Our Good Shepherd

Introduction

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.

[I will speak a little Khmer to introduce myself]

I chose to preach from Psalm 23 today because it is all about the shepherd and His sheep.

It was written by King David, the great King of Israel. How many know about David’s life?

You can Read 1 and 2 Samuel to learn about King David.

King David arrives in 1 Samuel 15 and his life story is in the rest of 1 and 2 Samuel. You should read about him if you have not already.

The students who come to this school and the teachers share a calling: they want to be shepherds of God’s flock.

That is the word we use to describe someone who leads a church: he is a shepherd.

But even if we are shepherds of God’s flock, we are not the boss.

God is the Shepherd of His flock, and we are His servants.

Brothers and sisters, you cannot be a shepherd unless you are first a sheep.

You have to be led by God before you can lead others.

And you will soon find out that the way God leads you is by serving you, by loving you, and by providing for you.

Pastors, that is how you should lead your people.

vv.1-2: Shepherd of our Needs

v.1: The Lord is my shepherd. He made all things. He provides everything that you need.

every grain of rice you’ve ever eaten and every sip of water you ever had all came from the Lord.

The Bible says that every good gift comes from God above.

The still waters and the green pastures in verse 2 means that we have all the food and water we need

It means that we are in a safe place.

The Lord provides for all my needs and no harm comes to me.

I am given what I need to survive.

read verses 1-2 again.

Brothers and sisters, this is the truth about your life.

No matter what it looks like to you, this is what is true.

Remember that as we continue on through this psalm.

v. 3: Shepherd of our Hearts

In verse 3 it says that God restores us.

It means that God completely repairs and strengthens us.

God does not save you only so you can go to Heaven.

God wants to restore you here and now.

When God saves a person, he restores him.

a man who was a The thief before becomes a hard worker and a generous giver.

The man who used to sleep with other women, or looks at bad things on his phone before, now becomes a faithful husband.

He becomes a father and teaches younger men how to have self control.

The person who went to the wat to offer sacrifices removes his idols and worships God alone.

the person who is quick to be angry becomes the gentle person.

This is what it means for God to restore you.

But what came first? Was God waiting for King David to be restored, then God became His shepherd?

No: God was His shepherd, then God restored David.

You will never be able to restore yourself. You have to come to God and He will restore you.

After God restores us, verse 3 says he leads us in paths of righteousness.

This means God leads us in the right way and He expects us to do things that show we have been restored.

The very end of verse 3 tells us why he does this.

God does this “for the sake of His name”

God is our shepherd. He restores us.

He gives us the power to live new and different lives.

Then He tells us to go out and live in the new way he has taught us.

If we do this it will show that God is Good.

God is able.

Our God is the only real God.

People will see your good works and how you have changed.

And you can tell them God why you changed.

vv.4-5: Shepherd in the Valley

In verses 1-3, David was talking to us about the Lord.

Now, for the rest of the psalm, David is talking directly to the Lord and we get to hear it.

in verse 4, the sheep is not in the green pasture anymore. Now the sheep is in the very dark valley.

It does not look like the green pasture, but God is still your shepherd.

The end of verse 4 talks about God’s rod and God’s staff. The rod here is the same object that a parent is told to use to train his child in the book of Proverbs.

When I was in school, I spent my break working at a camp in America.

Students would come for one week and we got to share Christ with them and teach them.

We always took a boat down the river with them.

The water was not clean and one day I had a little cut on my leg.

Over the weekend the cut healed up but it already had infection inside.

the next week my leg became very painful.

I could not walk on it.

I went to the doctor and he cut my leg open to let the infection out.

I had to clean the wound for weeks, but it healed up.

Before the doctor cut it, they said I might lose my leg.

The cut was not to hurt me, but the cut was painful

The cut was to save me!

When our shepherd is there, nothing can harm us unless He allows it.

We may feel some pain, but it is not the pain of punishment.

It is the pain of medicine. Sometimes God will cut us open but it is only so that he can get the infection out.

In verse 5 we see that even in the presence of the enemies, God provides for David.

Imagine this picture.

We all sit down to eat at a big party.

There is enough food and drink for everyone.

And just outside the place here are all the people who hate Christianity.

They are standing around watching as we eat and drink and enjoy the meal.

We are blessed by God and our cups overflow.

that is the picture of how we live our lives everyday.

Every day God provides for us all we need.

And as he does we are surrounded by temptation inside us.

We are surrounded the world we left behind to follow Jesus.

And we are surrounded by spiritual forces that would love to see us walk away from Jesus.

Until heaven, we will always be like this.

We are at the Lords table with our enemies all around

v.6: Shepherd who Chases Us

But This is not the end of the story.

The last verse of the Psalm tells us that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life.

When it says that goodness and mercy will follow us, it means that God’s goodness and God’s mercy will hunt for us.

The word is used in the Bible when someone is running away and their enemy is chasing them.

But here, God’s goodness and mercy are chasing us.

They will stay on our path and we will never be able to run past them.

Finally, in the very last verse we see this beautiful picture of Heaven. We will live in the house of the Lord forever.

So I want to ask you today: who is your shepherd?

Maybe you know someone who will say they have many shepherds.

Maybe Jesus is one shepherd and Buddha is one shepherd and their ancestors are another shepherd.

But imagine that: a sheep out in the field being called by two shepherds to go two different ways.

A day will come when the sheep must choose to follow one Shepherd and not the other.

One shepherd is leading to death and the other is leading to life.

You can only have one shepherd. Which one are you following?

When you read from the book of Psalms, it is always a good idea to see what the Psalms right before and right after say.

So today, we are in Psalm 23. But right before Psalm 23 is Psalm 22. Do you know why Psalm 22 is a famous Psalm?

It begins with this verse: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Those are the words Jesus said on the cross!

Your shepherd died for his sheep.

How do you know you will be safe in the valley?

Because your Shepherd Jesus went there before you did!

He defeated all the enemies already!

When Jesus died on the cross, he took the penalty for all your sin so you can be a pure and spotless Lamb.

Jesus is worthy for you to follow Him.

And if you follow Him, then verse 6 belongs to you:

Psalm 23:6 ESV

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.

Amen.