Looking here in the Psalms, Psalm
23, probably in all of the Scriptures, there is not a more well-known psalm than this one, probably
quoted more often than any other. memorized by numerous people. And yet probably not another psalm
in all the scriptures that is more precious to the sons of
God than this, because actually this is the hope, this is the
faith of God's elect. And the Lord has given it to us through
the mouth of David. But I want you to think also
of one other thing, and I don't want to take anything away from
the fact that David is saying these words, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. But keep in mind that the Lord
Jesus Christ, as He walked among men, was a man. And this is his
psalm also. You see, every prayer that you've
ever thought of praying, the Lord Jesus Christ has prayed.
And every heartache that's come upon you, He has borne. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He knows that we're dust because
He dwelt in a body. that was made from the dust of
the ground. Now I don't know how all that
fits in with all the explanations, you know, that people give of
His humanity and what not, but I know that He was a man just
like any other man and He lived and He breathed and He walked
among men in the same fashion. And surely I'm sure that he has
read this psalm himself even though he was the dictator of
it. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." And surely
the Lord Jesus Christ walked through the valley of the shadow
of death from the time that He came into the world when He told
His mother, Do you not know that I must be about my Father's
business? And what was His Father's business?
to bring redemption to His people. I often think of this, and of course,
the Lord said that it was not even given to the Son to know
certain things. Now, I can't wrap my head around
that, But I believe he's speaking as a man, and I believe he's
speaking of the limitations of men, because the Lord had limitations
just like other men in the sense in which he was hungry, he thirsted,
he was tired. I mean, all of these things were
known to him. And so he walked through the
valley of the shadow of death. a measure in which he did know
that as being that one who knows all things. He knew that he had
come into the world to die. That was his purpose for being
in the world, was to die for his people. That was ultimately
the purpose. So he walked in the valley of
the shadow of death. He says, I will fear no evil,
for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over." The Scripture says, "...who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross." See, even when he hung
upon that cross in the greatest of agonies, Yet the joy was set before him,
and he said, Thou hast prepared a table for me in the presence
of my enemies, those that met him hard, those
that spat upon him, those that hated him, those that desired
him to be dead, yet in the presence of his enemies the Lord spread
a table before him. And he was glad. to be exactly
where He was. Who for the joy that was set
before Him. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth
over, and yet He said, I thirst. I mean, His cup was running over,
but yet He thirsted as man. And it was in that that He delighted
as the Savior of sinners. My cup runneth over." He could
not desire anything greater. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Surely, He shall. He said to
His disciples, I go to prepare a place for you. In my Father's
house are many, the Scripture says, mansions. I believe we
understand that to be many rooms. That is, there is a place for
the people of God that He is going to prepare. It is His Father's
house. Now, it is not a house like you and I understand a house
to be, but it is a place of dwelling for the sons of God. And so we
seek Christ being how this psalm is His psalm. But it is also
given to the sons of God as our psalm, because it is indeed here
that we do find great comfort. David said, The Lord is my shepherd. Now a lot of people just say,
The Lord is my shepherd. David said, The Lord is my shepherd. That is, he said, I don't want
another shepherd. He's the shepherd that I desire. He has sought me out, and I want
to be with Him. He's that one who I delight in
going in and out with. Now the Lord Jesus said of Himself,
and I think it's always good if we're going to read this psalm,
the Lord is my shepherd, that we go over here to the book of
John and read the words of him who is the shepherd. Now, that is the office of Christ.
That's the work of Christ, is to be the shepherd of his people,
of his sheep. And he says so right here in
chapter 10 of John, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Now listen
to what he says, But he that entereth in by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. Now Christ is the door. He is
the door, but He has entered by the door. That is, all things
belong to Him. He's not only the door, but He's
the one who's entered by the door. And He said anybody else
that tried to get in have climbed up some other way as a thief
and a robber. So you can be sure that any other
prophet that's ever risen among men, no matter who he is or where
he came from or what philosophy he may espouse, there's only
one shepherd. And he's entered in by the door,
and he is the door. He says, I. But he that entereth
in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter
openeth. That is, the one who keeps the
door. His father sent him. He is indeed the keeper of the
door. That's what Christ said, the Lord. It's my shepherd. I mean, isn't it amazing how
all of these things just go together? I mean, it's like a puzzle that's
put together and no pieces are missing. You know, most times
when I've ever put a puzzle together, I'm talking about one of these
big ones, not one of the little ones like the kids have, but
you get to the end and usually you'll be missing a piece or
you wonder, well, what happened to that thing? And you might
find that it might be laying down under the table or something
like that. But this is a puzzle which no
pieces are missing. And it's a puzzle that no man
can put together. You just can't do it. It's just
beyond human capability to comprehend it. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice." Now the picture is that the porter
opens the door, the shepherd comes, and he calls his sheep. And the sheep are in the fold,
and they hear his voice. He comes to the door, the porter
opens the door. I don't know that this is true.
I've never studied sheep that much or whatever, but I have
read, and of course you know sometimes some of the things
you read are not necessarily so, but that in these times and
what not, that sometimes they had a place where they might
keep all of the sheep, and it might be two or three different
shepherds might have his sheep in this place. But the sheep
knew the shepherd's name, and when their shepherd came, And
he called out to his sheep. What did they do? They heard
his voice. And they followed him. And that's
what he said here. To him the porter opened. The
Lord God of the heavens and the earth sent his Son into the world
as the shepherd of the sheep. And he said, I'm going to open
the door and the shepherd is going to call his sheep out.
Now there are others that have tried to come up and call the
sheep out, but what does the Lord say? He said, To him the
porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth
his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. He does not just go
to the door and call out to them and then start off down the road.
But he leads them out. I mean, he makes sure he has
every one, does he not? Did he not say that there were
ninety and nine that were safely in the fold? But there was one
that wasn't there. Now how did he know that he was
missing one? I mean, if you had a hundred
sheep, I mean, if you was a faithful shepherd, you probably, you know,
know each one. You'd be looking and whatnot.
But if you was a shepherd about like I would be, if you had most
of them in there, you'd be happy. You know, why worry about one
sheep when you've got the rest of them? I mean, he'll be all
right. He's probably going to die anyway, is how I look at it,
I mean. Unfortunately, but the Lord Jesus
Christ was not such a shepherd as that. And He said if there
was one, that was not in the fold that he would go and he
would search until he found it. And so the Lord, He said of His
own, He said, the sheep hear His voice, He calleth His own
sheep by name. He does not call the sheep that
belong to somebody else. He calls His own sheep. Now if
He owns some sheep, And he says, they're my own sheep. It means
he don't own all of the sheep that might be out there. In other words, he says, they're
not mine. Is that not what he said to the...
He goes on to say here, to the Pharisees, why they don't believe. He calls His own sheep by name
and He leadeth them out. That is, He is leading them and
they are following Him, but He is making sure that everyone
that belongs to Him is there. And when He put forth His own
sheep, He goeth before them. That is, He didn't just say,
well, you all go on out in there and do your best that you can
to find you some food out there. You know, it's up to you. I mean,
the Lord does so much, but the rest of it is left up to you.
I mean, there's only so much God can do. And so after all,
you've got to do something. I mean, go out there and find
you some food. I mean, you find yourself in a weak state? Well,
go over there and eat you some food. Is that what the shepherd
does? No, the shepherd doesn't do that.
He leads his sheep. When he puts forth his own sheep,
he goes before them. He goes out and he has searched
out the place where they will be fed and he brings them to
that place and he feeds them. And the sheep are just along
with the ride, so to speak, are they not? I mean, the shepherd
is going to get his sheep. He is going to bring them to
the place where he wants. He is not going to lose any of them.
They belong to him. He loves his sheep. He goeth before them, the sheep
follow him, for they know his voice. You know, I believe that
is the true thing. God's people know the voice of
the shepherd. Now, everybody doesn't know the same thing.
Everybody doesn't know all of the details about a lot of the
things that have to do with the gospel and about the Word of
God. But I believe this is a true
thing, that every one of God's sheep know His voice. And when He is pleased to cause
them to hear His voice, they hear it. It's unmistakable. They know who He is. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from Him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. The truth of God is precious
to the sons of God, the voice of Christ. I mean, I don't want
anybody telling me about something other than Christ. You know,
we've been studying through the law, and that's a good thing,
but you know the thing, if we don't see Christ in the law,
then we missed it. I mean, if you look at the law
that God gave, and all you see is a bunch of stuff that you're
supposed to do, then you missed it. See, that's what's wrong
with the rich young ruler. He had the law. He saw the law
as a checklist. And he said, well, I've done
that, and I've done that, and I've done that. Well, what else
is there left for me to do? But you see, if he had been looking
at Christ in the law, then he would have never asked that question,
would he? Because he would have said, brother, I'm condemned
before you. And I believe that's what the Lord did with him. You
see, I don't necessarily believe that when he went away sorrowful,
it means that he didn't come back. I just believe that the
Lord broke his heart. He showed him what he was by
nature. He showed him that, you know, while he thought he was
a pretty good fellow, when the law did its work, the Lord Jesus
Christ appeared before him and said, if you would be perfect,
that is, if you would be like me, then go sell all that you
have and give. Give it away. And he went away
sorrowful because he knew he had not done that. A stranger
will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know
not the voice of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto
them, but they understood not what things they were which he
spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
I am the door of the sheep." Now, as we will see, this did
not make them happy because many of those who were listening to
him were not his sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers. Remember, he said up there, he
that entereth He that climbeth up some other way, the same is
a thief and a robber." The sands of time are littered with people
who come being messiahs and leaders of great movements and all of
these things. I mean, some great men. I mean,
there are some of these things still going on today. But they
are thieves and robbers because they are not the one to whom
the porter opened. There is only one shepherd, and
he leads his own sheep. I am the door of the sheep. All
that ever came before me, that is, before my face, does not
just mean before he came, although he has specific reference to
those that came before him, but there is plenty that has come
after him, maybe even more. that has come after him than
came before him, but is before his face. All that ever came
before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them."
The sheep did not hear them. False
prophets are going to prophesy. They are going to say many things. But the sheep will not hear them.
The sheep will hear the shepherd. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. He shall go in and out and find
pasture." Now, many take this passage here and they just pull
it right out of the whole context of what he is saying. You see,
you can make the Bible say anything you want it to say if you just
pick and choose a verse here and a verse there and you take
it out of the context in which it is given. Now, he says here, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, And
then some tell us, what's he there? Any man can be saved. It's up to him. Now, that's not
what it says. It says any man can enter in
if they enter in by him. Now who are those that enter
in by him? My sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them and they follow me. And so he's saying if any of
my sheep enter in, they're going to be received. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved, and he shall go in and out and
find pasture. Where else is salvation but in
Jesus Christ? Now, do we tell men that they
can't be saved? Well, that would be foolish,
because I don't know if they can be saved or not. See, the
Pharisees couldn't be saved. Judas couldn't be saved. I mean,
if you had told Judas, Judas, you wouldn't be saved. Would
I have been telling him the truth? No! He couldn't be saved. The
Lord said it would have been better for him if he had never
been born. Now, can any man that knows himself
to be a sinner and is hungering for mercy at
the hand of God, can any man in that state be saved? He sure
can. In fact, he has already evidenced the fact that he is
one of God's sheep. Because my sheep hear my voice.
See, the only people seeking the Lord are the sheep. Now, there are religious men
who are seeking religion, and they're seeking to join things,
and they're seeking to be a part of something, and this, that,
and the other. And they want their children to be raised upright,
you know. We want them to get them involved
in church, and we want all that kind of stuff. But that's not
what he's talking about here. Nope. He said, my sheep hear
my voice. I know them and they follow me.
See, the sheep, they desire to hear from the shepherd. He shall
go in and out and find pasture. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. He maketh me what? To lie down
in green pastures. That's the place. Not some old
dried up pasture, you know. You get when it gets dry, when
it hasn't rained in a while, and all the grass has about died
off and you see a bunch of old cows out there and their bones
are sticking out, and they're in a bad shape. They probably
don't thank much of their owners in cases like that. They say,
well, you know, we thought we was going to be in a green pasture,
but we're not. And of course, you know, with
a cow, I mean, the grass is always greener on the other side of
the fence than it is on the one they're in anyway. It's kind
of like people are. The thief cometh not but for
the steel to kill and to destroy. He's describing those that would
turn men aside I tell you, anybody that comes preaching and teaching
any other message than Jesus Christ and Him crucified is a
thief and a robber. I don't care what swelling words
he uses or how nice he may put it. I don't care how eloquent
he is. I don't care how many people
follow him. If he's preaching some message other than Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, then that man's a thief and a robber.
Now that's what he said right here. He says, I'm not come to
kill and to destroy. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world for the purpose of gathering His sheep. He says, I am come that they
might have life and that they might have that life more abundantly. You see, the Lord has come to
give His people life. Now, we didn't have life. That's
what Paul said. He said, you hath he quickened
who were what? Dead in trespasses and sins. See, a man is dead until the
Lord comes along and gives him life. Now, a lot of people think
they're living, but really they're dead. All men are dead in trespasses
and sins by nature until the Lord's pleased to give you life.
You won't have life. You'll die in your sins. But
when the Lord gives you life, He gives it that you might have
it abundantly, that is, in the fullness. He said, I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He's the good shepherd. He's
my shepherd. See, our shepherd, David said,
my shepherd is a good shepherd. He does not mean me ill, but
he means me good. But he that is an hireling, and
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." Those that are interested in
gaining a following, who are interested in gathering up as
much money as they can, or whatever they want to do, and they come
telling people all sorts of stuff, they don't care about the sheep.
He said, I care about the sheep. He said, that is the only thing
that I have come to do. The hireling fleeth because he
is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. I know who my sheep are, and
they know who I am. Isn't that a glorious thing? As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep."
Now that's pretty plain, isn't it? I mean, I lay down my life
for the sheep. They belong to Him. And the other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Now what he is speaking here
to, you have to keep in mind the audience that he is addressing,
which are the Jews. And of course, the Jews, they
had the very concept that they were the people of God by natural
birth. That was what Nicodemus, when
he came to the Lord by night, he had that in his mind. Well,
the Lord never let him ask a question, did He? He said, Nicodemus, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He took
the thing out of the realm of what Nicodemus had in mind about,
you know, what do we need to do here? We're Jews and we're
going to come along, we're going to get this kingdom established
and how are we going to do this? No. The Lord said, Nicodemus,
it doesn't have anything to do with who you are. It has to do
with being born again by the power of God. Except men be born
again. And the other sheep I have which
are not of this foal." So he's speaking, I believe, about the
Gentiles, which was a strange thing to the Jews to think that
the Kingdom of God is made up of Jews and Gentiles because
they thought it was just Jews. But you see, the Lord has a people
out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue on the face of the
earth. There is nobody that will not be represented according
to what the Scripture says. He has people scattered throughout
the earth, but I do not know who they are. See, that is why
we are declaring the truth of God, that the sheep might hear
His voice. Now they'll hear His voice. See,
He's not dependent on men, but He does use men in the declaration
of the gospel, the sweet sound and savour of that which is the
truth of God's glorious thing, even as we sang there a moment
ago. a message that even angels can't sing. You can't look into
it. You can't understand it. There's a chorus of praise going
up in the heavens that the angels can't enter into. I mean, it's
a glorious thing. They see the glory of God and
it's a wonderment to them, but they can't grasp redemption because
that is the sole place where God's people are given to rejoice. And other sheep I have, I want
you not to disfold them also what I must bring." Now remember
when he went through Samaria? You say, well, I think I might
go through Samaria. No, the Scripture says he must
needs go through Samaria. Why? Because he must bring his
sheep. You see, he had one of his sheep,
was going to meet him at the well. She didn't have any idea
she was going to meet him at the well. She never heard of
him before, didn't know anything about him. She was content in
her religion, was she not? I mean, our fathers, you worshipped
in this mountain, your father worshipped in that one. I mean,
which one's best? We're just going along the way. I must bring them. And they shall hear my voice. Oh, I think of Acts 13, 48, and
when the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced. And what does
the rest of it say? And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Now, a lot of people would like
to change that scripture. A lot of people want to change
that around and say, as many as believed were ordained to
eternal life. In fact, I've heard preachers say that. You know, this is what it means.
No, that's not what it means. It means what it means. As many
as were ordained to eternal life believed their brethren because
they were in sheep, and He must bring them, and they must hear,
and they shall hear, and they shall rejoice. Therefore doth, and there shall
be one foal and one shepherd, there is only one shepherd, and
he is the one David is talking about, he said, my shepherd,
my shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. Didn't leave any doubt about
that, did he? No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
I was talking with a guy the other day, and he was talking
about dying and what not, and I said, well, that's one thing
we certainly don't have any control over. He said, well, I don't
know about that. Well, I didn't argue with him. I told him, I
said, well, You know, you will find out that you do not, because
it is appointed unto man once to die. And after this, the judgment. It is an appointment. See, every
one of us in here has an appointment with death. I do not know when
that is. You know, in the flesh, I hope
it is on down the road there, but it might be this afternoon.
You know, I don't know when it is, but I know one thing. It's
an appointment you will keep. I don't care if you're in the
habit of being late to everything you've ever been to. You will
not be one second late to that appointment. It is appointed
unto men once to die. And after this, the judgment.
But see, the Lord Jesus Christ, now He had an appointment with
death also, but guess what? He's the one that penciled in
the date and the time of the appointment. And he said, this
is the day that I am going to lay down my life for the sheep.
No man will take my life from me, but I will lay it down willingly. And that is what we come to today,
to remember the Lord's death until it comes again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. The Lord is my shepherd. He says,
I came to do the Father's will. And he says, of all that the
Father hath given me, I have lost none. Oh, what a glorious
shepherd we have. One that has not only said he
would lay down his life. See, Peter said, I'd lay down
my life, but Peter didn't, did he? He did later on, but he didn't
then. Because he had to be converted.
See, he had to be changed. He had to be transformed. He
had to have his thinking turned around and made right. His power
wasn't in him, but it was in Christ. But he said, I will lay down
my life. And he did. And that's what we
come here today to do. To remember the Lord's death
until He comes again. A temporary situation. for the
sons of God. We shall not all sleep, but some
of us shall. But it is a sleep, it's a slumber. And when somebody's sleeping,
you see, we know they're going to awake, do we not? Now when
somebody's dead, they're not getting up. But if somebody's
sleeping, they're going to awake. And the Scripture speaks of the
death of the saints of God as a slumber. They're sleeping till
the time when the Lord comes back together that which is His.
And when we do this, this is temporary. We shall not do this
forever. For one day, it won't be necessary
because we'll see Him as He is, face to face. And then such things
as these will not be needful anymore. May the Lord give us
grace. We come here and this is the Lord's table. It's
not our table. And even though we, you know,
poured stuff in the glasses and made the bread and what not,
it doesn't belong to us. It belongs to the Lord. The Lord
said that let a man examine himself And so let him eat of this bread
and drink of this cup." The purpose of this is not to hold something
over the people of God's head and say, well, you can take this
or you can't take this, but it is given to the sons of God.
And if any man believes, then he has perfect right, he has
perfect privilege to take of this table. Because this is the
representation of that which Christ has done. So let us eat
of this bread and drink of this cup. And when you examine yourself,
you've got to examine yourself that you don't take this unworthily.
Now if that had to do with something you did or something you thought,
you might as well have gone out the door because you wouldn't.
But we examine ourselves to see why is it that we want to take
this, because we believe Christ is the Savior. You know, we believe
this is precious. If you don't believe it's precious,
don't take it, because you'll eat and drink damnation unto
yourself, not discerning the Lord's body. Because if you take
this with just a habitual thing and you just say, well, we're
going to do it because we've always done it, without regard
to that which Christ has done, then you have missed it. And
that can't be good for you. I mean, it can't cause your mind
to dwell on the things that need to be. It can't be anything but
a condemnation to you. So may the Lord give us a mind
and heart to come to the table as He would have us to come,
as He has invited His children to feast at this table.