1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

4 Even 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 overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23:1-6 (ESV)

I. The Shepherd’s Voice

1. All are Called into the Flock

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

Colossians 2:14 (CSB)

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 (ESV)

2. He has Opened the Gate

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:9 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

3. We can have a relationship with Him

3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name
and leads them out.
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

John 10:3–4 (ESV)

Jehovah-Rohi- The Lord is my Shepherd

II. He Prepares the Place

1. A Place of Protection

A. The Way of Escape

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)

2. A Place of Nourishment

“Relationship comes before obedience. That we do not have a relationship with Him because we obey. We obey because He has made a relationship with us.”

– Dr. Bryan Chapell

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:4–5 (ESV)

And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Mark 1:17 (ESV)

“The heir of heaven serves his Lord simply out of gratitude; he has no salvation to gain, no heaven to lose; … now, out of love to the God who chose him, and who gave so great a price for his redemption, he desires to lay out himself entirely to his Master’s service.O you who are seeking salvation by the works of the law, what a miserable life yours must be!… you have that if you diligently persevere in obedience, you may perhaps obtain eternal life, though, alas! none of you dare to pretend that you have attained it.You toil and toil and toil, but you never get that which you toil after, and you never will, for, “by the works of the law there shall no flesh living be justified.” … The child of God works not for life, but from life; he does not work to be saved, he works because he is saved.”

– C.H. Spurgeon

III. Dwell in His House Forever

1. Eternal Table

2. Eternal Relationship

3. Set Your Eyes on the Good Shepherd

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Colossians 3:1–2 (ESV)

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,

14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:11–16 (ESV)

4. Do you long for it?

For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Psalm 84:10 (ESV)