The Shepherd and Friend

Psalm 23 Sermon

The Shepherd and Friend

Introduction

Good morning once again. At this time if we have any children that would like to attend our kids ministry time, they can exit out the back doors and someone will be waiting for them. If you have a bible or device with you, I would invite the rest of you to look up Psalm 23.

This Psalm, written by David, is likely somewhat familiar to you. It is quite possibly one of the best-known passages in scripture and definitely the book of Psalms. It's used quite often in our culture at times of needed comfort and specifically, it's traditionally been used at funerals. It is a psalm of comfort and confidence in the protection and care of God for His follower. I intend for this to be a great encouragement for you this morning and throughout the coming days. I'm going to spend some time walking you through the ways that God cares for His people and then show you how Jesus fulfills the care we see here in our lives.

Let's read Psalm 23.

**READ**: Psalm 23

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 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. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

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**SAY**, "This is the Word of the Lord. Let's pray and ask God to help us understand and apply it to our lives."

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**PRAY**

The very first point I want to make is something that it would be easy to skip over in a cursory reading of a familiar passage like this.

I. The Shepherd is in a personal relationship with individual sheep. (v. 1)

The Lord is personally in a relationship with His followers. Lowth, wrote, “What can be conceived sweeter or finer than this representation of God as a Shepherd?”

In the Ancient Near East, people often referred to their leaders as shepherds. This was actually a common way to think of a king or political leader as a shepherd for the nation. But here we see a man who was King referring to God as shepherd. And it goes further than that.

Look at the rendering in verse one: "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." The psalmist, we understand to be David in what was likely one of his earliest compositions, calls the Lord, his shepherd. This is more than saying that God is a shepherd or is like a shepherd. He's ascribing a possessive nature to the relationship. It's direct and personal. The Lord is David's shepherd. The things that a shepherd would do for a sheep are the way in which God had and would specifically care for David.

What does a shepherd do? A shepherd provides everything for the sheep. He cares for them and protects them. He lives among them.

Martin Luther wrote of this passage, “A sheep must live entirely by its shepherd's help, protection and care. As soon as it loses him, it is surrounded by all kinds of dangers and must perish, for it is quite unable to help itself. The reason? It is a poor, weak, simple little beast that can neither feed nor rule itself, nor find the right way, nor protect itself against any kind of danger or misfortune. Moreover, it is by nature timid, shy and likely to go astray. When it does go a bit astray and leaves its shepherd, it is unable to find its way back to him; indeed, it merely runs farther away from him. Though it may find other shepherds and sheep, that does not help it, for it does not know the voices of strange shepherds. Therefore it flees them and strays about until the wolf seizes it or it perishes some other way.

Still, however weak and small an animal a sheep may be, it nevertheless has this trait about it: it is very careful to stay near its shepherd, take comfort in his help and protection and follow him however and wherever he may lead it. And if it can only so much as be near him, it worries about nothing, fears no one and is secure and happy; it lacks absolutely nothing.” - Martin Luther

A. Covenant love

David could call the Lord, his shepherd because of the covenant that God had made. God had covenanted with Israel as His people. We see elsewhere that God made a covenant specifically with David. In 2 Samuel 7 you can read of God’s covenant with David. David understood that He belonged to God because God had made a covenant with him and he was part of God’s chosen people. God keeps His promises.

We too can trust in God’s covenant love, not because of the Davidic Covenant or the Covenant with Israel but because of the new covenant in Christ’s blood.

B. How we become God's sheep.

God is still in the business of having relationship with His people. That begins with Him as Holy and Sovereign Lord. He is perfect and sin can not be around Him. He created people in His own image and placed them in the garden, an actual man and an actual woman. They sinned against God by eating from the tree He forbid. Since that day, we have been a fallen people with a sin nature that separates us from a holy God. The only way we can be reconciled to Him and brought into right relationship with Him is by a sacrifice. Jesus came to earth, all man and all God. He lived a perfect and pure life that we can not due to our sin nature. He gave that life on the cross, dying as a criminal in the place of sinners. The shepherd giving His life for the sheep. The shepherd becoming the sacrificial lamb. In His crucifixion He took the wrath for our sin upon Him self and exchanges that for His righteousness, which is imputed to us. He died and three days later, rose from the dead. It proved that He is God. It makes Him the great shepherd of the flock for which He gave His very life. That’s how we come into the flock of God. It’s because of Jesus did to bring us in.

This passage is far from the only passage to refer to God in the role of shepherd and us in the role of His flock.

Psalm 100 verse 3 says,

Psalm 100:3 ESV

3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

II. David then continues on into how the Lord, his shepherd cares for him, the sheep. (v. 2-6)

When we look at the theme here, we see God's provision and protection because David says he shall not want. He shall have no want or lack of anything that follows because the Lord is His Shepherd. Just simply by being a sheep of the Lord's pasture, David knows that he has no lack of the following helps.

The sheep that is cared for by the Lord as Shepherd:

shall not want for (we are going to take it verse by verse)

1. Rest and refreshment (v. 2)

green pastures - abundance and nourishment, what you need to grow

still waters - rest and security, God provides for all of David’s needs

2. Restoration and righteousness paths (v.3)

Restoration of soul

"He will lead them into paths of justice." In which the prophet declares that it is not only God who converts the person from evil but also he alone who Keeps him in goodness and virtue. Thus.an incredible misery and wretchedness in the soul and body of human beings is revealed; we can neither begin nor even continue in a life acceptable to God unless God wholly works the same himself in us.” - John Hooper

Righteous paths

Followers of God walk in the way that is fitting for obedient men and woman who have been redeemed by the blood of the Shepherd. God doesn’t save you and teach you the truth so that you can go live in falsehood. He doesn’t give us remission of our sins so that we can run back to them as a dog goes back to vomit. He saves us and then sets us on right paths.

b. FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE

If we aren’t careful with how we read this, it starts to sound like we’re pretty awesome. Our minds start to turn inward to ourselves and all the benefit we have. The thing is, it’s not about us. It’s about God.

3. Protection in trouble (v. 4)

The path He leads us on may lead through the valley

Whatever we face/the darkest of times - David would not fear even death because God was with him.

The path is safe, not because of the absence of danger but because of the presence of the LORD!

God often tries faith through adversity.

4. Provision in the wilderness (v. 5)

In the presence of your enemies - not in a banquet hall just yet

friendship and familiarity

5. A home to go to at the end (v. 6)

a. A relationship that is eternal.

At the end, you get God. You get to be with Jesus for eternity.

As those who have called on the name of Jesus for salvation we have all of this provided for us through Christ Jesus. It’s not about the benefit we get but about how good the Lord is as a shepherd for His people.

This brings us to the final point this morning:

III. Christians have all of this in Jesus Christ who is the Good Shepherd.

Hebrews 13, verses 20 through 21 reveal this truth to us. Jesus is the Great Shepherd who cares for His sheep. If we are in Christ, we are His sheep.

Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

And Jesus Himself referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd.

John 10:14–18 ESV

14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

The care that David so adequately describes in Psalm is true of how Jesus cares for Christians.

- Rest and refreshment

- Restoration and righteous paths

- Protection in trouble

- Provision in the wilderness

- A home to go to at the end

Carter and Wredburg: Jesus knows each of his sheep personally. He’s a personal shepherd. He knows your strengths and weaknesses. He knows if you’re an older sheep who walks a little slower now. He knows if you’re a younger sheep full of energy and enthusiasm who likes to wander away and explore. He knows when you need to rest and when you need to eat. He knows everything about you.

His sheep know His voice. (Hear him in the Word)

Quotes here on this

Gerald Borchert points out two pictures of contemporary shepherd- ing that help us see this. “Of the two pictures one is that of a shepherd leading his sheep through the city of Jerusalem just outside the Jaffa Gate. Cars were whizzing by while the shepherd sang and gently whistled to his sheep, and they dutifully followed him despite all of the bustling traffic nearby. The other picture is that of an early morning with the Bedouins when the shepherds began to lead their sheep out of the sheepfold, which contained the combined flocks of four shepherds. As each shepherd took his turn and began to sing and call his sheep, they dutifully separated from the larger flock and began to follow him to the hills for their daylight feeding.”

## Conclusion and Invitation to Respond

To be truly free is to be under the care of the Good Shepherd.

This is read as comfort at funerals. But who is it truly comfort for? Only for those who have trusted Christ. The truths in here of God’s care are true for those who are under the care of the Shepherd. Are you under His care today?

Josh Moody writes, “The way shepherding was (and is still) done in the Middle East was different from the techniques of Britain or Australia. In Britain, sheep are shepherded by means of a sheep dog running behind them and pushing them forward; not so in Jesus’ day. The story is told of a tour of Israel, where it had been explained that shepherds there went ahead of the sheep and called to them and they followed. The tour bus went past a person, instead driving the sheep from behind. One of the tourists pointed this out to the guide, at which point the bus was stopped and the guide hurried off to find out what was going on. A few moments later he reappeared on the tour bus and announced, “He’s not the shepherd; he’s the butcher.” Jesus is the shepherd, not the butcher-he calls his sheep, and they follow.”

this really is a beautiful picture of the master and disciple relationship... The sheep follow simply because they know the shepherd’s voice. They will run from anyone else. They do not recognize a stranger’s voice. We hear God’s voice by listening to His Word. If you would hear your shepherd call to you, pick up His Word. Pour over it. He has spoken to His people.

IF you would be truly free today, put your hope in God alone.

If you would be happy, put your hope in God alone.

If you would be guided and set on paths of righteousness put your faith in God through Jesus Christ alone.

I, A HAPPY SHEEP, AM CHRISt's TO KEEP.

RICHARD CRASHAW:

Happy me! O happy sheep!

Whom my God vouchsafes to keep;

Even my God, even he it is That points me to these ways of bliss;

On whose pastures cheerful spring

All the year doth sit and sing, And, rejoicing, smiles to see

Their green backs wear his livery.

Pleasure sings my soul to rest, Plenty wears me at her breast,

Whose sweet temper teaches me

Nor wanton nor in want to be.

At my feet the blubbring mountain

Weeping, melts into a fountain,

Whose soft silver-sweating streams

Make high noon forget his beams.

When my wayward breath is flying

'He calls home my soul from dying,

Strokes and tames my rabid grief, And does woo me into life:

When my simple weakness strays,

Tangled in forbidden ways,

He, my Shepherd, is my guide,

He's before me, at my side, And behind me, he beguiles Craft in all her knotty wiles:

He expounds the giddy wonder Of my weary steps, and under Spreads a path clear as the day.

Where no churlish rub says nay

To my joy-conducted feet,

Whilst they gladly go to meet

Grace and Peace, to meet new lays Tuned to my great Shepherd's praise.

Come now all ye terrors, sally,

Muster forth into the valley,

Where triumphant darkness hovers

With a sable wing, that covers Brooding horror. Come thou, Death, Let the damps of thy dull breath

Overshadow even the shade, And make Darkness' self afraid;

There my feet, even there shall find Way for a resolved mind.

Still my Shepherd, still my God, Thou art with me; still thy rod And thy staff, whose influence Gives direction, gives defense.

At the whisper of thy word

Crown'd abundance spreads my board:

While I feast, my foes do feed Their rank malice, not their need;

So that with the selfsame bread

They are starved, and I am fed.

How my head in ointment swims!

How my cup derlooks her brims!

So, even so still may I move By the line of thy dear love;

Still may thy sweet mercy spread

A shady arm above my head,

About my paths; so shall I find The fair center of my mind,

Thy temple and those lovely walls

Bright ever with a beam that falls

Fresh from the pure glance of thine eye, Lighting to eternity.

There I'll dwell for ever, there Will I find a purer air.

To feed my life with, there I'll sup

Balm and nectar in my cup,

And thence my ripe soul will I breathe

Warm into the arms of death.

PRAY