MY SHEPHERD ---- Psalm 23
I .Introduction
A. Dr. Bob Ketcham tells this story: 1."Many years ago I had a dear Swedish friend by the name of Join Linn. He loved to work with children. One day when he was speaking to a Sunday School in the church of a fellow pastor, he asked if there were any children present who could quote the entire Twenty-third Psalm. Among several hands which were raised was that of a little golden haired four-and-a-half-year-old girl. My friend was a bit skeptical and asked if she really could quote the entire Psalm. Upon being assured that she could, Mr. Linn suggested that she come up to the platform where she could be heard, and repeat the Psalm. She came to the rostrum, faced the audience, made a perky little bow, and said, "The Lord is my Shepherd, that's all I want," bowed again, and went and sat down. Well, she had said it all! That's all there is to the
Psalm. If we can truthfully say today, "The Lord is my Shepherd, that's all I want" then he has compassed the Twenty- third Psalm, for which the Shepherd comes all the rest of the Psalm, and with the Shepherd there is very little left."
2. With this quotation, I will turn to a brief exposition of this Psalm.
B. He maketh me lie down in green pastures (v 2)
1.That means I won't want for rest
2. We are living in a day of weariness. Our minds are tired. Our bodies, our hearts, our nerves, they are all tired
a. We live in a constant and ceaseless whirl of activities and difficulties
b. Everything moves with such lightening like rapidity.
c. Dr. William L. Pettingill well said, "Our forefathers took months to travel a few miles with an oxcart, but we in this generation cannot even wait for the next section of a revolving door." and how true that is!
II. Jesus Offers Himself to Us.
A. Into this situation tbe Lord Jesus offers Himself to us under the picture of a Shepherd.
1. He wants to lead every one of us into a quiet place of rest - I thuAc all of us feel the need for it
2. Jesus Clirist this morning wants to take each of us into a quiet place where we can lie down and rest
B. But there can be no rest without Peace
1. One must have peace if he is to have rest
2. There can be no real rest without peace.
a. We must have peace if we are to have rest
b. Peace in the Greek means to join together (to set at one)
c. Threads that are broken can be joined again
d. Relationships that have been disrupted can be healed.
3. The reason it can happen is because God is a God of peace
a. Rom.. 15:33 - The God of peace be with you all
b. Rom. 16:20 - The God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet
c. I Cor. 14:33 - God is not a God of confusion but of peace
4. The requisite for this rest the Shepherd provides, for indeed He Himself is that peace.
a. Eph. 2:14 - For He is our peace who hath made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.
b. There are two kinds of peace in the scriptures.
1) There is peace with God (Rom 5:1) - that is salvation
2) There is peace of God (Phil 4:7)-that is rest
3) In Rom. 5 we get to know Him as Savior, in Phil 4 we get to know Him as Shepherd
4) The peace of Rorn. 5 saves the soul, the peace of Phil 4 keeps the heard and mind.
5) It keeps it from worry, hate and fear
III. The Tenseness of the Sheep
A. Overall picture of our hearts has been one of tension, strain and nervousness
1. There is no rest under those conditions
2. The Shepherd is calling all of His sheep and is saying this monling - come lie down and feed in my pastures.
a. Don't look at people who frighten you or wolves who threaten you
b. I want you to look at Me (God) your Shepherd and see that my rod and my staff are for your protection.
c. As tired weary sheep, we are invited to lie down and rest
B. But if we lie down and rest we can be sure that "he will work for them that wait for Him."
1. This will give us the "peace of God" which will give us a place of sweet rest from day to day
2. If we really allow Him to be our Shepherd we will not want for rest.
IV. He Leads Me Besides the Still Waters
A. That means I won't want for refreshment
1.We are living in a salty world. How often that salt gets in our eyes and they flow with tears
2. God knows our needs so He calls us away to the "still waters"
a. Some scholars insist that the word "still" is in the past tense in the original, and that the text should read, "He leadeth me beige the stilled waters."
b. In the life of the oriental shepherd he often has to do just that. He must still the waters. There is something about a sheep which makes it afraid of swiftly moving water. They seem to have sheep intuition that they are helpless in the water.
c. Their heavy coats act as sponges and become so saturated that the little animals are dragged to the very bottom. Because of this it is difficult, if not well-nigh impossible, to get sheep to go near swiftly running water.
d. If there are no pools or quiet springs, then the shepherd must make some.
e. Just yonder there is the swiftly moving, little mountain rivulet. Perhaps one could jump across it easily, but the water is dashing so rapidly over the stones that the noise if frightening. To such refreshing waters it is impossible for the shepherd to lead his sheep.
f. On occasions like this, the shepherd prepares a little dam across the swiftly moving stream made of rocks and sod from the bank, and by-and-by there is a quiet little pool of "stilled" waters. The sheep then move forward without fear and are refreshed.
g. what a beautiflil picture of the present ministry of our lovely Shepherd for us who are the sheep of His pasture!
B. It is a refreshing thing to know that Jesus turns these salty and bitter experiences into sweetness and growth.
1.The experience through which we have been passing can be remembered as a black mid awful memory.
2. Or it can be remembered as the time when Jesus became so beautifully revealed and real that the rushing waters
around us have become still.