also as a group, moving forward,
comfort in all those situations. And it was such a blessing for
me that basically I'm yanking Joe's message, and I'm putting
it up here right now. Which, if I'm gonna yank a message from
somebody, it'll be Joe. Joe preached Christ every week
for 36 years. And that's what I pray to do
right now. So in this message, or in this
scripture from Ezekiel 34-31, it says once again that, then
they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and
that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the sovereign
God. The title of this message today
is, God is with you, all is well. The prophet that wrote this gives
us some pretty blessed knowledge that Jehovah your God is with
you. It's the first thing he says here. Let them know that
I am the Lord their God and with them. Is there a more comforting
thought than to think that God is with you? It's the greatest comfort of
all. The name that was promised in Isaiah was Immanuel, and that
literally means God is with you, God among you. Is there anything
that we could desire more than that, than to have God with us? And on the opposite, is there
anything more scary or cursed than the idea of God not being
with you? We talk about all the sufferings
that Christ dealt with in his life. We often think of that
one moment being the lowest point when he says, God, my God, why
have thou forsaken me? Why have you left me? That is the definition of hell. To be endlessly cut off from
the gracious, loving aspect of God. To have no Immanuel. It doesn't
mean God isn't in hell. The inhabitants of that place
would love it if he wasn't. He's there with unimaginable
wrath. The change is, instead of being
there for them in their time of trouble, he becomes their
trouble. It's not Satan that rules and
punishes in hell. It is God's wrath that they are
dealing with. But the opposite. in this passage, to be assured,
to be promised as God's people that God is with you in a gracious,
loving way, is literally a slice of heaven. To know that, to be
promised that, even when it does not feel that way. Can't trust
your emotions. I've said that quite a bit up
here, so has Joe. You can't trust emotions, you can't trust feelings,
you can't trust really anything in this world. You can trust
these promises and to know that whatever situation you're in,
including the one that we're all kind of dealing with right
now, God is with you. It's promised. There's no condition for any
man or group of believers in which the words, I am with you,
don't indicate perfect safety. Safety is an interesting word
to choose. But David, what James read for
us this morning, gives us a great example of this. He says, Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil because you are with me. And in that situation, I mean,
could there be a more terrifying picture of the valley
of the shadow of death. I mean, what is that? Does that
mean David was worried about approaching the end of his life,
like death, in the very literal term? Certainly it applies there,
but I don't think that's what he's talking about. He talks
in the present tense. I walk, I am currently walking
through that valley of the shadow of death. and he wasn't near
the end of his life. He wasn't looking to some far-off
day in the future when he was closer to dying. David was considering
his present condition. He called it, that present condition,
as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Ever since we were conceived
in our mother's womb, we have been walking through the valley
of the shadow of death. This world ever since Adam sinned,
is literally that valley. And our lives, as there are aspects
that we can definitely enjoy, but our lives are literally plodding
through that valley of the shadow of death. This is a cursed world. But of all the dreadfulness of
such a place, for the believer, there is no danger. Now, no danger could be discomfort,
could be sadness, could be heartache, could be lots of things to be
fearful of, but literally there is no danger when it comes to
the people of God. David says he fears no evil because
a believer walks through his life, God is with them. Is God
with you? Then you are right now in the
greatest danger you will ever face. Now, Joe, in his message
here, he had a really good example. He's like, well, you might feel
like I'd be in a much more dangerous place if I was driving down the
road, and my brakes went out, and I was on a mountain pass, and
I was gonna fall off a cliff. That's a little bit more dangerous
than sitting in church right now. But that's not what David is
talking about. Sure, you would be in greater
danger of dying, but if God is with you, there is no danger
in death. Death looks dangerous. Is God with you? If God is with
you, you are in Christ. Then you fear no evil because
there is literally no danger on your path ahead. Difficulties?
Uncomfortable? Fine. There is no danger for
your soul. None. There may be pain, there may
be suffering, there may be sorrow, but there is no danger. God being
with you is such a great blessing, we should be able to, like, we
should want to get rid of everything else just to keep that one blessing,
God being with us. John Newton wrote, this is just
a good example of that, while blessed with the sense of his
love, a palace, a toy, would appear. And prisons would be
palaces, prove, if Jesus dwelt with me there. It's a good example. Then God goes even farther to
comfort us in the scripture. He says, not only is he with
them, but he calls them his people. You are my people, God says to
his church. Nothing can compare with being
among God's people. Christ was numbered in the number
of transgressors, sinners, so that I could be numbered among
God's people. Christ was cast out so that God's
people could be brought in. These are the people that he's
talking about when he says, you are my people, the ultimate in
blessed. For a while, Christ was excluded
from the people of God so that we could become members of that
people for eternity. So what a comfort that is when
he says, not only am I with you, but you are my people. And then he says, you are my
sheep, which doesn't seem terribly necessary, because he just said,
you're my people. But this serves a purpose. Sheep are pretty stupid. Sheep get lost. Sheep wander.
Sheep go astray. That's really the only thing
they're good at, is wandering and getting lost, which I'm pretty
sure we can all feel a little connection to that idea. The one thing sheep need, the
one thing they need is a shepherd. Matter of fact, if they have
a good shepherd, it's all they need. And he says, if the sheep have
a good shepherd, they will have everything they need. All men
are sheep. The great blessing is to be able
to say that my Lord is my shepherd. And how do we know the Lord is
our shepherd? Well, first, have you ever been lost? I think that's probably a yes.
He says, I myself will search for my sheep. You don't have
to search for anything if it's not already lost at some point.
All men are lost. Everyone. Only some are aware
of the fact that they're lost. And that's done through the Spirit.
Christ said that he came to seek and to save those that are lost.
He made a distinction between the lost and the not lost, but
not according to what men really are, according to what they thought
they are. Does that make sense? So he says
there are some lost and some not lost. Well, that's not true.
We're all lost. But he makes a distinction in
the fact that his people have been given the knowledge of the
fact that they have been lost and have been found. So everyone is lost, but not
everyone knows it. Many have never been saved because
they've never thought they needed it. They never realized they
were lost. It says, how do we know the Lord
is our shepherd? Because it is he who found us. He seeks out his sheep. There's
more to simply looking for them. It means he searches for them
until they are found. We are thankful for those who
have taught us the word, like Joe. Those of us who God used
to find us. But it was not them who found
us. It was God. God searches for
his people, and he finds every one of them and brings them home. He says, in Ezekiel 34, back
in 23, it says, I will place over them one shepherd, my servant
David. He will tend them, He will tend
them and be their shepherd." Well, David had been long dead
at this point, so that's not who Ezekiel was referring to.
He was talking about the son of David. He was talking about
Christ. One shepherd over his people,
and that's all his people need, is one good shepherd. God says something in the King
James version of this scripture where it says, you are my flock,
the flock my pasture, and then he comes He says something that
seems like it wouldn't be necessary. You are men. The word used there for men is
actually Adam. You can tell I got this part
from Joe, because he knows everything about Scripture, about language. But Adam, we pronounce it Adam.
So he's reminding us who we are, where we come from. We are Adam. We are sheep. All sheep are like
Adam. We rebel like Adam. We fall like
Adam. Like Adam, we live on one promise,
the gospel. But like Adam, we have someone
to replace us, the second Adam, Jesus Christ. They called him
the last Adam. He came and he stood in our place. He succeeded where we failed. All of our failures can't overthrow
his successes. Then he finishes with, and I
am your God. You are Adam, and I am your God. All is well. We are Adam in all of our weakness,
failure, rebellion, and stupidity, but he is still our God. He is
still with us. We are still his sheep. He is
still our shepherd. When the first Adam did his work,
he basically said to the rest of humanity, today you will be
cast out of paradise with me. When the final Adam did his work,
he said to his people, today you will be with me in paradise. take heart, take comfort in the
fact that your Adam-ness, your sin and failure and rebellion
will not keep you from God's paradise. He is still your God. You are still his people. He calls you and he keeps you.
Christ is your God. Christ is your shepherd. To know that, especially in these
times, to know that we are still His, that never changes. A lot of things are changing. Christ doesn't change. His promises
absolutely don't change. So to go through change in this
world can be very daunting, can be scary, can be hard. But the one thing we have that
we can cling to is God, Christ, and the promises that we've been
given. And one of them, right here, He is our God, we are His
people. All is well. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we pray that you'll
be with us this morning as well as we move on to the rest of
our week. We pray, Lord, that you'll help us to keep this in
our hearts. that we are yours, you are our God, and that no
matter what happens around us, whatever happens as we move forward,
we pray, Lord, that you'll remind us that we are yours, that you
are our God, you are our shepherd, and all is well. And we pray
this in your name, amen. Now, we'll sing