The Valley of the Shadow of Death. This sermon was first preached by Charles Haddon Spurgeon on August 12th in the year of 1880. The text for this sermon comes from Psalm 23, verse 4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. and your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

Do you know that I had laid this text aside? I planned that this choice promise would be kept in store till I came near the River Jordan, and I hoped that by then, in my last hours on this earth, I might be privileged to enjoy its sweetness and sing with joyful lips, even though I walk through death's dark valley, yet I will fear no ill, for you are with me, and your rod and staff comfort me still.

The other day I found that I needed to eat this heavenly bread immediately, and I did. Fathers tell their children, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. But this rule does not apply to the comforts of God's Word. You can enjoy His promises and still have them. Yes, and all the more, because your faith has fed upon its richness.

A few days ago, I got some sweet honey out of this verse when suddenly a storm swept into my life. And the sweetness of this verse was and is still there. I will enjoy it. I doubt that I came near death's door, but I have experienced this promise of God's word. It is already sealed to my own soul with richness and fullness of comfort by the blessed Holy Spirit of God.

Oh, if only every believer who is burdened with troubles might find this verse as precious to his own heart as I have found it to be to my heart. This verse is no doubt very applicable to what we will experience when we come to die, but for certain that is not its only intent. It has an inexpressibly delightful application to the dying, but it is for the living too. And if today, because of some difficult trials in your life, you are afraid, and feel that you are walking through some dark times, I pray that you would repeat the words of our text, and may the Lord help you feel that they are true.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. The words are not in the future tense. and therefore are not reserved for some distant moment. Do not postpone to the future that which you so greatly need today. Though I walk, even at this hour, through the dark valley, you, O Lord, are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

David was not dying. The psalm is full of happy, peaceful life. He is lying down in green pastures and following his Lord by quiet waters. And if a cloud has descended upon him and he feels like one threatened with death, he still expects goodness and love will follow him all the days of his life.

This psalm is not to lie on the shelf until our last day, but it is to be sung from our hearts all the days of our lives. Therefore, let us sing it at this holy hour in the courts of the Lord's house and in the midst of them that love him.

For our first point this morning, I want to call your attention to the past and its terrors, to the past and its terrors, the valley of the shadow of death. Get the idea of a narrow ravine, something like a difficult pass high up in the Alps, where the rocks seem to be piled up to the heavens, and the sunlight is seen above as through a narrow gap. Troubles are sometimes heaped one on another, pile on pile, and the road is as a dreary pass through which the pilgrim on his journey to heaven has to travel. Set before your mind's eye, a valley shut in with stupendous rocks that seem to meet overhead, a narrowing pass, dark as midnight itself. Through this valley or rocky ravine, the Christian has to follow the path appointed for them in the eternal purpose of the infinite mind of God. Through such a dreary crevice many a child of God is making his way at this very moment, and to them I speak.

Our first observation about it is this, that it is extremely gloomy, that it is extremely gloomy. That is its chief characteristic. It is the valley of the shadow, the shadow of death. Death is terrible, and the very shadow of it is cold and chilly, and freezing to the bone. I have stood under rocks, which have not merely cooled me, but have surrounded me with a horribly damp chill, as though death had embraced me, and its cold was within me. One hurries to escape from such a deadly shade, which tends to strike one with sickness, And such is the way, it seems to me, is the shadow cast by the wing of death, when a person feels that they are under such trouble and trials that they cannot live, and would not even wish to do so if they could.

The joy of life has been like the sun that has been eclipsed. And in the dark, chilly, damp shade of a terrible sorrow, the person has cringed. And beneath the icy touch of doubt, they shivered and have felt fevered and frightened and has been as one going out of their mind. I speak to some young hearts here who I hope know nothing about this gloom and do not want to know it. Oh, keep lively while you can, sing while you may, be like the meadow larks and fly upwards and sing as you fly. But there are some of God's people who are not much like larks. Rather, they are a great deal more like owls. They sit alone and keep silent. Or if they do open their mouths, it is to give forth an unhappy hoot.

companions of dragons and very suitable companions too, such mournful ones need all the gentle sympathy we can afford them. Even those who are bright and cheerful, many of them occasionally pass through this dreary glen where everything is gloomy and their spirits sink below zero. I know what wise brethren say. They say you should not give way to feelings of depression. They are absolutely right. We shouldn't be depressed, but we are at times, and perhaps when your brain is as exhausted as ours, you too will not bear yourselves any more bravely than we do. But these well-meaning brethren continue, saying, But desponding people are very much to be blamed. Oh, I know they are, but they are also very much to be pitied. And perhaps if those who blame them quite so furiously would once know what depression is, they would think it cruel to throw blame where comfort is needed.

There are experiences of the children of God that are full of spiritual darkness. And I am almost persuaded that those of God's servants who have been most highly favored have nevertheless suffered more times of darkness than others. The covenant is never known to Abraham so well as when a horror of great darkness comes over him. And then he sees the shining lamp moving between the pieces of the sacrifice. One greater than Abraham was, early in his life, led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And yet again, before his life ended, he was sorrowful and very heavily burdened in the garden. In this heaviness of heart, for which there is a need, believers have a black covering which shuts out the brightness of eternal love and faithfulness. O blessed be God for mountains of joy, and valleys of peace, and gardens of delight, but there is a valley of death's shadow, and most of us have traveled its tremendous glooms. Moreover, there are parts of human life which are dangerous as well as gloomy. There are parts of human life which are dangerous as well as gloomy. In my travels through the dark passageways of the East, an escort is frequently needed, for the robber lurks among the rocks and shoots down upon the traveler or blocks his way with sword or spear. The name of the Khyber Pass is still terrible in our memories, and there are Khybers in most men's lives. There are points in human history that are especially dangerous. Oh, you that are beginners, I do not wish to frighten you. I don't want to tell you that the ways of wisdom are terrible, for they are not. No, her ways are pleasant ways, and all of her paths are peace. But for all of that, there are enemies on the road to heaven. There are enemies on the road to heaven. And there are cutthroat lanes, cutthroat lanes, where when the enemy finds your spirits cast down, he suddenly pounces on you with temptation. And before you know it, you may be wounded and deeply grieved. There are spots in the Valley of the Shadow of Death where every bush conceals an adversary, where temptations spring out of the very ground like the fiery serpents among the desert sand, where the soul is among lions, even among them that are set on fire by hell. If you have not yet come to that part of your pilgrimage, then I am glad for you, and I hope that you may be spared it. In answer to that needful prayer, Lord, lead us not into temptation. But if you are called to walk through this dangerous valley, what will you do? Why, say this, even though I walk through that dangerous valley which I have heard about, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Remember, Remember that a Christian is never so much in danger from abundance of temptation as from the carnal security of his own heart. We are often most in jeopardy when we are not tempted, and the worst devil in the world may be no devil at all. Deliver me, said a man of great experience, from a sleeping devil, for if he roars at me, he keeps me awake. But when he leaves me alone, then my heart presumes that all is safe, and I am betrayed. You young people, or you old people, who are placed in the course of providence in positions of great trial and temptation, you need not wish for an easier pathway. For it may be that you are safer now, being on your guard, than those who are not fiercely tried. but sit at ease, and will be in great peril from laziness and spiritual indifference. It is better to be consumed with fire than to perish of dry rot. The cold mountains of trial are far safer than the humid plains of pleasure. I am not therefore alarmed at obvious danger, neither would I have you to be greatly depressed because there is a gloomy gorge between you and heaven. One of the chief reasons for the gloom is the fact that this terrible past is shrouded in mystery. One of the chief reasons for the gloom is the fact that this terrible past is shrouded in mystery. You do not know what sorrow is. The shadow, the shadow of death, what does it mean? You cannot discern the form which hovers over you. You cannot grab the foe. It is of no use drawing a sword against the shadow. John Bunyan represents the pilgrim as putting up his sword when he came into the valley of the shadow of death. He had fought the devil with it, but when he came into the midnight of that horrible valley, it was of no use to him.

Everything was so shrouded, magnified, and blackened in the dark. Strange creatures hovered around, strange shapes and unusual forms of doubts, which he could not confront with reasoning or overcome with argument. A man can take courage against a thing he knows, but an evil which he does not know makes him a coward. He does not know what the trial is, and yet a strange, gloomy feeling comes over him. He cannot see the extent of his loss in business, but he fears that he will lose everything. He does not know the end of his child's illness, but death appears to be threatening. Everything is suspense and surmise, and the evils of evils is uncertainty.

That which frightened Belshazzar when the handwriting was on the wall was no doubt that he could see the hand, but he could not see the arm and the body to which the hand belonged. It seems so extraordinary to see the supernatural handwriting and nothing else. So sometimes it seems to us as if we could not make out our condition, that we could not understand God's dealing with us. We seem to be in disagreement with providence. We have come to a place where the two seas meet, and we cannot understand the current. Our temptation has been comparable to a tornado, and we do not know which way the hurricane is moving. we are in the power of a cyclone jerked back and forth.

Such things happen to God's people now and then. What are they to do when they get into these perplexities, these mysterious troubles that they cannot even describe? What must they do? They must do, and God helped them to do, as this blessed man did, who, in the peace and confidence of faith, went on his way singing Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, by the mysterious wings of death, and though I know nothing of my way and cannot understand it, yet I will fear no evil, for you, God, are with me. You know the way that I must take. There are no mysteries with my God. You know the way out of this web of troubles, and you will surely lead me through. Why, therefore, should I fear? Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Gloom, danger, mystery, these three all vanish when faith lights up her heavenly lamp, trimmed with the golden oil of the promise. Nor is this all. The idea of solitude is in the text, the path is lonely, and the Christian sings, even though I walk, as if he walked alone, no one sharing his shadowed pathway. Yes, even though I walk as if he walked alone, no one sharing his shadowed pathway. Solitude is a very great trial to some spirits, and some of us know a great deal about what it means, for we dwell alone in the spiritual sense.

But you will say, don't you mingle with crowds? Yes, and there is no solitude like it. When your office and position places you as if it were on a mountain all alone, you will know what I mean. For the sheep, there are many companions, but for the shepherd, there are few. Those who watch over souls come into positions into which they are divided from all human help. Nobody knows your care, or can guess the burden of your soul, and those who try to sympathize with you fail in the generous attempt. Some of you perhaps are in a position in which you complain, nobody has ever been tried or tested as I am. I feel as if God had set me as a target for his arrows. Or possibly you murmur, There may be many more afflicted than I am, but none in my own special way. I suffer a distinctive kind of trial. This may be so, and that is an essential part of the bitterness of your cup, that you should grieve that you are all alone. But will you not say with your divine master, you will leave me alone, and yet I am not alone because my father is with me? Now is the time for faith. When you trust God and a friend, there is a question whether it is God you trust or the friend. But when your friend has left you and only God is near, no question remains. If you and I are walking together and a dog follows us, who knows which is the dog's master? But when you go off to the left and I turn to the right, all men will see which of us owns the dog by seeing who the dog follows. If you can trust God alone, then you are really trusting Him. And if, when the world's streams of care run dry, you can stoop down to the Creator's overflowing well and drink there, then you are a true believer, and there is no mistake about it. It is profitable to be driven into loneliness that we may prove whether we are solely trusting in God or not. It is a bad thing to be standing with one foot on the sea and the other on the land. An angel once stood in that fashion, and it suits angels, but it is not a safe posture for burdened creatures such as men and women. We must get both feet on the rock of ages, or the foot which stands on the sea of changeful self will be our downfall. Oh, my soul, wait upon God, wait upon God. When faith, soul, foundation is the power and faithfulness of the Lord, then she learns to glory in the absence of all visible help, and sings with a joyful heart, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for my God is near me. Oh, let me remark further that though this valley is thus gloomy, dangerous, mysterious, and lonely, yet it is often traveled through. Yes, though this valley is thus gloomy, dangerous, mysterious, and lonely, yet it is often traveled through. Many more go by this road than some people dream. Among those who wear a cheerful face in public, there are many who are well acquainted with this dreary valley. They have passed through it often, and may be in it right now, even this morning. When I experience the sadness of sorrow, I try to hide it within my heart, and not expose it where others will see it. For hasn't the Master said, When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting. Why should we make others sad? There is enough sorrow in the world without our spreading the infection by publishing our troubles. Storybooks are often sent to me to review, and when I perceive that they contain disturbing stories of poverty and sadness, I stop my review of them. I see quite enough of sorrow in real life. I do not need fiction to add worry to my heart. If men and women must write works of fiction at all, they might as well write cheerfully and not break people's hearts over mere fabrications. If I must weep, let it be over an actual grief and not over a painted affliction. But so it is. Some like to tell the story of all their sorrows and care little what may be the influence upon others. They might have a little more consideration for their fellow man. If my own heart is bleeding, why should I wound others? Sometimes it is brave to be speechless, even as the singer puts it as he sung, bear and forbear and silent be. Tell no man your misery. It is surely true that a great number of God's best servants have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and this ought to be a comfort for some of you. The footsteps of the holy are in the valley of weeping. Saints have marched through the Via Della Rosa. Don't you see their footprints? Above all others, note one special set of footprints. Don't you see them? Stoop down and look closely at them. Get on your knees and look at them. If you look closely, you will observe the prints of nail wounds. As surely as this word of God is true, your Lord has felt the chill of the valley of the shadow of death. Your Lord has felt the chill of the valley of the shadow of death. There is no gloom of spirit apart from the sin of it into which Jesus has not fallen. There is no trouble of soul or turmoil of heart which is free from sin, which the Lord has not known. He says, reproaches have broken my heart so that I am in despair. The footprints of the Lord of life is set in the rock forever, even in the valley of the shadow of death. Will we not cheerfully advance to the cross and death of Jerusalem when Jesus goes before us? I will close my remarks on this path of terrors by showing that, dark and gloomy as it is, it is not an unholy pathway. Dark and gloomy as it is, it is not an unholy pathway. No sin is necessarily connected with sorrow of heart. For Jesus Christ, our Lord, once said, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. There was no sin in him, and consequently none in his deep depression. We have never known a joy or a sorrow completely untainted by evil, but in grief itself there is no necessary cause of sin. A man may be as happy as every bird in the air, and there may be no sin in his happiness. And a man may be very sorrowful, and yet there may be no sin in the sorrow. I don't say that there is not sin in all of our feelings, but still the feelings we have in themselves need not be sinful. I would therefore try to cheer any brother or sister who is sad, for his sadness is not necessarily sinful. If his sad spirit is a result of unbelief, let him flog himself and cry to God to be delivered from it. But if the soul is groaning, though he slay me, yet I will hope in him, its being slain is not a fault. If the Christian cries out, my God, my soul is cast down within me, therefore will I remember you, their soul being cast down within them is no sin. Now for a little while, says the Apostle Peter, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. not only for a little while, but you may have had to suffer grief in the trials. There is a reason for the sorrow of heart, for it is in the grief of your spirit that the essence of the trial is found. For it is in the grief of your spirit that the essence of the trial is found." Doesn't Solomon say, blows and wounds cleanse away evil? If the blow is not such as to leave a bruise, then there has been no chastening that will do us any good. Suffering grief in our spirit is not, therefore, always a matter for which we need to condemn ourselves, though it will always be good to examine our hearts. However we may reprimand ourselves for having a sorrowful heart, we must be careful not to condemn others. For the way of sorrow is not the way of sin, but a holy road sanctified by the praying, the praying of myriads of Christians now with God. Christians who, passing through the valley of the shadow of death, made it home, and of such it is written, they go from strength to strength till each one appears before God in Zion.

Much was said about the dark and dangerous valley of the shadow of death. Our second point this morning, upon which we will speak for a little while, is the pilgrim and his progress, the pilgrim and his progress, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

The pilgrim you observe first is calm in the prospect of his dreary passage. I don't think that it is one half so hard to bear a trouble as it is to think of it beforehand. The poet well said that many of us feel a thousand deaths in fearing one. Many of us feel a thousand deaths in fearing one. The fear of trouble is often fiercer than the trouble itself. The fear of trouble is often fiercer than the trouble itself. We suffer more in the dread of that trouble than in the endurance of the trial.

Here we have a man of faith who is calm in the expectancy of suffering. I will walk, he says, through the valley of the shadow of death. I expect to do so, but I will fear no evil. Have you, my friend, a trouble obviously drawing close to you? Are there signs of a storm all around you? then look bravely at the future. Don't let your heart fail you while waiting for the thunder and the storm. David said, though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.

Enemies that surround us generally trouble us more than actual contending foes. Once the enemy raises the war cry and begins to attack us, we are aroused to valor and meet him head to head. But while he waits and holds us in suspense, our heart is apt to worry with confusion. We can see that our deadly foe is in his camp, but we don't know whether he will attack us in the middle of the night or at the first light of dawn, or when his onslaught will be. This suspense distresses the soul, and therefore the glory of a faith that can say, though I know that I will soon suffer, yet in the prospect of it I am at rest, I fear no evil.

Beloved, pray to be calm in the prospect of a trial. It is half the battle. Is it not written of the believer he will have no fear of bad news? His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

Furthermore, the pilgrim is steady in his progress. The pilgrim is steady in his progress. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he says. He does not run quickly through the valley. He walks quietly along. We are generally in a hurry to get our trouble over with. Like those who say, if a medical treatment is needed, then let's get it over with as soon as possible. There is a season for all things. Let us wait till the trouble comes from the hand of the Lord, for he will time it to the second.

I must know the worst of it, cries one. I feel in such a horrible state of suspense that I must end it one way or another. But my dear friend, faith is not in such a frightful hurry. The one who trusts in the Lord will never be dismayed. Faith must be quick when it has to serve God, but it is to be patient when it has to wait for Him. There is no hurry about the psalmist. Even though I walk, he says, quietly, calmly, steadily. The pace of the experienced man of God is a walk. Young people fly. They will soar on wings like eagles. Growing men run and do not get weary. But when a man of God becomes a father in the church and is endowed with the abounding strength, He walks and does not faint. Walking is the regulation page for veteran soldiers of Christ. So David in effect declares, I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death as quietly as I walk in my garden in the evening or go down the street about my business. My struggles do not make me unfit for duty. I am not flustered or worried about it.

O may God give you, my dear brothers and sisters, this calm faith. I pray that He may give it to me, for I greatly need it. I have often confessed my need of it and confessed it with shame and bewilderment, for I serve a blessed Master and I ought never to fear nor allow any pain of my body to produce a trembling heart. O sacred Comforter, please fill my heart with the peace of God.

The next point about the pilgrim's progress is that he is secure in his hope. The next point about the pilgrim's progress is that he is secure in his hope. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, there is a bright side to that word through. He expects to come out of the dreary past to a brighter country. Just as the train of life enters into the dark tunnel of tribulation, he says within himself, I will come out on the other side. It may be very dark in here, and I may go through the very heart of the earth, but I am bound to come out on the other side. So it is with every child of God. If his pathway to heaven should be to travel on the very bottom of the ocean floor, right next to the roots of the mountains, then he will travel that road in perfect safety.

Jonah's road to heaven was through the ocean, and a special fish was provided for him. The Lord had provided a great fish to swallow Jonah. I don't suppose there was ever any other fish of that kind, before or after. Naturalists say that they cannot find such a whale, but they need not look for it, for the scriptures say the Lord provided a great fish. He knew how to make and hold Jonah exactly, and the fish accommodated its passenger and brought him to the right shore. Providence makes special preparation for every tried and tested saint. If you are God's servant and are called to a very unusual trial, then expect some extraordinary providence, the like of which you have never read about, that it will certainly happen to you to illustrate in your case the divine goodness and faithfulness.

Oh, if we only had more faith! Oh, if we had more faith, life would be happy, trials would be light.

Brethren, it is not an easy thing to walk through a shadow. If you get up in the morning and stroll down through a field and discover that the spiders have spun their cobwebs across the path in a thousand places, and you brush them all aside as you walk, and yet there is more strength in a cobweb than there is in a shadow. There is more strength in a cobweb than there is in a shadow.

The psalmist speaks without fear, for he regards his expected trials as walking through a shadow. Trials and troubles, if only we have faith, are mere shadows that cannot hinder us on our road to heaven. Sometimes God so overrules afflictions that they even help us on the glory. Therefore, let us walk on and never be afraid. Oh, let us be sure that if we walk in at one end of the dark valley of suffering, we will walk out the other end. Who will hinder us when God is for us?

The main point about this pilgrim and his progress is that he is perfectly innocent of fear. The main point about this pilgrim and his progress is that he is perfectly innocent of fear. He says, I will fear no evil. Oh, it is beautiful to see a child at perfect peace amid dangers, dangers which alarm everyone else who is with him. I have read of a little boy who was on board a ship that was being buffeted by a very severe storm. And everybody on board was distressed and fearful, knowing that the ship was in great peril. There was not a sailor on board, certainly not a passenger, who was not frightened. This little boy, however, was perfectly happy, and was rather amused than alarmed by the tossing of the ship. They asked him why he was so happy at such a time. Well, he said, my father is the captain. He knows how to manage. He did not think it possible that the ship could go down while his father was in command.

There was folly in such confidence, but there will be none in yours if you believe with an equally unqualified faith in your Father, who can and will bring safely into port every vessel that is committed to His charge. Rest in God and be calm without any fear of evil.

This pilgrim, while he is thus free from fear, is not at all fanatical or ignorant, since he gives a good reason for his freedom from alarm. I will fear no evil, he says, for you, O God, are with me. I will fear no evil because you, O God, are with me. Was there ever a better reason given under heaven for being fearless than this, that God is with us? He is on our side. He has pledged to help us. He has never failed us. He would have to cease from being God before He can cast away one soul that trusts in Him. Where then is there room for dread? The child is confident because his mother is with him. Much more should we be serene in heart since the omniscient, the omnipotent, the immutable God is on our side. Whom will I fear? Whom will we select to honor with our dread? Is there anybody that we need to fear? Who will lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is He that condemns? Christ has died and risen again and sits up in heaven at the right hand of God the Father. He is our representative. Who then can harm us? Let the heavens be dissolved and the earth be melted with fervent heat, but don't let the Christian's heart be moved. Let him stand like the great mountains, whose foundations are confirmed forever. For the Lord God will not forsake his people or ever break his covenant.

I will fear no evil for you are with me. There is something more here than freedom from fear and a substantial reason for it. for the true believer rejoices in glorious companionship. For the true believer rejoices in glorious companionship. You are with me, you, you, you, the king of kings, before whom every angel covers his face, ashamed and embarrassed before the awesome majesty of their creator. You are with me, You before whom the greatest of the great sink into utter insignificance, you are with me. Oh, how brave that man or woman ought to be who walks with the Lion of the tribe of Judah as their guard! What steady footsteps should they take who walks upon a rock and knows it? You are with me.

O trembling brother or trembling sister, you would feel perfectly safe if you had your eyes open to see the companies of angels that surround you. You would rejoice in your security if you saw horses of fire and chariots of fire encircling you with their protection. But such defenses are as nothing compared with those which are always around you. God is better than multitudes of fiery chariots. The chariots of God are tens of thousands of thousands and thousands, but the glory of it is that the Lord is among them as in Sinai.

God is with every one of his children. We live in him and he lives in us. I in them and you in me, says Christ. A vital, everlasting union exists between every believing soul and God. Let me say that again. A vital, everlasting union exists between every believing soul and God. So what reason can there be for fear? You are with me. Oh, for grace to be brave pilgrims and to make steady progress with heavenly company as our glory and defense.

Now I will close my message with my third point, which is most clearly in the text, the soul and the shepherd, the soul and the shepherd. For David says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You see, the psalm is all about a shepherd and a soul, a soul that feels like a sheep, a soul that feels like a sheep. The rod and staff, the tools of a shepherd, are the comforts of the saints.

What are the uses of the rod and staff? What are the uses of the rod and staff?

Consider first that the rod was used for the numbering of the sheep. The rod was used for the numbering of the sheep. The prophet Jeremiah said, flocks of sheep will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them. The shepherd holds his rod and the sheep are counted as they pass under it. It is a very blessed thing when the soul can say, the Lord counts me as one of his. I am in the valley of the shadow of death, but I am one of the Lord's own purchased flock. I am in great sadness, but I am numbered with his redeemed.

The good shepherd watches over all of his sheep and he will preserve them in the gloomy valley. The Lord knows those who are His, and the Lord will show Himself strong on behalf of His own. He says, I give my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. If the Lord numbers me among His own, though I am the lowliest of them, and the weakest in faith, and the lowest in grace, yet He will protect me. Since I can say, My Beloved is Mine and I am His, therefore I am sure of every good thing.

We need no better comfort. For when His disciples rejoiced because even the demons were subject to them, their Master said to them, Do not rejoice that the Spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. If with his rod the shepherd of Israel has pointed you out as his own, you may be of good cheer. For the Lord will not lose even one of his children, nor allow the enemy to devour one of his flock.

Next, the rod is used for rule. The rod is used for rule. The shepherd's crook or rod is the emblem of power and government. The shepherd is not only the keeper of the sheep, but he is the lord of the sheep. Remember that your savior is your sovereign. You call him master and lord, and rightly so. Do you feel the spirit of obedience? I trust I do, for I long to serve him. I am not what I ought to be, nor what I want to be, but my heart longs to obey his will. I accept his law to be my law. and I wish always to be one of his most loyal subjects. I delight to think that the Lord reigns. It is part of my song, the Lord is King, the Lord is King. My heart shouts it. I would proclaim it in the city square of every town. Let Jesus Christ reign and reign forever and ever. The joy is that he does reign. His rod and staff are emblems of the shepherd, the king, and as we submit to his supreme authority, we find a comfort in his royal power and dignity. A third meaning, for the words are very full of doctrine, is this, the rod and staff are meant for guidance. The rod and staff are meant for guidance. It is with his rod that the shepherd leads his flock. It is most sweet, most comfortable to believe that the Lord is guiding us. You guide me with your counsel, the Bible says, and afterwards you will receive me into glory. We are only half awake as the sheep of Christ. For if our eyes were wide open, we would be able to visibly see the Lord, our Lord. We would see him gently leading his sheep down the path in this life towards heaven. When we are not willful but wait upon Him, He leads us on in a way, which we would not have chosen for ourselves, but it is the safe and right way. When we do not know which road to take, we are not left to make a foolish choice, but we hear a voice behind us saying, this is the way, walk in it. It is a blessed thing when we are in a troubled condition to be quite confident that the Lord Himself brought us there. For then we are sure that the road must be right, since our shepherd never misleads his flock. If we follow where Jesus leads, the guide is responsible for the road. The next meaning of the rod and staff is that of urging us onward. The next meaning of the rod and staff is that of urging us onward. The sheep sometimes are lazy and will not move, and then the shepherd pushes them a little with his rod and staff. Have you ever felt the divine touch of the shepherd urging you to move on? Perhaps during a sermon you have felt a pretty sharp thrust of the rod? I know that I have had to lay the rod on at times in the master's name upon certain fat sheep who were not as quite as nimble as they ought to be. but their wool is so thick that I could scarcely make them feel the rod. The great shepherd knows how to touch them. He can give such a push when sheep are lingering behind that all of a sudden you see them leap forward and you wonder how it is that they go to the front of the flock so eagerly. If I am experiencing trouble in my life and I feel that it speeds me on in the right road, if it drives me to prayer, if it makes me honor God more, then the rod and the staff comfort me. It is a happy thing to be pushed by trouble towards heaven. It is an evil thing to be comfortable in doing nothing. It is a horrible thing to be sinking into indifference and not to care whether you get out of it or not. but it is good to be tested and tried and so made to desire more grace. It comforts a wise man to perceive that the rod is working for his good. Oh yes, the rod and staff are also used for disciplining. For if a sheep goes astray, the shepherd pulls him back by the leg with the hook at the end of his staff. and makes that sheep feel that it cannot wander without suffering for it. Yes, the rod and staff are used for disciplining. So the Lord does discipline us. Blessed be his name for disciplining, though it is not pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Oh, how blessed are those words, later on, however. It is a condescending thing for God to take enough notice of you to discipline you. A father does not spank other people's children. And when God afflicts a believer and his soul within him is broken down, let him say within himself, blessed be God for this trial. Because the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Sweet is the pain that seals the Father's love. Blessed is the anguish caused by our Shepherd's hand. Oh, it is a dreadful pleasure that would arise out of God letting me alone. Let me never taste that. But blessed grief, blessed heartbreak, which assures me that God has not forgotten me. Oh Lord, your rod, when it disciplines me, does comfort me. But last of all, last of all, the rod and staff are used by the shepherd to protect his flock. The rod and staff are used by the shepherd to protect his flock. With the rod and staff, the shepherd fights off the wild beast of the field so that the lambs may not be torn apart. And oh, how glorious is Christ when he comes to us with the weapons of his eternal power to fight the lion that would shred our soul. Think of him in heaven pleading for his people, pleading the merits of his blood, using his intercession as a staff with which he strikes the wolf and chases away the lion and the bear so that none of us would be destroyed. He must, he will protect his own elect. You may wrongly think that Christ bought his people with his blood and that yet he could lose them, but I don't believe it. When a thing has cost you dearly, you take great care of it, and if it cost you your life, you would not readily part with it. Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has will he give for his life. And when he has once given up his life, that which he has purchased with it is dearer to him than all the world. Christ would sooner lose his life than lose his people. He did die once to save them, and until he dies again, which he won't and can't, they will never perish. Has he not said it himself, because I live, you will live also? Unless they live, he does not live. His life has entered into them, and it can never leave them. I give, he says, to my sheep eternal life, and what can eternal life be but a life which lasts forever? Oh, may God give to everyone here present the faith which I have been talking about. Perhaps some of you have never trusted your souls with Christ. You know that faith is the way of salvation. Why do you not follow it? Simply trust Him. Simply trust Him. Simply trust Him now. It is the wonderful power of faith that changes the heart. When you trust a man, you love him. You cannot be an enemy to a man in whom you trust. The effect of faith upon the affections is marvelous. It changes their whole nature and bent. Oh, may God grant that you may know Christ, for they that know His name will put their trust in Him, and when you know Him and trust Him, then you will confess with us unto the Lord, blessed is the man that trusts in you. God bless you, dear friends, for Christ's sake, amen.