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The Shepherd’s Anointing

A.T. Vergunst

* Psalter 111: 1-4 * Psalter 144:1-2

Scripture Reading: Romans 8
Psalter 297 * Psalter 6: 1-6 * Psalter 52: 1-4

"The LORD is my Shepherd!" The reason that David is singing about his
shepherd is to attract our attention to his Shepherd. For none less than that
Jesus the Shepherd will do us any good!
Why is that? The reason is because we are like sheep! It was not without good
reason that God chose the sheep as the animal to compare us to. Did you
know that no sheep will survive in the wild without a shepherd? Did you know
that a sheep is only animal that can get lost a mile away from its own home?
They become so disorientated and confused, that they will run in circles
without finding their way back.
Isn’t that a truthful picture about us? We are so lost that we can never find the
way back to God. We need David’s Shepherd to find us and to lead us. Are you
learning this fact about yourself as sinner? Do you believe that without the
divine Shepherd we are and will remain lost? The best religious education or
best preacher cannot restore us with God. In order to be born again, to have
our eyes opened, to have our hearts changed, to have our feet led into the
right path, we need this Shepherd. David’s Shepherd is among us today. For
Jesus is where is Word is preached. Hear His call to us today, “Unto you, oh
men, I call and my voice is to the sons of man.” (Proverbs 8:4). He calls us to

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consider the richness and treasures of Himself and what He brings. He calls to
allure you out of the dry, barren and parched pasture of the world. Hear
Jehovah’s voice again in Isaiah 55:3, “Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear,
and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even
the sure mercies of David.” Aren’t those truths the greenest pastures in the
Word, His covenant mercies? Will you hear Him?

There is another reason why God compares us to sheep. Children, when you
see sheep on a picture, what kind of animal do you see? Usually you see a
nice, fluffy, cuddly, white animal, right? Is that really what sheep look like who
aren’t taken care of by the shepherd? No, they don’t. A sheep left to take care
of itself, is a dirty animal. It is one of the dirtiest animals because they can’t
clean themselves. A cat and dog lick themselves clean, birds peck themselves
clean, but a sheep cannot clean itself. As they rub through the pasture and
bushes, they gather grease, dirt, seeds, vegetation and insects in their fleece.
This is especially true at their back end which tends to become one big black
dirty mess which they can’t clean. I do not know of any other animal that has
that problem. That’s another reason why God chose the sheep as our picture.
We also cannot clean ourselves. We cannot make ourselves acceptable in the
sight of God. We cannot ever polish ourselves up! We need the Shepherd
Jesus to do this. Only He can make us acceptable in sight of our glorious God.
His Work as prophet, priest and king alone can save us. Are you learning this
also? Is God showing you the helplessness and uselessness of your own
shepherding efforts? Is He showing you the vanity of every attempt to cleanse
yourself from the guilt and filth of sin? Are you seeking the Shepherd and
calling upon Him to be your Shepherd like He was for David? Oh, neglect not
so great salvation or such a great Savior.

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A third reason why we are like sheep is that there no animal as defenceless as
a sheep. Other animals have teeth, or claws, or horns to butt with. Some are
heavy and tall, fast or smart. Others have shells to hide in or poison to spray,
or have a good camouflage. But a sheep has none of these defences. When a
sheep is in danger, they start running away, they panic and may even run right
into the claws of their predator. Draw the line to yourself. We are also
defenceless against the great enemy of our soul. We are no match to our own
sinful power or the powers of Satan and his agents. Here we are in a hostile
world without shelter, without defence and without ability to survive. Where
shall we turn? What can help us? Is there One able to save us to the
uttermost? Yes, there is One upon Whom the LORD has laid all His might. It is
David’s Shepherd. Let’s consider His work in vs. 5b,
“Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.” It speaks about:

The Shepherd anointing the Sheep.

1. Why does He need to anoint them?
2. How does He anoint them?
3. What is the result of this anointing?

To understand this ‘anointing of the sheep’ let’s recall where we are in the
sheep’s journey as pictured in Psalm 23. In verse 5-6 David described the
shepherd’s work in leading his sheep through the valley floor via the table
lands to the summer heights or ranges. The ‘table lands’ are like a ‘rest-area’
on the way up. The shepherd prepared these lands so that they would be safe
and restful for there are enemies on these table lands. This is clear from the
text words, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies.”

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What are these enemies on the table lands? Was it hunger or thirst or lack of
necessary minerals? That would be the case but we learned in the previous
sermon that the shepherd has taken care of these needs. So wouldn’t these
table-lands, these rest-areas, be as a little paradise for the sheep for them to
graze and rest contentedly? Wouldn’t it be a place that is above all the strife
and fear?
That’s often also what God’s children expect spiritually? When Jesus Christ as
Shepherd begins to handle a sinner, our fears increase at first. Fright and
oppressions fill our heart as we come face to face with the reality of being lost,
guilty, unholy and therefore undone. Experiencing the truths of God’s law
bring darkness and despair. Yet, when the Shepherd leads us in the green
pastures of His Gospel righteousness and makes us to rest at the still waters of
His Gospel, we expect that this rest will never end and the peace never be
disturbed. Now the strife is over and the journey in following the Shepherd will
be smooth. For when the LORD is our Shepherd, we shall not want.

All that would only be true, friends, if we didn’t live within this world and if we
didn’t have the old man still living within us. It was therefore true to life when
the early Christians welcomed a young believer into the church with the words,
“Welcome in the strife.” Why did they do that? Wasn’t that discouraging?
Wouldn’t that put them off? Though it may have been somewhat bewildering
to them at first, soon they would find how truthful it was. Isn’t it better to be
prepared? It is like us who make journeys. After hours of traveling we reach a
rest-area and look forward to stretching out our legs and refreshing ourselves.
We step out of the car and suddenly we are met by the heat along with a cloud
of mosquitoes! That picture is the reality of the table-lands. Though a place

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meant for rest, with plenty food, they weren’t such quiet and sweet pastures
as we imagine. It was time to be assaulted!
Assaulted? Who are the assaulters? The enemies are the flies, bugs, gnats,
mosquitoes and all those little predators. Summer time is fly season. These
tiny creatures fly in hoards around sheep and are first-rate torturers. They
pester them so badly, that they know no rest. Those of you who are hunters,
may think that the worst time for the animals is when you take out your gun
and go hunt. Instead, the worst season for deer is the summer time when flies
and mosquitoes pester them. Sheep are also not exempt. As a matter of fact,
sheep are especially susceptible to nose flies. The fly is attracted to the wet
membrane of the nose and lays its little eggs there. As the eggs hatch and
become little larva, they crawl right into the cavities inside the head, and there
they begin to inflame and irritate the head. As result the sheep goes
absolutely crazy. They run around the paddock, hitting their heads against the
rocks. They can be seen jumping up and down for three or four hours,
thrashing around in the bushes. They panic and run to escape the irritation in
their head. Finally, they drop down dead. What a small insect can do!

Besides these flies there is scabies. This is a highly contagious and extremely
irritating disease that develops on the skin of sheep, and again, only in the
summer time. It is very contagious and spreads when sheep rub their heads
together, which they like doing in an affectionate interaction. Health is never
contagious, but sickness is. This is not only true in nature but also spiritually.
To fight these threats and tortures of the sheep, the Shepherd anoints the
head of his sheep with oil. This only protects them, it also heals them. Without
the shepherd doing this, the sheep would be doomed to torture.

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Now let us think about this spiritually. Living in this world, we are like sheep in
a wilderness full of demons and evil people pestering us, even without realizing
it. We are exposed to all kinds of toxic influences that come into our mind and
stir our hearts. And beside all these external influences, our own sinful heart is
also cage of unclean imaginations. And what is man doing about this? Exactly
as the sheep do. We run all over the place to escape the reality, maybe to
quiet the voice of our conscience. We hit our heads and stubbornly keep
returning to the things that hurt us. We want to run away from the reality of
death. We do not want to think about death, so we surround ourselves with
pleasures to distract us or escape the sour reality of life. But the truth is that
“The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest.” (Isaiah 57: 20).
Do see you own picture? Can you see that none of the things that the world
offers delivers us from the nagging guilt, restless hearts and broken
relationships? It doesn’t cure you, it doesn’t protect you from sin, it doesn’t
cancel out the constant assaults of the devil and his agents. My friend, if you
are unsaved and you have not been brought under the Shepherding love of
Christ, you are like this.
The fact is that the pestering insects don’t only assault the wild animals on the
table lands, the sheep also are in the fire-line. So it is in this life. Jehovah’s
sheep are not exempt from the pestering insect Satan, sin and self. That is why
the saying, “Welcome to the strife!” is accurate. Don’t ever imagine that once
you are a child of God that all the strife is over. Once you have learned to bow
your knee before the kingship of Jesus Christ, you in essence have declared
war against the kingdom of Satan.

Congregation, look at this sheep. It has made quite a journey so far. He has
been led into the sheep pasture. It has been led beside the still waters and

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experienced the restoration of the soul. The sheep has been led into the path
of righteousness for His name’s sake. When we look at these phrases Biblically,
we can see that God has been teaching His child in the beautiful chapters of
His grace. There is justification by faith, peace in the heart, leading beside the
still waters in the eating and drinking those wonderful promises of God,
restoring the soul, taking away of the burden of the heart, showing the way of
salvation and the blessedness of those whose sins are forgiven and iniquity is
covered. The sheep may have experienced such beautiful truths. It is joyful
indeed! They have been delivered from the crushing guilt and curse of sin.
They have learned that the demands of the law are all satisfied and yet they
are constantly pestered and tortured by the enemies that are still present.

No sheep of Jesus can escape and rise above the reality of being sinful in a
sinful world. None pictured that more clearly than Paul in Romans 7. Though
he is man who has been in the third heaven, a man who seen the glory of
Christ risen, who has been delivered from the crushing load of sin, yet he
groans about the pestering reality of his indwelling sin. Hear him in his own
words, “Oh, wretched man that I am." (Romans 7:24). Paul suffered under that
and he could not escape it. "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” It
is as though he says, "It is assaults me when I pray, when I read the Bible.
Thoughts, feelings, desires, imaginations, distractions are with me when I go to
church. Horrible things come up when I dream in my sleep. I feel a barrage of
assaults when I walk in the street. It is with me when I see other people. I can’t
get away from these insects of my sins. Oh, who shall deliver me from this pest
of my old man or indwelling sin?" You see, God’s children are not going to
escape the reality of this fallen world even though they may graze on the table
lands under the very care of their Shepherd.

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Do you understand this? Does this bewilder you? Is this reality of the sheep of
Jesus unexpected? Children, when I was young, I thought God’s children didn’t
have struggles with sin anymore. When I listened to them or watched some of
them in church, I thought that those people don’t have evil desires or wrong
thoughts. A former minister used to say, "Children, if I would write the things
that live in my heart on these white walls next to me, you would never listen to
me anymore." You know, I thought, "That can't be true, it's just pious talk." I
was wrong; it is true! Now I understand him now. But I didn’t realize that
then. I thought that once you are converted you are beyond the attraction to
sin. You are beyond the pesky influences of sin. But, no, that is not the truth!
We will only be delivered when are taken away from this earth and delivered
from this body of death that is clinging to us like poisonous ticks. The Psalm
speaks about this in verse six. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Then,
there will be no more “pesky insects” assaulting us from within our hearts and
from others around us.

But, gladly, this is not all the truth. There still is the Shepherd and if He is our
Shepherd, we shall not lack. David confessed it, “Thou anointest my head with
oil.” But first we will sing.

Psalter 6: 1-6

We just sang the words, "I have more joy than great abundance could impart."
When did David write this psalm that we just sang? It was when he was fleeing
from Absalom. He is in circumstances of dire need. His own son is his enemy.

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And yet he experiences a greater joy than any earthy abundance could ever
give him. How come? What is happening? Well, it is one of those moments
that David’s Shepherd was anointing his head with oil.

How does the Shepherd do that, children? Remember I told you about those
nose flies? They crawl into the nose cavities, and dig into the sheep’s head.
What does the shepherd do about that? Well, the shepherds in the Bible times
had developed some fly oil. It was made of olive oil. They would add sulphur
to the oil and some very strong spices. A shepherd would then rub that oil
mixture over the head of the sheep throughout the journey, especially in the
summer time. It wasn’t done once a summer; no, the shepherd had repeat it
every seven to ten days. Sometimes when the fly infestation in the sheep was
really bad a shepherd would give the whole sheep a bath, not only his head.
They would dip the sheep into a bath of this mixture. The hardest part of this
process was to put the sheep’s head in the mixture. They had to push it down
all the way to ensure the sheep’s head would go under. It’s just like us when
we were young when we hated putting our head under the shower.

“Thou anointest my head with oil,” was thus a loving act of the shepherds to
defend his sheep from the flies and to heal them from those irritating itches
that the scabies cause. The shepherds reported that this treatment would
bring an instant change in behaviour. The flies might still be buzzing close but
now they are not bothersome anymore. Instantly after those sheep have been
anointed or dipped in the oil, they begin to quietly graze in the fields. There is a
sense of deliverance and protection.

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What a beautiful spiritual truth this contains. In Scripture, oil is always the
symbol of the Holy Spirit. Without Him and His ministry no sheep will survive
the journey through this world. Did you notice as we read Romans 8, how
often the apostle Paul makes references to the Holy Spirit? This is a chapter
where Paul’s cup is running over. Romans 8 is one of the most beautiful
chapters of the whole Bible and yet it is written by the same man who feels
tortured in chapter seven. In chapter 7 he said, “The things I would, I don’t,
and the things I don’t want, I do.” This man is pestered by all the enemies and
all the opposition and yet his cup is running over. Why? How? It is because the
Holy Spirit is anointing him. The Spirit enables any sheep to live, to walk, to be
fruitful in this terribly ungodly world with an inner sense of security and peace.
They are walking through the same world that all mankind walks through and
often they may even be in worse outward circumstances than most. Blessed is
the Holy Spirit in His Personal work. It is His power, His presence that subdues
our hearts of iniquity. No self-discipline will cure your heart, no resolutions will
subdue your heart, and no past experiences will help either. Our heart needs
the constant and abiding presence and power of the Holy Spirit to subdue the
indwelling sin. Even in the heart of God’s dearest sheep, dwells pride,
unbelief, covetousness and a host of other sins. We will carry this reality with
us for the rest of our life until God delivers us from this wretched body of
death at the end of our journey. God will then bury it forever and we will rise
as a perfect man.

We need this anointing of the Holy Spirit. Without Him, living within us, we are
carnal, proud, back sliding, and we cannot live. Remember that sheep are the
most helpless animals. That is our picture spiritually. We can’t help ourselves.

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Have you discovered that yet? Some people claim this truth only through
hear-say. They like to use it as an excuse for doing nothing. There are also
people who like to help themselves on the way to heaven without the
Shepherd Jesus Christ. No, that isn’t only found in false religions. Many
among us are self-help-believers. Examine what are your resting grounds? Do
we need the Shepherd, Jesus Christ and Him only for salvation? Or are we
content to have our feelings and spiritual experiences, our lifestyle and choices
we make without any exercises of looking at and trusting in Jesus Christ alone?
In self-help religion we don’t need the Holy Spirit either.
But God’s Word and the experience of all God’s children tell a radically
different tale. David himself cried out that God would not take away His holy
Spirit from him. One older hymns contains the words ‘We need Thee every
hour!’ Is that also your experience?

Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not want. The glory of the Shepherd Jehovah is
not only the glory of the Father, who eternally elected, or the glory of the Son
Who bought His sheep, but also the glory of the Holy Spirit. Do you see how
this Psalm is Trinitarian? “Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup will run
over.”

Oh, precious is the work of the Spirit of Truth, He opens the Scriptures and He
opens our minds for the Scriptures. And when these come together, we will
experience the anointing of the head. Have you ever had the experience when
the needs of your heart are met with the Scriptures you read or hear? Well,
such is the Spirit anointing your head as He leads you into the Scripture to feed
and nourish you. He is called the Spirit of comfort and He administers that
comfort through the Scriptures. The needs may still remain the same; the

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situation may not alter, but as He sheds His love abroad in our heart we will
sing, even though we may still be in a pesky prison or enduring other afflictive
dealings.

It is amazing what God’s children can do through His empowering and

anointing ministry, even though in themselves they are poor, needy, and
weak. See Luther standing before a fearful assembly, “I will not bow before the
power of darkness.” One man standing alone in the eyes of the world. In
himself he is a weakling and trembling man, but as the anointing of the Spirit
of God is on him, he is like unmovable pillar.

Blessed be the Spirit of God when He fills us with all joy and peace in believing.
Paul shared his prayer for the Romans and let’s make that our prayer, children
of God, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that
we may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans
15:13). As the Spirit anoints us and enables us to embrace the blessed tidings
of the Gospel, peace and joy will follow as the fruits, filling the heart.
When I may rest my heart, my troubled mind, my broken life, my sinful
existence in those very arms of the Saviour, Jesus Christ – yes, then there is
peace and joy. And who brings the sheep to this faith? That is the anointing
Spirit of God upon His children. Paul wrote, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for but the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

Where would we go, children of God, without the Holy Spirit? Where would we
be today without the Holy Spirit? Surely, we must exalt the Father for His
electing love and the Son for His meriting love but we are to give equal praise

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to the Holy Spirit for His applying love. It is the triune God Who is the Saviour
of sinners. That is why Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:16, “that he would grant
you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his
Spirit in the inner man.” We need this as we face this world with all its
oppositions, subtle and bold temptations. And above this as we face the sins
that still live within us.

“Thou anointest my head with oil.” There is one way that the analogy between
the sheep and the Christian, does not fit. Sheep will never seek the anointing
of a shepherd. It is the job of a shepherd to come to the flock and decide that
it is time to give the sheep a bath again. And upon making the mixture, he
goes out among the flock to anoint them. Yet it is not quite like that spiritually,
for we are to seek for the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

God anoints His sheep, congregation, through the Word, and we are to make a
choice, like Mary made. Martha first thought she could do without the
anointing of the Spirit of God and hurried on with her daily labour. Sure, it was
good labour to prepare a meal for Jesus and His disciples. But do you know
what happened as she omitted to seek His anointing first? It began to boil in
that kitchen. No, not on the stove, but in her heart. She became so disturbed
by the pestering thoughts within, boiling in her heart, that she became rude
and impolite. For she not only interrupted Jesus’ sermon but addressed with
unfitting words, “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve
alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.” (Luke 10: 40). In other words, she
rebuked Jesus as if He didn’t care! And she tries to make Him order Mary to
the kitchen!” Oh, how quickly can our hearts and tongues rise up in sin! Calmly
Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about

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many things; but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42).

See, congregation, Christ calls His children to seek His anointing first. We must
not just to wait for it to happen. When we struggle with the “flies” of
temptation and feel those “scabs” of infesting sins, thoughts and desires, we
must ask ourself, “Have I been seeking the nearness of my Shepherd? Have I
been seeking the anointing of the Word of God in my heart? Or have I been
running on without sitting at the Shepherd’s feet?”

Hear the Word of God instructing us, children of God. Colossians 3:16 “Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” Are we making use of the
Word of God? We need to be in the Word so that the Word will be in us! One
person wrote in the inside cover of their Bible, “This book will keep me from
sin, or sin will keep me from this book.” When we are not in this Book, and
when the words of this Book are not dwelling in us, we will miss the anointing
influences of the Holy Spirit. Then all the pesky sins and temptations of this
world will have access to us.

Even Paul felt that need as he was in his prison in Rome. He was not only cold
but also hungry for he sent Timothy the request: “The cloak that I left at Troas
with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially
the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:13) He apparently owned Old Testament Bible
books and he longed to read them again. Now, consider this well. Here is a
man who has been in the third heaven; a man who has preached for about
twenty years, a man who has known Christ, who has felt so much of Christ’s
teaching, and yet he yearns for the personal copy of a few Old Testament

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books. Why? Because he longed for a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit which
the Spirit brings through the readings of the Scripture. God can overrule the
circumstances but if we are not in circumstances that bar us from the
Scriptures, then we must not tempt God to minister His anointing without the
use of Scriptures. Tempt God? Yes, we tempt God when we separate what He
has joined together. God has always put together the means and the fruit. He
has given us the Word to read and meditate on. Friends, are we doing that?
Are we exercising ourselves daily to read and mediate upon the Word of God?
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is also experienced through the sacraments.
The Heidelberg Catechism teaches us that Holy Ghost confirms faith by the use
of the sacraments. Let us not look at the Lord’s Supper in any a different way,
it is the visual means of grace that God has given to strengthen the faith in His
children. But then it must be used by God’s children and not neglected for then
we will not experience Holy Spirit’s anointing.

“Thou anointest my head.” What a blessing when that happens, friends. When
the Spirit anoints your head, you will know it. How do you know? Because “my
cup runneth over.” Notice that this is a personal reflection. David wrote, “my
cup”. It is not the Shepherd’s cup, but the sheep’s cup that runneth over. The
psalmist speaks about the delight and the joy that he feels in his heart when
God, the Holy Spirit is anointing him. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty to speak and to declare the greatness and goodness of the Lord to such
a sinner as we are. When that Spirit is anointing you, my friends, you cannot
keep your mouth closed. You must speak as it pours out of the heart to those
that are there. There are so many beautiful Psalms written when the cup is
running over. For example, David wrote Psalm 34 after he had behaved like a
fool. He had acted like a mad man in front of Abimelech, the Philistine King. He

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had been terrified and pestered with so many fears within and without. He
had been driven to use a strategy to escape the hands of the enemy. But once
delivered, he came back to write this psalm. His cup is running over. “I will
bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall be continually in my mouth. My soul
shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.”
So he calls everyone to come and hear what God has done to Him. “I, (despite
my failings and unbelief) I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me
from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4). And if it is possible for me then such a
salvation is it is possible for you.” That is his cup running over.

We listened to Romans 8 this morning. That is one of the best examples of a

cup running over. You could almost consider the chapter Paul’s Psalm of
praise! How much this chapter has encouraged and ministered sinners through
the centuries is known to God only! But undoubtedly the fulness of the cup of
Romans 8 hasn’t been emptied! The cup is more than full and still running
over. When is the last time, dear followers of the Lord Jesus, that you couldn’t
stop talking about Him and how great He is? When did we call others to listen
to what the Lord has done to you?

Let’s therefore make David’s petition our own, “Touch my silent lips, oh Lord.”
Or use the words of this Psalm, “Anoint my head with oil, oh gracious
Shepherd.” Let’s confess by name each pesky sin and temptation that swirls
around you. The Shepherd revealed that He didn’t come to be ministered unto
but to minister. Therefore, fear not to “Open your mouth wide” for He has
promised to fill our every need.

Amen.

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