The Lord is my Shepherd

Psalm 23v1

The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.

A few wee thoughts about the Shepherd in this verse:

1. He is the Powerful Shepherd

2. He is the Present Shepherd

3. He is the Personal Shepherd

4. He is the Providing Shepherd

Powerful Shepherd

He is the Lord.

The Hebrew word is YHVH. Yahweh or Jehovah.

It's not a mere man or any old god who is our Shepherd. It is the Lord God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth. The One and only True God. He showed himself strong on behalf of His people as He judged the gods of Egypt. He made a way through the mighty Red Sea. He is the God of the impossible. He is the everlasting Father, the Wonderful, Counsellor, the Prince of Peace.

He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End and behold He lives forever more.

He triumphed that we might triumph. He overcame so that we might be more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Because He lives we shall live also.

Hallelujah what a Mighty and Powerful Shepherd.

In Matthew 28v18

18¶And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Speaking of His second coming and soon return

Matthew 24v29&30

29¶Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And again Revelation 1v7&8

7¶Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

8¶I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

At His first coming Jesus came as the Lamb to die.

At His second coming He is coming as the Lion to reign.

He is not returning to suffer as the Lamb of God but to reign and rule as the All Powerful King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He and He alone is Lord.

Revelation 19v11-16

11¶Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

12His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He hadfn a name written that no one knew except Himself.

13He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

14And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,fn followed Him on white horses.

15Now out of His mouth goes a sharpfn sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Present Shepherd

The Lord IS my Shepherd

It doesn't say the Lord WAS or the Lord is GOING TO BE.

He is the Present Shepherd.

He said to Moses in Exodus 3v14

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

In John 11, Jesus tells Martha that Lazarus (her brother) will rise again. Martha answers and says I know he will Lord. in the future at the resurrection on the last day.

Martha believed that her brother would be resurrected but in the future. She didn't have the revelation that Jesus was the Present Shepherd.

John 11v25&26

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Jesus revealed Himself to Martha as the I AM. The Present Shepherd, who could raise her brother in the NOW, why, because He is the Resurrection and the Life.

Personal Shepherd

The Lord is MY Shepherd.

Oh what a comfort. What an assurance and confidence we can have in our Personal Shepherd.

He knows our downsitting and our uprising and our thoughts afar off. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our every weakness and every fault and yet He loves us with an everlasting love.

He knew and chose us before the foundation of the world. We are special to Him.

When we were being formed in our mother's womb, He was caring for us and watching over us.

Psalm 139v13-18

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

The burning question today is he your PERSONAL SHEPHERD?

Have you born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that lives and abides forever.

Have you had a life transforming personal experience with this man called Jesus.

Have you experienced the joy of having your sins washed away by the power of His precious blood.

Church, being in an organisation that purports to honour Christ, doing good deeds, being a good person no matter how laudable none of these things will save your soul.

Have you humbled yourself and in contrition and true repentance and come to that old rugged cross and beheld the only source of salvation the Man of Calvary, the bleeding Lamb who suffered in your room and stead paid the price and penalty for your sin that you might be forgiven and brought into relationship with God.

Awh Stephen I don't buy all that saved stuff or why do I need to get saved and come to God.

Therein is the problem for so many. There is nothing more sad, more foolish, more incomprehensible than a drowning man or woman who doesn't know they are drowning and in need to be rescued. You say preacher that would never happen that's just about the stupidest analogy I've ever heard.

Yet today this very moment in this funeral service there are people sitting here, in the adjoining room, outside, as this message is being streamed hearing my voice and you are in that very situation. Countless millions of souls across this world who are drowning in a sea of pride, of sin, of rebellion, of confusion, of pain and struggle, living directionless, purposeless lives.

But Jesus is throwing you a lifeline today. That lifeline is the Gospel message, the good news that Jesus saves, Jesus rescues, Jesus delivers and sets the captives free. You don't need to stay locked up in chains in that prison house of sin, bondage, shame, guilt or rebellion.

Jesus is not some distant God. He is not a God who doesn't care. No he demonstrated His amazing love for us, in that while we were yet sinners He died for us. How much more then, does He love and care for us, when we are His children, the sons and daughters of the Living God.

Romans 5v9&10

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Romans 8v15

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Providing Shepherd

I shall not want

Strong's h2637

- Lexical: חָסֵר

- Transliteration: chaser

- Part of Speech: Verb

- Phonetic Spelling: khaw-sare'

- Definition: to lack, need, be lacking, decrease.

- Origin: A primitive root; to lack; by implication, to fail, want, lessen.

- Usage: be abated, bereave, decrease, (cause to) fail, (have) lack, make lower, want.

So because He is our Powerful, Present and Personal Shepherd we shall not lack, decrease, want or fail.

What a promise!

We read the account of how God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his beloved son Issac in Genesis 22.

This passage is full of prophetic types which point to Jesus Christ and how the Father sacrificed His only begotten Son on the cross. It is a message in it's own right.

However, we will focus on one type here. As they approach the place were the sacrifice will take place Isaac asks his father Abraham were is the lamb for the burnt offering. We have everything else, the wood for the fire etc but were is the lamb.

Abraham answers and says in v8

My son God will provide himself a lamb.

As Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac the angel of the Lord tells him not to harm Isaac. Instead Abraham sees a ram caught in a thicket and he sacrifices it in the stead of Isaac.

Abraham then names the place Jehovah-Jireh meaning:

In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

The Hebrew word that is often translated "provide" actually means "to see".

What Mount did he see?

Mount Calvary.

What did Abraham see down through the annals of time. Remember in v4

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

What a prophetic type. He saw the place of sacrifice, Mount Moriah afar off on the third day. He saw by faith Christ's death and resurrection!!

He saw God's ultimate Provision. The Lamb of God hanging on an old rugged cross, paying our debt and the penalty of our sin. Becoming a curse for us so that we might be blessed. Being humiliated and suffering the ignominy and shame of the cross that we might be reconciled to God. Through His atoning sacrifice and finished work we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

In the words of the old hymn:

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to His cross and I bare it no more,

Praise the Lord, bless the Lord oh my soul.

Jesus said in John 10

9"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

10“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

11¶“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

Look what He provides in this Psalm:

1. Rest v2

2. Spiritual nourishment v2

3. Guidance v2&3

4. Peace and stillness v3

5. Restoration v3

6. Freedom from fear in the valley of death v4

7. Comfort v4

8. A table spread with everything we need when facing the enemy v5

9. The anointing v5

10. Abundant and overflowing blessing v5

11. Goodness and mercy v6

12. An eternal home v6

What a mighty Saviour

What a loving Shepherd.

He is the Good Shepherd, John 10.

He is the Chief Shepherd,

1 Peter 5v4

He is the Great Shepherd,

Hebrews 13v20

What will you do today with this man called Jesus

Will you reject His invitation to come in humility and repentance

or reject and stay in the prison of rebellion?