You'll notice when we read it
a few moments ago, that the chapter begins with a rebuke for false
teachers. 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? You eat the fat and you clothe you with the wool.
You kill them that are fed or that should be fed, but you feed
not the flock. Now the shepherds of Israel here
are men who are supposed to be the under shepherds, the spiritual
leaders, the elders and prophets and priests of Israel, the pastors
and teachers. And the first accusation that
the Lord brings against them is that they have not fulfilled
the primary responsibility of a shepherd. You haven't fed the
sheep. That was the Lord's command to
Peter. Peter, whatever else you do, you feed my sheep. You feed my lambs. And it should
be obvious that the shepherd's first concern should be for the
welfare of the flock. I mean, that's his sole responsibility
is the welfare of those sheep. But that wasn't the way these
men saw it. That's not the way they conducted
themselves. Their first concern was for their own well-being,
for their own skin. They'll take care of themselves
at the expense of the sheep that they're supposed to be feeding,
supposed to be taking care of. When danger comes, they gather
the sheep all around them in a circle and they get in the
middle and use the sheep to protect themselves. rather than being
like David when the bear came or the lion stepping out in front
of the flock and protecting the flock, feeding the sheep. Instead
of feeding the sheep, they feed off of the sheep. Look over Romans
chapter 16. They feed off of the sheep. Romans 16 verse 18. For they that are such serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good
words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. They
use religious flowery language to deceive the hearts of the
simple, rather than feed the sheep the word of God. Rather
than feed the simple with the sincere milk of the word, they
deceive the sheep, feed off of the sheep, because they're not
servants of God. They don't have a love for the
sheep. Paul said in Philippians, they're not servants of God.
Their God is their belly. That's what they're serving.
Look over at verse 17, back in our text. He says, As for you,
O my flock, thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I judge between
cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he-goats. Seemeth
it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture,
but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture.
And to have drunk of the deep waters, but you must foul the
residue with your feet? And as for my flock, they eat
that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that
which you have fouled with your feet." You know, it's not good
enough that they just trod down all the lush, green pastures
of God's Word. They twist it so much, and they
trod it down that they make the grass difficult to eat for the
sheep. It's not good enough that you
just don't feed them. You've got to make what they're supposed
to eat hard for them to eat. And they fouled the water of life,
you know, with their own theology. They just mixed their theology
with it and they fouled the water of life. And now the sheep are
supposed to try to drink that polluted water, that polluted
gospel. Now listen, we know this. The
church, the flock, is supposed to support the pastor. He's not
saying anything to the contrary. The church is supposed to support
the pastor. But what the Lord's talking about
here is men who just drain the sheep dry, just utterly just
take everything they got. They take all of the milk of
the flock instead of taking some of it. Well, if they take all
the milk, what about the babies? They got nothing. They just take
it all. You know, they just shear the sheep and leave them naked
rather than just taking enough wool to make a shirt. And it's
just greedy dogs, Paul says. Now, verse 4, he goes on, he
says, the diseased have you not strengthened? Neither have you
healed that which was sick. Neither have you bound up that
which is 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, you ruled them.
Now, the next accusation the Lord makes is you didn't strengthen
the diseased. They were diseased and sick.
So you ignored them because they're too weak to help. So you moved
on to someone else who's strong and healthy, who can help you
and promote you. Now, the shepherd's job, you
know, a man can't strengthen, can't, you know, do any real
good for someone's soul. But it's the shepherd's job to
strengthen the spiritually diseased by pointing them to Christ, the
great physician. You know, they could have strengthened
the sheep by pointing those who are sick with sin to the blood
of Christ. They could have applied the sweet
balm of Gilead by preaching Christ to them. But instead they just
ignored him because they're too weak to help him, moved on to
somebody else. You haven't strengthened the
diseased. Then he says you haven't bound up that which was broken.
Now imagine if the Lord would answer our prayer and send somebody
in here sometime that's got a heart broken over sin. What would they
find? What should they find? They ought
to find somebody standing up here preaching the Gospel with
compassion. Compassion for the brokenhearted.
Telling them where they can find healing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know, even believers. I'm not just talking about somebody
coming off the street with a broken heart. Believers. The sheep. Come in here broken. A broken conscience over sin. Just broken. Life's hard. I mean, this life is hard. Oh, it's hard. And people come
in here broken. What do they need? What should
they find here? Someone preaching to them with
compassion the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Binding up
that which is broken by preaching Christ to them. That's what they
ought to find. And instead of helping the sheep, the Lord says,
you drove them away. And what was it? Just, you know,
you just let them go. You drove them away. Look at
verse 21. He says, because you thrust with
side and with shoulder. I mean, you put your shoulder
into this thing and you thrust them. You pushed all the disease
with your horns till you scattered them abroad. They were diseased.
You didn't want them anymore. And you thrust them with shoulder
and arm. Just pushed them away. You scattered
them. And once they were scattered,
you didn't go seek them to try to bring them back and restore
them to Christ or restore them to the fold. You just let them
go. And the reason you let them go is because you don't care.
You just don't care about them. And if you know anything about
sheep, now you ought to be concerned when they're scattered because
the outcome is never good when the sheep are scattered. Look
at verse 5. And they were scattered because
there's no shepherd. And they became meat to all the
beasts of the field when they were scattered. 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." The sheep were just left out
there to be prey to any lion or wolf or anything that wants
to eat them. They're easy prey because the shepherd, who's supposed
to be protecting them, thrust them out. And instead of leading
them and guiding them and feeding them, he says here at the end
of verse 4, you ruled them with force and cruelty. You didn't
go to them and speak comfortably like God told Isaiah to do. These
men are the grievous wolves that Paul warned the Ephesian elders
about. He said, after my departure,
I know these grievous wolves are going to enter in and they
won't spare the flock. I mean, they're just going to
devour the flock with their teeth. And I'll tell you what brought
me to this particular text. One day last week, I was reading
on the MSN homepage, this is my homepage on the internet,
and I saw this article and it caught my attention, so I clicked
on it. Robert Shuler built this great big crystal cathedral and
all the shenanigans they do out there. And they are millions
and millions and millions and millions of dollars in debt.
He's retired and his daughter's the pastor. That kind of tells
you the situation they're in. And they're on the verge of bankruptcy. And this article I was reading,
he got up and he said, now if you're not a tither, I need you
to become a tither. And if you're already a tither,
I need you to become a double tither. I mean, have you no shame? And down below, there's places
people can make comments, you know. And this fellow said, What
about my grandmother's medicine and food? She can't double what
she's given you. Why don't you sell your mansions
and live in a normal house like me? Ruling the flock with cruelty
and force. That's exactly what that is.
Now, that's a grim picture, isn't it? I mean, that's a grim picture.
I bet 17 or 18 years ago, We're in Henry's study for a service
and Chuck Moore read this passage of scripture. And he got done
and Henry said, that's like reading today's newspaper. 17 years later, it's like reading
today's newspaper. I mean, it's depressing. The
situation looks hopeless. All these false prophets just
running wild, seemingly unchecked. And you wonder what's going on.
Now we know this. I know this. None of God's elect
are going to be deceived. No one for whom Christ died is
going to perish because of actions of a man. You just write that
down. That's God's Word. But there are times, maybe for
a short time, that the elect do seem to be deceived. They
are scattered. They're sick. They're hungry.
And these are God's elect. He said, these are my sheep.
Now, they're my sheep. They're not goats. They belong
to me and they're scattered. They're sick. They're hungry.
Well, then how are they going to be saved? How are the sheep
going to be fed? How are the sheep going to be
healed? How's that going to happen? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's
exactly who's going to do it. He is going to do the saving.
He's going to do the feeding. He's going to do the finding.
And He will do the healing. There's seven I wills that I
want us to look at here. The Lord said, you men did not
feed My sheep. So the first I will. I will feed
My sheep. Look at verse 14. He says, I
will feed them in a good pasture. And upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their foal be. There shall they lie in a good
fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains
of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie
down, saith the Lord God." I will do this. Look over at Mark chapter
6. I'll tell you what the difference
between the false shepherds and the good shepherd is. Other than
they're men and he's God, I'll tell you what it is. It's compassion. It's love for the sheep. Look
at Mark 6, verse 34. And Jesus, when he came out,
saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them,
because they were as sheep, not having a shepherd. And he began
to teach them many things. He had compassion on those sheep
that didn't have a shepherd, and he became their teacher and
he taught them. And in effect, that's feeding
the sheep, isn't it? Teaching them the word of God. And then
what did he do? He fed them with those few loaves
and fishes. He fed them. That's what the
shepherd does. He's going to feed them in a good pasture,
a fat pasture. He'll feed them with the sincere
milk of the Word. Now, if you look back in our
text in Ezekiel 34, actually what He's going to do is feed
them with Himself. He is the bread of life. He is
what we eat. He is what He feeds us. In verse
29, He says, And I will raise up for them a plant of renown. and they shall be no more consumed
with hunger in the land." Well, who's this plant of renown? It's
the rod of Jesse, the Lord Jesus Christ who's grown to a full
plant, a plant of renown. He's the vine that all the branches
draw their life from. He gives himself for us to eat. That's who that plant of renown
is. And you'll notice he's not going out to all those individual
sheep scattered on every mountain all around the place. He goes
out and he gathers the sheep into a fold. Into one pasture
and one fold. And he has them together and
feeds them. He brings them into a fold. Now the fold is where
sheep come together and where they lie down together. I didn't
work this over, but this could really be the A5 wheel. He says,
I will cause them to lie down. They're going to come into the
fold and I will cause them to lie down. and have rest. Just rest. That's what this is
for. To come in and lie down and rest. To eat. To be fed. And then rest. After Thanksgiving
dinner, what's all the men going to do? They're going to kick
back in the chair and fall asleep. That's what we're going to do.
Come eat and then rest. Just rest. That's what we come
in the fold to do. The sheep come and lie down together. They get warmth from each other.
They get encouragement from each other. And that's what the church
is. This is where we come together
and lie down together, where we get warmth from each other,
where we get encouragement from each other, where we're encouraged
to love and to good works. Whenever I leave here, I just
feel like a different person. And mostly I know it's the gospel. But it's being with the people
of God. Now it makes a difference. We need each other in this fold.
And a fold is a place where the sheep are protected from the
wolves. That's why they can lie down
and rest. You ought to be able to come
here and rest. Because the under-shepherd is
on the watch. Keeping you, protecting you,
protecting this pulpit from wolves. Now there's going to be some
goats in the fold. On earth, there's going to be
some goats. There's always tares among the
wheat. But Christ the Good Shepherd will take care of that. He said
in verse 17, I will judge between cattle and cattle. Between the
rams and the he-goats. I'm going to judge between the
sheep and the goats. And I'll divide the sheep on
my right hand and the goats on my left. He'll do that. He takes
care of it all. He's the Good Shepherd. Now the
Lord's commandment to Peter and to his preachers is you feed
my sheep. Isn't that his command? He didn't
say, Peter, you hang around and watch me feed my sheep. He told
Peter, you feed my lambs. But here the Lord says, I will
feed my flock. I'm not leaving this to a man.
I will feed my flock. Well, the job of the under shepherd,
without question, is to feed the sheep. To study and prepare
and preach Christ in the most clear, simple terms so that people
can be fed. But that's all he can do. The
Lord must make it effectual. So, in effect, it is the Lord
feeding his people. He must make it effectual. Now, he uses means, but the Lord
is the one who feeds his sheep. Spurgeon said this, if the Lord
did not interfere in his church continually, the church would
cease to exist. I will feed my sheep. or else
the church would cease to exist. So because that's true, you know,
the sheep aren't looking for the, for the best looking, most
eloquent man, you know, to be the pastor. That's how Israel
got Saul as their king, wasn't it? The sheep are looking for
the man who can point them to Christ because Christ is the
one who feeds the sheep. In verse 23, he says, and I will
set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them. Even
my servant David, he shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd."
Now you know he's not talking about David, the son of Jesse.
He's been dead a long time, by the time Ezekiel lived. He's
talking about Christ, the son of David. He's going to be the
great shepherd and he will feed his sheep. You fellas didn't
feed my sheep, but the first I will is, I will feed my sheep. Now the second one, he says,
you false shepherds, you didn't seek that which was lost. So
you see it there in verse 16. I will bring again that which
was driven away. I'm going to bring it again.
And Christ fulfilled that, didn't he? He said the Son of Man came
to seek and to save that which was lost. Now again, these sheep
here, now this is God's elect. They've never been goats. They've
always been sheep. But I tell you this, they were
born lost. They were born completely lost
in When Adam fell, every one of us lost our way to God. We can't know God, much less
find Him by nature. We cannot and we will not find
our way back to God because we're born dead. We're born devoid
of any ability or any strength to find our way back to God.
We are so helplessly lost that if God will show us where we're
at, We will be at our absolute wit's end. We need to be brought
to the point where we know there is no saving ourselves. I don't
have the wisdom. I don't have the ability. I don't
have the strength. We're lost. That's the way we
come into this world. And I pray that God will make
someone here realize they're lost. They're lost. And I know
it will make you miserable if God will show you Where you're
at by nature will make you miserable. It'll scare you to death. But
I'm not wishing some evil thing on you, honestly. I wish God
would make someone realize they're lost, because He says, I will
save the lost sheep. He's going to save the lost sinners.
You've never been saved if you've not been lost. You have to be
lost before you can ever be found. Doesn't that make sense? If the Lord seeks you, you're
going to be found and you're going to be brought to the fold
and you're not going to have to learn songs. You're going
to join right in singing. I once was lost, but now I'm
found because our Lord brought again that which was driven away.
And that's the third I will hear. You have not brought again that
which was driven away, but I will bring again that which was driven
away. Now, how are the sheep driven away from God? By our
sin. He said, you're my sheep. But
yet we were driven away from God by our sin. Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid
his face from you. When Adam fell, every one of
us became lost in sin. And what happened to Adam after
he fell? God drove him out of the Garden of Eden. He drove
him out. And we were driven out in him.
That's how we were driven away. God drove him away from his presence
because of his sin. And now, we're like Israel of
old, just wandering around in the wilderness of sin, lost.
And all of our attempts at righteousness just drives us further and further
and further away from God. And that's where we'd stay, eternally,
unless the Good Shepherd promised, I will bring again that which
was driven away. Look at 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3 verse 18. How is Christ going to bring
again that which was driven away? Well, Peter tells us, For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. There is how Christ brings his
sheep back to the Father, by being made a curse for them,
by suffering the penalty that they deserved, and by being separated
from God for us. God's own Son, when he was made
sin, was driven from the Father. My God, my God! Why hast thou
forsaken me? Because he was made sin. Christ,
our substitute, suffered the penalty that we deserve. He was
driven from God so all the sheep can be brought back to God in
him. I will bring again that which was driven away. Fourth,
the Lord tells these false shepherds, he said, you have not bound up
that which was broken. But in verse 16, he says, I will
bind up. that which was broken. And what
he's talking about here is the heart that's broken over sin. And again, it sounds like a painful
thing to pray for somebody. But I pray that the Lord would
break someone's heart. To break your heart over your
sin and rebellion. To break your heart over who
you are by nature. And again, I'm not wishing something
bad on you. I'll tell you why I wish that.
Because the only thing that's useful after it's broken is a
heart. Henry said this. He said you
can't see in a broken mirror. You can't drink from a broken
glass. But a heart is in its best state
when it's broken. Look in Psalm 34, I'll tell you
why he said that. A heart is in its best state
when it's broken. Psalm 34, verse 18. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
That's why a heart that's broken is a good thing. Look over to
Isaiah 61. God sent his son, this good shepherd,
to bind up the broken heart. That's why it's good to have
a broken heart. In Psalm 61, verse 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted." That's why it's good to have a broken heart,
because God sent His Son to bind up the brokenhearted. But how
is He going to do that? How can He heal the broken heart?
How can He bind up that which is broken? By giving His body
to be broken for us. His body was broken as a sacrifice
for the sins of his people. So now he can heal all those
of a broken heart. And I'll tell you how the heart's
broken over sin. A heart that's broken is a work
of God. That's something God has to do.
When Adam fell, we died. All of our bones were broken.
All of our faculties were gone and we died. You know the only
thing that went broken? Was the heart. Instead of being broken,
the heart became so hard and wicked. So hard that it can't
be even bent, it's so hard. So God must break it. And I'll
tell you how He breaks it. With the hammer of His Word.
God's Word never glosses over human nature. It just hammers
us, showing us how sinful and rebellious and wicked we are.
The heart is broken with the hammer of God's Word. Well, how's
it bound up? By the same word. With one stroke
it breaks and crushes, and with the other stroke it binds and
heals. By the word of God being applied
by Christ, the Good Samaritan. That's how it's bound up. I will
bind up that which is broken. Fifth, he accuses these false
shepherds. He says, the diseased have you
not strengthened? So he says in verse 16, I will
strengthen that which was sick." Now, you know, just here in this
little group, we have got sickness, don't we? My goodness sakes,
so many people are sick. Well, it's obvious he's not talking
here about a believer being free from sicknesses of this body
that's caused by our sin nature. He can't be talking about that.
You know he's not. Now, we know that sometimes the
Lord is pleased. to heal our physical sicknesses,
and we're thankful for it. But I'll tell you this, I promise
you, He will not heal all of us of all of our physical diseases. He won't do it. If He did that,
we'd live in these bodies forever. Wouldn't that be horrible? These
bodies have got to die before we can be set free to go be with
the Lord. But in those times of sickness
and sorrow, He will strengthen His people. He'll strengthen
His sheep with His presence. But what he's talking about here
is spiritual sickness and spiritual healing. And that's what all
of us need. There might be somebody here
that's got your health for the moment and don't need physical
healing. Every one of us needs spiritual healing for our sin-sick
soul. Look over in Isaiah chapter 1.
I'm telling you, we're sick. I mean sick. And here's a good example of
God's Word not glossing over human nature and what we are,
what we appear to be, what we are in God's sight. In Isaiah
1, verse 6, he says, From the sole of the foot, even unto the
head, there's no soundness in it. There's not a healthy spot
you can put your finger. There's no soundness in it, but
wounds. and bruises and putrefying sores,
running sores that stink because they've not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. They haven't been bound
up because those false shepherds aren't binding up that which
was broken. They're not binding up, they're
not healing that which was sick. But again, the difference between
those fellas and the good shepherd is compassion. Look at Matthew
chapter 14. It's compassion. The Lord doesn't send his servant
with just a dry recital of theology. He sends his servant preaching
with compassion for men's souls, just like our Lord. Look at Matthew
14, verse 14. And Jesus went forth and saw
a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them.
And he healed their sick. He's going to heal the sick.
He healed them and then he fed them. Well, how does Christ heal
all of our spiritual diseases? How does he do that? We're spiritually
lame. We're blind. We're deaf. We're maimed. We're ate up with
leprosy. We're dead. How is he going to
heal the diseases of a dead man? By taking our sicknesses and
his body on the tree. and dying in our place. And in
exchange, giving us his health. That's how he heals his people.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes,
we're healed. That's how we're healed. By him
taking our punishment and our sicknesses for us. Now back in
our text, verse 25. Because of these five I wills,
there are blessings to be enjoyed by God's sheep. He said in verse
25, And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will
cause the evil bees to cease out of the land, and they shall
dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I
will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing,
and I will cause the shower to come down in his season. There
shall be showers of blessing because of those five I wills.
But we've got seven I wills. There's two more. Those two,
if you look back in 16, are reserved for the false shepherds. Here's
the sixth I will at the end of verse 16. He says, but I will
destroy the fat and the strong. I will destroy the fat and the
strong in their own righteousness. They are so strong, so full of
themselves, they couldn't stoop to serve God's sheep. They couldn't
submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ because they were too
strong. So God says, I'll destroy you. I will destroy you. Now that's coming. And the seventh,
I will. At the very end of verse 16,
I will feed them with judgment. You wouldn't feed my sheep when
you had them. You just fed yourselves at the
expense of my sheep. They fed themselves with temporal
things, didn't they? God says, I'll feed them with
eternal judgment. That's promised to them because
of how they treated God's sheep. How important are God's sheep
to Him? But I don't want to end there. I don't want to end on
a down note. I want you to take this home with you. Are you hungry? I mean, are you just hungry? I will feed my flock. Are you lost? You look to Christ. I will seek
that which was lost. Have you been driven away from
God because of your sin? Look to Christ. Just look to
Him. I will bring again that which
was driven away. Four. Are you broken hearted? I mean, just broken. Oh my goodness. Look to Christ. In that painful,
painful day when your heart is broken, Look to Christ. I will wind up that which is
broken. Are you sick? I mean, sick with sin. Are you
just so sick that you can't stand yourself because of your sin?
Look to Christ. I will strengthen that which
was sick. And the sixth one, which I didn't
work over, but should have. Are you tired? I mean just tired. Tired of living in this flesh. Tired of going about to establish
your own righteousness. Are you tired? Look to Christ. I will cause them to lie down
in a good fold and have rest. Look to Him. Look to Christ.
He will supply your every need. He's the Good Shepherd. Alright.
Lord bless you.