Psalm 23, 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 namesake. 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." May the Lord bless
His word to all of us this evening. We've come to the sixth of these
eight names of Jehovah. which are compounded with another
word. And all of these titles or names
teach us more about him. The one we are looking at tonight
is Jehovah Raha. Jehovah dash R-A dash A-H. Jehovah Raha, the Lord, my shepherd. And because this one is found
in this psalm, Psalm 23, it is probably the best known of the
eight names that we have of Jehovah. Many, some here in this congregation
I know, learned this psalm in your youth. And you have found
it to be a blessing to you through life and When we come to the
end of life, it will still be a blessing. It's helped to dry
many tears in Psalm 23. It's helped to comfort many hearts,
relieve many fears. I remember preaching a funeral
several years ago, and I did not know the man who was being
buried. And I asked his family, I said,
did he have a favorite passage of scripture? And they said,
yes, he loves Psalm 23. So I brought a message from that
psalm, from this psalm rather, Psalm 23. And we very seldom
ever attend a funeral that we do not hear this psalm or see
it written on the card. But I would remind us of this
tonight, that this psalm was not written for the dead. It's
written for the living. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, God is not the God of the dead. He's the God of the living. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. He's the God of the living. And
I would ask each one of us tonight, before we begin our study, this
question. Are you able to say tonight with
the psalmist, the Lord, the Lord Jehovah, He is my shepherd. He is my shepherd. And here's an interesting question
I wanted to give to us to ponder. I normally do not even mention
anything that might be considered speculation because If God had
intended for us to know, he would have told us. But I find this
question interesting. This psalm, this psalm that is
so well known, was it written by a young man, David? Maybe while he was out tending
his father, Jesse's sheep? Just a young lad? Was that the
time when this psalm was given to him by inspiration of God?
Or was it written as an aged man? You know, he reigned 40
years, 70 years old, I believe, when he died. Was this psalm
written by an aged man after he had been a shepherd over the
nation of Israel? Because the kings in the scripture
in the Old Testament, they were the shepherds of Israel, the
kings. And God told them in the law
of Deuteronomy, that when they asked for a king and God gave
them a king, then that king, he was to copy the law himself. He was to have his own personal
copy of the Word of God. And he was to copy that part
of the Scripture. And he was to make himself familiar
with the Word of God that he might shepherd the people of
God, the Israel of God, the nation of Israel. And I just wonder
if David wrote this as an older man and he had experienced many
ups and downs in his life. And he knew what it was to be
comforted by God's rod and God's staff after several falls. Well, we don't know, do we? But
it's interesting to me to think about that. Was he a young man
or an older man? Now in one of the seven great
I am passages in John's Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ declares,
I am the Good Shepherd. I am, that is the name Jehovah,
I am that I am. I am Raha. I am the Shepherd, the Good Shepherd. And we know also that the writer
of Hebrews tells us in the last chapter of that epistle that
he is not only the Good Shepherd, he's the Great Shepherd. And
then the Apostle Peter, in the fifth chapter of his first letter,
he tells us that he is the chief shepherd. So let's think tonight
about the Lord Jehovah as our shepherd. And I want to mention
to us five things that the shepherd does for the sheep. Now sheep,
and I don't want to get into this, but sheep are profitable
animals. They give wool and they give
food, meat. They are profitable animals.
And by the grace of God, His grace in us, He makes us to be
profitable in His service. All the glory, all the praise
goes to Him. I know that. But still, sheep
are profitable animals. But I want to mention five things
tonight, Major, on what the shepherd does for his sheep. I am the
good shepherd, Jehovah-Raha. First of all, a shepherd feeds
his sheep. You notice in the psalm we see
that. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want He. He, the
shepherd, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He, the
shepherd, leadeth me beside the still waters. It's his work,
that's part of the work of the shepherd to provide food and
water for his sheep. We have this rhetorical question
in Ezekiel 34 and verse 2, should not the shepherd feed his flock?
And the answer is absolutely, yes. Should not
the shepherd feed his flock? What kind of a shepherd would
he be if he didn't feed his flock? The Lord is my shepherd, he maketh
me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
water." That's the work of the shepherd. That's his work, to
feed his sheep. The Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus
Christ feeds his sheep. Now listen, the Good Shepherd,
Jesus Christ, Jehovah, Raha, He feeds His sheep with His flesh
and his blood. Isn't that what he said? In John
chapter 6 and verse 54, Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last
day. The good shepherd feeds his sheep
and He feeds us with His flesh and His blood, and if we do not
eat His flesh and His blood, there is no life in us. Now what
does it mean to eat His flesh and drink His blood? Christ's
sheep we feed upon Him, upon Him, upon the Shepherd, His person
and His work. If you look with me in the first
chapter of the Gospel of John, I think this will help us to
understand again, and maybe for the first time, what it means.
Because when we first hear that, no doubt it sounds somewhat strange. Eat his flesh, drink his blood,
absolutely. I could ask any of these young
people over here this question. I believe I'd get the right answer,
but I'm not going to chance it. But when you sat down at the
table and you eat your food, you take that food and you put
it into your mouth. You receive it. That's what it
means to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It means to receive
him. Let me show you that here in
John chapter 1 and verse 12 and 13. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name. Now if you notice in that verse
you see that to receive him is synonymous, it's the same as
to believe on his name. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them,
them that receive Him, them that believe on His name, which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God." What does it mean to feed upon Christ,
to eat His flesh and drink His blood? It means to receive Him. to trust in Him, to believe in
Him. And we feed upon Him. There is
that initial coming to Christ when we feed upon Him and receive
eternal life, but we continue to feed upon Him. It's not a
one-time occasion, but it is a continuous action of trusting
and believing and receiving Him. That's the reason when we come
together we continue to hear the gospel about Christ, His
person, who He is, and His work, what He has accomplished, and
what He is doing for us even now. We receive, we eat His flesh,
we drink His blood, we receive it, believe it, and rejoice in
it. Now how does Christ feed His
sheep? Well first He gives us His Word.
There's a verse in Psalm 68 and verse 11 that says, the Lord
gave the word. Great was the company of those
that published it. Now these are the green pastures.
You say, well preacher, pastor, what does that mean? He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
water. Here's the green pastures. Here's
the still water. Here it is. We've got it here
in our hand. It's the Word of God. He feeds
us, first of all, with His Word. What happens if you do not eat
physically? What happens? You grow weak.
And what happens if a believer doesn't feed and feast upon the
Word of God? We grow weak. He feeds us with
His Word. And secondly, He gives us pastors
and teachers. or under-shepherds. That verse
in 1 Peter 5 says the chief shepherd. There's one chief shepherd, but
there's many under-shepherds. Look with me in Ephesians, if
you will. Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12. In verse 11
of chapter 4 of Ephesians, and he, that is the good shepherd,
the chief shepherd, the great shepherd, he, The ascended Lord,
he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ. The edification of his body,
the church. This was the work of the prophets
in their day. This was the work of the apostles
in their day. the apostles and evangelists.
And in our day, this is the work of pastors who are teachers,
just like myself and other men who are called to the ministry,
are put into the ministry. We are pastors and teachers,
and the Lord, through us, as we study the Word of God and
bring the message from God's Word, then we feed the sheep
of Christ. You come here to feed. And every pastor, every man that
the Lord puts into the ministry, he must be very careful about
this. And that is to preach the word. Sheep needs sheep's food. And
we've already said that the sheep's food is the word of God. And
so if you have a pastor standing before you and he does not feed
you from the word of God, he's a false pastor. He's a false
teacher, because sheep need to eat sheep's food, and the food
is the Word of God, and we continue to come and hear the Word of
God in 2 Timothy. Turn over here just a moment.
2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, we see this charge that the
apostle gave to Timothy, who was a teacher, a pastor teacher. I charge thee, therefore, before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. I charge you, Timothy, preach
the word. Preach the word and be instant
in season, out of season. When is it season. You know, some of you men, you
go hunting. You hunt for deer, you hunt for
ducks, whatever. There are certain seasons, right?
Squirrels, squirrel season. Everybody goes hunting. But in
preaching the Word of God, it's always in season. Preach the
Word in season and out of season. In other words, there's no Time
when it's not the right season to preach the word. Because this
is the food for Christ's sheep. Look in John chapter 21. When
our Lord appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. You know,
Peter, he had denied the Lord. And so the Lord asked him this
question. Lovest thou me? And each time
he gives him this command. He's an apostle. Peter the Apostle. Verse 15 we read, So when they
had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me more than these? What did he mean more than these?
I don't think he was asking him if he loved his Lord more than
those other disciples, do you? Do you love me more than these
fish? You love me more than going fishing
because that's, if you read this chapter, it looks like that's
what Peter had determined to do. He had denied the Lord and
he just felt like it was over for him. And so he said, I'm
going fishing. But when he did, when he said
that, there were some others who said, we'll go with you. Your conduct, my conduct, has
an influence, an impact upon others. And when Peter said that,
then some others of the apostles went fishing also. Peter, Simon, do you love me
more than these? He saith unto him, Yes, Lord. Thou knowest that I love thee,
he saith unto him, feed my lambs. Feed my lambs. He saith to him
again the second time, Simon. Now, if a pastor, listen, if
he will feed the lambs, the sheep will understand. Don't try to
feed the professors in the seminary. Feed the lambs, Peter. Feed the
lambs. If I speak so that young people
may understand me, then I know every person in here, no matter
how educated you may be, you can understand what I say. But
if I try to speak to the most educated person in here, first
of all, I couldn't do it. But if I tried, then there might
be some of the lambs who could not understand. Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yes,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed
my sheep. Verse 17, he saith unto him the
third time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved
because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou
knowest all things. You must be God. You must be
God. You know all things. He is God,
isn't he? He's the Lord God. He's Jehovah
Raha, the Good Shepherd. Thou knowest all things. Thou
knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my
sheep. So first of all, how does Christ
feed his sheep? He gives us his word. Secondly,
he gives us pastors and teachers. And third, he gives us his spirit. God, the Holy Spirit. He has
promised that He would be present with us when the shepherd comes
and the sheep come together to feed the Holy Spirit. Where two
or three are gathered in my name, there am I in your midst. And He's here tonight by His
Spirit. And He said, teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo,
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Where two
or three, you and your wife. That makes two, doesn't it? Where
two or three are gathered together. There am I. Gathered together
in my name. There am I in your midst. Number
two. First of all, I said a shepherd
feeds his sheep. Number two, a shepherd knows
his sheep. In the Gospel of John, we have
him declaring this very thing. He said, I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep. He knows his sheep. He knows
them, first of all, as they each and every one was given to him
by the Father. You notice in this psalm, Psalm
23, we read of the rod and the staff as comforting the sheep. Now the rod and the staff, these
were tools that every shepherd had, and they both had several
things that they served for, the rod and the staff. But the
rod was used many times to count the sheep. The sheep passed under
the rod. They would come together, many
shepherds would come together and spend the night, and the
sheep would be folded together. But the next morning, or that
night rather, when they came into the fold, they would have
to pass under the rod. And He would count His sheep
to make sure they were all there. He KNEW His sheep. I want you
to look at this verse in Jeremiah with me just a moment. Jeremiah
33. Jeremiah chapter 33. The rod
was used to count or to identify the sheep. In the process of
counting or identifying his sheep, he used his rod. And here in Jeremiah chapter
33, in verses 12 and 13, God is promising
what was yet future when this was given, this prophecy was
given. But he says, as saith the Lord of hosts, again in this
place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in
all the cities thereof shall be an habitation of shepherds,
causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the mountains,
in the cities of the vale, in the cities of the south, in the
land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in
the cities of Judah, Shall the flocks pass," now notice this,
"...again. Shall the flocks pass again unto
the hands of him that telleth them, counteth them, saith the
Lord." Now that word, again, is interesting when you stop
and think about it. Pass again. All the elect, all
the sheep of God were given to Him from eternity. And one day
He shall surrender them again to the Father, and they will
all pass again. There's not going to be one missing.
Not one is going to be left out. But He will stand before His
Father and say, Father, here am I and the people which Thou
hast given me, the sheep which Thou hast given me. God's elect
were given unto Him in eternity of old. But we fail in our father
Adam, but we shall again pass under the rod, under the hand
of the shepherd, and not one shall be lost. So first of all,
he knows them as they each and every one was given to him by
his father. Secondly, he knows them as he
sees the sprinkling of his blood upon them. or his sheep are sprinkled,
washed with his blood. Every sheep of Christ is washed
white, white as snow. What did he say? Come, let us
reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
sees his sheep, he knows them because his blood has been sprinkled
upon them. In the book of Revelation, the
question was asked, Who are these? Who are these people? The virgin,
that's what they're called there in that passage of Scripture.
In other words, they're pure worshipers of God. Who are these
people? And the answer is, These are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And number three, he knows them
as he sees his own image stamped upon them. This scripture, 2 Corinthians
3 and verse 18, he knows his sheep as he sees his own image
stamped upon them. How many fathers, they look at
their children and they can see the characteristics of themselves
and their children? I've noticed, this is my personal
opinion, but as we grow older in age, more and more you can
see the similarities between children and their parents. It
becomes so obvious. The Apostle Paul said, but we
all, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass, that
is in a mirror, a glass as a mirror. And those mirrors that they had
at that time were not very good. The ones that I've seen, at least
they were not very clear. I like the mirrors that we have
today, but the apostle said, We all with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Predestinated to be conformed
to the image of His Son. He knows His sheep. They were
given to Him by His Father. His blood is upon them and his
image is in them. And number three, a shepherd
preserves his sheep. Do we all know what that word
preserve means? A shepherd preserves his sheep. That word preserve means to keep.
You think of it as preserves. I guess that's the same spelling.
You have grape jelly, grape preserves. Now, if you just take that grape,
those grapes, and squash all that juice out of it and put
it in a bottle, it's going to sour. It has to be preserved,
doesn't it? There's a certain process that
the jelly goes through to preserve it, so you go to the cabinet
and pull out that bottle of grape jelly and take the cap off of
it and make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That's a
good, isn't it? Preserved. The Lord preserves
His sheep. He keeps, He upholds, He defends
His sheep. Again, in the Gospel of John,
He tells us that His sheep are in His hand, and no one is able
to pluck one of them out of His hand. And that, again, we see
this passage here in the psalm, the rod and the staff, they were
used by the shepherd to preserve or to keep His sheep. Now David,
the psalmist who wrote this, we know one time that he, to
preserve his sheep, he had to take on a lion. And another time
he had to take on a bear. But he preserved his sheep. He
kept his sheep. How does Christ, the Good Shepherd,
keep His sheep? Well, first of all, He keeps
us by His death. Romans 8, the Scripture says,
Who is He that condemneth? Who's going to condemn one of
His sheep? It's Christ that died! He keeps
us by His intercession. Who's going to destroy one of
His sheep when He's there at the Father's right hand? Always! Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. And He preserves, He keeps His
sheep because we are in union with Him. He is in us by His
Spirit and we are in Him by faith. One old writer said the devil,
Satan, he would have to drag Christ down to hell to take one
of His sheep there. Why? Because there's a union,
a union between Christ and his sheep. He preserves his sheep.
Number four, a shepherd heals his sheep. In our Psalm, we read
that the shepherd anoints with awe. He anointeth my head with
awe. He restores my soul. Remember
the good Samaritan? Our Lord told about him. He found
that man beaten and wounded, and he poured wine and oil upon
his bruises and ministered to that man. The oil that the good
shepherd uses here may refer to his promises, but sheep are
liable to many diseases, and that oil was used to help to
heal those diseases. Sheep are prone to certain diseases. And David, the psalmist, the
man who wrote this, he certainly knew what it was to be restored
to fellowship. He restores my soul. After he
had fallen into that awful sin, you know, when Nathan came and
said, Thou art the man. And when Nathan said that, David
said, I have sinned against the Lord. And no sooner were those
words out of his mouth than the prophet Nathan said, the Lord
hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. He was worthy of death. The law said he should die on two counts, adultery and murder. But the Lord put away his sin.
He restores my soul. Yet we have several of the Psalms
where we find David confessing his sins and confessing that
the Lord had broken his bones. That's what that rod was used
for also. If a shepherd had a sheep that
was continually going away, then the shepherd would take that
rod or the staff, I forget which it was, and he would use that
to break one of the legs of the sheep. And then you know what
he would do? He would carry that sheep in
his bosom. As that leg, that bone was mending,
he would carry that sheep. He heals his sheep. And then
when the bone was mended, From what I've read, at least, He
put the sheep down. He didn't have to carry it any
longer. But do you know the sheep that stayed the closest then
to the shepherd? It was that sheep that had been
restored. I'm glad He restores us, aren't
you? He prayed in Psalm 51, Make me
to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken
may rejoice. And number five, this is the
last, a shepherd gathers his sheep when they are scattered.
You know, sheep, they have a tendency to just naturally wander away. And they will be scattered by
false teachers. Sheep will scatter. But the good shepherd gathers
his sheep. The psalmist said, surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I heard this many years ago. Have you ever seen sheepdogs
working? I saw a program recently. They
were trying to train this dog to be a sheepdog. That's hard
work. That dog wanted to play. He wanted
to chase the sheep. He wanted to scatter the sheep. That lady worked with that dog
and worked with that dog. Finally, she got him to where
he was a sheepdog. Valuable. I heard a pastor one
time say, God has two sheepdogs. One's named Goodness and one's
named Mercy. Surely, goodness and mercy, they'll
follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not walk. May the Lord bless this word
to all of us this evening.