Good evening. Texted our pastor earlier today,
talked to Frank a little bit, and kind of had a rough night. I think he got better maybe as
the day went on, but he sends his love. I want to express to
everyone how much He misses you and desires to be back among
God's sheep. Open your Bibles with me to Ezekiel
34. Ezekiel 34, we'll begin reading
in verse 11. For thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all
places where they've been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And
I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the
countries and will bring them to their own land and feed them
upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the
inhabited places of the country. I'll feed them in a good pasture
and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There
shall they lie in a good fold and in a fat pasture shall they
feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock and I will
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that
which was lost. I'll bring again that which was
driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will
strengthen that which was sick. But I will destroy the fat and
the strong I'll feed them with judgment. We end our reading
there. Let's go to our Lord's Prayer. Our God and Father in Heaven,
Lord, we thank You for this day. We thank You for the opportunity
to once again gather as a people, Lord, to read Your Word. Lord, to hear a message from
Thee. Lord, I pray You'd bless the
preaching of the Word here this evening. Lord, enable me to speak from
Thy Word. Lord, enable me to not get in
the way of Your Word. Lord, speak to our hearts this
evening, I pray Thee. Lord, for those of our number
who are in a time of sickness and a time of trouble, Lord,
we pray you'd be with your people. Lord, we thank especially of
our brother Cecil, Lord, that you would be with him in days
to come. Strengthen him. Lord, bless those
that care for him. And Lord, we pray that you'd
be with our pastor. Lord, we pray you'd give him be thy will
a speedy recovery and return him here to us once again to
proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ. Again, we thank you for this
day. We thank you for your many blessings.
We pray that you would be with us or we pray for our young people. Thank you for these many little
ones and we pray you'd be merciful to them, Lord, that in your time
or that you would reveal the Savior to them in truth and in
love. Bless us this evening. Lord,
set aside the thoughts and cares of this world. Let us see Christ. In his name we pray and give
these thanks. Amen. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine Pair of salvation, purchase
of God of His Spirit washed in His blood. This is my story,
this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission,
perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight. Angels descending bring from
above Echoes of mercy, whispers of
love This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all
the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior
all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at
rest. I and my Savior am happy and
blessed. Watching and waiting, looking
above Filled with His goodness, lost in His love This is my story,
this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story,
this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long Praising my
Savior all the day long Let's open our Bibles to Psalm
23. before we read this 23rd Psalm
or begin our study in it. Just a point of interest here.
I think it's obvious you can't have a 23rd Psalm without a 22nd
Psalm. They're just in numerical order.
But it's only after we read the psalm of the cross. And that's
what that 22nd psalm is, where he says, My God, why hast thou
forsaken me? It's only after that's been revealed
to us that we can truly enter into the Lord is my shepherd. We must see the value of that
shed blood that has to be revealed to us, the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the sword awakened against His shepherd before we
can see the tender care and appreciate the tender care of His sheep. And in a time of so much uncertainty,
what seems to be. It's uncertain with us. Nothing's
uncertain with God. But in a time of uncertainty,
isn't it good to be reminded that the Lord, the Lord is my
shepherd? I'd like just for a few minutes
for us to look together at this passage of Scripture this evening. And David, in this text, He says,
the Lord is my shepherd. He compares the Lord God to a
shepherd. And David was well-versed in
this occupation. He could speak about being a
shepherd. I was thinking about that. If
I wanted to know something about flying, I would ask Bob Boyd. I could ask Blaine if he was
here. There's very few people that I could talk to that knew
something about that. If I wanted to know how to sharpen
a knife, I'd ask Earl Wooten. David could talk. I couldn't
talk about any of those things. David could speak of being a
shepherd because he was one. Turn back to 1 Samuel. Look at verse 11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, or
hear all thy children. And he said, There remaineth
yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send
and fetch him, for we will not sit down until he comes hither."
Samuel had came to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the king of
Israel. And so little was thought of
David that they didn't even bother to have him at the house. But
think about, I don't know what all the other brothers were doing,
but David was, could there have been a more important thing?
He was keeping the sheep. Here we see him as the shepherd.
Look at chapter 16, look at verse 19. Wherefore Saul sent messengers
unto Jesse and said, Send me David thy son, which is with
the sheep. He's keeping the sheep. He's
caring for the sheep. Look at 1 Samuel 17 verse 15. David went and he returned from
Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. Here we see him
as the shepherd. We see him keeping the sheep.
We see him feeding the father's sheep. And then look at verse
34, David said to Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep, and
there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock.
Here we see him as the shepherd willing to lay down his life
for the sheep. And the work of the shepherd,
hold your place there, we'll come back to 1 Samuel, but the
work of the shepherd If you see images of it in our
time, you'll have some fellow dressed in a flowing white robe
and a beautiful cane out there walking around in the field with
a row of sheep following behind him, or maybe he's even out there
taking a nap or resting on one of the sheep while they wander
around in the pasture, portrayed as portrayed as weak, portrayed
as helpless, just out there amongst the sheep while they wander around. But that's not the role. And
that's the way men portray a man named Jesus in our time, as weak
and helpless to do anything. A so-called savior that is dependent
upon man to do something. But look here. Look here in 1
Samuel 17, look beginning with verse 34. This account, this
experience he had as a shepherd. David said unto Saul, Thy servant
kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear,
and took a lamb out of the flock. Here's what the shepherd does.
He says, I went out after him, and I smote him, and I delivered
it out of his mouth. And when he rose again against
me, I caught him by the beard, and I smote him, and I slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of
them, seeing he had defied the armies of the living God." That one sheep, that stray animal
had come and got it. He's not going to lose it. He
goes out and He lays down His life and He smoked the lion and
the bear, defending and keeping the sheep. Again, willing to
lay down His life for the sheep. Can that point to anyone but
the Lord Jesus Christ? The old commentators, they write
about men that went out and observed shepherds, true shepherds. Not
ones for painting pictures, but true shepherds out in the field. And here's a few things they
commented on. They said they would call their
sheep by name. And the sheep would recognize
the voice of the shepherd. Think about that. They called
the sheep by name. and those sheep would recognize
their shepherd's voice. What did our Lord say? He said,
my sheep hear my voice. They observed how they would
fight to the dead to defend and protect those sheep from thieves
and robbers or wild animals. Our Lord said, I lay down my
life for my sheep. And then listen, listen, this
was their appearance reading about this. They said that they
look like warriors marching into battle. They have a long gun
thrown over their shoulder and a dagger and a heavy pistol stuffed
down in their belt. Described them as having fierce
eyes and a scowling countenance and gave the indication they
were prepared to protect the sheep. at any cost. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Look at verse 20 of Hebrews 13. Now the God of peace, brought again from the dead,
our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every good work to do His will, working in you that which was
well-pleasing in His sight through Christ Jesus, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. And then look at John chapter
10. Our Lord, the great shepherd
of the sheep. Look at John chapter 10. Look at verse 27 of John 10. He says, My sheep, This is our
Lord speaking. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. They're not going to pluck out
of His hand. And then look, He said, My Father which gave them
Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of My Father's hand." Isn't that what Abigail said to David? She said, seeing that you're
bound up in the bundle of life, we're safe and secure in Him. The Lord is my shepherd. Turn over to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15, we'll begin
with verse 4. One lost sheep. We read of one
lost sheep. Again, we see the work of the
shepherd. Beginning with verse 4. What
man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, just
one, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and
go after that which is lost until he find it? And when he found
it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying
unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which
was lost. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety and nine just persons that have no need of repentance. One lost sheep. One lost sheep
and the work of the shepherd. What do we know? Just by this
text here, what do we know about the sheep? How's that sheep described? He's lost. That which was lost. And that's our condition. Lost. Ruined. Not just a little
lost. We haven't just wandered off
the path a little ways. He says we're lost. Not just
a little fallen. We didn't just trip. Adam didn't
trip in the garden. Adam fell. We're dead. That's the description. Dead in trespasses and sin. And listen, we've wandered far
from the fold. Again, we haven't just made one
little wrong turn there and we'll get our way back on the right
path. We've wandered far from the fold. That prodigal son,
we read that he went to his father and he said, give me what's mine.
And he took all that was his. And how's he described there?
He took a journey into a far country. And then he wasted away
his substance and righteous living. Lost. Lost. Without help and
without hope. And that's a description of all
of us. All of us. Look at Ephesians
chapter 2. Ephesians 2 and verse 12. Paul writes, he says that at
that time, you were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in this
world. You hear that? We're lost. Lost
and helpless to do anything about it. That's us. That's us by nature. Aren't we
thankful for the shepherd? Back there in Luke, what do we
read? What does the shepherd do? Well,
he seeks. We read he seeks. He seeks that
lost sheep. We read he finds that lost sheep. And when he finds it, he puts
it up on his shoulder and he brings it home. And then we read,
he rejoices. He rejoices. He seeks it. He goes after that which was
lost. Our Lord, Almighty God, sent
Paul and Silas to prison for one purpose. For one purpose. There's a Philippian jailer down
there and his family. And they're going to hear the
gospel. They're going to hear the gospel by those men being
beaten. What good could come from that?
Doesn't that sound awful? Cast into the innermost parts
of the prison. Their feet bound fast in the
stocks, in the innermost part. All for the purpose of sending
the gospel to that jailer. We read this, he must needs go
through Samaria. What's in Samaria? Well, there's
a woman there drawing water, and our Lord is going to go reveal
himself to her in mercy and grace. He's going to Jericho. He's going
to pass through Jericho, and there's a publican there. Of
all things, a publican. And he's just there just to see
what's going on. He's just there for the show.
He climbed up in a tree to watch the Lord pass by. And we read
that when our Lord came to the place, think about that, that
place determined from before the foundation of the world,
the Lord's going to cross His path. And our Lord stops at the
place and He looks up and He tells Zacchaeus, He showed mercy to him. I was
thinking about this, and was it in the 50s that Ralph Barnard
came to town? Down there in the park, and you
know a lot of people, from what I read, got pretty upset about
things that were being said there. Boy, a lot of people gave thanks,
didn't they? God brought the gospel to this
town. Today, He continues to send forth... I believe that's the only reason
this world is still turning, because He continues to send
forth those men to preach the Gospel, calling out His sheep,
seeking His sheep and calling them out, preaching the Word.
Ezekiel 34 verse 11, For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I,
even I, will both search my sheep, and I'll seek him out. I'll search
for him and I'll find him. And that's what we see next here.
He seeks that sheep and he finds it. Not one, not one is going
to be lost. Nothing, nothing is hid from
our Lord. In John chapter 6, verse 39,
we read, This is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which the Father hath given me, I'll lose nothing,
not one. But raise it up again in the
last day." That lost sheep, he seeks it, he finds it, and then
he brings it home. He carries it home. He's not
putting it on a leash and dragging it in. He puts it up on his shoulder
and he carries it home. The Lord Jesus Christ, He bore
our sins, and He carried our sorrows. Verse 5 of Luke 15,
it says, When He hath found it, He laith it on His shoulders,
rejoicing. Who does the work here? It's all of Him. It's all of
Him. And He bears it up. He bears
it up on His shoulders. I was thinking about this. I
worked on a farm when I was younger, and there would be times that
when those cattle would start dropping calves, it was always
in the winter and it was always cold, we would have to go out
and search until we found those calves. And when you found them,
you'd try to push them, but that wouldn't, the only way to get
them back to the barn was to get down and pick them up and
throw them over your shoulder and carry them back. And if anybody's
familiar with that, you'll know this, that when you pick up a
lost animal, usually they're covered in mud and blood and
other things that tend to ooze out of them when they're nervous. But whatever's on them is on
you. Whatever's on that animal is
on the person carrying them. Ben, you've probably done this.
You pick up a frog. Have you ever picked up a toad?
And that toad's dry when you pick it up. And after you carry
it for a little bit, your hand's wet. And it's hard to wash off
and it smells awful. Same kind of experience there.
But think about this. Think about what our Lord bore. when He carried us. Think about
the worst possible substance you can think of getting on yourself,
and it doesn't even compare to what our Lord bore. He bore our
sin. Is there anything worse? He bore
our sin on His body, in His body on the tree. The Scriptures declare
this, that He was made sin. made sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
made sin. God made Him sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. And yet, the Lord
Jesus Christ is the spotless Lamb of God. He's absolutely
perfect. And He had to be. He has to be. The scriptures declare this of
the sacrifice. It must be perfect. to be accepted. And we know He was perfect. God
raised Him from the dead and set Him at His right hand. He
said, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear
ye Him. He's the Lamb without spot and
without blemish. Over in Isaiah chapter 40, let
me just read this. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand and His arms shall rule for Him Behold, his
reward is with him and his work before him. He shall feed his
flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that
are with him. That lost sheep, poor lost sheep,
he finds it, he brings it home, he puts it up on his shoulder,
and then last, he rejoices. He rejoices. Verse 6, rejoice with me for
I have found my sheep which was lost. And then look at verse
7, likewise shall joy be in heaven over one sinner that repented
more than ninety and nine just persons. That work, the work
of salvation, the work of deliverance, it's all of Him. He seeks, He
finds, He brings home, And he rejoices. He rejoices. And why wouldn't he? It's for
his glory, isn't it? What he did, he did it all for
his glory. Well, isn't that a good description
of the shepherd? The shepherd of the sheep. Now
turn with me back to Psalm 23. The Lord. David said, the Lord
is my shepherd. He is. You see that he is my
shepherd. Not. Not could be. Not might be. Not will be if
you let him. The Lord is my shepherd. He is and he's this is personal
here. He's my shepherd. Think about
that. He's my shepherd. And David says
this, I just feel David says this with confidence. Again,
David knew something about the work of the shepherd. He said,
he's my shepherd to protect, to keep, to defend. And think about this, as my shepherd,
he knows my wants. He knows my situation. He knows
my needs, my sickness. my infirmity, my weakness. He knows everything that concerns
His sheep. He's my shepherd. And with that
being true, as a result of that being true, David goes on, he
said, I shall not want. I shall not want. I shall not want. You can interpret
that two ways. I shall not fail. It also means
I shall not come short. I shall not come short. Daniel
interpreted that writing on the wall for old Belshazzar. He said,
you've been weighed in the balance and you've been found wanting.
You didn't make the mark. Scriptures declare this, all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not
fail. I shall not come short. Not the believer. Because we're
in His hands. I shall not want. I may be nothing but a weak and
helpless sheep, but I shall not want. I may be A dumb sheep that
wanders and strays. But I shall not want. I may be
an old, feeble sheep that is sick and sorrowful. Just have a few days left out
in the field. But I shall not want. Why? Because the Lord is my shepherd. Verse 2, I shall not want for
rest. Because He makes me. He makes
me to lie down in green pastures. We're not even smart. I sit up
there, I may be a dumb sheep that wanders astray. Strike that. There's no maybe to it, is there?
Look at that. He makes me. He makes me to lie
down in the green pastures. I shall not want for peace. for
He leads me beside the still waters. I shall not want, verse
3, I shall not want for redemption and forgiveness, for He restores
my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness
for His namesake. He clothes us. We're clothed
in the very righteousness of God. We're made righteous. He made us righteous. Verse 4,
I shall not want for companionship or comfort. He said, Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear
no evil. It's a valley. There's something on the other
side of a valley, isn't there? It's a valley we're just passing
through. The sting of death is sin. That sting's been removed. by
Christ. He's taken it away. And He said,
I'll fear no evil. I'll fear no evil thing. How's
that? All things are determined by
God. All things. Nothing happens without His knowledge
and His will. He's determined. And whatever
it is, Whatever it is that may come our way. And I look at this time right
now and think, what in the world is going on? We know this is
for our good and it's for His glory. I wish I could just hold on to
that for more than 10 or 15 seconds. And nothing in all of this, Nothing
can separate us from the love of God, which is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'll fear no evil. David said,
I'll fear no evil, for thou art with me. He said, thy rod and
thy staff, they comfort me. And with that rod, he rules his
flock. He defends his flock. and He
directs His flock to wherever He'd have us to go. I shall not want for provision.
Look at verse 5. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. A lot written on that. But listen,
He supplies every need. every need provided. Abundantly. Not only is it provided, it's
provided abundantly above all that we could ever hope or imagine. Verse six. I shall not want for anything
in this in this life or the life to come. He says for his mercy
and goodness shall follow me all the days of my life. His
grace, His free grace, His love, His favor, His mercy in Christ,
all the days of my life. And I'll dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. Not as a stranger, not as a guest,
but as a son. How's that? We're made sons,
aren't we? Think about old Mephibosheth.
There he is down there, down there at Lodabar. Fetch him. Bring him back to me. Set him
at my table. He's gonna eat there continually. How's he gonna eat there continually?
In what condition? As a son. as a son of the King. He's going to eat just like He's
my son. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
God's Shepherd. He is the One Shepherd. He's the Great Shepherd. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep. He's the
Chief Shepherd. We read, when the Chief Shepherd
shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth
not away. He's the good shepherd. The good shepherd that giveth
his life for the sheep. Our Lord, again, he said, I am
the good shepherd. I know my sheep and I am known
of mine. And that's our hope, isn't it?
Isn't that our comfort? The Lord is my shepherd. Well, I pray the Lord would use
this message to instruct us, but also to comfort us. And pray
we'd look at that often and be reminded of it often. The Lord
is my shepherd. Amen. You're dismissed.