The Lord Is My Shepherd: Six Promises for Life - Sermon 8th February 2026

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Let us read together. The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need.

He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams.

He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths. bringing honor to His name.

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.

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.

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. Verse 11-16 John 10 I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming.

He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd.

And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away

because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep, and they know me,

just as my father knows me, and I know the father.

So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep too that are not in the sheepfold.

I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one

flock with one shepherd.

27. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they will follow me. May God bless us.

This morning, I want us to think about promises. We hear about promises every day.

Promises for this, promises for that. Everywhere we turn, we find promises.

We get promises from politicians, particularly at election time.

They rarely ever fill, as you know.

We get promises from advertisers who tell us what their products will give us or provide.

You know, for example, if you put this cream on your skin for 30 days,

you'll be 20 years younger.

Not sure I believe that either. I had an interesting example last year.

I had a skin cancer cut out of my cheek and I lost a wrinkle.

Much more effective than cream.

We might be, you get the idea that I'm a bit cynical about what people promise,

but there are promises that we really can rely on, and I'd suggest that the

most reliable ones come from the Bible.

Let me ask you a question. What is your favorite chapter in the Bible?

Want some responses. What's the first thing that comes to mind? Yes, Jacob.

He'll get on, won't he? John 10, Colossians 3.

Mine's Romans 8, apart from a whole lot of others that I love,

but I've specified Romans 8 for my funeral.

There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

So that's a promise. Anyone else? Favourite chapter? Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2.

Okay, by grace you are saved through faith, not of yourselves.

Yes, anyone else? Psalm 27, first time, the Lord is my light and my salvation.

Good. Okay, another question. What do you think is the most recognized chapter in the Bible?

The most recognized chapter?

Are you scratching your ear, Chris, or are you going to make a guess?

I don't know. Psalm 23. through it.

You know, arguably Psalm 23 is the most recognized chapter in the Bible.

And today I want us to explore Psalm 23.

See what it tells us about sheep and shepherds and the part that Jesus plays,

in our lives as our good shepherds.

Let's just commit our time to the Lord. Father, I thank you that we can meet

together freely in this country to worship you and to learn and to share your love amongst us.

Lord, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts,

will be acceptable in your sight, our God and our Redeemer. Amen.

When I was a little boy in Sunday school, Well, Psalm 23 was the first passage

of Scripture that I learnt off by heart.

In those days, we used to have Sunday school anniversaries every October,

November time, and each class would have someone learn a passage of Scripture,

and part of the anniversary service would be to recite that from the front.

Well, my one was Psalm 23, and I did go on to learn many others over the years,

but Psalm 23 was the first one that I can remember reciting at an anniversary.

I think possibly some of you would have had the same experience.

The psalm, obviously, was written by David, who, as a boy in his early life,

was a shepherd in the hills around Judea.

As you look into the psalm, you can see reference to this part of his life in almost every line.

The psalm was probably written later in life as he reflected on his experiences as a shepherd boy.

In fact, we could say David went from pasture to palace. He went from valley to banquet.

And Psalm 23 sings of a shepherd who never lost a lamb and a host who was never

shortchanged his guests.

The psalm portrays God as a compassionate and true shepherd,

and as a constant, comforting presence, particularly in difficult times of our lives.

It affirms God's care, His guidance, His protection, and His eternal provision for His people.

Now, I want us to identify seven Ps out of Psalm 23.

Six of the Ps are promises, and one is a proviso.

So six promises, one proviso.

Interestingly, I don't know how many of you might have watched the tribute service

at Bondi a couple of weeks after the terror attack,

and they had lots of rabbis speaking, and one of the politicians,

that Chris Minns, the Premier and the leader of the opposition, also spoke.

But Chris Minns got up to speak and he said he read a passage from Psalm 23,

and then he suddenly realized he'd made a boo-boo and he corrected himself and said Psalm 23.

But he actually gave a really relevant and telling exposition of the passage he read.

It was the most helpful, I think, and encouraging talk of the day.

You probably didn't know it, but it was very effective.

So Psalm 23, what do we find? Well, before we rush into it,

there is one very important aspect of God's shepherding that we have to address,

and each of us has to address.

Note that David says in verse 1 that the Lord is my shepherd.

And I have to ask the question, first of myself, is the Lord my shepherd?

And secondly, is the Lord your shepherd?

Jesus, in John chapter 10, talks about himself as the good shepherd,

John 10 · chapter mention

as we had read for us. And that he certainly is.

But he also talks about the other shepherds that do not care for the sheep,

but exploit them and don't care for them at all.

Another question. Which sheepfold do you find yourself in?

God's fold with the Good Shepherd or the world's fold with Satan as your shepherd?

Jesus tells us in John 10 that he came as the Good Shepherd in order to give

himself as a sacrifice for mankind,

to give us the opportunity to be forgiven of our sin and to join Jesus in his sheepfold.

Each of us has to make that decision. If you don't make a decision, it's a no decision.

If you don't identify Jesus as your shepherd, please, my prayer is that you will want to.

And if that is the case, please talk to Chris or one of the church leaders after the service.

And we'd be very happy to talk to you about what it takes to make Jesus your shepherd.

So let's look at the six great promises of this psalm. The first promise is possessions.

In verse 1, we read that when the Lord is our shepherd, he gives us everything that we need.

Firstly, and most importantly, he gives us or enables us to find salvation.

And then everything that we need for daily life.

Certainly not everything we want, but everything we need. And the important

thing is there, it gives us enough.

In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to worry about everyday life and the things

associated with that, but to seek the kingdom of God above all else.

Live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

The first promise, possessions. The second promise is peace.

Verse 2 says, he lets me rest in green meadows.

You know, sheep eat grass and anything else they can find that they like.

And when they've eaten and drunk, drunk by the still waters, they rest.

And in John 14, we see Jesus' promise about peace.

In verse 27, we read, I'm leaving you with a gift.

Peace of mind and peace of heart and the peace I give,

is a gift the world cannot give,

so don't be troubled or don't be afraid God's promise is peace perfect peace,

the third promise pathway.

In verses 2 and 4, we read that he leads us beside peaceful streams and along

the right paths in order to bring honour to his name.

The pathway that we tread is our lives and the pathway that God provides is to follow him.

In John John 14, 6, we read that Jesus tells us that He is the way,

He is the truth, and He is the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

And when we allow Jesus to be our shepherd and to guide us, we have contentment.

When we choose to go our own way, we cannot blame God for the environment that

we create for ourselves.

Our shepherd knows where the green pastures are and the peaceful streams.

It is just our responsibility to follow him in obedience and in trust.

Rebelling against the shepherd and his leading is actually going against our best interests.

So, three Ps. The fourth one, the fourth promise that Psalm 23 gives us is that of protection.

Verse 4 reinforces this provision of the good shepherd.

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 me and comfort me.

I remember in the King James Version of the Bible, which I would have learned

in Sunday school, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Death casts a frightening shadow over us because we are entirely helpless in its presence.

We can struggle with other enemies, with pain, with suffering,

disease or injury, but strength and courage cannot overcome death.

It has the final word, or does it? No, it doesn't, because our shepherd,

Jesus, has been there, done that before us.

He has experienced death on our behalf and in our place.

He not only died, but he rose again to give us newness of life in him.

In 2 Corinthians 5.17, we read that Jesus gives us a new life.

The old has gone, the new has come.

He can walk with us through life's darkest valley, death, and bring us through to eternity with him.

The fifth promise, provision. Verse 5 we read, You prepare a feast for me in

the presence of my enemies.

You honour me by anointing my head with oil.

My cup overflows with blessings.

A feast demonstrates the Lord's care and bountiful supply and mercy towards his people.

In Psalm 22, 26 it says, the poor will eat and be satisfied and even though,

we have a feast our enemies are still present,

but they cannot interfere with the lord's bountiful provision.

Finally the sixth promise prospects verse six says 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.

In the final scene of this passage, we can see that believers will dwell forever

with the Lord in his sheepfold.

God remains the perfect good shepherd and promises to guide us and protect us,

for the whole of our life, and not even there, and into eternity,

which is even more important.

Revelation 7.17 says, For the Lamb on the throne will be their shepherd.

He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

It might trouble you to realize that we are sheep, sometimes referred to as stupid animals.

But take heart, with Jesus as our good shepherd, I'm quite happy to be identified,

as a sheep of his pasture.

Think about it, there cannot be a flock without a shepherd, neither is there

a shepherd, truly, without a flock.

The two must go together. They are the fullness of each other.

In Ephesians 1.23 we read, And the church is his body. That's us.

It is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

That I'm a sheep is a very sorry reflection, but that I have a shepherd that

I can rely on, it brings me great joy and peace.

And for that reason, I'm not sorry to be a sheep.

I'm weak, full of humility, but then I can rely on his strength,

his provision, and his guidance.

Let's look again at the six great promises of Psalm 23.

Great possessions, verse 1. Great peace, verse 2.

Great pathways, verses 2 and 4. Great protection, verse 4.

Great provision, verse 5.

Great prospects, verse 6.

But wait, there is more. There is also a proviso associated with these promises.

A great proviso because these blessings only apply to those who hear and make

the Good Shepherd, Jesus, their Shepherd.

They apply only to those who can truly say, the Lord is my Shepherd. Can you?

Let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you that you are our good shepherd.

You gave your life for the sheep and we come this morning and we praise you

for your provision of peace and protection,

provision and prospects Lord and we ask you to guide us encourage us and,

convict us Lord of where we need to be to be in your sheepfold,

and we say thank you in the great name of Jesus. Amen.