(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai)
This morning, we're going to come to one of the best-known and best-loved passages in Holy Scripture. I refer to the well-known Shepherd's Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, as he leadeth me beside the still waters. This particular portion of Scripture is commonly read at funeral services and not without significance. Words from this particular psalm are often among the last words uttered by dying Christians.
It's not unusual to be at the bedside of a saint who is very close to eternity, and to hear that saint of God say, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Immortal words like these have been a real source of strength to Christian people for many years. Indeed, they've been a source of strength for the Lord's people for three millennia, and it's the desire of my heart that we here might be strengthened in a special way today, as we look at the well-known words of this familiar psalm. My message this morning will be of a personal nature, really.
I'll be sharing with you what this psalm means to me, and what I see in it when I look at it close, closely. When I read the tremendous words that we have before us, the very first thing that comes into my mind is regeneration. You may wonder why.
Let me explain. There are two kinds of people in this world. On the one hand, there are those who are strangers to grace, and on the other, there are those who've been renewed by the Spirit of God.
On the one hand, there are those who are dead in their sins. On the other hand, there are those who are alive because they've been regenerated. Without doubt, the psalmist was a regenerate man.
I say this because he could say from his heart, with real conviction, The Lord is my shepherd. Many folk mouth these words, but they're not really the expression of the heart. Many cannot actually say from the heart that the Lord is their shepherd, because the Lord is not the shepherd of everybody.
Let me say that again. The Lord is not everybody's shepherd. If you've got problems with that, then just come with me to John's Gospel, chapter 10.
John's Gospel, chapter 10, and we'll look at verses 22 to 26. And it was at Jerusalem, the Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, and listen to this, but ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep. You don't believe, says Jesus, because you are not my sheep.
These Jewish religionists, to whom Jesus spoke in Solomon's porch, were not his sheep. This tells us quite clearly that he was not their shepherd. Those who have Christ as their shepherd are believers.
And what all believers have in common is that they are born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, even by the word of God that lives and abides forever. True believers are born, not of the will of man, but of God. In other words, those who are the sheep of God's pasture and the lambs of his flock are regenerate people.
It is because the psalmist is a regenerate man that he can say, The Lord is my shepherd. And so the first thing we say in this particular psalm is regeneration. It's not everybody's psalm, it's the psalm of the regenerate.
The psalmist recognises the Lord as his shepherd. He says with confidence, The Lord is my shepherd. Now in the Bible, there is a very strong emphasis on knowing God.
There is a strong emphasis on knowing Christ. Jesus said, I know my sheep and am known of mine. The sheep know the shepherd.
They recognise him. The apostle Paul prayed that he might know Christ. He said, Oh that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death.
Now as you will appreciate, when the apostle uttered those words, he did have a knowledge of Christ. But he wanted a deeper knowledge. He wanted a better knowledge of his Lord and Saviour.
That was the desire of his heart. The thing is this, you see. A personal relationship is not a static thing.
It is a living dynamic thing and is therefore the subject of development. A relationship with someone is something that develops. Some of you gathered here are married people.
You know your spouse. Over the years, you have got to know that person better. The relationship develops.
We who are Christians know Christ and our relationship with him should develop and progress. That is why we should be able to say with Paul, Oh that we might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. As I was preparing this message, I had to take a very close look at myself and I had to ask myself if my knowledge of Christ had actually kept pace with the duration of my relationship with him.
I would therefore put the challenge to you. How long have you been a Christian? How long have you known the Lord Jesus as your personal Saviour? Oh you say 10 years, 20 years, 40 years. Different people say different things.
Here is the question though. Has your knowledge of Christ kept pace with the duration of your relationship? Are you getting to know him better all the time? It should be like that. I believe it was like that with David the Psalmist.
He came into a closer and closer relationship with the Lord. He knew the Lord. He recognised the Lord at work in his life.
Is there that recognition with us? That is the question. How well do we know the Lord Jesus personally? The true story is told of a man who used to be a shepherd. Whilst he was working in the fields, he got attached to particular animals.
And there was one little lamb that he was quite attached to because the lamb's mother had neglected it and he had taken it into the farmhouse and fed it with a bottle. On many occasions he had this lamb in his arms and he looked after it and met its needs. The time came when it went out into the field and joined the rest of the flock.
But every time he went out into the field this particular sheep would come and nuzzle into his hand. It recognised him. And I think he quite enjoyed it.
Well he gave up shepherding and went into another line of work. But three years later he went back to the farm. And he went out into the field.
And he was having a good look around, observing the animals. And all of a sudden he felt something touching his hand. And when he looked down it was this sheep.
And he recognised it. And the sheep had recognised him. And three years had elapsed and the sheep recognised the man who had been the shepherd.
And that's a beautiful story. And it reminds us of how it should be with us. We should recognise Christ.
We should recognise his workings in our lives. We should know him and have a desire that our knowledge of him might be a developing knowledge. And so we've seen two things as we've looked at the opening words of the Shepherd Psalm.
We've seen regeneration. And we've seen recognition. The third thing we are reminded of is requirements.
As Christians we have requirements. And God in his goodness grants those requirements. To put it biblically, he meets our needs out of his treasure house of grace according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Because of this we can say the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The sheep of God's pasture lack nothing. The king of love my shepherd is, his goodness faileth never.
I nothing lack if I am his and he is mine forever. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. However there is something that we've got to appreciate when we look at these words.
This is a very very important matter indeed. The Lord meets our needs but not our greeds. You see the expression I shall not want doesn't just mean that God meets the needs of his people.
It also means that we will not be discontented with our lot. When God gives us what we require we will say thank you Lord for what you've given, I will not want. We won't hanker after things that we're not meant to have.
Because we will find all our fullness in the good shepherd himself. The knowledge that we shall suffer no lack will give us contentment. And what we need to remember is that the good shepherd knows what's good for the sheep.
Sometimes people come to God and they say Lord we want you to give us this. And the Lord says that's not good for you therefore I will withhold it from you. When he says this he knows what he's doing.
He meets our needs but not our greeds. He meets our requirements out of his treasure house of grace. He gives us those things which we genuinely require.
And so we've seen three things. Regeneration, recognition, requirements. Now we come to a fourth thing.
It's obvious to see. Rest. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. These words speak of the rest which the shepherd provides for the sheep from time to time. Oriental shepherds apparently spend a lot of time on the moon in search of good pasture land.
They travel from one grassy spot to another. However the good shepherd does not overdrive the flock. When he sees the sheep getting tired what does he do? He maketh them to lie down.
He maketh them to lie down in green pastures. Basically he provides rest. And that is something that all of us need from time to time.
Jesus said to his disciples on one occasion come ye apart into a desert place and rest a while. We need rest. And the Lord giveth his beloved sleep.
Rest and sleep are gifts from God and we need to appreciate them. We take the common things of life for granted sometimes don't we? When you get up in the morning and you've had a good refreshing sleep give thanks to God because he has given you that privilege. He has enabled you to take your rest and be refreshed as a result of it.
There's no doubt about it though. God has different messages for different people. There are some folk to whom he says look here there's work to do.
So stop being lazy. Go work for me in your vineyard. To others he says look I appreciate what you're doing.
You're working hard. You need to take time out and relax. You need to rest in order that you might be strengthened for further work for me in the future.
There's a time to work and we must be diligent in it. But there's also a time to refrain from working. There's a time to rest.
The bible tells us that in six days God created the heaven and the earth and on the seventh day being the sabbath he rested. And he gave us an example that we should follow in his steps. Working without resting is not super spiritual it's silly.
Performing even continuous christian activity without a break will have an adverse effect upon you physically, mentally and yes even spiritually. You say well how's that? If a person is dog tired he finds it hard to concentrate on reading the word of God. He finds it hard to pray.
So a spiritual life suffers. We need to appreciate the importance of rest. Jesus himself took rest from his labours.
We find him preaching and healing but we also find him asleep. In the rough sea remember in the disciples fishing boat. They were panicking because of the inclement weather conditions.
They were worrying because of the wind and the waves. Jesus was sleeping. Taking his rest.
Rest is important and if you think about it rest and peace go together. If you're ill at ease sometimes you can't go to sleep. If you're agitated you sometimes find that you lie awake in bed at night worrying.
Rest and peace go together. And it's interesting to observe that sheep will not rest when they are agitated. They won't lie down.
If there is something that spooks a sheep that sheep will stay on its feet. It will not lie down. The shepherd may try hard to make it lie down but it will not lie down if it's agitated.
If it's not peaceful it will not rest. So what do we do if we feel agitated? Well we need to take our agitations, our worries, our concerns to the great shepherd himself. We've got to learn to cast our cares upon him knowing that he cares for us and he will keep us in peace.
Perfect peace if our hearts and minds are stayed on him. He is the author and giver of peace. He gives his beloved rest.
I am the good shepherd says Jesus. Let's go to him. Let's lean the whole weight of ourselves upon him and rejoice in the fact that he keeps his people in peace.
I love these tremendous words. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
So we've seen four things as we've looked at the shepherd's psalm. Regeneration, recognition, requirements, rest. There's one more thing and then we'll be done.
The last thing I want to I want to bring to your notice is rejuvenation. Rejuvenation. Look at the words at the end of verse two.
He leadeth me beside the still waters. That's where the sheep are brought to the still waters. It's a beautiful picture isn't it? I heard somebody say once that sheep don't drink.
That's a lot of nonsense. Apparently a sheep is made up of 70% fluid. So it most certainly needs to drink otherwise it will not survive.
So what does the good shepherd do? Well he leadeth his flock beside the still waters. But why still waters? I read a book the other day and I actually finished it last night about eastern shepherds. And in that book which was penned actually by a guy called Douglas Macmillan.
He's a Christian minister who was once a shepherd. And in that book he explains the fact that sheep just do not like fast flowing water. If the flock is led to a fast flowing stream they will not go into it.
And he says from experience I have seen sheep which are parched. He says their tongues are hanging out. They're desperate for something to drink.
But if the water is flowing strongly they will not go into it. So what does the shepherd do? He leads them on to another part. He leads them beside still waters.
And there they will drink. The sheep needs to drink in order that it might be rejuvenated. You picture that flock of sheep being led by the shepherd.
They come to a fast flowing stream. They won't go into that water. But they're parched.
They move on and they come beside still waters. And enthusiastically those sheep go into the still waters and they drink. And as they drink they are rejuvenated.
And my friends we need to be rejuvenated. There's no doubt about that. We're not what we ought to be.
So let's come to the still waters of God's word. Let's read learn and inwardly digest God's truth so that we can be rejuvenated and strengthened. One of the problems that we're facing today is that the Bible is a very neglected book.
I know of course that worldly men tend not to read the Bible. But sadly in these times professing Christians neglect the Bible as well. As far as some folk are concerned the only time they open the Bible is when there's a meeting on at church.
For the rest of the time the Bible is tucked away. Oh how important it is to appreciate that we need the still waters of God's word. Otherwise we will not grow as we should.
And we will become flat Christians. And when folk look at us they won't be inspired by us because it will be so apparent there were people who need to be rejuvenated. Let's appreciate the importance of the still waters of God's word.
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.
Is the Lord your shepherd? I know that the friends gathered here make a profession of vital godliness. But is the Lord truly your shepherd? You said definitely yes without doubt. Okay here's another question.
How well do you know him? Think of that that sheep nuzzling into the into the hand of of the shepherd. The sheep knew the shepherd so well. How well do you know Christ? Is he just a name or is he your friend? From your heart can you say he is precious? I pray God that you can.
May all of us be able to say with feeling from our heart from our hearts. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. Amen.
And now may the blessing of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God in three persons ever blessed trinity be our portion from this day forward and even until that great day when the great shepherd of the sheep returns to claim his holy flock. Even so Lord Jesus come quickly. Amen.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai)