Joseph is a picture of Christ
in that he saved Jacob, but Jacob was the one from whom God would
send the shepherd, the anti-type of Joseph. stone, rock of Israel. See how
Isaiah described it. Go to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah
chapter 40 and verse 10. Isaiah is describing the God
of all the earth. He sits upon the circle of the
earth, the God of creation. He says, Behold, the Lord God
will come with a strong hand and his arm shall move for him. Who is that? Christ. Christ is
the arm of his strength. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. What was his work? His work was
salvation. His work was to save his people.
Here is his work. Verse 11. He shall feed his flock
like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom. He shall gently lead those
with young. What is this? But the offering
of his body to feed us. Isn't that the food of all God's
sheep? His body. He said, my flesh and
my blood are meat and drink indeed. This is what the shepherd feeds
his sheep with, his body. He offered himself a sacrifice
for sins, for his sheep. And then what does he do? He
says, I will gather them. Isn't that what he done when
he called us? He gathered us. called us into the fold. We heard
his voice and we came. And what does he do? He carries
us in his bosom. Isn't that a good thought? Isn't
that a beautiful picture of a shepherd carrying the lamb, not on his
shoulders, but in his bosom? Holding it, embracing it, loving
it, all the way home. That's a picture of what Jesus
said. If a man had lost a sheep, had
a hundred sheep and lost one, does he not leave the ninety
and nine, and go into the wilderness and find that one that was lost?
And when he hath found it, he beareth it on his shoulders,
and carrieth it home." This morning, Jesus Christ is carrying His
sheep. He's bearing the sole responsibility
for the salvation of all those that the Father gave him. He, listen, he is the shepherd. He alone. No other shepherd. Everyone else is in hiring. No one can save or love the sheep
like he can. He is the shepherd. Go to John
chapter 10. You've seen Jesus telling us
this in His own words. John chapter 10. What did Jesus
say about Himself in verse 11? He said, I am the Good Shepherd. What's the evidence of Him being
the Good Shepherd? The Good Shepherd given His life
were the sheep. But he that is an hireling is
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf
coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because
he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd. And you listen, I know my sheep, and have known of mine. He is the good shepherd. Good
shepherd. Behold the goodness of his work,
he giveth his life for the sheep. Now why was this necessary? Because
Isaiah said, we all like sheep have gone astray and turned everyone
to his own way. We have sinned against God. We were born in the corruptible
seed and nature of Adam, born in rebellion and our nature.
We could not and would not be restored unto God. So far had our sin removed us
from God that there was no hope of heaven. I wish that God would convey
this to everyone here. that there is no amount of work
in religion or morality that could bring you to God. Whole religions are built on
this. Whole so-called Christian religions
are built on this. They may be built on one work
or ten million works, But anyone that is built on the work of
man, the will of man, is not the gospel. That is not the gospel. No, we by nature could by no
means restore ourselves to God. So far were we removed. No exercise
of religion, reformation of morality, no works of righteousness we
could ever perform could reconcile. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh No flesh be justified in the sight of God. And what
does that mean? That means no one. But I'm really trying. Preacher,
I'm really trying. No one shall be justified by
trying. No amount of sincere effort can
bring you to God. Not one. Therefore God sending
His Son in the likeness of sinful faith and for sin, what did He
do? He condemned sin in the flesh
of His Son. If you want to know what God
thinks of sin, you look at the cross and see what He did to
His Son. What do you suppose He'll do to you? Jesus Christ, knowing the ruin
of his sheep, the lost condition of his sheep, what did he do? How great was his love for them? He laid down his life, willingly. No man taketh my life from me. Can you imagine that? This was
not a necessity. He did not do this because you
earned it. He did not do this because you
merit it. Nothing moved Christ to lay down
his life except his love. Except his own sovereign will
and decree of the Father. Lay down his life for the sheep. Because He laid down His life
for the sheep, the Father loveth Him. The Father hath accepted
His offering and raised Him from the dead to testify to everyone. To testify to everyone! To everyone! That God was satisfied with that
man's offering. If you want to know the only
person God was happy with, it's Christ. He's the only one that
God testified to. That's my Son. That's my beloved
Son. Here he is. No one else God said
that to. No one. God says I approve of
his offering. And like a good shepherd, he
swears to gather in all his sheep. Look at John 10 verse 15. As
the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I laid
down my life for the sheep. Of the sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, them I also, what? You see, a good shepherd must
bring all his sheep or he is not a good shepherd. He is not a good shepherd if
he doesn't bring all his sheep. Any Christ that does not save
all his sheep is not Christ. I want you to understand that.
That's important to understand because that's part of being
Christ. In order to be Christ, you must
save Israel, all Israel, all your people. And so Jesus Christ, as the shepherd,
said, look, I must bring all of them. And this is how. They shall hear my voice. And
there shall be one fold and one shepherd. I love the way he talks. I love the way he talks. He talks
in certain ways. Christ never talked in vague
terms. He always used certain terms. We can hardly ever do that, can't
we? Somebody asks you to do something, I'll be there. You sound certain. But you know this, you're subject
to many obstacles. that you may not be able to overcome.
So what do we really say? What do we say when I will be
there? We're saying, I want to be there, I hope to be there,
I might be there if everything doesn't fall in on me at once.
Jesus never says that. He says, I must bring them and
I shall bring them and there shall be one fold and there shall
be how many shepherds? One shepherd. They shall all go to him. Now,
who are his sheep? Well, simply, they are the ones
that hear his voice. Now, what he said, my sheep shall
hear my voice. I will bring them. They shall
hear my voice. Understand, all the sheep by
nature naturally cannot hear. By nature, every sheep is dead. Every sheep is dead. by nature,
just like every goat. There is no difference. You could
not pick them out at all. You couldn't separate the one
from the other. They were all bucking. They were
all kicking. They were all wounded. They're
all afraid. They're all dead. Have no life to come. How many
times did we hear the gospel say come and we didn't come?
How many times? Why is it that you did not come
before? Because you could not come before.
You had no ability to come. But I know this, everyone he
called will come. Why? Because with his word is
power. With his word is power. You got
that? With my word, it's no power. But when his word comes, there's
power. The shepherd's word has power.
He said this, he that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me hath everlasting life. Have you heard his word? That's important. Because listen,
I'm going to give you some provisions of these sheep and you cannot
have any of these unless you hear his voice. None of these
belong to you except you hear his voice. In that same chapter in John
10, there were many that did not believe Him. Look at verse
25. Jesus answered, verse 24. And came the Jews round about
Him and said to Him, How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If
Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, What? I told you. When He said, I'm the shepherd,
they knew exactly what He was saying. I'm the Christ. The Christ
and the Shepherd are the same thing in prophecy of the Old
Testament. I've just showed you two examples.
There are plenty other examples. They knew this. I told you, but
you don't believe me. You believe not. Now, he's even going to give
them the reason why they don't believe. Here it is. Because you are not of my sheep. You got that? Religion has it
backwards. Religion thinks that you can
be a goat one minute and a sheep the next. That somehow your faith
transforms you into a sheep. No. If you're a goat, you'll
always be a goat. And this is the proof you're
a goat. You will not believe. That's just proof that you are.
I didn't make you a goat because you don't believe. It's just
proof. And you go on not believing. It is proven that you're just
a goat. That's why you don't believe.
But if you do believe, what is that proof of? That proves that
you are His sheep. Now, our belief did not make
us His sheep. Remember, we were given to Him.
His sheep was given to Him. He said they are whose sheep?
My sheep. He said, I know who? My sheep. Those sheep the Father had given
Him. Those were His sheep. And what
is this? How do we know if we're His sheep?
If you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have heard
His voice, this is the only evidence you're a sheep. You believe on Him. Do you believe on Him? Then I've
got some good things for you. You, you stupid animals! Sheep are the dumbest animals
in the world. That's a perfect picture of God's
people. We don't know anything like we
ought to know. Even after God has called us,
even after He's saved us, we surely, I think, I get stupid
as I go along. Because, I mean, you figure I
learn as I go along, and I just seem to not learn so much. That's
all right. My salvation is not dependent
upon my learning. It's dependent upon my shepherding.
So as a shepherd, I want you to see what He has given us.
He has given us many things. Look at this. Go back to your
text in Psalm 23. Now this is just for the sheep.
So I want you to hear it. I've got several things here
I want you to see. First of all, the shepherd feeds his sheep
and nourishes their soul. That first one. He maketh me
to lie down in green pasture. That's not where he found us,
was it? Where did he find you? He found you in the desert. He
found you in a place of a barren wilderness, where there was no
food, that could produce no food, that could provide no life or
sustenance for your soul. And then what did he do? He gathered
you in his arms, he brought you to himself, and he made you to
rest in him. He puts you in a field of plenty. See the picture of the little
lamb sitting in a pasture full of green. Full of green. What a joyful picture. that that
lamb will never starve or lack food. He said it. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. What shall you not want for food? What is the food of God's people? It is the body and blood of Christ.
I'm not talking about crackers and wine. That's not what I'm
talking about. That's not what the scripture
says. Jesus said, My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is
drink indeed. He that believeth on me shall
never hunger and never thirst. Faith is eating the flesh and
drinking the blood of Christ. It is to believe on him. It is
a spiritual word, not a carnal word. And so what is our daily
substance should be? How many times do you need to
be reminded of His blood and righteousness? How many times
do you need to eat? How many times are you in trouble?
How many times do you hunger to know if you're His or not? Eat and taste and see that what? The Lord is good. You know that what John says
is, many have received him. The word means to literally take
into oneself, to receive. As you would drink a glass of
water, that is to receive the water. To receive Christ is to
take him wholly in. Anyone who's done that understands
that's the will of God that did that. Gave us the thirst, that
gave us the hunger, and He makes us. Secondly, we shall not lack
peace. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. Now, I'm not a shepherd. I can
only read about sheep and understand by what other men have said,
and this was something that stuck with me. That sheep are very
timid and scared animals. That if they were to come along
to a running stream of water that they would not drink. The
water has to be still. Believer, are we not often fearful
like this? Are we not so prone to forget
the love and offering of our shepherd? So prone to fear that
he will leave us? That he who begun this good work
leaves it to us to finish? Don't you ever feel that fear? But listen, no matter where you
are, no matter what storm you're facing, no matter how troubled
the waters are, don't you know that there are
some things that God cannot do? God cannot lie. He cannot fail. He cannot be deceived. And you listen to this. He cannot
forsake you. Why? He cannot deny himself.
How many times have you been found without faith? Now listen,
if you fear, it's because you have no faith, or little faith.
Most of the time we realize this. Immediately when we fear, there
is no faith. When we are in the midst of the
storms, our faith begins to diminish. But listen, God cannot deny Himself. What does God want? He wants
you. What God wants, God gets. He cannot deny Himself. Therefore, when we come to these
streams, what does God do for us? He steals the water. Now, this is not literal. This
is physical. He did that in that sea of Galilee.
You remember, he did that for his disciples. They came out
and they were scared to death. They were about to die. They
had done everything they could to stay alive. And Christ was
asleep. And they ran back and they said,
Don't you care? What kind of attitude was that
toward Christ? Don't you care? We're going to
die, don't you care that we perish? Jesus said, how in the world
is it that you have no faith? Now listen, they would have made
it just the same if they had just left him alone. They would
have made it just the same. Why? Because Christ was in the
ship. That ship wasn't going down. You put all the water in
the world on top of it. It wouldn't go down. Christ was
in the ship. Listen, you put all the suffering
on top of you that this world can put on you and the ship will
not fail because Christ is in it. Christ is in you. Doesn't
that calm the waters? Doesn't that settle every sea? It should. It calms the waters. He often
leads us by this deal of water, doesn't he? calms our souls,
so that we are then able to what? Drink of evil. To be refreshed. Now look at this third thing.
He restores my soul. He restores my soul. When Adam
lost everything, and when Adam sinned, what did he do? He lost
everything. We lost everything. There was nothing left for us,
no inheritance for us, but damnation. There was nothing left. He spent
it all. But along comes the Shepherd
and He restores what He didn't take away. He restored everything
Adam lost. And I'll tell you this, when
He came into our soul, He gave us a new spirit. He restored the new nature in
us. And that is a constant refreshment
to us, isn't it? And this, by God and by the new
nature, He restores us, He refreshes us, He strengthens us by this,
leading us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Oh, don't
you get it? That our salvation is by the
faith of Jesus Christ. That our righteousness comes
by the faith of Christ, not by your faith, His faith. And our
faith just simply receives what He has, what He's obtained. And I want you to know that He doesn't save us for your sake.
He doesn't save us for our sake. He leads us in the paths of righteousness
for His own name's sake. This is how you know your salvation
is secure. Because God did it for Himself. If He did it for Himself, He
won't fail to do it. If He did it for you, then surely
you don't deserve it. But He did it for Himself. He
said, I do not this for your sake, but for my own name's sake. Our righteousness was decreed
by the Father. Our righteousness was obtained
by the Son. Our righteousness was imputed by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, all our days He leads us in the same paths of righteousness
for His name's sake. Number four, He provides for
the sheep. We don't lack the presence of
our shepherd. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Thou
art with me. Oh, here's one for you. Don't
you know that He will never leave you? Because your believer in Christ
does not exempt you from any trouble. I know the pride of flesh comes
up and says, why me? But we should abase ourselves
before God and understand that any trouble we are not exempt
from, His prophets suffered greatly
for the cause of Christ. They died in the name of Christ. They suffered hunger and thirst
and they died. But you can be sure of this,
God was with them. This shepherd never leaves you
for sanction. This is His provision for you.
that I will never leave you, not even when death comes. Yea, though I walk through the
valleys... This is the worst, isn't it? I imagine that this
is the worst. Not death itself, but rather
going through to death. Coming to the door of death.
Coming to the shores of death is the worst. He said, even in
that moment, I will never leave you or forsake you. My shepherd
is with me no matter what, no matter what. Isaiah 41, 10, fear
not, I am with you. Be not dismayed, I am thy God,
I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will
uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Number five,
revision number five. is the provision of the rod and
the staff. He said, by rod and by staff
they comfort me. This thing of the rod and staff,
I had to study these two, I don't know anything about it. It's
the same stick with two ends. The straight end is the rod,
the curved end is the staff. And they have two different functions.
The rod on the end does several things. First of all, when the
shepherd is counting his sheep, he smacks them with the rod.
He marks them with his rod and brings them through. He counts
them in. Isn't that what he did when he counted us in? He brought
us to our knees. He smacked us with the rod and
brought us to our knees. And we come under his rod. We
come under subjection to him. And then, through faith, we are
counted as one of his sheep. Good rod, isn't it? that brought
you in and submitted you to his will. Then the second purpose
of the rod is correction. Correction. Paul said this, despise
not the chastening of the Lord. Why? Because he only chastens
sons. The rod in chastisement is only
for the sheep. I read this as well. If a sheep
were to go astray and keep going astray and keep going astray,
the shepherd would take the rod and he would break the leg of
the sheep. That sounds cruel, but it's not cruel at all, because
then the shepherd in love binds the leg and carries the sheep. Don't you see that now all the
weight is on the shepherd? Yes, it hurt the sheep for a
moment, but yet it's the shepherd who bears all the weight, it's
the shepherd who bears the responsibility of the sheep. So he carries the
sheep around until he's able to walk again. What a picture
of us. We're often straight. We often
go astray. It is then the chastening rod
comes in and corrects us and breaks us and yet he binds us
so as to do what? Draw us closer. Now you're troubled. I want you to know what it's
for. It's to draw you closer to him. You feel as though he
is breaking you, destroying you, but it's not. He is binding you
and drawing you closer to Him to show you who's bearing the
responsibility here. Not you, it's Christ. As a good
shepherd, He does that. And that rod is used, the third
thing, it is to kill our enemies. Scripture, He is said to be the
one who has a rod of iron. When He strikes on the enemies,
it's not to chase them, it's to kill them. And then that staff,
That staff is meant to, as a curved end, it's meant to guide the
sheep, to keep them in the way. When a sheep gets too far in
front, the shepherd uses the hook and draws him back behind. How many times have you gone
ahead of Christ? Run ahead like you know what you're doing. You've
been following for so long and you feel confident. You said, I, I can do this. And how gently the shepherd hooks
you and draws you back by providences and graces. What a shepherd we
have. And the sixth thing is he prepares a table in the presence
of our enemies. You know, Jesus said, I pray,
Father, that you don't take them out of the world, but that you
keep them from the evil one. I thought this would be a very
curious picture. The shepherd brings his sheep in the middle
of the den of wolves. And he sets, he lays them down. It is though the shepherd is
daring anyone that touches them. They want to. See the wolves salivating. Easy picking. Are we easy targets? We're not even to defend ourselves.
We can't defend. Sheep cannot defend themselves.
You know what the defensive mechanism of a sheep is? Play David. Can't
do anything else. He just falls down. We're helpless
on our own, but he puts us in there to show us his power. That
he protects us. He prepares that table, and we
may sit and feast at Jesus' table without fear, no matter who surrounds
us. Why? That's His provision. Safety! Protection! The Lord is my refuge! Whom shall I fear? Think of one person that you
need to fear. Having the shepherd, who shall
you be? Can anyone overcome him? Because
that's what they have to do, overcome him to get to you. Jesus
said, you shall not lack safety, even in the midst of war. Look at this one. He says, He
anointed my head with oil, my cup running over. This is the
Spirit of God. Don't you know that you are anointed
with the Spirit of God? This oil was for healing. Healing. Isn't that what the Spirit of
God does when He comes? He heals us. God anoints my head. My cup runneth
over. Don't you see that the grace
of God is overflowing in your soul? That you don't lack anything. What are you missing? What are
you missing? If you're his sheep, what are
you missing? You have safety. You have food. You have protection.
He calms every storm. He provides everything you need.
He corrects you when you need it. He leads you when you need
it. He instructs you when you need it. What else do you need? What's the result? Surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the day. Now, have you ever asked
why He's following him? Goodness and mercy shall follow
me. Well, because when you're going
ahead, you don't always see goodness and mercy in front of you. It's
only when you turn around and you look, you go, oh, goodness
and mercy. In the middle of the storm, you
don't see goodness and mercy. It's only when it's over you
turn around and say, goodness and mercy. It surely followed me all the
days of my life. And what is the result of this? I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. I will dwell in the house. Not
I might. Why? The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not lack anything. I shall not lack substance to
eat. I shall not lack leadership.
beside the still waters, I shall not lack restoration of my soul
or righteousness. I shall not lack his presence. I shall not lack a table in the
presence of my enemies and safety. I will not lack his spirit. I
will not lack goodness and mercy all the days of my life. Why?
The Lord is mine. Now you see why this is not a
prayer of wanting, but a prayer of thanksgiving? Because you
have all these things. Not that you're missing any of
these. You have them. They're already
yours. They're yours. Believers simply believe in them.
Only trust them. He will save you. Are you a she? You are if you
believe. And these are yours. Pray God
bless those people. The state may dismiss.