John 10:1-10 (Christ, the Perfect Leader)

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you

When it comes to our work lives, we all kind of do different things.

We're different jobs We have different levels of responsibility and not all of us in this room would be considered leaders in our field

Not all of us are leaders, but I guarantee you that all of us actually have experienced leadership

Some of us have experienced good leadership From bosses and from employers who create a culture that actually cares for you and and causes it to thrive

Where your co -workers and you can flourish that's good leadership people always flourish under good leadership and yet Some of you have experienced bad leadership

Where it sours your experience Where it causes the entire organization to feel like it's slowly dying for instance in 2003

I was deployed to Iraq and When I was in Iraq, I was put under the command of a unnamed staff sergeant.

He has a name I'm just not gonna mention it by the Lord's grace. He will hear this podcast and repent for all he did

He Was a he was a very tough man, he was a dominating man a domineering man

He was a man who was insecure just as a man and because of his insecurities.

He took it out on us I remember I was granted leave to go home to see my family and the day that I got back

Because I got to go and leave before him. He made me do 300 push -ups In the desert until Until I just was at muscle failure and then

I had to do it again and again and again This is the kind of life stories like this That abound the point is is that as this man was in charge of our team

It began it began to poison our team. Our morale was affected all of us were frustrated disappointed our

Cohesiveness as a team was fractured our grumbling actually increased all because we were under bad leadership

Bad leadership affects all of us We were affected as a team

We weren't able to do our mission as well as that We could have but the same is true for all of us bad leadership will affect our capacity

It will affect our performance. It will affect everything about us Even though we may have talent and skill and ability bad leadership will

Affect us. This is certainly the case for Israel as we look back in the Bible Israel thrived when they were under godly leaders you look through the history of the pages of Israel They were thriving whenever they had a good leader like David or Hezekiah or Asa But when they had bad leaders

They did not thrive they struggled They were broken as people Now what made?

These men good leaders is not like you would hear today If you go to a leadership conference in the secular world You'll hear all kinds of things like you need to have a good mission statement

You need to be charismatic. You need to be this you need to be that That's not what made the Israelite Kings good leaders.

What made them good leaders is that they knew a great and holy God the ones who knew God pointed to God and Called the people to God were the ones who

God used in Mighty ways to bring health and healing to the nation

What made the other Kings bad was not there necessarily quote -unquote leadership ability It wasn't that they didn't have good org charts.

It wasn't that they didn't have a direction for the country It was that they didn't know God and they focused on themselves instead of him

You think about the very first king of Israel bad leadership begins right at the beginning Saul is the first king and Saul was not chosen because he had an over mastering passion to see

God glorified and the people sanctified Saul was chosen because he was tall and he was handsome and he was full of himself and that sort of arrogant

Confidence made him stand out in the crowd the people of Israel wanted him.

He was their choice. He wasn't God's choice and As you see in his life

The nation falls apart He commits suicide at the end of his life because he doesn't want the enemy to capture him

The country is divided into two different nations and by the time That David takes over the country is on the verge of collapse and ready to split apart into two nations

Now David is a good leader brings everything together and unifies things but what I'm trying to show is that that the negative and unhealthy and ungodly leadership of Saul almost crushed the people of Israel and You think of other examples?

Ahab is a classic example says there was no one as wicked and as evil as Ahab and the country was in a disgusting path of idolatry during the years of Ahab You think about Manasseh and Ahaz and the people are now sacrificing their children to demonic gods

Bad leadership will bring an entire nation down. I Leaders Just true today

Godly leadership is one of the most important factors for a people and for a nation and for Israel It wasn't just true of their secular

Kings. It was also true of their priests and their religious leaders you see there was an era of Israelite history where the leaders were the

Kings and Then the King so royally tanked the country of Israel that God sent

Babylon to burn down their city and To carry them away in exile and when they come back the

Kings were no longer allowed to rule anymore because The other nations were in charge like Persia and Greece and Rome so there was no more

Kings in Israel But the priests actually seized for themselves a massive amount of power in Judah it was around a hundred and fifty

BC that the movement to purify Israel through the priesthood Happened and that's sort of where we get the pharisaic movement

Pharisees trace their origin back to about a hundred and fifty BC and they Started off actually good

They started off sort of in a reformation sort of vibe that we want to purify the nation

But they became so obsessed with their law and their legalism and their rules and they became so obsessed with trying to avoid

Idolatry they became idolatrous from a sense of religion By Jesus's day they were so perverted in their legalism that they were monsters and They were destroying the country

So when we get to the New Testament there had been over a hundred and fifty years of wicked rule by the

Religious leaders the Pharisees and by the time we get to the New Testament Jesus is ready to replace them thoroughly and replace them with himself now

That brings us to the gospel of John which if you remember we've not been in John for a while It's been a little while since we've been in the book of John we started

Going away from John and in October because we had a couple messages on baptism and a seminar on that topic

Then all the month of November and all the month of December. We were in a Christmas series So now we're back to the gospel of John and I think for a moment

We need to just reacquaint ourself to the book because it's been a little while since we've been in the book But what we've been talking about about bad leadership corrupting and good leadership making people flourish is exactly what the text is gonna be talking about today now

That's gonna be John 10 We need to reacquaint ourself with John 10 by going back a little bit to John 9 To see what it is that's been happening

John 9 if you remember is the healing of the blind man The blind man was born blind from the moment that he was conceived

He grew up blind and the Pharisees looked at him as almost like the scum of the earth He was the kind of person

Who was so wretched in his sin that he was irredeemable to the Pharisees because they assumed that if you were going to be blind

From birth and God's judgment must be on you because you wouldn't be blind if God's judgment wasn't on you

So they treated him as though he was Completely Untouchable almost like the Hindu caste system system today where you are utterly untouchable

Jesus adds to the controversy not only healing this man But healing him on the

Sabbath which meant that Jesus was now violating their man -made rules and their man -made religion and He was stepping on their idolatry if you want to see someone get angry at you point out their idolatry

Every time you do it, you will see anger and frustration because we cling to our idols

Jesus exposed their idolatry and they were very angry about it in John chapter 9

Now John 10 flows directly out of John 9. We shouldn't be too surprised by that.

But John 10 is Jesus Exposing them and showing how cruel they are and showing how wicked that they are as leaders and which it flows

Right out of John 9 where they've just been cruel and Wicked to a blind man some of the least of these in the in the nation of Israel Jesus is exposing them for putting this man on the witness stand and for not loving him as God would have loved him and not

Welcoming him back into the community They treated this man like they had the right over his life

Like they had the right over whether he was a part of the covenant community of God When he said that it was

Jesus who healed him. They cast him out of the synagogue They cast him out of a religious life in the country

They cast him out of being able to know God because if you wanted to know God You had to do it in the

Old Testament through the synagogue and through the temple So when they banned him, they banned him from knowing

God They acted like they had the power over life and death that they had the power over the covenant

Jesus rightly Caused them frauds thieves and robbers

Jesus identifies that they are the very reason that the nation of Israel is suffering

That their wicked leadership was causing the entire country to fall apart and that he has come to replace them

This is what Jesus is going to talk about in John 10. So our point today is just to sort of introduce

John 10 and To kind of look at some of the themes that are happening We're gonna explore these chapters with a little bit more detail in the weeks of head

But today all I want us to do is I want us to identify that there's a spiritual leadership problem in the country that God has a specific definition for what a spiritual leader ought to be in a country and that every single one of them had failed except for Christ Christ is going to be the one who will set up a shepherding a

Leadership that will lead his people to health and then as we end today, we'll talk about what that means for us

So if you will and let's go to John chapter 10 together Let's look at the problem.

Let's look at Christ the solution and let's look at what it means for us We're gonna be in verses 1 through 10

Truly I say to you truly truly I say to you He who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep

But climbs up by some other way he is a thief and a robber But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out and when he puts forth all of his own he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice a

Stranger they simply will not follow but they will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers

This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand What those things?

Were which he had been saying to them. So Jesus said to them again truly truly I say to you

I am the door to the sheep all Who come before me are thieves and robbers?

But the sheep did not hear them for I am the door if anyone enters through me

He will be saved and will go out and find good pasture the thief Comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy

I Came that they may have life And they may have it abundantly.

Let's pray Lord We are 2 ,000 years removed from some of these wonderful and beautiful statements

We are 2 ,000 years removed from the ironclad grip that the Pharisees held upon the people and we're 2 ,000 years removed from you

Identifying how toxic that was and going to the cross to eliminate That sort of thing so that we could now be under your care and under your leadership and under your

Direction Lord as Christians we have We have the greatest leadership imaginable because we have the one who defined it leading us

Caring for us being our shepherd And yet Lord in your church

You have installed pastors and elders and deacons To be leaders in your world.

You have installed Christians as a kingdom of priests to be leaders So Lord, I pray also while we read this text joyfully

Lord, I pray that we would also read it humbly and That we would know that the only leadership that we have is borrowed because it all belongs to you

And that Lord I pray that we would not be Like these Pharisees who are abusing the people of God Lord I pray that we would stand in your shadow and faithfully care for your people and That we would do so for a lifetime and that we would bring honor and glory to your name the name above all names

Jesus name Amen Some of the most beautiful statements in all of the

Bible are in John chapter 10 or Jesus says I am the door Which we'll talk about next week, which means that there's only one way to Christ There's not a million different ways.

There's not all religions eventually end up going to the same place There's one way one truth one life and it's one door and that's

Jesus Christ. We'll talk about that next week He also says that I am the Good Shepherd, which is one of the most

One of the most beautiful pictures in all of Christianity we reference it all the time we name the church after it

It's not our church. It's the shepherds church because he's the Good Shepherd not us. I Don't know if you know that story.

So there you go. It's the shepherds because it's his church But all of this actually is given against the backdrop of the

Pharisees failed leadership Jesus would not have needed to come if they would have been faithful now

We know that in the God's sovereignty. He was gonna send Jesus no matter what but what I'm saying Is is that he came in the context of their wicked leadership and he says that I'm the door to God not you

I'm the Good Shepherd the one who's gonna lead my people not you You're the one who's leading them into death and destruction and despair all of this passage in John 10 is given against the backdrop of their wicked

Leadership. So what I want us to do today is I want us to discuss that and Look back in the

Bible to see what God actually says about leadership and God is not silent on the topic He actually has defined it fairly.

Well, especially in the category of a shepherd and The Old Testament God himself

Says what leadership is supposed to be because he calls himself the Shepherd either

God himself calls himself the Shepherd or the writers Of Scripture call himself the Shepherd, but we see all throughout the

Bible that God has very clear Directions and instructions on what he expects for leaders.

It says in Psalm 81 through 3 give ear Shepherd of Israel, that's

God you who lead Joseph like a flock you who are enthroned above the chair of him shine forth

Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your power and come to save us

Oh God Restore us and cause your face to shine upon us and we will be saved

The expectation is that God's Leadership in the life of his people Israel will lead to their salvation.

It will lead to their health. It will lead to their their flourishing It says in Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures

That means if you're not willing to lay down in the pastures that are good for you He'll make you lie down in the pastures that are good for you because he loves you

He leads you beside quiet waters. He restores my soul He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake when the people of Israel Were following God and the way that they were supposed to be following him.

They were well -fed well -supplied. They had peace They had protection they had rest They had security his rod and his staff comforted them even though they walked to the valley the shadow of death

They had no fear because they were following this great king in this great shepherd Isaiah says it in chapter 40 verse 11 like a shepherd.

He will tend his flock in his arm He will gather the lambs and he will carry them in his bosom.

He will gently lead the nursing use I mean who wouldn't want a leader like that?

Who wouldn't want to be mad by someone who was perfectly gonna care for you and perfectly shepherds you and perfectly

Respond to you when you were broken and pick you up like sheep in the Old Testament times if they broke their legs

Their shepherd would grab them and carry them and walk with them. And so their legs were healed When I when

I when a sheep would run away from the flock the shepherd would spend Intentional time loving and caring for that sheep so that it never ran away again

Who wouldn't want that kind of leader who perfectly loves and cares for us leads us besides still waters not for our sake

But for his name's sake This is the reason that God requires human leaders to be above reproach

This is the what is the reason why 27 character qualifications are giving for elders in the church

There's the reason why the shepherds of Israel the under shepherds the men who were called to lead are called to a high standard because if we live and act like the

Lord the people of God will flourish if we Abandon God like Ahab and Manasseh and Asa and and others

The only thing that will come from that is death So God requires us to Imitate him because the way that he acts towards us is the way that he wants us to act towards each other

This motivation is described in Jeremiah 3 verse 15 where he says and I will give you shepherds

After my own heart, I'm the chief shepherd, but I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you

With knowledge and understanding what a beautiful beautiful verse for pastors today

Men who will feed the people of God with the knowledge of God and not worry about you know

Wearing $20 ,000 sneakers and skinny jeans and everything else, but they will actually focus on the things that are

God's heart feeding and caring for his people a true leader

Is one who chases after God and he promises these people that he will send this kind of leader because they had never seen it before They had never seen one

Who actually held Close to this vision. They had seen close David, but at times

David abandoned his people. He didn't go to war He stayed at home so that he could have an adulterous relationship with someone else's wife

So David's not perfect at all. Moses is not perfect at all Moses at some points is praying

God take these people away from me or strike me dead It's a bad day when you're praying

Strike me dead or or take these people away from me. That's that's a big deal When Jesus condemns the

Pharisees in John chapter 10, he is Speaking against hundreds if not thousands of years all the way back even to Adam from failed leaders who would not follow the

Lord He reveals this in John chapter 10 verse 8. He says all who came before me

Everyone who came before me are thieves and robbers But the sheep did not hear them which

I think is a fascinating point when we think about the worst possible leader in the Old Testament and The ones who were trying really hard like Moses all of them at some point were self -serving

Insufficient and all of them needed to be replaced Like we say all the time that every part of the

Old Testament was a type in a shadow of Jesus Leadership even was a type in shadow that Jesus had to come and fulfill because no leader in the

Old Testament Couldn't live up to God's standard not Moses not David not Joshua.

None of them Now this was a shocking thing for Jesus to say to the priest

Because they thought that they were God's direct representative on earth. They were God's gift to the people of God So this was a shocking thing to say

But this was not a novel thing to say meaning that Jesus didn't invent this out of thin air. There is countless passages in the

Old Testament that deal with how God feels about wicked leaders and even giving the sermon is

I In this morning, I felt like I was in fear and trembling because God despises

Wicked leaders God hates wicked leaders some of the most passionate and angry

Bible verses that you can find are in reference to wicked selfish leaders

So he has to be humble look at what he says in Ezekiel 34 1 through 6 of Shepherds, these are the priest then the

Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel saying son of man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel Prophesy and say to those shepherds thus says the

Lord God. Whoa, that means condemnation or curse Woe shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves should they not be feeding the flock

You eat the fat and clothed yourself with the wool you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock

Those who are sickly you have not strengthened the diseased you have not healed the broken

You have not bound up the scattered. You have not brought back nor have you sought for the loss

But with force and with severity you have dominated them They were scattered for lack of a shepherd and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered

My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill

My flock was scattered all over the face of the earth and there was no one to search for them Because of them

God says a woe and a curse is upon them for their selfish greedy

Leadership where they weren't aiding the sick or helping the weak or or ministering to the poor they didn't have the heart of God who seeks after the lost they abandon the law so that they would wonder all over the the

Face of the earth and be attacked by any enemy any foe that came their way They were attacked because their shepherds were not caring for them as God himself would care for them

In Isaiah's day. He says this in chapter 56 9 through 12 The watchmen are blind

All of them know nothing All of them are mute dogs unable to bark

Their dreamers lying down who love to slumber and the dogs are greedy they are not satisfied and they are shepherds who have no

Understanding and they have all turned to each their own way each one to his unjust gain

The last one come they say let us get wine and let us drink heavily of strong drink and tomorrow

Will be like today only more so He is condemning in Isaiah's day and Ezekiel's day this debauchery within the spiritual leadership of Israel that was

Feasting on the people of God instead of feeding the people of God. They were blind ignorant dumb and mute

These are intense words Jeremiah's day no different. So now we have

Isaiah Jeremiah and Ezekiel woe to the shepherds Who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture?

declares the Lord Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending my people you have scattered my flock

And you have driven them away and have not attended to them behold. I am about to attend to you for the deeds

Or for the evil of your deeds declares the Lord then I Myself will gather the remnant of my flock

Out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture and they will be fruitful and multiply

And I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them and they will not be afraid any longer nor terrified

Nor any will be missing declares the Lord Listen to the result of their leadership terror

Afraid scattering disorder these wicked men in the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel were

Abusing God's sheep and you can hear the anger from a loving father who loves his people that their time is coming again,

God abhors wicked leadership Look at Jeremiah 25 34 through 38

This is what's getting ready to happen to them because of countless centuries of wicked leadership.

This is a prophecy Whale you shepherds and cry whaling is way worse than crying.

Whaling is inconsolable screaming Whale you shepherds and cry

Wallow in ashes you masters of the flock for the days of your slaughter and your dispersion have come and You will fall like a choice vessel vessel flight will perish from the shepherds and Escape from the masters of the flock here the sound of the cry of the shepherds and the whaling of the masters of the flock

For the Lord is destroying their pasture and the peaceful folds are made silent because of the fierce anger of the

Lord he has left his hiding place like a lion and For their land has become a horror because the fierceness of the oppressing sword and because of his fierce anger

Now certainly There was a near -term fulfillment That happened here in 586

BC the Babylonians came and utterly wiped out the nation of Israel They burned down their temple

They took most of them away in exile if they didn't kill them and they left the entire nation in rubble and ashes

That's a near -term fulfillment of this passage But this is the same God in John 10

The same God who's angry at the at the violence that these wicked leaders were doing to his people same

God in John 10 Same God now who has come face to face with the Pharisees who have now

Provoked the ire of his wrath his covenantal wrath The Pharisees are standing face to face with God the same

God of Jeremiah and he is about to crush them that's The underpinnings of what's going on in John chapter 10

And the Pharisees will be the final generation of wicked leaders that God will allow. He has not slumbered.

He has not Delayed any longer by the time we get to the New Testament. It's over their time is done and he's coming

We see this in a couple of different passages. Matthew 23 is a classic one Where Jesus pronounces seven woes you read back in the

Old Testament? There's like one woe pronounced over to the people which is bad enough a complete cursing from God But in Matthew 23, he pronounces seven woes like a perfect cursing a complete cursing from Jesus If you read

Matthew 23 at the very end of it, it says Behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes some of them

You're gonna kill and crucify and some of them you're gonna scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city

Read the book of Acts that was fulfilled so that upon you may fall the guilt of All the righteous blood shed on earth

From the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barakaya whom you murdered between the temple and the altar

Truly I say to you that all these things will come upon this generation

All the wrath that God had been storing up since Abel was going to be poured out on that generation

Which is intense. It's not the only time though that he curses them if you remember in John chapter 2

Jesus says that he knows the heart of man and the heart of man is incitingly wicked. He will not entrust himself That's a sort of general curse that Jesus is saying.

I will not entrust myself to them They cannot be saved if I don't entrust myself to them

Therefore they will not be saved because he will not entrust himself to the people the men the leaders of Jerusalem John chapter 7 makes this more specific

He says you will seek me and you will not find me and where I am.

You cannot come Jesus is not giving them an option. He's saying you're gonna try to find me and you can't

He's pronounced a covenant or judgment on this generation of wicked leaders, and they're hopeless

He says it again in John 8 21 Then he said again to them I go away and you will seek me and you will die in your sins where I am going

You cannot come even John 9 That we read a couple months back at the very end of John 9

We discover that it's the Pharisees who are the ones who are actually blind It's the blind man That's the one who actually sees and it's the

Pharisees that Jesus says you will die in your sins Which is worse than staying in your blindness

The blind men have been blind his whole life and now he's gonna live forever in eternity with Jesus They had seen their whole life and now they're gonna live in darkness forever because of their wickedness before Christ They were like the wicked leaders of Ezekiel's day

Who abused the sheep who were selfish and greedy? lovers of money Jesus calls them

They were wealthy and were the nicest and most expensive clothes while the people of Israel wore rags

They were they had lots of money when the people of Israel were paying 75 and 80 percent taxes.

That's right worse than Sweden That's funny.

If you're from Sweden They wanted high and lofty praise

Jesus says that they pray loud prayers so that everyone would see them and notice them and admire them those hypocrites

They were focused entirely on themselves like the people of Ezekiel's time. They were beating the sick

Breaking the weak Casting the blind out of the presence of God all because they didn't follow their strict version of rules that weren't even biblical anyway

It's that kind of shepherd that Jesus is going to bring to a wicked

Fiery end or bring their wicked reign to a fiery end Again this is not a novel concept

We've seen in several passages in the Old Testament that these wicked types of leaders exist We've seen God sharing that he's going to destroy them from the

Old Testament and from the New Testament But there's a couple of verses left that I want to share with you

That are Crystal clear on God's intention on what he's going to do. The first is

Micah 5 2 we often read Micah 5 2 as a Christmas passage It says but you

Oh Bethlehem Ephrathah who are too little to be among the clans of Judah for you shall come forth for me

One who was ruler in Israel whose coming is from old from the ancient of days again.

We read that we're like Yes, he was born in Bethlehem Yes, this is a fulfilled prophecy.

But did we read verses 3 through 5 which say this therefore He shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel and He that's

Jesus Shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord and the majesty in the name of the

Lord his God and they shall Dwell secure for now. He shall be great to the ends of the earth and he shall be their peace

He will be the peace. He will be the strength. He will be the Righteousness for his people. He will be the one who leads them and brings them back to the fold of God because the wicked leaders but He's not only coming for the good of his people.

He's coming for the destruction of these wicked rulers Look at this. He healed 37 21 through 28 Thus says the

Lord God Behold I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they're gone

They're gone there because of the wicked leaders and will gather them from all around and bring them to their own land

And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel and one king that's

Jesus shall be king over them and they shall no longer be two nations any longer and No longer divided into two kingdoms, that's

Israel and Judah They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things or with any of their transgressions

But I will save them from all of their Backslidings in which they have sinned and I will cleanse them and they shall be my people and I will be their

God My servant David that's Jesus shall be king over them and they shall have one

Shepherd They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant

Jacob Where your fathers lived they and their children? shall be their

Prince forever and I will make a covenant of peace with them and it shall be an Everlasting covenant with them and I will set them in their land and multiply them and will set my sanctuary in their midst forever

My dwelling place shall be with them and I will be their God and they will be my people

Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever

Do you see again? That God is promising to do what those leaders should have been doing the entire time and he's making

Promises that he will make this personal. He will gather the scattered people. He will be their good

Shepherd He will bring them into a unified government one people under God under him under Christ He Will lead them out of their sins like the faithless shepherds who abused the sheep were supposed to he will lead them out of their

Idolatry and their transgressions. He will save them. He will cleanse them He will redeem them and he will live with them it says that he will actually share his presence with them and they will be his people and that he will be their

God and Not just for one generation for all generations when we read this We should get excited when we see this because it's not just that he's promising that he will be our

God It says that it would be our children's God and our children's children's God to a thousand generations. He will be our

God He will do what the wicked shepherds were supposed to be doing the entire time He will replace them.

I want us to read one other passage Because Jesus is going to judge the wolves and it makes it clear

That he's going to judge them and break them He's not only going to do the positive things for his people, but he is going to bring destruction upon those who've opposed his people

This is what it says in Ezekiel 34 7 through 16 Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the

Lord as I live declares the Lord surely Because my flock has become a prey my flock has even become a food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd and My shepherds did not search for my flock

But rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock. Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the

Lord Thus says the Lord God behold. I am against the shepherds and I will demand my sheep from them and I will make them cease from feeding sheep

So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore But I will deliver my flock from their mouth

So that they will not be food for them for thus says the Lord God behold,

I Myself will search for my sheep and I will seek them out and as shepherds care for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for my sheep and Will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.

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 streams and in the inhabited places of the land I will feed them in good pasture and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel there

They will lie down on good grazing ground and feed and rich pasture on the mountains of Israel I will feed my flock and I will lead them to rest declares the

Lord I will seek the loss bringing back the scattered and binding up the broken and strengthening the sick but the fat and the strong I will destroy and I will feed them with judgment

There's so much going on in this passage I wish that we could have an entire sermon just on this but there's a few things in here that I want us to highlight

First God promises these things on his own life So they're certain

We know that God himself is omniscient omnipotent. He's immutable. He's everlasting.

He cannot cease to be God So because God cannot cease to be God these promises cannot cease to be true

He will bring us into his flock if we are his sheep. That is a certainty the second thing that we see is

That God makes these promises personal. I will demand my sheep from them. I am against them

I will cease them from feeding my sheep and I will deliver my flocks from them

God himself is promising in Ezekiel 34 that he Will come down from heaven that he will visit the wickedness and that he will demand

His people be released from the control of these wicked leaders the

Pharisees The third thing that we learn is That God gives this promise in a set time which means that it's centered on the coming of Christ Everything in Ezekiel 4 is made true at the coming of Jesus Christ because he says

I will care for my sheep That's something that Jesus says He says

I will deliver them. That's something that Jesus says. I will bring them out That's something that Jesus says in John 10. I will gather them.

I will feed them. I will lead them into good pastures I will give them rest you search all over the Gospels and you can find every single one of those statements

Jesus is saying I'm here Everything in Ezekiel 34 is true in my coming.

I am God people say that Jesus never claims to be God Ezekiel 34 says God is going to come and Jesus says all the things that are happening in Ezekiel 34 about him

He's saying I am God. I've shown up and your time is over Your time of abusing and hurting and a costing my sheep is done

Again, it's tied to his coming behold. I myself will search for my sheep He doesn't just say

I he says I myself he's emphatic I'm coming and he says that That he is going to feed those shepherds with judgment

What a rich metaphor The people who have abused God's sheep by being gluttonous and feeding themselves.

He's going to spoon -feed nothing, but judgment We talked about Babylon Destroying the city of Israel.

It was worse in 70 AD 70 AD was just 40 years after Jesus rose from the dead 70

AD was in that same generation The Roman armies came to the city of Jerusalem and they starved them out

It was reported That a mother was in such fright

That she was going to starve to death that she roasted her own child in the city of Jerusalem It was reported that they were in madness and they were killing one another inside the gates the

Romans didn't actually kill as many Jews as the Jews killed the Jews because they were in a sense of madness you

Read the book of Josephus. It's it's his Jewish wars you read it and It's some of the most nauseating material that you've ever seen 1 million

Jews Died in the siege of Rome now the

Holocaust was as wicked and as awful as anything that you and I can imagine but by Population more

Jews died in the destruction of Rome. They died more openly their bodies were left

Sitting in the streets vultures were swarming over the city The stench of death was all over the city because this is the city that said

I have no King but Caesar This is the city who turned their back on God This is the city who when

God came in the flesh they murdered him and crucified him and God himself poured out all his wrath from Abel to Zechariah on that generation from 8071 until current present day

There is no biblical Judaism that exists. There is people who are Jewish There are people who believe in Judaism, but it's not a biblical

Judaism as defined by the Torah. There's no temple There's no Levites. There's no sacrifices.

There's no high priest What they have is a religious system that they created because they didn't have these things

Jewish Judaism died in 8070 God Replaced them

God brought his wrath on the people who killed his son And what

I find so extraordinary is that Christ did not stay dead Jesus who came and who ended those wicked leaders by his death

Was also the same Jesus who resurrected as the true and good shepherd of his sheep

He's the one who searches for his sheep. He is the one who gathers his sheep

He is the one who gives them a land for their possession. Did you know that as the church?

We've been given the entire world as our possession Pastor Derek preached on that last week Did you know that he nourishes us with his body and with his blood like a good shepherd

It says that we have life in his name if we eat his flesh and drink his blood He's a good shepherd because he leads us into Pastures where we can feast and what better pasture is there to feast and on the body and blood of Christ?

What better table did he prepare for us in the presence of our enemies than the table of the Lord where we feast upon?

his Resurrected body and his blood shed for the Covenant He's the one who gives his people true rest and salvation.

He's the one who binds up the broken He's the one who heals our wounds and strengthens our sickness and gives us courage and vigor

He's the one who brought a fiery judgment on the wicked. Yes, but he's the one by no Benefit of us by no ability of us.

He gives us eternal life He's the true shepherd which we'll talk about more in the weeks ahead.

But today as we close I want to bring it back to this issue of leadership because that's what the underpinning of this passage is

If you're If you're not a believer right now, you've experienced all kinds of leadership in your life

Just like we have but none of it is as good as Christ None of it will lead you in the path that you need to go.

You'll spend 80 years 90 years a hundred years at best Maybe you'll move up the org chart.

Maybe you'll do some amazing things But when you die, you'll have nothing you can't take any of it with you. If you do not know

Christ That pray you'd cry out to the true good shepherd Because he's the only one who can lead you into pastures that are eternal and everlasting.

You can't find that on your own He's the only one if you're a Christian today.

I Want to remind us that his leadership and his lordship and his shepherding of our lives is what brought us health

It's what brought us a relationship with God. These are not things that we did for ourself We can't take any credit for anything that God has done

We here are humble in the fact that he's done all these things for us So we must approach him with gratitude, but I also want us to remember

That healthy leadership brings people into life healthy leadership brings nations into life

Healthy leadership brings careers and jobs back on track if we are being led by Jesus Christ We should be the most healthy people on the planet because his leadership is leading us and it's changing us and it's shaping us

We shouldn't struggle like the world struggles. We shouldn't have the same anxieties that the world has

I'm not talking about chemical mental things I'm talking about giving ourselves over to sin. We shouldn't struggle like the world.

We shouldn't look like we're being led by Jesus So my prayer for all of us is that we would rest in his faithful leadership

That we would rest in his lordship, which means he owns every part of our lives and that we would grow healthy in Christ and also

I Want to say an application to all of us because all of us are leaders

All of us are leaders in this room Derek and I have been called to a specific leadership in This church and I would ask that you pray for us

I would ask that you pray that we never become arrogant like the Pharisees I would pray that you would pray for us that we would never become greedy or or about ourselves or or about any kind of Gain, I pray that that Derek's hair would not cause him to stumble

Just kidding Pray for us as your pastors We need your prayers

It's so easy. You can fall a million different ways You can become angry at being in ministry you can become greedy you can become self -righteous and self -important

You can become like Joel Osteen or Stephen Furtick and you can lead people into emotionally driven experiences that matter nothing in eternity

Pray for us These passages really are hard passages

It says that it says in the Bible that it would better if you didn't become leader because you'll be held to a higher standard These are not things that we beat our chest over These are these are burdens that we carry and we ask that you pray for us that we would do it

Well, and we would do it faithfully but also All of us in this room

We have a responsibility not just when we come to church. We have a responsibility on who we listen to Because in this era that we live in You're not listening just to sermons here at the

Shepherd's Church. You're probably listening to things on YouTube You're probably listening to podcast I would ask you to be very careful to the people that you listen to because the internet is a dumpster fire of absolute garbage when it comes to faithful Christianity I would say that you listen even here carefully that you be a

Berean and you compare what you hear here to the scriptures to Make sure that really is so I Hundred there's a hundred false teachers on the internet for one good faithful one

Please be very careful on who you listen to it's like taking your life in your own hands

It's like spiritual Russian roulette when you listen to an unfaithful preacher Please take that very seriously

And if you have any questions about who is faithful after you've examined me to make sure that I am Come and ask me.

I'll be happy to talk to you about it Finally we're all leaders in some way Some of us in this room will will become elders one day some of us a room will become deacons one day

Some of us are already husbands or will become husbands. Some of us are already wives who will become wise and If you're not those things and if at your job

You're the lowest person on the totem pole and you have no leadership qualities or skills and you have nothing at all to boast about to say that that I am anything of a leader you're in Jesus Christ a leader in this world.

You've been called a king a priest. You've been called a co -heir with Christ You've been called a light to a dark world.

You've been called salt in the midst of a broken world You are a leader in the world and the world should look to you you and I have responsibility to imitate

Jesus Christ in every facet of our life to bring his healthy leadership to the world that is that is stuck in darkness

So as we pray, I pray that we would that we would see the error of the Pharisees I pray that we would see the righteousness of Christ and I pray that in his righteousness and in the indwelling of the

Holy Spirit We would grow to be like him To the ends of the earth, let's pray Lord Jesus Thank you so much for the underpinnings of this passage and how they teach us how you are the perfect shepherd and Lord how we'll get into those things in weeks ahead.

I'm so thankful that That we were able to see the context in this chapter

That we're able to rest in your perfect leading and shepherding and guiding and Lord ship and That Lord in you we would become faithful followers

Who also become faithful proclaimers of the gospel? Both here and to the ends of the earth and where we pray those things in Christ's name.