Our Father who is in heaven. Our Lord, we we praise you that you have ordained your children to bring their worship to you all around the world. There are people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation praying to you and lifting up the glory of your name at every hour of the day. Even through the watches of the night, we praise you, O God, that no one can stop the worship of your name. Even in the prison cells, your children will praise you. We thank you for your victory in Christ Jesus. And Father, we ask you to awaken your church. Let let it not be true of the church, Lord, that the church has a reputation for being alive, but is really dead. We pray instead that you would awaken your church, that you would strengthen what remains. Lord, we confess our sleepiness, we confess our apathy and our sins, even our idolatries. And we ask that you would forgive us. Forgive your church. Especially in America, forgive your church. Have mercy upon your people. Lord, we pray that you would wake us up. Bring a great, mighty awakening through your Holy Spirit. To your glory and to your word. Father, we we pray this morning for this little three year old boy who has As a three-year-old suffered for the name of Christ, we pray that he would see your joy and your glory shining down upon him, that you protect him and heal him. Be with this little one in Africa. Father, I pray for the children in the room. I pray that you'd raise them up to be bold and strong and courageous for you. They would walk in the light and hate the darkness and fear you and please you. Lord, we we honor your name as we open your holy word this morning. In Jesus name. Amen. We are searching the Bible for the shepherds of Christmas, how shepherds in the Bible relate to the shepherds of the Christmas account. We'll start this morning with the first two verses of Ezekiel, chapter 34. This is the word of the Lord. Ezekiel 34, one through two. And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God to the shepherds. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. God has not made us lions, but rather sheep. We do not possess the intrinsic faculties to defend or provide or lead ourselves. We don't have it in us. We think that we are oh so self-sufficient, but we are really sheep-like. A two week old lamb that gets lost in the thickets of the forest cannot survive on his own. That little lamb, if the shepherd doesn't come and rescue it, he will die. In the same way, a two year old child lost in the rocky outcroppings of a goalie. will die if he is not rescued by an adult. But it's more than that, it's more than this. Even a full-grown sheep is not safe in the wilderness, if he's wandering around the wilderness, without a shepherd. And even an adult human being is not safe in this world of fleshly and idolatrous temptations without If he's left himself, if he's if he's without the shepherd, without the good shepherd. So in the Bible, the people of God, the Israelites are like a flock. And the flock is composed of many sheep and these many sheep need a shepherd. And by grace, God is their shepherd. Psalm 95, 6 through 7, O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Or Psalm 100, verse three, know that the Lord, he is God, it is he who has made us, not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. So that's that's the metaphor for God in Israel, the sheep and the shepherd. So this Christmas, are you self-sufficient? And self-determining, Or are you vulnerable and needy? Are you your own shepherd? Or are you a sheep in need of a shepherd? What happens in the Bible is the sheep, the people of Israel, reject their shepherd. Ironic, hard to understand nature of human sin. This good shepherd shepherds his people and the sheep reject their shepherd. So what what does the shepherd do when his own sheep refused to obey his own voice? And the answer in the Bible is that the shepherd turns his sheep over to other shepherds. You don't want me to be your shepherd. You're not going to obey my voice. Well, then you can have other shepherds. So he hands them over to other shepherds and they turn out to be bad shepherds because it's a judgment. And the bad shepherds take the sheep and hurt the sheep because it's a judgment from God. And they abuse the sheep. And so at some point in God's wise and loving providence, the sheep begin to cry out for help. They've been handed over to the care of bad shepherds. They're abused and oppressed. So they cry out for some help. And they're brought to repentance. And then the true shepherd, the good shepherd, comes to gather the sheep again. That's the gospel pattern. And when he comes, when the good shepherd comes, he has some very fierce words to say to the bad shepherds who have mishandled his flock. This is what he says to them, Ezekiel 34, one through six. And the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, prophesy about The shepherds, these are the bad shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds, Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who are sick, nor bound up the broken. nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost, but with force and rigor you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, no good shepherd. And they became food for all the beasts of the field while they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one, no good shepherd, was seeking or searching for them." So Ezekiel 34 is very much about shepherds. As I read through the Hebrew text of Ezekiel 34, there's a brute word that can be a noun or verb, but it's the verb for shepherd or the noun for shepherd. And by my count, it appears about 36 times in Ezekiel 34. So it's very much a chapter about shepherds. And God in Ezekiel 34 is the good shepherd, and he is pronouncing judgment over the many bad shepherds. that are ruling over Israel. And these bad shepherds are, they're bad. They're bad shepherds for two reasons at least. One is because the shepherds in Israel are not taking care of the sheep. Instead, they are slaughtering the sheep and eating the sheep. They're sheep eaters. They're not real shepherds. They don't care for the sheep. They eat them. Ezekiel 34, 3 again, you eat the fat. and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock." So instead of taking care of them, they just devour them. These bad shepherds tend the flock only for the purpose of getting the wool and eating the sheep. That's all that they want to do. They fleece the flock. That's what they do. They cuddle and fatten the sheep, but only with an eye for the slaughter. And secondly, they're bad shepherds, not just because they're sheep eaters, but secondly, because they're neglectful and they're violent. In verse 4, Ezekiel 34, 4, it says, the weak you have not strengthened, so they're neglectful, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost, so they completely neglect their duties, but with force and rigor you have ruled them, so they lord it over them, And and they're negligent. The bad shepherds of Israel are negligent shepherds. These are the rulers, the governors over Israel and also the priests, the scribes. They care not for the sick, the hurt, the weak, the strays and the lost. They don't care. And they're violent. They rule with brute force. And cruel power plays. In modern times, we could say in the political realm, They wear the garb of judges, governors and presidents. These are the shepherds. And they're found legislating from the bench, intimidating the sheep with social workers and even multiplying executive orders. That's the political realm. And in the church realm, they're found wearing the garb of church board members sometimes. And they employ lies and slander and financial threats and brow beatings and coercion and even pious sounding self-pity isms. In order to domineer the flock of God. And they're bad shepherds. The shepherds are so bad that they're described in the language that's used to describe the Egyptians and Pharaoh. It says that the shepherds ruled the people with rigor. And that word rigor is applied to the Egyptians and how the Egyptians ruled over the Israelite slaves. Ezekiel 34, 4 says, The week you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost, but with force and rigor you have ruled them. That's a strong word, rigor, because in Exodus, the Exodus account under the oppressive slavery in Egypt, it uses the same word, Exodus 1, 13 through 14. So the Egyptians, made the children of Israel serve with rigor. Same word. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage and mortar and brick and in all manner of service in the field, all their service in which they had made them serve was with rigor. So this brutal oppression and if the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites with rigor. Then, of course, the law of God, the law of Moses, is that no Israelite should ever oppress a fellow Israelite with the same kind of rigor that's built into the law of Moses, Leviticus 25, 46. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor. But that's exactly what the bad shepherds are doing. They're oppressing the people with this oppressive rigor. So it's no wonder that God is angry with the bad shepherds of Israel. Her rulers have been oppressing her people. Even her priests have been oppressing her people with rigor. And therefore, God shall bring these bad shepherds to destruction. So it makes sense why God is so angry. Ezekiel 34, 7 through 10. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, says the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey. and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and did not feed My flock. Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds and I will require my flock at their hand and I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more for I will deliver my flock from their mouths that they may no longer be food for them and then verse 16 says I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick but I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in judgment And this judgment against the bad shepherds of Israel is not unlike what Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah, has already said. This is very similar to what Jeremiah has already said. Jeremiah 23, 1 through 2. Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed my people. You have scattered my flock. driven them away and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord. So same message. You've been bad shepherds. You have been negligent and violent and oppressive, and therefore I will visit you with my judgment. In the New Testament. The bad shepherds of the church. are likened to one of two things. Either they're likened directly to wolves, the bad shepherds become the wolves in the church, or they're likened to shepherds who don't care for the flock. And so when the wolf comes, they they run away because they don't care. So John 10 or sorry, first Matthew 715, Jesus says, Beware of false prophets. These are the bad shepherds who come to you in sheep's clothing. They look like sheep. But in really, they are ravenous wolves. There they are in the New Testament, then John 10, 10 through 14, the thief, Jesus talking about the good shepherd, the thief, John 10, 10 through 14, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, but a hireling, this is a bad shepherd. He who is not the shepherd. One who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he's a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I'm the good shepherd and I know my sheep and I'm known by my own. And then the Apostle Paul, remember when he had gathered the elders from Ephesus, he was going to say goodbye to them one last time. They gathered on the beach and he gave them his last words because they were never going to see his face again. He gathered them in with tears. He warned them about the wolves. Acts 20, 28 to 31. Therefore, take heed yourselves and to all the flock. So you were sheep. Among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone, night and day with tears." Why, then, is the contemporary church, why, then, is the state of the modern contemporary church so sick? And why is the flock so scattered? It's been bad throughout, we've had bad times in church history, but at this current time in history, things are looking really bad for the church. Why? Why is the church so sick and why is the flock so scattered? And I would say there are many reasons for this, many reasons for the state of the church today. But among those reasons, here are three of what I think are the chief reasons. Here's why the flock is in such bad shape today. Number one, the contemporary church. In many ways, not all churches, there are some really good, strong Bible believing churches out there yet, but But by and large, this new contemporary church that's full of compromise refuses to be shepherded by Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, through his holy word. And what I mean by that is there are many church going people today in America today who blatantly refuse to submit their lives to all of the commandments of Christ and all of the teachings of Christ in the scriptures. They will not submit. They want salvation, but they don't want obedience. And they replaced the laws of Christ with psychological theories and the governmental rules of man. That, I think, is the primary reason. But here's a second one. Why is the church, why is the flock so scattered today? Here's a second reason. It's because contemporary church shepherds, what I would call today's hip and cool pastors, refuse to submit themselves to the ancient shepherds of church history. I think one of the greatest problems facing the contemporary church is that the pastors today no longer submit themselves to the guidance of the ancient shepherds, the ones who came before us. So, in other words, if you have a pastor. And he doesn't think that it's necessary for the health of his soul. To sit down and to learn from the writings of people like Clement of Rome back in the in the very beginnings of the church or Tertullian of Carthage writing from the beginnings of the church in Africa, if he doesn't think that he needs to learn from those writings and to submit himself to the wisdom of those writings, then I say, watch out, church. Once pastors begin to cut themselves off from the 2000 years of church history. Apostasy is coming. And then number three, today's shepherds, this is why I think that the flock is so hurt and scattered today, shepherds, today's hip and cool pastors are not in it for the Lord's glory. How can you claim to be an under shepherd in the Church of God? And not be in it for the Lord's glory. Rather, I know some of them. They're in it for the money. And the fame. And the prestige. They love the praise of men. So they are willing to give the people what they want. What the people want. So that they can get what they want. What the pastors want. Jesus said to Peter, this is what Jesus said to Peter. Feed my sheep. But today you've got pastors all around the country who lack the courage to even confront the wolves. They they're not even courageous enough to confront the wolves, much less expose them and ask them to leave the church. You've got wolves in the church. You've got people in the church today. This is all over the place. This is in the big Christian magazines. It's in the big Christian colleges today. You've got wolves. Saying they're teaching the sheep things like, well, you know, homosexuality as an identity, it's not wrong. And today's shepherds don't care for the sheep who are being devoured by the wolves, and they don't even have the courage to stand up and say, that's wrong. Biblically speaking, I love you, but that's wrong. But why would God ever give His flock into the hands of bad shepherds? If God loves His sheep, why would He give them into the hands of bad shepherds? And the question is, does He not do it, does God not do it because His flock desires bad shepherds? Do they not desire the kind of shepherds who will preach the very things that their itching ears want to hear. Is not the flock welcoming of the kinds of shepherds who will preach moral compromise and friendship with the world and even outright heresy? So that the members of the flock may in turn be given license by their shepherds to live in immorality and greed and worldliness, having convinced themselves that they somehow know the saving grace of Christ, even though there is no evidence of the fear of God and the saving work of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The bad shepherds don't care for the sheep. They just tell the sheep what the sheep want to hear. so that they can get what they want. But there is, however, a good shepherd. There's a good shepherd in the Bible. And this good shepherd is very different from the bad shepherds. He is utterly holy. Because the good shepherd in the Bible is God himself. John 10, Jesus' teachings in John 10 are built on top of Ezekiel 34, because Ezekiel 34 is the Good Shepherd. Here's Ezekiel 34, 3 through 6 again. You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick. nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost, but with force and rigor you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my flock." Do you hear the my? That's God. It's His flock. He's the shepherd. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth and no one was seeking or searching for them. And then versus 15 and 16, God says, I so they're not doing it. So he says, so I will feed my flock. He's a good shepherd and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I, I will do what they're not doing. I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them. and judgment. And this is the gospel pattern. The pattern throughout scripture, here's the pattern, is that the sheep rebel against their shepherd. So God allows the judgment to come and the sheep are scattered. Israel is gathered to the promised land. Israel rebels against her shepherd. God allows the enemies to come in. Israel is scattered to the nations. She loses the promised land and is scattered. And then after the scattering, The sheep wake up in some foreign distant land, they're in slavery and bondage and being oppressed, and they cry out and they repent. And the good shepherd comes to save them. That's the pattern. First, they're scattered and then God gathers them. The scattering is in verses five through six, Ezekiel 34, five through six. So they were scattered. Because there was no shepherd and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. And my sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every hill. Yes, my flock was scattered. That's the judgment. They were scattered over the whole face of the earth and no one was seeking or searching for them. So scattering is the judgment. When the flock rebels against the shepherd, the flock will be scattered to the nations. Deuteronomy 28, 64 warns about the judgment, the curse of being scattered. Deuteronomy 28, 64. Then the Lord will scatter you. among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other. And then you'll go and serve their gods. Ezekiel 22, 15 says, I will scatter you among the nations. Again, the same judgment. The flock rebels against the shepherd. The shepherd allows the flock to be scattered. But again, the gospel pattern is once the flock is scattered and the people have been removed from the promised land and they wake up in Babylon or Assyria or wherever they are, And they realize that they've done something horribly wrong against their shepherd. That's when they repent. They find themselves in a dismal condition and they repent and they cry out for the shepherd to come. And the good shepherd comes. He will come and gather his scattered flock. That's the gospel. Repentance comes when the sheep say, I'm a lost sheep. Psalm 119, 176. Here's an example of this. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. So this calling out for the shepherd to come and rescue the lost sheep. And he comes, Matthew nine thirty six. But when Jesus saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered. There's the judgment like sheep having no shepherd. So the good shepherd comes to gather the scattered sheep. He comes to gather the scattered sheep of Israel. He leaves the ninety nine. in order to seek and save the one who was lost. He scatters the flock in judgment. He gathers the flock in compassion. Luke 19.10, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. So Christmas is very much about the scattered sheep of Israel. Jesus scatters sinners. In his wrathful judgments, he's he's a shepherd. And just as Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden and their children scattered over the whole face of the earth, so to Israel has been cast out of the promised land and Israel's children have been scattered over the whole face of the earth. But Jesus comes. To gather the lost sheep of Israel, and I think this is why the shepherds come to the Christmas scene. This is why they come to the manger. The shepherds come to the manger to proclaim to Israel that the Good Shepherd has come to gather the lost sheep of Israel. That's why God has the shepherds come. He's the Good Shepherd, and they are the sheep, and He has come to gather them into His arms. As it says in the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53, 6 through 7, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb. A good shepherd becomes a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearer's silence, so he opened not his mouth. The Lamb of God, sacrificed for the sins of the world, is also simultaneously the good shepherd. who comes to gather the lost sheep of Israel. He was sacrificed for our sins. God is so holy that sin demands death. And we, each and all of us, every one of us, has sinned against God in horrific ways. Not in small ways, in horrific ways. Our sins are bad. They are evil. They are not small and light. They are big and they are heavy. They are horrible enough. Our sins are horrible enough to not just cast us out of the Garden of Eden. But to cast us out of heaven. And to scatter us, not just to the end of the earth. It's not just we're scattered to the four corners of the earth. Our sins are bad enough to scatter us all the way into the deepest corners of hell. So the question that the good shepherd asks are is, are you then a lost sheep? Have you strayed from God and from his church? Are you lost in your sins? Are you entangled in a thicket of idolatry and cursing? And lust. And the gospel includes a warning. The great warning is that if there's a lost person, a lost loved one who does not turn, who will not go back to the shepherd, who refuses to repent for his sins against God and his sins against his neighbor, the warning of the gospel is, if you will not turn and repent, then you will be lost forever. You will be handed over not just to the bad shepherds of this world, but even to the demonic wolves of hell. And the slaughter in that awful place shall know no end. It's a real warning. But the gospel is good news. The gospel is, however, if you would but turn. If you would just but turn. The Lord God requires nothing else from you, but that you would just turn in your heart and believe that he is a good shepherd. He's good. So good that he was willing to be slaughtered as the Lamb of God in your place. Taking your condemnation upon himself. If you just turn to him, then he, the good shepherd, will seek you and he will find you. If you will turn to him with all of your heart, forsaking the world and everything that's perishing with the world, if you'll turn your back and your affections away from the world and you'll turn to him, he will have compassion. He's a compassionate shepherd. He will blot out your sins and give you a new heart, and he will give you desires in your heart to obey his holy laws. And he will shepherd you with his Holy Spirit and his comforting rod and his staff. And if you are lost, you will be found. And you will find that he's a good shepherd. He's your only hope for salvation. He's the eternal God. He loves you and he will be your shepherd. That's the proclamation of the gospel at Christmastime. So the Good Shepherd in Ezekiel 34 is not like the bad shepherds. Instead of abusing the flock and devouring the sheep, the Good Shepherd comes to gather the scattered flock of Israel, and yet And yet the Good Shepherd is not merely on this search and rescue mission. The gospel doesn't stop there. It's not merely that he came to seek and save the lost. The Good Shepherd in Ezekiel 34 also and finally desires to lead his flock somewhere. Here's the last section here, Ezekiel 34, 11 to 14. For thus says the Lord God. Indeed, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep. So I will seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. So he does indeed gather all the lost sheep. But then he says, and I will bring them out of the peoples and gather them from the countries and I will bring them somewhere. Here's the somewhere I will bring them. to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their folds shall be on the high mountains of Israel, and they shall lie down in a good field and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. So. In this last section here, notice that the good shepherd not only brings his people out from. Lands of bondage, he also leads them into. The promised land, it's not just out from, it's also into to get this really clearly, just look at verse 13, Ezekiel 34, 13, and I will bring them out from. the people and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the inhabited places of the country." So the gospel, here's the point, the gospel is not merely out from. The gospel is also into. Jesus brings us out from bondage to sin. But he also brings us into the inexpressible joy of holy living. He not only brings us out from the kingdom of this world, but also into the kingdom of his father, the true Christian not only learns to hate sin, which he must, if he's a true Christian, he must hate sin, but he also learns to delight in righteousness. And he will, if he's a true Christian, delight in righteousness. So, into what pastors, then, is the Good Shepherd leading us? Here's Isaiah's version of it, Isaiah 49, 8-10. Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. I will preserve you and give you, the Messiah, as a covenant to the peoples, to restore to earth, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages, that you may say to the prisoners, go forth to those who are in darkness, show yourselves, so there's an out from, but then they shall feed along the roads and their pastures, so they're like a flock, their pastures shall be on the desolate heights, and here's where they're going. They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them, For he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water he will guide them. So see, he's a good shepherd. He leads them out from bondage. He leads them into the promised land. The good shepherd is leading us into this holy, completely safe pasture land called heaven. And this is resurrection land. The destination is not here. We're pilgrims passing through. The destination is home, and home is resurrection land. It's interesting in John 10, the Good Shepherd ties his good shepherdness into, or with, his resurrection. John 10, 14 through 18, I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and I'm known by my own, as the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, the Gentiles, Them also I must bring and they will hear my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore, my father loves me because I lay down my life. And here's the resurrection that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself, I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. Resurrection, this command I received from my father. So this is the good shepherd. Jesus is he who is leading us to the good pastures of the land of resurrection. That's where we're going. And there in that land, we will graze on the pasture lands of everlasting life. It's in heaven that he will lead us, according to Psalm 23, not just beside restful waters, but but in heaven beside everlastingly restful waters. If there in heaven that the good shepherd will restore our souls, not just temporarily, but to sinless perfection. This is a good shepherd. So. This Christmas. Do you feel weak? And threatened. Like a helpless little lamb. Is life frightening? Have you been hurt by the cruel predators of this world? Have you been wounded by the bad shepherds of the church? Are you cold and lonely this Christmas? Do you need someone to save you this Christmas? If so, then remember that the son born of Mary came for the lost sheep of Israel. That little lamb that Mary held in her arms would grow up and become the good shepherd of Israel. It is he who gathers the lambs into his arms, who lifts them into his bosom and who gently leads the nursing lambs. He, the Lamb of God, who is the good shepherd, has come this Christmas to shepherd you. Last verse, Revelation 7, 17. For the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will shepherd them. The Lamb is the shepherd. and lead them to living fountains of waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. As we come to the Lord's table this morning, we are coming as the flock of God. And we come broken and weak and needy and poor. And we cry out for the good shepherd. Before we do that, here's the doxology. Praise be to God, our father. Whose righteous judgments against the bad shepherds of the church shall be revealed. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is both the Lamb of God and the Good Shepherd. And praise be to the Holy Spirit, who gathers the lost sheep into the Church through His holy work of conviction and regeneration and sanctification. Amen. Thank you for joining us for the preaching of the Holy Scriptures. You can find more resources at our website, www.GodCenteredUniverse.org. You may also send correspondence to us at the following address, PO Box 461978, Aurora, Colorado 80046. God-Centered Universe is a faith-driven ministry that exists to encourage the Church in family-based discipleship and to call the Church to continue trembling joyfully at God's Word.