Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the chapter we read, Ezekiel
chapter 34, and reading from our text, verse 30. Verse 30. Thus shall they know that I,
the Lord their God, am with them. and that they, even the house
of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God. Ezekiel chapter
34 and verse 30. We know that Ezekiel, along with
other prophets, were raised up at the time when the children
of Israel were carried away into Babylonish captivity. Jeremiah
had stood alone as one that warned the people, pointed them to the
true and living God. Many other prophets deceived
them and were a means of confirming them in sin and in wickedness
and ensuring they went away into captivity of chastened people. But through Ezekiel we have many
encouragements that the Lord would bring his people back,
although his prophets had forsaken them, fed themselves and not
fed the people, yet he would not forsake them. He would be
not a false shepherd, but a real shepherd, a good shepherd. and
he would bring them back again. And we know that they were brought
back to their own land, they were established upon the mountains
of Israel, and the Lord did bless them there and raised up for
them there in that land the Saviour, the seed of David. And we know from the verses in
the chapter that is before us that refer to David, in verse
23, I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed
them, even my servant David, he shall feed them. And when
we have verses like that, and the one that follows, and I,
the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David, a prince
among them, I, the Lord, have spoken in, we know that the Lord
here through Ezekiel is not speaking in a literal way of David. David himself was dead and buried,
and yet David's greatest son, the one that he spoke of in Psalm
22, 69, the one that was prophesied, the one that he saw, is this
the manner of man O Lord God, one that he wrote of in Psalm,
my Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till thine
enemies be made thy footstool. The question the Lord asked those
in his day, if David call him Lord, how is he then his son? And the religious Leaders of
Christ's day, they could not answer him. They could not know
how it was that David's son should be the Christ, and yet David
was calling him Lord. He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Eternal God. He was the Eternal Son. He is the Eternal Son, made manifest
in the flesh, according to the line of David, both from Mary's
side and Joseph in the kingship line. So these prophecies were
of great comfort to God's Israel in a literal way, to bring them
back to their land and in waiting for the Messiah, waiting for
Christ, and no doubt many were encouraged and strengthened through
his words here. God does have a people. He did have a people here, a
literal people, Israel. but it doesn't rely just on God
telling them that they are a people or referring to them as a people. We have in Exodus, when Moses
was sent to Pharaoh to bring Israel out of Egypt, the message
constantly was to let my people go. My people that are in Egypt,
and the Lord again and again refers to that nation, the seed
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, as his people. So the Lord does,
in the word, refer to them as his people, but that was not
the only thing that showed that they were his people. It is what
he did for them, in bringing them especially out of Egypt,
forming them into a nation, a nation not overshadowed by Egypt anymore,
but given new laws and new statutes and precepts and brought through
the wilderness and into the promised land. And it was by the Lord's
dealings with them that he reaffirmed that they were his people. In
fact, They were a people that he had redeemed out of Egypt. And so it is also in a gospel
day, and this chapter points to and must be applied in the
day in which we are when the gospel is preached, the Lord
Jesus Christ has come, the clear light of God's purpose and counsel
is shown, that God still He has a people, a spiritual Israel,
a people out of every nation, kindred and tongue that are His
people. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
born, His name was called Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. And that doesn't just refer to
literal Israel. The Lord said, are the sheep
I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring,
There shall be one fold and one shepherd. And here we have in
this chapter the type of a shepherd and the shepherds and the folds.
And there our Lord is clearly pointing that it shall be both
Jew and Gentile as well. So the Lord does have a people
out of every nation and kindred and tongue. Sometimes He is pleased
to tell them very clearly that they are His people. Other times
it is more in His dealings with them that it is shown that they
are His people, and especially the presence, that He presents
Himself with them. The Lord said, Lo, I am with
you always, even and to the end of the world. And Moses, he says
in Exodus 33, that whereby shall his people know that thou art
their God, is it not? in that thou goest with us, except
thy presence go not with us, carry us with me, carry us not
up hence. And the Lord had given him that
promise, my presence shall go with thee. And it is so then
for God's spiritual people, if you and I are a child of God,
we want to know that we are God's people, we want to know that
His presence is with us. We cannot see the Lord. He is not among us as the Lord
was upon the earth, and yet He has said His presence will be
with His people. And it is by His Spirit and by
His grace and by those things that are set before us here in
our text. And so the words of our text
They follow what has gone before in the chapter, speaking of what
the Lord himself would do. It's set on the backdrop of what
the shepherds did not do, what they could not do, the damage
that they did to his people. And the chapter then from verse
11, it is what the Lord shall do." And right through this passage
we read again and again the words, I will, I will, what God will
do. And then after those things,
what God will do, we have the words of our text, thus shall
they know, or in this way, or in these dealings where God has
done for them, Thus shall they know that I, the Lord their God,
am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are
my people, saith the Lord God." And we know that was fulfilled
in a literal way, in the Lord bringing them back from captivity,
establishing them, and bringing His promises to pass. So in one sense, in a gospel
day, we look upon a verse like this, it was fulfilled with God's
ancient people, Israel, and it will be fulfilled in a parallel
way with God's spiritual people in every nation, kindred and
tongue. And so I want to look then with
the Lord's help this evening, just two points. Firstly, The
two things that God's people shall know. Thus shall they know. And then secondly, how they shall
know these things. How they shall know them. Thus
shall they know. It's those things that have gone
before our text that they shall know. So the two things firstly,
and we've already briefly mentioned them, that God's people shall
know. The first is that the Lord is
with them. The Lord is with them. This is what Moses sowed his
iron. This is what the Lord promised.
This is what the Lord was with his disciples. This is what comforted
them when he rose from the dead and appeared to them. The whole
gospel is God and sinners reconciled. The prayer of our Lord in John
17 was, Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me Be with
me where I am that they may behold my glory. All the time he was
speaking in terms of being with his people. I go away and I come
again. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. The Lord is giving the assurance
that he will visit his people He appointed the Galilee and
the places where he should meet with his people when he raised
from the dead. When he ascended up into heaven,
the angels told them, the men of Galilee, where the Lord was
and where he would come again. And the whole aim of the gospel
is that that separation that sin made is to be taken away,
brought nigh by the blood of Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. The Lord says that they may be
one even as we are one. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. All the time there is the idea
of a binding together, a union together. The ordinance of the
Lord's house in baptism, buried with him by baptism into death
and risen again in newness of life is identifying Together,
those that show forth His death with the Lord's Supper, you do
show forth His death till He come. Partakers of the elements
and in a spiritual way as well, feeding upon His flesh and His
blood, His sacrifice, His perfect life, His humanity, all that
the Lord is for His people. The Lord would have his people
near unto him. They'd be in the midst of them.
Beautiful promise, as we gather in his name. Where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst, the
Lord's presence. And so we know this is one thing
that God's people shall know. His presence, His presence with
them. They shall know it here below. They shall know it in a wonderful
way in heaven, where they shall know even as they are known here
below. Do we know? the Lord's presence,
be sung in the hymn, I am with thee, Israel passing through
the fire. In tribulations, we think of
the, what Nebuchadnezzar said after he threw those, or had
thrown the three Hebrew children in the fire. He rose up in amazement,
he said, did we not throw, cast three men bound into the fire? And he said, lo, I see four men,
loose, walking in the midst of the fire. And the form of the
fourth is like unto the Son of God. The Lord with his people in the
fire. Daniel testified the Lord had
sent his angel and stopped the lion's mouths. The Lord was with
him. God's people, they know Him. He is with them. Sometimes with temptation and
dark valleys, they may be very tossed and very tried whether
He really is with them. And that's why we need the Word
like this. We need the promises of God.
to assure that he is with his people. The second thing that they know,
and they shall know, is that they are his people. The Lord said, I ascend unto
my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. a people of God, a people that
were not a people, but are now called the people of God, a people
that the Lord himself claims to be his own, his own sheep,
those that he has redeemed, those that are chosen in him from the
foundation of the world, and those that shall be with him
in heaven forever. Again, when the Lord came into
the world and the name given Him, the name of Jesus, His name
shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their
sins. Already they were a people, already
chosen, given to Him by the Father to redeem. Thine they were, and
thou gavest them me. And as the Lord knows his people
before they know him, there shall come a time when they will know
that the Lord is their God, and they are his people. Paul says, Ye are bought with
a price. Wherefore glorify God in your
body and your spirit, which are his, ye are not your own, ye
are bought with a price, ye are the Lord's. This people have
I formed for myself, the Lord says, they shall show forth my
praise. Now I want to look in the second
place, how they shall know these things, how we shall know these
things, The Lord is with us. How we shall know that we are
his people. And so in doing that, we go back
and we go and see what the Lord says he will do for them. In verse 11, we have this. I, even I, will both search my
sheep and seek them out. Verse 12. So will I seek out
my sheep. The Lord was come to seek and
to save that which was lost. The Lord is the first in salvation. He finds his people, he finds
his sheep. He knows where they are, but
he's put in terms that we would think of, he seeks them out. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. The word of God begins with this
word, in the beginning, God. And if that applied in creation,
as it did, it much more applies in salvation. There's people
chosen in Him from the foundation of the world, but when it comes
to being found and called by grace, brought to No, the Lord,
brought to know themselves as sinners, brought to seek for
salvation, brought to be given eternal life, I give unto them
eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of mine hand, is traced back that the Lord
has sought them. Now it might be the case, like
it was with Zacchaeus, where Zacchaeus, he wanted to see the
Lord, pass by, curiosity. And yet he found the Lord had
an appointment. He knew his name, he knew where
he was, called him down from his tree and said that he should
abide and dine at his house. It's one of the Lord's appointments.
And we can think of it as a A person, it may be that the
Word of God is given to them, or maybe they choose it from one of our Bible
boxes, or respond to a web offer, or curiosity, they go into the
house of God. Or it may be something is overheard,
or something is said and done, that first brings a concern that
is the first step in bringing them to seek the Lord, to know
that they have a soul, to know they need a saviour. Maybe those
realisations are not first, but there is a beginning in the way. A people that once were dead
in trespasses and sinned, and then hath quickened. He that
were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickened, made alive. I pass by thee when thou hast
in thy blood, and when thou hast in thy blood I bid thee live. And where we trace then the Lord
may have used varying means, but we trace his sovereignty,
in making those things work for good, so that we are brought
into the way. You may say the Lord found us,
found us through his word, maybe through we've been brought up
under the sound of the truth, we've sat on a seat, I've sometimes
thought this in one of the words of prophecy, in the place where
it was said unto them, you are not my people, in that place
it shall be said, that ye are the people of the living God.
And many of the Lord's people could maybe have, like we had,
at Melbourne, a family seat, a seat that we all sat in, and
in that seat, first to be convicted of sin, that we're not the people
of God, we're not saved, we're lost. But by and by, through
the preaching of the word, the Lord, in that same seat, blesses
us, so that we know that we are the people of God and we are
brought to peace and a saving knowledge of the Lord. But it will be the Lord seeking,
the Lord beginning, the Lord's work. All of those other shepherds,
they'd failed. And it's true, the Lord uses
his servants and his lottery proof for us in those early verses,
that we are to seek to be a shepherd, mirroring upon the Lord. But
you know, if salvation was dependent upon us, upon men, to find out
God's people, it would miserably fail. We'd make those God's people
that weren't, and those that were, we'd make not. But the
Lord finds His people. He chooses them. He's not deceived. Not deceived by riches, by wealth,
by supposed good works, or anything. He looks at the heart and He
works in the heart and He begins. So that is one way. How they
shall know these things. How they shall know the Lord
is with them. How they shall know that the
Lord, that they are His people. is that He has found them and
begun with them. The second thing I mention is
that He will separate them from among the people. Verse 13, I
will bring them out from the people, gather them from the
countries, and will bring them to their own land. Literally
this was done with Israel, but we think of how it is set forth
in that beautiful psalm 107, in the beginning of that psalm. I'll turn to it. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. What do they say? I give thanks
unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and
gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south. Come ye out from among them,
touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. You shall
be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. The
word here, what has been done beforehand, is so that those
two things, they know the Lord is with them, they know that
they are the Lord's people when the Lord separates them. They
don't remain. Israel couldn't remain in Egypt. God's dear people, they can't
remain at home in this world. This world is not your rest,
it is polluted. In Hebrews 11, we read that those
who had faith They embrace the promises of far off, and they
confess that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth. And this is what the Lord says
He will do. We must never be ashamed of being
a different people than the world that lieth in sin and wickedness. To be a holy people, to be the
people of God, to be a people that whose, as Haman said, their
laws are different. They're diverse from all other
peoples upon the face of the earth. And that does apply to
God's spiritual people. And we should not seek to imitate
or want to be like the people of the world that have no desire
for God. It's an amazing thing that The
Lord makes his church to be secure, as it were, bolted and barred
against assault, but all of those that are in his church, they
come out of the world. They come out of the world. So
in one sense, there's separation from the world, but we know that
there are those Maybe that we've had to separate from at one time
when we have been called, that in God's time and way, he separates
them and then brings them to be bound with us. We think of
how the early church must have viewed Saul of Tarsus as being
the world that hated the church, persecuted the church, but then
by God beginning with Saul, He brought him amongst them to call
upon the same God, to believe in the same God, to be separated
by the same separation. So this is another thing. Has
the Lord made a difference? Has He separated us? Has He made
us to seek a heavenly country, seek the things of the Lord?
to come out from among those that still lie in darkness and
are enmity and hatred against the Lord. The Lord says in John
17, I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them. Know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? Whoso will be a friend of the
world is an enemy of God. And all the time there's this
Separation is gulf, and in the end it will be heaven or hell,
an eternal separation. Here below there's only two ways,
a narrow way, a broad way, a straight gate, a wide gate. One leads
to destruction, the other leads to eternal life. And so what
the Lord will do, He will bring out He was separate and it is
only the Lord that is able to cast out the world and cast out
the devil and make room for himself. Then we have in verse 14 and
15, the Lord feeding his people. I will feed them, I will feed
my flock and cause them to lie down. If the Lord has sought us out
and separated us by his grace, given us eternal life, we will
then have a new appetite, a new nature, one that needs feeding. The Lord said, and quoted that
in Deuteronomy, when Satan tempted regarding making the stones bread,
man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God. Now an unregenerated sinner has
no desire to feed upon the word of God, even if he be in a position
of maybe a church leader. And there are many church leaders
in this land that, yes, they're in the church and they go to
work and they take the services, but if they were unwell, they
have no need of going and feeding upon the Word, a most solemn
thing. But this will be one mark of
the Lord's presence with them and that they are His people. They are his sheep. What would
we think of a shepherd that never fed his flock? David says, the Lord is my shepherd,
and bound up with that was being fed. Thy words were found and
I did eat them. They were to the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. What was the charge that the
Lord gave to Peter when Peter had denied him three times and
the Lord met with him on the lake? Love us thou more than
these, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. The Lord gave him
the charge three times, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. That was his charge, to feed
them. And the word of God is how God's
people feed, feeding upon the word. This then is one of the marks
above our text, and a distinguishing mark, that only those that have the Lord with them,
the Lord says, I will feed them. Yes, he might use a minister.
But that word comes from the Lord. The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of them
that published it. And if you and I feed upon the
word of God, then thus shall they know that I, the Lord their
God, am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are
my people. It is true. the feeding upon
the Word that we know those two things, the Lord is with us and
that we are His people. It is a distinguishing thing,
a separating thing, something the world does not know of, they
don't have an appetite for it, and the Lord doesn't give it
to them. Then they shall know The Lord
is a judge, as a discerner. In verse 20 we read, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God unto them, Behold, I, even I, will
judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
And the Lord separates between his people in Zion, in the Church
of God, The kingdom of God, stand ashore, having this seal, the
Lord knoweth them that are his. And he bears witness as to who
are his people. He judges amongst his people
and he lays his people in the hearts of others of his people. We know that we have passed from
death unto life, in that we love the brethren. The Lord judges
in that way, in giving that discernment and judgment, as a drawing together. When Ananias was told to go to
the street straight where Saul of Tarsus was, and behold he
prayeth, He objected, I have heard of many of this man, what
evil he hath done in the church of God. The Lord said, Go thy
way. He is a chosen vessel unto me
to bear my name unto the Gentiles, and I will show him what great
things he must suffer for my name's sake. And when Ananias
comes to Saul, he lays his hand on him and he says, Brother Saul,
The Lord who appeared unto thee in the way, the same thou sent
me, that thou mayest receive thy sight. Immediately it swept
away all objections. The Lord had laid Saul of Tarsus
in Ananias' heart. And it is a sweet token when
the Lord judges between cattle and cattle, as it were, between
the flock. and you find the people of God,
whether it be from one nation or another, when they see them,
they hear them in prayer, they hear something of their testimony,
they feel a bond, a union to them. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples indeed, in that ye love one another. This very token this very thing
by means we shall know these things is because the Lord gives
that discernment and gives that judgment unto his people so that
they cleave to one another and cleave in love. We have then
in verse 22, therefore will I save my flock How many things the
people of God in their lifetime need saving from? Saving from
their sins. Saving from snares of Satan. Saving from their own spirit.
Saving from their wicked heart. Saving from this world. They
need saving. That was His name again, wasn't
it? He shall save His people from
their sins. The name of Jesus, the Saviour. So that is another. Have we been
saved from our sins, from a snare, from a trap, from an evil way? Saved from the corruptions of
our heart? Yeah, they still work, they still
fester. We need daily saving. But this
is the Lord's work, to be with His people, to save them and
deliver them. In verse 23, I will set up one
shepherd over them. Again, he shall feed them. For the people of God, it is
very clear to them that they have but one shepherd. David says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. This is another thing the Lord
will do. Jesus only. And if he is impressed
there upon you, upon me, then it is thus shall we know that
the Lord is with us and that we are his people. We have in
verse 25, and I will make with them a covenant of peace. The gospel It's not the covenant
of the law. There's no peace to the wicked. But the Lord says, in me you
shall have peace. Because the Lord has put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. He has endured the wrath of God. His sacrifice is a propitiation
for sin. It takes away that wrath. And
through the Lord comes peace. through the Lord is that covenant,
that promise, that assurance, that the debt is paid, and it
is a covenant of peace, ordered in all things and sure. It is
not of works, lest any man should boast, but it is by grace, by
grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God, and the charge is growing grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And it is that covenant
that the Lord will give and make with His people. Do we know a
covenant that is not from Moses, near the mount that might be
touched, but it is through the Lord Jesus Christ, through his
precious blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Then we have in verse 25, I think
it's further on than that, is where he will make them a
blessing. I think I've got my reference
wrong. And in verse 26, and I will make
them and the places round about my hill, or about the churches,
a blessing. And I will cause the shower to
come down in his season. There will be showers of blessings. And it is a wonderful thing as
the Lord sent forth his servants, and the Lord uses his people,
that they should be a blessing. They are blessed and made a blessing. Made a blessing. They are the
salt and light in this world. They are sprinkled through this
world. It is for their sakes the world
remains. The world doesn't realize that,
but it is true. If there had been more than ten
righteous in Sodom, Sodom would have remained. The Lord still
has his people on the earth, those that are still not yet
called. But there shall come a time when
all of them are called by grace, and then the Lord will come again
with power and great glory. The world shall be rolled up
His people shall meet Him in the air. His people, there will
be those still alive on the earth to be caught up with Him in the
clouds. And so in a very natural way,
His people are a blessing to the earth. It is for them that
the place is not utterly destroyed. But the churches that are scattered
through the earth, They are as candlesticks, and the Lord promises
to bless them and make them a blessing. It is the expectation of each
gathering of the people of God that they'll be a blessing to
those round about them in the towns that they are. Then we have in verse 29, I will
raise up for them a plant of renown. Again we have the promise
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the emphasis again and again
comes to Him. These Old Testament saints, they
look to Him, and we have in the New Testament, unto you which
believe He is precious. And I believe it will come again
in many different ways, through trials, through tribulations,
through blessings, in things that we seek for, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is the one thing needful. It is pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell, and that will be uppermost with
the people of God. The hymn writer says, and some,
it's hard to sing, but, I could from all things parted be, but
never, never, Lord, from Thee. He is the one thing needful. And the hymn writer again says,
I, without Him, perish must. And the Lord says, if you believe
not that I am He, you shall perish in your sins. There is none other
name given among men whereby we must be saved. And that will
be impressed on His people. And where that is impressed,
and where He is, one thing needful, you altogether lovely, then they
have these two things known. The Lord is with them and they
are his people. And may through this word and
those things that go before it, thus shall they know that I the
Lord their God, this is not my designing as to how we should
know. This is the inspired Word of
God, telling the people of God how they should know that God
is with them and that they are His people. And may the Lord
truly bless the Word this evening to that end, that the people
of God might know they are the people of God, that those may
be tried and tempted and fear the Lord is not with them, might
fear again the Lord is with them, and the Lord is their God. The
Lord add his blessing. Amen.