David Rains: All right, we’re going to study a passage here, Psalm chapter 23. Such a familiar passage for sake of time as well. We’re not even going to read our text here today, but we’re going to give some insight here. I’ve been helped in so many ways reading a book I’ll show you the book it’s called The Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 and it’s a really practical perspective coming from a shepherd and so I encourage you maybe to pick that up especially if this session helps you and interests you but we can study a lot of different passages in scripture to get to know God’s love for us right you find that all throughout scripture Psalm 23 is one of those but it’s a very unique perspective It’s a little different, maybe. So I want us to look at a practical, use this workshop to study in a practical way what a shepherd does, what sheep do. If we had time, I had some videos in mind. Unfortunately, we don’t have any to show you here today. But it’s pretty interesting when you study and look at what sheep and shepherd do in their relationship. And I think that King David’s perspective of God and his love and his understanding is maybe the most impacting to me. As you read the Psalms and you study David’s love for the shepherd and for the Lord, it’s really an amazing relationship that David had, and I love to study that.

Context is really important, too, when you study a passage of Scripture, right? You understand looking at its context helps you to fully understand and appreciate what you’re actually looking at. And the context here of Psalm 23 is also unique. It’s not necessarily found in the chapter before like you would normally look to find the context of a passage. In fact, it’s not really found anywhere in scripture. It’s really the practical understanding of what a shepherd does. And the Bible doesn’t give us the ins and outs necessarily of a shepherd. Though, interesting enough, when you look at scripture, you find all kinds of references to sheep, shepherds, and that kind of a relationship. For example, Moses was a shepherd. And God had him be a shepherd for many years before he actually led the people of Israel. And Moses was used carrying a rod and a staff. And God used that picture many times in scripture. Then you have Jesus was led as a sheep to the slaughter. All we like sheep have gone astray. And there’s many more references in scripture to sheep and shepherd. Though that doesn’t necessarily give us the practical insight that it wants us to see here that we’re going to learn today from this book in Psalm 23. Today I want to show you the best I can what is understood in this statement and all that Psalm 23 shows us about sheep and their shepherd. and understanding the context, the practical relationship will help us understand what Psalm 23 is all about and how to dwell in his love.

Now, how many of you work on a farm or live on a farm? I see one up here. I know she does. A couple more. So, okay, so my next question is how many of you have helped raise sheep or worked on a sheep farm? Probably not many. Dakota, do you have any sheep? No, I know you have goats, right? And it’s a little different. Okay, so none of us actually have worked with sheep, right? Am I right on that? So I actually did a little bit, a farm that I helped. Is there a Robertson here? Yeah, Lydia, your grandpa had sheep a little bit. So I am definitely not an expert in raising sheep, but I did see a little bit as I read this psalm and then I read this book, I see a few things that, wow, yeah, sheep are really dumb. And they really do need a shepherd. But that’s the value of this book and this passage what we can learn from David because he really understood that being a shepherd himself. So I did work on the farm with a farm with some sheep and learned very little bit about it, but I see a few points in this psalm that I understand better, and I’m not even close to understanding all that real shepherds know. But this author was a shepherd, and I think he did some work shepherding in Israel. He’s definitely very familiar with what it was like to shepherd in Israel. I couldn’t quite tell and that wasn’t the point of my reading the book but he may have also shepherded in western United States as well but he seems to have a very good understanding of what it was to raise sheep back in the Bible times being a shepherd himself and maybe even doing it right there in Israel

but the first phrase here in Psalm 23 says that the Lord is my shepherd the last phrase says I will dwell in his house forever I trust that after we’re done studying today You’ll want to say with the same heart as David As the shepherd That the Lord is my shepherd And I want to dwell in his house And in the flock of God That’s kind of the picture Forever He’s the best shepherd He loves us in an incredible way And as you get to know that relationship of a shepherd And what he does for sheep You begin to realize Wow God Every single moment I so easily forget about God, but God never forgets about me. And a good shepherd never forgets about his sheep. He never neglects them. He never misses one moment of care, love, and compassion and help because the sheep need that in order to thrive. So in your lesson here, I gave you a handout, and I know we’re not going to get through all of this in the amount of time that we have, but maybe if you’re interested, you can read it and study it a little bit more, and it really helps you to understand and appreciate God’s love for you. The Lord is my shepherd.

There are three reasons why we must recognize our shepherd owns us. First of all, God made me in everything. So if God made you, then he owns you, right? And the illustration here, God knows and made everything from the stars and the bigness of the universe all the way down to the tiniest life that you find under a microscope. And here’s a man right in the middle of that bigness to the smallest. But isn’t man unique? God has gave us a soul, a man that lives forever, has a relationship designed to be met by God. That’s what’s unique about mankind. But God made you. God made everything. That’s an amazing God that we have. But he also redeemed mankind. Number two, God redeemed mankind. Just like a shepherd spends his money to buy sheep. The author of the book that we’re reading here spent all of his money after the Great Depression. So that’s a real sacrifice, a real commitment, a real risk. And shepherds often have to do that for their sheep. So the good shepherd spent all he gave his entire life to buy and redeem the people back that he had created. That’s an amazing shepherd. He bought you back. Number three, God in his divine diligence cares for us every moment.

what is implied when you say the Lord is my shepherd this is a profound yet practical working relationship between a human being and his maker a lump of common clay relates to divine destiny God’s eternal he’s huge yet he wants a relationship with you we’re just a piece of dirt a lump of clay isn’t that amazing that God cares about you A mere mortal becomes the cherished object of divine diligence. So every moment of God’s love, he’s concerned about you diligently. This knowledge should result in a quickening of my spirit, realizing that God is deeply concerned about me as an individual. Knowing this gives me great purpose and meaning to my time on earth. If you don’t know God, people wander and try to find the purpose of life. But until you know God, you don’t have that. The more I know Christ, the more I will relate to him, love him, and I want to serve him. For sake of time, I’m going to skip the illustration. You can read that at some point if you would like. What does the great shepherd do for his sheep? And as you look at Psalm 23, a lot of these phrases show us what that shepherd does for his sheep. And as you get to know what a shepherd really does and what sheep really do and what their tendencies are, you begin to realize, wow, our great shepherd does a lot for us. And these phrases come to life in a very powerful way. So I want to challenge you. Listen close. Get your attention on this. And if you want to read that book later, it’s very helpful in understanding God’s love for you.

He restores my soul. Now, what does that mean? If we were to ask just a simple question about each of these different phrases, I’m sure you’d have some great thoughts. But if you’ve not been a shepherd, you’re not going to come even close to understanding what that really means, that he restores your soul. Have you ever tasted defeat? Fall into temptation? We’ve all been there. Felt rejected? Been frustrated? Have you ever been cast down and felt that in life? And far too often, we unfortunately live with these experiences, leaving us hopeless and without strength. Psalm 42, 11, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God.

So, what does a cast sheep, anybody have a clue what a cast sheep is? If you’re in my youth group last year, we did a little study. I’m trying to see if I see any of you. Actually, some of you may have been in there. Yeah, actually, Maki should know because we studied that as we went to Wales this last march and saw some sheep, though we didn’t find any cast sheep, I don’t think. But we had a good laugh about that. Okay, you want to answer it? Yeah. You don’t remember. That’s okay. So, maybe Maki does it all and put her on the spot. A cast sheep. Let me read you a paragraph here. It’s actually pretty interesting. You probably heard the phrase, sheep are pretty dumb animals, right? If a sheep gets on his back, he’s so dumb he can’t figure out how to lay back over and get back up, and he’ll die there.

that’s what a cast sheep is let me tell you the way it happens is this a heavy foot or long fleece sheep will lie down comfortably in some little hollow or depression in the ground and it may roll on its side slightly to stretch out or relax suddenly the center of gravity in the body shifts so that it turns on its back far enough that the feet no longer touch the ground and it may feel a sense of panic and start to paw frantically can you picture that sheep on his back and his legs start kicking and the more he panics the worse it gets so frequently this only makes things worse and it rolls over even further now it’s quite impossible for it to regain its feet as it lies there struggling gases begin to build up in the rumen the stomach as these expand they tend to retard and cut a blood circulation to extremities of the body especially the legs the weather is very hot and sunny a cast sheep can die in a few hours if it’s cold clouding rainy may survive in this position several days that kind of hurts to get stuck on your back for a few days right especially if it’s hot and sunny out and then you die so it’s a serious thing for a sheep to become cast most of the time it happens when their hair is long or especially pregnant sheep which is even worse for the shepherd because now he lost not only the mother but the babies inside. So, cast sheep is a really important thing and now that you understand, a shepherd is constantly looking out for this because he can lose his sheep pretty quick. This describes the work of the shepherd to prevent and restore the cast sheep. So, the shepherd’s constantly caring for the flock, counting to see if any are missing, We’re familiar with that idea. A shepherd counts his sheep. He’s diligently looking for that sheep that’s not there. And he’s looking out for the predator because predators also know sheep can get cast. And that’s an easy target. Birds, animals, wolves, that kind of thing, dogs. The tender care for cast sheep means the shepherd is patient. He’s helpful. He’s loving. He’s not disgusted at the sheep or fed up or furious. You know, isn’t that all described God, our good shepherd? He’s patient with us. He’s helpful. He’s loving. He’s not disgusted. He doesn’t get fed up. He’s not furious and mistreat us. How many times do we do wrong to God and get stuck on our back? And the shepherd treats us with love, mercy, kindness, and he doesn’t get fed up with us. Even when we make mistakes over and over again, some of those sheep get cast over and over again. but the shepherd cares for them.

How can we be found cast? Now this is where it gets interesting. You start applying it and you’re realizing, wow, I am a sheep. I am pretty dumb and I do need a shepherd. Sheep look for the soft spot in the ground to lay. Mankind needs to realize the danger of always looking for the easy, comfortable life. A soft spot living, if you describe it, means you’re looking for no hardship, no need for endurance, no demand on self-discipline. How many of you think that’s the comfortable life? Naturally, right? That’s what we want. We don’t like the discipline of life that sometimes that brings. Now, sometimes in good character, we apply ourselves and take that, but we don’t always like hardship, trials. We try to avoid those, right? That’s natural. It’s not necessarily anything wrong with that desire. Poverty is not all that bad. None of us pursue poverty, right? That’s not normal to pursue poverty. pursue riches, wealth. Jesus told the rich young man to sell all that he had and give it up, but he didn’t. I’m sorry, he didn’t, but it would have been better for him to have done so. Do you see, this man was stuck lying on his back, and Jesus gave him a vision to give it up, do something profitable, and flip himself over, and stop being cast, settled into that soft spot living. But the man was stuck in his riches and he missed, he really missed eternity, he missed it all. Self-indulgence can lead the good shepherd to move us to rougher pasture where we have to depend on him. So sometimes that rough ground and the roughness of life is actually keeps us depending on the good shepherd and the shepherd knows that and sometimes intentionally puts the sheep into that pasture so that they can’t get cast.

Some sheep have too much wool and this can cast the sheep and the wool is a picture of the self-life in the world. And you’re actually going to see that several times if we have time. We’ll look at more of those. But that wool is that self-life and the destruction that the world brings. The sheep collect the world all around them with too much wool on them. You get manure, mud, burrs, sticks, bugs, grass, thorns, all kinds of stuff stuck in that wool when it gets long. Man with too much self in the world gets himself into trouble. And the good shepherd is going to have to do some pruning, just like the sheep needs to be sheared. Right? That’s practical. And as you study and understand what the shepherd does, you begin to realize, wow, God’s doing that for me. Okay, so that’s why God put that trial, that difficulty in my life, or that’s why God took away that comfort zone. God knows the big picture. And when you learn to recognize the good shepherd cares about me, he knows I can get cast. I can get stuck and that’s going to ruin my life. How many of you want your life ruined? Living the easy, comfortable life might ruin you.

Living in poverty might not be all that bad. Fat sheep, number three, are in danger of becoming cast. When man has a sense that he has arrived and becomes over content in his attainment, he finds himself very close to danger and being cast. Revelation 3.17 correlates riches with danger. You know the example in the gospel, the farmer who pulled down his barns to build bigger was in danger. Jesus tried to warn him and gives us that illustration. The good shepherd changes the fat sheep’s diet and routine to get him back to health. Hebrews chapter 12, Jesus disciplines those that he loves. So a good shepherd puts the sheep sometimes in a rough pasture because he loves that sheep. He’s trying to protect them. There’s certain times of the year when sheep are more prone to be cast. The shepherd knows that. So the shepherd knows, your good shepherd knows what’s best for you. And he knows what your tendencies are, your weaknesses, and he wants to protect you from that. So is he being a bad shepherd when he puts you in a position where you’re not comfortable? No. He knows exactly what you’re doing and you’re learning to depend on him. That’s the life. When the sheep can learn to depend on their shepherd, not care about what’s around them and we don’t have time to look at every one of these phrases but if you didn’t you read this book you realize wow the shepherd is doing so much to manage those sheep and the sheep if they learn to depend on that shepherd are going to be managed properly and sheep are some of the most productive livestock they really can be the best animal to raise but it takes a good shepherd a good manager and a good sheep to learn to trust and depend on the shepherd and depend on the shepherd. So don’t react to his work. That’s one of your blanks there under Hebrews 12. Don’t react to his work. Embrace it. Count it joy to know the good shepherd. Then 1 Corinthians 13, he also will not ask us to take more than we can handle. We’ll try to get through two more of these in the short amount of time that we have.

Let me just look. The rod and the staff is a good one. He anoints your head with oil. I want to get to surely goodness and mercy will end with that one. So let’s try. Let’s go. He anoints my head with oil. The rod and the staff is a great one, but you’re going to have to look at that on your own. And study that one. He anoints my head with oil. What do you think he’s doing? What’s a shepherd? What’s the purpose of this? Sometimes you put oil on yourself, right? Anointing, sometimes it has to do with healing, right? That’s probably the general picture. Sheep need anointing for deliverance from irritations. Sheep need oil to protect them from bugs, and like we need the spirit of God to protect us in moments of irritation and temptation. There’s a lot of different flies that irritate bugs. How many of you get irritated by flies? I’m sorry, flies irritate sheep. We all get irritated sometimes. Mosquitoes in particular, isn’t that pretty irritating? You ever lay down in bed, you’re on your own comfortable bed, and all of a sudden there’s that little buzz right by your ear? That’s the worst, right? I can be bit by a mosquito, but when it’s dark out and I’m trying to go to sleep and it’s buzzing in my ear and I can’t see it to kill it. That’s frustrating, right? You want to get that mosquito out of here because you know if you fall asleep, he’s going to bite you somewhere.

imagine that mosquito biting the tip of your nose wouldn’t that be annoying i don’t think i’ve ever had that maybe some of you have but this helps you to understand what sheep sometimes go through a nose fly i wish i had a video for you on this one it’s very irritating and dangerous that’s what it’s called a nose fly the sheep may kill itself trying to get free of that bug okay so if a sheep is going to kill itself because there’s a bug irritating it that sheep’s in danger right it shepherd. This bug will lay an egg on the mucus of that sheep and in a couple days a worm will hatch. I’m sorry if this grosses you out but that worm’s going to crawl up his nose and get to the brain and then the sheep is going to die for sure. So this will kill the sheep if the sheep doesn’t kill itself trying to get that worm out by beating its head to the ground to trees rubbing it in the ground. Can you imagine that? Here’s this sheep that’s being irritated. A fly keeps buzzing, landing on its nose, and it’s doing that all day. That would irritate a sheep so much. Is he going to eat? He’s not going to get maintained properly that day. He’s not going to be able to get water because he’s frustrated. He’s worked up. How many of you, when you get worked up and frustrated, you’re in your right mind? So that’s what happens, this sheep, and he gets himself in trouble. The sheep will also stir up the others, and soon there’s havoc in the whole fold, and all the sheep are frustrated, worked up, because one gets worked up. One of them got that bug in its nose in the worm. The only release is the applied necessary oil from the shepherd, and this oil needs to be applied at this moment of trouble, but it also must be applied throughout the summer to prevent this damaging bug, which is also more work on the shepherd, more money spent to take care of the sheep to make sure there’s proper ointment.

We need, as humans, the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit in moments of irritation, which become a temptation and can lead to sin. We also need the Holy Spirit applied every day, whether it’s a good day or a bad day, because we need to be preparing ourselves for the temptations to come. Temptations come every day. Moment by moment, we need the Holy Spirit. Just like the right oil on the sheep so the Holy Spirit can bring perfect peace and rest from that moment of irritation and temptation. In this moment, pray, Lord, I can’t cope with these petty, annoying, peevish problems. Please apply the Holy Spirit or the oil of your Holy Spirit to my mind. Enable me to act and react and think just as you would. And that gets down to practical, those moments when you’re irritated, tempted, and tempted. We need the Holy Spirit right in that moment. And to stop, to acknowledge him, to look to him, and he can apply that oil that brings that deliverance.

Sheep need oil to heal their scabs. Like we need to walk in the spirit to be cleansed from the world’s contamination. Scabs come from a tiny microscopic parasite. So you can’t even see it. The shepherd can’t even see it. That’s why the oil is necessary constantly, especially in the times of season when these bugs are prone to attack their sheep. The infection spreads as sheep touch heads and sheep love to rub heads often. Soon the disease will spread fast and the only remedy again is the properly applied oil. The world can contaminate us through our mind gate. We often rub heads with ungodly people, can easily begin to accept the world’s ideas, and we need the Holy Spirit to cleanse, to purify our minds. Technology is probably the easiest, the fastest way to expose our minds to the world’s ideas. And you can’t leave that contamination without being affected. So sometimes you can’t even help the fact that your mind is going to be contaminated. Sheep naturally rub heads and that scab spreads really quick. And that’s just natural. Sheep do that. It’s a way of showing affection, care for one another, that they’re part of the same fold. And that just naturally happens. And in the world that we live, you can’t avoid it sometimes. You’re going to rub heads and your mind’s going to be affected. But what delivers you? The Holy Spirit, right? Doesn’t he know exactly what’s going through your head? What’s exactly going through your mind? Isn’t that amazing? He knows what’s going through your mind and your mind and your mind all at the same time. And he knows what’s needed. And he can give you the personal care and attention when you call out to him. And you ask for that anointing.

Philippians 4:8 says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, think on these things. As you have received Christ Jesus, so walk ye in him. The Christian life is filled by faith. Just like the moment of salvation, we need the Holy Spirit moment by moment to live this way. And the last point here I want you to see is, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. You think you know what that means? We know a goodness, mercy is, right? But how does it follow me all the days of my life? Isn’t that kind of a bold statement? Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. How could David say that? Isn’t David a sinner? Wouldn’t the good shepherd really show goodness and mercy to his life? Did David go through some hard times? And yet he said, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life?

How do sheep, I want you to understand first before we answer the question, how do sheep produce goodness and mercy? Understand for a moment, sheep can be the most destructive livestock or they can be the most productive. they can be the most destructive or the most productive sheep’s manure has the best balance they eat the destructive plants and weeds to restore land so just a couple practical ways what sheep do that I wouldn’t have known naturally not knowing anything about sheep but it helps me understand this principle the shepherd had some really bad land but when he managed his sheep properly that eyesore land can be turned to a beautiful park-like property with properly managed sheep on that land. How many of you knew that? So sheep can be the most productive but they can also take park-like property, beautiful green land and I’ve been to Wales and it’s probably the most green country, the green place I’ve ever seen. And if your sheep aren’t managed properly they’re going to destroy that land. so this all depends on the management of the sheep and their willingness to respond and a good shepherd will show goodness and mercy and in return the sheep will lead behind goodness and mercy if they’re managed properly they’re going to reproduce and turn to something productive

this verse can sound like a boast or an unbelievable statement but it can be true goodness and mercy will always follow me because my good shepherd always has my best interest in mind we have the best shepherd in fact we have a perfect shepherd in the human realm we have good shepherds but none of them are perfect they can’t see they can’t know everything they can’t always be good and always show mercy i’m sure every shepherd has gotten frustrated at one point even the best, but not our shepherd. He never gets frustrated and he always has my best interest in mind. Though he may lead me down a dark and dangerous path, even when we are sick, when friends oppose or conflict, when we lose a loved one, when money runs out and work ends, school is hard, authorities correct us, in those moments when we think it’s going wrong, he’s leading me to goodness and mercy out of love and compassion and he knows my path. He has a plan for me. John 10:11 is a good principle about the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd said Jesus and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. That’s our perfect shepherd. He gives his life. But first John 3 16 says hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives to the brethren. That’s the goodness and mercy flowing through you. We’re like the sheep. And a good shepherd shows goodness and mercy. Does it stop with that sheep? That’s not how it’s supposed to be. That sheep is supposed to be a channel of God’s goodness and mercy flowing through them to the next and to the next. With this great love flowing in me, it should not stop with me. It should flow out of me and follow in my path, leading others to see God’s goodness and mercy through my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of his life. As I read that and understood what a shepherd does for his sheep, it helps me to understand in a greater way what my shepherd does, what my responsibility is, not just to receive goodness and appreciate what his goodness and mercy does for me, but to realize I have to show that. I have to let it pass through me. I need to be that reproductive sheep that yields to the shepherd, follows him, recognizes his best interest is for me. And when I do that, when I yield to him, the goodness and the mercy of the good shepherd flows right through me to the next. And my life now can impact somebody and show God’s goodness and mercy.

So how should we as sheep respond to our great shepherd? If sheep were people, that helps us be a little more specific and blunt if sheep were people we would call them crazy if they considered the shepherd harsh for the many things he does for them out of love and care it’s not always easy to have your your to shear the sheep to put the oil on especially when the bugs gotten up the nose to do some of the things that are necessary to help that sheep sometimes it hurts them. But we would call sheep crazy if they considered the shepherd harsh for the many things he does for them out of love and care. We would call them fools if they didn’t follow and serve such a good shepherd. And we would call them selfish and ungrateful if they didn’t benefit their shepherd however they could when he had given them such goodness and mercy and love. So we are the sheep and he is the shepherd. And I trust this simple picture opens our eyes to the Savior’s love for each of us personally. May we respond the only reasonable way. Such a shepherd will have a total dependence. I’m sorry, such a shepherd will have my total dependence and my total surrender. David boasted. He wanted everybody to know that God was his shepherd. He said, the Lord is my shepherd. And I think he’s boasting because he knows his shepherd. He knows what it is to be a shepherd. And he knows how dumb sheep are. And he knows the Bible says that he is like a sheep. And he needs a shepherd. And don’t we have the best shepherd? You’re only going to boast in the goodness of your shepherd if you know him. And that’s why he says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever at the end. And explains all these amazing pictures. what that shepherd and sheep relationship is like, but he’s boasting God is my shepherd. And I’m going to dwell in his fold and his house forever.

And the more you know him, the more you put your dependence on him, the more you build your relationship. James chapter 4 says to draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. As you yield to the shepherd, you’re going to experience his goodness and mercy, and you’re going to experience what it is to see that flow and pass through you to another. Let’s bow here in a word of prayer.