Psalm 23 — John 10

0:00 Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

0:04 Good morning. Amen. Okay. We're gonna be looking at Psalm 23 today. Jesus, the the great shepherd.

0:12 And and I will admit to you that I had another psalm in mind that I wanted to teach, and the elders called me and and asked me to do psalm 23, and I tried to talk my way out of it and they wouldn't let me. And so I I started to dig into this psalm, and at the end of the day, I was glad that they asked me to do this psalm, because I was so blessed in preparing, and I had to say that I didn't know anything about shepherd and sheep and all that kind of stuff. When I was young, we used to go to Mexico to visit my uncles, and they all had ranches. And I know a lot about cattle ranches and all, but not sheep. So I know about cows and bulls and all that kind of stuff.

0:55 But... So this book, I I actually read it three times. I was so blessed by it. If you've never read this book, you... Oh, do yourself a favor.

1:06 Get this book and read it. It'll it'll bless you. It's a shepherd's look at Psalm 23 by by Philip Keller. And and a lot of the content which I have today comes from this book. But even so, get this book and read it.

1:21 It'll bless you. Alright? So, a shepherd's look at Psalm 23 by Philip Keller. So I have to give credit where credit is due. I was so blessed by reading it.

1:32 And like I said, I read it three times. I was so blessed by it. So let's let let's take a a look a little bit of about this this shepherd thing. And I thought I would start out even before we read Psalm 23. I want you to go to John chapter 10 and then we're going go to Ezekiel 34 and then Psalm 23 and this is all kind of to prepare the soil before we actually get into Psalm 23.

2:00 So go with me to John 10. Go with me to John 10. And before we even look at John 10, I want to look at a description of the Psalm. Let's see if this will come out right here. Here we go.

2:15 Look at look in your screen. And again, this is by by Philip Keller. This is how he described a a shepherd. This is how he described a shepherd. The shepherd shows tremendous care, work, alert, watchfulness, great skill, deep concern, and self sacrifice for his sheep.

2:36 He loves his sheep, his work, and his role as a shepherd. And quote, that's that's a regular shepherd. So what Philip Keller does is he takes that description of what a regular everyday shepherd would be and he applies it to Jesus our great shepherd. And so, I was really blessed by that and and the the thing about Psalm 23 and looking at is that no one really knows a lot about shepherding and taking care of sheep and and all that kind of stuff, right? Unless you grew up in a farm.

3:10 Did anybody grow up in a shepherd or a sheep farm? Anybody at all? No one. I know the bosses have two sheep but that doesn't count right or maybe three do you have it where are they? Seven.

3:22 Seven. Well still it still doesn't count that's that's not enough. All right so this is very important that that you look at this description of the shepherd because it's going to give us a lot of insight when we look at Psalm 23. Right. I also discovered in my investigation the Lord has witnessed that I did a lot of work trying to understand what a shepherd is like and what a sheep is like.

3:53 And in my investigation, I realized that you have a good shepherd, and then you have a bad shepherd. And so, let's take a look at that. First of all, in John 10 and verse... We're gonna start with verse 11. Jesus referring to himself, and he calls himself the good shepherd.

4:14 So let's look at this. John 10 and verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Now, you're gonna find this analogy throughout all of the Bible of a shepherd and the sheep.

4:31 And in case you didn't figure it out yet, we are the sheep. Okay? He's the shepherd. A shepherd is like a pastor who takes care of the sheep. Okay?

4:43 So he's the shepherd, and he refers himself as the good shepherd. And notice what he says, the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He's willing to die for his sheep. And in this case, what he's saying was that the sheep were lost in sin. And unless he gave his life for them, they were all going to die and go to hell.

5:07 And so I'm the good shepherd because I'm willing to put my life down for people who if I don't do it will be punished eternally in hell. So, this is why I'm a good shepherd because I'm willing to give my life for them and praise god that Jesus was willing as his good shepherd to do that and indeed he did lay down his life. Amen? Amen. Alright and so, he says, he who is a hireling.

5:33 Now, here's your bad shepherd and not a shepherd. So, in other words, the the the there's a bad shepherd who who owns some land, and he says, you know, I I don't I don't really care about this. I was just going to hire someone. Hey, go and take care of the sheep. So this is a hireling.

5:52 And he's not a shepherd, verse 12, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds a wolf coming, we're going to be looking at that in a little bit, and leaves the sheep and flees, And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. So the bad shepherd is someone who doesn't care, doesn't care. And what I've come to understand in life is that much of our experience, many times we feel like nobody cares about us, that nobody cares, that we're insignificant. And often we carry that image. What happens then is you turn to the good shepherd to Jesus, and you say, Lord, save me.

6:36 And suddenly you realize, wow, somebody does care for me. Jesus does. He's the good shepherd. Before I turned to Jesus, I was under Satan's control. And look what it says in verse 10 about him.

6:50 The thief who is Satan comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came that they might have life, that they might have abundantly, and so often the the bad shepherd in scriptures is an analogy referred to as Satan who all he wants to do is destroy our lives. And and has he done a good job or what? Our lives are scarred and many times marred by the effects of what Satan has done. Lives are destroyed, ravaged by life.

7:26 And notice what it says in verse 13. He flees because he is a hireling and is not concerned about the sheep. I am shift switching to himself again, Jesus. I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep. So notice there's a relationship there, and my my own know me.

7:50 My sheep, they know me. So there's a relationship. Somebody told me, oh, so you're religious. I said, no, no, no, no. I I left religion to come to the true shepherd and have a relationship with him.

8:05 I I I fled religion to have a relationship with a true shepherd. And so I know him, and he knows me. Better said, he knows me. And so now I know him. And he gave his life for me, and he cares for me, and I matter to him.

8:20 And he came to cleanse me from sin and not only that, but but to fix all of the damage that the bad shepherd had done to my life. And so we continue reading in in verse 16... Verse 15. Even as my father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. There he goes again saying that he lays down his life for the sheep.

8:46 And I have other sheep that's you and me, if you have turned your life over to the good shepherd to Jesus, and I have other sheep which are not of this fold, I must bring them also, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall become one flock with one shepherd. That is Jesus. For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. And so the good shepherd is Jesus. It's pretty clear.

9:16 And Jesus cares for you. How do we know that? Because he gave his life on the cross so that you can belong to him. And so that's the good shepherd. And we saw already the bad shepherd doesn't care.

9:29 He doesn't care what happens to you. My brother in Texas has a ranch, and he's got a cattle ranch. But right next to him is also a cattle ranch. And what I noticed when I went to visit him several times, we went to the ranch, said, I look right beyond the fence, and the cattle are weak and dying, and the horses are abandoned. I said, Jesse, what's going on?

9:53 And he goes, oh, the guy inherited the land, and he doesn't even care. He's he's rich and and he comes once a month. He just looks looks real quick and then leaves. And so next you know, we walk a little bit down the road and there was a beautiful bull. Just he fell over and died.

10:11 Right across the fence. On this side, my brother's cattle were healthy and strong, fed, and right over the other side of the fence, there was a dead one right there. And that's the picture. That's the picture. The good shepherd takes care of of the sheep.

10:29 The bad one doesn't care and the sheep are suffering and dying and looking over the fence at the blessings of the sheep who belong to Jesus. And that's the attraction. We're trying to win them over to the good shepherd as they look. Alright. Now, that that's some of the the background.

11:07 You know the old statement, we're stubborn as mules? Well, that's not pretty good to say. You better say we're stubborn as sheep, right? And so aren't you blessed this morning? I didn't call you a mule.

11:18 All right? We're sheep. We're sheep. All right. So but what I learned is that the sheep constantly go astray.

11:26 The shepherd is trying to guide them and bless them, and the sheep does its own thing. And so the Bible says in Isaiah 53, all we, all of us, you and me, like sheep, we do our own thing and we resist God. There's not a single person here who seeks God. And we're stubborn and we do our own thing and we're resisting god but the good shepherd says, hey, come here. You're going to belong to me now.

11:50 Turn your life over to me and and I'm going to guide you and I'm going to bless your life but the sheep does its own thing. It doesn't want god to rule his life. And so that's a picture of the sheep. Stubborn, does a lot of silly things which we're going to be looking at. Constantly get themselves in trouble.

12:09 They need to be guided or they make a mess of their lives. Have you made a made a mess of your life? We're we're pretty good at that, aren't we? We make a tremendous mess of our lives. So so a sheep left to itself with not with any without any good management could be the most destructive livestock around.

12:31 It's tremendous. Alright. Now, turn with me to Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34. We're going to get to Psalm 23, just just just relax.

12:41 Ezekiel 34 and verse two. Ezekiel 34 and verse two. Now, this is what we call neglected sheep, neglected sheep. That is people who have gone through life and have probably neglected, maybe your parents weren't around, maybe you you suffered some abuse, you've been hurt bad in your life, there's all kinds of damage done, And, this this chapter, by the way, is for you. You should read it.

13:15 You should read Ezekiel 34. It will bring great comfort to you. But we're gonna look at Psalm, Psalm twenty three two, which is gonna hopefully, I believe, bring comfort to your life. But notice what what what God says in Ezekiel 34 and verse two, son of man, that's speaking to the prophet, prophesy, write this down, against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, thus says the Lord God, woe shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flock?

13:50 You eat the fat and clothe yourself with the wool. You slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are and notice the heart of God. I want you to notice the heart of God right here. The shepherd, this is his heart, And I want you to listen.

14:07 Those who are sickly, you have not strengthened because God's heart is that, that this be done. The diseased, you have not healed. The broken, you have not bound up. The scattered, you have not brought back. You have not sought for the lost.

14:30 But with force and with severity, you have dominated them. And so the heart of God is pouring out to people who are broken, who are lost, who need to be healed, who need to be brought in. Verse five, and they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field, and they were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill, and my flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or to seek for them. And that's why in the New Testament, the Bible said that the shepherd, the good shepherd came to seek and to find you in your lostness and your brokenness and to heal you.

15:18 That's that's the neglected sheep. And many many of us have experienced that and tasted that. Now now let's look at again in verse 11 there, Ezekiel 34 and verse 11, the the good shepherd. For thus says the Lord God, behold, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. That's that's Jesus.

15:44 And as a shepherd, I wanna care, and as a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among the scattered sheep, So I will care for the for my sheep and will deliver them from all of the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. And so again, the the the shepherd, Jesus says, I'm different. I'm going to come searching and looking for people who are broken, who people who need to be healed, to be mended because I hurt for them. And and I want to be the solution in their life. Psalm 23.

16:41 Okay. Let let's read it first with with that in mind. David David being a shepherd himself, as he's writing, he's speaking from experience because he knows exactly what he's saying. As we're going to look at every step, he knows exactly what he's saying because he himself was a shepherd. You remember when Samuel came to anoint a king, and he went to his father's house, and he says, where where would you...

17:08 Do you have another son? He says, oh, yeah. He's a shepherd. He's out in the field tending the sheep. And so he was a shepherd.

17:16 He knew what he was saying when he wrote this down. So notice the first thing he says, the Lord is my shepherd, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He's my shepherd. I know him in a personal way. It's not some distant relationship, but I know him.

17:33 He's my shepherd. All right, notice the first thing he says, I shall not want. All right, now what do you mean by that? What do you mean by that? Well, you and I know that even though we have Jesus our shepherd, many times there's times of want.

17:49 There there's times where where we lack, where where where we need and so he's not talking about just because he's your shepherd, you're never going to want anything or everything's going to be just in order. Because David himself knew what it was like to want, to be in a cave and and to be running and to be thirsty and to be hungry and to be lacking. And so what do you mean by by I shall not want? Alright. So, he's going to tell us why he shall not want.

18:17 Now, I'm going to show you some points and then we're going to read it but I want you to see this first. Alright. He's going to he's not going to want. He doesn't want because the good shepherd leads and he restores and he guides and he comforts and he provides, he anoints, he dwells forever with the sheep. Alright?

18:44 So, let let's backtrack and let's go to our first one and then we're we're going to read it first and then we're going to go looking into the first point. Alright. So, let's look at it. Psalm 23 and verse one, the lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

19:05 Now, in in in our society, in our times, we have no clue what that means. That makes me lie down in green pastures means nothing to us. At least when I read it, I was like, well, you know, all right, so I'll go lie down on some grass. Know, it didn't mean anything to me. So so now you know why had to do so much work.

19:26 I was like, what does that mean? Alright. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leaves me besides quiet waters. Again, today, we just go get a bottle of water and sip it.

19:36 You know, it's like, well, what does that mean? He restores my soul. He guides me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

19:56 Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemy. Thou has anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now, let let me let me make this point.

20:20 This whole Psalm and and all of these blessings that he's going to talk about, everything hinges on the shepherd. It doesn't depend on you or me. All of this hinges and depends on the good shepherd. Did something happen? Oh, I think we had a disconnect here.

20:39 Excuse me for a minute. Did it go back? Yeah, Okay. So in order to properly understand this Psalm, we have to understand that everything in this Psalm depends on the shepherd, not on you or or me. Not in our ability.

20:58 All of this is the shepherd. If the shepherd is not there, the good shepherd doing all of this, it it doesn't make a difference then. Because left to our own or with a bad shepherd, we just destroy ourselves. As it is, many times we have the Bible and we have the shepherd and we still do our own thing and we still cause a lot of damage to ourselves because of our rebellion and our resisting the shepherds leading because he leads us. So the first thing he says then is he leads me in two ways.

21:37 Number one, he makes me lie down in green pastures. Right now, the the sheep need four things to be able to relax, to be able to sleep. Do you ever have sleepless nights where you toss and you turn? All right. There's probably four reasons why you can't sleep at night.

22:00 Number one, for a sheep to be able to sleep, so they have restless nights too. You know, so if you look at a sheep and it's kind of slouchy, you're like, I know what's going on with you. Alright, so a sheep needs four things to be able to lie down and sleep at night. He needs to be free from fear. Free from fear.

22:20 How many times you're afraid? How many times are we afraid and we can't sleep? You're afraid of how you're going to make it the next day and what's going to happen with the sickness and all these things that cause us fear. The second thing that doesn't allow a sheep to be able to sleep is friction. Friction from another sheep.

22:42 So there's bully sheeps in the herd. Yeah, yeah, you can read the book. So the sheep will come in and bam, hit one and cause, then the other sheep gets scared like, no, here comes and and it hits him and then the sheep can't sleep at night because there's friction. And you know that if you haven't made it right with your brother and sister, there's a tension that you know you can't sleep at night. Right?

23:08 And so we toss and turn because your consciousness is bothering you because you haven't made it right. And so you can't sleep at night if there's fear. You can't sleep at night if there's friction. Now, can't sleep at night if there's unless you're well, not you, but the sheep, free of parasites and flies. All right?

23:29 That's why I said not you, but this is a little sheep, right? But you know what it's like to have a cold and you can't sleep at night, and you're stuffed, and you're waking up, and you're blowing your nose, and you're coughing all night, and all that, or when you're sick, you're miserable. Of course, normally we make everybody else miserable around us too. But a sheep can't sleep if he has parasites or flies. And a sheep can't sleep if he's hungry, if he's hungry.

23:59 Now I'm the opposite. I can sleep if I'm hungry, but if I'm full I can't. I toss around, I have gas and heartburn and all that stuff. So I must be a weird sheep. I can't go to sleep too full or I can't, I'd rather be hungry.

24:13 So I don't know how to how to take this particular one right here but maybe it applies to you I can sleep if I'm hungry I can't sleep if I'm stuffed so but it's still true with sheep Right? So I don't know how your body reacts or what you do. Of course, as I'm getting older, I'm having to take more Pepcid and all that kind of stuff, but that's another story. All right. So, listen now.

24:39 Listen, here's the point. You, you, you, you, you can't be free of fear, friction, or or parasites of hunger unless the shepherd is present and and and you feel the comfort of the of the shepherd. See? And so, it depends on the shepherd. It makes all the difference in the world.

25:01 If you're trusting your shepherd, you look at the shepherd and the sheep feels confident and and can actually sleep. Alright? And and so these are the things that are necessary and the the shepherd then leads you to green pastures where you can lie down, where you can lie down. He he he takes away as you read the word and and learn to trust in that fear And and he teaches you to stop having friction with each other. That that's almost impossible to avoid.

25:34 But then we had to learn to to have the shepherd. Lord help me to to restore this relationship because I can't sleep. And it's not right as a believer that I go on this way. I need to make it right. And and lord, I feel sick.

25:48 Would you heal me? And and and I'm hungry or in my case, ate too much. Help me to sleep, right? So so, he he he leads me and to to be able to lie down, to be able to rest. The lord wants us to rest and to be able to sleep in peace.

26:41 They drink that water. The sheep will do it. Now, what happens? They get sick. And so the shepherd is like, come on.

26:47 Let me lead you to good water. Stop doing that. What's that a picture of? That's a picture of even a believer playing around with the mud and and the filth of sin. And then it gets you sick.

27:00 See because sin it's right there and it's so easy and it's so tempting. You stop and you start eating out of the muck. When god has some pure clean water for us and it gets you sick. Sin always doesn't satisfy and it always leaves us feeling empty and dirty. Always.

27:23 Always. And there's a person playing around in sin and and and looking to to fill their void in their heart and and the answer is to to repent of sin and turn to Jesus for the salvation of your soul and allow him to lead you to clean waters because if you keep playing around the mud of sin, you you're never going to have peace. You're going to be sick. And and so that's what that's talking about and so so Jesus then leads us in in two ways. He leads us so that we can rest at night.

27:57 They have to be those four things there and then he leads us to clean waters. Jesus said, come to me and drink and and and I will satisfy that thirst that you have in your soul. Drink, drink means to take in, to take Jesus in as your savior. I wonder if you know him as your savior. Have you actually drank the lord, invited him into your life so he can become your shepherd.

28:24 The the issue is not social injustice. The issue is not your neighborhood where you grew up. The issue is sin. And you need to repent of it. And as a believer, the shepherd's trying to lead you to clean waters and and you can't be playing around the mud of sin and expect to have the blessing of the shepherd.

28:47 And and consequently, the the psalmist goes on to say in verse three, let me take it to the next one. He restores. He restores. He restores my soul. He restores my soul.

28:59 And, you know that we constantly need to be, restored. We've all tasted, rejection. We've all been cast down. We've all tasted defeat. And David, man, he he screwed up bad, didn't he?

29:13 He screwed up bad and he was so dirty and so guilty and and he comes to the lord. Lord, restore me because I made a mess of my life. And and the good shepherd restored him. The good shepherd restored him. Now, this is where where I learned the word name is named cast down.

29:33 The the shepherds we refer to a sheep that has been torn, turned over in his back as a cast down sheep. Now, follow me in this one, and and let me let me say a statement that's very important. The old notion that the shepherd will break the legs of a sheep and put him on his shoulder is not true. That's a misunderstanding of a shepherd. Because a shepherd usually will have quite a few 100 sheep, and if he's going to have to do that, he's going to have 20 sheep on his back, that's impossible.

30:07 All right, that's not what it means. It means a cast down sheep. And here's what a cast down sheep means. The sheep are very clumsy, and they get themselves into goofy positions constantly. And so you get a sheep that says, oh, that looks like a good place to relax.

30:27 And so the sheep lie down to relax. And the problem is that the sheep loses its balance, and next thing you know, he tips over with his feet popping up in the air. That's a pathetic sight. All right, the shepherds call it to be cast down, to be cast down. And so he says that every morning when he had his sheep in his ranch, he would look out and he would see if there's a sheep with his feet up in the air.

30:55 He he said, man, what a sad sight. But if he wasn't watching every day for a cast sheep, was that sheep, it's only a matter of time and it was going to die. If it's a summer, it could die within a few hours. If it's a winter, it could last maybe a day or two. And so that's why Jesus said in Matthew that the the shepherds counting the sheep One, two, three, 99, 99, there should be a 100.

31:22 And he says the shepherd leaves everything, and he runs to look for that sheep that's cast with his feet up in the air, he can't get back on his feet. And that's a picture of Jesus searching for us when when when we we rebel, and we do our own thing, and we can't get back on our feet because we made such a mess of our lives. And the shepherd comes searching, and he sees us with our feet, if you will. Isn't it a terrible position to be in with your feet in the air and you can't get out? And the sheep can't save itself.

31:56 And that makes easy prey. That's why he says he goes looking, and he rushes out, and he's running everywhere. Where's that sheep? Because he knows that that sheep can't get itself up by itself. It needs a shepherd to put him back on his feet.

32:10 And when he does put him back on his feet, the shepherd puts him back on his feet, and he holds him for a while and rubs his legs until he gets his legs back under him. And that again, that's a picture of Jesus restoring us. He sees that that we stumbled in sin and he'll run and pick us up and slowly bring us back until we get our feet back under us. That's what it means. Not gonna go my wacky leg.

32:38 He's gonna put you on your feet and gently bring you back. The restoration of the Lord Jesus, the good shepherd for his sheep. And so then he says, and he, so he restores. Next thing he does is he guides. Notice then the text in verse three, he guides me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.

33:02 Again, sheep cannot be left alone. If they're left alone, they'll literally destroy the land. They'll ravage it to where it's no good. They'll they'll they'll root up all the grass and destroy it where it becomes just a big muddy mess. And sometimes it's impossible to to fix all the mess that those sheep can make.

33:21 So so the sheep need to be guided. And so when Jesus sees a cat sheep and he restores it, he guides it so that he will live a life, a powerful life in Jesus. So, it begins to show him how to live. And we do that by opening the word of god and and allowing god to guide us into the right choices and the right decisions so that we won't be cast and sticking ourselves into terrible positions. And so he he he guides me after he restores.

33:54 He starts to guide my life. Now, the intelligent shepherd knows that that the sheep need guiding And so one thing I learned is that the shepherd has to constantly move the sheep from one field to another. If he stays too long on one field, they'll ruin everything, and so he needs to shift him to another field where the grass is green. Then after a while, because the shepherd is caring and loving and is intelligent, he sees that the grass is no good there. It's time to move you to another field, and he's constantly rotating them.

34:22 And so the Lord constantly leads us into a path of righteousness. He guides us, and he takes us from one spiritual level to another. And he grows us, and he directs us after he restores us. And that's what and why does he do it? For his own reputation.

34:41 For his own reputation. And he'll tell the lost world, look what I can do with a cast down sheep. I can restore it. Not only will I restore, but I can guide them in ways of righteousness so that then they become an example of a healthy sheep. And don't you want that?

34:59 Look at their lives. Look how I guided them. You can have that too in the Lord Jesus. Now, as we go into the the next step, here's what you need to understand. Here, take a little pause.

35:44 But then here comes the the the summer and so that what happens is the shepherd then takes all of the sheep and they start a long trek up the mountains. So picture that as we look at the next verse. They're shifting now from the home ranch winter and spring into summer, and now they're going to go up into the mountains into the range. All right, so keep that in mind. Let's look at the next verse.

36:08 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. All right, now, at this time, notice that the pronouns change to I to personal, because now the shepherd is not sleeping in his home anymore and going out in the morning looking for cash sheep. Now the shepherd gets a staff and a rod, gets a backpack, and gets all his sheep, and they start... And so in other words, he's with them. And he sleeps with them in the field as they're going up the track, up the mountain.

36:49 Now, I'm assuming that most of you have gone to mountains. You know that on the way up a mountain, you run into a lot of ravines and a lot of valleys. Many times when you're going through valleys, you have signs in the highways that will say dangerous winds and crosswinds and such. And during the winter, terrible storms sweep through, and they're dangerous. That's what that's talking about.

37:13 You're going into the mountain, then there's valleys, and there's a lot of danger there. But the shepherd knows that it's necessary in order to get them up the mountain to some beautiful grass and some nice areas. They have to go through these valleys. There's another reason they go through these valleys that can be avoided, because there's a lot of nice grass and a lot of brooks, clear water. In my experience, being in the mountains in Colorado and in Mexico and different areas, I've noticed that up in the High Mountain, man, there's a lot of beautiful clear brooks and creeks.

37:51 Beautiful water and a lot of nice grass up there. That's what it's talking about. So even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, all right? And so this is important that you understand that as we're walking through the valleys, the shepherd is right there suffering with you. In other words, if a sudden terrible rainstorm comes, if it gets cold and they have like what do you call it?

38:25 When it's not snow, sleet, sleet. When you get sleet coming in, it's cold, and it's terrible, the shepherd's right there suffering with the sheep. And so when we go through suffering, through brokenness, through disappointment, to crushing loss, to sickness, right? Like our brother announced this morning, there's a sudden sickness that that that has invaded our home, and I want you to pray for me, and it's crushing sometimes to to get the news. And when a son dies, when there's cancer, when there's terrible valleys that we have to go through, shepherd is right there.

39:11 I did it again. The shepherd is right there suffering with with with the sheep. And see, the the the Bible makes it clear that Jesus became a man and and he suffered and he was insulted And when the Good Shepherd, when we suffer, he can understand my pain because he's right there with me. And he can sympathize and empathize with everything I will go through because he went through it too. And so this is very personal because David was up in the mountains, and he was up with his sheep, and he knew what it was like to suffer the cold and the rain and all the things that happen in those valleys.

40:03 And that's why he says, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death because it could be that death starts knocking at your door. It could be an illness and it could be all kinds of things. I fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me.

40:19 There's a shepherd right there with them. And and in a very real sense, this is not make believe. Jesus the shepherd is with us in all of our trials, in all of our brokenness, in all of our tribulations. He's right there. That's the beauty of the shepherd.

40:39 And that's why he says, I'm gonna I'm not gonna fear any evil because Jesus is right there and he understands me, and he's suffering with me. He feels my pain. That's the good shepherd. Then he says, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Now, when the shepherd goes up the mountain, he has two instruments, a rod and a staff.

41:05 A rod is kind of like a club, I guess about this big, like a baseball bat, but bigger at the end. And of course, you can already imagine what it's for. It's not to beat the sheep. It's to beat the wolf or the cougar or the bear. That's why David said to Saul, when I was a shepherd and a bear came at me, I killed it.

41:28 What did he kill it with? With his rod. Bam. He knocked that thing out. And here comes a lion.

41:34 Well, think about how good he was with that thing. He was able to beat a lion. I wouldn't ride or not. I'm not going to beat it. I'm going to run, you know?

41:42 But but the good shepherd, the good shepherd has that rod. Now, the the rod speaks about the power of the word of god. The word of God is powerful instrument in our hands. And when we use it correctly, as it says in Ephesians, it turns off those fiery darts from the enemy, from the devil. So many Christians believe so many lies.

42:06 They don't understand basic biblical truth of who you are in Jesus. And the word of God then becomes like a club to those lies. We take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, second Corinthians 10 and verse five. And so that becomes our defense. The writer was saying that some of the shepherds are so good that they can actually fling that rod, that club 30 or 40 feet, and bam, whack a coyote and just knock it down.

42:38 Tremendous power. So it speaks about power and authority. And I have the word of God then as my authority that I can go to. And that's what I believe, and that's where I give my power. And so once in a while, when when a when a sheep is not staying with the herd and starting to wander off, which they do often, the the shepherd will throw it, not to hit the sheep, but near it, and the sheep will like, he knows, you better get back.

43:07 You're starting to stray. There's danger over there. And that's what he uses the rod for. Then we have the the the staff. Right?

43:18 Does you know what the staff is? Right? That thing with a crooked end. Everybody knows us. You know, the shepherd's staff, right?

43:26 What is that used for? Well, mainly, when when when when a sheep is starting to stray, he'll get it and he'll hook it and and bring it back in. Yeah, he'll do it gently. Bring it back in but also, he'll hook a sheep and bring it close by and then he'll examine it. He'll look for injuries or parasites or something and and the and the and the sheep is comforted because the shepherd is taking care of it.

43:53 Then, he'll let it go and he'll grab another one and check it, make sure it's healthy, everything's good. And so that's why David can say, your staff comforts me. Comforts me because it shows me that you care. And sometimes the the shepherd just use that staff just to tap a a sheep on the side and he just knows, oh, the shepherd's there caring for me and that's a comfort. And the staff reminds us of the Holy Spirit that even the Bible says, the the Holy Spirit is a comforter to us, making real the things of God into my life.

44:28 And he comforts me all the time. And so they're they're in the valley. And shepherd is right there with them. He's cold with them, he sleeps with them, he walks with them, he protects them with the rod, and uses the staff to comfort and to examine to make sure everything's good. Then they continue their their their walk.

45:05 Look at verse five. Thou does prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou has anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Now, what they do is once they get to the valleys, they're heading up because they want to get to what they call the tabletops of the mountain.

45:26 And you probably have seen them in movies or if you've driven. When you go up high in the mountains, there's some flat lands, they have grass. That's what you call a tabletop. They call them in Spanish, means table. So you can see where the shepherds named how they would name it, because it's flat like a table.

45:45 Now up there, there's very rich grass. But here's what you have to understand. Notice it says, thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. The shepherd goes ahead of the sheep. And in that grass up there on the top, there's some flowers, some plants that are very beautiful to the eye.

46:04 But if the sheep were to eat it, within two hours, it would die. So the shepherd has to go up there, and he has to pluck those plants out, clean them out of those tabletops before the sheep come up to eat. And he throws some minerals to make the grass healthier and nicer because they're going to spend the summer up there. That's what it means by you prepare a table before me. You get it all ready so that when I go up there, there's not going to be any dangerous grass that's going to kill me.

46:36 And so this involves a lot of work. The shipper has to be up to several days plucking those weeds and getting those things out of the way that are going to be dangerous to the sheep. Think about how the lord is working on our behalf. To protect us from evil and from harm. He's preparing those tables for us.

46:56 What a beautiful shepherd that we have, providing. So they go up there, and then sheep gets up there and it's already preparing, and they start to munch out on that grass. Like, wow, this is good. It's like a steak to us. Something beautiful, something tasty.

47:15 And they're so excited to have that rich grass up there. Then it says in the presence of the enemies. The enemies are the wolves, the cougars, the bears. And what sheep is saying is like, you can't get me, bear, because here I am eating this rich grass, and if you come close, the shepherd's going to take care of you. So in the presence of the enemies, the wolf and the bear that can literally tear them up, the shepherd is is watching out because he's with them, remember?

47:46 He's camping out with them. He's sleeping amongst the sheep. Right. Then he says, and thou has anointed my head with oil. Now all of you are familiar with the summer.

47:57 And in the summer, what do you get when the summer comes around? You get bugs, right? You get flies and gnats. And when you camp, man, they're bugging you all the time, right? And those flies.

48:11 And so what flies do is they'll come to a sheep and since they don't have hands like you and me, that we can get them away. They get into their nose and they lay their larva there. Then the larva goes up and it starts to annoy them to where they go crazy and they start running everywhere and banging their head on the grass and on the tree trying to get relief from this pain. And so what the shepherd does is he has an ointment that has a certain mixture of linseed oil and sulfur and some other things, and he places it on the sheep. And he grants them relief from those flies and that infestation that gets in there.

48:47 And sometimes they'll get scabs in their head, and they'll use that same oil, and they'll put it on there. They'll pour the oil on the head so it'll grant relief from the itchiness the scabs that get up to that infection. And so you know that in your in your own life, if you allow it, your mind can can think all kinds of wrong thoughts. And and ugly thoughts and things that are no good that don't let us rest and sleep that bother us And then the the holy spirit, the the anoint... What does the bible say?

49:20 You have the anointing, right? First John, you have the anointing, and the anointing is the holy spirit who begins to take all that bitterness and all that junk out of our minds that we can be at peace. And that's what it means by you anoint my head with oil, literally anointed the the sheep. And in our place, he anoints us with the Holy Spirit who cleanses us and takes away all that junk. Do not resist the Holy Spirit as he wants to anoint you and clean us of all that.

49:54 Then he says in the statement, my cup overflows. My cup overflows. And that's just speaking about they're starting to make the downward trek. Here comes the fall, the cold weather. They get cold.

50:07 The shepherd has a a little drink that he'll give the sheep that'll take away the chill. And that speaks about the blood of Jesus that cleanses us and makes us pure. And then finally, surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And that speaks of our hope. The shepherd is so close to us, so intimate.

50:32 He's our good shepherd. We've turned to him by faith for the salvation of our souls. And then what? We're gonna be with him forever in eternity. Wow.

51:02 And from the sheep standpoint, it is knowing that the shepherd is there. It is the constant awareness of the presence nearby that automatically eliminates most of the difficulties and dangers, while at the same time providing a sense of security and serenity. And I'm going to read the rest of it from my notes because I'm going to get a crick in my neck if I continue doing this. All right, and let me take you to the next one. It is the sheep owner presence that guarantees that there will be no lack of any sort.

51:38 There will be an abundant green pasture, that there will be still clean waters, that there will be new paths into fresh fields, that there will be a sage summers on the high tablelands, that there will be freedom from fear, that there will be antidotes for flies and disease and parasites, that there will be quietness and contentment. Wow. Don't you love the the Good Shepherd more today than when you started? Thank you, lord. Jesus, the great shepherd of our souls.

52:14 Thank you for all of these blessings that are ours. In Jesus' name, amen.