Let's turn in our Bibles to Ezekiel
chapter 34. Ezekiel chapter 34. Now, the
title of the message this evening is Jesus Christ, the One True
Shepherd. Jesus Christ, the One True Shepherd. The scripture passage that Brother
Joe read is something, is one that is so familiar to so many
people as far as the repetition of it, the poetry of it, the
beauty of it. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. We know that. But what I want us to do is to
look into passages that are sort of parallel to that. And this
is one in prophecy here concerning the coming of Christ into the
world. as the shepherd of his people,
the one true shepherd. It begins by a prophecy from
Ezekiel, a prophecy that the Lord gave him. Verse 1 says,
the word of the Lord came unto me saying, and he has a message
to Israel's shepherds. Now the shepherds that he speaks
of are the leaders of the people. They're civil leaders, they're
religious leaders, they're the priests, There are other prophets,
and technically we would say they are under-shepherds. God
is the shepherd of this flock. Christ is the shepherd of the
church, but he has under-shepherds, and that's his ministers, his
preachers, who he has given what we might call custodial care
of the people. The shepherds that he speaks
of here and the shepherds of the church, the under shepherds.
We do not own the church. We're not owners of the sheep.
In fact, if you go back and look at the culture of that day, uh,
the ones who were out shepherding the flock were never owners of
the sheep. They were just working for the
owner. So we're not owners of the sheep, but we're given, as
I said, custodial care. The Bible teaches us that Jesus
Christ is the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep, John chapter 10. He's the great shepherd, the
great shepherd and the chief shepherd, the bishop of our souls,
the overseer of our souls. And that his ministers are under
shepherds given that care for his people. Now I'm going to
read through all of this passage and I want to just make some
comments, but let's look at the first thing that's brought out
is God's indictment of false shepherds. Now, not everyone
who claims to be a shepherd, not everyone who looks like a
shepherd is a true shepherd of the flock. And here he brings
an indictment against false shepherds. He says in verse two, Son of
man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. So this is an indictment. This is, this is a word of God
against them, prophesying, saying to them, thus saith the Lord
God unto the shepherds, woe be to the shepherds of Israel that
do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed
the flocks. They're feeding themselves. They're
in it for themselves and not for the ministry and service
of the people. He says, you eat the fat and
you clothe you with the wool. You kill them that are fed, but
you feed not the flock. Totally self-serving. Verse four,
the diseased have you not strengthened. They didn't see, this is their
lack of care for the sheep. The disease have you not strengthened,
neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have
you bound up that which was broken. Neither have you brought again
that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was
lost, but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them. And I thought about that verse
there. You know, that is a great description of false religion,
legalism, false works, religion. It's preaching that does not
give a cure for the disease of sin. or a healing for the sick. It doesn't bind up that which
was broken. It doesn't bring again that which
was driven away or seek that which was lost and with force
and with cruelty. That's legalism. In other words,
trying to scare people into a profession, trying to scare people into service
or into giving or into coming to church. It's either the legalism
of scare tactics under the law, beating people over the head
with the law. If you don't do this, then you'll suffer. Or
it's a mercenary religion, serving God for what you can get out
of him instead of because of his intrinsic holiness and value
as God himself. And that's a good description
of legalism there. Verse 5, it says, they were scattered
because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the
beasts of the field when they were scattered. That's the nature
of a sheep, isn't it? There's only one thing that can
help a lost sheep, and that's for the shepherd to find it.
If no shepherd there to find it, that sheep will stay lost
or die, and eventually die. Verse six, my sheep wandered
through all the mountains and upon every high hill. Yea, my
flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none
did search or seek after them. In other words, these shepherds
left the sheep lost. Now that's the false shepherds,
that's the false preachers. And you know how we've studied
in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel told the truth. He told the truth,
and he told the truth not only of the state of the nation, the
wrath of God against their sin, but he told the truth about the
only way of salvation, not based upon their works, but based upon
the promise of the coming Messiah that would come in the future,
he who would come in the future. And the false shepherds kept
crying peace when there's no peace. Feel good religion. There's a lot of that going around
today. In other words, a false shepherd is one, a false preacher
is one who will tell you not what you need to hear, but what
you want to hear. And that's the thing. They preach
a false gospel of salvation by the works and wills of men rather
than God's free and sovereign grace through the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They'll talk about love, but
they reduce God's love to an empty emotion and good intentions. That's right. But the true shepherd
will tell you the truth about God's love, and that's this.
God's love is in Christ. And outside of Christ, there
is no love of God for a sinner. Outside of Christ. You read the
Bible. Now, I know it makes us feel better to tell people otherwise. But it's not the truth. It'd
be like going to a doctor, and you've got a terminal illness,
and the doctor says, well, you're OK. Just go home and take an
aspirin. Now you call him a quack. Now the last thing you want to
hear is that you have a terminal illness. But if you've got one,
you want to know about it, don't you? And if there's a cure, you
want to know about the cure. And that's the way it is. The
only cure for sin is not just that God loves you, go around
smiling. Now that's not the cure for sin.
The cure for sin is God's love is in Christ Jesus. You run to
Christ. You press towards Him. You seek
Him. You come as a sinner seeking
mercy, knowing that you don't deserve or earn anything from
God. That's right. Like that old publican,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. Well, now he brings judgment.
Look at verse 7. Therefore now because of this you shepherds
hear the word of the Lord as I live saith the Lord God Surely
because my flock became a prey and my flock became meat to every
beast of the field Because there was no shepherd no true shepherd
Neither did my shepherd search for my flock, but the shepherds
fed Themselves and fed not my flock now what he's doing. He's
bringing judgment. I And then he says in verse nine,
listen to this. He says, therefore, O ye shepherds,
hear the word of the Lord. Now God's judgment is against
them. But listen to what's going to happen here. Here's what's
going to happen. Christ, the Lord God, and we
can see this in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
for his people, his sheep, his church, he's going to save and
take possession of his sheep. Now the false shepherds will
lead them astray. The false shepherds will leave
them lost. But Christ, the true shepherd,
is going to save his sheep and he's gonna take possession of
them. Look at it, verse 10. He says, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I'm against the shepherds, these false shepherds,
and I will require my flock at their hand. Now that literally
means I'm gonna take them away from you. Christ is gonna take them away.
And I want to tell you something, that's the only way they're going
to be saved, because they're not going to come on their own.
People sitting under a false message of feel-good religion,
legalism, which men by nature love because we think so highly
of ourselves, will not, on their own, leave that religion. It
makes us feel too good. It feeds the flesh. It exalts
us. And we won't leave it on our
own the only way that we're going to be saved from that false message
is For the Lord to take us away from the false shepherds And
that's what that means and listen what he says now look at it again.
I will require my flock at their hand literally I'm going to take
them away from you And I'm going to cause them to cease from feeding
the flock. I'm going to cause those shepherds
to stop feeding the flock with their lives. Neither shall the
shepherds feed themselves anymore. For I will deliver my flock from
their mouth that they may not be meat for them." His deliverance. And I know probably most of you
can think about John chapter 10 here. Look over at John chapter
10. where Christ starts out in this
great shepherd analogy. He talks about Himself as being
the only door into the sheepfold. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Him. And it says, He goes before His
sheep. A stranger will they not follow. That's when He goes and gets
them now. By nature we all follow a stranger. Isaiah 53 says, all
we like sheep have gone astray. That's man by nature. That's
our fallen Adam. That's our sin by nature. And so he says in verse 7 of
John 10, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, and
the sheep did not hear them. That's his sheep. I'm the door,
by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and he shall go
in and out and find pasture. That means he's at liberty to
feed upon the word of God, to serve God. But look at verse
11. He says, I'm the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. That's how
he saves them. He gives his life for them. Now
what is that? That's what we call the truth
of substitution. The sheep under the law are condemned
and deserve nothing but damnation. So how does the shepherd save
the sheep? He steps in their place. Substitution. And then he gives his life because
that's the wages of sin is death. Somebody's got to die. Why? Because
God's mean? No. Somebody's got to die because
God's bloodthirsty? No. Somebody's got to die because
God is cruel? No. Somebody has to die because
God is a God of justice. And that's a lost truth in our
society today. He's a God of justice. Yes, he's
a God of love. Yes, he's a God of mercy. Yes,
He's a God of grace and compassion, but not at the expense of His
justice. You see, that's the difference
between the God of the Bible, the true and living God, and
all these idols, and even what most men call God today out of
the Bible, because they refuse to read the Bible. They refuse
to look at what the Bible actually says concerning God. They want
to think what they want to think. I know, I've been there. You
all have too. I can remember sitting back there,
about right in front of where Paul's sitting, hearing Brother
Mayhem preach and said, there's no way I'll believe that. And
now I'm up here preaching it. And I'll tell you, that didn't
happen because of my own free will. It happened because of
the sovereign will and power and mercy of God. Well, God is
both a just God and a savior. Isaiah 45, look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth. I want to tell you about
the love of God. I want to tell you about the
mercy and the grace of God. But if I tell you those things
without making myself and you deal with the justice of God,
then you've lost the gospel. You've lost it all totally. How
can God be both a righteous judge judge according to truth sinners
like us and still be a loving Savior and Loving father, how
can he do here's the answer? I'm the Good Shepherd the Good
Shepherd Giveth his life for who? for the sheep And that's what he says then
he talks about those hirelings now, that's who Ezekiel is talking
about here those false shepherds and Verse 12, He that is in hireling,
and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the
wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf
scattereth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth,
because he is in hireling. and careth not for the sheep.
You see, it's not a calling to him. It's not a ministry of God's
grace and glory for the love of the sheep. It's just a job.
And he says in verse 14, listen to this. He says, I am the good
shepherd and know my sheep. Now that word know is a different
word than what we use in our English language when we talk
about knowing someone. All we're talking about is I
know who they are. I acknowledge them. I know their name. This
knowing here is the same knowledge that exists between a man and
a woman who are married. I mean, they really know each
other. It's an intimate knowledge. And what he's talking about here
is a spiritual, intimate knowledge of his sheep. It's a divine love. And he says, I'm the good shepherd
and know my sheep and am known of mine. They know me, he says.
And he says in verse 15, as the father knoweth me, even so know
I the father, and I laid down my life for the sheep. There's
that substitution again. He laid down his life for the
sheep. He went under the wrath of God for the sheep, for their
sins, to pay their sin debt. He says in verse 16, other sheep
I have, which are not of this fold, this Jewish fold. That's
what he's talking about. Them also I must bring. Now why
must he bring them? Because they're his. They're
his sheep. He redeemed them by the price
of his blood. And they shall hear my voice.
They're going to hear. Not everyone's going to hear.
But the sheep will hear. They'll hear the shepherd's voice.
And there shall be one fold. And there shall be one shepherd.
Christ the one true shepherd. Go back to Ezekiel 34. Now look what he says in verse
11. And I want you to notice the language here. Now Ezekiel's
prophesying during the time of the Old Covenant. Now the Old
Covenant basically had this kind of arrangement. God said to the
nation Israel, I will, if you will. That's basically the arrangement
of the Old Covenant in its kernel terms. I will, if you will. And it was a failure. Anytime
you see any type of arrangement like that, I will, if you will,
with sinners like us, it's going to be a failure. But now look
at, look at what he says here, beginning at verse 11. This is
new covenant language. This is the language of grace,
sovereign grace. He says, for thus sayeth the
Lord God, behold, I, even I will both search my sheep and seek
them out. If you take a sheep out and that
sheep's lost, he'll stay lost. He won't search out, he'll wander.
Lost. So how's he going to find the
master? He's not. The master's going
to find him. The shepherd's going to find him. I will both search
my sheep and seek them out. Verse 12. As a shepherd seeketh
out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are
scattered, So will I, there's another I will, God will, Christ
will that are scattered. So will I seek out my sheep and
will, I will deliver them out of all places where they have
been scattered in the cloudy and dark day, the day of sin
and the day of judgment, the day of wrath. Verse 13. He says,
and I will bring them out from the people, and I will gather
them from the countries, and I will bring them to their own
land, and I'll feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the
rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. You see,
it's all, I will, I will. It's not I will if they will.
He says in verse 14, I will feed them in a good pasture. He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures. And upon the mountains, the high
mountains of Israel shall their foe be. There shall they lie
in a good fold and in a fat pasture. That word fat there means healthy. And shall they feed upon the
mountains of Israel. Verse 15, I will feed my flock
and I will cause them to lie down. You see that? Sayeth the
Lord God. This is all the work of God.
I'll cause them to lie down. They're not going to do it on
their own. Verse 16, I will seek that which was lost and bring
again that which was driven away, and I will bind up that which
was broken, and I will strengthen that which was sick, but I will
destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with judgment.
That's those self-righteous sheep or goats, really what they are,
not sheep. And verse 17, and as for you, O my flock, thus
saith the Lord God, behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between
the rams and the he goes. Now what's happening here is
Christ is judging between his true sheep and false sheep, false
sheep. He says, I'm going to judge between
them. And verse 18, he says, Seemeth it a small thing unto
you to have eaten up the good pasture, but you must tread down
with your feet the residue of your pastures, and to have drunk
of the deep waters, but you must fowl the residue with your feet."
These false sheep, these false shepherds and false sheep, not
only do they fail to feed the true sheep, but they'll trample
down the good pasture. In other words, everything they
do is cursed and defiled. Verse 19, and as for my flock,
they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they
drink that which you fouled with your feet. You see, that's what
they have. That's the only thing that false
religion can give to you. Nothing good comes of it as far
as a relationship with God. You know, false religion can
make immoral people turn over a new leaf and become moral. And that has benefits to society
but it has nothing to do with a sinner's relationship with
God. That's what we're talking about. How God saves sinners. And so Christ's judgment between
his true sheep and these false sheep carries on. Look at verse
20. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God unto them, behold, I, even I will judge between the fat
cattle and between the lean cattle. Because you have thrust with
side and with shoulder and pushed all the diseased with your horns
till you have scattered them abroad. This is part of his process
of getting his sheep and pulling them out of the world. And therefore,
verse 22, will I save my flock? Thank God for his salvation.
Will I save my flock? And they shall no more be a prey
and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up
one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them. Now who's he
talking about here? Here's Christ, the true shepherd
of the sheep. One shepherd over them, and he
shall feed them. Now who's it gonna be? Now look
at him. Even my servant David, he shall feed them and he shall
be their shepherd. David's gonna be their shepherd.
Well, King David, at the time of this prophecy, has been dead
for about 400 years. He who sat upon the throne of
Israel in Jerusalem. He's been dead about 400 years.
Who is he talking about? He's not talking about King David
of old personally. King David lived about a thousand
years before Christ. But what he's doing, he's using
David as a type and in prophecy to point forward to Christ who
is identified in prophecy of the Old Testament the greater
David as the branch of Jesse who's David's father as The one
who would sit on the throne the Messiah look back at Jeremiah
chapter 23 with me look at these prophecies or this prophecy and Here in Jeremiah 23 He's
talking about the difference between false shepherds and true
shepherds the one and then the one true shepherd And he says in verse 5 of Jeremiah
23, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch. Now again, Jeremiah was contemporary
with Ezekiel. David, King David, had been dead
400 years. He said, but I'm going to raise
unto David a righteous branch, one who would be made according
to the seed of David after the flesh. and a king shall reign
and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judas shall be saved,
Israel shall dwell safely. This is his name whereby he shall
be called the Lord, that's Jehovah, our righteousness, Sid Canoe.
That's Christ, the branch of David. Turn to the New Testament,
Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. Look at verse 30. The angel Gabriel
sent to Mary at Nazareth. Listen to what the angel says.
The messenger of God says to Mary in Luke chapter 1 verse
30. The angel said unto her, fear not Mary for thou hast found
favor with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and
bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. Jehovah saves
or our savior. He shall be great and shall be
called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father, David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There shall be
no end Christ, the one true shepherd. All of this prophecy applies
and points to the Lord Jesus Christ as the one true shepherd. Go back to Ezekiel 34. Let me
read the rest of this passage. The shepherd is the one who establishes
righteousness for his people and his righteousness which is
wrought through his obedience unto death as he lays down his
life for the sheep putting away their sins, establishing the
only righteousness whereby God can be both a righteous judge
as well as a loving Father. And through Him comes the salvation
of His people and He rules from His throne of righteousness forever
and ever as the one true Shepherd. He's the Shepherd King, the Shepherd
Messiah. Well, look at verse 24. He says,
Ezekiel 34, And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant
David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it.
There's that union of Christ and His people. The Word of God
is faithful and powerful to do what He said. That's why He said,
I've spoken it. That means it can't be taken back. It can't
fail. Verse 25, I will make them a
covenant of peace. Peace between God and sinners.
How? based on the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood of His cross.
That's how peace is made. It's not peace made because you
did something for God. Now listen to me. Should we serve
God? Yes. Should we obey God? Yes. But it's not our serving
God or our obeying God that makes peace between God and man. It's
Christ who made peace. He's the Prince of Peace. Reconciliation
between God and sinners is made because Christ was made sin He
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him He's the peacemaker what our service and obedience
to God is the fruit of the peace that he made and So he said I
will make with them a covenant of peace now how's he going to
make with me a covenant of peace through the preaching of the
gospel of peace and When the gospel of peace, when Christ
is preached as the one who gave his life for the sheep and accomplished
their redemption, then God the Holy Spirit brings his sheep
into the fold. And he says, and will cause the
evil beast to cease out of the land, all their enemies. They
shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Now you
know what happens to a sheep that sleeps in the woods, don't
you? He gets eaten by the wolf. But here he says they're going
to dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. That's
his sheep in this world. What is he saying? This one true
shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, not only is the savior and redeemer
and gatherer of his sheep, he's the protector of his sheep. We're
safe in Christ. We're secure in him. He says
in verse 26, I will make them and the places round about my
hill a blessing. His hill is Zion, that's his
church. I will cause the shower to come
down in seasons and there shall be showers of blessings. That's
where this hymn that we sing comes from, showers of blessings. How much are those blessings? How many? Well, he says we're
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Verse 27, and the tree of the field shall yield her
fruit. You see, his people are going to be a fruitful people.
Trees of righteousness, Isaiah said in Isaiah 61 verse 3, which
are the planting of the Lord. And he says, and the earth shall
yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land
and shall know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bands
of their yoke, their bondage. That's what it's talking about.
Remember Christ said, come unto me all ye that are laboring and
heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy. You see, he
doesn't lay the law upon the backs of his people and threaten
them, and he doesn't hire them out by mercenary promises of
earned reward. It's all grace. It's all love. It's all gratitude. And that's
what he says, I've broken the bands of their yoke, delivered
them out of the hand of those that serve themselves of them,
those false shepherds. Verse 28, they shall no more
be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour
them, but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid.
I will raise up for them a plant of renown. That's Christ. He's the plant of renown. He's
the only one that deserves to be renowned. All glory and honor
and majesty to him. And he says, and they shall be
no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the
shame of the heathen anymore. He's the bread of life. He's
the water of life. 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. I believe the house
of Israel there, ultimately, prophetically, typically, refers
to spiritual Israel. God's elect out of every tribe
and nation under the headship of Christ. You know, if you'll
notice, if you'll go through the scriptures and you'll notice
that every prophecy of the hope of Israel that comes in the future
is always the calling of a people under the headship of Christ.
It's not just the calling of people, it's not the calling
of a people to an earthly land, but it's the calling of a people
under the headship of Christ. And then he says in verse 31,
And you, my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I
am your God, saith the Lord God. God saves sinners, and he brings
them to himself. And just like he said in John
chapter 10, he said in verse 27, My sheep
hear my voice, I know them, They follow me. I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." All
right.