Ezekiel chapter 34. As you know,
God is pleased by the means of preaching, that being the preaching
of men, men that God uses as instruments of grace to save
them that believe. God calls these whom He saves
His sheep. In a parable in Luke chapter
15 verse 6, the Lord said, Rejoice with Me, I have found My sheep
which was lost. In John chapter 10, Christ said,
I'm known of My sheep and have known of Mine. He said, I laid
down My life for the sheep. They're His sheep. They belong
to Him. The Lord Jesus added, other sheep
I have which are not of this fold, them I must bring. One day the Lord Jesus said to
some, you believe not because you're not of My sheep? My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. The Lord asked Peter after Peter
had denied the Lord three times. Three times the Lord asked Simon,
Lovest thou Me? He said, Feed My sheep. They're
My sheep. Jeremiah 23 verse 2 says, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed
my people, you've scattered my flock, you've driven them away,
and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you
the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. It's serious business
to mess with God's sheep. In Jeremiah 50, verse 6, the
Lord said, My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have
caused them to go astray. Again, I remind you, this flock
is His flock. This church is His church. And
these sheep are His sheep. The church at Corinth had become
followers of men. You know that. Instead of followers
of the Good Shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Good Shepherd. Some of them said, well, I'm
with Paul and I follow him and his doctrines and his teachings.
And others said, well, I'm of the Paulos. I prefer his more
eloquent speech over Paul's. And then others stood up and
said, well, I kind of like Peter. He's a straight shooter. He's
plain spoken. He's a man's man. I'm going to follow him. And
Paul said, are you not all carnal? Are you not walking as fleshly
minded men and women? Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Were you baptized in my name?"
Paul asked. And then Paul asked this question
or these questions. He said, who then is Paul? That's
what every gospel preacher will say concerning themselves. Who
am I? Nobody. Who's Apollos? Who's Peter? He
said, we're just ministers, shepherds, servants. A minister is one who
attends to the needs of someone. Paul said, we are no more than
ministers, servants, by whom you believe. Just instruments
that God used in order to reveal Christ and the Gospel to you.
We're simply the means. to show you the one thing needful,
the Lord Jesus. You know, that's what the word
pastor means in the Bible. It means shepherd or under-shepherd,
a shepherd under the one who owns the sheep. And Paul is saying
here, one shepherd plows and one shepherd plants and another
shepherd waters, but it's God that gives the increase. Ain't
no under-shepherd can give the increase. Oh, they can plow,
they can cultivate, they can plant, they can water, but only
God can give the increase. Salvation is the work of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, no man can come
to Me except the Father which sent Me. Draw him, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. Salvation is of the Lord. He
does the drawing. He does the raising up. He gives
the increase. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained. David wrote, The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want. And then He said, He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. Who does? The Lord does. My Shepherd
does. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. Who leads the sheep? The Shepherd
does. Our souls would never be still
if He didn't lead us. He restoreth my soul. Our souls
would never be restored if the Lord did not give us life. We
fear no evil because He is with us. We would have no comfort
if not for His rod and His staff. We would die of hunger if not
for Him, our Great Shepherd, preparing a table before us in
the midst of our enemy. We would have no joy apart from
Him anointing our heads with oil and causing our cups to run
over. We'd have no safety apart from
His goodness and His mercy following us all the days of our life.
The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want. we would have no eternal
life apart from Jesus Christ being our great shepherd. Now here in Ezekiel chapter 34,
the Lord by the prophet Ezekiel calls the shepherds of Israel
to give an account of their neglect of the sheep. The Holy Spirit
reveals in Hebrews chapter 13 that the Lord put these shepherds,
these pastors, to watch over the souls of His people. And
they must give an account for that. One day I'm going to stand
accountable before God. What I preached to you, what
I told you, that's serious, serious business. I don't take it lightly. In Luke chapter 16's parable,
that rich man called his steward that wasted his goods. You remember
that story? He said, give an account of thy
stewardship. It's coming. We're going to give
an account. That's what the Lord's doing here in Ezekiel chapter
34. He's calling these shepherds
to give an account. He's holding these shepherds
responsible for what they haven't done. You see, He didn't only
hold us responsible for what we do, but for what we don't
do. Verse 1, Ezekiel 34, And the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
prophesy and say unto 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. That's a question. Should they
not? You're feeding yourselves, you're not feeding the flock.
God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds, the pastors
of Israel. Now that word prophesy means
to speak by inspiration. That's what true preaching is.
It's speaking by the inspiration of God. God's true servants speak
words that are God-breathed. That's what the Spirit is. It's
the breath of God. And the word prophesy means to
communicate with just simple discourse. I've had people tell me, I like
the way you preach. You preach simply. What a compliment.
That's what preaching is. It's to simply declare what God
has done for sinners. That's the good news. How can
a wretch like me be saved? How can one who is nothing but
sin, sin being what I am, how can I be reconciled to a thrice
holy God? If you tell me it's something
that I've got to do, that's not good news because I can't do
anything to be saved. But if you tell me it's something
that God has done for me, I rejoice in that. Now a similar word, prophecy,
is a spoken or written prediction. When the scriptures talk about
prophecy, it means that God gave certain prophets the gift to
be able to foretell and predict future events. Ezekiel was such
a prophet. But however, here God is telling
Ezekiel to speak by the inspiration of the breathed words of God
and tell these shepherds, these pastors, that he's not at all
pleased with them. And it's important to know that
God doesn't just predict that certain things will come to pass.
God purposes that they come to pass. And at times He was pleased
to have His prophets foretell things before they happened as
a means of blessing or warning. And as this chapter goes on,
God tells these prophets and His people what's going to come
to pass in the process of time. But in these first verses, Ezekiel,
by the divine inspiration of God, is rebuking these shepherds
because God is displeased with their actions and their neglect.
In verse 2, the Lord, through Ezekiel, voices these displeasures. He said, Woe be to the shepherds
of Israel, they defeat themselves. Should not the shepherds feed
the flocks? Of course! That's what a shepherd does.
In verse 3, the Lord says, You eat the fat, and you clothe yourselves
with the wool of the sheep. You're not feeding the sheep,
you're fleecing the sheep. Big, big difference. Again, shepherds
is speaking of those men whom God has given custodial care. I can't think of any better word
to say. He's given them custodial care
over God's sheep. Just as natural shepherds take
care and watch over the sheep that have been entrusted to them,
these pastors, these shepherds, were and are given the responsibility
of tending to God's flock who are the chosen of God. Remember
what God said? That's My flock. That's My sheep. These are My people. And that's
what God has called me to do here. That's what God called
Brother Gene to do for many years in Rescue California. Do you
know what Did you know that there are sheep owners in Wyoming that
have thousands upon thousands of sheep? So many that they cannot
take care of them themselves, so they hire shepherds from Spain
that come to Wyoming and tend their sheep year-round. You know,
I was thinking about that as I read that tidbit. God has sheep
all over this world. He's got sheep all over Kentucky. Here in Madisonville, Danville,
Lexington, Louisville, now Sellersburg, Pikeville, Ashland, and in Tennessee,
you've got College Grove, Crossville, Kingsport. Just the groups that
we know of. God calls pastors, He calls shepherds
to oversee His flock, His people, to teach them. In the times of
Ezekiel, God did the same thing. His people were all over Israel
and we didn't have live streaming and sermon audio and all these
means that we have today. He sent teachers, shepherds,
pastors in different places to teach the people. But these shepherds
stopped feeding the people and began feeding themselves. They
ate the fat. They clothed themselves with
the wool, the support that the sheep gave while providing nothing
to the sheep in return. There's a lot of that going on
today. Verse four, the diseased, 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, and
neither have you sought that which was lost, but with force
and with cruelty have you ruled them. Now the Holy Spirit here
gives us four or five things concerning the character of God's
sheep. First, they're diseased. They're
sick with the disease of sin. Sin is, leprosy is a good picture
of sin. And these weak sheep, these pastors,
have not strengthened them or endeavored to heal or help them
at all. Secondly, they're said to be
broken. broken from the labor of the
heavy sins that's upon them. These self-occupied shepherds
neglected the care for the sheep, and God wasn't happy about it.
God ain't happy about it today. Thirdly, they were driven away,
and it was the shepherds, the very ones that had vowed before
God to take care of the sheep that had done so. It was the
shepherds that had scattered the sheep. And fourthly, they
were lost. They were confused, didn't know
where they were. The shepherds did not seek them
to return them to the foe. And according to verse four,
the sheep were treated with cruelty and forced to serve instead of
being served. Sound familiar? Sheep are not
ravenous like lions, and they're not crafty like foxes, and they're
not swift like the hare. They're not foul like the swine. They don't eat decaying flesh
like a raven. Sheep are timid, and trembling,
and fearful, and weak, and defenseless, and helpless, dumb, and gentle,
and prone to wander, and prone to stray. They need a shepherd. Verse 5, and they were scattered. Why? Because there is no shepherd. And they became meat or food
to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. But here, friends, we have the
Gospel. The Lord said, I'm going to do
all these things that you shepherds haven't done. And you know who the good shepherd
is. Verse 16 is my text. That's what the Lord Jesus, the
faithful shepherd of His sheep, this is what He's going to do.
Now this is Ezekiel prophesying of what is to come. This is what
Jesus Christ, the faithful shepherd, will do for His sheep. I'm interested. I'm interested. In verse 16 the
Lord says, I will seek that which is lost and bring again that
which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken,
and will strengthen that which was sick." The Lord said, I'm
going to do that. This is what the true shepherd
does. This is what Christ has done for His sheep. Today, the
majority of self-professed pastors, shepherds, are concerned about
everything but the sheep. They concern themselves with
many things, natural things, physical things, religious things,
but not with the scattered sheep. They're concerned with their
programs, they're concerned with their fundraising, they're concerned
with their building projects. They're concerned with their
worship teams. But they haven't done what they're
supposed to do, feed the sheep. They've been busy, they've been
active, they've been zealous, they've been enthusiastic. They're
ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.
And God says to these shepherds, they're only feeding themselves
when they should be feeding the flock. These disciples, the disciples
came to the Lord toward the end of his time on earth, his earthly
ministry, and they said, tell us what shall be the sign of
your coming, and how will we know the end of the world is
near? And the Lord said, take heed that no man deceive you,
for many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ, or that come,
say that they're coming from Christ. Same difference, really.
And they shall deceive many. And you see, most people today
even assume that these end time deceivers are associated with
these radical groups on the fringes of society. Not so. No sir, not so. They are self-appointed shepherds
who disguise themselves in the ministry. Paul said, for such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. Why should we marvel at that?
Why? Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Angel meaning messenger, light
meaning the gospel. Satan can transform himself into
a messenger, a preacher of the gospel. I know a lot of folks think I
harp too much on religion. Well, I don't apologize because
I'm telling you, I've got people that I love that are in hell
because of it. This is serious, serious business. His ministers also are able to
transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall
be according to their works. I'm trying to warn sinners at
the pitfalls of these shepherds who eat the fat and clothe themselves
with the wool of God's sheep. Woe be to these shepherds that
do feed and clothe themselves. Their end shall be according
to their works. So, the first thing God says
in verse 16 is, I'll seek that which is lost. I'm so glad. That's who the Lord saves, the
lost. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that
which was lost. When the Lord sent out His disciples,
He said, Go not into the ways of the Gentiles, into any city
of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. That Canaanite woman that came
to the Lord, whose daughter was grievously vexed with a spirit,
she cried and the Lord didn't answer a word. And she cried
all the more for mercy. And he said, I'm not sent, but
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's who he came
to save. Lost sheep. What does it mean
to be lost? You'd be surprised how many people
don't know. Many preachers don't know. And
I'm convinced that they don't because they wouldn't preach
the things they preach if they did know. To be lost is not to
be able to find one's way. To be lost is not knowing where
you are. To be lost is to not know where
you're going. You know, I read a story not
long ago about Albert Einstein. He was traveling on a train,
and the conductor came down the aisle, as he did to punch the
tickets of every passenger. And he came to the famous professor,
and Einstein reached in his best pocket, couldn't find his ticket.
He stood up, going through his trousers, and still couldn't
find it. He looked on the seat next to him, wasn't there. And
the conductor said, Mr. Einstein, he said, I recognize
you. I know who you are, and I'm sure
you bought a ticket. There ain't no question about
that. Don't worry about it." And Einstein nodded his head
with appreciation and smiled, and the conductor continued right
on down the aisle, punching tickets. And he was ready to move on to
the next car, and he looked back, and now Mr. Einstein is on his
hands and knees looking under the seat for his ticket. And the conductor came back to
him and he said, Mr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't
worry about finding your ticket. He said, I know who you are.
You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one. And
Einstein looked at the conductor and he said, young man, I too
know who I am. And he said, and I know I bought
a ticket. He said, my problem is I don't know where I'm going. There are many that are lost
and don't know where they're going. Brother Mayhem once gave
the illustration of a young boy who lived on the edge of the
woods, and his mother had told him time and time again, you
can play in the yard, but don't you dare go out into those woods.
And one day, he saw a beautiful butterfly, and he began to follow
that butterfly. And before you know it, he was
out in those woods. That butterfly flew here, and
that butterfly flew there, and that little boy was so engaged
in the butterfly, with all its beautiful colors, He didn't realize
that he had wandered further and further from home. And pretty
soon he lost interest in the butterfly and he realized that
he was lost. He had no idea where he was.
He didn't know which way was the way home. And he cried for
his father. That's the kind of lost I'm talking
about. As we say in Kentucky, plum lost. Plum lost. Not many know what
it is to be plum lost like this. I'm reminded of another story
I heard. A ship went down in a storm and one man survived.
He was washed up on shore with a small bag of tools that came
from the ship, of all things, to wash up with him. And he built
a small shelter to protect himself from the elements. And he had
but one goal. And that was to be rescued. He
was lost. He didn't know where he was,
and nobody knew where he was. And in the daytime, he'd scan
the horizon for a ship. And he'd scavenge for food in
the evening, and then he would repeat the same process day after
day. Well, one evening, as he went
out and scavenged for food, he returned to his shelter to find
that lightning and a storm had struck his shelter, and it was
on fire. And the shelter burned up, and
the tools that he had burned up with it, and everything was
lost. Oh, and he was hopeless and in
despair, and he sat there on the beach contemplating death.
He said, this is the end. I know death. I don't have any
hope. I've lost everything. Tears ran
down his cheeks and he exhausted himself crying and he fell asleep. And when he woke up, he saw in
the distance a large ship and he heard a commotion and he looked
and here's a little lifeboat or gurney or whatever you call
them on shore and sailors are walking towards him and he can
hardly believe his eyes. And they said to him, we saw
your smoke signal so we came to help. Sometimes we've got to be lost
and we've got to lose everything in order to be saved. Only our Great Shepherd can find
us. Are you lost? Well, the Lord says here in our
text, I'll seek that which is lost. Isn't that good news? If
he seeks me, he'll find me. He's never failed. He's never
sought one that he did not find. Kind of like that young boy walking
with his father. His father asked, how far are
we from home? The little boy said, Dad, I don't
know. And he said, well, what street are you on? And he said,
Dad, I have no idea. And the father teasingly said,
it sounds to me like you're lost. And the little boy said, oh,
no, no, no, daddy. He said, I can't be lost because I'm with you. We can't be lost when Christ
our Shepherd's with us. Some of you have been lost and
the Lord found you and you'll never be lost again. Secondly,
the Lord says here in verse 16, I'll bring again that which was
driven away. The sheep is lost in the wilderness.
What drove that sheep away, unable to return on its own? Why is
the sheep out there by itself? The butterfly came by. That's right. The butterfly came
by. In the Garden of Eden, the butterfly
came by, and our first parents tried to lay hold on it, and
the butterfly was sent by the serpent. It was a serpent's butterfly. And God had said, you can eat
of the fruit of all the trees of the garden but this one. And
Eve said, we can eat of all of them but this one. And the serpent
said, you shall not surely die. Eve said, we'll die if we eat
of these. He said, you shall not surely die. Here comes the butterfly. For God doth know in the day
you eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil." And the woman saw the beauty
of that butterfly. And she saw that the tree was
good for food, and she took the fruit and ate, and gave it to
her husband, and he did eat, and God drove them out of the
garden. Man left God and lost the way
and the truth and the life. And God drove him out because
of his disobedience and sin. That's why we're driven out. But here's the gospel. God says,
I'll bring again that which was driven away. God said, I'll seek
that which is lost, and I'll bring again that which was driven
away. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, goes after
that which is lost until He finds it, the Scripture says. He's
not going to stop until He finds it. And when He has found it,
and He's going to find it, He lays it on His shoulders rejoicing. Rejoice in Him. Likewise, joy
shall be in heaven over one sinner that repented. Our Good Shepherd
brings again that which was driven away, and He does so by the sacrifice
of Himself. Thirdly, our Good and Faithful
Shepherd, that's who we're talking about. What He's going to do is bound
up that which is broken. That's something that the shepherds
of Israel had not done. That's something that so-called
shepherds today are not doing. Preachers then and preachers
now neglect to take the sword of God's Word and cut out that
festering and putrefying sore of sin that plagues each and
every one of us. They tell folks everything's
alright with them. Everything's alright with you
and God. Well, you and God got a good thing going on. They convince
men that they're not sick. And that's why the Lord said
those that are well, righteous and holding their own sight,
have no need. No need of fixing. No need of
a position to heal them. But that's not so. They're broken. They are broken. The harling
shepherd doesn't bind up that which is broken. They stick a
little band-aid on the sore and they say, that will be alright.
That will be alright. We need to move you over here
and get you on the church rope. But deep down is rotting, festering,
and putrefying sores that have not been bound or mollified with
ointment. Like the sepulchers that look
beautiful that we talked about in the first hour. Beautiful
on the outside, but nothing within, but corruption full of dead man's
bones. Is anything that's broken good
for anything? Not if it's really broken. Can
you drink out of a broken glass? Can you see out of a broken mirror?
Can you drive a broken car? I've tried. It don't work very
well. Can you walk with a broken leg? Ask Brother Paul next time you
see him if he can turn his head with a broken bone in his neck.
Matter of fact, he's got a brace on that keeps that from happening. That's what preachers today try
to do to folk. They try to put a brace on their
neck where they can't look to Christ. There's only one thing
that is at its best when it's broken. Do you know what it is?
The heart. That's it. That's the only thing
that's of any count when it's broken. Psalm 34, 18 says, The
Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and he saveth
such as be of a contrite or guilty spirit. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou
wilt not despise. A broken heart is well-pleasing
to God. And in Christ, a broken heart
is all that God will accept. Has God broken your heart? A broken heart implies sorrow.
When folks suffer loss or the loss of a loved one, they say,
my heart's broken. And it is, isn't it? But a broken
heart before God is a godly sorrow. Our hearts are broken because
we've sinned against God. A sorrow of sin before God is
what a broken heart is. May God grant us that kind of
sorrow. And fourthly, in verse 16, the faithful shepherd says,
I will heal that which is sick. Our great shepherd is the great
physician. What's our sickness? Well, our
whole head is sick. And the whole heart's faint.
We've got brain issues and we've got heart issues. I'm so tired of hearing men and
women say, I'm not perfect, but I'm not all that bad. Yes, you
are. Yes, you are. And if you say
you aren't, you're lying to yourself and you're lying to God. John
said, if we say that we've not sinned, we make Him a liar, and
His Word is not in us. Those that are whole have no
need of the physician. Not just a physician, but the
physician. The great physician. That's talking
about Christ. But they that are sick. Oh, if you're sick, you need
a doctor. And if you're so sick, like we are by nature, you need
the great physician. You need THE physician, not just
A physician. Are you sick? Christ came not
to call the righteous, those that are whole in their own opinion
and in their own mind. Christ came to call sick sinners
to repentance. And it's Jesus Christ, the faithful
shepherd, who strengthens that which is sick. Only He can. The Lord strengthens the weak
and the sick. Our Lord said the flesh is weak.
It is, isn't it? Oh, the Spirit's willing, but
the flesh is weak. The Lord said, will you watch
and pray with me one hour? Yes, Lord, we will. And they
fell asleep. This happened again and again. The Lord said the Spirit's willing,
but the flesh is weak. And it is. It is so weak. The
law could not save us. Why? Because it's weak through
the flesh. That's our flesh. We're too sick. We're too weak. We're too dead
to keep God's law. We can't be saved that way. God's
sheep are fools for Christ's sake. We're weak. Christ is strong. He's the one that strengthens
us. What a word this is from Christ, our faithful shepherd.
It's a word that distinguishes His sheep. I know people don't
like that. But the Lord says, I'll feed
my flock. What a sweet word, my, is. Isn't
it? Especially when it's the Lord
that uses it. Especially when it's the Lord using it concerning
me and you. Mine. He's mine. He's mine. That's my child. That's my daughter.
That's my son. He's mine. What a word of consolation. He will feed his flock. He will. Not if you do something. Not
if you don't do something. He will feed His flock. What consolation that is. What
a word of assurance. He will. He will. He will. Not I think I will.
Not I may. But I will. What a word of divinity. Who
is it that says these things? The Good Shepherd. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God, our faithful shepherd. Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the
good shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
That's what He said. He said, I'm the good shepherd,
and I know my sheep, and I've known of mine. Do you know Him?
That's the issue. That's the question of the hour.
Do you know the good shepherd? What think ye of Christ? He said,
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. Are
you following Him? Do you know this good and faithful
Shepherd? Well, if you do, it's because
He chose you. We love Him because He first
loved us. And if you know Him, you will
follow Him. I can assure you of that. What
a Shepherd we have. May God enable us to trust Him
as the good and faithful shepherd He is. For God's glory, our good,
and for Christ's sake.