Privileges of the Shepherd’s Sheep

to Psalm 23. When I learned a while ago that I was going
to be preaching today, immediately a couple passages came to my
mind. Usually if you get the opportunity, you go, man, I’d
really like to preach on this. There’s some ideas I’d like to
convey in this, and I’m excited about this. And then there were
a couple of these passages, and I’d pray about which one am I
going to do, and I’d decide on one, Oh man, it’s just not feeling
right. And so I’d go to the other one
and pray about that one and settle down on that one. Oh, this isn’t
feeling right. So I’d keep going back and forth.
And last Sunday, I talked to Frank Jeter and he said, well,
you all squared away for next Sunday. And so I had my passage. Psalm 23 wasn’t the one I told
him I was going to preach on. It wasn’t until early this week
that That became the passage that
kept going back to that one. This is the one that God wants
me to preach on. Also, there’s a temptation when
you have the opportunity to preach that you want to say something
that nobody’s ever heard before and it’s going to change their
life. And that’s always a dangerous thing. what I realize is we just need
to be faithful to preach God’s Word, and the Spirit will take
care of the change in people’s lives. And so today, as we look
at Psalm 23, chances are you won’t hear anything new. But
my hope is that this morning you will just be reminded of
some very rich truths this passage brings out. It’s amazing to me,
and I hope this isn’t a terrible condemnation on me, but as I
was planning the service for this morning and chose the music,
I didn’t even realize how well the music I chose this morning
fit in. Everything we sang this morning
talked about God’s care and His provision, His mercy and His
goodness. which is what Psalm 23 is all
about. Psalm 23, probably one of the
best known chapters or passages in the Bible. Growing up in Sunday school,
when I thought of the Psalms, I would think of either Psalm
23 or Psalm 100, because those are the ones you would memorize
in Sunday school. But I also realized that Psalm
23 is one of those passages also that even non-believers memorize. And they can quote. It’s a favorite psalm at a lot
of funerals. But it’s not a psalm about death. It’s a psalm about
life and rest and peace. It’s a psalm of trust. Trust
in God with no fears, no complaints. As I said, this passage is known
by a lot of non-believers. And I remember watching, and
I couldn’t tell you what it was, but it was like a war movie or
something. And there was a soldier who had
been wounded and he was near death. And the person with him
started quoting Psalm 23. And I know it was just a movie,
or a show, or it was not real. But it struck me, that doesn’t
sound right. And I didn’t know why. But after
reading this now, I realize, to me it was very obvious that
this person quoting Psalm 23 was not a believer in this movie. So, what I’ve learned to find
out, what’s sad is that Psalm, those promises don’t apply to
him. And that may be harsh to say, but the title, Privileges of
the Shepherd’s Sheep, tell us that we have to belong to Christ
in order for these to apply. Many think of this psalm as just
a really nice poem and have no idea the richness and the truths
and the promises that it contains. Charles Spurgeon called it the
pearl of the psalms. Another said about Psalm 23 is
that the world could spare many a large book better than this
sunny little psalm. It has dried many tears and supplied
the mold into which many hearts have poured their peaceful faith.”
Another called it the John 3.16 of the Old Testament. And so
in delving into this psalm, I was again reminded of its richness
and what a privilege it is that we are able to be sheep in God’s
fold. I entitled the sermon, as I mentioned,
Privileges of the Shepherd’s Sheep. I was tempted for a while
to entitle it Membership Has Its Privileges. I just kind of
wanted to get away from a catchy little title. But I also realized
that membership means that I join something. I didn’t join this. I didn’t
fill out a card. I didn’t sign up because it sounded
so wonderful. I was at enmity with God, and
He chose me. He signed me up. Again, when
you hear people giving their testimonies, it says, well, I
came to Christ at… Truly, Christ came to me. brought me in at a certain time. As we go into this psalm, there’s
a couple of things that we need to do. One mainly, and it’s very
essential. You need to acknowledge that
you are similar to a sheep. Can you laugh? And we know, it
has been taught here, you know very well, sheep are not bright. Sheep need direction. Sheep are
natural followers. Some of us here may be natural
followers, may be part of who we are, our makeup. A lot of
us here are not natural followers. It’s difficult to follow. We
want to get out there and we want to lead. But we have to
become a sheep. We have to realize that we need
help. They need direction. Sheep need
guidance. They need protection. And they
need to be provided for. A sheep will leave a lush pasture
and wander off and go into a desolate valley or field where there is
no food. They will wander off into dangerous
places and not realize it. One wrote, the sheep could wander
near a wolf’s den, but not instinctively turn aside from the place of
danger. The sheep knows how to go astray, but not how to get
back home. Now you may say, okay, but I’m
not that bad. And in some ways, you’re probably
right, but most of us won’t wander away from home and not be able
to find our way back. And I would venture to say that
most of us will know not to wander into an area at a certain time
because of its dangers that it may hold. God has provided us
with the ability to think and reason. And that is precisely
a reason why that gets us into trouble. Because we think we
can handle things. We think, and I’ve done this,
so I’m going to say to me, I’ve gone to God, I mean not gone
to God, in different situations I say, I can handle this one,
I’m not going to bother God with it. I can provide, I can get
myself out of this, but that’s where we get into the trouble.
So, to become like a sheep, we have to let go of our pride.
We have to say, I can’t lead myself. One wrote, no man can
trust the shepherd until he distrusts himself. And no one can say the
Lord is my shepherd until he has given up every idle notion
that he can control himself or manage his own interests. Like
I said, we have the propensity to want to take control and handle
things ourselves. As we go through this, the shepherd
image, we know it’s portrayed, Christ is portrayed as the shepherd,
especially in John 10, a very familiar passage. Matthew 2 also mentions a ruler
that will come out of Judah who will shepherd his people or shepherd
my people. Christ came to be our shepherd. The writer David. We don’t know at what point in
his life he wrote this, but he would know about a shepherd.
Being a shepherd, he was a shepherd. He would know the dangers, the
responsibilities that come with keeping the flock. So let’s read
Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. He makes me lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides
me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. Even though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no
evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they
comfort me. You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with
oil. My cup overflows. Surely, goodness
and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” First thing we need
to look at, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. That is the
main phrase that the whole psalm hangs on. The rest of the psalm
supports that notion. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. We also need to look at the Lord
is my shepherd. Sheep belong to somebody. If a sheep wandered into my neighborhood,
I would naturally conclude, oh, they got away from the CSU vet
clinic. We live very close to that. We
also have foxes in the neighborhood. When I see a fox, I don’t think,
hmm, I wonder whose fox got out. I think, here’s some wild foxes,
they’re coming to get food. We had a deer in our neighborhood
the other day. We didn’t think, oh, Chuck across
the street, his deer got out. No, it came from the hills, it
was coming down to get food. But a sheep is different. A sheep
is property of somebody. The world has many shepherds. And so sheep belong to a shepherd. So the key here is that the Lord
is my shepherd. Now, many will say the Lord is
my shepherd. But they will live in a way that
doesn’t really bear that out. And what they are saying in the
way they live is the Lord is a shepherd. He’s a guy. The Lord is a shepherd. But they
don’t live as he is their shepherd, my shepherd. Also, the word Lord is English
for God or Yahweh. Remember when God was enlisting
Moses to bring his people out of Egypt? Moses, trying desperately to
get out of the situation, came up with a bunch of questions.
And one of the first ones was, well, who should I say is sending
me? And God said, I am who I am. Saying, I am the all-sufficient
one. Everything you need to carry
this out, I am. I am not bound by any laws of
nature. I can supply anything you need. So when we say the Lord is my
Shepherd, we say God is my Shepherd. Yahweh is my Shepherd. The I
Am is my Shepherd. We will not lack anything. We shall not want. The Lord is
my Shepherd. I shall not want. It was funny
as I was looking at this, because growing up, When they read Psalm
23, I heard the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And it bothered
me. Why don’t we want the shepherd?
And it was funny in reading some of these commentaries. They mentioned
the same thing. That early on in their life,
they heard the Lord is like, why don’t we want this shepherd?
Why don’t we want him? He was very confusing. But we now know,
I shall not want, I shall not lack any good thing because the
Lord is my Shepherd. What do you lack? What do you not have that you need? If you can come
up with a list, I’d venture to say They’re not
needs, but they may be wants. Psalm 34, verses 8-10 echoes
this sentiment. It says, O taste and see that
the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes
refuge in Him. O fear the Lord, you His saints,
for those who fear Him, there is no want. The young lions do
lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be
in want of any good thing. If the Lord is your shepherd,
you shall not lack what you need. But you need to be. A sheep in
the Lord’s fold. Matthew Henry wrote, I shall
be supplied with whatever I need. And if I have not everything
I desire, I may conclude it is either not fit for me, or not
good for me, or I shall have it in due time.” Do you trust
that God will provide what you need? The support for David’s statement,
as I said, is provided in the rest of the Psalms. So, let’s
continue. And your first skill out there,
it says, the sheep who belong to the Good Shepherd will not
lack. The first skill in there is provision. He makes me lie
down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Here we have provisions both
for our daily needs in the physical realm and also the spiritual
realm. It’s both body and spiritual
food, drink and refreshment. That’s what we have here. As
he says, he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me
beside quiet waters. These provisions reinvigorate
the weary, both for day-to-day living, but for spiritual duty
as well. One wrote, we have a double set
of knees. Yet we shall find that God is all sufficient as if we
had sevenfold set of needs. First, we have our bodily needs,
and these are many and constantly recurring. Our greater need,
however, is that he provides for our spiritual needs. First,
our bodily needs, our physical needs. Notice that the shepherd
makes us lie down in green pastures. And he leads us beside quiet
waters. The shepherd knows and provides
what we need. In the desert, the noontime heat
is pretty fierce. But here in the heat of the day,
he leads his sheep to lush pastures and refreshing waters. When is the last time you truly
rested? And maybe I’m looking out into
a group that is completely trusting and relaxing. For me, the last
time I can truly say I felt rested, and I’m not trying to draw something,
it was in a camping trip in California probably about 12 years ago.
That’s the last time I truly felt rested. And if you know
me, I’m not a camper, but I was away from all the worries of
work, the stresses, and I just relaxed. And I felt amazing. God will provide that refreshment
that we need. The idea here is an oasis in
the middle of the desert, where we are free, free from the anxieties
and the stresses of the world. We tend to fill our lives with
too much stuff. And I don’t mean necessarily
things. I mean activities. We don’t rest. We need rest. Both for our physical well-being,
but also God provides this rest so we can carry out what He wants
us to do. We’re not here just to go to
work and come back We go with our families and do things and
go to work. There are things that He wants
us to do. And we need that rest and refreshment to carry those
things out. The green pastures also represent
food. In the desert, the pastures get
dried out. And the shepherd needs to lead
his flock to another source of food. many times a long distance
away. But the shepherd knows where
to go. He knows where the water has run and where the deep rivers
are and where that will provide green pastures for food. Those are our daily requirements. But also spiritually, the lush
pastures represent His Word. We need to daily feed on His
Word. Hebrews talks about Believers
who, you know, by this time you should be on solid food. But here, you’re still, I have
to give you milk. Giving you the elementary things. Spiritual things. We need to
daily be feasting or eating upon God’s Word. That is, reading
it, studying it, meditating it. By that is how we will grow and
mature. The waters are obviously waters
of refreshment. They are refreshment to a dry
and thirsty soul. They also reinvigorate. Remember warm days when you’re
working real hard and you come in, what a nice cold glass of
water will do. It will give you energy. It will reinvigorate. It will
refresh. And that is what God provides
for His flock. The sheep who belong to the Good
Shepherd will not lack provision. And they will not lack revival. He restores my soul. When we
are granted salvation, our soul is given new life. We were dead. Hell bound. But He made us alive
together with Christ. He gave our souls life. However, when we come to salvation,
our status changes, but our nature doesn’t. We are still sinners. Sinners saved by grace. Sinners
whose sin is now covered by the blood of Christ. But we still sin. No creature will go astray like
the sheep. But when it does, the shepherd
will leave the flock to go find the sheep. We are no different. Isaiah 53 reminds us, Surely
our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried. Yet we
ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed
for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being
fell upon Him. And by His scourging, we are
healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone
astray. Each of us has turned to his
own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity
of us all to fall on Him. Come now, fount of every blessing,
as a line prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. prone to leave the
God I love. We wander off. We fall. We get off the path. But God
restores us. He does this through his forgiveness
as we repent of our sin. David knew this very well as
confronted when confronted about his sin with Bathsheba. He repented
and he experienced restoration. He experienced forgiveness. In
Psalm 32, verse 5, David also writes, I acknowledged my sin
to you and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave me the guilt
of my sin. Guilt here in Psalm 32, 5 refers
to the punishment that is due because of this sin. The restoration is from the guilt,
the punishment that we deserve for breaking God’s law. However,
He also brings restoration in that He allows us to be free
from that guilt. This is the other guilt, not
the punishment, but the guilt we feel over our sin Matthew
5, verse 4, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted. And it’s those who mourn over their sin, those who
are sick over their sin. Those who mourn shall receive
comfort. The restoration of the soul also
occurs as our soul is sorrowful, as we are down, as we are amidst
circumstances that are difficult. How does he restore our soul?
God is the ultimate source of comfort. And the word comfort
in Greek is related to the word that means one who comes alongside
to help. In 2 Corinthians 7, chapter 6,
Paul talks about the comfort he received as God strengthened
him in the middle of his trials by sending Titus to him. But
God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of
Titus. The mere presence of Titus comforted
Paul. In addition, the message that
Titus brought, that the Corinthians were repentant of their sin in
their reaction to Paul’s letter, further comforted Paul. The mere presence of a brother
or sister can be encouraging and God provides that. Also in 2 Corinthians, it tells
us that we are comforted so that we can comfort others. That’s
2 Corinthians 1, 3-5. It’s amazing the comfort that
can come from a brother or sister in Christ who comes up and gives
us an encouraging word. A supporting word tells us that
they’re praying for us. It is cool water to a dry and
thirsty soul. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of
all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions so that
we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with
the comfort which we ourselves received from God. That’s 2 Corinthians
1, 3-5. As we experience comfort, we
need to comfort others. To come alongside to help. Not only do the sheep of the
Good Shepherd not lack provision and revival, but they will not
lack guidance. He guides me in the paths of
righteousness for His namesake. These paths of righteousness
could also be straight paths. And I thought about that and I go, it’s a hard one because
the road is difficult. When I think of a straight path,
I think of a straight shot. And I just walk alongside it.
What is meant here is the straight path is the road that leads to
the right destination. It does not mean ease. It’s just
the road that will take us to where God wants us to go. And
this is where God, our Shepherd, will lead us. We are called to
walk, as believers, we are called to walk in a certain way. We are called to conduct ourselves
in a manner worthy of the Gospel. We are called to walk by the
Spirit. We are called to be Christ-like,
to be more like Him. We are called to be holy. But what happens as we walk this
path is we go astray. We bring things on the path that
we’re not supposed to bring. Laying aside all malice and envy. We are to shed those things that
hinder us from running on this path. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, therefore,
since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,
let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles
us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
We’re not supposed to bring those things on into the path, onto
the path, but we do. And it bogs us down. It takes
us off the path. But God is there to restore us
and lead us in the way. To be able to do this, to walk
in righteousness, to walk the straight path, we need his guidance. Because we’re also told that
the road is very narrow and the gate is small that leads to life.
We cannot do it on our own. We don’t know the way. He knows
the way. What happens is we get out in
front of the shepherd and we wander off. It is not natural
for the shepherd to be behind. He needs to be leading. Paul was driven to walk the path
of righteousness because of what Christ had done for him. For the love of Christ controls
us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all
died. And he died for all so that they
who live might no longer live for themselves, But for him who
died and rose again on their behalf, sheep are natural followers. Here is where we need to really
take the sheep’s example and follow the leading of our shepherd. Not only do the sheep of the
Good Shepherd not lack provision, revival and guidance, but they
will not lack His presence and protection. Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for
you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they
comfort me.” I mentioned that this psalm was many times used
at funerals, and this is the verse there that is used specifically. A believer, knowing what is ahead,
need not fear at the end of their life. That is what, hopefully,
they’ve been looking forward to. That’s the graduation. They’ve passed. They’re now on
to heaven, to their heavenly home, to be with Christ. We should
not dread the end of our life. We should be looking forward
to eternity with Christ. We can say with Paul, where,
O death, is your sting? I love statements like that.
You know, as an athlete, you can get involved in smack talk
and all that kind of stuff, but when you have the ultimate word,
it is so great. Where, O death, is your sting?
If God is for us, who can be against us? These need to be
comforting words to us. Are we looking forward to heaven? That sometimes can be difficult
because this is what we know down here. This is all we know.
We get up, we live, we spend time with our family, friends,
we come here and we meet. And it’s life. But the real life is up in heaven,
where we will be free from all the worries, pain, sickness that
accompanies our life down here. But in addition to that person who is at the
end of their life, this is God’s presence and protection in times
of trouble and danger. Again, note, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, it’s not even though I scamper
through, run through, hurry through, the valley of the shadow of death.
The pace is not quickened. It’s a steady walk. Why? Because we have his presence
and his protection. We do not need to fear. Have
you ever been out, and this is kind of telling again on me,
but I sometimes take walks later at night and you can be in a
very dark area and you can hear something, and all of a sudden
your heart gets to beating a little faster and your pace quickens.
You don’t want to run. I don’t know, if you want to
get out of the situation, why don’t you run? So instead I want
to look cool, so I walk real fast. That is not in view here. I don’t
need to fear, because I have His presence and His protection. David knew this full well. As
shepherd, he knew the sheep need constant protection because there
were plenty of dangers to the flock. Wild animals, lions, bears,
hyenas, and jackals were a threat to the flock. As shepherds led
the flock from pasture to pasture, the path often took them into
valleys that were quite dark because of the high cliffs around
them. And this was a favorite place
for predators. In John 10, we mentioned this
earlier, Jesus and the Good Shepherd said, I am the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is
a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep,
sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the
wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is
a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good
shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me, even as the
Father knows me. And I know the Father, and I
lay down my life for the sheep.” The shepherd needs to make good
on losses to the owner. So what he loses, he’s got to
come up with. The hired hand, he doesn’t have
that responsibility. So when trouble comes, he leaves. Those are the shepherds of the
world. If you belong to a world shepherd, a shepherd in the world,
you will not have this presence and protection. They will leave
you in times of trouble. Christ laid down His life for the sheep. We as the sheep of His flock
are precious. Because we are a gift from the
Father to the Son. In his book, Foundations of Grace
by Steve Lawson, there’s a foreword in it. And the foreword by itself
is amazing. And in this foreword, it says,
The Father, because of His love for the Son, determined before
time began to choose a redeemed community that would praise the
Son for all eternity. And the Son, because of His love
for the Father, accepted this gift from the Father, considering
it so precious to the point that He gave His life for it. The
Son protects those whom the Father chose to give Him and promises
to bring them to glory according to the predetermined plan of
God. You are precious to Christ and
He will see that you get home. Because you are a gift from the
Father to him. So with any road, we may be taken
through rough spots, but we have Christ’s promise of his protection
and presence. David says that his rod and staff
are a comfort to him. The shepherd would carry many
things, but he would carry a rod. which is like a club, a big baseball
bat, Dan, with nails and things in it to protect the flock. They would use it as a weapon.
He also carried the staff, which is what we’re more familiar with,
with the big crook in the top. And that’s what he used to guide
the sheep. The sheep would know that there’s
where I’m supposed to head and that’s my way. It was also a
way he could bring them back in line if they got out. That
were crooked, bring them back. Also, to rescue sheep if they
got into danger. The protection and presence of
the Lord is a comfort. Not only do the sheep of the
Good Shepherd not lack provision, revival, guidance, His presence
and protection, but they will not lack peace. You prepare a
table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed
my head with oil.” This is one of the most, it’s a very encouraging,
comforting passage. Enemies are another thing that
David knew about. Saul pursued and wanted to kill
him. Absalom, his own son, wanted to kill him. He was pursued,
he was chased, he hid in caves. And he says, but he was able
to say in the presence of my enemies, you prepare a table
before me. If you had enemies chasing you
down, like David did, and somebody said, come on over here, come
on over here, sit down, let’s have a meal. I’ve got some other
things going right now, thank you, but you’d be on your way.
The image here, you prepare a table before me, This is not an eat
and run type of thing. This is a come in, sit down,
relax meal. Even when the enemies are at
the door, God’s peace is with you. When you are invited to
a formal meal, there were a few things that happened as the guests
arrived. And this was so as to greet them
properly. One was, you would come in and
your sandals would be removed and your feet would be washed.
They don’t want you bringing dirt that you may have brought
with you. This was not a pour the water
over the feet type of thing. It was a hand washing and a hand
drying. Then the guests would have oil,
olive oil scented with spices put on their head. That’s me, that’s not the most…
But, it was a sign of welcome. It was a sign of greeting. David, in the presence of your
enemies, when we have enemies at the door, we need not fear. We can be at peace, because God is our shepherd.
That’s an amazing image to know when all this chaos around you,
you can be relaxed and steady. For us, who I doubt have people
pursuing us and trying to kill us, we will be provided peace,
even in trying circumstances. And peace that only Christ can
provide. He will not get this from another
shepherd. Not only do the sheep of the
good shepherd not lack provision, revival, guidance, his presence
and protection and peace, but they will not lack blessing.
My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy will
follow me all the days of my life. Here, David reiterates
that he will not lack for any good thing. Not only that, but
he will have more than he needs. One wrote, God’s supplies are
wont to surpass the narrow limits of need and even transcend capacity. God’s storehouse will never be
emptied. The image of the cup overflowing
is water flowing into a cup and just keeps flowing and flowing
and flowing and flowing. If we feel we are not Getting
all we need. If we feel, you know, He’s given
me some, but I don’t feel like my cup is overflowing. It means
you moved the cup. It means you have moved away
from the shepherd. So in response to my cup overflow,
surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my
life. Surely. It’s a fact. It’s a done deal.
It’s not an iffy thing. It’s the seal. It’s the promise.
Goodness that provides for our daily needs. Mercy that provides
forgiveness for our sin. And finally, not only do the
sheep of the Good Shepherd not lack provision, revival, guidance,
his presence and protection and blessings, but they will not
lack a home. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
This psalm is a journey. It shows
the shepherd taking the flock along, providing, guiding, protecting. It takes them from location to
location so they have what they need. It’s a walk, which our
spiritual life is. How is your walk with God? It’s
walk, it’s progression, it’s moving. We will have a home, a heavenly
home, where we will worship our Shepherd, Christ, for eternity. Now, I mentioned at the beginning
that all sheep are owned by someone. Whose flock do you belong to? If you say, you know what? In
some of these areas, I don’t necessarily feel that. Life is a process. Sanctification is a process. He is building us up. He is growing
us in Him. Only Christ is able to provide
these things. If you are depending and following
another shepherd, you will be sorely disappointed because they
will desert you. They will not provide for you.
They will use you for their own wills and desires, and then they
will leave you. If you belong to Christ, what
areas do you need to improve on in following? Are you trying
to get out ahead of the shepherd? Let’s take time now and ask God
to show us those areas in which we may need to be pulled back
in line. Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for Your provision
and protection and all that comes with being in Your flock. The
privileges that we have because You brought us into Your flock. It’s not something we joined.
It’s something You brought us into. Something You have called
us into. Forgive us when we Think a little
too much of ourselves and try and do things on our own. Forgive
us for getting out ahead of you. Lord, help us to know that when
you pull us back, when you discipline us, it is for our own good. Because if we get away from the
shepherd, we lack the provision, protection, guidance and direction
we so sorely need. Thank You for Your faithfulness.
Thank You for Your patience with Your flock. Direct us and guide us. Show
us where we need to get back in line. In Your name we pray,
Amen. If you would take your hymnal
and turn to hymn number 599, Savior, like a shepherd, lead
us. And let’s stand together and sing. Savior, like a shepherd lead
us, wash me in thy tender care. Be in my presence as you see
us, holy name. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. We are Thine, Keep thy promise in the end of
the world, Seek us when we go astray. Message Jesus, message
Jesus, Hear, hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, hear our prayers and we pray. Thou hast promised to receive
us, forever and ever we need Thee. Thou hast mercy to relieve us,
grace to comfort our weary. Let the Jesus, let the Jesus,
let the Jesus be. ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus
♪ ♪ Blessed is the fruit of your womb ♪ ♪ Holy, blessed be thy
name forevermore ♪ ♪ Holy, blessed be thy name forevermore ♪ ♪ Blessed
for your holy state ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
lovers of the still. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
and lovers of the still. Yes, yes. you.