The reading of sacred scripture this morning comes from the 23rd Psalm. Psalm 23, our text, is the last phrase of verse four of that psalm. Psalm 23. 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. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, 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. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Our text is the last phrase of verse four. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Beloved of God, on the journey that the sheep must make, it is the presence of the shepherd that makes all the difference. As you know, this 23rd Psalm compares God to an Israelite shepherd. Israelite shepherds Every year had to take their sheep on a long journey through the Israelite wilderness and then back to the shepherd's home. There wasn't enough grass right there to sustain the sheep. So too, God, the great shepherd of his sheep, takes his people on a long journey through the wilderness of this world in their life, generation after generation, and leads them finally home. The psalmist pictures the end of that journey as home, the shepherd's own house. And that's what the end of the journey is for the sheep. It's the shepherd's own house. In my father's house there are many mansions. Heaven itself is where God is taking his sheep. And though the path is long and sometimes treacherous, and even the valley of the shadow of death It is there we are going, and it is the presence of the shepherd along the way that makes all the difference. The shepherd has determined the path that we must take. He knows why that is the path. He knows exactly where that path ends and how to continue to lead us down that path. He knows why that path is sometimes dark, A valley under death's shadow, and for how long it must be, and with what intensity. And that shepherd has the tools that are necessary to preserve the sheep on that path and to lead them home. An Israelite shepherd, and this is true even still today of some shepherds in the Middle East and in parts of Africa, They're known to take very little with them in their work of shepherding. The shepherd's tools were only two sticks, a staff and a rod. God refers to these two sticks again in another place, Zechariah 11 verse seven, where once more he pictures himself as the great shepherd of the sheep. Zechariah 11 verse seven, and I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves, two sticks, the one I called beauty and the other I called bands. These were the shepherd's tools and other than these two sticks, a staff and a rod, the shepherd had very little with him. Maybe a shepherd's bag in which there was some food, maybe some water, maybe a little bit of oil to anoint the sheep if they got a cut or something or a disease, something like that. But beyond that, There was very little, and the shepherd was unencumbered with his use of these two tools, his staff and his rod, and he knew how to use them. We're told that in shepherding families in Israel, the boys from their youth up would learn how to use these tools, the staff and the rod, so that by the time they were teenagers or maybe even just a little bit older, they were experts in how to handle the staff and the rod in caring for the sheep, as skilled as a trained soldier would be in the use of a sword or of a spear. These tools, the staff and the rod, would become extensions of the shepherd himself and the way that the shepherd made his presence known in the life of the sheep. These tools, the staff and the rod, are a picture of the Word of God. The Word of God. The Word of God in the hands of the Holy Spirit. The proof for that is Isaiah 11 verse 4 that speaks of this rod coming out of God's mouth, His Word coming forth out of His mouth that is in the hands of the Spirit, the tool by which God keeps, preserves His sheep. extensions of His own self, His Word is, that comes into the life of His sheep, caring for them, preserving them. It is His presence in their lives. So that when in verse 4 the sheep confess, Thou art with me." This is a large part of the way that the shepherd is with them. This is how the sheep know his presence. The staff and the rod are being administered, used in the sheep's life. That's him. He's with me. His presence in my life. Oftentimes, through the use of under-shepherds, David had under-shepherds, 1 Samuel 17 verse 20. Often Israelite shepherds had under-shepherds. And so the great shepherd has under-shepherds through whom he uses this staff and rod, administers the word and the life of the sheep, chiefly, of course, in the offices of the church and the regular proclamation of the word. in the office of elder, in the bringing of the word to bear upon the lives of God's people, the deacons administering the word along with the mercies of Jesus Christ. And so, in this sermon, we're going to have to make applications to those offices and the use of the word in those offices. But there's other under-shepherds in a sense, too, in the office of believer, Parents are under-shepherds in their homes, using the word in their homes. God's people in their office of believer are a type of under-shepherd in the lives of each other as they bring the Word of God for encouragement, correction at times, comfort. And the child of God, even in his own office of believer, is in a sense under-shepherd in his own life. As in that office, he does his own personal devotions. He comes to the Word, and God administers the Word in his life, and so we'll make applications that way, too, this morning. Ways in which the great shepherd brings his Word, his staff and rod, to bear upon his people's lives. Thou art with me this way. Therefore, thy rod and thy staff are a source of great comfort to me along this journey home. The comfort of the shepherd's tools is the theme this morning. Focus first upon the staff, second upon the rod, and then we'll see the comfort. The comfort of the shepherd's tools, the staff, the rod, the comfort. The shepherd's staff was made out of a sapling, a young tree, maybe about this high, cut it down at the base, cut a bit of the top off, and then with water, they would slowly bend the top of that sapling until it stayed, and then they'd have a crook at the top, and that was the shepherd's staff. The rod was a bit different. It was a lot shorter. It was about two feet or so, thicker, made out of a sapling again, but a specific sapling, one that had a knob at the base. Maybe you've seen trees or young saplings at least that way sometimes. They have a knob either right at the point where the tree goes into the ground or sometimes just under the surface of the ground. And they'd cut it off right there and here so that that knob would be the business end of that rod, shepherd's staff and rod. The staff of the shepherd was used when a more gentle approach was necessary and effective. And the rod, of course, was used when a more intense approach was needed. The staff and the rod then are not only the Word, the bare Word of God in the hands of the Spirit, but they are, even more specifically, the manner in which that Word is administered. Let's take the staff first. The shepherd would use his staff, the more gentle approach of the word, manner of administering the word with his sheep. First of all, in the regular guiding of his sheep down the right path. The shepherd would take his staff, and there's his flock moving forward, and he would nudge the sheep, keep them on the right path. He knew the path that they must take, and he would nudge them, keep them going down the right path. God, the great shepherd, does the same with his Word. This is the regular administration of His Word. It nudges His people. It keeps His flock together and moving down the right path of life that He has set forth in His Word. It comes through the ordinary means He has ordained in the proclamation of Scripture in our life. Scripture is the staff. Scripture is the rule, the guide for the faith and life of God's people. It's given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Let the man of God be Perfect, that is complete, mature, thoroughly furnished to all good works. The Spirit working with that word so that we don't misconstrue it, so that it comes to us in truth as we understand it in the context of the body and especially the body historically. That staff guides us regularly, week after week, nudges us in the right way. It's our guide. The guide for God's people is not their feelings. We have to be so careful with this, don't we? Especially in our culture, where truth, guidance in truth and in the right, is so often seen as something that rises up from within me. That my feelings are the source of truth and right and are the guide for me. That's what nudges me in my life down a path that I should go. Truth isn't viewed as something that comes down from above, from God down upon us and that we all have to reconcile with no matter how we feel about it or not. But truth and guidance is seen as whatever you feel it to be. So that what you may feel is your truth rising up within you. That's your guidance. And what you may feel is your truth rising up within you. That's your guidance for your life. And this can affect God's people too. Especially where there are whole systems of theology devoted to teaching that God guides his people by how they feel. Certain quarters of Pentecostalism and Charismaticism sets up our feelings as new revelation from God, and even if it contradicts the Word of God as something you follow for, it is God speaking to you. But even if that system of theology has no influence upon us, this is still tempting for God's people, God's people here in big ways or in small ways. We have an old man within us that wants to be God of our own life, that wants to be in control, that wants to determine our own way. And what better way to convince myself that that's okay than to believe that my feelings are God. And however I feel is God's voice to me. And therefore I can become God of my own life. I'm in control. in a way that makes it not seem so rebellious. Our feelings are real. Our feelings are important. But they are not always the source of truth. And therefore, always we must be doing two things with our feelings. Number one, checking them by the objective Word of God. And number two, more and more praying that the Spirit works through the Word, that the Word itself becomes a source of how I feel about things in my relationship to God and my relationship to others. My feelings aren't the staff, and neither are the providential circumstances of my life always the staff to guide me. There may be times when you have a decision to make in your life regarding the future, and maybe there are five different options in front of you. And so you set forth the Word of God. Bring that to bear upon those five options. And maybe doing that, three of those options you can see fall away because something God's Word says makes it clear that those are not an option for me. But two of those options pass the test of God's Word. Two of them would be legitimate. In that circumstance, Perhaps the providential workings out in your life, open doors, may lead you one way or another between those two that are cleared before the Word of God. But the point is, of course, that all five have been set before the Word of God. The Word of God is the staff guiding, first of all, the base way that God guides His people. And how many times don't you hear people say, I know that's what the Word of God says. I know. But you don't understand. You don't understand all the circumstances that have lined up. It's unbelievable. The way that this all worked out, it's just all lining up this way, and obviously, obviously, God is telling me that this is the way to go, and even if it's against God's Word, He's telling me that this is what I must do at this time. In Proverbs 7, Solomon sees a young man who comes to a street corner, Solomon says, and he has two directions he can go. And one way is the way of moral safety, and the other way is the way to the strange woman's house. And then Solomon says he sees that there is a strange woman who herself meets him at that street corner. Now everybody here can recognize that if that young man would say, well, God obviously wants me to go with this strange woman. How could it be that it's just happenstance that she meets me at the street corner at the same time? God is obviously opening the door for me to do this. Everyone here can say that man is interpreting God's providence in a wrong way. But in other less obvious ways, it can be harder for us. And we constantly need the reminder, the word is the staff, the word guides me. And that open door sometimes can be Satan's open doors of temptation. Everything must be set before the Word. God guides by His staff, His Word in the hands of the spirits, an extension of Himself into my life to lead the sheep on the right pathway. And so the Christian sheep loves the guidance, the regular guidance of the staff, of the Word in his life. looks to it to willingly be guided by it in the regular preaching of the word as the shepherd nudges the edges and says, keep going this way and not that way, and the work of the elders and their life in the congregation, family visitation, and other ways that they lead the church, and parents in the home. they guide the home and family devotions, the regular means of bringing the Word, nudging down the right path. It's the extension of God Himself in the lives of the sheep as we bring the Word to bear upon the lives of each other. Some verses in a card for encouragement. nudging, God is nudging through that. As we do our own personal devotions and the regular means of that, God nudges us, continue down the right path, I guide you by these ways. Sometimes that word will have to guide us by a rescuing of the staff. You flip the staff around and that end with the crook on it has to come in our life and pull, still more gently than the rod of course, but to rescue us from ourselves. And when the heart is soft, not rebellious, The word comes from the shepherd like that staff in those times and gently wraps that crook around the neck and slowly leads back upon the path. We're told that there were times when the sheep, sometimes not even fully conscious of it, but they'd be attracted to some berries over there in a bush or something and they'd wander off and then they'd get themselves stuck in the thicket of that bush. or they'd wander off the path a little bit and get stuck in some mud, and the shepherd would use that crook end to gently pull them out, not the rod yet, but the staff. And the minister of the Word of God, and the elders in their ruling, leading the church, and parents in their parenting, and fellow church members in their being fellow church members with each other, must judge if it is appropriate in this case to use the staff or to use the more intense rod that we will talk about in a moment, to gently call and lead with the crook end of that staff, administering it upon a sheep who's been pulled off by the berries of the world, or to come with a rod of stern and more intense correction. And here's the key to determining Is there a humble heart here? Is there a heart that when shown is broken at sin and a heart willing to be submissive to the Word of God? Or is there a heart here that is hard in rebellions? Is it a bruised reed or is it a stiff-necked rebellion, a flint face as the prophets would describe it? Is it a case here where one must be slowly brought along or where one refuses to budge in hard-hearted rebellion before the shepherd himself? And sometimes the use of the staff at first when there is wandering of the sheep will reveal if the rod is needed. But facing this question is not unimportant, people of God. On the one hand, God refused to let Moses enter into the land of Canaan when Moses unfaithfully represented the great shepherd of the sheep, when God was not angry with his sheep, and yet Moses came out and used intensity and ministered the word with anger to the people of God and wrongly represented the great shepherd. Jehovah said, you will not enter the land. He should have brought the staff. David and the Lord Jesus Christ in him said at times concerning the captains of his army, what do I have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? You're too harsh with the people of God. You only know one way, the way of force. It's your only solution to everything. And on the other hand, you have Eli, don't you? The judge was chastised by God for only ever using the staff with his family and never the rod of rebuke upon his sons when they were hard-hearted and rebellious and needed a stern word and a rod of discipline. Too easy, too easy and soft, Eli. You didn't restrain your sons as you ought. And the Lord Jesus Christ said to the church in Thyatira, I have somewhat against thee. For you allow that woman Jezebel to teach and to influence my people with no rod of discipline upon her. You speak soft words to her when there needs to be intense words in the rod of discipline. There are great dangers here for us, beloved, dangers because the majority of us, maybe not all of us, but the majority of us tend to one side or the other. And if we do, we ought to recognize it and see that we need sometimes another perspective to balance us out and understand that that's why the Lord Jesus Christ set up apostles, plural, in his church. And those apostles went out and set up elders, plural, in every city. And that's why God gives two parents, plural, in the home and other parents in the church to even aid and assist who've been through it after many years. And that this is why there's a plurality of deacons, that in the multitude of counselors, there might be wisdom here. It's not even just the case that an individual person has a tendency one way or the other. In certain cultures even, there might be tendencies to one side or to the other. In certain homes, there might be a tendency to one side or the other. In a certain line of generations, coming down from great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, down, there might be a tendency one way or the other. And it takes some time stepping back to examine ourselves. Even in churches, even different churches in the same denomination can have tendencies one way or the other, and we have to be able to get outside of ourselves enough to recognize and examine ourselves this way. But if we step back as far as we can, at least upon the North American scene, who can deny And that if we look generally at that in North American culture and even North American church culture, there is a strong temptation to say that God doesn't have a rod and he only has a staff and that any administering of the word That's rod-like, cannot possibly be the shepherd's work. And no comfort can possibly be found in the rod of the shepherd, even though the psalmist confesses, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. The rod too, as we said, the rod was reserved for times when more intensity was needed, a more stern word of rebuke, a more laying out of the consequences here you must face with urgency. Still in love, always in love, but intense. In a number of circumstances, the staff would not bring wandering sheep back to the right path, and the shepherd seeing there is a hard heart here, a stubbornness here, would have to turn to his rod in increasing intensity, of course, but he'd have to turn to his rod, and sometimes, in extreme measures, it would get to the point, we are told, that an Israelite shepherd would even have to break one of his sheep's legs with that rod in order to lift that sheep up upon his back and to carry that sheep back to the flock so that the sheep wouldn't ruin himself and run himself right into the path of a lion or a bear to preserve its life. An extreme measure, of course, The last resort, of course, for extreme hard-heartedness, stubborn rebellion. But sometimes the Word of God must be administered that way. always with love, not to break a leg, but to break a heart, a hard, rebellious heart, always in care, seeking the good of that sheep for whom the Lord loveth. He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Carefully, as a wise father, he administers his rod this way, but he does. What an analogy. Of course, for the faithful church discipline that God administers in His church, an increasing intensity of wisdom, wisdom, as under-shepherds care for the sheep and come with words sometimes hard to be spoken. committee visits and discussions in the consistory room carefully, wisely. What an analogy for the proclamation of the word from the pulpit that sometimes has to come with that intensity to wake up the people of God to see What an analogy for discipline in the home, as parents, often in increasing urgency, increasing intensity, administer words of rebuke to their children and administer the rod, literally, spare the rod, spoiled the child. But in all these ways, seeking out the wandering sheep, willing to do the difficult thing to preserve the sheep, never relishing it, as no shepherd ever relished administering the rod upon his sheep, and any that do not. May God have mercy upon their soul, but doing it, doing it out of love for the sheep, sometimes through tears in their eyes, knowing that this is necessary for love's sake, for the sheep entrusted to our care. For faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." So the rod was administered often upon the sheep themselves. Secondly, the rod was used upon the predators that would attack the sheep. Not now upon the sheep themselves, but upon the lion and the bear that would come after the sheep to keep them away from the flock. When David tells Saul that he killed a lion and a bear, it was with this rod. A careful, precise blow upon even a large animal, lion or bear, would kill it instantly, and these skilled shepherds knew what they were doing. So too God, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, uses His Word sometimes as a rod to strike a precise blow upon predators of the sheep, to keep the sheep out of the mouth of the lion and of the bear. After all, the devil is that predator, a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour, and precise blows must be dealt upon his head many times. The rod out of the great shepherd's mouth does this, the word, just like it did out of his word when he was upon the earth in his ministry. When the Lord Jesus Christ was himself tempted in the wilderness by this predator, this roaring lion, what did he do? It is written. And he took out that rod and he dealt a heavy and precise blow upon that raging beast. The Word is our water of life. It is our heritage. It is our bread of life. It is our staff. It's also our rod of defense. And it must at times beat back the raging wolf or bear or lion of false doctrine. And so the apostle, though an angel comes and preaches to you any other gospel than this, let him be anathema, cursed, as he rains a precise blow upon works righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ, from his throne on high, still uses his word to defend his sheep this way. to defend them from wrong doctrine, to defend them from a compromised life with this world. Psalm 107 verse 20, He sent His Word and delivered them from their destructions. And the minister of the Word of God must bring the Word this way at times. The Word must have this function in the hearing of the sheep as the shepherd rained that blow upon the lion in front of the eyes of the sheep, so that the sheep see the care of the shepherd in this. He does it sometimes on the pulpit. He does it in the catechism room. He does it in Bible study sometimes, or he leaves his flock exposed to predators. It's not the only thing that the under-shepherd does. It's not even the main thing he does, as it wasn't the only thing or even the main thing that the Israelite shepherd did, but he does it and he must do it wisely and carefully, but he does it. Parent too. Parents in their home administer the word this way in front of the eyes of their children, never in pride. But they do, their rain blows upon the devil as a roaring lion. False doctrine compromise life in front of their children or they are faithless to their charge. The rod was used in extreme measures to bring the sheep back. The rod was used to beat away, send away predators that would come after the sheep. And thirdly, the rod was used as the tool, this more intense rod now, the tool with which the shepherd would examine his sheep. A good shepherd was not content to just look over his flock and to see only what was visible on the surface. He would go from sheep to sheep throughout his flock and he would take his rod and with his rod he would sort of dig through the wool that was on that sheep and get to the skin and pull that wool back and check for spots, diseases, or bugs that were eating away at the skin of that sheep underneath the wool. Searching, examining. And so, too, God himself uses his word this way. In Ezekiel 20, verse 37, God says about Israel that he will cause them to pass under the rod. This is what it's talking about, this examination. They will come under the rod for examination. God the Good Shepherd searches us. He not only desires to have sheep together as a flock and going, generally speaking, down the right path, but to grow those individual sheep as the whole thing moves down the right path. And sometimes there are personal diseases within us, sins of omission and co-omission, stubborn pride that we don't even see all the time, even as these sheep didn't even know sometimes, weren't conscious of the fact that these spots were on them. What a wonderful analogy for some of the processes in a faithful Reformed church. You think of confession of faith. When young people, before they are deemed confessing members of the church, they pass through a certain examination. Questions are asked. The life is examined. You think of family visitation, huh? Think about this the next time you have family visitation. Elders keep this in the back of the mind, church members when the elders come through the door. The shepherd is pulling back the wool a little bit in these questions that the elders are asking. They must ask these questions. There's a searching and examining, pulling back the wool, not content just to see what's on the surface, but to come into this home and to examine, maybe even come back again later if there are things that need to be helped. The proclamation of the word must be this too. the minister of the Word of God is not content to just let the word skim across the top of the congregation. It brings a word, cuts in, it goes past the wall to the surface, addresses sometimes things that are deep, motivations of the heart, calls out sin for what it is, drives the sheep to the only balm of Gilead for healing, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It must be a searching word, an examining word. Parents in the home must do this with their children. It's an examination of the Word of God that comes upon the children, seeing the tendencies in a child's life, seeing the tendencies in the teenager's life, what tempts him this way and this way, and we've been watching it, and the Word speaks to it. It speaks to the motivation, to the heart of what's driving you, what's tempting you, what's drawing out this kind of activity in your life, and the parent exposes that before the child, and it leads him to the foot of the cross for healing, and praise with him, even myself individually in the office of believer. I'm not content in my devotional life just to skim across the surface, or when it comes time for self-examination before the Lord's Supper, I sin, yes I sin, but to examine by the Word and Spirit, and to come and lay these real sins down before the foot of the Lord Jesus Christ at His cross as an examination of the rod of the Word. What true sheep, beloved. When he stops to consider this, does not want the presence of the staff and the rod in his life. God himself through these means. What shepherd, what sheep rather, when he stops to think about this, chafes under this. This is the presence of my shepherd who loves me and cares for me and who leads me down the right path to heaven itself. This is how the shepherd preserves his sheep. keeps them all the way home. There's one more way that the shepherd used both his staff and his rod, and that was to count the sheep, to number the sheep. Sometimes when they were in the open field, he would take out his longer staff and count the sheep. And at times when they are in the valley, don't think of a broad green valley. These are rock ravines with high cliffs on both sides, sometimes so narrow that they had to walk single file to get through. And the shepherd would take out his shorter rod, and as they're walking past single file, he'd count, make sure they all came through. To see that his use of his staff and rod and all the other ways was doing its job, keeping the flock together, preserving them, not one going lost. Because that's the goal of all of it. That's what the shepherd's doing. That's the goal of the gentle staff. That's the goal of the more intense rod. the preservation of the sheep, to keep the sheep with the shepherd close to him, growing healthy. That's why thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Is that your confession this morning? tyranny, or thy rod and thy staff." What a comfort to me. This is His presence in my life preserving me. Yes, there is sometimes time needed for little lambs growing up to grow in maturity of appreciating this and crying out with conviction along with the psalms that thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. But the sheep grow to confess this, to say it. This is comfort for me because I know I'm a sheep. And I know I have a tendency to wander, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. To be drawn to the berries of the world off of this path. To head off in stubborn pride and rebellion. I know there's roaring lions and bears out there, if I really stop to think about it. But sometimes in my stubbornness and my pride, I don't want to admit it or think I'm fine all on my own. There's no danger here. The child of God with any years behind him can think back upon his life with joy at how personal this is that the shepherd has cared for me. His presence has been in my life with staff and rod preserving me. Sometimes a sermon perfectly timed to nudge me or to corral me. or the work of elders to even under a more intense pressure that I didn't really like, but I needed it. It preserved me. God was working. My shepherd, I can look back on my life and see it. And it's so personal. This was the shepherd doing this. He was counting me. He was numbering me as one of his sheep so that I didn't walk away. And I'm grateful for it. It's a comfort to me. Why would I squirm under it and throw it away from my life? It's how I know I'm a part of his number. He counts me through it. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom a father chasteneth not? And besides, With these two sticks, the staff and this rod that he administers in my life, he always leads me back, doesn't he, to other two sticks. One that's this way and one that's that way. Humbled before the foot of the cross, crying out for forgiveness and for strength to go forward. It's His love that comforts me. From the point of view of the individual person, then, the greatest danger, isn't it, is that an individual person says, I don't want your staff, and I don't want your rod in my life, God. I don't want the presence of the shepherd with me. I'll go it on my own." And they flee from the shepherd and his staff and his rod. There were sometimes, it didn't happen very often, but there were sometimes sheep from other flocks that for a time got mixed in with the shepherd's flock. And the shepherd would number his sheep, count It would drive the sheep away that was not part of His flock. That's manifest sometimes as the work of the Word comes into the life of a flock, and it's horribly, horribly sad. Always reserving final judgment to the end. God knows those who are His, but the sheep will confess in their life, thy rod and thy staff. They comfort me. They comfort me. The greatest danger of an individual person is that he doesn't confess that the rod and staff are my comfort, and the greatest danger of a flock of persons is that their church doesn't confess it. That the Word and all of that Word is the Shepherd and His presence. guiding, keeping, preserving. And so there's a dismissing portions of that word, denying portions of it, and a continuing down that path. Don't pull the wool over your eyes of what that is. That's an institution saying, ultimately, we don't want the presence of the shepherd amongst us, even if they never say that, At least not here, and now not here either, and now not in this part of that word either. And either God chastises and restores an institution, or he says, I'm pulling my staff and my rod from this institution. That's why it is this way. And for the sheep, the presence of shepherd's staff and rod has to be found elsewhere, where the confession is thy word, O God. Every syllable of it is a lamp to my feet and a guide to my path. and the great shepherd ensures that that's there for his sheep. For he is the great shepherd. Not the minister, not the elders, and not the deacons, and not my own self and my office of believer. He is the great shepherd, and he ensures that it will be there for his sheep. It's his staff and it's his rod, ultimately, and he will keep and he will guide through green pastures, quiet waters, sometimes the valley of the shadow of death, but he will take his sheep home. He will. He has chosen to do it through weak and even sinful means, beloved, never sinlessly. but he's chosen to do it himself perfectly through an imperfect means so that he loses none, not one, has each one numbered, knows each one by name. That's why the sheep confess. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Amen. Father in heaven, bless Thy Word to our hearts. Continue, Father, to make Thy presence known in the power of Thy Word and Spirit, staff and rod in our life. Lead us and guide us and preserve us all the way home. In Jesus' name, amen.