Wednesday, September 15, 2021 PM

The Shepherds of Israel and Their Failure to Care for the Sheep

And the language that follows is the language of shepherds and sheep. And the message is to the leaders in this context, the leaders of Israel and the people of Israel. They are all his people by right of creation and by right of covenant.

I will be your God, you will be my people. And by application, this message to the shepherds is a message to America, to the leaders of America, President, Congress, judges, and at the state level, governors, Congress, statesmen, all of those who have responsibility for the care of the people, teachers, lawyers, doctors, those people with money, okay, those who can have the ability, those who have the ability and the means to help others, okay, the shepherds.

It's a message to the church, to the leaders in the church, the pastors, the elders, the deacons, the Sunday school teachers, and those mature Christians, and those Christians that have money, those Christians who have influence.

And it's a message to each individual as God has blessed us with talents and gifts and many other blessings that we might serve others. As Jesus said, I came not to be served, but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many.

So as we read about the shepherds, don't just think it's a message for somebody else. By application, it's a message to me and you. Verse 1, should not shepherds feed the sheep? Verse 3, you eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains and over every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

What a message to those shepherds, how they had neglected their duty, their performance as a shepherd to care for the sheep, to care for the people, to watch over them, to feed them, to protect them. They wandered off looking for food and shelter elsewhere and looking for other gods because they were not taught the words of the Holy One of Israel.

Verse 7,. Therefore you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord, as I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts. Since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep.

Therefore you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require of my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep.

No longer shall the shepherd feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. You see, these leaders, these who God calls shepherds over His people to protect them, to teach them, to feed them, to clothe them, to bring justice to the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the weak.

They are scattered, and the beasts of the field have eaten them, that is Assyria, Babylon, have taken them captive, murdered them, and then later Greece, the Greeks, and the Romans, and later others. These shepherds have, you know, what have they, you know, why has God brought this message against them?

Because, you know, one, they have done nothing. Two, they have looked the other way. If there's something that does need to be done, they'll look the other way, that way, you know, they will feel less responsible for taking care of that problem for those people.

Look the other way, they've become lazy, they have become self-indulgent, looking out for themselves, not for the people. They have taken bribes, they have taken kickbacks, they're in it for the money, in it for themselves.

And in addition to that, this self, you know, business of, you know, taking care of themselves, they have looked for, you know, self-preservation, you know, that they might get elected, you know, next time.

I mean, that's more important than caring for the people. You know, those are just some ways, you know, that they've been lax, that they have fallen short, you know, of what God had planned for them to care for his people, you know.

And again, that goes for America, that goes for the church, and that goes for me, and that goes for you. And now, after God has spoken these words to the shepherds, he says, this is what I'm going to do.

This is what I'm going to do. And, you know, he doesn't just say, I'm going to do this. He says, I, I myself, am going to do this. And he repeats that, you know, not only here in verse 11, but again, I think in verse 15, verse 20, and throughout, okay, the rest of this passage, it's I, I myself.

God Himself Will Search for His Sheep and Gather Them

Verse 11,. For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock, when he is among his sheep that have been scattered. So will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered, on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

I will feed them with good pasture. And on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.

Does that remind you of another Old Testament passage maybe in Psalms? I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed.

I will bind up the injured. I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. Now just to make sure here, you know, this word goes out to all the people, as I said each person.

You know, you think, well I'm not a shepherd, I'm not a leader, okay. Then verse 17 speaks to you, okay, and to me. As for you, my flock, okay, just to make sure all the bases are covered here, the shepherds and the sheep are addressed.

Thus says the Lord God, behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture, and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?

And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? Therefore thus says the Lord God to them, behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep, because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad.

I will rescue my flock, they shall no longer be a prey, and I will judge between sheep and sheep, and I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed.

Them.

He shall feed them and be their shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. And then to clarify beyond a shadow of a doubt, that every single word from the beginning of this chapter to the end of verse 24, he says, I am the Lord, I have spoken.

These are the words of God. I would encourage you, I would encourage you, you know, as I would encourage you to read through this passage again later, and ask yourself, how can I be a better shepherd?

How can I be a better sheep? How can I minister to others? How can I watch out for others? How can I feed others, clothe others, meet some of their needs? How can I teach others? How can I pray for others?

You know, again, as Jesus said, the great shepherd of the sheep, I came not to be served, but to serve, to give my life a ransom for many. Now, if you've been thinking about the New Testament passage that directly points back to this chapter, it would be John chapter 10.

Jesus the Good Shepherd in John 10

Truly, truly, I say to you, now in this case, this is the message of the Spirit of God through John the Apostle as he records the words of Jesus, our Christ, our Savior. As he speaks, truly, truly, I say to you, just as in Ezekiel, I, I myself.

You know, that's how the emphasis is made in Hebrew. It's repeated. You know, we might use capital letters or bold fonts, okay? In the Old Testament, they repeated, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

I, I myself will go after my sheep that are scattered. And Jesus says, truly, truly, listen, this is important, okay? This is not just one truly. This is two trulys. Verily, verily, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

In these times, shepherds would lead their flocks to grazing grounds, and then when the evening came at some little village, there would always be a sheepfold, and the various shepherds and their various flocks, they would bring their sheep through the gate into the fold, and they would spend the night there.

And the next morning, I've never seen this, it would be amazing to see, but I've read about it. These shepherds would come back that next morning, okay, to the gate, all right, and they would call their sheep by name.

Their sheep would come out, and another shepherd would come up, and he would call his, and they would come out, but they knew their shepherd. They knew his voice, and when he called, they came. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying.

To them.

So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

Reminds me of Psalm 121, if you'll remember. I will be your shade. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. I will guard. I will keep. I will keep you from all evil. I will keep your life.

I will keep your going out and your coming in from this day forth and forevermore. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. You see, when God spoke through Ezekiel, you know, he had, if you will, okay, if you will, he had in the back of his mind, this is the sheep, this is the shepherd, okay, that I wish my shepherds were like.

There is a shepherd that I have in mind who knows how to feed the sheep, to care for the sheep, to watch over the sheep, you know, to rescue the ones who were straying, to bind up the ones who were wounded, to feed and care and protect the sheep.

This shepherd is what I have in mind, and you have fallen far short. And now Jesus comes along and says, I am the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep. He flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me. And I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up.

Again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. This is the shepherd that God has in mind.

Christ as Shepherd, Priest, Prophet, and King

This is the servant, David, that he has in mind. You know, when Jesus came, he came as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, according to, let's see, I think that's Genesis chapter 15. It might be 14, I'm not sure.

He came as a prophet after the order of Moses, according to Deuteronomy 18. And he came as a king after the order of who? David, according to 2 Samuel chapter 7. This is my servant, David. He is the great shepherd, the one who lays down his life for the sheep.

So if you're wondering, you know, whether you're a shepherd, whether you're a sheep, okay, this is the one to pattern your life after. The one who said, I came not to be served, but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many.

That's the message that I had for you tonight. The Old Testament and the New Testament.