The Lord Is My Shepherd — Galatians 4

0:00 Morning everyone. I know you're not all here for me, but I appreciate it nonetheless. I want to welcome Robbie. Robbie. Robbie is a friend of mine I've met a few years ago and we've been remodeling his houses ever since.

0:15 His daughter went to high school with my niece twin, my niece and nephew twin, Westlake High and he always wants me to let him know what I'm preaching so that's why he's here. Also, appreciate that George is straight in front of me because George's natural expression during preaching is a smile, that always helps me when I need some help. Right next to him is Jennifer, so I'm double assisted. And to before we start, I want to bring you some greetings from the Douglas family, particularly Ann Douglas. I ran into her last this week and those of you who worked with Awana will never forget the Douglas family.

1:03 They are very energized in a good way. Even Wade. Wade was a great kid. He still is a great kid but she related to me how her kids are in a discussion with some friends and it was about some biblical subject matter that the friend said, I don't think I like that. I kinda just pick and choose what I like out of the Bible to which one of her children said, you can't do that.

1:27 It's all the word of god and proceeded to quote that verse. All scriptures given by your inspiration of god and so forth and when in when they told that story to Anne, they also they also said thank you for letting us go to Awana and for all the verses they taught us that we memorized. Douglas family is very grateful for the years were here at Awana and so are we. Let's have a word of prayer and then we'll launch into our introduction. Father, we do ask for your help this hour for these few minutes.

2:01 We pray that you will use this time for for good purposes and that we will all be encouraged and strengthened in our in our lives and we pray in our lord Jesus name. Amen. Wanna do a quick review. We finished our Galatians study last month and since then, we've let the preachers pick the the topic And Wayne was the first one to have that opportunity. And he started out by asking us, what is truth?

2:29 Or made a remark that it seems like the world just doesn't know what truth is anymore. So Wayne developed that a little bit and reminded us that the word of God is truth and we need to learn it and live it and grow in it. Following him was Jeff Takis and as always, he had a Christ centered message. He finished chapter one of John reminding us that Jesus is the one. He is the Messiah.

2:52 He is the son of god. Bob Markiewicz followed him on the fourteenth of this month and Bob shared somewhat of a personal testimony. His desire is to help the body, those particularly in need, and that would qualify all of us. We are all in need. We all have some kind of a brokenness or in some state of repair.

3:13 And Bob's desire is to minister wherever the Lord gives him opportunity. Do you remember the statement he made that was really good? Shoulders that bear responsibility leave no room for chips. Again, shoulders that bear responsibility leave no room for chips. Remember at the end of Galatians we talked about bearing one another's burdens and ministering to each other that way.

3:42 Last week of course was Chris Schroeder. Who remembers the title of his sermon, which really didn't go with the sermon, but it was a cute title. Arsenic and Old Lace. That is a great movie. But then he talked about the church at Tyrotira in Revelation chapter two.

4:05 The fact that they loved well but they had some doctrinal weakness or some moral some moral laxity. And he contrasted that with the church at Ephesus, which had good doctrine but they had left their first love. And his admonition was for us to pursue both, to be both doctrinally solid and love well, love appropriately. Well, today is March 28 and I'm gonna talk about Psalm 23 verses one, two, and versus just the first half. One verses one through three.

5:16 Verse three was pardon. Verse four was partner. Verse five, preparation and praise, verse six, paradise. But as I said, I'm just gonna cover the first half of the... That chapter.

5:32 A lot of what I'm sharing today is from Philip Keller's book, a shepherd looks at Psalm 23. Actually, this is... I I admit that I... Well, I gave this message before, if you remember, in 2007, but I've re re worked it differently, poured a lot of time onto it, and the focus is a little bit different based on what Bob remarked about in his talk a couple weeks ago. And when he took us to Psalm 23, he said, We often skip over the fact of who the Lord is.

6:13 Who the Lord is. So, let me back up a little bit before I develop that thought. As many of you know, Jennifer, my wife coaches high school basketball and at the recent sports awards event, she was during her little speech acknowledged that of the four coaches the team sort of has, she's the least experienced. The others are more knowledgeable. And so therefore she was going to focus on the fundamentals, which for all of you want to be athletes or athletes, that's the most important to do the fundamentals right.

6:52 You need to be able to catch the ball, throw the ball, protect the ball, shoot the ball and a team can't function if they can't do the fundamentals or they're not going to function well. The challenge is also to do it under pressure. In Christian life is pressures too. Who's heard the name Yogi Berra? And his most famous, at least the one I quote the most of the things he says is, Baseball is 50% physical and 90% mental.

7:23 50% physical, who under 15 who's good at math can explain that to me? 50 physical, 90% mental. Any takers? Alright, here's my effort. Need to have the right mindset.

7:41 You need to have your mind set on things above for the Christians or to think on those things which are those things which are pure and true. You need to... It's not just it's not just the physical. It's it's also the mental to be ready, to be tough. We've spent some time watching March Madness and nobody really appreciates my commentary of the group, to the group, but it's not just athletic ability, it's the mental toughness.

8:17 Couple of, I'll just give you two other sayings from Yogi Bear that I really like. When you come to a fork in the road, take it. And the other one is, you can observe a lot by just watching. Was funny in case you didn't know. Mrs.

8:40 Dick used to come up with to me after my speaking and congratulate me on my dry humor, but most of you just missed it so that's alright. But okay, so where were we? The fundamentals, the basics. In Psalm 23 contains a lot of simple imagery but great depth when you get you get into it. And as we know in Psalm 23, it talks about sheep and shepherds.

9:12 Coincidentally, my family and I have sheep. I think about 30. Do we have about 30, dear? We don't really know because we're not great shepherds but but Anna is. Anna is all in with with the shepherding.

9:29 Our daughter Anna. And we're learning. I'm learning a lot from her. And there are some specific and necessary ways to do things and I'll talk more about that later. But let's read these verses we're going to look at this morning and then we'll get into them more specifically.

10:06 As I mentioned earlier, Bob Markiewicz gave a little introduction to this chapter and his emphasis on the fact that we need to ponder who the Lord is. The Lord is our shepherd, but who is the Lord? He asked how many times does that title occur in the Bible and he didn't know, but I came across the answer, at least for the Old Testament, 7,000 times the word Lord or Jehovah. It comes from the Hebrew root word and that's not anything southern And it's probably a butchery of the Hebrew, but that's the best I could do. It means to exist or even to be, to exist, to be.

10:52 And Bob read from Exodus chapter three, and we will go there to read some verses that talk about when the lord first gave this name to his people. Exodus chapter three. And I'll I'll start at the beginning just for for a little bit of context. Now, Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of god. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.

11:31 So he looked, and behold, the bush the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am. Then he said, do not draw near this place.

11:56 Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

12:21 So I have come down to deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians and to bring them up from their land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Parasites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression from which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. But Moses said to him, who who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? And that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.

13:04 So he said, I will certainly be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you. When you brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses said to God, indeed, when I came to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? Notice here in verse 14, and God said to Moses, I am who I am.

13:34 And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Moreover, god said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, the lord god of your fathers, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac, and the god of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever and this is my memorial to all generations. So, that name, Yahweh was tied inseparably with Israel, with Israel's national awareness. And it was inescapably involved in Israel's unique covenant relationship with God.

14:15 He had a personal relationship with them. Prior to this disclosure to Moses, it was not as specific, but now he is being very specific that he is their God. He is in relationship with them. He is going to care for them. He is going to deliver them.

14:35 He's going to answer their cry. He is going to meet their every need. That is the is the the God of Psalm 23 that can be our shepherd if you have taken him as your shepherd. Bob was trying to, I think, in his few words, few minutes, convey to us the awesomeness of God, the self existent, the self sufficient, the eternal and the sovereign one who is our shepherd. But that's not automatic.

15:09 Wayne mentioned in his message that Satan lied to Adam and Eve there in the garden and led them into sin. They were tempted and they sinned. And it broke that relationship with God. Adam and Eve then hid out of sin, but before putting them out of the garden, God promised a solution. And that solution was His son, which Jeff Takis reminded us of in John one.

16:11 And when you lay down your life for the sheep, that means you died. And the Lord Jesus died for us on the cross. That's what we remember each week in the Lord's Supper. And then the great shepherd in Hebrews 13 verse 20, the god of peace, who brought up from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our lord. The great shepherd rose from the dead.

16:39 The Lord rose from the dead by the power of the Father to show that what he did was real and true. We have a living savior. He improved his deity, the resurrection, his atoning death. He's qualified to be our shepherd. He's he's now the exalted savior that we talked about earlier today.

17:03 And then the chief chief shepherd in first Peter five verse four. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Glory, might, and dominion of the lord Jesus. These three designations of Christ as a shepherd parallel, coincidentally or not, I should say, Psalm 22, Psalm 23, and Psalm 24. And in our worship service this morning, we were remembering the Lord Jesus as King.

17:35 That's Psalm 24, King in His Glory. And Jeff, I appreciated the song you gave and the other songs we sang too, immortal, invisible, God only wise. So you need to know the shepherd personally to have his care. Okay, a few remarks in our remaining time about these handful of statements in Psalm 23. Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

18:08 Fundamentally, God will always be with us practically. I don't think any of you missed breakfast today without on purpose. God will provide for our needs. Matthew six, Jesus first message to the multitudes. Matthew six, he will provide our food and our shelter.

18:28 Spiritually, we are resting in God's provision. Those verses I just read about the shepherd remind us of God's provision. Godliness with contentment is great gain. And let's look at some verses in one Timothy six. We were in that chapter earlier.

18:48 First Timothy chapter six verse six through 10. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing with these, we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

19:22 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. For which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. The world is vying for our affection, but it doesn't end well for the world. Only the Lord as shepherd is the one who truly cares for us and meets our our our real need to be restored to him in that relationship, that personal relationship. So, the lord is my shepherd.

20:15 Earlier this week, or actually last week, my daughter Anna sent me a picture of the growing grass. She was so excited the grass was coming in. But it still was not time for the sheep to be released onto that area. She has them corralled presently so that the grass can be properly prepared for them in the same way the Lord has properly prepared everything for us. We have to remember that the Lord knows what's best for us.

20:48 His timing is usually different than our timing. That's what Bob Burden is. Bob Markovich to just share burdens here among the body that he has opportunity to to do that with. He makes me lie down. That's the lord's work to to care for us, to shepherd, to give us an environment that's safe and secure and and prepared.

21:11 And Keller, Philip Keller in his book, gives four criteria for a sheep to lie down and the first one is to be free from fear. We've discovered that one of our dogs cannot be in the pasture with the sheep because he stirs them up and they'll stampede or they'll run and it would not be healthy for them. So sheep need to be free from fear. They need to be at peace. Another one is free tension and rivalry in the herd.

21:45 The shepherd's going to make sure that he can provide an environment where the sheep will not be in great tension. Sheep will butt heads, literally butt heads. And one of the techniques the shepherd uses is to put grease on their heads so that when they do butt heads it's not as harsh. They kind of slide off each other. And that makes me think about us as Christians in the body and how we can sometimes butt heads.

22:16 And certainly that does not please the Lord. A verse we've considered recently is in Colossians three, Above all put on the bond of love, is the bond of perfection. Love covers a multitude of sins. And of course, those familiar verses in Philippians two. Have this mind in you, which is also in Christ Jesus.

22:37 Another item, number three, need to be free of flies and parasites. A good shepherd is going to care for those little things that seem to be insignificant compared to a broken leg or something more severe or a wound, but those flies and insects disrupt their lying down as well. The Lord cares about the little things. He will care for those things so that we don't suffer unnecessarily. The Lord cares about the little things too.

23:09 And then freedom from hunger. The shepherd has to provide that environment. It doesn't just happen. It takes work or planning. Just as Anne is monitoring the growth of the grass until it is the right time, Sometimes it also involves water management before the sheep can lie down in peace and contentment.

23:35 I was reminded of those verses in two Peter one that the Lord's divine power has given to us all things we need for life and godliness. The second half of verse two, He leads me beside still waters. Water is vital obviously. We're privileged to live near the Great Lakes. And in the shepherding motif, there's three sources of water.

24:05 There's the dew, They're the hand dug wells and springs and streams. I know here in America we just turn on the tap but most of the world, believe it or not, is not like that. You have to plan ahead and you have to have resources organized. Again, these things don't just happen. Shepherd's either going to have to get the sheep moving and up in the early morning to utilize the dew or he will have to prepare and maintain the wells.

24:36 Wells just don't happen. And he'll have to leave them to them. Or, for known water sources that are reliable, he'll have to plan the movement of the crop and plan the movement of the flock to be in the right place at the right time. The same way the Lord provides for us. Again, going back to the Sermon on the Mount, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

25:04 This imagery here is of our provision in the Lord Jesus. It's not just sheep who are eating grass. The Gospel of John talks a number of times about water and living water in John four where the lord Jesus meets the woman at the well. He gives her offers her a water of which she'll never thirst again. And then the living water in chapter seven of John which flows out of us, those who have been united with Christ.

26:08 Cast is an actual c a s t is an actual sheep term. It's when a sheep becomes stuck on its own accord because it's on the ground with its feet in the air. Sometimes it happens when they are looking for just a cozy place to be comfortable and they might be too fatter, they might have too much debris in their wool that collects too much crud and debris and then when it lies down it might just tip over. Lay on its side and then go feet up. And it can happen to any of the sheep.

26:49 The strong as well. The strong and the healthiest. It's a very vulnerable position that they are never able to get out of by themselves. They are going to need help. Without rescue they will die.

27:05 Whether by predator or just by not being able to breathe and and other problems. So they need assistance to be restored. And as Christians, we can get cast also. That verse I read, why are you cast down, oh my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me?

27:31 It can happen when we look for comfortable comfortable places to lie down and take it easy. We can become spiritually fat. We're not we're not giving out. We're just taking in. Or when we collect too much crud, and I'll leave that to your development.

27:47 We get dirty. We can get too much worldliness or the stresses of life. But our shepherd, the Lord, will come to our aid and help us. He is compassionate and gracious to those who call upon him. And we can also care for one another as we were admonished in those last couple verses of Galatians chapter six.

28:10 To care for one another. And lastly, He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. For his name's sake. For our benefit, we belong to him. We are no longer our own.

28:41 Adam and Eve succumbed to the lies of Satan and it and it separated them from god but now those who have returned to the lord through the lord Jesus need to follow his instruction. The truth and love that Chris talked about last week. Sheep are stubborn. We were having dinner last night and we're talking about sheep a little bit and Anna. Anna was volunteering to help me understand the sheep better, but we didn't have time to talk about all the habits of the sheep and all her experiences with them.

29:20 Although yesterday morning I had to rescue one of the sheep who got stuck behind the feeder. The youngest lamb was small enough to get in but couldn't get out on its own. We had to rescue her. Sheepers are stubborn and their creatures are habit. And if left to their own devices, will go astray.

29:39 Or if we let them onto that fresh grass that's coming in at our place, they would overgraze it and ruin it and it would be a disaster for them and a challenge for us. So sheep are not a complementary comparison for us. We might think we know what's best for us, but we don't. But God does, our shepherd, our shepherd of John 10. We need to listen to His voice, follow His guidance.

31:04 As I mentioned from Exodus chapter three, the Lord desires a personal relationship with his people. And for us, that's through union that's through our, union with Jesus Christ as our savior. Here in Galatians chapter four, we read in verse four. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. The fullness of time had come.

31:35 In the garden, Jesus, God had told Adam and Eve, we're going to provide a solution for your problem. And four thousand years later, the son of God came in time and space. He walked this earth. He came. He was born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

32:00 So again, God's timing is always right, though we sometimes struggle with that. We were all guilty. We were under the law. We were under the guilt of the law, the punishment of the law. But because of the lord Jesus, we were we were saved to use a a biblical term but we weren't just pardon.

32:28 We weren't just saved. We were adopted into his family. That we might receive adoption as sons, not just a pardon. And not just a pardon, not just an adoption, but full family participation. God takes up residence in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

32:50 And because you are because you are sons, verse six, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba Father. Not only his spirit in our life, but also that intimate access to Yahweh, to to the self existent one, to call him daddy. Abba father is a very intimate term. And not only that not only that intimate access, but also we become an heir. If a son then an heir of God through Christ.

33:27 The grace of God is without comparison. He took us from sinners who were condemned to being pardoned, to being adopted, to being part of his family, being given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and then becoming joint heirs with the Lord Jesus. That is a shepherd that's never gonna fail us. That is a shepherd that will keep us keep us moving forward in tough times in in difficult times and that someday we will meet face to face. Let's let's pray.

34:32 We still like to eat, as sheep, to get onto that grass that's not ready drink dirty water when you have pure water prepared for us. Help us, Father, just remember these simple truths as we enter another week, that we might follow after you more purely that we would, grow in our faith in the care of the shepherd for us, and that we would be available and mindful to care for one another as you give us opportunity. And we pray these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen.