Samson Harris · Psalm 23; John 10 · October 19, 2025

Transcript:
Alright, well we're going to be in two different passages this morning primarily. If you would, open to Psalm 23, Psalm 23, and then we're going to be in John 10, John chapter 10. Can anybody hear me okay? I can't, okay. Psalm 23 and John chapter 10. Of course this is a very famous, probably the most popular Psalm in all of the book of Psalms. A lot of people quote it for a lot of different reasons, mostly a lot of times during funerals and things like that, which is obviously totally appropriate. I just wanted to dig a little bit deeper into the Psalm and kind of expose some of the ideas that David was referring to when he wrote this Psalm. Of course David, we know, was a shepherd of his father's sheep in Israel. He's of all people probably the most, the best person to write this Psalm. But I kind of want to dig into it a little bit more and kind of open it up, maybe some of these ideas you've never heard about. And I want to just use John 10 to kind of build on that as well. So again, we'll be in John chapter 10 and then Psalm 23. We're going to start with the first phrase in Psalm 23 is, the Lord is my shepherd. We think of that, we're very familiar with this passage, but what I want us to think about is the relationship between a sheep and a shepherd. Why is it significant? Of course, there's a lot of shepherds. The Bible talks about a lot of different shepherds in scripture, but it's so significant that this Psalm is the relationship between the Lord and a Christian and a believer, one of his sheep. And Jesus is not an ordinary shepherd. Jesus is not somebody who is just kind of a higher link like the Bible talks about. He really does care for the sheep. And I want us to turn to John 10, John chapter 10 verse 12 and 13. John chapter 10 verse 12 and 13. So I'm just going to read the passage here, starting in, I'll just start I guess in verse 7. It says, then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am calm that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is in higher link and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The higher link fleeeth because he is in higher link and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. I'll just end there. I want to focus on just the fact that, like again, the Bible talks about in higher links. Higher links are inferior. They are obviously paid to do a job, but they don't care for the sheep. They don't have the intimate, they didn't pay for the sheep. They didn't go to the market and inspect the sheep. They didn't, they don't care for it on a day-to-day basis. They are just there to do a part-time job kind of thing. The Bible says in Jeremiah, just quickly I'll talk about this, Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah I notice talks a lot about shepherds. Basically God, Jehovah is reprimanding the shepherds, the previous shepherds of Israel. He says, Well be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. Ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your doing, saith the Lord. Of course there are other passages there, but basically also in verse Jeremiah 10-21 it says, For the pastors are become brutish and have not sought the Lord. Therefore they shall not prosper and all their flocks shall be scattered. It says in John chapter 10 verse 8, it says, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them. Jesus is the good shepherd. He cares for the sheep. He knows them and they know his voice. That's the important part. Of course a hireling will do his job temporarily. He'll have to fill in, but they don't really recognize the voice of the shepherd. He can feed them and all that, but he doesn't walk among the sheep. The sheep don't hear his voice. They don't recognize him. That's one of the attributes that makes the Lord being your shepherd so much different. If you're one of God's sheep, you will actually hear his voice. If you don't hear his voice, then God says that you're not one of his. Jesus is a good shepherd. He calls them all by name. Middle Eastern shepherds would actually do this. They would call their sheep one by one individually. Each sheep had an individual name a lot of times. They would call them out. That's how intimately they knew their sheep. It wasn't just a whole flock of sheep. They knew each one. That's amazing. It says in John 10, he leads them out. He brings them in. He's the door of the sheepfold, but he will also lead them back out to the pastures. Just one quick note on the door is that the Bible says, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Jesus is the door of the sheep. If you don't come through the door, then you haven't come to Christ. You have to come through the door. Of course, we have people in church. There's a lot of people in church, not necessarily here today, but just that a lot of people have religion. They think they're a sheep, but if you haven't come through the door, which is Jesus Christ, you are not one of his. You need to make sure that you come through the door. The Bible says in John 10, it says he lays down his life for the sheep. This is the kind of shepherd that he is. That's why the Lord being a shepherd is so much different. No other shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep. That's just one thing that I wanted to highlight. Also being a sheep, we think about this, we don't like to think of ourselves as sheep because we're independent, especially as Americans. We want to be independent. We want to do things for ourselves. We don't want to have people telling us what to do or that kind of thing. We think we can make it on our own. If we say the Lord is my shepherd, that means we have to assume the role of a sheep. We have to be that sheep, which means that we have to recognize God as our owner, as our manager, as our leader. We can't just have our own way on things. We belong to Christ, not only because he created us, but because he bought us. Just with the shepherd, he goes to the market and buys a sheep. We are bought with a price, the Bible says. We have that specific relationship. It's not just going to the pig pen. We don't live in a pig pen. We're sheep. We live amongst the flock. We have a sheep fold, but we get led out and actually into a lot of freedom. We get to walk around and we get to be led by our shepherd everywhere we go. That's the picture that's being presented here. To be one of Christ's sheep is to belong to a flock, the most exclusive, well-loved, well-taken-care-of group of creatures in the entire world. We're so much different. We're not better than other people, but we have exclusive access to the Lord God Almighty. We are one of his sheep. That's just a really amazing thought. I want to go to the second part of that verse. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, which means to lack. It doesn't mean not wanting anything like I don't desire anything. It doesn't mean that God will give us everything we want or could wish for, but it just means that we won't lack anything that the Lord ...