Would you turn with me to Psalm
23, the 23rd Psalm, the most familiar psalm in the
Word of God. Believers as well as unbelievers
could pretty much recite this psalm. The Bride in Solomon's Song,
the Song of Solomon. declares that her bridegroom,
as she gazed upon him, she said of him that he's altogether lovely. She said he's without a flaw.
In other words, he's perfect. He's perfect. She must be speaking of Christ. Must be speaking of Christ. Who
else Could that describe? Who else is perfect? Do you ladies
look at your husbands in that way? Perfect without fault? Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
the bridegroom of his church, in whatever character you view
him, whatever attribute you want to consider individually, his
power, his mercy, His grace, His greatness. Consider them
individually or all together, how they blend in perfection
only in Him. Only in Him does mercy and truth
meet together. Righteous and peace come together
and kiss one another. He's exactly that, isn't He? He's perfection, absolute perfection. In everything he ever did, he
did it perfectly. He perfectly obeyed the law of
God. He perfectly brought in an everlasting
righteousness. He perfectly satisfied divine
justice so completely. Well, perfect means it's done.
You can't add nothing to perfection, can you? And our Lord Jesus did
that in all that he did. He said, I'm the bread of life.
Consider him as the bread of life and he's perfect. Because
him that cometh unto me, he said, shall never hunger again. The fountain of living water,
consider him in that light and again, he's perfect. He said,
whosoever drinketh of this shall never thirst again. He's the
bridegroom and he does everything perfectly for his bride. He's
the Lamb of God who perfectly took away all the sins of all
his people. And here, as in many other places,
he's described as the shepherd. The shepherd. There's many texts,
many texts that we could have went to to use to illustrate
that. He himself said in John 10, I
am the good shepherd. Now he's speaking up to the Pharisees
on this occasion. They claim to be the shepherd
of the sheep. They claim to be the leaders
of the people. But our Lord told them, you're
not the shepherd. You're harlings. If danger comes
to the sheep, you'll leave them alone. You'll let them be devoured
by wolves, not me. I'm the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And that's exactly
what God the Father said he would do when he said, awake, O sword,
against the man who is my fellow. Awake, O sword, against the shepherd. Smite the shepherd, just as our
Lord said. And in Hebrews chapter 13, he's
described as the great shepherd of the sheep. He reigns in glory
for his sheep. And in 1 Peter, he's called the
chief shepherd. Peter says that he will appear
again to bring all of his sheep home. All of his sheep home. Isn't that comforting? Everything
for his sheep. And David, you recall, he was
the youngest of Jesse's sons. And being the youngest, it was
his responsibility, his duty, it fell to him to tend the sheep
of his father Jesse. When the prophet Samuel was sent
to Bethlehem, the home of David, to anoint the future king of
Israel, as each son of Jesse passed before
him, Samuel thought to himself, surely this young, strapping
man must be God's chosen. He must be the anointing. And
God said, that's not him. Sam, you're looking on the outward
appearance. You're judging by outward appearance.
He said, I look at the heart. I look at the heart. And one
after one of Jesse's sons passed before him, and God said, he's
not the one. And Samuel finally asked Jesse,
do you have any other sons? You remember what Jesse said.
Well, I've got one. There's another one, the youngest
one. He's out tending sheep. Didn't
think it was even necessary for him to be here. Samuel said,
go fetch him. Go fetch him. Go get him. And
David comes in, the youngest, ruddy-faced David. And God whispers
by his spirit to Samuel's heart and says, this is he. This is
he. This is the future king of Israel. David is at last brought in by
God's grace, and he's anointed, though it's sometime before he
actually ascends the throne, but he's anointed Israel's king. You remember what Paul wrote
in 1 Corinthians? For you see your calling, brethren,
How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. Why not? Because people will
say God called them for that reason. He called them because
they were mighty. He called them because they were
noble. No, not so. But God had chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. And God had chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. and base things of the world and things which are
despised have God chosen ye, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are, for this reason, that no flesh
should glory in his presence." No flesh has any grounds to glory
in the presence of God, but there is a place where you can glory.
There is a place where you should glory if you're a believer. But
of him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God is made in us wisdom
and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Oh, if that's
so, if that's so then, according as it is written, he that glorieth,
glory in the Lord, that did all that for you. Before David was
a shepherd of a nation, of multitudes of people, he was the shepherd
of his father's sheep. But there's one greater than
David, spoken up here, that's the shepherd of his father's
sheep. His father committed the keeping
of the sheep into his hands and he pledged to his heavenly father
in that covenant of grace that in most churches today, sadly
to say, you could sit month after month and year after year and
never hear if there'd be such a thing. But the Bible speaks
of it. That everlasting covenant of
grace, God the Father committed into the hands of his son, and
his son pledged to become responsible for them. He became a surety.
That means he promised to do everything necessary to bring
them back to the Father's house to redeem them, to save them,
to keep them, to preserve them, and bring them the glory. And
that can only refer to, not David, but the son of David. Yes, he
is the good shepherd, and he's the great shepherd, and he's
the cheap shepherd. But of all that, even though
all those are true, look what David says here in verse 1. Yes,
he's the good shepherd. He said, I am the good shepherd,
and the great, and the chief. But all those things that he
is means nothing to me personally. I can't claim him to be any of
those things to me unless I can say this, he's my shepherd. The
Lord is my shepherd. I won't attempt to get beyond
that. I've thought about that so much. That's rich, brother
Lloyd. The Lord is my shepherd. Here's where the sweetness is
really found. Here's the icing on the cake,
if you will. He's my shepherd. Then everything
that follows, I can claim. Everything comes beneath that.
Everything David mentions here, everything Christ is, Everything
he does, everything he promised is mine if he's my shepherd. If I can take these words to
be my own and, oh, I can rest here, can I not? He's my shepherd. Then if he's my shepherd, he's
my chief shepherd and my great shepherd and my good shepherd
that lay down his life for me. Paul writing to the church at
Corinth said, is Christ divided? Is Christ divided? People today
try to divide him. And it's preachers' fault. They've
told rebels who want to remain in their rebellion, they want
to tell sinners who refuse to bow to Jesus Christ that they
can still be saved, that they can still have Christ as Savior.
They divide him. He's Savior, but if you don't
bow to Him, He's simply not your Lord, and you might lose some
reward. Is Christ divided? Is He mutilated? He's one. He's perfect. You can't pick and choose. Every
sinner that's saved bows to Jesus Christ. What nonsense, but I'll
tell you this. There are multitudes and they're
increasing by the number of poor, deceived souls that claim that
very thing. Jesus is my Savior, but I have
yet to bow to Him as Lord. That is so sad. What a deception. What a rude awakening they're
in for. No doubt they'll be among that
multitude that said, Lord, Lord, did we not thus and thus? And
He says, depart from Me, I never knew you. No, if we can claim
Christ as my shepherd, then every sweet verse that follows here
in this most comforting of psalms, indeed, don't confine it to just
this psalm, but all the psalms and all the word of God. Everything
you find, every picture, every type, every sacrifice that is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my shepherd and all that
he is, all that he's done, all that he's promised to do is for
me. It's for me. It's for all of
his sheep, all those to whom he is their shepherd. There was
a lady teaching a class, a Bible class of young children. And
she had been teaching them about the preciousness of Jesus Christ. Peter in his first epistle, chapter
2, said he's precious. He's precious to all that believe.
To all that's really tasted, they know that he's precious.
He's precious to God the Father. Though rejected by man, yet chosen
by God, elect and precious. And Peter said, he is preciousness
itself. And she was teaching them along
that line. And she asked them, what does
that mean? What does it mean that Christ
is precious? Those little children just sat
in silence, pondering. I just about picture my little
six-year-old granddaughter She'll have a question and she'll just
look up to me and you can just see by her expression the curiosity
in her face. But the teacher asked, what does
that mean that Jesus Christ is precious? And finally, one little
girl said, well, my father said that mother is precious because
what would we do without her? And I thought, that's a pretty
good definition. of the preciousness of Jesus
Christ. How precious is he? Think of
what you would do without him. What would you do without Jesus
Christ? Where would you be at this moment
without Jesus Christ? There would be no salvation.
There would be no hope of heaven. There would be no forgiveness
of sins. There would be no shepherd. There would be nothing but misery
and the wrath of God awaiting us except for Jesus Christ. What would we do without Him?
Blessed is the man or the woman who can truly say, by God's revealing
Christ to them, The Lord is my shepherd. Let me read you a verse
or two concerning that very fact. Genesis 49 verse 24, but his
bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong
by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob and from thence is the
shepherd the stone of Israel. Our shepherd, we're told, is
the mighty God. In Isaiah chapter 40, we're told,
he will gather his sheep. He will gather his sheep. Speaking to Pete just before
service, she said she was watching one of these prophecy experts. on TV. They've got it all figured
out. And they say that in the latter
days, the restoration of animal sacrifices will begin to take
place again in Israel. I have to chuckle. It's really
sad. It's not a laughing matter. But what nonsense. No, no, The
reason the world exists is not due to what the Jews may or may
not do. He is not a Jew who is one outwardly
anyway, but who is one inwardly. The true Israel of God are those
whom Paul spoke of when he said, so all Israel shall be saved.
They are not all Israel that are called Israel. Just because
you're a son of Abraham, Natural descent doesn't mean you're a
son of God. Oh no, this world exists exclusively
for this reason. Because the great shepherd of
the sheep is calling out his chosen. He's calling out those
that the father gave him. He's gathering them one by one. One by one. He says, my sheep
hear my voice. And when they hear my voice,
they'll follow me. My sheep will be willing in the
day of my power. Because all that the Father giveth
me, I love this, that's why I quote it so much. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Not most of them. Not the majority. He said all that the Father gave
me. A multitude. Multitudes. Multitudes shall
be saved. Christ redeemed multitudes with
his precious blood. People here, you believe election. Election, ooh, ooh, a nasty word,
bad word. Now, it's a glorious, glorious
truth. And they'll accuse you of believing only one or two
will be saved. They've never heard anybody that
really believed that say that. Oh, no, no. I believe that a
multitude that no man can number will not might be saved. They
shall be saved. Christ redeemed them and in time
he's going to call them and he's going to bring everyone under
the glory and none shall be lost. There's no question about that.
God's grace is always effectual. Therefore Christ the Great Shepherd,
our Shepherd, says all that the Father giveth me shall come to
me. And him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. That's not discouraging. He'll
gather them by the preaching of the gospel. By the preaching
of the gospel they hear his voice. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. What a reason to preach. What
a reason to invite! What a reason to witness! God's
Word will not, it cannot return unto him void. And we could go
on and on. But here's the pearl of great
price concerning the shepherd. Again, the Lord is my shepherd. Whatever he is, all that that
entails is mine. If so, if that's so, if the Lord
is my shepherd, I really don't have any grounds to fear. Do I? This is pretty much what David
says in the remainder of this psalm. If the Lord is my shepherd,
I don't have any reason to be fearful. I am. I do. But the truth is, I should be
ashamed because I don't have any reason to be. If he's my
shepherd, if I'm his sheep, if I'm in his hands, I couldn't
be more secure. I couldn't be more safe. All
the reason, we have all the reason because he's our shepherd for
comfort, for hope, for peace. Let's turn to John chapter 10
for just a moment. We quoted the verse from there
a moment ago but let's look at what our Lord said here in John's
gospel chapter 10 concerning him being the faithful, good,
chief shepherd of the sheep. Here in John 10 verse 14 again
I remind you he's speaking to the enemies of God. the false
teachers, the Pharisees. And he says, verse 14, I am the
good shepherd and I know my sheep. I know my sheep. But they know
me too. I reveal myself to them and am
known of mine. As Bobby sometimes sings, I am
his. and he is mine. As long as God
and I shall be, I am his and he is mine. As the father, verse
15, knoweth me, even so know I the father. And I lay down
my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I'll do my very best to bring.
No, no. I must bring, I must bring. I
promised my father, I must bring. And they shall hear my voice.
I like the shells of the great shepherd, don't you? So much
more comforting than man's hopes and maybes and doubts and pouts. They shall hear my voice, and
there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore does my father
love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have
power. Oh, hear the great shepherd.
I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received
of my father. Oh, how he knows his sheep. He
knows us better than we know ourselves. We have a very good
example of that in Peter. Remember that night when our
Lord said, all of you shall deny me. All of you will rather forsake
me. Peter said, not me, not me. They all might, but not me. Peter, our Lord said, before
the sun rises, before the rooster crows, you'll deny you even know
me. You'll deny that you've ever had any acquaintance with me,
and you'll do it three times. And Peter was sincere as he could
be. He was sincere as he could be.
He said, that's just not possible. There's no, I'm willing to die
for you. If I'm willing to die for you,
how would I deny you? Oh, he had a lesson to learn,
did he not? Oh, the danger, the folly, the
foolishness of leaning upon the arm of flesh. How soon after
Peter spoke those words was he not found cursing and denying
the very Lord that he promised that would never happen. But
our Lord knew Peter better than he knew himself. And he knows
you and I better than we know ourselves. He says, I know my
sheep. He knows who they are. He told
the Pharisees one time, you're not my sheep. That's why you
don't believe. You believe not because you're
not my sheep. My sheep will hear my voice.
And when they hear, they'll believe and they'll follow. He knows
who his sheep are, and he knows how they are. Now, we try to
cover up things about ourselves so they don't become obvious
to one another. But that's vanity, I'm sure. But, oh, I find great comfort
in knowing that he knows all about me. He knows all about
me. He knows how I am. He knows how
weak, how foolish. His sheep have a tendency to
wander, to go astray. They don't know what's good for
them. Oh, but he does. The great shepherd does. He knows
who they are. He knows how they are. And he
knows where they are. He knows where they are all the
time. Does that not ring a note of
comfort to your heart. He knows where you are all the
time. And he knows what you need all
the time, all the time. The shepherd is able to keep
his sheep. He's not only all-knowing, but
he's all-powerful. We read concerning our shepherd
that he's able to save to the uttermost. All. All. Oh, I love that. He's able to
save to the uttermost all. He has a 100% success rate. It was prophesied of Him. He
shall not fail. It's just out of the realm of
possibility. He shall not fail. Therefore,
all that come unto Him, He's able to save to the uttermost. He's able. to keep them from
falling. And he's also able to bring them
all the way home. That's our shepherd. You remember
in Luke 15, when the Pharisee said to his disciples, your master
eats with publicans and sinners, that's despicable. And he speaks
that parable, which of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses
one, doesn't go out and look for it? And he looks for it until
he finds it. He knows where it's at. He goes
straight to where it's at. And he finds it. Picks it up. Puts it across his shoulders.
And we're told he comes home rejoicing. And he says to his
friends, come rejoice with me. I found my sheep, which was lost. Was that premature? I mean, I've
heard preachers say we've got to wait. We've got to wait to
see if we hold out, if we can hold on and hold out. Oh no,
Christ rejoices because he knows the salvation of his sheep is
not dependent upon their holding on or holding out. It's dependent
upon the great shepherd in whose hands they're kept. That's why
he rejoices. He knows they're going to come
home. He's going to bring them home. And they rejoice because
that's so. Look again at this verse in Psalm
23, these first few precious words. The Lord is my shepherd. Lord, the Lord, the all-glorious,
the all-knowing, the all-powerful, the Lord of heaven and earth,
that being so, that being so, He being the mighty God and the
everlasting Father. He that possesses all wisdom
and all power. No wonder he said, no one can
pluck my sheep out of my hand. I mean, who would that be? Who
would be able to do that? Father, you've given me power
over those people who are willing to allow me to exercise it? No. You've given me power over all
flesh and I exercise my power over all flesh. He's always in
control. He's always on His throne. He's
always ruling. We read in Psalm 90, that from everlasting to everlasting
thou art God. The more literal translation
of that would be thou art everlastingly God. You've always been God. You've always ruled. You've always
reigned. The Lord is my shepherd and he
has his way in the whirlwind. The clouds are but the dust of
his feet. Oh, dwell on that blessed truth.
The Lord, your shepherd, he shall not fail. The Lord high and lifted
up. The Lord over all and blessed
forever. The Lord God omnipotent that
reigneth. In Revelation, we read that they
rejoice. They rejoice over that blessed
truth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him. The Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. He's my shepherd. He's our shepherd. It must be well with my soul
again. Why wouldn't it be? Why wouldn't
it be? You know, we read of that night
on the stormy sea when the disciples, fearful for their life, awake,
awake the God-man. The God-man is going to speak
to that storm, peace, command it to be still and the waves
just lie down and yet he's tired and he's sleeping. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh, but
they wake him and ask him this. What a foolish question. But
I'm as guilty as they are. I can't find fault with them.
Done the same thing. Master, cares thou not that we
perish? Lord, aren't you aware of what
I'm going through? Don't you realize This burden? Lord, why? Don't you care? Don't you care? Care that we
perish, they asked? And this shepherd was on board.
He was in the vessel with them. It was impossible that they should
perish. Look, if you will, for a moment
in Psalm 121. So many of these, but look at
Psalm 121. Read a few verses there. The psalmist here says,
verse 1, I will lift up mine eyes into the hills from which
cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord
which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. He's not asleep. He's never asleep. Behold, behold,
he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Isn't that a sweet thought? Isn't
that a sweet thought? When you lie down tonight, when
you lie down in your bed to sleep tonight, remember that my great
shepherd never sleeps. Right now while I'm asleep, once
I fall off, Don't know what's going on outside my door. Don't
know what danger might be lurking. Oh, but the great shepherd, he
never slumbers. He never sleeps. He's watching
over his sheep. Isn't that comforting? One hymn
writer put it this way. Fear not the windy, tempest wild. Thy bark they shall not wreck.
Lie down and sleep, thy helpless child, thy father's on the deck. The next word is. The Lord is. Present tense. It doesn't say the Lord was,
used to be, or shall be, but he is. Right now, child of God,
the Lord is your shepherd. Right now, wherever you are at
this moment, the Lord is your shepherd. Whatever mountain or
whatever valley, it makes no difference with him. He's still
your shepherd. Look what David says in verse
4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil. Why? Because the Lord is his
shepherd. For thou, my shepherd, are with
me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Surely if the good shepherd laid
down his life for his sheep, And Psalm 22 is a Psalm about
that very thing. Verse 1 speaks the very, prophesies
the very words of our Savior when he was up on the cross.
But if the great shepherd laid down his life for the sheep,
surely he'll not forsake them. Afterwards, David proved, and
every believer has, every believer has, prove the faithfulness of
their shepherd over and over again. Haven't you? Haven't I? Look what David says in verse
6. Surely, surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life. And they have. All the days of my life. And
when my life is over, then what? Then I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. He'll hold to my hand as over
this river I go, and safe I will be in beautiful heaven I know."
That's what David says. All else here that David expresses
with such calm assurance is all because of the shepherd. It's all because of him. He's
the reason for all that follows, like the Apostle Paul. He wasn't
sitting in a comfortable church pew when he said, I know whom
I have believed. He was in prison. He was waiting
to be executed. But the Lord was still his shepherd
at that very moment. Therefore, he could join with
David in saying, I know whom I had believed and persuaded
that he is able. He is able. He's always able. He's the same yesterday and today
and forever. If the Lord is my shepherd, then
that means he's responsible for me. To seek and to save, to keep,
to preserve, to bring me to the Father's house. That's all his
responsibility. That's all his responsibility.
It's not mine. It's his responsibility. Turn,
if you will, to Hebrews chapter 13. We referred to this a moment
ago. Let's read these two verses. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20. What a sweet way to close this
epistle of Hebrews and to close our day of worship, to close
all of our days. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
God brought him from the dead because he promised once the
great shepherd fulfilled all the Father's will, that he would
do so in the covenant of grace. Through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight. Through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And when I die, David says, my great good shepherd
will take me to glory. Hearken unto me. Listen. Listen
to what your great shepherd tells you. Listen to what he said.
Pretty soon now, each of us, one by one, are going to leave
this world. Listen. Listen to what your shepherd
says. Hearken to me. house of Jacob and all the remnant
of the house of Israel which are born by me, which are born
by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. Even to
your old age I am he, I am he, the same, yesterday, today, forever.
And even to whore hairs will I carry you. I've made and I
will bear, even I will carry and deliver you. And in the resurrection,
He'll raise me up with a body made like unto his own glorious
body. All of this because the Lord
is my shepherd. David says, that's why I shall
not want. I shall not lack anything I need. We feed on the best food in the
world, don't we? We're kept alive, feasting upon
the bread of life. We're the best dressed people
in the world. The best, aren't we Lord? We're
wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness. All that glitter,
all that glitter, all that jingle, all that cling that the Pope
has on, it's nothing. I'm dressed in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Nobody's dressed better than
that. And David says, let's read the psalm and I'll be done. 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 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 a 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." Augustus' top lady said, when a saint dies,
he just moves from the church below to the church above. We just move upstairs in the
Father's house. Thank God that the Lord is our
shepherd. Amen. God bless you.