Episode Transcript
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Lord, we do thank you for
your word and the way that it both
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instructs us and and gives us,
gives us words that we might learn how
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to confess our hearts, how to
live in light of you and the things
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that you are doing. Indeed,
you are good and you do good.
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Please teach us your statutes, and
do so tonight, that with our whole
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heart we might keep your law,
that we might delight in your law,
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I'm even when we are afflicted,
even when we struggle. Lord, we
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has that you would use these things
to cause us to learn your will better
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and to cling to you more through
faith alone. We ask that you would
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bless the reading and preaching of your
word tonight, and we pray this in
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Jesus name. Man, please remain
standing, if you're able, and turn
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your attention with me to Ezekiel,
chapter thirty four. Here God speaks to
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the shepherds of Israel, who are
the kings of is real, the leaders
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of Israel, and he brings a
judgment against them, but also promises to
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provide a better shepherd and a good
one. So let's hear Ezekiel thirty four.
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The word of the Lord came to
me, son of man, prophesied
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against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy
and say to them, even to the
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shepherds, thus says the Lord God, Ah, shepherds of Israel, who
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have been feeding yourselves, should not
shepherds, feed the sheep? You eat
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the fat, you clothe yourselves with
the wool, you slaughter the fat ones,
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but you do not feed the sheep. The week, you have not
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strengthened the sick, you have not
healed the injured, you have not bound
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up the strayed, you have not
brought back the lost. You have not
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sought and with force and harshness,
you have ruled them so. They were
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scattered because there was no shepherd,
and they became food for all the wild
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beasts. My sheep were scattered.
They wandered all over the mountains and on
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every high hill. My sheep were
scattered over all the face of the earth,
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with none to search or seek for
them. Therefore, you shepherds,
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hear the word of the Lord as
I live, declares the Lord God.
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Surely because my sheep have become a
prey and my sheep have become food for
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all the wild beasts, since there
was no shepherd, and because my shepherds
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have not searched for my sheep,
but the shepherds have fed themselves and have
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not fed my sheep. Therefore,
you shepherds, hear the word of the
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Lord. Thus says the Lord,
God behold, I am against the shepherds
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and I will require my sheep at
their hand and put a stop to their
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feeding the sheep. No longer shall
the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue
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my sheep from their mouths and they
met me not be food for them.
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For, thus says the Lord,
God behold, I myself will search for
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my sheep and will seek them out, as a shepherd seeks out his flock
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when he is among his sheep that
have been scattered. So I will seek
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out my sheep and I will rescue
them from all places where they have been
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scattered, on a day of clouds, in thick darkness, and I will
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bring them out from the peoples and
gather them from the countries, and I
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will bring them into their own land
and I will feed them on the mountains
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of Israel, by the ravines and
in all the inhabited places of the country.
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I will feed them with good pasture
and on the mountain heights of Israel
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shall be their grazing land. There
they shall lie down in good grazing land
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and on rich pasture. They shall
feed on the mountains of Israel. I
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myself will be the shepherd of my
sheep and I myself will make them lie
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down. Declares the Lord God.
I will seek the lost and I will
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bring back the straid and I will
bind up the injured and I will weaken
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the strengthen the weak and the fat
and the Destrong, I will destroy,
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I will feed them in justice.
As for you, my flock, thus
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says the Lord God, behold I
judge between sheep and sheep, between rams
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and male goats. Is it enough
for you to feed on the good pastor
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that you must tread down with your
feet the rest of your pastor and to
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drink of clear water, that you
must muddy the rest of the water with
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your feet? and must my sheep, eat what you have trodden with your
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feet and drink what you have muddied
with your feet? Therefore, thus says
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the Lord God, to them behold
I, I myself will judge between the
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fat sheep and the lean sheep,
because you push and side and shoulder and
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thrust at all the week with your
horns till you have scattered them abroad.
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I will rescue my flock. They
shall no longer be a prey and I
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will judge between sheep and sheep and
I will set up over them one shepherd,
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my servant David, and he shall
feed them. He shall feed them
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and be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God
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and my servant David shall be prince
among them. I am Yah. Way
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I have spoken. I will make
with them a covenant of peace and Banish
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Wild Beast from the lands so that
they may dwell securely in the wilderness and
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sleep in the woods. And I
will make them and all the places around
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my hill a blessing, and I
will send down the showers in their season.
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They shall be showers of blessing and
the trees of the field shall yield
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their fruit and the Earth shall yield
its increase, and they shall be secure
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in their land and they shall know
that I am the Lord when I break
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the bars of their yoke and deliver
them from the hand of those who enslave
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them. They shall no more be
a prey to the nation's no, nor
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shall beasts over the land devour them. They shall dwell securely and none shall
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make them afraid, and I will
provide for them renowned plantations so that they
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shall no more be consumed with hunger
in the land and no longer suffer the
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reproach of the nations. And they
shall know that I am the Lord,
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their God, with them, that
and that they, the House of Israel,
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are my people, declares the Lord
God. And you are my sheep,
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human sheep of my pasture, and
I am your God, declares the
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Lord God. Praise God, you
may be seated. Ezekiel, Chapter Thirty
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Four, amazing chapter in which the
Lord speaks to the leaders of Israel,
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major ones and minor ones, and
brings judgment on them for their failure to
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be shepherds to his people. And
in those words of judgment and the words
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of judgments against Israel's leader, we
also hear his love for his people.
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God is angry, yes, but
why? Is Angry? Because something,
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because someone he loves, is being
harmed his people. Now, as we've
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seen in the earlier parts of his
Ekiel, his people are, of course,
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complicit in the sins of Israel.
They have been involved in all kinds
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of evil and scandal and injustice,
all kinds of false worship. When it
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says that the shepherds, they're scattered
across and even to the high places,
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it's probably a reference to idolatry and
false worship which the people have been involved
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in, which the people should have
known better. And yet, at the
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same time we recognize something that is
evidently true and scriptures all over the place
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and in our everyday lives as well, and that's that leaders are held to
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a high responsibility. It star whatever
position they are in, whether it's it
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whatever particular calling they've been placed in
this world. Leaders, those who are
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called to care for other people,
are placed, are our hell, to
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a higher standard. And here these
leaders, these shepherds, are not even
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coming close to what God expects of
them. To understand what God expects of
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them, listen to deuteronomy seventeen and
deuteronomy seventeen when the law was given.
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God gave laws concerning the kings of
Israel. What should the Kings do?
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What was their requirement? How were
they to shepherd the flock of God?
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Here's what deuteronomy seventeen says, beginning
at verse fourteen, when you come to
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the land that the Lord your God, that the Lord your God is giving
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you, and you possess it and
dwell in it and say, I will
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set a king over me, like
all the nations that are around me.
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You may indeed set a king over
you, whom the Lord your God will
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choose, one from among your brothers. You shall set as king over you.
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You may not put a foreigner or
over you, over you who is
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not your brother. Only he must
not acquire many horses for himself or cause
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the people to return to Egypt in
order to acquire many horses, since the
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Lord has said to you you shall
never return that way again, and he
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shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor
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shall he acquire for himself excessive silver
and gold. And when he sits on
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the throne of his kingdom, he
shall write for himself in a book,
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a copy of this law approved by
the levitical priests, and it shall be
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with him and he shall read in
it all the days of his life,
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that he may learn to fear the
Lord his God, by keeping all the
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words of this law and these statutes
and doing them, that his heart may
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not be lifted up above his brothers
and that he may not turn aside from
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the commandment, either to the right
hand or to the left, so that
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he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel.
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So when I read this passage I
imagine, wow, I would have been
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awesome. What King would have done
that? Right a king established in Israel.
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First thing he does gets out a
book and writes down the law.
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Writes it down. Can you imagine
writing down, let's say, all of
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Deuteronomy, all of itticus, riding
down the lawn, copying it down,
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each and everything, studying at thinking
about it, meditating on it, memorizing
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it. He submits it to the
livitical priests. The livitical priests then look
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at it, a whole class of
people requ hired to look at the log
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in, to examine it, to
make sure that it's right, to make
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sure that it's correct, hand it
back to the King Yas this is good,
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and then he reads it all of
the days of his life, not
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just for you know, pleasure reading
or nighttime reading, although it does bring
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pleasure and delight and goodness, but
so that he might rule. Well,
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imagine that King, that good king, speaking the words that we read earlier
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in Psalm one hundred nineteen, with
his book of the law, saying things
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like teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in Your Commandments.
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That be awesome, a wonderful king. Imagine a king saying you are good
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and do good, teach me your
statutes. Imagine that King saying the law
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of your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
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That king would be this king here
in Deuteronomy Seventeen, this king who is
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not supposed to acquire things for himself. His job is not to place himself
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above everyone else and then acquire as
much as he can over and against them,
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to love silver and gold. What
is he called to love? The
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Lord? What is he called to
follow the Lord's Commandments? He is not
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a king over were all men and
overall people and over all gods. He
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is an under shepherd. He is
a king who is called to submit himself
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to the Lord, to the Lord's
Commandments, to the Lord's ways. Verse
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Nineteen, it says of the law, and it shall be with him and
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he shall read it all the days
of his life. Why? That he
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may learn to fear the Lord,
his God, and by keeping all the
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words of this law, in these
statutes and by doing them, that his
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heart might not be lifted up.
This king is he reads the laws,
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he meditates on the Lord, as
he learns to fear the Lord, he's
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going to be humbled. He's going
to keep on the straight and narrow,
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not turning to the right hand or
the left hand, and as he did
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it does so he will be blessed, he will continue long in his kingdom,
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him and his children. In many
ways, David was this king,
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a man after God's own heart,
who loved the Lord and followed the Lord
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and whom to whom the Lord promised
a throne that would last forever and eternal
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kingdom as long as David's son would
obey, as long as David Sun would
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do as God had called him to
do. We all know that David failed,
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and we know that Solomon did exactly
what deuteronomy seventeen says not to do,
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which is take many wives, among
other things. His heart was turned
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away from the Lord because of that. In many, many other shepherds of
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Israel also turned away to the Lord. And here the Lord speaks to these
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shepherds with deuteronomy seventeen and mind and
does one of these kind of things.
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And in his wrath and in his
anger, he speaks to these shepherds and
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he says, I know what you're
doing. I've seen what you are doing
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against my sheep, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves. Should
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you not? Should not shepherds feed
the sheep? Remember what Jesus says to
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Peter. Do you love me?
Yes, I love you, Lord.
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And what does he tell him to
do? Feed my sheep. Do you
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love if you get as I love
you, Lord, feed my sheep and
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then again, feed my sheep.
That's the call the shepherd. Shepherds are
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not called to gorge themselves on the
sheep, to destroy the sheep and scatter
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the sheep. Shepherds are called to
love the sheep and feed the sheep.
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I think Peter I got the message
and came to understand and follow and teach
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exactly what the Lord called him to
do. Listen to Peter's words in first
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Peter Five, when he speaks to
elders in churches, he says so I
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exhort the elders of ung you,
as a fellow elder and a witness of
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the sufferings of Christ, as well
as a partaker in the glory that is
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to be revealed. Shepherd the flock
of God that is among you, exercising
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oversight site, not under compulsion,
but willingly, as God would have you
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here this not for shameful gain,
but eagerly, not domineering over those under
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your char over over those in your
charge, but being examples to the flock.
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And when the chief shepherd appears,
you will receive an unfading Clou clop
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crown of glory. This call to
shepherd the sheep, to feed the sheep,
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to not be ruling over them.
It sounds just like Deuteronomy. Seventeen
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under shepherds, under the Lord,
who have in their mind first and foremost
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the spiritual care of God's people,
not the material care of themselves. These
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shepherds, however, and it is
ekiel thirty four, are feeding themselves.
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You eat the fat verse three,
you clothe yourselves with wool, you slaughter
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the fat ones, but you do
not feed the sheep. The week you
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have not strengthened the sick, you
have not healed the injured, you have
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not bound up the strayed, you
have not brought back the lost, you
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have not sought and with force harshness, harsh this you have ruled them.
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I believe it's in and do good
who points out that there's only two places
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that this kind of harsh rule is
is mentioned in the Old Testament. One
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is of Egypt and the harsh rule
that they exercise, this domineering, harshness
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in Egypt, and the second is
the command in the law to not do
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this. And here this is exactly
what they are doing. They are going
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back to Egypt, not only in
the sense of trusting them, as we
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saw earlier, and easy equal exactly
what they were told not to do,
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but they are also going back to
Egypt in their hearts, accumulating wealth,
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accumulating power, focusing on strengthening themselves
and not protecting and caring for the people.
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And the fact that they have not
done these things mean this, that
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the sheep are in a sorry state. God's people are weak, sick,
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injured, strayed, lost, scattered, as well food for the beasts which
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he refers to, is as the
nation's I'm taking over them wandering around over
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the face of the earth with none
to search or seek for them. It's
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a sad, sad thing. For
those of you have ever lost a pet
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or an animal we have. It's
awful when you imagine this creature that you're
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supposed to care for and love just
out there somewhere, not at getting the
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food it needs, not getting the
water it needs, prone to beasts and
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dangers, with no home, no
place. It tears it your heart.
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Why is it not tearing at their
heart? Why are they not sad?
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Why are they not seeking? Why
are they not binding? Why are they
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not helping? Because they don't care
about any of that. They don't love
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the Lord's people like he loves them. They love themselves. They loved their
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false gods. And so, in
his fury and his wrath, God speaks
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to them and says these terrifying words
and verse eight. As I live,
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declares the Lord God. Surely because
my sheep would become prey and my sheep
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have become food for all the wild
beasts since there was no shepherd, and
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because my shepherds have not searched for
my sheep, but the shepherds have fed
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themselves of the Novat fed the sheep. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the
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word of the Lord the says the
Lord God. Behold, I am against
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the shepherds and I will require my
sheep at their hand and put a stop
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to there. I would put this
in quotes, feeding the sheep. No
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longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.
I will rescue my sheep from their mouths.
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What a graphic image, that they
will not be food for them as
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I live, declares the Lord.
How does the Lord live forever? Never
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a time when he was not living, never a time when he under the
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divine nature, is is less in
any way or beginning or ending in any
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way. God in his awesomeness and
God in his infinite according to his infinite
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nature. It's according to that that
he will come against his shepherds, because
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they calls the sheep to die,
as he lives. He will rescue them
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from their mouths. When I was
in seminary, one of the things that
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the OPC does is they will the
committee for Home Missions In church extension will
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sometimes come to seminary campuses and run
these they call the ministerial I'm rereading.
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Just blinked. Anyway, their readiness
for ministry. They run these readiness for
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Ministry seminars and they meet with the
seminarians and they talked with them about what
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pastoral ministry is like and give you
some assessment and what to do in these
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kind of things. Well, anyway, one of those times the pastors in
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our denomination, who was the chairman
for that, a committee for home missions
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of Church Extension, Dick Gerber,
some of you may know him, and
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he came and he spoke to us
from Ezekiel thirty four on how to be
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a pastor. I was one of
the most powerful messages on that subject that
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I've never heard. That's always stuck
with me. It's a good passage to
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go to when selecting ministers and looking
for elders and, of course, as
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ministers and elders is those who called
to various leadership positions in the church.
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That's a good passage for us to
go and reflect him. We say,
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what kind of Shepherd am I being? For two reasons. One, we
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see exactly what we ought not to
be. We see the danger in it,
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we see the terror of it,
we see the sinfulness of it and
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we also see the Lord's heart,
because as under shepherds of the Lord here
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in Israel and now in his church, the under shepherds of the Lord are
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to fear the Lord and have the
Lord's heart. The Lord's love, the
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Lord's care, the Lord's mercy.
They are to seek what is lost,
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they are to bind up what is
wounded, they are to heal what has
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been hurt and injured. As Peter
says, are not disupposed to do so
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with harshness and domineering. They're not
supposed to do so for shameful gain.
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There to do so out of love
for the sheep. Do you love me?
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Feed my sheep out of love for
the Lord, love for the Lord's
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people, and that the Lord's body
is Zekiel thirty four is a powerful reminder
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to anyone who cares for those who
belong to the Lord, a powerful reminder
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to follow him in the things that
he does. It's also a powerful reminder,
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I think, to remind us that
ultimately, our under shepherding means that
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he we look to him for our
strength. That's what they failed to do
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here, but that's what he offers
to his sheep. God says in Verse
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Eleven. Behold, I myself will
search for my sheep and will seek them
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out. This ought to be a
comfort to anyone who's in a position where
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you're suffering under bad leadership and bad
shepherding. You don't have to give up
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on the church or God or anything
like that. You just have a bad
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shepherd, that's all. And you
know that God who is the chief Shepherd,
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that Jesus, our chief Shepherd,
is, Peter Calls Him. He
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will take care of his people,
Jesus says. The gates of hell will
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not prevail of his church. Neither
will shepherds from hell, those who would
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seek to destroy and harm his people. Jesus knows how to take care of
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his own and he will and he
does. The Lord comes himself off and
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he searches for his sheep, he
seeks them out, he seeks out his
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flock, where there are scattered,
he brings them in. And then,
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as he brings them in, what
does he do? He just pours blessing
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out on him. Here's good food, Here's rain in the seas and here's
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safety and protection, all that he
says. Here is a picture of Heaven.
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Now he will return to that at
the at the end, but before
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he does that he speaks to one
other group, other sheep. So these
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are not shepherds, official shepherds,
we might say, but these are people
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within Israel who have taken advantage of
bad shepherding these he says, I will
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divide the sheep from the sheep,
or we might say the true sheep from
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the fall sheep. There are these
sheep among his flock, not shepherds themselves,
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and yet who have used this situation
to hurt others. Notice what he
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says in verse eighteen. Is it
not enough for you to feed on the
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good pastors, that you must tread
down the rest of your pastor this would
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be like being at a at a
fellowship meal, right and and you cut
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and and somebody comes in front of
you and they they see something really delicious,
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they get a big old spoonful of
it, they put it on their
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plate and then they spit in the
bowl. Like Dude, wasn't it anough
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that you just got this giant helping
of delicious fellowship meal food on your plate
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you have to go and ruin it
for everybody else? It's a sort of
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thing that's going on, this very
selfishness again, selfishness and accumulation Um,
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he describes it. He continues to
describe it this way. Or to drink
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of clear water, that you must
money the rest of the water with your
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feet, and must my sheep eat
what you've trodden with your feet and drink
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what you've muddied with your feet.
God will judge those. He described some
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of their actions in Verse Twenty One. They push with side and shoulder,
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they thrust it all the week with
their horns till they have scattered them abroad.
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These are mean sheep, these are
these are bad sheep. These are
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people in the in the congregation on
the family of Israel, who see the
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weak and instead of helping their brother
and strengthening their brother and say, and
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man, this king we've got,
I know, always hard, but let's
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keep our eyes on the Lord.
They instead use the opportunity to hurt.
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They use the opportunity to fight and
they get they increase gain for themselves.
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And again, in the similar way
as before, God responds by saying,
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in Verse Twenty Two, I will
rescue my flock. They shall no longer
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be prey. I will judge between
sheep and sheep. And then this wonderful
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passes that speaks to us of Christ. Verse Twenty Three. I will set
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up over them one shepherd, my
servant, David, and he shall feed
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them. He shall feed them and
be their shepherd, and I, the
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Lord, will be their God and
my servant, David, shall be prince
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among them. I, the Lord, Have Spoken, but if you written,
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but if you done, the Lord
speaks in this way and of course
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he speaks of Jesus. David had
long ago died on David had produced many
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sons and grandsons and great grandsons.
He speaks here of the promise to David,
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of the son of David who would
be set up and would be shepherd
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over Israel. He repeats the promise, this great promise given to Abraham and
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to David, this covenant of Grace. I will be their God and well,
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they will be my people, he
will be the shepherd and we will
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be the block. And here,
in particularly, focuses on that divided covenant
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from Second Samuel Seven and says that
David will be prince among them. Princes
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is an interesting word here. It
reminds us that this one will be from
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them, a people among them,
under God, in some way P's.
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And yet you know that when Jesus
came he of course was God. This
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is an amazing thing and we see
these what seemed to be contradictory things coming
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together here. On the one hand, God says I will be their shepherd
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and on another hand, he says, and this David will be prince and
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he will be their shepherd. Well, we find out in Jesus, as
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it's one in the same God,
the son of God, comes Immanuel and
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good and comes to be with us
to be a shepherd over his people,
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and yet also is the son of
man, from the Line of David.
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He fulfills his role as a human
king overs people, that role that Adam
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failed at, the role that every
person has failed at except for him.
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This covenant of peace that he makes
with us, or he that he makes
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with us in Christ, this king
that he gives to us in Jesus,
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is the one who brings us into
this as scatological pasture land, this amazing
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place where where we are safe and
protected. This passage that we read earlier
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in eleven is through Verse Sixteen,
and then again here in twenty five,
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through the end where he says I
am he says it ending in Verse Thirty
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One, and you are my sheep
and I am your God. This is
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a picture of Heaven, this is
a picture of what God ultimately brings us
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into under Christ, our shepherd,
Jesus, of course, and John is
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called the Good Shepherd. He loves
his sheep, he rescues his sheep,
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and we see that in Jesus's ministry, this great son of David, this
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great one who has come into the
World God himself. What does he do
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with the weak? What does he
do with the lost? What does he
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do with people that are injured,
broken, who are sad and sorrowful?
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What does Jesus do with those who
don't know where they are going, who
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can't find their way, who have
been hurt by people in authority and with
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great power? He rescues them,
texts them, he heals them, you
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nourishes them, he takes them under
his wing and they praise him. And
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that's what Jesus has continued to do
and can and will continue to do until
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he comes again. We will no
longer er be a prey to the nation's
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no longer shall we be devoured.
We shall dwell securely and none shall make
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them afraid. This is what the
Lord does for us, he promises to
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do for us. He does this, of course, by going to the
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cross for us, to rescue us
from our own sin, the sin that
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makes bad shepherds do what they do, bad sheep do what they do and
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really all of us do what we
do. He heals us, he rescues
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us, he restores us, he
gives us life, he brings us in
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as his flock, and he continues
to do that even today through his under
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shepherds and through other sheep and our
midst to love and and and care for
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us on the way. I want
to finish by reading to you a passage
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from revelation, and you'll see exactly
why I think this speaks of Jesus.
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In revelation seven, we read of
the Lamb of God, and interesting,
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an interesting title in light of the
the call of Jesus's is shepherd. He
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is in fact both a sacrificial lamb
and also the ruler of his people.
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In well, Begi at verse thirteen
of Chapter Seven and read to the end
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of the passage. And here the
echoes of Ezekiel. Here let your heart
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be thankful for the Lord. Then
one of the elders addressed me, saying
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who are these clothed in white robes, and from where they come? I
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said to him, sir, you
know, and he said to me these
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are the ones coming out of the
great tribulation. They have washed their robes
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and made them white, and the
blood of the lamb. Therefore, they
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are bethrow before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his
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temple, and he who sits on
the throne will shelter them with his presence.
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They shall hunger. They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst anymore.
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The Sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat, for the lamb
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in the midst of the throne will
be their shepherd and he will guide them
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to springs of living water in God
will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
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HMM, isn't that wonderful? What
a glorious promise God gives to us,
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a promise that he has kept.
Here John has this revelation, this
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vision of the lamb on the throne, the son of David sitting in power,
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ruling over his people. And what's
the result? It's the exact opposite
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of the bad shepherds. It's the
exact opposite. Instead of tragedy and loss,
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weakness and destruction and danger and all
of us, it's perfect bliss.
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In Jesus, as the lambs in
Jesus, through the blood of the lamb,
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through the blood that he shed for
us, we becought we come a
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to God out of the great tribulation, happy, not dead, not eaten,
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not devoured by the evil one,
but happy, sheltered in his presence.
405
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Simply his presence is all that we
need to be safe and to secure.
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God himself wiping away every tear from
our eye, leading us to springs
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of living water. But the Lord
is your shepherd. You have nothing to
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fear, not even bad shepherds and
the world, or in that particularly in
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the church. It doesn't mean that
bad shepherds are all of a sudden good
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shepherds. Because of that, bad
shepherds be warned. And let everyone who
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seeks to be a shepherd and under
shepherd in the in the Church of God,
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take these words and think of them
very carefully, to hear the heart
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of the Lord, to know the
Ministry of the Lord and to serve him
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with fear. Let's pray. Lord
God, we thank you for your word
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to us this evening. We thank
you that you do not leave us alone
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when we find ourselves under the lead, under bad leadership, that you do
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not merely let us be devoured and
die and fall into hell itself, but
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instead, Lord, you, you
go out, you search for us,
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you find us even in our own
wickedness. Or it is amazing that you
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take even a very wicked people and
bring them, through your word and your
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spirit, to repentance and life.
We think of the King of Nineveh,
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who was called a shepherd of those
people, who's called to repentance and repented.
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We think of Paul, a leader, a religious a leader among Israel,
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and yet persecuting the Church of God, attacking your very own people,
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and yet becoming one of the greatest
shepherds in the history of the church.
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How amazing is your grace, how
good you are? How often and how
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how many times you protect us and
we don't even know you're doing it?
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How many times you feed us and
we forget to give you thanks and remember
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that it's from your hand? How
often we forget about the things of Heaven
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and become overly focused on the things
of this world, fearing the kings of
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this world more than trusting in you, the lamb who sits on the throne?
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We ask, Lamb of God,
that you would indeed be our shepherd,
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the Good Shepherd, the chief shepherd, the head of the church,
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the husband of the bride, a
father to your children, that we would
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be your flock and that you would
guide us in every way that we should
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go when we wander, bring us
back when we're hungry, feed us when
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we are injured, do not break
us, but heal our wounds and help
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us on our way. We also, Lord, we do pray for those
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whom our shepherds over us in our
churches. Lord, I ask him and
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lead us all in prayer for myself
and for the elders of our church.
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We asked that you would put into
US humble hearts, hearts that reflect and
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and manifest your love, that it
would not be our work that is being
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done among your people, but yours, a simple ministry of your love to
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your sheep. We ask a Lord, that you would strengthen us in our
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duties, that you would strengthen us
in our capabilities, that you would help
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us in our rule, that it
might not be for selfish gain or domineering
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or anything else except except the humble
service in the name of the Lord.
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Lord, we also pray the same
for other churches. We asked that you
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would raise up few future leaders on
through internships and seminaries and all these other
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means that we use. We pray
for I'm even our youngest ones and future
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ones, and ask, Lord,
that you would equip and establish people who
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are able to lead us, to
lead your church in the ways of the
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Lord. We asked also, Lord, that you would that you would help
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us through the dark places, through
the trials and through the the wanderings,
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through the Valley of the shadow of
death, Lord, through the great tribulation,
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through persecutions, through all of it, never ever lead us. You
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promise you never will, and we
trust you for this and Jesus name,
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we pray on men
