The True Shepherd

Sing that chorus one more time.

And just reflect on the steadfast unfailing of our good and perfect shelter.

His confidence in surety.

Surely.

God, we praise you for that confident hope that we have in your son's holy name.

And all God's people said, Amen.

Amen.

Good morning.

My name is Casey.

I'm glad to be with you this morning.

As Pastor Justin said, this is my last official Sunday here as one of the pastors.

It has been a joy.

It has been a grace from God to know you, to serve with you, and to be loved so well by you.

And so it's been my pleasure.

We're going to be in Psalm 23 this morning.

If you have a Bible, if you would turn with me, it will also be on the screen.

If you don't have a Bible with you or at home, we do have some on the back table here by the welcome desk back here.

We would love to give you that if you don't have one.

We want you to have a Bible to be able to read it along with us.

And so if you don't have one, please pick one up back there.

That's our our gift to you.

But we'll be in Psalm 23 this morning.

Hear the word of the Lord.

A Psalm of David.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is God's word.

Thanks be to God.

Would you join me in prayer?

Father, your good spirit has promised to minister your word to our hearts.

And perhaps one of the most beautiful, if we could say that, ways in which he does that is through the Psalms.

Giving us language to anguish.

Giving us language to our suffering, giving us language to rejoicing in the midst of a broken world.

I pray this morning that our hearts would reach for that language and that we would sing it and we would pray it and we would soak our souls in it.

We pray all this in the name of Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

So buckle up.

The 23rd Psalm has been called the Mona Lisa of the Bible.

Some have called it that because it's arguably the most widely known and well-used passages, perhaps in all of Scripture.

We see it everywhere.

We see it on mugs and on t-shirts and on hand crocheted plaques on your grandmother's wall.

I've often gone to this psalm for my own soul and applied it to the wounds of others in the midst of deep suffering.

And yet it can often be, honestly, a bit daunting to preach a text that's so well known.

It's like trying to cover a song that everybody in the crowd has heard time and time again.

It's hard.

They'll know if you mess it up.

Nonetheless, here I am expounding on the Mona Lisa.

So let's work our way through this beautiful psalm.

Let me begin by giving you what I think encompasses the whole reality of what David is trying to communicate to us, the reader, this morning.

This is the summary.

If you hear nothing else, if you get nothing else, I hope you hear this and walk away pondering and meditating on this.

It's this.

The true shepherd provides freely and fully for his sheep, both in this life and in the life to come.

The true shepherd provides freely and fully for his sheep, both in this life and in the life to come.

David opens, David is the author of this psalm, this poem, this expression of praise and worship to God.

He opens with this sentence.

He says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

In this simple opening line, David encompasses all that he will go on to expound upon throughout the rest of the writing.

And on this one phrase hangs all the weight of what he communicates here.

As one preacher noted, we could go through the Old Testament and take note of all the ways in which God has used this particular analogy of the shepherd to communicate truths about himself to us.

We could see it in the books of the law, we see it in the prophets, but that would, though certainly nonetheless important, become a bit academic.

But David goes beyond that and makes this so intensely personal.

He doesn't in this psalm say, though it would be true, the Lord is like a shepherd.

No, he says, the Lord is my shepherd.

And he echoes the covenantal language that God uses in Exodus chapter 6 when he says to the children of Israel, I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.

Exodus 6 · chapter mention

And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.

This Psalm from beginning to end is a psalm of covenant.

It's a communication of a present reality and a future promise rooted in the covenantal love of God for his people.

So in this opening line, David sums up for us all that he is about to expound upon.

And he does so by planting us firmly in God's covenant with his people.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I will be your God, and you will be my people.

And from that sure footing, David then sets out to beautifully describe for us what it means to be under the covenantal watch care of our good and true shepherd.

So as we work our way through the text, I want to point out five ways in which David describes for us what it means to be in covenant with this good true shepherd.

Number one, he gives rest and refreshment to the weary.

He gives rest and refreshment to the weary.

Look at verse 2.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

So David begins, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

And here's what that looks like.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside, it could be translated, waters of rest.

Sheep without a shepherd, especially in the context in which David is writing this, were as good as dead, wandering on their own.

There were external dangers such as predators and inclement weather that left the sheep in constant turmoil.

Then there was the fact that by themselves, sheep very rarely care for themselves well.

They're not smart animals, they're not hunters, they're not gatherers, they simply follow where they're led.

And therefore, if there was no one to lead them, they would often find themselves lost and wandering about.

However, with a competent and a caring shepherd, the sheep would be led to a pasture that was protected and full of sustenance, full of what they needed.

And here they could graze and play and rest, free of fear and lacking nothing.

And this is certainly true of us as God's people, as sheep of the true shepherd.

Apart from him, we were as good as dead.

In fact, we were dead in our sins and slaves to unrighteousness.

However, because of the good shepherd, because of Jesus Christ, we were led out of that death and destruction and led into the pasture of God's care, where we no longer have to fear our enemies, but can rest under the grace and mercy of the Lord.

And there is no pasture to which our shepherd will lead us in which we cannot find rest.

This is sometimes a difficult truth because we know that there can be days and months and seasons, there can be circumstances in which we find ourselves that seem to be absolutely full of turmoil.

And to be honest, the idea of rest can almost seem cruel in times like that?

How can I rest, God, when you have put me in the middle of such turmoil?

How can God make someone lie down in green pastures when they've lost a child?

How can a husband or wife who just found out that their spouse has been unfaithful find rest?

It almost seems cruel.

Or as one of our members this very morning is at the hospital right now with a family member about to pass away.

How can we say to our sister, he leads you to restful pastures?

After receiving this news, how can we find solace here?

The answer to that question isn't found in looking at the pasture or the circumstance in which we find ourselves.

No matter how devastating or enraging perhaps it may be, the answer to that question is found by gazing long and hard at the shepherd who led us there.

The Lord is the shepherd, and it is the Lord who makes us to lie down, who gives us true rest, no matter what storm is blowing around us or what enemy is lurking around the corner.

Because it's the presence of the shepherd that we the sheep can lie down and rest in any pasture, and it will be green.

It will be restful.

We as Christians can find rest and quiet in any circumstance, not because we find ourselves always in the best situation, certainly not, but because we find ourselves in the presence of a true and good shepherd.

And if that is the covenantal grounds upon which we build this theology, this idea, then therefore when we gaze at the shepherd, it's not the situation in which we find our rest.

It's in the shepherd.

Not only does a good shepherd provide rest and food to his needy sheep, but he also provides water to refresh them.

We see the language here.

It's not simply water to survive, it's water to enjoy.

Growing up, I would often hear in well-meaning people, they would say, Man, when we come to church, we can just leave our troubles at the door.

As well-meaning as that seems, that's unhelpful.

Because as you well know, as I well know, I can't simply check my sorrow at the door and then come in to worship and pretend it doesn't exist.

We have to be able to understand that it's not in spite of, but it is in the presence of suffering and sorrow and turmoil that the shepherd leads us into rest.

And he gives good rest and refreshment.

Not because he always leads us into the ideal situation, but because he says, I am your shepherd.

Number two, he restores the broken.

Verse number three, David goes on.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Perhaps we would find it really interesting if we know a bit of the backstory of who David is, that a man like this could proclaim that the Lord restores his soul.

David the adulterer.

David the murderer.

He restores my soul, he says.

And this is quite a statement.

He's saying that God hasn't simply shown him a little kindness in meeting momentary needs.

But that the Lord has restored him in a way that he could never do himself.

A soul that was gripped by lust and desire and anger and desire for power is now restored to love and cherish and find his hope in God.

He restores my soul.

He makes me whole, is what David is saying.

And friends, if there is one thing that we need more than any other, it is for the Lord to restore our soul, to make us whole again.

To make whole what's been broken.

We need God to convert us, to create in us a clean heart where there is only evil.

To change us, to regenerate us in a way that allows us to see him for who he is, to see ourselves for who we truly are, and to repent and believe, to trust in the shepherd.

And David says that it's the Lord, our shepherd, who does just that.

It's he alone who can take what was dead and decaying and make it live again, bring it to life.

We see this in Genesis 2 when God breathes into dirt and makes them a living soul.

It is no different when he converts an unbeliever.

When he converts someone who has previously sinned against God, has trusted in their own sufficient works as they see it to save themselves, to somehow earn their righteousness.

But God, by his grace, steps in and breathes into us life.

Not simply making the good a little better, but making dead men and women to live again.

This is what the shepherd does.

And David goes on, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

The end for which all things were created is the glory of God.

Stars and planets and atoms and lions all have their existence to proclaim the glory and the majesty of God, to put on display his greatness.

And we as humans are no different.

We are image bearers of God, these visible attestations of the glory of our Creator.

Saying to the cosmos, God is God and He is good.

Reflecting His character, leading us to rest by green pastures and in still waters, making us whole and leading us in paths of righteousness.

We could say in the good and the right way he leads us.

And ultimately, he is doing all of these things for the glory of his name.

He's showing off as a creator, as a good and glorious maker.

There are other shepherds and there are other sheep.

But David is saying, There is no shepherd like the Lord our shepherd, and there are no sheep better cared for than those under his covenantal watch care.

And in seeing this, we see the character of God.

We see his love for an undeserving people.

We see his faithfulness to unfaithful people.

We see grace to undeserving people.

We see him restoring broken people.

We see him calling to himself a wandering people.

He appeals to the name of God himself.

He says, You are glorious and Therefore, help me in my distress.

He doesn't say, I deserve this.

He says, you do.

Declaring that the good that's done to us is not done because we are good, but because he is.

God chose kindness not because we deserve it, but because simply he is kind.

He restores our soul, not because we have somehow merited the restoration and began to put the pieces back together ourselves, but because we are his sheep and he will draw his sheep to himself for the glory of his name.

Calvin, 16th-century pastor and theologian, writes this.

Certainly, his choosing us to be his sheep and his performing toward us all the offices of a shepherd is a blessing which proceeds entirely from his free and sovereign goodness.

You lead me in paths of righteousness, in other words, for your name's sake.

And for his glory, the true shepherd restores that which is broken.

Number three.

Verse four, the psalmist continues, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

I want you to hear me on this.

David does not say that he did not experience fear.

David does not even say that there's no legitimate reason to be afraid.

Rather, he acknowledges the presence of a fear-inducing valley, and yet immediately recognizes that there is a greater presence at work, the presence of the shepherd.

Therefore, the legitimate fear is conquerable.

Not because David bows his chest and somehow musters up enough bravery to walk into the valley.

No, he sees the danger.

But he sees the shepherd.

And because the shepherd is with me, because the Lord is my shepherd, the valley of the shadow of death no longer has substantial meaning.

It's as if one walks to the edge of a forest, knowing that this forest is filled with dangers and treachery.

But then you realize that you're in the presence of the one who can and certainly will defeat any danger that may come your way.

As I was thinking through this, I kept imagining small Frodo looking up to Gandalf as they enter into the dark woods and the fellowship of the ring.

Frodo, you can see the fear in his eyes, but he is in the presence of Gandalf the Grey.

It doesn't delegitimize the threats in the valley.

He simply is noticing and recognizing a greater presence.

And therefore, he does not go around, he doesn't avoid the valley of the shadow of death.

He walks straight through the middle of it.

Because a shepherd is with him.

We see this powerfully exhibited in the interaction between the three Jewish men and Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

Nebuchadnezzar, this king of Babylon, he erects this golden image to show his greatness as a king, and he demands everyone in the land, when you hear the noise, when you hear the music go off, everyone is to stop what they're doing, bow to this statue and worship.

The noise goes off, everyone bows except for these three young men.

They refuse.

And the king does as he promises.

And when they get there, he asks them, Why are you not bowing?

And in essence, they tell this great king, we only worship one God, and you're not him.

See, they do not look at the furnace and say it's not really that hot.

They don't look at the might of the king and say he's not really that strong.

They simply recognize that there is a greater power at work.

The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God who delivered his people from the hands of the Egyptians, the God who brought them to the Red Sea, the God who brought bread from heaven and water from a rock.

They are thinking back on the numerous ways in which God, their shepherd, has led them and delivered them.

And therefore, in the presence of a great king and in the imminent threat of their life, they will not bow.

Because deliverance will come, even if it be through the flames.

This is what David is saying here.

He's not saying that death will not come.

He's not saying that dark days will not loom over you.

Rather, he's saying that no matter the death, no matter the darkness, it is not ultimate and it will not have the last word.

The shepherd will.

Therefore, we can take comfort even in the midst of a shadowy darkness, because the Lord our shepherd is with us.

And if he is with us, then we have every reason to take comfort.

He doesn't take us around the treachery.

He doesn't take us and help us to avoid the danger.

He simply promises that he will be with us in the valley.

As our sister is sitting with her family member, preparing for him to die.

The shepherd promises, I am with you.

He doesn't say it's not real death.

He doesn't say the sorrow isn't real.

He says, I'm with you.

And when the sheep hear from the shepherd, I am with you, brothers and sisters, there is no valley through which we cannot walk.

Number four.

He said it's a feast for his people.

Verse 5, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

In other words, David David is saying that not only may we be comforted in the presence of trouble in this life, we'll feast in the midst of it.

It is only the sheep of the good shepherd who can sit in the valley of the shadow of death among their enemies and feast.

Why?

Because the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

Once again, David, through this imagery of a meal, reminds us that this is a covenantal union.

In the ancient Near East and in the Old Testament writings, we often see a covenant ratified or confirmed through the sharing of a meal.

There would often be the killing of an animal to show the severity of the covenant, in essence, saying, if you break this covenant, may what happened to this animal happen to you.

And then following that, they would often share a meal and showing the union between the two parties.

Ratifying or confirming that this covenant has been made, that these two parties are now one.

And often there was the suzerain king, that is the greater king, and then there was the vassal king or the lesser king.

And what we see in this covenant is the greater king, God taking on all the terms of the covenant himself.

And so when we see the sacrifice made, it's not God saying to us, if you don't keep the terms of the covenant, God is saying, listen to me, God is saying, if I don't keep the terms of the covenant, may this happen to me.

In other words, I do not break my promises.

And then he welcomes us to a feast.

And David gives us this imagery.

You prepare a table before me, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

He is saying that through this extravagant, costly meal, God is showing that the shepherd and his sheep are now in this covenantal union that cannot and will not be broken.

And the shepherd has spared no expense.

This is not simply a meal to sustain you until the next day.

This is a feast.

Oftentimes, when a host would welcome in his welcomed guest, it would be considered this double honor if he would, before the end of the meal, he would anoint them with this fragrant and costly perfume that serves no other purpose except to show that I am giving you my best.

I am giving you everything I have.

I am lavishing on you costly riches.

And David is saying, This is what our shepherd does for his sheep.

I am not simply giving you what you need, I am blessing you with grace upon grace upon grace.

Not because you deserve it, but because I'm a good shepherd.

He spares no expense.

And the point is not in using the imagery of this meal that David simply saying you'll never be hungry or you'll never thirst.

It's not the point.

In fact, we'd be doing a disservice not only to the text in our scope, we'd be doing a disservice to the scripture as whole.

And we would be slapping the face of our brothers and sisters throughout time and throughout space who have given their lives for this king.

If we say that what David is saying is that you will never need physical things.

It would be a slap in their face if we came to this text and applied it, saying, See, God says you'll never need anything physical.

You'll always have every little bit of food or drink or comfort that you need.

That is not the point.

And it would be a disservice to the text and a disservice to our suffering brothers and sisters.

His point is that the true shepherd has made a covenant with his people.

And that covenant cannot and will not be broken.

Because he has spared no expense to ratify the covenant.

And we see this fulfilled, friends, in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The table is set with the bread of his own body.

The cup overflows with the wine of his very own blood, proving that God has kept his promise to make a people for himself.

He has done so by upholding the terms of the covenant all on his own.

This was not a covenant that said, you keep up your end, I'll keep up my end, and we'll meet in the middle.

This is a covenant of grace.

Where the greater king takes upon himself all of the condemnation in the covenant.

Rather than saying, you will be crushed, he said, I will be crushed.

And when he welcomes us to the table, it's the bread of his own crushed body.

It's the wine of his own spilled blood at the seat to which we are welcomed.

He took upon the weight, took upon himself the weight of our sin on the cross.

And he raised from the dead so that we could be justified, which simply means that we could be made alive, that we could be made righteous before God.

So that when God looks at us, he doesn't see wandering beasts.

He sees the sheep of his pasture.

Who he cares for, who he's poured out his everything for.

And he welcomes us to the table.

In John 6, Jesus says, I am the bread.

Whoever comes to me will not hunger.

In John 4, he says, Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again.

Friends, our covenant shepherd has set a feast for his people, welcoming us into covenant with him.

Not because we've upheld the terms, but because he did.

Taking on himself the weight of our sin and then welcoming us to a table that was not rightly ours, but he made us children.

Number five.

He promises a sure future.

David closes with this.

He says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Surely, he writes, surely.

Goodness and mercy shall follow me.

He begins his final sentence with this emphatic exclamation of the reliability of God to fully and freely care for his people.

Surely, he says, absolutely, without a doubt, David is making the statement that he is confident that the Lord will have this posture of goodness and mercy toward him, though he knows he is undeserving of it.

And so if David knows, and friends, if you and I know that we do not inherently deserve this posture of goodness and mercy, then upon what grounds can we be so confident?

How can we be so sure?

David has already answered.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me because the Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want.

David can proclaim without hesitation, because of his understanding, that this is built on the covenantal love of the shepherd.

I wish we could go into, we don't have time, but I wish we could go into the language that's used here when he says goodness and mercy.

These are concretely covenantal terms.

Covenantal terms.

This word mercy that's used, it could be translated covenant love, or steadfast love or never-ending love.

And David says, Surely this goodness and this covenant love will follow me.

If the Lord is our shepherd and goodness and covenant love or characteristics of the shepherd, then we can be confident that no matter where we find ourselves, we are in the presence of and are being affected by the goodness and mercy of the Lord our shepherd.

Psalm 23, brothers and sisters, is not a promise that all will be well in this life.

Rather, it is a promise that through the deepest suffering, through the greatest exhaustion, through excruciating need, the Lord Jesus Christ, our shepherd, will be with us.

And his presence with his sheep will never run out.

Because Jesus became weary so that we could rest.

Jesus became broken so that we could be restored.

Jesus, our shepherd, died so that we could live.

He drank the cup of God's wrath so that we could drink the cup of covenantal blessing.

And Jesus awaits us in a prepared glory, sitting seated at the right hand of our Father, interceding on our behalf so that one day he will welcome us home.

And Jesus said in the New Testament that he would not drink of this good wine until he does so at the feast table with his sheep.

So Jesus is anxiously awaiting the day when we, brothers and sisters, will sit down at the table of our Lord and will feast with him, confirming that God keeps his promises.

And if the Lord is our shepherd, he will fully and freely provide for his sheep, both in this life and in the life to come.

Pray with me.

Father, we do not deserve your never-ending covenantal love.

And yet you freely pour it out.

You welcome the weary and the tired and you promise rest.

You welcome the broken and you promise restoration.

You welcome the hungry and you promise a feast.

You welcome the abandoned and the wandering and you promise to bring us close.

And you do not fail to keep your promises.

So, Father, we rejoice that when life throws us into the valley of the shadow of death.

When we think of our sister who is awaiting the death of her family member, it is not in that situation, it is not in our deservedness, that we ground our hope.

It's on the grounds that our shepherd is good.

And he will not fail us.

And he will be present with us in the midst of that valley.

He will help us to feast.

And he awaits the day when we come and see him face to face.

And are made like him.

Father, help us to see Jesus as our true and good shepherd.

That we would cease to try to wrangle ourselves.

But that we would heed this calling into covenant with Christ.

By grace.

Father, help us to look at the body that was broken, at the blood that was poured out, at the grave from which he arose, and follow that shepherd.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

And amen.

Here at Missio, we see in Scripture a pattern of revelation and