The LORD Is My Shepherd

By 

John C. Orlando, Jr.

Covenant Presbyterian Church, Abilene TX

10 April 2005

Text:  Psalm 23

Introduction

The Christian life is, for sure, full of its ups and downs.  We have those mountain top moments, only to come crashing down when adversity comes against us, or maybe even when some besetting sin begins to overwhelm us, and fills us with feelings of guilt and despair. 

The 23d Psalm, beloved, is a glorious balm that heals our wounded and distraught consciences, because it is also a glorious teacher that encourages us that no matter what is going on around us, God is in control. God is indeed sovereign, and we are not, and though all hell may breaking out against us, hurling its fiery darts against us, God, our Good Shepherd, has us under His divine care, and in the midst of it all, we are being cared for, nourished, revived, comforted, and, in a word, blessed, by our great Shepherd. 

Today we want to meditate upon the words of this psalm, and discover what it means to confess with David, that The LORD Is My Shepherd.

As we read the 23d Psalm, we discover that in verse 1-4, God is depicted as a shepherd, that is, God is in absolute control of His sheep.  In verses 5–6, God is depicted as a gracious host, who is lavishing grace and favor upon His special guests. 

As we come to our text this morning, we see the first, and if truth be know, the last point of the sermon:

I. Verse 1:  The LORD is my shepherd

            A.  Shepherd - The imagery of the shepherd wwas used as a metaphor for kings who reigned supreme, and here conveys the absolute sovereign control of God.  King David is acknowledging that God, and not David, is in fact the King.  Israel's first human king, Saul, failed to grasp this critical truth, but now David, Saul's successor, puts the emphasis where it needed to be:  God is the true King, and David is merely the chosen instrument through which God would rule and bring His Kingship to bear. 

B.  The Sacred Name:  LORD - And note as well that David refers to God as Yahweh (denoted in our English Bibles by the fact that the word "LORD" is in all capital letters). 

Yahweh is the personal, covenant name of God that speaks of His redemptive purposes toward His people. God is a covenant keeping God who is faithful to all (not some) of His promises.  David uses the sacred, covenant name of God, and acknowledges that God, the Great I AM, is his shepherd. 

C.  Humility: The statement that the LORD is his shepherd is actually a profound statement of humility, for in declaring God to be his shepherd, David is in effect calling himself a sheep. 

David, more than most, understood just how helpless sheep are, for David himself was a shepherd before he became king.  Sheep are helpless creatures, completely reliant upon the shepherd for their well-being. When we acknowledge that God is our shepherd, we are acknowledging our utter helplessness before God. 

David now, with his gaze fixed on God, who is altogether faithful, and whose mercies fail not, says:

D.  “I shall not want” – That is, "I have need of nothing," or, "what more could I want?" 

The things that the world looks to bring contentment, satisfaction, and happiness are all worthless. They are, in a word, dung, especially when compared to what we have in Christ. 

In Christ, we have the rich storehouse of God’s grace, and incredible love, and a peace that surpasses understanding, which are constantly flowing to us through the cross of our Risen savior.  God is indeed our portion! 

Now David is going to tell us precisely why it is he does not want, as we see: 

II.  God’s Abundant Provision Toward His Sheep

A.  Verse 2 “He makes me lie down in green pastures;”  A pasture is a field set

aside for feeding animals.  The first thing to notice about this pasture that David refers to is that we are made to lie down in it.

1.  This calls attention to the idea of rest.  Christ our Shepherd has come

and fulfilled the righteous demands of the law, and has borne the full curse of the law on the behalf of His sheep, and because of that, we now have rest in Christ. 

Secondly we discover:

2.  The pastures are green. In the fall, the entire creation was subjected to   

futility, and one of the consequences was that the ground would bear thrones and thistles.  But in Christ, the spiritual ground, so to speak, does not bears thorns and thistles.  Rather, it is green.  It is robust and healthy and lush, and the grazing that we do there always nourishes us. 

B.  “He leads me beside quiet waters.” – This literally means waters of resting places. 

When a shepherd leads his sheep, he must be careful not to lead them in rough waters, because the sheep, helpless as they are, are easily overwhelmed by the waters and drown. And, this is, in effect, what happened to us. 

We were all like lost sheep, going astray.  We were caught up in the currents of the rough waters of sin and death; we were all under the ravaging currents of God’s wrath, but God has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Christ.  Christ, our King of love our Shepherd is, came and rescued us. 

He dove into the mighty currents of condemnation, and went to the bottom of that horrible ocean’s floor and found us, who had in fact drowned, and brought us up, and breathed life into us, and raised us to the newness of life!  Christ now leads us to the waters of rest, where we drink of the rivers of living water.  And, David says:

C.  Verse 3 “He restores my soul;” – In order for something to be restored, it must first be damaged in some way.  As I have already noted, we were all “damaged” because of the fall, so damaged in fact that we were dead in our trespasses and sin.  But our Great Shepherd has come to us, and, as Isaiah says: “surely He has born our grief’s and carried sorrows…He was pierced through for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities; the chastening of our well-being fell upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed.”

Nevertheless, we go through times in our lives where we are discouraged, and depressed.  Though we have been delivered from the power of our flesh, and the futility of the world and its thinking, and freed from the clutches of Satan, we are still under attack by those enemies. 

Since these enemies cannot remove us from our Shepherd, since He is greater than all and nothing can snatch us out of His hand, we need to recognize that the sole purpose of those enemies is to get us to take our eyes of our Shepherd.  They want to move us away from the glories of the Gospel, and draw our attention to other things, even things that are said to be "holy and just and good", but that ultimately will cause us harm, or drive us to guilt, condemnation, and even despair. 

But note the promise here.  David does not say that “He restores my soul if I do this, or if I don't do that...”  As sheep, we are utterly powerless to do anything; it is God alone who effects our restoration. 

Our Good Shepherd comes with His healing balm and tends to His precious lambs, and as He does, His precious lambs regain their strength and vitality.   The healing balm that God always uses is His glorious Gospel, and the means by which He applies His balm is His Word and the sacraments. 

Thus, in the green pastures, I am reminded of the Lord’s Supper.  It is there where we feed, so to speak, spiritually on Christ who ever nourishes us on the Gospel.  In the quiet waters, I am reminded of the waters of baptism, where we focus on the sovereign work of God and the outward sign that speaks to the inward reality in that we have been buried with Christ and raised to newness of life by the power of His Spirit and His Gospel.

Ultimately, I believer that in a real sense, we could say that the green pastures are Christ, and the quiet waters are Christ.  In other words, we are made to feed on, and drink in, Christ, and as we are made to do this by our Shepherd, our soul is restored or revived.  For one of Christ's sheep (that is to say, a Christian), who may be sick spiritually, the Great Shepherd comes to them and makes them well.  As the hymn writer says, "Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, but yet in love He sought me, and on His shoulder gently laid, and home, rejoicing, brought me."

D.  “He guides me in the paths of righteousness…” – There are 2 senses in which commentators take this phrase to mean.  Some take this to mean that God makes our paths straight, that is, God directs our paths away from those that are wearisome.  Others take this verse to refer to paths that conform to God’s moral will.   Maybe both views have some truth, and combined can give us a full-orbed understanding of the verse.

As good, sound Protestants :-) we believe that God’s Word is the sole infallible rule and guide for faith and practice.  When we turn to God's Word, we discover that what God desires and requires is as clear as could possibly be, and it is all summed up in the 2 greatest commandments: to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  The Apostle Paul tells us in the book of Titus that the grace of God that has appeared which brings salvation instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. (Titus 2:11)

But what we forget is that those things are given to us in the context of the Gospel.  Those commands do not come to us as some kind of new law that enslaves us.  Rather, they show us what a life that has been seized by God’s grace looks like, and ought to look like. 

Positionally, in Christ, we are godly, holy, and righteous.  That’s who we are.  Why?  Because Christ is godly, holy, and righteous, and we are in union with Christ.  The Apostle Paul tells us that Christ has become to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption!  And what we are positionally in Christ, Christ Himself is working out in our daily lives.  We who are sanctified are being sanctified, daily.  We are, in essence, becoming what we already are.  What has been declared of us in Christ, is being worked out in us by Christ (this "progressive" work, of course, will not be completed in our lifetime). 

Ultimately then, the righteous path that we are being guided in is Jesus Himself, for it is upon His perfect righteousness, which has now been imputed to us, that we stand.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and the life we now live we live by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for our sins.  As we live by faith, that is, as we live as those who rest in the perfect merits of Christ, Christ is causing us to walk according to what pleases God, and we do these things not to gain anything, and not out of a sense of a fear of condemnation, but because we have already gained everything, and because there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus. 

But how do these things take place in our lives?  By faith, not by law.  We do not walk by the works of the law, but, we walk by faith.  Faith necessarily looks outside of oneself to something else, and the something else that we look to in faith is the perfect and finished works of the crucified, risen, and exalted Jesus Christ, and as we walk by faith in Him, the life that is produced sovereignly in us by God is a life of conformity to Christ. On our part, this faith is expressed by our making right use of the means of grace, such as the Word of God, prayer, fellowship, ministry and service, etc., that God has established to effect our growth in Christ. 

Thus, beloved, we are told to rest in Christ who is our righteousness.  Here, beloved, is a path that is truly straight; a path that has not pitfalls, and is not wearisome.  And, now David tells us God is doing all of this:

E.  For His Name’s sake.   The concept of “the Name” has to do with the totality of who God is in the perfection of His character and attributes. 

The eternal God of all creation has entered into covenant with His people.  And the nature of the covenant that we have in Christ is that God Himself would fulfill all of the stipulations of the covenant on our behalf. 

Because God has bound Himself by an oath, and has staked His name on it, we who have been united to Christ can have absolute assurance that all of the blessings of the New Covenant are ours, not because of anything good in us, and not because of our obedience, but despite the wickedness that is in us, and because of the all-powerful and all-sufficient work of God for us—it is all due to His goodness, and His perfect obedience for us; for His Name’s sake, to His glory.

Well, that is God's provision for His sheep, and now we see:

III.  God’s Protection of His Sheep

A. Verse  4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," - This is a place that David is saying he is actually walking through.  Since the fall of Adam and Eve, the world is, in essence, the valley of the shadow of death, or, as the Apostle Paul tells is in Galatians 1:4, it is the present evil age. 

But note, Paul tells us that Christ gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, and in Colossians 1:13 Paul tells us that we have been rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son. 

Thus, what we have just elaborated upon in verses 1 – 3, where we are told that he makes us lie down in green pastures, and are led by the quiet waters, and our souls are restored, all of that is true of us as we are walking through this valley.  Though we have been delivered from this valley, we are still walking through it, but, David says:

B.  I fear no evil, For You are with me; - The Bible repeatedly affirms the fact that God’s people will experience evil and suffering against themselves. However, we fear it not, because, David says, the Good shepherd is always with His sheep.  Not only that, but we also realize that God is causing all things, to include evil and suffering, to work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose…the suffering we go through now is nothing to be compared to the glory to be revealed. 

Here, then, David is acknowledging an absolute trust in the sovereignty and providence of His shepherd, and he says:

C.  Your rod and Your staff They comfort me.  - The rod and staff were used by shepherds to protect and guide the sheep.  Ultimately, God’s rod and staff is the person and works of Jesus Christ. It is in Christ where all of our enemies have been defeated, and it is in Christ where we are being guided, and it is due to these things that we have comfort.

IV.  God the Host

Now we come to the imagery of the host.  David says:

A.  Verse 5 "You prepare a table before me…” – In the Ancient world, to dine with someone was an expression of intimacy and fellowship.  The host invites his guest to his house, to the very place where he dwells, and then blesses and honors his guests by serving them food and drink. 

Likewise, our Shepherd-King has brought us into His house, and has made us to sit at His table, a table which He Himself has prepared for guests that He actually honors, not for anything good in them, but because of something good in Him.

We who were blind, poor, and crippled, have been summoned from our ghettos of utter poverty and destitution and despair, where there was no hope or salvation, and are now brought into the Royal House of the King of heaven and earth, and made to feast at the King’s table (Luke 14:21). 

It is the table of hope.  It is the table of peace and salvation.  It is the table of restoration.  It is the table of rest.  It is, in essence, Christ Himself who is the table.  And note, it is all the King’s doing…He is preparing the table, and He is doing this, David tells us:  

B.  “in the presence of my enemies;” - We mentioned earlier how we are under attack by our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.  But as we have just noticed, we are at the table of God, and to be at a table is to be in the immediate presence of someone. 

Thus, we are in the presence of God, even while our enemies are still present!  This is a great source of comfort for us beloved, to realize that our Heavenly host is preparing the table of salvation in our lives daily right in front of all those enemies.  There is nothing they can do.  All they can do is rant and rave against it.  We must rest in this knowledge, and when we begin to feel like we are being overwhelmed by the enemy, look to the table that our host has prepared and is preparing even in the midst of our enemies.  Look to our Shepherd who, David says, has:

C.  “…anointed my head with oil;”- In the Ancient world, it was customary to honor guests by anointing their head with oil.  Here we see our Heavenly Host, the Lord of all creation, who treats us as one of His honored guests.  We who were enemies of God have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  By God’s grace we have been made sons, and made to sit at the King’s table. If this is how God views us, then what can our enemies do to us!  Look at Rom 8:28-39 (read and make passing comments). 

We have been richly bathed in the love and mercy of God and God has lavished His grace upon us, and because our Shepherd is the King of all, David says:

D.  “My cup overflows.” – Very often the Bible uses the imagery of the cup, or drinking the cup, as a metaphor for what we undergo or experience, and here, it is also represents what the host offers His guest to drink.  When David says his cup, I believe he is speaking of his existence.  Our very existence is running over with the abundance of the salvation of God.

But the only reason this is the case is because Christ, our Heavenly Host, has drank in fully the cup that was due us, that is, the cup of the wrath of God.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord prayed to His Father, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me…”  This cup that Jesus was referring to was the cup of the indignation and wrath of God against sin.  This was the cup that was due us, but was made to overflow to Christ.   And now, in Christ, we are made to drink of the cup of the unspeakable love of God, which overflows to us.  Ultimately, I believe we could say that Christ Himself is the cup, because He is our life, and our lives are hid in Christ.  David now closes this incredible song of praise by saying:

E.  “6  Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Commentators note that the idea contained in the word “follow” here is “pursue.”  Whereas previously God’s holy and righteous judgment pursued, now it is God’s goodness and His lovingkindness and mercy that are pursuing us. 

All of the condemnation that was due us was bore by Christ on the cross. The Good Shepherd pursued His sheep, and laid down His life for His sheep. Thus, David’s word’s are a statement of absolute assurance, not because of who he is or what he has done or will do, but because of who His Shepherd is, and what He has done, and what He will continue to do. 

This is the state of the believer not just at the moment of faith, but forever.  We who have been declared right by God will never be declared “not” right before God.  The declaration at the final judgment at the end of time has broken into our lives, so that we have been declared forever justified before God on account of the perfect works and merits of Christ that have been forever imputed to us. 

Conclusion

The 23d Psalm, beloved, is a glorious balm that heals of our wounded and distraught consciences, because it teaches us that our Good Shepherd has us under His divine care, and in the midst of it all, He makes us, leads us, restores us, prepares a table for us, and pursues us (we must not lose sight of the fact that in this psalm, God is the One who is active, and we are passive). 

Our Good Shepherd is caring for us, nourishing us, reviving us, and comforting us. 

May we take hold of all that it means to confess with King David, "The LORD Is My Shepherd."

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. (Heb 13:20-21)

Amen.