Father, we thank you that you are taking care of us this day. We thank you for the good news of the gospel. We thank you that no matter what our ethnic background or how hard we work, that will not save us, but Jesus has. We thank you that his work is complete. He sits at your right hand, praying for us and protecting us. We pray, Father, that you would hear us because of him and his work. Send your spirit, we ask, to teach us your word. We want to know it better. It truly is the word of life, and we ask you, our God, thus, to have us read it, think about it, talk about it, and obey it. Lord, at times things get hard, and we ask you to give us that diligence to obey it. In Jesus' name, amen. I need two volunteers. I got one right here. I see that hand. Mrs. G, thank you. Thank you. We are in the book of Jude and We're just finishing up verse 11 and about to go to verse 12 and Let's take a look at what's going on So we've been talking about these last three that Jude has woe to them. The first one is Cain, right? Who's the second one? Balaam, right? And the third? Korah, K-O-R-A-H, right? Okay, and we were looking at the events with Korah. And so let's go there and finish up. The plan is to finish up with Korah and sort of summarize what we've seen and then go to the whole next section, the next paragraph. Jude really changes the whole way that he's talking. And it's interesting when we look at that to see how Jude changes his approach. But let's go back into the book of Numbers and learn a little more about Korah. So we have the rebellion of Korah, right? And we looked at that last week, and we saw that Korah's of what tribe? Remember? Korah's of the tribe of Levi, right. So we have Korah, who's from Levi. And we saw that Moses and Aaron are also from Levi, right? Okay, so they're cousins of sorts. Okay, so we have Moses and Aaron. or also, and then there's the other ones there that are from Reuben, right? So we have Reuben, R-U-E-R-E-U, in the end, okay? So we have that, and we have the descendants there, and what did they say? What is their theological basis for the statement, right? They have indicatives and imperatives, right? We understand, we see that over and over and over, that's the pattern in scripture, indicatives and imperatives. So what are the indicatives that Korah and his colleagues say? Number one, the people of God are holy. Okay, and what's the second one? The Lord's in our midst, right? The Lord is among them. Okay, so these are two statements of fact. Those are indicative. Is Cora and his colleagues, are they accurate? Are they correct? Okay, does this apply to all of Israel that they are holy? Okay, very good, right? Is the Lord in their midst for everybody? Yes, okay. So they make two statements, right? There's their doctrinal background, there's their indicative, and what do they say from that? What is the conclusion they make about Moses and Aaron? Yes, Moses and Aaron, right? Moses and Aaron have exalted themselves, right? D-X-H-A-U-L, exalted themselves. And you see how if this were true, this would be contrary to the idea that all the people of God are holy. Who are you to make yourself so special? Right, that's what holy means. Who are you to make yourself so special when everybody is holy? Problem is they missed the point historically. And what was the point historically? Moses and Aaron didn't exalt themselves. Can't you remember, what was Moses' reaction in Exodus 3 and 4 and 5? Not me, God. I don't want this job. I'm not good in front of people, and I'm not a good speaker. So get somebody else. Not only am I not volunteering, I am un-volunteering myself. So there was a draft movement by God, and God said, no, you're the one. And your brother Aaron is going to help you. So God is the one that put them. Now, with Moses and Aaron being the leaders of the people of God, does that remove the concept that the people of God are holy? No, of course, the people of God are still holy. So you can have leaders in the middle of a holy people and all the people are still holy. Now what does the word holy mean? Not sinless, but separate, special, set apart. So, verse three of number 16, they gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, you take too much upon yourselves for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? And Moses, when he hears it, he falls on his face. And you'll see Moses tends to do that a lot. Moses just goes down into the dirt. And then he says, okay, tomorrow morning we'll find out who's holy and who's not, who's special and who's not. And he tells them to bring their censors. You know, a censor is sort of like a little pot. Well, I picture them about three inches in diameter, about three inches high, you know, either cylindrical or maybe round like a ball. And they have holes in them. Why? Because you put a little piece of charcoal in there that's burning and on top of that you put some incense and it's got some chains and a little handle and you swing it around. And you see the smoke and the smell from the incense, right? They're kind of interesting devices. Why don't we use them in church here? You ever heard of churches that have smells and bells? You ever heard of that? Smells and bells? Why don't we have smells and bells? Yeah, we're Presbyterian. Very good. That means we're grumpy, right? At least we're chuckling about it. No, seriously, why don't we have smells and bells? Because it's all covenant worship. It's not new covenant worship. Remember years ago we talked about worship, regulative principle? I'm thinking about this. For our next topic, I've had a couple of suggestions, one of which is something topical. We've had some topical studies in the past, church government, ethics. What does it mean to reform? And one of the lessons I'm learning from Jude, I hope you're getting this, is the importance of worship. A lot of these events that Jude has brought up were they did something wrong in the way they worshipped God. And maybe we ought to study just what is worship and how do you worship and what should you do in worship or what should you not do in worship, you know, those kinds of things. So I'm thinking, I kind of mull on that one over. You got any thoughts? We can talk more later. So anyway, so get the sensors out and we'll see. So they come the next day. And these people here, the descendants of Reuben, they don't even bring them. They say, we're not going to do it. You just go do what you want. We're not going to have anything to do with you, Moses. Remember that? And so what happens to Korah and his family? God opens. Yeah. God opens up the earth. and swallows them. Isn't that frightening? Have you ever been in an earthquake here in San Diego or up in LA? I've been in earthquakes. We had one a few years ago and it was so frightening even the dog got afraid. Everything is shaking, the house is shaking. Where are you going to run away from an earthquake? There's nowhere you can run away. So what happened? The ground opened up, they fell in, and then the ground closed on top of them. Isn't that frightening? Now imagine if you were standing next to them. What would you do? Fall on your face. Yeah. I don't want any of this, Laura. No, no, no, no, no, no. Right? So, and then what happens to the, to, The sons of Reuben that are involved in the surveillance. The Lord sends fire down upon them, probably something like lightning. Yes, Herman. Some of Korah's children? What about them? Well, what does it say? He was talking about the psalms. Oh, yeah. No, I don't think so. I'll have to do some research on that. Let me do some thinking on that. First of all, we're talking 400 or 500 years later. What's the date of the Exodus? Remember that? 1454 BC is the date of the Exodus. What's the date of David, the psalmist? About 1,000. About several times 400, 450 years later. So let me do some thinking about that one. Let's see. Well, verse 31. And it came to pass, as he finished speaking these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men of Korah with all their goods, so that they and all those who were with them went down alive into the pit. The earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. Then also those who were in Israel fled at the cry and said, lest the earth swallow us up. See, so it sounds like all the family of Korah was swallowed up. You know, I hope a scripture comes to mind when you read that. The children are not punished for the sins of the father. How come the Lord killed their family? I don't hear any. Or how about maybe the children who went along in the rebellion? You don't know, right? Yes. Yes, quite often the word all just means a big group. Yeah. Okay, so we know the story, right? That's the story of Korah? No, it's not the story of Korah. Because what happens the next day? Okay, so turn over. to, let's see, we got number 16, and then turn over to page, or verse 41. On the next day, all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, you killed the people of the Lord. For goodness sakes. The earth just opened up and swallowed these people that were rebellious against Moses and Aaron, and then the reaction of the people of God is to the saints. Moses, we're gonna shut up and we're gonna listen. You are the one that the Lord has put here to lead us. What should we do? No, no, no. They get mad at Moses and Aaron. You have killed the people of the Lord. Now it happened when the congregation gathered against Moses and Aaron that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. Then Moses and Aaron came upon the tabernacle of meeting. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Get away from the congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces. So Moses and Aaron do not get away from the people, but instead they fall on their faces. Moses says to Aaron, take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun. And Aaron took it as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the assembly. And afterward, the plague had begun among the people. So he put it in the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, so the plague was stopped. Now, those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the Korah incident. So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle meeting, for the plague had stopped." So this is the next day, the people of God, taking the example from Korah and the rest of them, rebel against Moses again. And the Lord says, OK, he sends a plague in there. And Moses says, get your censer, Aaron, and go run in the people. And Aaron goes and runs among the people and gets between the two groups and sort of makes himself a barrier. How old was Aaron when he was running? Well, let's back up and think. Was Aaron Moses' older brother, or was Moses Aaron's older brother? Aaron's older. Aaron was older. How old was Moses when he started being the leader of the people of God? 80. So how old was his brother? Older than 80, and this is a few years after the 80, right? So maybe five years at least. We don't know, but ballpark. So Moses is in the neighborhood of 85. Aaron's in the neighborhood of, I don't know, 90, okay? And he's out running in there trying to stop this plague. Pretty energetic man, right? Yeah, Jim? I'm 85. You're 85, yeah, get the sensor and start running, okay? But guess what? That story's not done, because now let's go to the next verse. Okay, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the children of Israel And get from them a rod from each of their father's house all the leaders according to their father's house 12 rods write each man's name on the rod And you shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi. So they get 12 rods. You don't think piece of stick, right? Well, I'm they used to help him walk and they write the man's name on each of them one from each tribe. I For there shall be one rod for the head of each father's house. Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the testimony where I meet with you. And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I chose will blossom. Thus I will rid myself of the complaints of the children of Israel which they make against you." You see, this is continuing the story. This is the story of Aaron's rod that budded. So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave them a rod apiece for each leader according to their father's houses, 12 rods. And the rod of Aaron was among the rods, and Moses placed the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms, and yielded ripe almonds. Now, do y'all like almonds? I like almonds. They're really good. They grow them up in central California, right? In one day, this dead piece of stick was producing almonds. So you see why that's so impressive. The Lord chose that one. Moses brought out all the rods. They had all written the names on them. They knew whose was who. from before the Lord to all the children of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his rod. And the Lord said to Moses, bring Aaron's rod back before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from me, lest they die. Thus did Moses, just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did. So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, surely we die, we perish, we all perish. whoever even comes near the tabernacle, the Lord must die, shall we all utterly die. Now, the point I bring this up is because we've all heard about Aaron's rod that budded, but the story continues and continues and continues. So let's go back to Jude now, and let's see what is Jude telling us about this story, and what's the point? So verse 11 of Jude. When Jude says, woe to them, who is the them? What's the antecedent of the pronoun? The false teachers in the church that Jude's talking about, right? Woe to them because, what? They have gone in the way of Cain, they have run greedily in the error of Balaam for prophet and perished in the rebellion of Korah. So these people, woe to them, why? Because they are under the judgment of God, They are under the judgment of God, like these other people. Now, what are the verbs that we have here? For they have what? Have gone? Have gone. That's the one with came. And what's the next one? Abandoned themselves. They have abandoned themselves to what? They have abandoned. A-B-A-N-D-O-N-E-D. That doesn't look right. Abandoned themselves. And what's the next one? Perished. Perished. Perished in the rebellion or died in the rebellion of Korah. Now here's my point. What's the tense of the verb for perished? Past. What does that mean? It means the act is accomplished, right? They're already dead. They're already dead. But are these false teachers already dead? No. They're alive in the church, right? That's Jude's whole point. They're alive in the church. But his point, Jude's point, seems to be these guys are so bad, and their situation is so bad, that we could speak of them as being dead in the past tense. It isn't that they're going to die. They're already dead. even though physically they're alive. They are dead. Now, let's relate this. Yeah, go ahead. Which means that all the things that they say should be essentially ignored because they're already dead. And yet they're still alive. Yes. Their words have no meaning. That's right. These are dead people talking. Right. Instead of dead people walking. Dead people who are already judged. Mm-hmm. Right. Yep, because of their pulse doctor. Now, how do these three events, these historical events, relate to the whole point, what's Jude doing here? Well, let's look at, what has Jude been doing? Let's look at the structure again in the book. First couple verses, we have the salutation, the greeting, right? This is Jude, who I am, who am I writing to? Then we have in verses three through four, I was going to write to you about our common salvation, but I found it necessary to write to you, to exhort you, to contend earnestly for the faith, because there's these men in the church. And he's got these five descriptions of them. Then he has a set of historical events that he compares these people to. So let's put those historical events up here for us to see. So the first one is Israel came out, and then the whole story is setting out the spies. Remember that event? Setting out the spies. OK, so we have the historical event of the spies. And how? What did they do? They didn't trust the Lord. So the people of Israel did not trust the Lord. So therefore, they said, oh, what was this? We can't do it. Lack of trust. What's the next one? Yep, they're in Jude. Right, so you have the story of the angels who rebelled against God, didn't stay in their domain that God had called them to. And he puts them into darkness. We'll come back to darkness in a little bit. What's the next one? Sodom and Gomorrah, right? G-O-M-O-R-G-A-M-O-R-A-H. What's the next one? We have the summary in verse 8. Then we have Michael the archangel arguing with the devil. So we have Michael arguing with the devil over the body of Moses. What's next? where they have gone in the way of Cain, so we have the incident of Cain. Okay, then what's next? Balaam. And finally, Korah. Now, what we see with these is these are all historical events. The one that we don't know about is the angels, okay, and the one about Michael. We don't know too much about those, but Jude, and hence the Holy Spirit, is treating these as historical events that we are to learn from. Remember, we had talked about the whole issue, how do you read the historical events of the Old Testament? He says they're examples for us, particularly the Sodom and Gomorrah, he uses it there. They're examples for us to learn from, what not to do, what to do, how to behave, how not to behave, the whole issue of reading the Old Testament and how do we read the history. So what's he doing here with Cain, Balaam, and Korah? What he's doing is bringing, again, God is serious. God judges people. Rebellion in the church is serious stuff. False worship, right, Balaam, okay, Cain, bad worship, okay, is serious stuff. These are not games that we play with the Lord God, okay? He judged the people of God or others, Sodom and Gomorrah outside the church, outside the Old Testament church, right? But he judged people because of what they did. Now, does God still do that in the New Covenant? Can you think of any examples of God judging people within the community, within the covenant community? Ananias and Sapphira. What happened to them? They died. Very interesting church discipline, right? That's not one of the approved censures in the OPC. But Ananias and Sapphira, right? What else? Do you have any other examples? Corinthian church. What about Corinthian church? Some of them died in the Lord's Supper, right? Okay, the Lord's Supper is part of worship. Some of you are sick, some of you sleep, some of you are dead, right? Can you think of any others? Judas was in the coven community, right? What else? Right, there's communication there, right? Okay, with the stepmother. Yeah, what else? Any others? How about 1 John 5, there was sin unto death. I do not think the sin unto death is the quote-unquote unforgivable sin. I think sin unto death is Ananias and Sapphira. It is a situation in 1 Corinthians 11. That's the sin unto death, but that's 1 John 5. Is there this still, is God still serious about these things? Well, why does Jude put them in the book if he's not? Right? How we worship, what we do, how we treat the rulers, the elders in the church, all of those kinds of things. Are we trusting God or not? And that's what he's doing. That's what God has seen. Questions? Okay, we got this. We got our history down. One of the lessons, seriously, one of the lessons, little side note, Diane and I, when we talk about this a lot, I don't know my Old Testament history very well. How about you guys? I sure don't know mine very well. I think I need to read the Old Testament history a whole lot more, okay? Now, just as I thought, Diane and I were reading this editorial, Christian editorial this week, from one of the newsletters that I get. It basically said, do you think the Bible's the word of God, or do you just say it? If you really think it is the word of God, well, how do you love God? The answer is, you read his word. Everything begins there, reading his word. He says, not a chapter a day, you know, or ten minutes just before you go to bed, but read your Bible. That's really simple stuff, isn't it? Read your Bible. Maybe you can put it on On your phone, I have an app where I have a Bible on my phone. Sometimes if I'm like at a doctor's office and I'm waiting, I can read the book of Jude over again. Help me with science school or do something like that. But read your Bible. Rebecca just stepped out because of her children. But in the covenant of background, there's this lady named Rosaria Butterfield. You all know about Rosaria Butterfield, right? Okay, what's the name Rosaria tell you? She's Italian. My grandmother's name was Rosaria, right? Good Italian name, right? Okay, now, Rosaria Butterfield, who was a pagan professor at Syracuse, the Lord saved, and she wrote a book about it. And one of the things Rosaria Butterfield says is, read your Bible. That's all, very simple message. Read your Bible, okay? And that's what we're learning from here. Let's read her Bible, okay? Where does Jude go next? So let's find out. This is a transition into the next section of the book of Jude. These people have gone, abandoned, and perished. Talking about these people. Now what does Jude do next? Has he got more Old Testament history for us? Oh, look at what he says. These are spots in your love feast while they feast with you without fear. They're clouds without water, carried about by the winds, et cetera. Who are the these? These people in the church, these false teachers. So you see in your notes there, the warnings continued, comparisons from nature. Before we had comparisons from biblical history, now he has comparisons from nature. And he's got, I think it's five items, from nature. Yeah, you had a question? Would you say that to these people, that Deuteronomy 18, 19, and 20 would apply? What's Deuteronomy 18, 19, 20? Talking about that these people who come who shall speak the word of my name, but... Sure, they're false prophets. They're false prophets that you don't have to be afraid of them, they're already dead. Y'all know that? What was the Old Testament test? Somebody comes and he's a false prophet. Two things. He's got bad doctrine. He says go worship another god, execute him. Yeah, you don't worry about it. If he says something comes true, or he says something in the name of the Lord, his doctrine is squared away, doesn't come true, don't worry about it. Execute him too, if I remember right. Yeah, because that's the thing that these guys, they're... Yeah, now I'm not advocating execution, remember, it's church doctrine. But what they're saying is contrary, although they live amongst the people and say we're just like you. Yep, and we're gonna get into that. One of the things they needed to do was excommunicate those guys. Let's talk a little bit of OP history. Y'all know who Machen was? Right, you know who J. Gresham Machen was. Have you ever asked the question, in the middle of all those battles in the 20s and the 30s, you know, 1920s, 1930s, why did Machen never file charges? You know what I'm saying? Nobody ever filed charges against all, you know, all the liberals, all the gospel-denying ministerial liberals. Why did they never file charges? I don't know. But they never did. Should they have filed charges? If they were false prophets in the church, then yes, they should have filed charges. But they never did. So we need to contribute. OK. We have five lessons from nature, or examples from nature. Let's look at those. And they're in your notes. First one is hidden reefs. Now, this translation says, these are spots in your love feast, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. Some of you may, instead of the word spots, may have steams. Do you have that as a translation? The Greek word, actually, you may see it in your notes, is hidden reef, sort of like a coral reef. Okay, that's the idea. You've all seen the movies, right? You know, the pirate movies and all the rest of that. There's this island and the ship is coming to it, but there's this reef that they don't see because it's under the water and the ship comes to it and slams against it and the ship wrecks, you know, a mile or two offshore. So the first one is hidden reefs. Okay, so we have hidden reefs. Okay, what's the next one? Waterless clouds, and how do I describe it in the notes? Okay, anhydrous. Y'all know the word anhydrous? Waterless, right? I had to use, why did I use the word anhydrous? Do you want to guess what the Greek word is there? The Greek word is anhydrous. What's an anhydrous substance? Sodium chloride, salt, just a sodium and a chloride ion, that's it, right? There's no water in sodium chloride, right? There's the nerve spectrum, right? Anhydrous means it has no water in it. Well, the Greek word is anhydrous. So we have anhydrous clouds. We know what those are. What's the third one? Bear in trees. In the autumn. In autumn, right? Fruit trees that don't have any fruit. Right now we got so many oranges and lemons, it's a blessing from God. Y'all had that before? Wonderful. What if your trees don't bear fruit? That's a problem. What's number four? Waves, the ocean, they're just churning things up and not really producing much. So we have the waves of the ocean. And the last one? Wandering stars. Wandering stars. The word wandering here, it's a Greek word, planet. They used to think planets were wanderers in the sky, right? When I was a Boy Scout and it was at night, assuming I could see the stars, how did I know which way was north? You look for the north star, right? And how do I find the north star? from the Big Dipper, right? Is the Big Dipper always there? Yeah, it is, if there's no clouds. I can see the Big Dipper, then I can find the North Star, right? And there's country and western songs about what the cook used to do on the trail, he'd always point the tongue of the wagon. North from the North Star, because the idea was when you get up in the morning, you may not know which direction is north, but you know north and you know which way it's going, right? Because you can trust the stars. But you know what? The planets seem to move. As the Earth rotates around the Sun and the other planets, they have different rotation rates. Planets are not always steady in the same place like the North Stars. That's the idea of the wandering stars. Planets are wanderers compared to the stars that are always there. Well, let's look at these. But you see, these are all from nature, aren't they? So Jude has changed. Instead of using historical events, historical examples, now he talks about nature and things that are not so pleasant with nature to describe these false teachers. Hidden wreaths, anhydrous clouds, barren trees, waves with all the churning that waves do, and wandering stars. OK. What do we know about the love feasts? Or I'm sorry about the spots. The Hidden Reefs. They're in the Love Feast. So they are, what? Hidden Reefs in the Love Feast. They're there without fear, right? What's a Love Feast? Is it a fellowship meal? Yeah, it's a fellowship meal. And when you look at the examples in the New Testament, it's like having communion and then having family feast day, right, is one big thing, like we tend to do here, OK? We have the church potluck dinner when we have communion, that idea, the same thing. And that's what they did then. Now, you all know what the Greek word here is for love feast, right? It's fine, you know enough Greek. Agape, yeah, that's just the word agape. Not for love and a separate word for peace, but all one word. The love piece, the agape. So here these guys are, these false teachers, and when you look at the examples in the New Testament, when they had the Lord's Supper and they had the dinner together, you know what happened usually? They would talk with each other, and they'd talk about the Lord. Maybe somebody would stand up and give a little talk, like Paul did when Eutychus fell out of the window, right? And Troas, that was the first memorial Trojan Bible conference. All went on for hours, right? Okay, Zola's speech attended. Well, it was, it was at Troas, which is Troy, okay? So, so there he is, they're in the love feast, and they're talking, maybe publicly speaking. They're giving false doctrine, and they're doing it without fear. Now, why does Jude bring up this without fear? What do you know about the Lord's Supper? Do we have an exhortation every time we have the Lord's Supper? the body and blood of Christ. And you're eating and drinking what to yourself? Damnation or God's judgment. Be careful what's going on. These guys appear to be, right there they're having the Lord's Supper and they're having the dinner together after. Remember how Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians, the whole dinner together? Some of you eat, some of you don't have food, you don't share the food. You know, the whole context of the Lord's Supper, you're not sharing the food, okay? And these guys are doing it without a fear. And some of them are even getting drunk. Yes, some are getting drunk, Paul reads. Now, do you see what's going on in the church? That's why they're hitting the wreaths, because they're talking. And what happens when the ship hits the wreath? It crashes and falls apart. And so that's what he's saying. In the love feast, without fear, without fear of God's judgment, I think is what's going on here. Next one, the clouds. Oh, I'm sorry, last one. Serving only themselves. Do any of you have a different translation besides serving themselves? Shepherding. It's the Greek word shepherd. Now, does that remind you of shepherds in Ezekiel 34? There's some Old Testament backgrounds in each of these passages. Some of them have Old Testament backgrounds. What's Ezekiel 34? Y'all know that one. I don't see people. Great, he said it. Good for you. Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34, this is a passage we all should be careful of. We all should know about Ezekiel 34. This is a prophecy where there's false shepherds. And what are the false shepherds doing? They're feeding themselves, not the sheep. Let's go back to Ezekiel 34. It's a wonderful passage, seriously. You want to be encouraged to read Ezekiel 34. The word of the Lord comes 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 who feed themselves. Just like these guys here. They are doing what? They are shepherding only themselves. They're only concerned about themselves. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flock. You eat of the fat and clothe yourself 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 were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back them which was driven away, nor sought which was lost. But with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd. They became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth and no one was seeking or searching them. 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, oh shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds. and I will acquire my flock at their hand. 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, and there will no longer be food for them. For thus says the Lord God. Indeed, I myself will search 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 day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them from their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and the valleys and the hilly places. What's God going to do? He's going to judge the bad false shepherds. And who's going to be the good shepherd? Jesus. God says, I'm going to be the shepherd for my people. And Jesus says, John 10, I'm the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. Ezekiel 34. That's why this is such a great passage. Because the Lord is our shepherd. Right? Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. Right? Also in John 10, where he's talking about that he's the good shepherd, and he compares the hired hand. I was thinking that the hired hand that this person is feeding themselves, that they care nothing for the sheep. They don't really care about the sheep, yeah. Yeah, it's a good, thank you for bringing that up, right? The hired hand that doesn't care, the hired doesn't care. So these guys are like that. They're the false shepherds who are feeding themselves, not taking care of the sheep. shepherding themselves. That's what we want to know about Exequiel 34. OK. Anhydrous clouds. Anhydrous means no water. Now, we understand this concept, don't we? We've had rain a few weeks ago, but I don't know about you, but I remember in October and November and December, I got my garden going in the backyard, and I got to be careful about what I water, and my grass is dying, because I'm not watering my grass. And I see these clouds coming in, and the weather says, rain's coming. And I got the weather app on my phone, and I'm looking. It's going to rain on Tuesday. And there's the alarm. It's going to rain on Tuesday. And Tuesday comes, and guess what? No rain. And Wednesday comes, and no rain. You all experience the same thing? I don't know if you've got a garden in the backyard, but if you do, you want that rain, right? And that's what these guys are. And we're going to look at these, okay? What do we know about these two? Lots of promise, but no fulfillment, right? Fruit trees that don't bear clouds that look like there's going to be rain. How important was rain in the Middle East? just like us here, right? Okay. So I think that's what's going on here. The clouds without water, lots of potential, lots of promise, but there's nothing there. Let's pray. Father, we read about the great shepherd that we have in our Savior. And now you have said, you said that the false shepherds you would punish and you would give us the good shepherd who will take care of us. Lord, help us to be like that good shepherd and not to be false shepherds. Help us, our Father, not to be hidden wreaths in the love feasts. We pray, our God, that we would not be clouds without water. We would not be fruit trees that bear no fruit, but rather we would fulfill the potential you give to us as we are your people. Take care of us, teach us, comfort us this day. In Jesus' name, amen.