The Shepherd of Our Souls

(Psalm 23)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Over the past few Lords Day evenings,
Weve been looking at a few things
That can help strengthen our desire to reach out to others:

The Lords given us helpful motives/incentives

Such as the great love He has shown us;
The rewards He promises for serving Him;
The fact that He has given us
The highest honor any of His creatures possess:
That we are the messengers of the Gospel

But we saw these will only help us

If we believe theyre true,
And to the degree that we believe them to be true.
If theyre to be more effective,
We need a stronger faith.
Since the strength of our faith
Depends on how much we have of Gods Spirit,
The more we can free ourselves from the influences of sin
And the more we are filled with the Spirit,

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The stronger our faith will be,
The more clearly we will see these things to be true,
And the more they will influence us.

Ultimately, we need a greater love for the Lord.

Unless we love Him as strongly as He calls us,
We wont be as effective
As we might otherwise be in this work.
How much are we to love Him?
With all our heart, mind, soul and strength
With all the powers and faculties of our being.
The strength of our love for God and our neighbor
Really depends on the strength
Of Gods Spirit work in our souls.
One way we can strengthen His work
And so strengthen our love
Is by meditating on Gods promises.
As we do, the Spirit can use them
To stoke the fire of His holy love in our hearts
So that we will give ourselves more to Him.

B. Preview.
Psalm 23 is full of promise and comfort.
Thats why its one of the first psalms we turn to

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When were going through tough times
Particularly when were faced with our own death,
Or the death of a loved one.
Of course, we dont have to wait
For that serious of a situation
Before it can become useful.
It can yield its comforts to us now
In the work our Lord calls us to in evangelism.

Jesus said to His disciples

After giving them that commission
That would take the rest of human history to accomplish:
The evangelization of the world
Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).
What did He mean?
He meant essentially the same thing
David describes in Psalm 23.

Lets look at this psalm from that perspective:

That as we devote ourselves to the Lord
To do His work while on earth,
He will be with us to provide everything we need.

II. Sermon.
A. Lets consider first the author of this psalm that is, the human author.

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We know the Author of all of Scripture is ultimately the Holy Spirit,
But He used human instruments to write it down
Not by dictation
Though He sometimes did this
Or by kicking their minds into neutral
While He took control of their pens
But by using their experiences and words,
And creating the situation into which they wrote.

Who was the human author He used here? It was David (v. 1).
Why does that matter?
Because David was a shepherd
He wrote about his relationship with the Lord
As that of a sheep to a Shepherd
Because having been a shepherd,
He understood this is what the Lord was to him.
One of the reasons God chose David to be the king of Israel
Was because of this past work experience.
The psalmist writes, He also chose David His servant and took him from the
sheepfolds; from the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him to
shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them
according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands
(Ps. 78:70-72).
What David had done for his sheep,
God wanted Him to do for Israel.
But the only way he could do this,

Was if the Lord was to David,

What David had been to his sheep: a Shepherd.

This relationship David had with His Lord

Is the same relationship we have:
We both share the same Lord.
And Jesus tells us as much
In John chapter 10:
If we have trusted Him,
We are His sheep
And He is our Shepherd.
Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for
the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also,
and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd
(John 10:14-16).

Who better to describe the kind of relationship the Lord has with us,
Than one who experienced it himself,
Having been a shepherd himself?

B. So what does David tell us

Are the benefits of having the Lord as our Shepherd?
He sums it up in his first statement,
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want (v. 1).
Having the Lord as our Shepherd,

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Means we will not be lacking any good thing.

The Lord does for us

What He requires of everyone in authority
To do for those under their care
What the husband is to do for his wife,
Parents for their children,
Elders for their congregation,
Magistrates for their citizens
He cares for His flock.
Isaiah, looking forward to our Lord Jesus, writes, Like a shepherd He will tend
His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He
will gently lead the nursing ewes (Isa. 40:11).
It is His work to care for us
And it is our work to follow Him.

The work He calls us to

Requires a great deal of help
How is He able to provide it?
Look again at who our Shepherd is: The LORD.
This is the covenant name of God:
In Hebrew it is Yahweh.
It means I Am the eternal One who never changes.
It is the name of the Triune God
It applies equally to each of the three persons.

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The God who made all things,
Who holds the universe in existence,
The only true God,
Became one with us,
That He might be the Good Shepherd of our souls
That He might take on Himself
The responsibility of our care
To provide everything we need
Both physically and spiritually.
He may not give us everything we want,
But He will give us everything we need.

C. What are some of the specific benefits

The Lord gives us as His sheep?
We can easily understand the images David draws on
From his years of experience as a shepherd.
There may be a bit of interpretive latitude
When it comes to applying these things
To our Lords care for us.

1. The first thing he says is, He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads
me beside quiet waters (v. 2).
The Lord provides food and refreshment
For our bodies and souls:
Green pastures are for grazing and rest,

And leading beside or leading us to quiet waters are for drink.

This is what a good shepherd provides for his sheep.
This is what the Lord provides for us: both physically and spiritually.

The Lord teaches us to pray, Give us this day our daily bread (Matt. 6:11)
And He tells us that as our Good Shepherd, He will provide it:
He says, Do not worry then, saying, What will we eat? or What will we
drink? or What will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek
all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these
things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things
will be added to you (vv. 31-33).

Of course, if this applies to what is of lesser importance,

It also applies to what is greater:
He promises also to meet our spiritual needs.

Jesus, in the Gospel, has become for us

Our source of spiritual life, health and strength.
In Him is fullness of grace grace instead of grace.
Those who come to Him find Him to be manna from heaven
The bread that gives life to the soul
And a well of water springing up to eternal life
That which gives joy to the soul
The blessing and joy of the Holy Spirit.
Our Shepherd provides everything we need
To satisfy our bodies and souls.

2. When we go astray, He seeks after us and brings us back.

David writes, He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness
for His names sake (v. 3).
Of all the domesticated animals,
Sheep are the most likely to wander.
We are the Lords sheep
Even the best of us are prone to wander from Him:
The psalmist writes, I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for
I do not forget Your commandments (Ps. 119:176).
Matthew Henry writes, The best saints . . . miss their way, and turn aside into
by-paths; but when God shows them their error, gives them repentance, and
brings them back to their duty again, he restores the soul; and, if he did not
do so, they would wander endlessly and be undone. When, after one sin,
Davids heart smote him, and, after another, Nathan was sent to tell him,
Thou art the man, God restored his soul. Though God may suffer [allow] his
people to fall into sin, he will not suffer [allow] them to lie still in it.

He not only brings us back,

But He leads us again in the good and right paths of His Word.
Again, Henry writes, These are the paths in which all the saints desire to be led
and kept, and never to turn aside out of them. And those only are led by the
still waters of comfort that walk in the paths of righteousness. The way of
duty is the truly pleasant way. It is the work of righteousness that is peace.
In these paths we cannot walk unless God both lead us into them and lead us
in them.
3. He keeps us safe from danger.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil,
for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me (v. 4).
A valley was a dangerous place for the sheep,
Because there were so many shadows

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And places where predators could be hiding
But sometimes they were unavoidable
As they also are in the Christian life.
But even when the Lords path takes us through the valley
We do not need to fear: the Lord is with us.
His rod
The rod under which the sheep passed every evening into the sheepfold,
The rod under which we have passed into His fold
The promise that He has given us eternal life
And so will never perish
Along with His staff
The tool the shepherd uses to fend off the predators,
And the instrument he uses to discipline his sheep
Remind us that we belong to Him,
And He will never lose us
Not even in death.
We will pass safely from this world into the next.
Paul writes, O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE
IS YOUR STING? (1 Cor. 15:55).
We dont need to be afraid.

4. He will bless us even in the face of opposition:

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have
anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows (v. 5).
During difficult times,

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We will still experience the Lords refreshing presence,

His blessing, His joy
Not just a little,
But to overflowing
So we dont need to fear opposition.

5. And this will continue not only to the end of our lives,
But to the end of time.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever (v. 6).
When we see all the Lord has done,
We know from His Word, He will continue.
And when our time on earth is over,
He will take us home to live in His house forever.

The Lord has pledged to care for all our needs as our Good Shepherd:
Giving food and refreshment for soul and body,
Bringing us back when we stray,
Leading us in the good and right paths,
Keeping us safe from danger,
And blessing us in the face of opposition,
Throughout the whole of our lives
Even for the rest of time.

But He expects us to follow Him.

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He gives us these blessings because He loves us,

But also because we need them to do His work.
Since He promises to provide them,
Lets be encouraged to move forward
Knowing He will be with us, as He promised.
Lets also be thankful,
That if we do stray from this path,
He will be faithful to seek us and restore us,
So that we might again walk with Him
In the path of His righteousness. Amen.

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