THE GOOD SHEPHERD – PART ONE
Friends, we meet again. This hour, I’m going to speak on: the Good Shepherd. In Psalm 23 (a very familiar Psalm many Christians have memorized) it says:
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd;
1I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, 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.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.
PRAYER:
Thank You Father for another time we have come to search the scriptures. We trust that You would open our eyes, the eyes of our spirits and our minds. Grant us understanding, we pray, in Jesus Name. Amen!
The LORD is My Shepherd.
I want to introduce to you the Good Shepherd in the Old Testament; and next time, the Good Shepherd in the New Testament. This Psalm was written by David. And it was out of his experience as a shepherd in his early years when the LORD sent His servant Samuel to anoint a king for Him in the House of Jesse. There we learnt that David was in the field. He was the only one who was absent that day. When all his brothers passed by and none of them was selected, Samuel asked Jesse: Are all the young men here? Then he said, there remains yet the youngest; and there he is keeping the sheep. That’s David was a shepherd. In 1 Samuel 17, Saul was enquiring who that young man was, David who offered to challenge Goliath. He asked him who he was, but David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father’s sheep. And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went after it, and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when he rose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it. He was saying this to Saul to convince him that the God who delivered him from the lion and the bear would deliver him from the hand of Goliath.
And the one that David identifies as his Shepherd in Psalm 23 is the LORD. That signifies Jehovah. And Jehovah is the self-existent One – the self-sufficient one. If he is self-existent, He must be self-sufficient: the omnipotent One, the omniscient God. That’s the person that David identifies as his Shepherd. No other God is like him.
And so, I want you, friend, to permit me to introduce this Shepherd, who is Jehovah, to you.
What kind of Shepherd is He? The LORD, David’s Shepherd, who is also my Shepherd, because I have embraced His Son who has brought me into the family. And for as many as have done so, He is your Shepherd. This shepherd is the Good Shepherd.
Psalm 136:1
1Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 119:68
68 You are good, and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.
Psalm 145:9
9 The LORD is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.
Matthew 19:16-17, the LORD Jesus Christ made us know that God is good. There was a young man who came to Jesus and said, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.”
God is the only one who is good. And some people would say, you see, Jesus is saying to this young man I am not God. No – that’s the opposite. He was saying in effect, if you call me good I have to be God; for there is no other person who is good, but God. And if I am good, and yes I am, that is because I am God. You can only address me as good if you recognize and acknowledge my deed; otherwise you cannot describe me as good – for no man is good. That’s basically what Jesus was saying. You know that none of us is good. Only God is Good – only God is good.
And in fact, any time any man is described as good, it is always good in a relative sense. It is always imperfect goodness. It is always changeable goodness: contextual goodness.
Two brothers who lived a very wicked sinful life, one of them died and his brother was looking for a minister to bury his brother. He couldn’t find one. He found one who agreed to bury his brother. But he said to the minister, please on one condition; when you conduct the service describe my brother as a righteous man. And there was no way the minister could do that. He said okay okay, I will do it. I will do it.
And then of course that day he said all the bad things the man had done because they had lived very wicked life. But he said, but compared to his brother he is righteous. So, relative goodness.
But the God, who is the Shepherd, who is good, He is good autonomously. He is infinitely good. He is perfectly good. He is unimaginably good. He is selflessly good. He is eternally good. No wonder we call Him the Good shepherd. O give thanks to the Good Shepherd.
The LORD our Shepherd is not only good, He is the Supreme God: given His existence, His self-existence and His self-sufficiency. He must be supremely good. In Psalm 136:2, He is described as the God of gods. All other gods are the creation of man. And this God is self-existent. He is the God of gods.
Psal 115:1-3
1Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
2 Why should the Gentiles say,
“So where is their God?”
3 But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.
He is sovereign.
Psalsm 115:4-8
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
6 They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
7 They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
8 Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
Those who worship idols, those who go to the babalawos – they are like those idols. They are blind; they are deaf; they are dumb. The LORD our Shepherd is in a class all by Himself. Do you see why David says that He will never lack any good thing when Jehovah is his Shepherd?
Friend, is the LORD your shepherd? Then you too will not lack any good thing now and into eternity, in Jesus Name.
Why am I so confident that the Good Shepherd will provide so adequately for me? Why I’m I so sure that He would provide all I need? My assurance is based, not only in the goodness and in the power – but especially is based on His mercy and His truth.
Note again:
Psalm 115:1
1Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
Your mercy. The mercy of God is that which spares you, rescues you from judgment, rescues you from harm, from danger, from trouble. That is the meaning you get from Genesis 19 where that word was used the first time. The law of first mentioned is the law of interpretation that tells you that where the word is first mentioned and what the meaning is there is the meaning of the word. The Good Shepherd would spare you, rescue you from Judgment. He will spare you from any harm, danger or trouble the enemy may want to bring upon you and upon your family. That is why He is the Good Shepherd. Just as the human shepherd cares for his sheep, protects them from danger, protects them from the enemy – so also this Good Shepherd. What kind of mercy does this Good shepherd show? It is an ageless mercy. It doesn’t not end for a day or two, a week or two, a month or two, a year or two – His mercy endures forever. Why? Because we are forever in need of it. We need it in the morning, in the afternoon, in the night. We need it in time and in eternity. Even when we return to God we will still be depending on His mercy. It is an ageless mercy. It is a changeless mercy. It is a tender mercy. You find that in Luke 1:72 and 78. It is mercy coupled with grace. It is also an endless inexhaustible mercy.
O give thanks to the Good Shepherd.
What will you need, friend, this year and always that the mercy of the Good Shepherd will not sufficiently take care of? May I say to you – nothing – absolutely nothing. But it depends on you – what you want to do. Are you prepared to receive this Good Shepherd into Your life? The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
Let us pray.
PRAYER:
Father, we want to thank You for the time we have spent together. I want to commit into Your hands my friends, especially those who have acknowledged You as their Good shepherd. And I trust that You would take good care of them, that You would protect them, that You would pilot them, that You would guide them all the days of their lives, in Jesus Name. Amen