The LORD Is My Shepherd (Psalm 23) - A Sermon By Elise Beatrice

TRANSCRIPT

The LORD Is My Shepherd (Psalm 23)

A Sermon By Elise Beatrice - Sunday, 23 November 2025

“Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory are Yours.

Now and Forever. Amen."

Psalm 23

"The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. 2 He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams. 3 He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name. 4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. 5 You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. 6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever." Amen

"The Lord is my Shepherd."

Yes. He is our Shepherd. What kind of Shepherd? He is the Good Shepherd. He is the Shepherd who loves His flock, who put Himself on the Cross to be scourged, to be bruised, to be flogged, to be humiliated, to be crucified for us. That is the kind of Shepherd He is, compared to the evil shepherds who have all acted as hired hands.

They were sent to tend the flock of the Lord, but they did a very evil job and did not take care of the flock of sheep that the Lord assigned to them. By not doing so, they have scattered the Lord's flock. And being scattered in every place, they have fallen into the mouths of wolves.

So, the job of a shepherd is to take care of their flock, to watch over them, to protect them against wolves, against lions, against any savage animal. But the evil shepherds did not do that; they just abandoned the flock, even used them for their gain, but they did not care about them. They did not care about their souls; they did not care about them falling into the pit, being gobbled up by wolves, being scattered and lost in the darkness. They did not care about that. That is why the Good Shepherd had to come to find His flock from all the places where they had flown to, so He can gather them and bring them back to Himself, saving them from the darkness some have fallen into, and to bring them back to the sheep pen where they were meant to be.

So, the Lord is my Shepherd.

So, when you are reading these words, you must really see yourself as the sheep of Christ. Are you the Lord's sheep? For if you are not truly the sheep of Christ, would you then call the Lord 'your Shepherd'?

David, the anointed child of God, servant of the Lord, who wrote this, listening to the Holy Spirit, had acknowledged that the Lord was His Shepherd. And this Shepherd takes good care of us. And he knew it.

So, I am a sheep of the Lord, and You are the sheep; everyone who is living according to the ways of the Lord and listening to the Lord, by the Scriptures, is the sheep of the Lord. We are not just the sheep of the Lord by the words that we say. The Lord distinguishes between the goats and the sheep. The Lord Jesus laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:15). But we must remember, not for the goats. For the goats have already made up their minds and have chosen satan, and that is why they are referred to as the goats. And the Lord Jesus will come again to separate His sheep from the goats, to separate the wheat from the weeds.

John 10:15

For this reason, while we live, we should ensure that when we read these words, the Lord is indeed in our lives, our Shepherd, that He is, by the way we are to Him, by the way we have truly let Him adopt us, and we are living as His children, as His servants, as His sheep, as His sons and daughters. In that case, we are reading these words from the perspective of a sheep who knows his Master, who knows his Good Shepherd.

So, reading this from the perspective of a sheep who knows his Master, who knows his Good Shepherd and knows His beautiful attributes, His faithfulness, and knows Him as the One who is good, as the One who cares, as the One who loves, as the One who truly died to save us from our sins. He is not a hired hand who, once he sees the wolf coming, flees. No. In His presence, no wolf would dare to come near, for they know that He is fierce, because His love overpowers the darkness and His light invades the darkness. And the darkness knows that once the Good Shepherd stands there, he cannot even dare to reach out to grab His children, His sheep, once the Lord has commanded him not to come near. For the Good Shepherd does not tolerate such things.

So, reading this from the perspective of a sheep, we understand our Master; we know who He is. So, I can say, "The Lord is my Shepherd. I have all that I need."

Yes, I have all that I need because He takes care of me; He takes care of us. Those who are truly listening to the Lord have all that they need.

I'm not speaking about superficial wealth; the Lord knows that His sheep need to be taken care of, and for this, He does not even need someone to tell Him to do something before He does. He knows that He must do it. We are His; we are His sheep.

So we read this from the perspective of the Lord's sheep,

"The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need."

Because the Lord provides, He gives me what I need, He protects me against the enemy, He leads me down the green pastures, He fights for me, He gives me victory every day. He watches out for us, and when He sees the wolf coming towards us, the wolf, which symbolises satan, He reveals His righteous wrath, and satan cannot come any closer. He does not flee when He sees satan coming, but the evil shepherds flee at the presence of the wolves. So, the Lord Jesus lets me rest in green pastures.

When we have the Lord and listen to Him, we have all that we need, because then He does the rest beautifully.

We do our part as His sheep because the Good Shepherd is always doing His part.

"He leads me beside peaceful streams."

This is all something that He's doing of His own will, not because we told Him to. He's doing that. So, as the sheep, we should be the sheep and do what the sheep must do, whether He tells us or does not tell us, that is what we should do, be the sheep to our Good Shepherd.

"He renews my strength."

Yes, when we are weak, He renews our strength; He takes good care of us. He sees us like patients. He is the Doctor; He must take care of these patients, because it is His duty. He cares for these patients; He must take care of them out of love, not because somebody is commanding Him to. And the patient must let themselves be taken care of; the patient must trust that the One taking care of them is capable of taking care of them. They must not doubt the Doctor who is standing right there, the Good Shepherd, to tend them, for He knows that He will do what He promises to do.

He renews our strength, so we depend on Him, our provision, we depend on Him, our safety when He's leading us down the green pastures, we depend on Him. Our food, when He leads us beside peaceful streams for us to drink, we depend on Him, also for our water, spiritual drink and physical drink. Without the Lord, our Good Shepherd, we are lost because demons and satan are in all places, wolves are in many places, the charlatans, who serve the devil, are in every place, working for the devil. So if we are wondering about, without knowing where we're going, where the peaceful streams and the safe paths are, then we fall into the pit, or we may fall into the river current and drown because we don't have the Good Shepherd to lead us down a safe path. By taking good care of us, He nourishes us, He ensures that we are fed and that we are spiritually equipped and protected.

"He guides us along the right paths, bringing honour to His Name."

This means He must do what is right; He must guide us to the right path because He is the Good Shepherd, and He must live up to that for His honour. He is so full of integrity that He does not need someone to be watching before He does what is right; He's doing already those right things that bring Honour to His name, JESUS, the Good Shepherd, the Saviour. He feeds from good things; He Himself is nourished from good things, by doing good things; He is good; He is fully good, there is no evil in Him. Evil is a stench to His nostrils. So He brings Honour to His Name by being good, by being the Good One, by being always righteous, by being Holy, by being perfect, by being sinless.

He knows that we are His responsibility, and He is willing to take care of us, given that we are letting Him take care of us, and that we're trusting Him to take care of us, and that we are listening to Him. Because if we are not listening to Him, then when He turns right, we turn left instead and fall into the pit. If we are not taking His instructions in this Book, then we fall into the hands of charlatans who serve the devil, or we just fall into the hands of demons themselves, because we did not listen to our Good Shepherd, who knows all good things and who does only good things, and who is faithful and is always keeping His promise.

"Even when we walk through the darkest valley, we will not be afraid:"

Because He walks with us; He is the One ahead; we're just following behind Him. He knows. Though He's looking forward, and we're following behind Him, He also knows the dangers that may erupt from behind us. He can already see any danger that may arise from our left, our right, or in front of us. He knows everything around; He knows every sharp corner; He knows where every danger lies. He's taking us down the safe path. And because we are with Him, He defends us and fights for us, and gives us victory so that we know that we should not be afraid; and though this world is filled with demons and their deeds of darkness, that we should not be afraid to walk where the Lord wants us to walk because He is with us.

He is not saying here that if you disobey Him and go and walk down the darkest valley, you will be safe; that's not what this means. If you are His sheep and claiming to be His sheep, but you are not listening to Him, and then you are turning left instead of right where He is going, then you fall into the pit, that is the darkest valley, and you're there alone. And because you're there alone, the devil is bound to seize you; the wolf will get you just because you walked down the darkest valley without Him, your Good Shepherd. But by listening to our Lord, we walk down the darkest valley with our shoulders straight up. We are not walking down the darkest valley for our own gain. We are not walking down the darkest valley to seek to make a name for ourselves. We are not walking down the darkest valley to rebel against God. But it is because God is calling us to do certain things in this life for the sake of many. And sometimes, the only road to take might be the road down the darkest valley, and we must go there if the Lord indeed told us to go, knowing that He is with us. But if we walk down the darkest valley without the Lord's permission, without the Lord's approval, He is not with us. We will be hit by the enemy.

Obedience is the key; obedience to our Good Shepherd is the solution for His presence with us.

And when we are going places, even down the darkest valley, for His righteous purpose, He is with us. And even when we are with Him, and we are listening to Him, but we find ourselves down the darkest valley without knowing, He will be there protecting us, because He has already seen ahead of time that we might be going down a road we did not mean to go, but we did not know. Given that we are listening to Him, He will be there to protect us from the enemy in that darkest valley. So, even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me.

Those who are the sheep of Christ live for Him, and listen to Him, and are happy and pleased with the ways of the Lord, because they have understood that He is the Only Way, their safe pasture, their peaceful streams, their strength and their right path and their protection. Yes, the Lord's rod and His staff protect and comfort us.

"You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies, You honour me by anointing my head with oil."

When King David says, "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies," it is a symbolic way of saying, 'Look at what You have done with me, oh Lord. You have avenged me before my enemies; You made me a king, and I sit here having this feast, and they can see it, and it is all because of You. You have favoured me, and now the whole world is here, seeing what You have done for me.'

This teaches us that the Lord does these kinds of things for everyone who listens to Him - I'm not saying that He makes everyone kind - But He blesses us with many different things, according to His righteous purpose. And though David might have written this when He was not a king yet, but was already anointed and even chased by King Saul, since the Lord's Holy Spirit was within him, He put this truth in David's heart. So that is the work of the Holy Spirit.

"You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies."

Yes, what the Lord will do for us when He comes again. And He said Himself that the whole world will witness the greatness He will do for His people.

"You anoint my head with oil."

Yes, the Lord did anoint King David, just as He anoints many He calls. The Lord anointed him with the physical oil that we could see. But nowadays, especially since our Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, died on the Cross for us, He continues to anoint many, but not in the way that we have seen Him anoint King David with the physical oil. The Lord anoints His servants spiritually and equips them with what they need to do the work He has called them to do.

He anoints us by His own words, by His own ways, with the oil of joy, the garment of praise, the Spirit of gladness. He anoints us with His Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit does all those great things from within us, praising Him as never before. We become now someone who can't stop praising the Lord; He has anointed us with a garment of praise, with the oil of joy, and with the Spirit of gladness, and even when we are oppressed, we will be glad when He comes again, we will now be just glad, live forever in joy, in happiness, no suffering, no evil, no spiritual attacks, no false accusations, no lies against His servants, only joy and peace, because that is His will; He has found us to be His true sheep, and He does not leave His sheep, He does not abandon His sheep as orphans.

"My cup overflows with blessings."

Yes. When we're truly the Lord's sheep, even if we're suffering, even if we are oppressed, our lives are filled with the Lord's blessings, riches from Heaven, blessings that come only from the Lord. Of course, when it comes to providing for us, He will see to it that He provides for us daily what we need while we're here. But the greater riches are to come when He comes again.

"Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever."

Yes. He said, 'Surely.' Surely because I'm listening to You, because I hang onto Your words, because I strive to listen to You daily, because I remain truthful to Your teachings. Surely, Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me wherever I am because You will be with me, You are with me, my Good Shepherd is with me because I'm listening to Him. I'm taking His instructions; I don't do my own way, but His ways. I live for Him. And for this reason, His goodness and unfailing love will pursue me. This is given that we have not stopped listening to Him. Given that we continue to endure and persevere, and remain in Him and in His love and continue to listen to Him, we will live in the House of the Lord forever. The Lord will be with us all the days of our lives here on earth and will continue in eternal life.

The Lord said to Abraham, "Walk before Me and be blameless."

Of course, by walking before the Lord and being blameless, the Lord was with him; the Lord's goodness and unfailing love pursued Abraham all the days of his life on earth and will continue in eternal life with Christ. And this is the fate of those who are the Lord's true sheep.

When we do our parts and truly listen to our God, surely His goodness and unfailing love will pursue us all the days of our lives here on earth. And given that we don't give up, and we don't change and surrender to the devil, given that we continue to remain in the Lord's love, when He comes again, or when we die before He comes again, we will live in the house of the Lord forever and ever, because He has gone ahead of time to prepare a room for us in His Father's house. That is why, when our days end on earth, we know that we have a room in our Father's house. But if we have been disobedient or have given up and turned away from God, then we have turned that house, that room we have in His Father's house down. And that is too bad, that is too sad for us.

So, we are blessed that the Lord has prepared a room for us in His Father's house, and we should remain in His Love; we should treasure the Lord and His words in this Holy Bible, and live by them, and listen to Him, the Lord Jesus.

It is only natural that the Good Shepherd will not leave His true sheep to perish among the dead. He will take them with Him to His Father's House.

So, next time we're saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd," we should truly seek to understand that meaning of that, and ask ourselves if we are truly living as that sheep of our Lord, His flock, His child, and surely, we are fine, even if we are suffering here on earth, that is just temporary.

So, I pray, knowing deep in my heart and knowing the Lord, that if you truly listen to this and let the Lord in, you will soon testify this to be true.

Our Lord is great. And He is faithful, and the way He takes care of us is so amazing. The way He loves us is beyond human comprehension. We should listen to Him, and we will never regret it. For the Lord God, the Father, has given us the greatest blessings of all, who is our Lord Jesus.

And everyone can have Him if they welcome what He did on the Cross and live by it, and live for Him and listen to Him. Everyone can have Him if they want Him, but He won't force Himself on anyone.

So, may the Lord Jesus' peace be with you.

Holy Father, Thank You so much for this sermon.

I'm amazed; I am in awe of You. I bless You for this inspiration, just as I bless You for all the other inspirations, all the other sermons, Lord.

Thank You for You.

Oh Lord, thank You for loving us so much that You continuously plead, even with those You have already pleaded a thousand times. You care for them.

So, I pray that many will hear this and seek to make things right with You, their only Saviour. Oh, bless You, Lord, and thank You for hearing my prayer.

Thank You for Your Father and Your Holy Spirit. In Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen.