A Shepherd

Now, this encourages me, because throughout the Word of God, God is called the God of Jacob, and the God of Jacob is a shepherd. In fact, Jacob mentions this a little later on when he's just about to die, Genesis 49, and verse 24.

But his bow abode in strength, talking about Joseph, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Now, there's a parenthesis here, from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. And so, Jacob says, God has been my shepherd, but he's also the shepherd of Israel, the prince with God, Israel, the nation of God.

Now, Jesus tells us over in John chapter 10 that he is the shepherd, and I don't have to read all of these passages to you, but let me just, well, focus on, for example, verse 11, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And down at the end of the chapter, verse 26, but ye believe not, he says to his enemies, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. And so, the Lord Jesus Christ makes it very clear that he is the shepherd.

Now, Peter tells us that he is the shepherd. Over in 1 Peter chapter 2, most of us have memorized verse 24, who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed, for ye were as sheep going astray. But now are returned unto the shepherd and the bishop of your souls.

That word bishop means the overseer. And so, Jacob tells us who the shepherd is, and David tells us who the shepherd is, and Jesus tells us who the shepherd is. Peter tells us.

John tells us, too. Over in the book of Revelation, and I was thrilled to rediscover this. There are some things you forget, and the Holy Spirit has to remind you.

In Revelation chapter 7 and verse 17, John is talking about those saints who come through the great tribulation, and he says, well, let's begin with verse 16 of Revelation 7. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat. These are people who went through those awful tribulation agonies. For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them.

And that word is the word shepherd. It just does my soul good to know that Jesus Christ, who is shepherding us right now, is going to shepherd us throughout all eternity. He shall shepherd them and shall lead them unto the living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

You people are Bible students. I appreciate the privilege of week by week ministering to people who read their Bibles and study their Bibles. When you turn back to Psalm 23, you people, being Bible students, know that Psalm 23 is a part of a trilogy, Psalms 22, 23, and 24.

You know this, but let me remind you of it. And it may be there's some new Christian here tonight who has never run across this truth. The Lord Jesus Christ is called the shepherd in the New Testament in three different ways.

He is the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. That's Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And Psalm 22 describes the death of the shepherd.

It's rather interesting to note that in the Old Testament, the sheep died for the shepherd. In the New Testament, the shepherd died for the sheep. And in Psalm 22, you have the good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep.

In Psalm 23, you have the great shepherd. Now, I'd better read that passage to you. It's over in Hebrews chapter 13.

Here, the Lord Jesus is called the great shepherd. In Psalm 22, the good shepherd dies for the sheep. In Psalm 23, the great shepherd lives for the sheep.

Hebrews 13, verses 20 and 21, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. Through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. What is Jesus doing today? He is the great shepherd, and he's living for the sheep.

He's perfecting the sheep. Now, we're in Hebrews. We might just as well turn the page to 1 Peter chapter 5, where you have in verse 4 the chief shepherd.

And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. That's Psalm 24. Psalm 22, we have the good shepherd dying for the sheep.

In Psalm 23, we have the great shepherd living for the sheep. And in Psalm 24, we have the chief shepherd coming for the sheep. In Psalm 24 is a description of the king when he comes to claim his own.

Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory. In other words, in Psalm 22, you have the cross. In Psalm 24, you have the crown.

And in Psalm 23, you have the crook, the shepherd's crook. You have the great shepherd guiding and living for his sheep. So you've got to know the shepherd.

Now, let me repeat for you a story that is threadbare, and I would not repeat it except it gives the point. You remember the gathering together of people, and a famous actor was present, and someone said to the actor, would you read something for us? And he read the 23rd Psalm. And he did it as an actor would do it, and it was quite dramatic and quite moving.

An old preacher was also present in this gathering, and the actor said, now I want you to recite the Psalm. And when the old preacher stood up and in his own simple way recited Psalm 23, there was no applause, but there were a great many tears in eyes, and hearts had been touched. And the actor stood to his feet and said, you see, I know the Psalm, but he knows the shepherd.

Now, that's the difference. If you and I are going to live a successful life, we must know the shepherd, and that's not hard to do. That's not hard to come to know the shepherd.

You just simply come to him and discover he's been searching for you. You've been a lost sheep, you've been a wandering sheep, and he's come out and he's found you. And he wants to take you and put you on his shoulders, plural.

In the parable of the good shepherd, he puts the sheep on his shoulders. He doesn't hold the sheep over his shoulder. The frisky little thing might jump away.

He gets front and back and holds him on his shoulders, and he is secure. No man shall pluck him out of my hand. Now, if you're not one of his sheep tonight, if he's not your shepherd, just trust him right where you are.

Just open your heart to him and say, Lord Jesus, I can't run my own life. I believe you're the good shepherd who died for me, and I want you to become the great shepherd who lives for me. And I want to look forward to the day when the chief shepherd will come and take me to the Father's house.

Now, the second essential is we must trust the shepherd. And this raises the question, can we trust him? Is Jesus Christ the kind of a person into whose hands you want to put your life? I wouldn't put my life in everybody's hands. I'm glad that our medical associations force doctors to have credentials.

It's a rather frightening article in the Tribune today about this minority, thank God, of doctors that we cannot trust. I'm glad for a doctor into whose hands I can put my body because I trust him. Can we trust the Lord Jesus to guide us and to make out of our lives what he wants to make? I think the answer is yes.

And let me just explain it to you this way. When you read your Old Testament, you discover that at least seven times in the Old Testament there are special names for God. Now, Jehovah is the great name for God.

He says to Moses, my name is I am. That's Jehovah. Jehovah is the God who is and who was and who always will be.

But along with this name Jehovah, the eternal God who keeps his promises, sometimes you'll find another name added to it. For example, we have it here in Psalm 23, one Jehovah, my shepherd. Now, when you go through the rest of the Old Testament, you'll find six very wonderful names for God, and all of them are involved in Psalm 23.

All I'm saying is when you know God's name, you can trust him. For example, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

Now, one of the great names for God in the Bible is Jehovah Yireh, or is it sometimes anglicized Jehovah Jireh, which means the Lord will see to it. Remember Abraham up on Mount Moriah and God provided the ram to take the place of Isaac on the altar. And the new name for God that Abraham learned in that experience was Jehovah Yireh, the Lord will provide.

Well, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He's Jehovah Yireh.

He's Jehovah who will see to it. He's Jehovah who will provide. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters. Here's a picture of peace. Gideon learned that name Jehovah Shalom, the Lord, our peace.

He restoreth my soul. Now, this is the name that Moses learned about Jehovah Rofei, Jehovah who heals, Jehovah who restores. He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. That's one of the great names for God. Jeremiah, chapter 23, verse 6, Jehovah Tzidkenu, Jehovah, our righteousness.

Robert Murray McShane wrote a magnificent poem that has been put to music on Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Did you notice that he changes the person from verse 3 to verse 4? It's no longer he, he, he, third person.

It is thou, second person. The shepherd is not beyond him. The shepherd is beside him.

Thou art with me. Now, this is a wonderful name for God over in Ezekiel 48, verse 35, Jehovah Shama. You say, what in the world does that mean? Jehovah Shama.

The Lord is there. The last thing Ezekiel says in his prophecy, the Lord is there. And that's what he's saying in verse 4. He is Jehovah Shama.

The Lord is there. He is there with me. Verse 5, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

God taught this name to Moses, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord, our banner, the Lord who wins our battles for us. And so all seven of the names of God are found here in Psalm 23. You know what that says to me? He's sufficient.

I can trust him no matter what the circumstances of life may be. He is Jehovah Yireh. He will provide for it.

He is Jehovah Shalom. He can give peace. He is Jehovah Rofay.

He can heal and restore. He is Jehovah Tzidkenu. He can lead me in righteousness.

He is Jehovah Shama. He is there. He is Jehovah Nissi.

He will win the battle because he's the Lord, our banner. I would point out to you at the end of verse 3 why he does all of this. I'm saying to you, you can trust the shepherd because he's more than sufficient for every need that you have.

But let me remind you why he does it for his name's sake. Now, I could spend the rest of the evening, which I will not do on that little phrase for his name's sake, you know why God saved you? Well, to make you a better husband, that's a good byproduct. And we're glad it's true to make you a better person, certainly.

But the ultimate reason for God saving anybody is for his name's sake. You know why he does what he does for his glory? Ephesians chapter 1, three times to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glory, to the praise of the glory of his grace. Dear friend, get a hold of this fact that Psalm 23 is grace, pure grace.

He doesn't do what he does because the sheep deserve it. If any animal deserves less, I don't know what animal it would be. It comes home to us in a rather forceful way that if he's the shepherd, then we're sheep and we don't like that.

We'd rather be soldiers. We would rather be lions. He says, no, I'm sorry, you're sheep.

Used to bother me. Why would the Lord compare me to a sheep? A sheep is so ignorant. And I guess I am, too.

A sheep really can't see too far ahead. I can't either. Sheep are afraid of the dark.

And most of us don't like it when the darkness moves in upon us. Sheep are very defenseless. And we're quite defenseless.

We don't have much to fight with on our own. Sheep are very nervous and fidgety. You start going towards some sheep and they'll run.

And you and I are quite this way, we're not too sure about what's going on. When the Lord compares me to a sheep, he knows what he's talking about. I am a sheep and I need a shepherd.

And we can make it, my friends, we can make it. We can have the kind of a life that is meaningful and fruitful and successful if we know the shepherd, that's salvation. If we trust the shepherd, that's surrender.

And thirdly, if we follow the shepherd, that's the important part of the psalm. I would remind you once again from verse six that you and I only live a day at a time. Some of you here tonight are worrying about tomorrow already.

You've lost the blessing of today because you've been worrying about tomorrow. Something's going to happen tomorrow and you're concerned about it. And perhaps we ought to be concerned.

We should never allow the concerns of tomorrow to rob us of the blessings of today because then tomorrow we're going to be worrying about the next day and we'll have no days that we'll really enjoy. He's saying here that the shepherd wants us to live a day at a time, all the days of my life. Secondly, he is saying that the shepherd wants us to enjoy these days.

Surely judgment and discipline shall follow me. No. Surely darkness and doom and gloom.

No. Now, the way some Christians live, you'd think that were true. You'd think that the shepherd got up every morning and said, I wonder how I can make this flock miserable.

But that's not what he says. Now, you'll forgive me for saying this because you know I love you. There's some Christians that when you look at them, you'd wonder if they ever knew goodness and mercy.

You don't see them smile. You don't hear them laugh. You don't see any radiance or joy.

I'm not talking about a manufactured clown suit. I'm talking about that that deep abiding joy that just has to come through no matter how dark the day may be. Verse six assures me that the shepherd wants me to enjoy life, goodness and mercy.

He wants me to enjoy it a day at a time, and he wants me to enjoy it all of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Now, he doesn't put this in verse one.

He puts it in verse six. I think this psalm was written by David when David was an older man. I don't think he wrote this as a young man.

These aren't the thoughts of a young man. He was a little older, and he's looking back. Now, right now, you may say, well, Pastor Wiersbe, I don't see much goodness in my situation.

Pretty rough. I don't see much mercy in my situation. It's hard.

Man, if you knew what we were praying about, what we were fighting against. Well, all of us have something we're praying about and fighting against, and right now you can't see the goodness of God and you can't see the mercy of God. But, you know, a hundred years from now, you'll look back.

In fact, two weeks from now, you may look back and say, it's been goodness and mercy all the days of my life. We must follow the shepherd. Now, would you do that with me? I'm going to go through Psalm 23 and take you through one day in the life of a sheep.

This is what he's doing. The sheep wakes up in the morning and he says, the Lord is my shepherd. Hey, I'm a sheep.

I can't make it myself during this day, but thank God I've got a shepherd and I shall not want. Now, tomorrow when you wake up, no matter what you're facing, remind yourself of that, that you are a sheep that will humble you. The Lord is your shepherd that will encourage you.

I shall not want that will take you through. Face the day not saying, oh, no, not another day. Oh, I think I'll just turn over and go to sleep and pretend like it never happened.

No, you can't face life like that. The sheep wakes up. It's early and he hears the shepherd's voice.

My sheep hear my voice. Now, what is the voice of the shepherd? The word of God. Now, you'll never hear the audible voice of the Lord Jesus Christ until that shout calls you home.

But this is his voice right here. And so we awaken in the morning and we look up and say, I'm a sheep. I'll never make it.

He's my shepherd. I can't help but make it. I shall not want no matter what I need today.

He will provide it as long as I follow him. Now, on that optimistic note, we open our eyes and we get up and we have to be fed. The shepherd calls his sheep and he takes them out to feed them.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Do you know what the food of the flock is? This book. You see, sheep are a clean animal.

Over in Second Peter, chapter two, Peter talks about the dogs and the pigs. Oh, he says you can take a pig and wash it up and spray it with perfume and put a ribbon around it, but it's still a pig. You turn it loose and it heads for the for the dirt.

It heads for the mire and the garbage. Here's a dog. You can take the dog down to one of these dog parlors and you can trim the dog and wash the dog and perfume the dog and pretty up the dog.

But you turn that dog loose and it'll head for the garbage can. Peter says that the sow returns to the mire and the dog returns to its own vomit, but a sheep won't do that. The sheep won't eat garbage and the sheep won't go near that which is dirty.

They're clean animals. And if you're one of God's sheep, that should be true of you. Now, the first thing the shepherd does is lead them out to the green pastures and he feeds them.

Tomorrow morning, when you wake up, you come to your shepherd and you say, Oh, thou great shepherd of the sheep, I need to be fed. And you open up the word of God and let the shepherd feed you in the green pastures of the word of God. Now, it's interesting to note here that they lie down in the green pastures.

I've never been a shepherd in the agricultural sense, but I'm told by those who know their business that you can't make a sheep lie down. You just try. The best way to get a sheep to lie down is to feed them.

And when he gets fed, and of course, he has to bring it up again so he can chew his cud. When a sheep gets fed, then he wants to go lie down and have rest. You know why many Christians don't have any rest? They're fidgety and nervous and fussy and they just can't sit still long enough.

It's because they haven't been fed. They haven't come to the shepherd. When you've got the food of the word of God, the green pastures of the word of God in your spiritual system, my friend, you'll have no problem at all lying down and resting.

He'll give you peace. He leads us beside the still waters. Now, sheep do not like running water because their wool gets soaked and they'll just be dragged down the river.

Sheep do not like to go by running water. This is why the shepherd takes them to a well or to a spring. Or if he can't find that, he will dam up part of a river because he knows that the sheep have to have that quiet water.

He's talking here about beginning your day with the quietness and the confidence of fellowship with the shepherd in the word of God. You've got to have food. This is your food.

You've got to have drink. This is your drink. Well, it's unfortunate that during the day we find ourselves wandering.

Now, don't tell me you haven't done it because you have. I have, too. We get started and we've fed in the pasture and we have the rest of our soul.

We have drunk at the clear, wonderful rivers of his grace. And we just start out in that day and we get a little bit overconfident and we start wandering away from the shepherd. And what does he do? He restores us.

I'm thankful for those times when God has had to discipline me, when the shepherd was willing to come where I was and restore me and bring me back. So often I meet people who say, Pastor, you seem to believe in the perseverance of the saints, the eternal security of the believer. And I do.

I do. Oh, but that makes a person sin. No, it doesn't.

Not if he's really born again. What does the Bible teach? The Bible teaches that once you have become a sheep, you won't become a dog or a pig. You're a sheep.

And if you wander away, the shepherd is going to come after you and discipline you. He restores my soul. I've read of occasions where shepherds have had to break the leg of a sheep.

To keep him from wandering away. Is that a mean thing? No, it isn't. In fact, sometimes the shepherd just keeps that sheep that's prone to wander right near him where he can reach out the crook and pull him back again.

You know, God had to give the apostle Paul a physical affliction to keep him from wandering. Lest I should be exalted because of the abundance of the revelations that was given to me, a thorn in the flesh, said Paul, the shepherd had to break his leg to keep him from wandering. If that's true of the great apostle Paul, what about you and me? And so during the day, if we wander, he'll bring us back, he'll speak to us, he'll call us and we'll hear his voice.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Verse three is a great encouragement to me. I remember a time a few years ago when I was greatly discouraged.

I can remember lying in bed at night and I couldn't sleep because I was so concerned about the future. And all of a sudden the Holy Spirit said to me, you know what, preacher, you're crazy to worry. And he brought to my attention, verse three, he leadeth me.

I'm not leading him. The sheep don't have to tell the shepherd what to do. The shepherd doesn't call a committee meeting in the morning and say, hey, what do you want to do? How about you and you and you, what do you want to do? No, the shepherd does the leading.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. Why worry about the future when the paths that he chooses for us are the right paths and he does it for his name's sake. And the Holy Spirit said to me that, and I will never forget this, he said to me that night, you know, if you go wrong, God has more to lose than you do.

His whole glory is wrapped up in the success of your Christian life. And you know what happened? Within 30 seconds, I was sound asleep and I'm glad the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He's had to remind me of that since then.

The shepherd brings the sheep back and the sheep says, oh, I wonder if I'll wander again, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. And the shepherd says, you just stay close to me and I'm going to lead you in paths of righteousness. Do you mean to tell me that God would allow a sheep to walk on paths of righteousness after the sheep has wandered away and gotten into trouble? Yes.

Oh, according to some Christians, you can't do this. If you mess up in your Christian life and you sin, you're done for. He finds a corral for you someplace.

He throws you in with the goats. Oh, no, no. David, who wrote this psalm, he wandered one day.

The shepherd brought him back and put him on the paths of righteousness. Peter wandered one day and the shepherd brought him back and put him on the paths of righteousness. If I'm speaking to a wandering sheep tonight, you've gotten away from the Lord.

He'll bring you back and put you on the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Now, just let him do it. Now, the shepherd deliberately leads the sheep through difficulty for several reasons.

First of all, they need the experience of trusting the shepherd. Secondly, they need the experience of not trusting themselves. We often refer to verse four as death, but actually he's not talking about death since the sheep is still alive in verse five.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death now to the Old Testament Jew, the shadow of death meant some great danger, some great difficulty. It was not death itself. It was the shadow of death.

Oh, I was so close to death. And here's the shepherd deliberately, deliberately leading the sheep through a valley. And the sheep don't like the darkness and they don't like the rocks behind every rock.

They see a wolf or a lion. Why does the shepherd do this? To teach the sheep to trust him. Now, if all the shepherd did was lead us to the green pastures and lead us beside the still waters, we'd become so pampered and so spoiled that we'd be of no use to him.

Now, remember this, please remember this in the Bible, the sheep are not kept for slaughter. The shepherd keeps his flock for the wool and the milk and the lambs. And over the seasons, the shepherd and the sheep get very close to each other.

The shepherd will have pet names for his sheep, Crooked Ear and Black Nose. And he can call them by name the way you call your dog. Why does the shepherd lead the sheep through a dark, dangerous valley so that they will huddle close to him and learn not to be afraid? You see, the point that David is making is this, as long as you're close to the shepherd, you don't have to be afraid of anything.

It's the rod and the staff that comfort me. Now, the rod, you know what the rod is. The rod is a club about four feet long.

And with that club, the shepherd can hit the lions and drive away the wolves. He can kill the snakes. Or using the other end of the club, he can dig up some of the poisonous plants that might hurt the sheep.

That's the rod. It's good to know that when you go through the valley, nothing can hurt you because the shepherd is there. If you're close to the shepherd, that rod is right there to protect you.

Satan is going to come. Evil people are going to come. But the shepherd is there to protect you.

Now, he has his staff as well. And that's the best part of it. The staff means the shepherd's crook, because here's a shepherd or here's a sheep who gets afraid.

He sees some shadow behind a rock. He thinks it's a lion or you say, how dumb can they get? You've done the same thing. Something has come and you've said, oh, that's terrible.

And so what does the sheep do? He starts to run. He starts to bolt. And the shepherd just reaches out, gets a hold of him, brings him back.

I'm glad when I go through the valley that my shepherd is watching for the enemy, but he's also watching me. Sometimes he has to use the rod to defeat the enemy, but often he has to use the staff to get a hold of the sheep and keep them in line. Well, at the other end of the valley, he prepares a table.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Now, get this. It's a beautiful picture here.

He's gone through the valley and the enemy has been all around and the sheep have stayed close to the shepherd and they aren't afraid. Now they come out into the sunshine. They come out into the pasture.

And the shepherd says, now, wait a minute, sheep, just because we have changed from a valley to a pasture does not mean the enemy still isn't there. You've got to watch out for the enemy when it's light as well as when it's dark. You've got to watch out for the enemy when you're out there in that broad open place in the sunshine, as well as when you're in that narrow valley in the darkness.

I've said to you on more than one occasion, we Christians are prone to win the battle and lose the victory. We waste our victories, we get cocky, we get confident. And I can just see some little old sheep coming out of the valley and say, hey, I made that.

I'm ready for anything. Oh, here's a snake slithering down there in the grass and the sheep doesn't see it. You know what the shepherd does before he allows his sheep to eat in the pasture? He checks it out.

He checks out the pasture to make sure there are no snakes and no little vermin of any kind, no lizards of any kind, no poisonous roots. And he's careful to watch where the sheep graze. You see, when you've come to the place where you can eat in the presence of your enemies, you've lost your fear.

Did you get that? It's one thing to say, oh, I'm going through the valley and I'm going to trust the shepherd. Sure. It's quite another thing to say, you know, I'm out here in the broad pasture and there are still some enemies out here, but I'm not going to be afraid.

I'm still going to trust the shepherd. When you've come to the place in your Christian life where you can eat in the presence of your enemies and not be afraid, then you really have learned to follow the shepherd. Well, we come to the end of the day now.

Verse five, they've been out in the pasture and now they come to the sheepfold. And, of course, the shepherd is the door of the sheepfold. When we were traveling in Scotland a few years ago, we saw many of these sheepfolds out there in the Scottish hills, just rocks, just walls made of rocks with an opening.

And this is true in the Holy Land as well. And as the sheep come to the sheepfold, the shepherd is the door and he stands there. You know what he does at the end of the day? This encourages me.

He examines every sheep. And here comes the sheep and the shepherd stops. He's the door and he examines the sheep.

You know, if he sees that the sheep has been bruised or perhaps he's gotten something in his eye or perhaps he's been cut someplace, you know what the shepherd does? He's got a cruise of oil and he just reaches down and takes that oil and he pours the oil, that soothing medicinal oil on the face, on the head of the sheep. And then he just anoints that sheep and that sheep just looks up and says, thank you. It feels so good.

You ever come to the end of the day and you felt like you've been kicked from Dan to Beersheba? You know, your husband comes home and you've been with the kids all day and they've been throwing up and they're sick and they lock the cat in the disposal and and your husband comes home and says, would you have a good day? Oh, you've had one of those days when you've been bruised and kicked and hurt. Do you ever come to the shepherd at the end of the day? Now, I don't know if this tells you anything about my psychology. I may be revealing something here that will make you lose confidence in me.

But, you know, I like the evening hours. I like to see the sun come up, but I love to see the evening come. I like to spend a few minutes in the evening with the Lord.

And I come to my shepherd and I say to my shepherd, oh, do I ever need to be anointed with that oil? And he looks down at his sheep and he takes care of the bruises and he just quiets the sheep and he does something else. Now, back in in verse two, he had led them earlier that day to the still waters. But they're thirsty again.

You know what he does? He has a great big two handled jar and he fills that jar to overflowing with cool water and he holds it right up so the sheep can just stick his snout right in it. And the cup runs over. Lots of oil to soothe and lots of cold water to refresh at the end of the day.

I recommend that to you. Take some time at the end. I don't mean before you go to bed.

I mean, at the end of work or at the end of supper time, just get off by yourself and say, oh, shepherd, here's one of your sheep. And I want you to anoint me and I want my cup to run over, you know, it'll do for you. It'll quiet you down and refresh you for the evening.

And then when you go to bed at night, you won't be fussing and worrying and fretting because you will have been anointed with the oil and refreshed with the water. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. In verse six, our sheep is going to sleep.

He's inside the fold and he's protected. He doesn't have to worry about the lions or the or the wolves or the or the thieves, because the shepherd's there in the door. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

No sense worrying all night. Just close your eyes. The sheep lies down and he says, you know, all day long, it's been nothing but goodness and mercy.

Oh, how good my shepherd is, how merciful he is. And I'm just going to go to sleep now because the best is yet to come. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Now, for one of these sheep to go to the house of the Lord, meaning the temple in that day, meant to be a sacrifice. But that's not what we look forward to. I wonder when you go to bed at night as one of his sheep and you close your eyes, do you say, you know, I may wake up in the house of the Lord? I'm not talking about dying.

This could happen, happen to some good friends of mine, close their eyes on earth and open their eyes in heaven. I'm talking about the shepherd coming back. You know, it could be tonight.

It could be that before we see a new day, the shepherd will come back. And so the sheep just closes his eyes and says, I look back. It's been goodness and mercy.

I look ahead. It's the father's house. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

It's interesting to see the different pictures that Jesus gives of heaven. He even compares heaven to a barn that will make some of you farmers happy. In one of his parables, he says that the good seed is going to be put into the barn.

The Christians are going to be taken to heaven. But one of his favorite pictures of heaven is the father's house, the house of God, not the temple, not the church building heaven in my father's house are many mansions. Let not your heart be troubled.

I'm going to prepare a place for you. And so I think the best place for us to end as we jump from Psalm 23 is to that verse once again in Revelation chapter seven, verse 17. What do you and I have to look forward to? Valleys? Yes.

Green pastures. Yes. Still waters.

Yes. But ultimately, Revelation 7, 17. For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them.

And shall lead them unto living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. You know what heaven is going to be? That chief shepherd who is also the lamb.

Shepherding us throughout all eternity. I don't really mind being a sheep. I'd rather be a sheep than a dog or a goat.

Or a pig. I don't mind at all being a sheep because I've got a shepherd. And because the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. I'm going to live a day at a time and let my shepherd lead me a step at a time. You can make it, my friend.

You don't have to quit. If you know the shepherd and if you trust the shepherd. And if you follow the shepherd.

Let's pray. Gracious father, thank you for giving us a shepherd so wonderful. So precious.

How close he is to us. Help us to follow. Help us not to wander.

Help us, oh God. To be obedient sheep. I pray for any who may be lost sheep tonight.

That by your Holy Spirit, you'll draw them and bring them to Christ. Even now, as the good shepherd is out seeking the lost. I pray for any of your sheep who have wandered away.

Who are away from the place of provision and protection and peace. Oh, that they might come back and walk close to the shepherd. Father, I pray for those of your sheep who are going through the valley and it's rough.

Help them not to be afraid because you are there. Oh God, thank you that in heaven we shall have that wonderful experience for all eternity of being shepherds. We shall be your sheep.

It's just too marvelous for us, Lord. We're ashamed of our complaining. We're ashamed of our unbelief.

We're ashamed, oh God, of our attitudes. Help us now to begin afresh to follow the shepherd. To listen to his voice.

For Jesus' sake.