They Were All Like Sheep...

Many times, when we read through the Bible, we miss important points that are being made, because we don't live in an agricultural society. They lived in an agricultural society, and so there's references all the time to issues that, and comments, and allegories, and points being made that were powerful to those people. But to us, it just doesn't have the same importance. We don't really get it. We don't really understand it. And it's because we don't understand what it is to live in an agricultural society. It's why I think so many people today in the Protestant world know about, or have some understanding that there are holy days in the Bible, but it doesn't have any importance to them. They all have to do with harvest and agriculture, and that just doesn't have any meaning in their lives. They don't understand the spiritual intent of it. And so there's a statement made by Jesus Christ that we can look through, we can read, we can have an intellectual understanding of. But we don't really understand the power that's behind this statement. Let's go to Mark 6. In verse 34, Mark says, And Jesus, when he came out, saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So we began to teach them many things. Now, I find it interesting that we have Jesus Christ being moved with compassion. And that's a very strong emotional statement, isn't it? He's moved with compassion. This isn't just a matter of, oh yes, you are, you know, you're human beings, and I created you, and I feel sorry for you. This is a statement of great emotional desire for these people. And why? And Mark's comment is, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Now, that's a nice allegory. We all know that sheep, you know, need shepherds, and shepherds are people who take care of sheep. But this understanding that he was moved for them because they were like sheep could only be understood, really, by someone who's ever taking care of sheep.

And has an attachment to sheep, and understands the attachment that a human being can have with an animal. That's what makes Psalm 23 so interesting. Psalm 23 is probably the most quoted passage in the entire Old Testament. You go to a funeral from almost any Christian denomination, and they will quote from Psalm 23. Maybe graveside ceremonies, especially, you know, whether it's Catholic, or Baptist, or Methodist. And I've done many graveside ceremonies where I go to Psalm 23 and read it because of the power of this short piece of poetry, of song lyrics, that were written by David so many years ago. Let's go to Psalm 23, because that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about Psalm 23. It starts with, The Lord is my shepherd. So this is a Psalm about being a sheep. Now, David, of course, was a man who had spent his youth taking care of sheep. And now he compares himself to a sheep. So there's a lot of lessons we can learn in this. Let's read through it first. And then I'm going to go through this Psalm, verse by verse. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leaves me by the still waters. He restores my soul. He leaves 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 mine 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. There's an interesting book I read many years ago. In fact, the copy I have is falling apart. I'm going to start looking for another copy. It was written in 1970. It's called A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Philip Keller. What's so interesting about this book is the man was a shepherd. He lived in Australia and South Africa for many, many years. And when he lived in Australia and then when he lived in South Africa, he ran a big sheep ranch. That's what he did. And he owned sheep. And so he has a very intimate understanding of how you take care of sheep, how you herd sheep. But if you read the book, you also find out he had a great emotional attachment to his sheep. In the book, you can read the anger he has towards shepherds who don't take care of their sheep. When he'd go by a sheep ranch, he has a whole two pages once where he just lays into these shepherds who had these ranches who didn't take care of their sheep. And the sheep were dirty, and they were sickly, and instead of in a nice pasture, they were out someplace where it was maybe dirt. He was just furious over it. His sheep aren't supposed to be treated that way. And so he looked at Psalm 23 and he said, What does it mean, the Lord is my shepherd? So what does it mean to be a sheep in this relationship with God? And that's why he wrote the book. I'm going to quote from the book three or four times in this sermon because he just brings out some fascinating points that only a person who has worked with sheep could see and really understand at an emotional level. Remember, Mark says Jesus was moved with compassion because he said these are like sheep without a shepherd. So let's go back to Psalm 23 now. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Sheep are an interesting animal. Sheep must be domesticated to survive.

They just don't survive in the wild. For one thing, anything can eat them. They have zero defense mechanisms. I mean, not only can sheep not fight back, they can't even run very fast. And there's nothing they can do to defend themselves. Now, there are wild sheep that do survive in the Rocky Mountains, you know, but that's a different, totally different kind of sheep than what we have as domesticated sheep. They have to have a shepherd to survive. And David says, the Lord is my shepherd. David understood at the core of who he was, without God, he could not survive. And that's where this starts. This starts where you and I have to understand at the core of who we are, you and I do not survive. You and I do not thrive in life. You and I are not well taken care of. You and I will not spiritually live unless we have a connection with our shepherd. And, of course, here what we're going to do is God as our shepherd. So, okay, he's a shepherd. He takes care of us, and I'm a sheep. But what does that really mean? What is that relationship like between the shepherd and the sheep? He then says, I shall not want. Remember, sheep can't even.

Sheep will eat all the food in an area and die. Sheep have no concept of tomorrow or the next minute or anything. They're weak little eating machines that herd. They have this herd instinct, and everything depends on a shepherd. Everything depends on a shepherd. It's interesting you can leave a marker here. Let's go to Isaiah 40. If you go through the Bible, it's amazing how many times you're going to find some kind of analogy to God as a shepherd or Satan as the one who likes to hurt the sheep.

Even in congregations, that's what a pastor means. It doesn't mean the chairman or the shepherd. There's a reason God uses these words and what he does. Look at Isaiah 40, verse 9. He's talking about going to the people of God and telling them to repent and return to God, and God will take care of them. He says, O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountains of Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold, the Lord shall come, this is verse 10, with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him, and his reward is with him, and his work before him. And Isaiah 40 is looked on many times as a messianic prophecy, that this is when the Messiah comes and comes back to this earth and draws people to him. Verse 11, And 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 you.

That's interesting. He says, When the Messiah comes, okay, what's he going to do? We think, well, good, he'll give us all giant rewards, and I'll get five cities or ten cities or one city. We have these ideas, and yet, in relationship, he says, I'm going to pick you up like little lambs. You ever pick up a little lamb? You know, I've picked up lambs before, and it's amazing. Sometimes they'll just bury their head. It's just like they roll up in this little ball, like I'm safe now. It's just an amazing thing they do. You pick up a puppy, and he wants a ron, he wants a play. Lambs just sort of roll up in this ball, like I'm okay now, because instinctively they know if he wants to eat me, he will. And the defense mechanisms. You run with little shark legs, you know, and you just, it's just all you're doing is buying a few extra minutes. That's all they do when they run.

He says, I'm going to pick you up like little lambs. There's a gentleness to this statement, that the way God wants us to be with Him. We know that God punishes. We know that God wants us to take responsibility for our lives. God has certain demands on us, and as God, He has the right to have anybody that ever demands on us He wants. But you know, there's also this gentle side to God. He says, you know, I don't do this because I just want to lord over you. God says, I do it for your sake. I do it for you because I want you to be like little lambs. So, He says He's like a shepherd who comes. I shall not want. You and I continue to try to fill the spiritual needs we have with physical things. We continue to try to do it through entertainment or money or our job or our status or whatever it is. And we keep trying to fill that need, and we can't do that. There is only one source where you and I can be fed at that core inner being. Only one, and that's God. He said, we can't even do that for each other. Only God can do that. The Lord is my shepherd, and David said, if I recognize that, I shall not want. When you recognize God as your shepherd. That's one of the roles He has. God describes Himself in all these different ways to help us to understand how to relate to Him, and to Him into Christ, too. We're talking specifically here about the Father, but we're going to see where Christ keeps saying He's the shepherd also. That's our relationship with Him. A shepherd has a good shepherd has absolutely one goal in mind with his sheep, to take care of them.

To take care of them. They're very important. They're very important to Him. You know, I never raised sheep. I did have a goat one time. The goats and sheep are totally different in many ways. There was one thing interesting about that goat that sheep will do.

That goat, no matter how well I fed that goat, and I would go out every day. That was my job. I had to melt that goat every morning and every evening. I had to go find a place where there was food, and I had to stake it down on a big, long chain. The reason why is that it would find a way through the fence, no matter what, because it was always looking for something better, always looking for something greener. It just, I wouldn't, it wouldn't let me be its shepherd. It just would not. I would take that goat out, drive that stake in the ground, and I'd go back in the night, and there'd be a big swath of where that goat had destroyed everything.

Okay, take it out today, and we'll just not stake it down. Then I'd spend five hours trying to find that goat, because off it would go, run off into the woods, and where would it go? It's interesting. One day I went out, and I would go out, and I'd put him out in the field, and at night I'd go out, and I'd yell his name or her name, and then she would bleep back to me.

So I'd yell her name, she'd bleep back, and there was a little game. I'd say, that's a 12-year-old kid, that's a little kid. This was a big thing, you know. I'd play my little game, yell its name, it would bleep, like, oh, I'm happy to see you, you know, and I would go walk out to it.

And one day I yelled out its name, and it didn't answer, it yelled out its name, and it didn't answer, and it was way in the back of the field. So I had to walk all the way across the field. I got to the back of the field, and there she was laying there. She had wrapped that chain around her neck, crawled under the fence to eat grass, even though there was plenty of grass. And when I yelled her name, she jerked her head and broke her own neck. But let this tell you something about goats, that's something where sheep is, too.

Sheep will always be looking for that greener grass, forget the god. That's where the grass comes from. That's who our shepherd is. And we keep looking for other ways to have that filled. It was an important lesson for a 12-year-old to learn. It was a hard thing, you know. I had to go back and say, well, my goat killed itself. I don't understand. For a little bit of green grass on the other side of this fence. Back in the Psalms, it says, He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

He leaves me by the still waters. We have to believe in our heart, in our minds, at the core of who we are, that no matter how tough life gets, God is going to take us, and where we are is going to be green pastures. He's going to take care of us. Our shepherd has not abandoned us.

He hasn't left us in the field and said, oh, there's coyotes coming. I'm leaving you here. You know, in life, there's times when we think God has abandoned us. The field is that way. David felt that way in time. Just read the Psalms. He says, yeah, but He takes me to these green pastures. He takes me to still waters.

I'm going to read from this book. The shepherd looks at Psalm 23. He says here, he writes, the strange thing about sheep is that by their very makeup, it is almost impossible for them to be made to lie down until four requirements are met. He makes me to lie down by green pastures. In other words, you can take sheep to green pastures, and they still won't lie down.

Well, why? Well, I mean, if you're a little one, a big hawk can take you away. You have to feel absolutely safe that this shepherd is going to take care of you. We have to feel absolutely safe that our shepherd is going to take care of us. He says, owing to their timidity, they refuse to lie down unless they are free from all fear. Because of the social behavior within a flock, sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with each other.

If tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lie down. Only when free of these pests can they relax. And lastly, sheep will not lie down as long as they feel that they need to find food. They must be free from hunger. It is significant that to be at rest there must be a definite sense of freedom from fear, tension, aggravation, and hunger. The unique aspect of the picture is that it is only the sheep man himself who can provide release from these anxieties. The sheep can't solve this themselves. Only the shepherd. Only the shepherd can protect them from the wolves, the hawks.

Only the shepherd can give them green grass. Only the shepherd can solve the differences between them. Does that sound familiar to you? As the sheep of God, we keep trying to find green grass. We keep trying to solve the differences. We keep trying to be free of anxiety, parasites, and the emotional problems of life. We keep trying to do all these things, and we forget that only the shepherd can do that. Only the shepherd can do that. He can, but we have to go to him for that.

A flock that is restless, discontented, always agitated, disturbed, never does well. Then he makes this remarkable statement. He says, you know, people are like that. He's talking about sheep, and he says, you know, people are like that, too. We are. So, we have to remember who takes care of these issues for us. It is the time you and I spend on our knees before our shepherd, acting him for these things, acknowledging our need for these things. And then the shepherd helps us take care of them. There is a peace that comes because the shepherd is there, and he's with us. He's among us.

You know, look at Hebrews. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 is read quite often in sermons and sermonettes.

Because it talks about peace, we all want that peace and that tranquility that we know God is with us, even though life is pretty much a mess, and will be much of the time. Remember, when there's no bad things going on in your life, enjoy it, because this, too, shall pass. Now, I'm not being negative. It's what it is to live in Satan's world. The only way you're ever going to really be happy is you realize, oh, yeah, this isn't God's world. And when we do, we say, oh, yeah, but I'm a sheep, and I've got a shepherd. I'm a sheep, and I've got a shepherd. So, I'll be taken care of. Hebrews 13.20. Now may the God of peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep. It's the title of God. He's the shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The shepherd of the sheep will do his work in you because you are his sheep. We are his sheep. If there's only one or two conclusions here, if we are not having the shepherd in our lives taking care of us, either he's a bad shepherd or we're not being very good sheep. I don't know about you, but I've never known God to be a bad shepherd. So, then there's only one other conclusion that we can come to. We're being bad sheep, and sheep can do the dumbest things. They can do the dumbest things. They don't seem to think through what the next step will lead to. Consequences aren't something sheep think about much. What sheep seem to think about is, I want to be safe and I want to be fed, and I don't want the next sheep bumping me. That's not it. That's a lot like us sometimes, isn't it? But we have a shepherd. We have a shepherd that will take care of us.

You know, it's interesting. I look at those four requirements that he talked about, and I think, wow, those four requirements I need in my life to be calm and right with God. I need the same things. I look at a congregation. A congregation needs those same things. That's why he uses the sheep analogy. In many ways, we really are like sheep. We really are like sheep. You know, sheep will stampede on the simplest of things. They'll get scared, and if one starts running, they all run. They don't know why they're running. Why are we running? I don't know why we're running. He ran. Let's run, too, and they all run. I was doing a live broadcast back when I used to work in radio out here in New Valley at the New Valley County Fair. We had a large mobile broadcast booth, and my job was to plug in this big long cord and go around and ask people, are you enjoying the fair? Talk to people. Of course, everybody would come up because they'd want to be on the radio. One time, I'm standing out there, and everybody starts to know there's just something going on that's not very good. All of a sudden, the crowd parts, and there's a herd of sheep running at me. I remember turning towards the broadcast booth and going, in other words, taking me off the air, and the producer goes, I'm talking away, and then about 20 seconds later, all you can hear on the radio is, because I'm just in the middle of these sheep. They just practically ran me over. They didn't know where they were going. There was no plan. There was no, like, oh, let's go over there. One of them started to run, and they all followed. They went on, and I guess somebody rounded them up sooner or later. They're just not the way we are. We live in a lot of fear and a lot of panic, because our lives aren't working right. The world around us isn't working right. The political system in our country is failing. I'm always amazed. Why does that surprise us? It's not God's system. It's going to fail, just like every other system ever devised by human beings. It's going to fail, and we seem surprised. It has to fail. It's not of God. It's actually probably the best thing human beings have ever come up with, and it'll fail. So we're in this panic. We're just run around. We do that as the people of God. We're always trying to fix everything. We're trying to fix the person next to us. We've got to fix it. We're always in this panic. Well, we stop the panic, and we go stand around the shepherd.

We stop the panic when we all gather around the shepherd, because we forget he is the only one, the only one, that can take care of us. David says, he leads me.

Well, let us go to the Scripture here. While we're right here in Hebrews, let's go to 1 Peter 5. I wasn't going to read this, but let's go ahead and read this.

Here Peter is writing to the elders of the church, but notice what he says to them. The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers not by compulsion but willingly, not for just on this game, but eagerly. Then he says, Nor are being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And then he says, And remember, this is why you do what you do, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

God is our chief shepherd. Jesus Christ is our chief shepherd. That's a title, by the way, that they both use. That's a title that they share. We know that Jesus Christ here is what he's talking about because Jesus Christ is the chief shepherd. We also see where we just read in Hebrews where God the Father is called the great shepherd. He says, Remember, the shepherd is going to come back, take care of the flock, keep them together, teach them, feed them, and keep reminding them, the shepherd is going to come back. And the shepherd is in our lives right now. We have not been abandoned by the shepherd. I have never looked at what sheep's eyesight must be. I don't think they're very good eyesight or not. I know we don't. We don't see the shepherd half the time. We're just running around in panic. So we forget he's there.

He leaves me beside still waters. I find sheep interesting because their proportion seems to be different than other animals in the way their legs are and the weight that they have. I mean, look at a racehorse. And look how those legs are designed to run. You know, if a sheep falls in the water, if you don't get it out right away, you don't drown. Because guess what that wool does? It just fucks up water. And they've got short little legs and hardly any real strength to them. And suddenly, you know, a 50-pound sheep weighs 100 pounds. And it drowns. You don't want sheep in running water. Because off they go. Just tumbling along, being swept along. So you have to take them to still water where they can drink and not fall in. So when David says, he leaves me to still waters, he's saying he leaves me to places where I can drink, I can be taken care of, and I don't want to go to the water. I don't want to have to live in fear of what's rushing around me, that I'm going to fall in, you know, and just soak up all that water and be swept away. Which reminds me of something, too. What kind of water do you want to drink? You know, God always takes us to good, clean water spiritually. And you'll find that analogy all through the Scripture, too. How much dirty water do we bring in? We wonder why we're an unhealthy sheep. You know, how much because we are dissatisfied with what the shepherd has given to us, because we're dissatisfied with what the shepherd has given to us. We have to think about that. Because if you and I are dissatisfied with what the shepherd has given to us, we'll drink the future pools of lust and covetousness, the muddy waters of intellectual vanity, clouded-mindedness, tepid waters of envy. We'll just drink those things, of disobedience. Oh, we might keep the letter of the law, but we don't keep it in the Spirit. That's what we'll do. Only God can quench that thirst that we have. Only the shepherd. Sometimes we want our husband or wife to quench that thirst. He or she can't. Only the shepherd can do that. We want people to emotionally heal us when the truth is only the shepherd can do that. Now, we help each other. We can help heal each other. Relationships are very important. But many times our relationships are damaged as human beings because our relationship with the shepherd isn't right. And you know what happens with sheep? When they're not being properly tended to, they just fight each other. They just run into each other.

They want to have peace among each other.

David says, He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness. He restores my soul. As shepherd looks in Psalm 23, writes this about this passage.

He says there's an exact parallel to what he's saying here into the caring for sheep. Only those intimately acquainted with sheep and their habits understand the significance of a cast-down sheep. Say, a cast-down sheep. Yeah, let's go to Psalm 42.

I would have never understood this until I read this book. Psalm 42. Look what David says in verse 5.

Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in him, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. In verse 11, he says the same thing. Why are you cast down, O my soul? The very core of who he was was cast down. In Psalm 23, he says, You restore my soul. What does that mean? Well, it means he had a cast-down soul, and now it was restored. Continuing on here in verse 11, he says, Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of my countenance and my God. So, okay, if he restores my soul, that means I've been cast down. What does it mean to be cast down? Returning to Psalm 23, the book here by Keller, he says this word cast down, and this phrase is an Old English Shepherd's term for a sheep that is turned over on its back and cannot get up again. They'll roll over onto their backs, and they can't get up. The four legs will just flail away. They can't roll over. And the older I get, I understand that, because I have times in my life where I'm like that. That was a joke. Anyways, he says, he says, A cast sheath is a very pathetic sight, lying on its back, its feet in the air, and it flies away frantically, struggling to stand up without success. Sometimes it will bleed a little for help, but generally it lies there, lashing about in frightened frustration. Sound like your life? Have you ever been cast down? Just laying on your back, not even praying, not even just flailing around in frightened frustration, anxiety, and hurt. If the owner does not arrive on the scene within a reasonable short time, the sheep will die. But another reason why it is so essential for a careful sheepman to look over the flock every day, counting them to see that they are all able to be up and on their feet. If one or two is missing, often the first thought to flash into his mind is, one of my sheep was cast down some place, and I've got to go get it back on its feet. Do you think God, when He sees you and I like that, doesn't say, my sheep is cast down? I must get him or her back on its feet? Of course He does. That's why He calls Himself a shepherd. And we're saying, why doesn't God help me? God's saying, well, just hold still a minute and I'll get you flipped back over, kid. Where is God? Why isn't He helping me? Why isn't my life what I want it to be? And the shepherd's saying, let me get you back up on your feet and get you cleaned up a little bit, and I'll take you to some green pastures and a little still water. How's that? We've all been cast down at times, and only God can put us back up, lift us back up, and put us back on our feet. He takes me, believes me by the path of righteousness for His name's sake. Sheep have to be led by the shepherd all the time to where they can be fed, to where they can be taken care of. Once again, from a shepherd looks at Psalm 23.

Sheep are notorious creatures of habit. Oh, unlike the rest of us. If left to themselves, they will follow the same trails until they become ruts. Graze the same hills until they turn to desert waste. Pollute their own ground until it is corrupt with disease and parasites. Many of the world's finest sheep ranges have been ruined beyond repair by overgrazing poor management and indifferent or ignorant sheep owners. Now, any of us who used to watch westerns know that, right? How many plots of old westerns were sheep herders have come to town, trapped on your guns, boys? We're riding. Why? You know, and there was always the bar scene where the sheep herder would walk in and some guy would be sitting there and he'd say, I smell the stink of sheep. And you knew what was going to happen next wasn't good. Why? Because there were people killed during the western expansion days of the United States over sheep. Because when you bring sheep in some place, what do they do? Well, they eat everything. Then they wait for somebody to come along and leave them someplace else to eat everything. Where's the shepherd? Where's the shepherd? We ate everything here. Let's go eat some place else. And they will literally just walk a rut. Of course cows will do the same thing. So there's nothing left except a rut. I mean, they're just, that's it. We can be like that too. First Peter 2.

First Peter 2.25.

This is us. Peter's talking to the church. So his audience would have known exactly what this meant and the same lesson applies to us. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. My soul is cast down. Right? When David said that, he was meant, I'm like a sheep on my back flailing around and I will lay here and die. I will beat myself to death. They will actually flail to the exhaust themselves and die from exhaustion thinking they're going to starve to death because they're laying on their back.

We do that a lot in life. We forget that God is there. We forget that life is going to be messy and sometimes ugly and sometimes uncomfortable because we don't live in His world. We have been called to become part of what He is doing when He sends Christ to this earth and He changes what's going on. But until then, we live in Satan's world. And until then, sometimes we're cast out and sometimes we're looking at muddy water. And sometimes we say, I'm lost and there's nothing here to eat.

And we do what sheep do, which is always self-destructive. Or we wait for the shepherd and we huddle around the shepherd and we let God take care of us. He says, your rod and your staff... Well, before that, let me go before that. He says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

He says, I would live life in fear, David said, and I would fear evil. I mean, you and I live in an evil world. But he said, I don't because I am protected by your rod and your staff. It was interesting. I did some research on the Internet and I actually found pictures in Africa of sheep herders who still use a rod and a staff. Even to this day. And they're similar to the ones that were used by David and the people of... Well, David lived 3,000 years ago. And the rod is very interesting. It's just like a club. There were a couple reasons for it. One was, it was a weapon. It was a club. You know, there's a wolf in that sheep. You take that club and you beat him to death. It's a weapon. Secondly, you know, when sheep get all...they all get herded together. They start pushing each other. They start griping and bleeding and people pop them on the head with it. Okay. It was used...what it was is that's the sign that I am the shepherd. Okay? This is the sign that I am the shepherd. But the rod and the staff actually do two different jaws. They symbolize the different things. I am the shepherd here and I bobwooled some bears for you. Okay, I take care of the sheep. And, you know, every once in a while I bob you on the head, too, but for a different reason. There are different functions with this rod. It's also interesting in Leviticus 27. Let's go back to Leviticus 27. Look how the rod was used because it was a sign of ownership. Leviticus 27. And verse 32.

And concerning the tithes of the herd. So this is about how do you count out the tithes. Okay? It's time to pay your tithes and you're going to give your first tithe to the temple, or to the tabernacle. And you bring in all the new sheep, you know, all the ones that were born that year. And now, okay, we've got to count out the tithes. And concerning the tithes of the herd of the flock, or the flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. So the shepherd would stand there and go, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ten. That one goes to God. One, two, three, four, five, six, and his rod. In other words, I own this sheep, but this sheep is now owned by God. It was a sign of ownership.

And the shepherd looks at Psalm 23 and says, there's another reason for this rod.

In the same situation as the body, in plain language, one just does not pull the wool over his eyes.

This picture is a very poignant one.

Well, this is the most searching process in tailing every intimate detail. It is to a comfort for the sheep, for only in this way can its hidden problems be laid bare before the shepherd. We don't want God to examine us much of the time, because we know He's going to find defects. But it's amazing. When a sheep submits to God's—well, the shepherd's—searching, he's comforted by it. When you and I will go to God and say, search me, heal me, get rid of the defects, help me, there's a comfort to that. It's this humility before God. One thing about sheep, they can be pretty humble animals. Short, fat, stubby, and can be eaten by anything. And slow. You better be humble.

You better be humble. You know, I'm going to stand up to the lions.

Me. Because I'm the biggest sheep among the sheep. I weigh 100 pounds. That 500-pound lion doesn't scare me. I have teeth that will eat grass. You better be humble as a sheep, because of the reality of being a sheep. This rod is used to search out the sheep, to see if it's okay. But it's also used in the Bible as proof of ownership. Look at Ezekiel 20. This is interesting, because this is this is God talking about His people. Ezekiel 20.

Ezekiel 20 verse 33.

As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. So He will have an outstretched arm. That could be as a fist. That could be as an inviting hand. What does it mean here that God has an outstretched arm? And in the scripture it can mean a number of different things. But He says, I will rule over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead my case with you face to face. Just as I plead in my case with your fathers in the wilderness, in the land of Egypt. So I will plead my case with you, says the Lord God. And I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. And I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me, and I will bring them out of the country where they dwell. They shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Now, He says they have to pass under the rod. Well, what does that mean? You and I will visit the rod. Remember what it says in Leviticus. That is when you count out the sheep that are yours. Now, I am going to gather the sheep of your mind, and your mind, and your men. It is His rod. That is His outstretched candy. They are with His rod. Counting His sheep. Now He was sheep for His.

What I find here in this verse, I find it very comforting in this passage. But in verse 38, I find it a little distressing. I mean, okay, why would He mention rebels? He is talking about counting out His sheep. Well, you and I have to be careful to remember who our owner is, because there are rebel sheep. There are rebel sheep. I would have never thought that there could be a rebel sheep. I mean, they all seem so docile to me. Keller says, I once owned a hew whose conduct exactly simplified the kind of person He keeps tying His back in the people who just won't listen or won't respond to its owner. Who is our owner? Who is our shepherd? She was one of the most attractive sheep that ever belonged to me. Her body was beautifully proportioned. She had a strong constitution and had an excellent coat of wool. Her head was clean, alert, well set with bright eyes. She bore sturdy lambs that matured rapidly. But in spite of all these attractive attributes, she had one pronounced fault. She was restless, discontented, and a fence-crawler. So much that I came to call her Mrs. Gadabout. This one ewe produced more problems for me than almost all the rest of the flock combined. No matter what field or pasture the sheep were in, she would search all along the fences or shoreline looking for a loophole so she could crawl through and start to feed on the other side. It was not that she liked pasturage. My fields were my joy and delight. No sheep in the district had better grazing. But Mrs. Gadabout was an ingrained habit. She would simply never content with things as they were. Often when she had forced her way through some spot in the fence or found a way around the end of the wire at low tide on the beaches, she would end up feeding on bare brown, burned-up pasturages of an inferior sword. But she never learned a lesson and continued to fence crawl time after time. He says, not would not have been bad enough if she was the only one who did it. It was a sufficient problem to find her and bring her back. The further point was that she taught her lambs the same tricks. They simply followed the example, and soon they were all skillfully escaping. Even worse, however, was the example she set for the other sheep. The short time she began to lead others through the same holes and over the same dangerous paths down by the sea. So he goes on and he says, after putting up with it for years, he finally, he says, one morning I took the killing knife in hand and I butchered her.

What's amazing is the emotion in the story. This bothered him. He was so attached to that sheep, it bothered him that he had to butcher her. But he had a sheep that was destroying his flock. We have to realize that this is what he's talking about here. He's going to count out his sheep. We want to be in that sheep. When he counts out his sheep, we don't want him to say, oh, this one's a rebel sheep. This sheep would never listen to me. This sheep was always running off. This sheep was always doing wacko things, and I will not accept this sheep. We want to pass under that rod until that little tap on the head as we go by, this is my sheep. That's what we want. What is our relationship like with our shepherd?

Are we rebellious sheep? There can be such things as a rebellious sheep. But God says when he calls his flock in the end, he will not have a rebellious sheep. The staff is very interesting, too. The staff is a long pole with a crooked end on it, with a crook on the end. And it was used for a lot of different things. One, it was used to reach down and hook a sheep and pull it up. Walt Carothers used to tell stories about herding sheep and goats, and he would tell the funniest stories about them falling off cliffs, and they're down 12 feet down on an 80-foot cliff or whatever. Of course, I never knew. The stories got longer. Pretty soon the cliff was 2,000 feet high. But Walt can tell the greatest stories. And how do you get these sheep that are falling? They had these long, that's one of the reasons. Or you could hook one that was being swept along in water. Hook it and drag it back in. But also, when they would get all herded along on a path, you would touch them. All of them being guided. How many times in life are we so... knows the rope, all the sheep are moving along, and we don't even feel the touch of the shepherd? He's resisting, and we don't even feel it. So then he has to take the rod and give us a bong in the hedge. And it's like, oh, okay, I'm awake. But he just reaches out and he just touches us with that staff. He guides us along the path by using that staff. David says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint me with oil, and my cup runs over. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. There will always be... Satan will always have his attempts to destroy who you are and who I am. You and I live in a world in which Satan is always trying to eat sheep. He loves sheep, and he's trying to always pick us off. He's trying to always get to us.

So we are in the presence of enemies, because we live in a world where our... the God of this world is our enemy. That's what Jesus said in John 10.

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 as a thief and a robber. See, Satan tries to get... He doesn't come through the door. Of course, God will let him through the door. So he's always trying to come into the sheepfold. He's always trying to get to God's people, wherever they are, whoever they are. And he's not trying to get to them, one way or another. It's always an attempt to do that.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. We know who our shepherd is, and here Jesus Christ is taking the term shepherd upon himself. It's a term that the Father uses, it's a term that Jesus Christ uses. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 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. Do we know the voice of Jesus Christ? Now, we talk about the Father as a shepherd, but there's a reason why Jesus Christ refers to himself here and his voice here. Remember Jesus Christ is the head of the church. He is the door. He opens the door. He leads us to the Father. You and I have this direct relationship with the Father. Why? Because at the end of every prayer we say, in Jesus' name, that's why. And he doesn't let us go there. We don't go there. God does not accept us unless we come through his Son. Do we hear his voice as his people? Do we hear his voice as the shepherd? He says, most assuredly, verse 7, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who 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. He will go in and out and find pastors. You'll find places to eat as long as we're going through Christ to the Father. Will we stop that? Will we stop our humility before Jesus Christ as our Passover, as the penalty for our sins? Will we forget that he is the high priest? Will we forget that he is our near kinsman? Will we forget that he is our coming King of King and Lords of Lords? Will we forget that he is the head of the church? Will we forget those things? We find ourselves in pasture that's not worth eating. We find ourselves lost. We find ourselves cast out. And he's reminding us here, he's the one that we follow.

And he's the one who takes us to the Father. Verse 10, The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have to come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

He goes on and he talks about how there are hirelings that don't take care of the sheep. They leave sheep. The wolf comes along and they don't care. But we know that Jesus Christ will never do that to us. Or do we? We better know that. We better know that he is the shepherd that is leading us to the Father. We better know that. Verse 15 is very interesting. He says, well, verse 14, 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, then also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. I looked forward to the day when there is one flock and one shepherd. That day will come. That day will come. Why? Because the shepherd said it would. And you and I can't make that happen. Only the shepherd can make that happen. We forget that. It will only happen when we all recognize who the shepherd is and we submit to the shepherd. There are always those that Satan will use to try to drag us back out into the world. Have you heard the term Judas Goat? I saw Judas Goat in action one time. It's very interesting. Was it a sheep auction? George Payton took me to a sheep auction one time. And they bring in this little herd of sheep, and they come into the arena, and of course all they do is, I mean, they're literally almost knocking each other down, huddled together, because they're just herding together, and they're looking around, and I mean, they're just scared to death. There's nothing to eat. There's no still waters. They're in a dirt arena. There's no shepherd. They're scared. And what's funny is if one of them runs to the corner, they all go to the corner. So someone will come out and herd them into the middle, or so they can look at them, and people are bidding on them, and finally they'll all sort of calm down, and they're all just gathered around the circle. Everyone trying to get to the middle of the circle, just standing there. And then the bidding's done, and they want them to leave the arena. You know how they do it? This goat comes out and walks up to them and turns around, and they all follow it. And then when they get to the chute, they open the chute, and the goat stops, and they all walk past, and they shut the chute, and the goat turns around and walks back into the arena and waits for the next herd of sheep. That's why they're called a Judas goat. They'll get sheep to go right into the slaughter pen by using that goat. Oh, he looks like us! Must be one of us! We'll just follow him!

Satan's good at that! We have to realize he's always trying to drag us back out into the world. All we should drag us back into the world by somehow convincing us that God isn't with us. The shepherd isn't working with us. The shepherd is abandoned us. Christ isn't really taking care of you. God isn't really your great shepherd. There's something better out here. This is what's so attractive to our teenagers and young people. Well, if I live this way of life, I lose so many options. If I live this way of life, I don't get to party. I may not have the same kind of job. If I live this way of life, I may not have the same friends.

The pastures are really greener over there. That's the Judas goat.

That's the Judas goat. I don't care whether you're 10 or 15 years old or 50 years old. Your life will constantly test it. Do you believe that your God and Father loves you just like a little baby, but also like a sheep? You know, everybody sees a little lamb, and what do they do? Oh, everybody! Oh, how cute, right? We're all attracted to little lambs. That's how God sees us if we will let Him and not be a rebel sheep. He'll always give you something better, but it doesn't seem like that at the time. When you're giving up something for God, it doesn't seem like you'll get something better. He will give you something better. He promises. He always promises. He says, You anoint my head with oil, and my cup runs over.

You know, sheep have to be dipped, but they get all kinds of parasites and bugs, and what they used then had an oil in it. You and I have to be dipped into the Holy Spirit of God, or we will be filled with sins, and we will be filled with anxieties, and we'll be filled with hatreds, and we'll be filled with all these emotional problems. We'll just be covered with parasites. We have to be dipped. Oil has to be poured all over us, and the parasites have to be killed. And then lastly, he says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

After the shepherds in the time of Israel and the time of David, they would take the sheep into higher elevations during the summertime to feed them. Then, at the end of the summer, they'd bring them back down, and they'd have to repair the barn and fill it up with hay and fill it up with food so they could survive the winter. They had to be brought back down into the house. He promises every one of us to bring us home. Sometimes as sheep, we feel lost. Sometimes as sheep, we think the shepherd has abandoned us. Sometimes we're in high pastures, and we think we'll never get home. But David said, You will take me home forever. David looked down to his salvation and said, You will bring me back to home forever. There is a home promised to us forever. The shepherd is building it. We won't be in these high pastures forever. I know it's getting close to winter, and it's like there's no food left. That's what it feels like at times. And I'm cast down. I can't find any still waters. And where's my shepherd going? He is going to lead us. Let's go back to Psalm 23, and let's end with this once again. Psalm 23. 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 shall comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and 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. Be good sheep, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.