The Lord Is My Shepherd!

[Welch] Thank you for the special music. That was a beautiful song and very well done. Really appreciate you sharing that with us.

Well, brethren, I think we would all agree—life is sometimes pretty difficult. It has its moments, doesn’t it? We’ve all experienced tough times in our lives. I know I wouldn’t want to go through life without someone a lot smarter and more powerful and more loving than I am to guide and help me along the way.

I think this is largely why I’ve been quoting six verses from the Bible nearly every day for the past several years. I generally do it while I’m swimming. What else can you do while you’re swimming? You have some time to think while you’re swimming. I swim nearly every day now since I turned 65 because it’s free, and I can go to a health club. It’s called Silver Sneakers—it’s really a great program. They have a very nice indoor pool, and I probably average close to five days a week now.

While I’m swimming, I quote these verses. These verses have been on my mind lately, and they’ve taken on some new meaning to me. I’d like to share some of that with you today.

What does it mean, The Lord is my Shepherd? Let’s turn to Psalm 23. Let’s read this Psalm together. We all know it, but it’s easy to read right through it and not get so much out of it. So we’re going to take some time to do kind of a deep dive into these six verses today.

This is a Psalm of David—King David—who was a shepherd. “The Eternal, the Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads 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 You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs 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.” (Psalm 23:1–6)

Well, I know I take great comfort from these verses. I know we all do.

So, let’s go through verse number one: “The Eternal, the Lord is my Shepherd.” Who is the Eternal? Who are we talking about here? I believe this is important—that we take a few minutes to talk about who is the Eternal. Who is this God that we’re talking about? Who is our Shepherd?

In John 1:1–4 it reads: “In the beginning was the Word, or the Logos”—the Spokesman. In Greek, the Word was with God, “and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Now, we interpret this as two beings in a God family, essentially, and there are other verses that support this very much so.

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him “the Word, the Logos, the Spokesman” was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:3–4)

So, two God beings—the Word, the Logos, the Spokesman—and the other God Being became known later on as the Father. That is our understanding. We believe that God has opened this truth to us, and it is important in the Church of God that we understand this.

If we go to Genesis 1:26–28, “Then God said,”—this is, I believe, Elohim here—“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:26–28)

So, God gave mankind a very special place in His creation. Man was created actually after the God-kind, because he was created in His image, after His likeness. That’s not said about cows or reptiles or anything else—but it is said about us, about human beings.

So we have a very special place in God’s creation. And it is plural: “Let Us make man in Our image.” We believe that’s referring to both God Beings who were there in the beginning. They worked together, and they created us and shaped and formed us in Their image.

Now, in Psalm 110:1, this is also a Psalm of David: “The Eternal said to my Lord.” So the Eternal is Yahweh—it’s a family name. “The Eternal said to my Lord”—David is talking about his Lord or his God, the one that he had the most intimate contact with, the one who appeared before Abraham, before Isaac, before Jacob, before Moses—“Sit at My right hand,” the Eternal said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool. The Eternal shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion; rule in the midst of Your enemies.” (Psalm 110:1–2)

So we believe this is talking about two God Beings—the one who became known as the Father and the one who became known as the Son and the Messiah.

Now, going back to John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh.” The Word, the Logos, the Spokesman became flesh and dwelt among us. So He was born of the virgin Mary, conceived of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a person, but it’s the divine power of God. And Christ and the Father have that in common—they’re composed of spirit. They are spirit.

And so we see “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, became as a little baby, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

So it’s Father and Son now.

In Colossians 1:15–18, it adds to this: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible—whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers—all things were created through Him and for Him.”

So they worked together—the Logos and the one who became known as the Father—both Yahweh, both God Beings. They worked together to create, Jesus being the one that was the main Creator, the Father obviously working with the one who would become His Son.

There were two Beings that were close—intimately close. They loved each other. They always have. They always will. They’ve always existed. It’s hard for us, our finite minds, to comprehend, but this is what the Bible teaches.

“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:16–18)

The firstborn from the dead that would live forever.

“…that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself—by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven—having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:18–20)

So Christ became the Savior as He sacrificed Himself—gave Himself. His Father gave Him. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should have everlasting life. For God sent His Son not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16–17)

My Shepherd—God is our personal God and our Savior. He is our Shepherd, and He will fight for us, as the song that was sung for special music so aptly talked about. God will fight. He’ll never stop fighting for us. He is our Shepherd. He is our personal God and Savior.

He has hand-picked us as His firstfruits, called out now at this time to know Him. In Ezekiel 34:31, Scripture says, “You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God. “You are My flock.”

God has picked us to be His flock at this time. With God as our Shepherd watching over us, we shall lack nothing. God is our provider, and He provides all we really need. That is actually one of His names—Yahweh-Yireh, which means “God our Provider.”

We may find true contentment in the Eternal if we learn to surrender to Him and come under His care. That is a lifelong pursuit. To surrender completely is not easy. I don’t know if it’s even possible for a human being to completely surrender. I think we struggle with that as we go through life—but certainly, we should be working toward that: to surrender completely and totally to God.

We may find true contentment in the Eternal if we learn to surrender to Him and we come under His care.

In Matthew 2:6, “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.”

God the Father is our Shepherd; Jesus Christ is our Shepherd. They watch over us.

In Matthew 9:36, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” This is Jesus, who talked to thousands of people. At one time He saw the multitudes, and He was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered—like sheep having no shepherd. Jesus was to be their Shepherd.

And then in John 10 we read, verse 1: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” There have been false prophets, false apostles. “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.”

There have been false messiahs claiming to be a messiah—but certainly not the Messiah. “He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”

“Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Then verse 7: “Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved—and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.’”

That’s why Christ came—that we might have an abundant life.

“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd—one who does not own the sheep—sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.”

So He’s talking about shepherds. And the Bible has quite a bit to say about false shepherds who really don’t love the sheep, who won’t lay their lives down for the sheep, and who are not willing to sacrifice for the sheep.

“I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know 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 must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:14–16)

You know, there’s just one Church of God that’s composed of those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. And we have scattered members around the globe, but God will eventually bring us all together as one flock—with one Shepherd.

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.” (John 10:17)

The shape of the flock—or the condition of the flock—always depends on the master or shepherd of the flock, and how willing the sheep are to follow that master. That makes the huge difference as to the condition of the flock.

Our God is the perfect Shepherd because He loves His flock so much—way beyond our thinking. God is love. (1 John 4:8)

In Isaiah 53, there’s a prophecy. Verse 6: “All we like sheep have gone astray”—talking about human beings. All of us—we’ve gone astray. There’s not a single one of us who hasn’t strayed at times. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.” There’s a certain selfishness about human nature, and Satan stirs that up within us.

“And the Lord has laid on Him [on Christ] the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:6–7)

He set the perfect example for us. That’s not easy—it’s not easy to not open your mouth.

Sometimes it’s very difficult to have self-control, and sometimes we say things we regret. And we should be sorry when we do that. We should ask for forgiveness. We don’t want to hurt other people. We want to be better examples. We want to be more Christ-like. So it’s always our goal to become like Christ.

We fall short. It’s discouraging. It’s depressing when we do. Yet, is it not true for all of us at times?

“He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.” (Isaiah 53:7–8)

Because of His sheep—you know, all of us—that’s why He was stricken. Because He loves His sheep, and His sheep are not perfect, and they need a perfect sacrifice. So we have that perfect sacrifice—our Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Either we are a member of the flock, or we’re not—or maybe we’re moving in that direction. God is working with us. Maybe we’re not yet baptized, but we’re still a part of the flock. God loves us, and He’s calling us, and we need to respond to that call.

We get to choose once God has chosen us. You know, God loves the world—all people—but He isn’t choosing everyone right now to be firstfruits. It’s a relatively small number of the billions and billions of people who have lived. It’s a high and a holy calling.

It takes faith to believe, “I shall not want.” I shall not lack anything, because I have the perfect Shepherd. But with God the Father and with Jesus Christ with us, we do have nothing to fear.

As long as we have a proper love and respect and fear of God, we need not fear anything—because we lack nothing of a spiritual, eternal nature. And that’s mostly what it’s talking about. It’s not saying that we won’t lack food sometimes. It’s not saying we might not even lack clothing. There may be material things that we lack—maybe a decent car that runs and is reliable.

We may lack some certain temporary things, but we lack nothing of a spiritual, eternal nature. And that is what really counts. And that’s where our focus should be—on the eternal, on the spiritual—not so much on the material and the temporary and the physical.

So the first verse again—we just took a while to go through the first verse. We’ll speed things up, but that’s intentional. I set the foundation with the first one: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1)

The second verse: “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” (Psalm 23:2)

A good shepherd must work hard to provide green pastures, as they are not always readily available in many dry areas where sheep will thrive if there’s enough green pasture for them. By diligently working the soil, and by applying irrigation techniques and really working the soil properly, green pastures will appear where originally there were none.

Even deserts can blossom with the right kind of care. And that’s certainly going to happen in the Kingdom of God.

When a sheep has fed—I'm sorry—when it, yes, when a sheep has fed and his stomach is full, he will lie down to rest, to ruminate, to digest his food, fattening himself and maintaining a healthy body. So that’s a very good thing—to fill one’s body and then rest. Take it easy. That’s what a sheep will do.

When a sheep is hungry, however, he will not lie down. He’s going to continue looking for more food—good food. He will not get adequate rest. He will not be as healthy as a sheep who is well-fed on good pastures.

So it is important that the Good Shepherd will provide those green pastures. That’s what this verse is saying—God will provide the good pasture for you.

Spiritually, the pasture is there. God has given us His Word. He’s opened our minds to His truth. He’s granted us His Spirit. We have everything that we need to grow, to be content, and to draw nearer to God.

So there are basically four things that a sheep must have if it’s going to lie down.

One—it must be fed. If it’s hungry, it’s going to continue to look for food.

If a sheep is fearful, it’s not going to lie down. If it knows there’s a wolf nearby and there’s no shepherd to run that wolf off, it’s going to be very, very apprehensive. It will not lie down.

If there’s friction among sheep—yes, sometimes sheep do not get along very well. There are a lot of parallels between sheep and human beings. Human beings don’t always get along well either. And sometimes there’s friction. And we don’t sleep so well either, do we?

When there’s friction, it’s difficult to sleep when there’s something going on that’s hurting us and we’re trying to figure things out. You know, it’s difficult to get proper sleep. So a sheep must be at peace if it’s going to lie down and get its rest.

Also, if a sheep is tormented by flies or parasites, a sheep will not lie down. If it’s sick, it will not lie down—and it might lie down because it’s sick, but it’s not going to be healthy. And if it’s tormented by flies or parasites, a sheep will certainly not lie down.

It’s like when I was in the Boundary Waters and there were tons of mosquitoes—I certainly didn’t want to take a nap right there in the middle of the mosquitoes. And when I was in the Wind River Range, it was even worse. And I couldn’t wait to get in my tent to close the mosquitoes out, because I may have gone mad.

And that’s what will happen to sheep. They have these nose flies that will torment them, and they will basically drive them mad if they don’t get some relief, if they don’t get some help.

So a good shepherd does his best to see that all these conditions are considered and met for his sheep.

And only God can give us real lasting freedom from fear, from tension, from aggravation, from hunger—spiritual hunger. And again, mostly we’re talking about spiritual needs, eternal needs. Only God can give us that real lasting freedom.

Now, a good shepherd certainly will help a sheep to cope with these conditions, and we’ll talk more about that later. You know, God provides a way for us to be thoroughly and completely fed and to rest contentedly without fear of danger of any kind.

I mean, that’s where we would like to be, isn’t it? But life is hard. Life is difficult, and maybe we don’t have enough days that we really feel rested because there are issues that are happening around us.

In Isaiah 40:10–11, a prophecy is given: “Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him.” Again, we’re talking about two Beings. “The Lord God shall come with a strong hand, His arm shall rule for Him.” Working together—Father and Son. “Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.” (Isaiah 40:10–11)

So the picture is God taking care of His family—loving them, caring for them, providing their every need.

Now, it’s interesting, but the less aggressive sheep were generally more content than the aggressive ones. A lot of what I’m sharing with you today, by the way, is taken from a book. It’s entitled A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. If you’ve never read this book, I highly recommend it. It’s really a great read. It’s only about 140 pages long. Of course, I have to cover it in one hour, so it’s challenging. There’s a lot in here. So I would recommend that you take a moment to get ahold of this book. It was written in 1970, so it goes back a few years, but this man is a shepherd. He knows what he’s talking about, so he draws out many parallels. Very, very interesting book.

In fact, we’ll go to page 40. I wanted to read something from this book. Philip Keller says:

“But one point that always interested me very much was that whenever I came into view, and my presence attracted their attention, the sheep quickly forgot their foolish rivalries.”

So you’ve got these sheep that are basically butting each other, harassing each other. You know, there’s a “butting order,” actually, within sheep—just kind of like a “pecking order” with chickens. There’s a butting order with sheep. They’re not always so nice to each other.

But when the shepherd shows up, the sheep quickly forgot their foolish rivalries, and they stopped their fighting. They behaved better. Maybe they were a little afraid that the shepherd might intervene, or maybe they just put their focus on him—and that made all the difference in the world as to how they behaved.

The shepherd’s presence made all the difference in their behavior.

So what I draw from this is: we should always understand and realize and remember that God is with us every second. Would that not help us bridle our tongue at times? Would that not help us quell our anger at times? If we knew that God was right there—there, present with us—it surely would make a difference in how we treat each other.

You know, I’m ashamed that I’ve treated people poorly at times. I’m ashamed of that. That’s not the person I want to be. I want to be better than that. I want to be better than that. God is love, and that’s how I want to be—but I fall short of that. We all do. I know I do.

But the Shepherd’s presence makes all the difference in the world.

So the next time we’re getting some friction from other people, and we’re engaging, let us remember that God is there—present. And let us draw strength from Him to do the right thing rather than what the self wants to do.

The less aggressive sheep were generally more content than the aggressive ones. So I think that’s interesting. I mean, we all have different temperaments. We all have different personalities. There’s not a lot we can do, to a point, given a certain temperament or a certain personality. We can certainly work on it to make it better. But there are differences in people, and we have different challenges.

And so we need to try to understand each other a little better, because some people are going to behave differently under certain circumstances than we would. It doesn’t necessarily make them worse people. So we need—we have to keep that in mind.

“He leads me beside the still waters.” (Psalm 23:2)

God leads me beside the life-giving, peaceful waters. It’s another part of this verse. He leads me beside the life-giving, peaceful waters that refresh me and sustain me.

Pools of clean, fresh, cold water bubbling up from the ground—that’s the picture I get when thinking of a shepherd guiding his sheep to still waters. It’s not a raging stream. It’s not a huge lake. But it is a stream of living waters coming out of the ground—bubbling out. There’s a pool there, and it’s refreshing, and it’s cold, and it’s wonderful. And we can drink from that. There’s fresh, clean, life-giving water.

And God’s Spirit is like that. God’s Spirit that dwells in us—it renews us spiritually. The Holy Spirit is deep within us when we are converted. We have God’s Holy Spirit. A stream of living waters is there to flow from us.

Again, we need to always know that God is there. His presence is there. And we need to let the Holy Spirit guide us. And we need to be careful—more careful than oftentimes we are. We should thank God for His Spirit that continually refreshes and restores us.

So the second verse: “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” That is our Shepherd.

The third verse: “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3)

King David wrote this powerful Psalm, and he did so out of the depths of his heart. And the Bible says he was a man after God’s own heart. He was a shepherd from a young boy, and he knew what it was like to work with sheep. He wrote this powerful Psalm.

He was a human being also—with frailties, with sins, with shortcomings. At times he was depressed. At times he felt dejected. If you read all the Psalms, you’ll see that—a bit of a melancholy to some degree. He struggled with that. And yet, he was strong and powerful. He would always go back to God, who was his strength. That’s how those Psalms end.

Yes, he struggled. But he always knew that God was his Shepherd—that the Lord was his Shepherd, and that the Lord was there with him.

Now, David messed up big time in a few cases. He sinned in grievous ways. But David learned what it meant to be restored also.

Psalm 51 is all about restoration. It’s all about repentance. It’s all about forgiveness. It’s all about keeping the faith.

If somebody wants to be forgiven, we should forgive them. We should work with them. We should be willing to go the extra mile. If they’ve offended us, then we should forgive. And those who have offended should apologize sincerely—be sorry.

So Psalm 51—we read it every year before Passover. It’s all about repentance. It’s about restoration. It’s about forgiveness. It’s about keeping the faith. God does restore me. He does renew me. God does refresh me when I rely on Him. God restores you. God renews you. God refreshes you when you rely on Him.

God restores us. God renews us. He refreshes us when we all learn to rely on Him. We are His flock. This is a congregation. We are His flock here in Cincinnati. P.M. We’re a congregation. We’re His flock. He loves us. He cares for us. He’ll never leave us. He’ll never forsake us. He’s always there for us. Let us learn to rely on Him more fully and see His presence in our lives.

Psalm 42:11 — another Psalm of David: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him—the help of my countenance and my God.”

David asks, “Why am I so discouraged? Why am I cast down?” Again, he always goes back to the help that God can give him. But there were times when he did feel very cast down. And he had reason to, didn’t he? Especially when he sinned—and some of the ways that he sinned. But even at other times, he was cast down.

Now, Philip Keller speaks of a sheep that is “cast.” I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that term, but sheep become cast. I’d like to read a bit out of this book—page 60 of A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.

Now, we just read Psalm 42:11. Keller says:

“Now there is an exact parallel to this verse in caring for sheep. Only those intimately acquainted with sheep and their habits understand the significance of a cast sheep or a cast-down sheep.”

Most of us here have never shepherded sheep, so we may not understand this—but we can learn. Only those intimately acquainted with sheep and their habits understand the significance of a cast sheep.

This is an old English shepherd’s term for a sheep that is turned over on its back and cannot get up again by itself. Now, that reminds me of a turtle. You’ve all seen turtles, right? They get themselves upside down, and oftentimes we help them—they can’t touch their little legs to the ground, and they’re flailing away.

Well, a cast sheep is a very pathetic sight, Philip Keller says. Lying on its back, its feet in the air, it flails away frantically, struggling to stand up but without success. Sometimes it will bleat a little for help, but generally it lies there lashing about in frightened frustration.

If the owner does not arrive on the scene within a reasonably short time—if the owner or the shepherd doesn’t get there soon enough—the sheep will die.

This is but another reason why it’s so essential for a careful shepherd to look over his flock every day, counting them to see that all are able to be up and on their feet, that no one is missing. If one or two are missing, often the first thought to flash into a shepherd’s mind is, “One of my sheep—or two of them—are cast somewhere. I must go in search of them and set it on its feet again. I’ve got to go help it.”

One particular ewe—that’s a female sheep—that I owned in a flock of Cheviots (a certain type of sheep) was notorious for being a cast sheep. Every spring, when she became heavy in lamb, it was not uncommon for her to become cast every second or third day. Only my diligence made it possible for her to survive from one season to the next.

One year, I had to be away from the ranch for a few days—just when she was having her problems. So I called my young son aside and told him he would be responsible for her well-being while I was absent. If he managed to keep her on her feet until I came home, he would be well paid for his efforts. So it was a father-and-son team working together.

Every evening after school, he went out to the fields faithfully. He set up the old ewe so she could survive. If she was cast down, he put her back upright. It was quite a task, but she rewarded us with a fine pair of twin lambs that spring.

There was value in her. He needed to take good care of her, though, for her to continue to provide, to grow, to overcome.

It is not only the shepherd who keeps a sharp eye for cast sheep—but also predators. They look for cast sheep as well—easy prey. Buzzards, vultures, dogs, coyotes, and cougars all know that a cast sheep is easy prey, and death is not far off.

This knowledge—that any cast sheep is helpless, close to death, and vulnerable to attack—makes the whole problem of cast sheep serious for the shepherd. Nothing seems to so arouse his constant care and diligent attention to the flock as the fact that even the largest, the fattest, the strongest, and sometimes healthiest sheep can become cast and be a casualty.

Actually, it is often the fat sheep that are the most easily cast—and I think we should know why.

The way it happens is this: a heavy, fat, or long-fleeced sheep with lots of wool will lie down comfortably in some little hollow or depression. Maybe it’s a little cooler there, so they’re going to lie down. It may roll on its side slightly to stretch out or relax. Suddenly, the center of gravity in the body shifts so that it turns on its back far enough that the feet no longer touch the ground—just like the turtle I mentioned.

It may feel a sense of panic and start to paw frantically. Frequently, this only makes things worse—it rolls over even further. Now it’s quite impossible for it to regain its feet. As it lies there struggling, gases begin to build up in the rumen—in the stomach.

As these gases expand, they tend to retard and cut off blood circulation to the extremities of the body, especially the legs. And if the weather is very hot and sunny, a cast sheep can die in just a few hours. If it is cool and cloudy and rainy, it may survive in this position for several days.

Now, I could read more here—it’s all good—but we’ll stop, because we’ve got to get through the rest of the sermon.

So, three main reasons a sheep becomes cast:

1. It lies down in a soft depression.
   
    
2. It has too much wool that may become matted.
   
    
3. It’s too fat.
   
    

Spiritually, we should not take the easy road, but the disciplined road. Do what you need to do to be healthy. Do what you can do so that you don’t become cast. Take care of yourself. Maintain yourself.

God leads and guides us on the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life—the path of righteousness that supplies many, many blessings.

God desires that His children are walking in step with Him spiritually, becoming holy as God is holy. That’s our calling—to become like God.

When this is so, we bring glory to God and to His name, as we are His children. We are true Christians. We are followers of Jesus Christ. We bear His name. That’s what the third verse is about.

The fourth verse: “Yea, 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.” (Psalm 23:4)

A shepherd would typically take his sheep through the valley to the higher ground in the early spring. So this is the kind of topography that Philip Keller had with his sheep—it was somewhat mountainous. He would come back down the mountain through the valley in the autumn, just before winter would settle in.

Even though I may need to walk down into the valley of the shadow of death—we may need to take that journey at times—I need not fear any evil, because God is right there with me to protect me and to give me safe passage.

All followers of God and Christ are eventually tested in a variety of ways. God doesn’t always have a hedge around us. Sometimes He does—He’s very merciful, He’s very gracious. Sometimes the hedge may be there, but not always.

He allows us to be tried and tested that we may be proven—whether or not we truly have godly character. Are we growing? Are we overcoming? Becoming like Christ?

The shepherd’s rod is used by the Good Shepherd, the loving Shepherd, to gently prod, to lead, to guide, and direct us in the path that He knows is safest and best for us. And the pliable sheep—that’s all it takes—is some gentle prodding. But there are some sheep that are a little more recalcitrant. They may need a little bit stronger action.

I suppose there have been sheep—or shepherds—that have whacked the sheep at times. If the gentle prodding doesn’t work... You have to, obviously, be careful when you apply this to people. We are not to go around whacking people—that is not what I’m saying at all. But sometimes God, I think, does bring out the two-by-fours.

God allows us to go through some pretty hard trials. You know, if the prodding isn’t working, then we bring it upon ourselves. Be sure our sins will find us out. There are consequences for our sins. And typically, it is that we have brought these consequences upon ourselves—and we should not blame God.

But sometimes God, even if we haven’t done anything to warrant such a trial, God may allow it to happen—just like Abraham. “Now I know that you really trust Me and love Me. You’re willing to sacrifice your son Isaac.”

So the Shepherd’s rod is used by the good and loving Shepherd to gently prod and to lead. And hopefully we’re not thick-headed and rebellious. Hopefully that’s enough for us.

Remember Hebrews 12:6: “For whom the Eternal loves, He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” A loving Father will discipline His children. He will help them. He will love them. But He will discipline them.

In Micah 7:14, it speaks of another prophecy: “Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your heritage, who dwell solitarily in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel.” It’s talking about fertile ground there. “Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old.”

But we are to be shepherded—or rather, God is to shepherd us—with His staff. And we should pay attention and allow Him to do so.

Let’s go on to the fifth verse: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” (Psalm 23:5)

Now, the “table” that David the shepherd is referring to here is actually the high summer ground, or higher summer pastures, for the sheep. Oftentimes there would be poisonous flowers that would emerge in springtime—wildflowers and these plants that would cause certain death if eaten by the sheep. So the good shepherd has to check out the pastures. He has to know what’s growing, because the sheep are going to eat what’s growing there.

And the good shepherd will need to go in advance to rid the pasture of these poisonous and noxious plants. It is painstaking work, but it’s necessary for the good shepherd to take care of his sheep.

So God is always on the job. He never slumbers. He never sleeps. He is there to take care of the poisons. We can count on Him to do that. He’s always there. He will never leave us. He’ll never forsake us. He’s the Good Shepherd.

So even though we may be surrounded by enemies—maybe there are wolves and other predators out there—the Lord prepares a table filled with good food, with those green pastures, with those still waters, good drink that will nourish and strengthen us.

So we need not fear Satan the devil ourselves as sheep. We need not fear any man if we fear God and rely upon Him. He is our Protector. He is our Champion. He is our Redeemer. So it is important that we keep our eyes fixed on our Redeemer, on our Savior.

Keller, in his book, says it was always the wanderers, the aggressive, the rebellious, who would be picked off by wolves, by cougars, or other predators. Sheep who were more pliable and followed the shepherd closely were safe—they stayed close to the shepherd.

We need to be staying very close to our Shepherd.

In summertime, on the tableland—the high pastures—insects would also become a huge problem at times for the sheep. The good shepherd would need to anoint the sheep with a certain mixture of oil, sulfur, and tar applied to the sheep’s head and around their nasal passages, especially because of nose flies.

I would not want a fly flying up my nose, and the sheep don’t like that either. In fact, these nose flies—unless counteracted and dealt with—could literally drive a sheep mad. Drive them crazy. I think—I don’t know if I mentioned that in this sermon—about the mosquitoes. They can drive you crazy. Well, these nose flies do the same.

Once the mixture was applied to a sheep, there was an immediate change in behavior. Once the sheep was anointed with the proper mixture, it was somewhat miraculous. It did the job, and there was an incredible transformation that took place.

So, you know, God will also anoint us. He will take care of us. And He does it through the power of His Spirit. We have been anointed by His Spirit. It is a powerful force that God has given us. It will bring us peace. There can be an incredible transformation when we yield to the Spirit of God.

Now, summertime was also “scab time.” Doesn’t sound very good, does it? For the sheep, when they would sometimes be attacked by a terrible disease called scab. Scab is an irritating and highly contagious disease that may be passed from one sheep to another through contact—often when they would rub their heads together. And sheep will do that.

Scab is caused by a minute mite, and it proliferates in warm and hot weather. A “lamb without blemish” often meant a lamb without scab. You know, when it talks in the Bible about a lamb suitable for Passover—they must not have scab. They must not have blemishes.

So, a dip was concocted to prevent a lamb or sheep from developing scab.

Now, some of you who have dogs—you’ve probably dipped your dog. Maybe, I don’t know, if you’re out in the country and they get lots of ticks and they’re covered with ticks, you may have to dip them from time to time to keep those ticks away. And that’s important to protect the animal.

Entire herds of sheep would be dipped because of scab. Also, I remember taking care of pigs, and we would sometimes have to dip the pigs, because younger pigs—they would get harassed by parasites or with bugs and insects and things.

So symbolically, the Lord anoints our head with oil—sanctifying us and setting us apart for His divine use as He sees fit.

Now, I just want to read real briefly—page 120—about how spiritual scab is passed along. Again, another analogy. Keller writes:

“In the Christian life, most of our contamination by the world, by sin, by that which would defile and disease us spiritually, comes through our minds. It is the case of mind meeting mind to transmit ideas, concepts, and attitudes which may be damaging. Often it is when we get our heads together with someone else who may not necessarily have the mind of Christ that we come away imbued with concepts that are not Christian. Our thoughts, our ideas, our emotions, our choices, our impulses, our drives, and our desires are all shaped and molded through the exposure of our minds to other people’s minds.”

It’s interesting. This was written over 50 years ago. But it says, “In our modern era of mass communication, have things changed?” There was no internet until around 2000. This was written in 1970.

He says:

“But even then, in our modern era of mass communication, the danger of the mass mind grows increasingly grave. Young people, in particular, whose minds are so malleable, find themselves being molded under the subtle pressures and impacts made on them by television, radio, magazines, newspapers, and fellow classmates.”

No mention of the internet. No mention of this phone around here—this iPhone—that you can scroll through and see all kinds of filth and degradation and things that we’re all subjected to. We’re subjected to that if we go there.

We’ve got to decide not to go there—not to go down that road. It’s so easily accessible these days.

He goes on to say that often the mass media, which are largely responsible for shaping our minds, are in the control of men whose characters are not Christ-like. Yeah—there’s a lot of that on the internet these days—who in some cases are actually anti-Christian.

It’s gone so much more since then. Look at just the permissiveness of society since this book was written.

“One cannot be exposed to such contacts without coming away contaminated.”

So we have to be on guard that we’re not contaminating ourselves.

So God never sleeps and slumbers. He’s always there for us. My cup is filled to overflowing again with the life-giving drink of the Holy Spirit.

We also share a cup—it talks about a cup that is overflowing. You know, we share a little bit of wine that is symbolic of Christ’s shed blood for us. There’s also a cup of suffering that Jesus Christ went through that symbolizes His suffering for us, and we suffer along with Him because we’re Christians. And that’s okay when you suffer for righteousness’ sake.

Let’s go on to the last verse: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)

It is for certain that God shall bless us with His goodness and His mercy all the many days of our lives. No matter how many days we live, God will be there for us. “And I shall dwell in God’s house with His divine blessing and protection forever.” If we stay faithful, if we endure to the end, and we remain faithful—if the Spirit of God is dwelling in us upon our death or upon Christ’s return—then we shall live forever with God.

God’s house is His flock. God’s house is His family. That’s what it’s all about.

God is certainly our Good Shepherd, and He wants us to also learn to be good shepherds too. He wants us to be good shepherds as well. He wants us to follow His example.

In Acts 20:28–31, there’s another good shepherd in the Bible. There are plenty of them, actually, but Paul was certainly a good shepherd. Paul is writing to the elders at Ephesus. He says:

“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” The Holy Spirit sanctifies and sets us apart, and we are ordained for service as overseers “to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28–31)

And you know, it made a difference—because the church at Ephesus, where it talks about the church there, they are commended because they did not give in to false prophets. They called them liars. Paul taught them to be able to discern a lie from the truth, and a good shepherd will do that.

One last concluding verse, Matthew 25:32–36:

Jesus says, “All the nations will be gathered before Him,” before Christ, “and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”

That’s what God has in store for all of us. We are firstfruits, and from the very foundation of the world, we know that Christ was slain because He knew we would be sheep who would sin, who would mess up—and we need a Savior. And Christ is that Savior.

So “the King will say to those on the right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink.’”

Is that not what the Good Shepherd does? He supplies food and drink for the sheep. “I was thirsty and you gave Me drink. I was a stranger and you took Me in. I was naked and you clothed Me. I was sick and you visited Me. I was in prison and you came to Me.” (Matthew 25:32–36)

And we know that Jesus said, “If you’ve done it unto the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

That’s what God wants to see from His family—that we really do love each other, and we care for each other, and we provide for each other. We take care of each other.

Like Father, like Son, and like daughter—God the Father and Jesus Christ are both Good Shepherds, and we should follow their example and become good shepherds also.

You know, we all are shepherds to some degree. We shepherd our families. Brothers and sisters shepherd each other. They help each other. They take care of each other. They look after each other. Parents certainly shepherd their families. A minister shepherds his flock. An employer shepherds his employees.

We all learn to shepherd one another, and we should do it in the love of God.

So let us be good shepherds, and most of all, let us remember—and never forget—the Lord is my Shepherd.