All right, we're gonna turn over, we're gonna have a few different places that we're gonna be at tonight. Actually a topical lesson, Isaiah 53, if you wanna turn over there. We'll start there, we may come back there in a little bit. Isaiah 53, we were in Isaiah 40, Sunday night. And Isaiah, talks about, in Isaiah 40, talks about the eagles, but in Isaiah 53, in verse six, he says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one of us, or every one of his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. I like animals, and I like passages of scripture that talks about I have several lessons that I've used in chapel, in camp, on some different animals, and drawing the attention of some of our Bible verses on animals. I also bought a book at a conference that was at, Dr. Milton Jones wrote a book on the zoology of the Bible, all the Bible verses that had animals in it, and some lessons from that, and I enjoyed reading that book, And in kids like animals, we have got a lesson on Proverbs where he talks about the four creatures that are so interesting to Solomon as he examined, you know, the spider and these little, the coney and these little creatures. And interesting about it, when I was a kid, my dad used to do devotions from, I think it was Uncle Bob, he had a book series and the animal would speak to us of how God had made him. That was back before answers in Genesis and how made the animal and gave glory to God in how God made him. And we do that devotion. So always those are interesting. So as a Wednesday night, a little bit of a buffer between series here, maybe take a couple of Wednesdays and just walk through a little bit of the scripture says, but notice the scripture does indicate for us that we are like sheep. We are like sheep, so there's an intention that is drawn. In Isaiah 40, we are to be like the eagle that's renewed in strength. And so there's an imagery that is drawn from that creature, and then a lesson that is taught. And here in Isaiah 53, we are compared to sheep. Jesus said, we talked about this when we worked through Luke, two passages, Luke chapter 10 and verse 3, He told His disciples they were like lambs in the midst of wolves. Now the imagery that we would not necessarily like, we would rather be some kind of lion in the midst of wolves, or an elephant in the midst of wolves, or a T-Rex, or some other kind of animal. But little lambs, he actually uses the word for the small ewe lambs, the little ones. And then later on in chapter 12 and verse 32, he tells the disciples, don't be afraid, and he calls them his little flock. My little flock. I mean, and then again, another imagery that is, you know, not like a, you know, a herd of cows, or, you know, a school of fish, but, you know, just a little bitty flock of sheep. The comparison. I believe Jesus is drawing from imagery that had already been established in God's Word all the way back in the Old Testament. We are like sheep in the Bible. The Scriptures talk about sheep. Sheep are used in the Bible more than any other animal. 750 times in the Scriptures is the reference to sheep. They were used in the Jewish life, in domestic, in the home life. They were used in the civic life, as far as agricultural, in the society, in the government. And they were used in the religious life of Israel. In the sacrifices, not just by Israelites, but also other nations as well, that used sheep in a regular fashion, much like the Jewish people did. It's the most popular imagery in the entire Bible, the sheep and shepherd. More than anything else, the scripture compares God's people with a relationship between the sheep and shepherd. And that makes sense since the Jewish people's beginnings come out of shepherd and sheep imagery. Just some science here a little bit. Different sheep specimens. There are 11 different wild species of sheep. I counted about 51 different breeds of sheep. One website stated that there are a thousand different species of sheep all around, all kinds of different shape and sizes. There's even a pig sheep. And the things that you find on the internet that you weren't planning to find. In fact, I thought it was a fake picture, but I think actually it is. There is a Maglaka pig in Hungary There are only 200 left, almost extinct in the 1990s. By the 1990s, and they're a protected animal. They are a pig that has fur, wool, whatever it is. Interesting, you can look up for that. And so anyway, that didn't have anything to do with the message. It was just an interesting picture. The two type of sheep that are used by the Jewish people that are a species of sheep or breed of sheep would be the fat tail sheep. This comes up in the scripture. This is the largest of the sheep breed. They have a lot of fat in the contents of them. It's actually mentioned in Leviticus chapter 3 in verse 9. This is not the whole verse. You can actually Look at the whole verse, maybe it would be good to just kind of see that. In the sacrificial system, this breed of sheep was used by the Jewish people because of the content of its fat and the storage of its fat. And it was used as a resource for the sacrifices in Leviticus chapter 3 and verse 9. And the scripture says... Let me get there. Exodus is a long chapter, a long book. In verse 9 the scripture says here, "...and he shall offer the sacrifice of the peace offering, an offering made by fire, unto the Lord. The fat thereof, the whole rump, that's the backside, it shall be taken off hard by the backbone, and the fat that covers the inward parts and all the fat that is upon the inwards. Okay? So this creature would be, here's a picture of it, you can see in the storage of this sheep, it actually has a fatty portion of the tail, you can kind of see this. and it's a fairly big portion. So there's a lot of, you know, they didn't pick this most scrawniest type of sheep to be able to, okay, we'll get this one. No, they get the most plump. I mean, the one that you're gonna get the most out of for your meal, you've gotta take that in and give that to the Lord. I mean, he couldn't have picked the smaller portion of the sheep breed. He actually picked the largest of the sheep breed with the most contents for them to be able to use. for them to give to the Lord in the thousands upon thousands. They store their fat in their tail. They can survive a long time in drought. Very similar to a desert sheep. The most common of the sheep found in the Old Testament scripture, the Jewish people, the Aviserius breed. This breed is most popular for being domesticated. They're tough wool. Often the wool of these could be bred to be very white, and that was precious to them, as well as their horns. They were used. This is the oldest record domesticated sheep breed in the world, going back, one source said, 9,000 years, but, you know, taken from the time frame, but earliest sheep that would have been used, the most common. Interesting when you come to the value of the sheep. Sheep are the most important animal to the Israelites. It was the sheep that spoke of how wealthy a person was. It spoke of blessing if you had a lot of sheep. And that was determined how prosperous a person was. And if you had sheep and you were going to be prosperous, there were two things that you needed. to continue to keep your sheep and your livestock and your flock going. You needed two things. And what was the most important thing that you need of those two things? Water and land. Water and land. And of those two areas, water was the resource by which the Jewish people were so dependent upon. Wood's Bible, Animal, states this, even pasturage is less important than water. And however tempting a district might be, no shepherd would venture to take his charge there if he were not sure of obtaining water. This is why Abraham and Lot had to divide their home and their family, remember? Because their sheep and their shepherd were fighting over the water sources and the land and there was a division over that. This is the reason why the Philistines later on would come in and there would be battles in the Old Testament fought over land and water. Why? Because the Jewish people and the patriarchs were shepherds and they kept sheep. of some of your major stories in the scripture take place around wells and sheep, Jacob and Rachel. The wife of Isaac that meets with, that was camels, but it was situated around wells and sheep were involved. Moses and Zipporah, right? In their relationship that takes place around that. Genesis 13 and 27, there's the major contents around the value of land and water because they were dependent upon their sheep. as it was written, or Worchester stated this in The Value of the Sheep, all that she is, the sheep give in our service, her wool, her milk, her skin, her flesh, and even her bone. Not a particle is useless. As in the case with cows and goats, it is not that what she does that we have value, but what she is. And she is continually busy making herself valuable and multiplying herself and increasing herself her own growth in the benefit of others. So that's interesting, it's not what she does, like a horse or a mule or an oxen, but it's who she is that is valuable. And that draws our attention as well, we don't come back to this point, when we look at how God values us, it's who we are, not what we do. The value that God has that he gave himself for us, not that we loved him, but that he first loved us. And I think about the choosing of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the choosing of David, and all of these others that God looked down upon these, oftentimes the weakest and the smallest thing, even in Abraham's case, a pagan. And yet, because of God's love and grace, not because I believe, not I believe, not because of something great that he would accomplish in the day he would do, but because simply God loved, and in God's love he chose because of the value of the person to the Savior. If we think about the value of the sheep in a lot of different ways, the sheep brought to the Jewish people for food, their meat was good, they were often used for milk and cheese, butter, soaps, all different kind of areas. Even to this day, we still around the world use sheep An interesting passage of scripture in 1 Corinthians. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Paul makes an allusion to the sheep in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 in verse 7. Who goeth to warfare any time at his own charge? Or who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feeds the flock, and eats not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man, or saith not the law the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Does God take care of oxen? Now it's interesting how Paul is using this. Basically he's saying a soldier goes out to warfare and he receives his pay for being a soldier from the spoils that he makes. A planter goes out and plants in the field and he reaps of the harvest of his field. A shepherd who keeps his sheep also benefits from the food and the milk that the sheep offers to him. In the context of what Paul is getting at, and then he will go to Deuteronomy and prove that with even the oxen and Moses, is what he's saying, he says, ministers of the gospel, and this isn't about paying your preachers necessarily, but this is the point of the passage. Ministers of the gospel have the right to be supported by those who he ministers to. If the shepherd of the sheep can drink the milk of the sheep, Then Paul is saying, and a soldier is supplied by his hands, and a farmer is supplied by the fields that he farms. Then a pastor, as he ministers to his flock, has every right then to be reimbursed for his labors. And Paul then goes to, don't tread don't muzzle the ox who treads the corn. So Paul is using a couple different imageries and one of the imageries that he uses in proving his point here to the church at Corinth is he uses the sheep and the shepherd. An imagery that comes out. What about the value of the wool in the sheep? the color of wool determined its value. The white wool that would come from the sheep, now most sheep, they're brown and different colors, but it was the white wool that was often special and valued because the white wool could then be dyed into different colored garments, right? You could dye them and make your cloaks and your coats. and different things. And so that was why it was special as well. But the scripture also finds a comparison in the sheep in Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah again pictures the animal. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Here is the comparison with the value of the sheep and its wool and the whiteness of that. And here God sees our sins red like crimson. But yet when they've been washed and they've been cleaned and they've been purified by the forgiving and pardoning of God, he sees them as white as snow and as pure as wool. And as white as wool. Sheep also had a value of their horns. In the scripture, the horns were taken and used to carry oil and other liquids that were used in the anointing. In 1 Samuel chapter 16 and verse 39. And the Lord said unto Samuel, fill thine horn with oil and go, and I will send thee the Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. So the horns of the sheep were used even in the anointing of kings and prophets and priests throughout the temple and the tabernacle, the value of the sheep. But also the horns were used as far as a shofar in Joel chapter 2 and verse 1. Blow the trumpet, the word there in the Hebrew is shofar, in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. So they would use these horns to blow to call people to worship on the holy days and on the Sabbath days. Now, when we go into Isaiah 53 of where we were, we go all the way back in the early portion of the Bible and we see that sheep are used as a type. In Genesis 4 and verse 2, God told Abel and Cain that he was to bring a sacrifice. And Abel chose he brought of the firstlings of the flock and of the fat thereof. But Cain brought the firstlings of his fruit of the hands and of the ground. And God rejected Cain's sacrifice but accepted Abel's sacrifice. And from that early pages of Scripture, we may even go back into Genesis chapter 3, one chapter before that, in the covering of Adam and Eve and the garments that were made from there, we're not given the details of what that sacrifice would have been, what kind of animal was used for that. But they obviously were covered there because of the sacrifice. And from that point on, for the rest of the Scripture, sheep are most often used in the Bible for the imagery of sacrifice. Sheep point to the typology of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb of God. In Isaiah 53 and verse 7, like a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. So in the previous verse Isaiah said all we are like sheep and then in the next couple verses he said like a lamb. That suffering servant, that suffering Savior. The picture of the lamb that was brought and sacrificed on the altar in the place of Isaac. that was caught in the thicket, that was brought and put on the altar and sacrificed in his place, that ram, that was a type of what Jesus Christ would one day do, and Isaiah sees that in Isaiah 53. And then John obviously picks up on Isaiah's imagery that would go all the way back to Genesis chapter 4 with Abel and the sacrifice, and Genesis chapter 22 with Isaac and the ram, the substitute, and there John would point to Jesus as He comes over the hill and He says, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. And then the Bible pictures the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation when John looks up. Do you remember? He hears the voice of thunders. He looks to see one that was slain. A lamb that was slain. And there the Lord Jesus Christ even in Revelation at the end would be pictured as a lamb who would come as a lion. Interesting the terminologies that John the Baptist will see or John the Revelator will see. And so we see that the sheep are used even as a picture and a type of Jesus Christ. But sheep are a type in the scripture for us. Psalm 100, Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Sheep are pictures and types of God's people. Jesus used imagery most often in the gospel of John for his people being the sheep. Turn over to John chapter 10. John obviously picks up on this imagery in his gospel more than the other gospel writers. And Jesus says this, verily I say unto you, as he picks up this, you enter not, in verse 1 of chapter 10, by the door into the sheep fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And to him the porter openeth, and to the sheep hear his voice. And he calls his own sheep by their name, and he leads them out. When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. But a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice. Look over in verse 7, Verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Verse 9, I am the door, and by me if any man enter in. In verse 11, I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and I'm known of mine. And as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and lay down my life for the sheep. And the other sheep I have, which am not of this fold, must also I must bring, that they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. So right here, Jesus is going along in this whole passage down to verse 18, and he's talking about the sheep. Also, interesting passage in Matthew chapter 25, turning over in Matthew 25, Jesus brings this imagery out in his prophecy when he's talking about prophecy. And again, he pictures the sheep as his own. Now there's a lot of different interpretations of Matthew 25 and what is going on in the parable of the sheep and the goats. But I believe this parable is dealing with the future kingdom of the Messiah who will come at the end of the Great Tribulation. And at the end of that time, the Lord is going to be, there's going to be a weeding out. There's going to be a gathering between the sheep and the goats. And this parable comes at the end of a list of a lot of other parables of judgment. Take for instance, you have the five foolish virgins who slumber and when the husband comes, they're not ready when he comes. They had no oil for their lamps. And Jesus said, I know you not. Then you have the parable of the talents, who when the Lord comes back, He cast the slothful one away, because the slothful one was not ready when the Master came back. Then you come to this parable of the sheep and the goats in verse 46. Look what Jesus says. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous will go into life eternal. So in this sheep-goat parable that he's given of being taken, the sheep are the picture of the righteous one who are going to go into everlasting life. The goats are the ones that are going to be taken for eternal punishment and judgment. And I believe in Luke chapter 17, when Jesus was talking about two will be in the field, one will be taken, one will be left, one will be up in the house, and two men in the bed, and two women grinding in the grain. I believe the one who is taken, that's not talking about the rapture of the church. That is talking about taken for judgment. The one who is left is the one who is righteous, who's going to enter into the kingdom. The one who is taken is going to be taken for everlasting judgment and thrown into the lake of fire. And so Jesus is comparing that as well in Matthew chapter 25, 31 through 34 in the parable of the sheep and the goats. And just the last couple things here before we close here thinking about sheep. Sheep are docile. The definition of docile means ready to accept control or instruction. To be submissive. Another definition says ready and willing to be taught. Disposed to be taught. Tactable. Easily managed. Another definition says ready for something to be demanded. He is always a person who is docile, is always prepared for class. So when we think of our likeness to these sheep, why did God pick sheep as a comparison that we are like? Yes, in Isaiah 53, it's because they're prone to wander and go astray, but throughout the Scriptures, even Jesus compares His disciples to sheep. And it's interesting because they are docile. In being docile, the sheep are not naturally aggressive. Not by nature. The ram will only fight if he's being threatened. But for the most part, sheep are soft in their temperament. They're sensitive. Docile sheep. One person stated this, sheep do not mill about or cause commotions. or bring disturbances like other animals. Sheep are not lazy or stupid. In fact, sheep are smart. They're often used in a fashion of dumb or because of their sensitivity to be led. We maybe see gullible, it'd be another word that we would see. But they're not lazy and they're not, You know, it's not that they're not smart. Docile sheep, thinking of this as well. Sheep are not by nature unkind, belligerent, violent, or vindictive. Sheep are easily led, easily persuaded, easygoing, and humble in their temperament. If we think about sheep being led by the shepherd, they will follow their leader wherever it will be. Even if that means something that is hard, the sheep will follow the shepherd. If it means up a hill, or down a hill, or over some rocks, or over a mountain, or through a desert area, they will follow. I'm reminded of Psalm 23 in verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd. When we think about that in Psalm 23 verse 2, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. The verb form of this he maketh me is causative, meaning that someone is causing the reaction to the other. It's an ongoing event. In other words, he's continuing to cause the sheep to lie down. He is doing this in the present and He will do this in the future. Someone translated this, He continually causes me to lie down in fresh pastures. The implication is there are times that I, as a sheep, do not know how to rest and lie down. There's a tendency for us to worry and fret about where things are going to come from. And I actually have to be told to follow. I actually have to be told and caused to come this way. That's what a shepherd does. He does this by renewing and replenishing me. And if I don't listen to the instruction of the shepherd, I won't calm down. I won't settle. I won't rest. I won't take a Sabbath. I won't take the time off. I'll be constantly pursued and pushed and my weakness is to not be able to do it. And I need the shepherd to tell me to slow down, soft, be careful. To do that, a sheep, a lamb has to be teachable. You've got to be willing to listen to the voice of the shepherd when he says, hold on a minute, you're getting a little fussy. You're gonna have to come over here, we're gonna have to go through some rocks, you're gonna have to go up this hill and down this hill because there's good pasture land, there's water on the other side. Now come on, follow me. I see a comparison in 2 Timothy chapter 2. In fact, let's turn over there. It'll probably be our last passage tonight in 2 Timothy 2. Notice how Timothy pictures the life of the believer. And the minister in 2 Timothy 2 verse 24, the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. apt to teach, be patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, pre-adventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." So the minister of God's Word, the people of God, those who are leaders of God's Word, are to be teachable, and they're to be patient, they're to be meek, and gentle, and humble, able to be taught, and able to be led, and able to give directions, but to do it in a way that is leading others. Paul is not building a case for compromise or weakness, but he's building a case on an attitude of the heart. This is what God expects. I mean, think about this with the sheep. We have this God's people are to be gentle and meek, and humble and patient, able to be taught and led by God's direction. Think about this with sheep shearing. We close with this illustration. The nature of the sheep to actually just let the shepherd shear. Just kind of led in there. Isaiah picks that up with a lamb that is led to the shearer to be, and he opened Nodda's mouth, willing to cooperate I mean to lay down. I remember when we started cutting Joshua's hair when he was real little and we spent probably five first five years of his life fighting him with haircuts. He just didn't like it. It hurts, and he'd cry, and he'd get hair on his face and in his back. And he didn't like the noise of the cutters, but he didn't want the scissors either. And so it was all this thing where we just kind of, it's like, finally, you know, he was probably a teenager before he actually sat down and we could actually cut his hair without any kind of, by then he was too tall to be able to get to. So you kind of, but think about that with sheep and their temperament, to be led in there. and the shepherd then to shear the sheep, the gentleness, the teachable spirit. Imagine what it would have been like if God made the bull to be sheared. Can you think of that shepherd? I mean, what a job that would have been, huh? It's like, okay, we're going to have to round up the bulls so we can shear them. God didn't make them that way. He made them the pull and the horns. Not to sheer. But you know, it is interesting sometimes when it comes to our personality. God expects us to be like sheep. That's the temperament that God expects us to be. Meek, humble, dependent, teachable, willing to listen to the shepherd. If he says lay down and turn over, if he says we're going over this mountain, we'll go over that mountain. We're willing to follow the shepherd. But more often than not, you and I are like bulls. Hard-headed, stubborn, and God is trying to lead us and we won't go because we know what's best. Why did God pick the imagery of the sheep? Because they can be led. Because they are meek. They don't have anything of their own strength. They have to depend upon the shepherd. This reminds me of Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22 and 23 of the new man who is after Christ. The believer has a new nature and that new nature is after the Spirit. And the fruit of that Spirit is longsuffering and gentleness and goodness and meekness and faith and love and temperance. These are the things that are characterized the believer. Not the works of the flesh. So think bull-like, sheep-like. And when we are seen, we are seen in characteristics to be like our Savior. What was our Savior like? Peter said that he is the good shepherd, the shepherd and bishop of our soul, who opened not his mouth. And Peter quotes Isaiah 53 in that picture and says, so walk in his example. Be like a lamb. Be like a sheep. And Peter is saying that even in the face of persecution, to be willing to turn the other cheek, Jesus taught. I believe Peter was probably more bull-like until he learned the lesson when Jesus said three times, feed my sheep. Do you love me, Peter? Are you driven by that new man that is in you? to pull back when you wanna push forward, to be stubborn and prideful and arrogant when you need to be meek and humble and tender and teachable. It just, it frustrates me that so many Christians are not teachable, not willing to be led, because by nature, we think that we can do it ourself. in our sinful nature, but our new man is to put ourselves not just under the leadership of Christ, but think about that. We are to put ourselves under the leadership of the local church and the pastors and the leadership and be accountable to one another as we follow Christ and we are to be like the nature of the sheep. Saints are to have that characteristic of of the sheep, the good characteristics of the sheep. And so I was just thinking about that in some of those passages. We'll talk about the dependency of the sheep at another time because the scripture comes back on that in Psalm 23. And I want to walk through Psalm 23 for us in the days ahead and see how the Lord uses that in the dependency of the sheep. Father, I pray as we close tonight, thank you that you are sent your son as the lamb to be our substitute. And when we think of these creatures, our minds go back to those stories of David in the field protecting the sheep. We think about Abraham taking that ram and putting it on the altar. Lord, we think about the sacrifices and of the blood that was spilt in the temple. but ultimately it all pictured towards Jesus Christ who had laid down his life upon the cross for us, the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. And then we are commanded to be the sheep following the shepherd in your example. And you gave us the example of the type of temperament, personality, being willing to do the will of the Father, even when it conflicted your your own will, that you are willing to lay down your life and walk a difficult road and do some difficult things. And then you command us to follow the shepherd in the same way. And I pray that you would help us in our tenderness and our meekness, rebuke us when we are more bull-like, when we are hard-headed and hard-hearted, and we need to be more like sheep. in our tenderness and meekness, humility, independence. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, God bless you tonight. You are dismissed.