1. "The human experience is full of rocks. It is full of hard places. And a rock and a hard place is exactly where Israel found themselves in Ezekiel's day."

2. "After 33 chapters that describe God's judgment, we are left reading the book of Ezekiel, thinking to ourselves, what hope is there for God's people? And then here in chapter 34, we see God's mercy bring the promise of hope to the hopeless."

3. "I love to think of the fact that we serve a God who takes initiative, don't you? We have a God who speaks, and one who speaks on behalf of the weak. He's not passive, he's not aloof to our hurts. He's not deaf to the cries of his people."

4. "If you're walking in weakness this morning, understand that God hears your prayers, he sees your pain, he knows problems that you carry. And in his time, he will speak personally to you, for you, on your behalf."

5. "Instead of being known for their generosity, these shepherds were typified by their cruelty. Instead of feeding the flock, they fed on the flock. Instead of praying for the flock, they preyed upon the flock. Instead of leading the flock, they were fleecing the flock. Instead of covering these sheep, they were clothing themselves in their sheep's wool."

6. "The great irony of this passage is that a shepherd is expected to intentionally place themselves in a sacrificial position between the sheep and anything that would harm the sheep. But instead of sacrificial leadership, this callous self-interest that the shepherds displayed, their cruel rule has resulted in them exploiting the sheep for their own gain."

7. "You don't have to be an expert in farming to know that the worst possible scenario for a fold of sheep is for them to be individually scattered. And with the scattering of a flock, there is an absence of protection, isn't there? There is an isolation of an individual sheep, and that isolation means its certain destruction."

8. "God says to the shepherds, those are not your sheep, those are my sheep."

9. "Since they will not shepherd you, I will. Since they are far off, I'm going to come near. Since they will not lead you, I will lead you. Since they won't provide for you, I will provide for you. And even though all others have abandoned you, I promise to rescue you."

10. "Jesus is the Glorious Shepherd Rescue in Revelation 7, which provides us the hopeful promise that the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and he will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. What a hope, what a shepherd, what a savior, what a king."

Observation Questions

1. Ezekiel 34:2 - What rhetorical question does God ask the shepherds of Israel, and what does this reveal about what He expected from them?

2. Ezekiel 34:3-4 - What specific actions did the shepherds take that demonstrated their selfishness, and what responsibilities did they neglect toward the sheep?

3. Ezekiel 34:5-6 - What happened to the sheep as a result of poor shepherding, and how many times does God emphasize that the sheep were "scattered"?

4. Ezekiel 34:8 - How does God refer to the sheep, and what might this repetitive language suggest about His relationship with them?

5. Ezekiel 34:9-10 - What two primary actions does God promise to take regarding the shepherds and the sheep?

6. John 10:11, 14-15 - How does Jesus describe Himself in relation to the sheep, and what action does He say the good shepherd takes for them?

Interpretation Questions

1. What is the significance of God using the shepherd-sheep metaphor to describe the relationship between leaders and people throughout Scripture?

2. Why does God place such strong emphasis on the shepherds' failure to care for the weak, sick, injured, strayed, and lost sheep in Ezekiel 34:4?

3. How does the concept of "scattering" in this passage connect to the spiritual condition of God's people both in Ezekiel's time and potentially in our time?

4. What does God's repeated use of "my sheep" in this passage reveal about His character and His view of His people?

5. How does Jesus fulfill the promise God makes in Ezekiel 34:10 that "I will rescue my sheep from their mouths"?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you felt "scattered" or isolated from God's flock, and what helped bring you back into community?

2. In what specific area of your life do you need to trust God as your shepherd right now when you feel caught between "a rock and a hard place"?

3. Think about the people God has placed under your care (family, coworkers, church members, etc.). Which of the five responsibilities mentioned in Ezekiel 34:4 (strengthening the weak, healing the sick, binding up the injured, bringing back the strayed, seeking the lost) do you most need to grow in?

4. When have you experienced someone in authority misusing their position for personal gain rather than serving those under their care? How did this affect your view of leadership?

5. If Jesus refers to Himself as the "Good Shepherd" who lays down His life for the sheep, what is one concrete way you can model this sacrificial leadership in your relationships this week?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Psalm 23 - This familiar psalm portrays the Lord as a shepherd who provides, guides, protects, and comforts His sheep, expanding on the themes of God's shepherding care presented in Ezekiel 34.

2. Isaiah 40:9-11 - This passage describes how God will come with might but also tenderly gather and carry His lambs, demonstrating both the power and gentleness of the divine Shepherd.

3. 1 Peter 5:1-4 - Peter exhorts church elders to shepherd God's flock willingly and eagerly, not domineering over them but being examples, showing how New Testament leadership should contrast with the failed shepherds of Ezekiel's day.

4. Luke 15:3-7 - Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep, where the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to find the one lost sheep, illustrating God's commitment to seek what was lost, which the shepherds in Ezekiel 34 failed to do.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Human Experience of Being Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

II. How God Cares for Weak Sheep: He Speaks to Warn

III. How God Cares for Weak Sheep: He Warns to Judge

IV. How God Cares for Weak Sheep: He Judges to Intercede

V. How God Cares for Weak Sheep: He Intercedes to Rescue

VI. The Ultimate Rescue in Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Detailed Sermon Outline

I wonder if you've ever found yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Perhaps you've heard of the story of a guy named Aaron Ralston. Aaron was a mountaineer and a canyon scrambler, and one day he was out in the canyons of Utah, scrambling through the mountains, when he slipped through a crevice and a boulder pinned his arm to a rock wall. Have you heard this story?

If you haven't, Aaron found himself literally caught between this 800-pound rock and a hard place. And since this was back in the dark ages of 2003, he did not choose to bring a cell phone with him. It's just like, what?

What? He didn't have a phone. He didn't tell anyone where or when he was hiking. He found himself caught in an area so desolate that even if he yelled, no one could be able to come and rescue him. And here's where the story gets kind of rough and a little gory.

After five days being stuck with very little food, very little water, his arm, which was stuck against that wall and that rock, that arm began to decompose because of the loss of blood flow. And so Aaron decided that his only way to survive was to break his own arm and then amputate it with a dull pocket knife that he had on him. After this ordeal, he put a tourniquet on, hiked seven miles out of the ravine, and then just a few hours after this amputation, he happened upon a family that was also hiking who then called for help and then a helicopter came and rescued him.

Have you heard this story before? Maybe you've cringed your way through the brutally graphic James Franco film from like 10 or 15 years ago? Perhaps you've read his autobiography, which is aptly titled Between a Rock and a Hard Place. And while you and I have probably never been literally in a situation like this, caught in a circumstance like this before, the idiom speaks for itself, doesn't it? On the whole, the human experience is full of rocks.

It is full of hard places. And a rock and a hard place is exactly where Israel found themselves in Ezekiel's day. Chapter 34 of the book of Ezekiel comes after 33 chapters recounting the removal of God's glory from God's people as a result of their repeated rejection of God's of God. The result of this rejection was a complete decimation of God's chosen nation and its people. Under God's sovereign hand, his judgment was enacted through an invading Babylonian army.

And due to the might and the power of these Babylonians that invaded God's holy city, Jerusalem was ransacked, the temple itself was destroyed, and Judah's leaders were taken away in captive into exile a thousand miles away from home. And in those days, God's people were under the control of both wicked leaders at home in Judah and they now find themselves under the oppression of wicked Babylonians abroad in exile. There's no temple, there's no sacrifice, there's no worship, there's no words of hope coming from God or from his prophets. Only just words of judgment. For Israel, this was a rock and a hard place.

After 33 chapters that describe God's judgment, we are left reading the book of Ezekiel thinking to ourselves, what hope is there for God's people?

And then here in chapter 34, we see God's mercy. Bring the promise of hope to the hopeless for a people who deserve nothing more than judgment. What hope is there for God's people? It is in this hopelessness that God again calls Ezekiel to a hard task. If you remember a little bit about Ezekiel's life, he was a former priest turned prophet who himself had experienced his own personal hopelessness.

He experiences the trauma of seeing his wife die suddenly. And now this time he hears the news of his homeland's utter destruction and all of this happens while he himself experiences the hardship of living as a slave captive and exiled. And in the midst of all of this, Ezekiel is called by God to what has already been a tough ministry assignment to yet again preach to a people who God promised would hear but not heed His word.

So what hope is there for God's people when they're weak?

With this as some context, we're gonna get into the text of Scripture a little bit here. Ezekiel 34, it's on page 722 of your Pew Bible. As we look together, we're gonna look at the first 10 verses here this morning. Let me read this text over us.

The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, 'Even to the shepherds.' Thus says the Lord God, 'Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep, the weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.

My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth with none to search or seek them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves, I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

Now, in order to understand this text well, look back at it with me for a moment to get a structural overview as we jump in here. In verses 1 to 6, the situation itself is presented. Here we see in detail the power dynamics that are at play between the leaders of Israel, think the prophets, think the priests, think the kings, They're described here as shepherds compared to the experiences of the people of Israel who are described here as sheep. And in verses 1 to 6, we see the detailed charges of the Lord's indictment on the shepherds as having been oppressive towards the sheep. Verses 7 to 8 then, a summary is portrayed there and the Lord reiterates the charges against the shepherds right before verses 9 and 10 where the Lord's sentence is pronounced.

It should be no surprise that Ezekiel uses this shepherd and sheep imagery to describe these relationships because for centuries in the story of God's people, Yahweh described himself as the shepherd of Israel. And frequently throughout the Old Testament, God speaks of his people as his flock, the sheep of his pasture. And even into the New Testament, especially in the ministry of Jesus, this imagery continues throughout. In fact, Our fourth to sixth graders this morning heard from this verse, Matthew 9:36. It comes to mind when we read something like this in Ezekiel 34.

It speaks of Jesus when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. So with that as an understanding of the structure and the themes of the text, the question that's going to drive our application of the text this morning is this: How does God care for weak sheep? Simple question. And we'll answer that in four main ways this morning. How does God care for weak sheep?

Here's the first way that God cares. Number one, God speaks in order to warn. Throughout this passage, we see here God's pronouncement of condemnation against these wicked shepherds. Of Israel. If you look there in verse one, in verse two, in verse seven, eight, nine, and 10, in each of these verses you can see the reality that by his own divine initiative, God speaks.

He speaks on behalf of the weak, but he also speaks in order to warn. And warn who exactly? Well, these unrighteous rulers of Israel who were called to oversee God's people. Here God speaks against the prophets, the priests and kings of Israel, and he judges them for both their actions but also of their inaction on behalf of God's flock. And the inherent shock of this passage is that these shepherd leaders were the very ones that God appointed and called to lead the people.

They were the very ones who was responsible for the moral and spiritual direction of the nation. Note also here in verse 2, God calls Ezekiel to a pretty precarious position. He calls them to speak against his own people. Against his own co-laborers, right? God didn't want Ezekiel to prophesy to or for or even about but rather against these wicked and oppressive leaders of Israel.

So the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and he's like, Lord, what do you want me to prophesy to your shepherds? And God's like, Yes, yeah, I want you to prophesy this, yes, even to the shepherds. And Ezekiel says, well, what should I say? And God says, say this: Ah! Or in other words, Hey, you shepherds of Israel, you who have been feeding yourselves, shouldn't shepherds instead be feeding sheep?

Rather than looking out for yourself, shouldn't you be looking out to lead my sheep? These wicked shepherds misused their power. They asserted their own authority for their own selfish indulgence. They've neglected the people's good. They proved themselves to be prophets who prophesied falsely, priests who served selfishly.

They were kings who reigned ruthlessly. So the Lord confronts them there in verse 2 with this rhetorical question of accusation which also calls for their accountability when he simply asks, Should not shepherds feed the sheep? It seems so logical. It seems just a bold-faced truth.

But in this instance, everything was flipped upside down. And just from the outset here, I love to think of the fact that we serve a God who takes initiative, don't you? We have a God who speaks and one who speaks on behalf of the weak. He's not passive. He's not aloof to our hurts.

He's not deaf to the cries of his people. I love that we have a God who is attuned to his people's hurts and sufferings. And he speaks on behalf of those who don't even have a voice to lift. I love the fact that when God sees wrong by his own divine initiative, he goes out of his way to make it right.

So if you've come here this morning and you feel weak, if you feel wounded, as we often sing, if you feel weak, wounded, sick, or sore, if you have, know that we serve a God who hates wickedness, He abhors the perversion of justice and he opposes all oppression. Know that when God sees his people who are the sheep of his pasture, when he sees them weakened, that's when he speaks. And that's when he often speaks the loudest. And in his love, he speaks both to the wounded and those who have done the wounding, especially in this case. If you're walking in weakness this morning, understand that God hears your prayers.

He sees your pain. He knows problems that you carry. And in this time, in his time, he will speak personally to you, for you, on your behalf. And when God speaks, he speaks to comfort, but he also speaks to warn. And in this case, when God spoke against these shepherds to warn them, what did he say?

We'll look back at the text here. We'll describe what we see here in the text as the haves and the have nots. In verses 3 and 4. These verses bring us to point 2: God warns in order to judge. Number one, God speaks in order to warn, but secondly, God warns in order to judge.

As you look at these verses, an easy way to understand them is simply this: in verse 3, verse 3 describes the shepherd's sins of commission. These are the things that they have done. You have eaten the fat, you have clothed yourselves with the wool, you have slaughtered the fat ones. But verse four describes the shepherd's sins of omission. These are the things that they have not done.

The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought. So whether it be the haves or the have nots, the sins of commission or omission, The Lord here is warning in order to judge there at the end of verse 4. And he proclaims the quiet part out loud, as it were, when he says, With force and with harshness, you have ruled them. These evil shepherds were corrupt. They were negligent.

They were domineering. They were even abusive to their flocks. And a section of Scripture is like, this is a great reminder that God's flock is not a source of resources to be exploited but it's rather a trust that should be protected. But instead of being known for their generosity, these shepherds were typified by their cruelty. Instead of feeding the flock, they fed on the flock.

Instead of praying for the flock, they preyed upon the flock. Instead of leading the flock, they were fleecing the flock. Instead of covering these sheep, They were clothing themselves in their sheep's wool. Instead of being shepherds who led the sheep gently by the nape of the neck, they instead stretched out their necks and slit their throats.

And on the whole, when you look at verses 1 to 4 here, you can see that these wicked shepherds have failed to do two main things: they failed to feed and they have failed to lead. And the great irony of this passage is that a shepherd is expected to intentionally place themselves in a sacrificial position between the sheep and anything that would harm the sheep. But instead of sacrificial leadership, this callous self-interest that the shepherds displayed, their cruel rule has resulted in them exploiting the sheep for their own gain.

And this is not how God desires his leaders to live and it's really the opposite of how leaders should lead. As you think about this in your own life, who in your life has God called you to feed?

Who in your life has God called you to lead? What areas of responsibility has God called you to exercise good shepherding authority to those who are under your care. For some of you here, like moms, you literally feed your children. You literally walk with them day by day and lead them in the way that they should go. For some of us, it's the employee relationships that we have, the co-workers that we work with.

For others, it's spiritual leadership. An easy way to consider this is to ask yourself, who is dependent upon me as I seek to live as a witness for Christ in this world? For me personally, I think about the areas of God-given responsibility that the Lord has given me. I think about my responsibilities as a husband to my wife, as a father to my kids. I think about my responsibilities as an elder and shepherd in this church, even just as a church member here at CHBC.

And the metaphor of this passage is true: All Christians are sheep. We all should lead and be led. And some of those are called to be in the church office of shepherding but all Christians are called into some aspects of shepherding, authority, and responsibility over others. So what about you? Could it be someone you're discipling?

Could it be your roommates? Do you have areas of authority in your occupation or in your witness among believing or non-believing friends? And if so, think about how you've been feeding and how you've been leading. Think about those people for a moment that you know and care for. As I was personally reflecting on this this week, I inevitably felt convicted about my failure to lead well.

I mean, there's things in my own life that I have done that I shouldn't have done. There's some things that I have not done that I could have done. Right? So I wrote down these simple questions, just pulled right from verse four under the heading, five questions a good shepherd should ask. Five questions a good shepherd should ask.

And as you think about your care for others, these questions might be helpful for you. Number one, are they weak in heart?

And if so, how can I strengthen and support them? Second, are they spiritually sick? And if so, how can I help them heal? Five questions a good shepherd asks. Are they weak in heart?

Are they spiritually sick? Third, are they injured? How can I help bind these wounds? Number four, have they strayed? And if so, how can I help bring them back to the fold?

Number five, are they lost? How can I point them to the Lord in order to be found? If you'll notice, as you look back at those lists of ailments there in verse 4, they get progressively worse, don't they? It starts with a person simply being spiritually weak and it ends in a soul being entirely lost. And so it is incumbent upon us to care for each other in these moments of weakness.

That's why we members here at CHBC choose to live under a church covenant together. We're seeking to live lives that are antithetical to what we see these wicked shepherds doing in Ezekiel 34. And hopefully this goes without saying, but if you feel like you are anywhere on this spectrum of hurt, you feel like you're walking in weakness, if you're sick, if you are spiritually injured, if you are strained, if you feel like you are lost, please know that we have 25 pastors here in this church and handfuls more as members who are ready to shepherd you through what you may be experiencing in hopes that we as under shepherds might ultimately point you to the Good Shepherd whose perfect care is an ever-present help for those sheep who are in distress. So please, avail yourself of this opportunity to be cared for.

So that's a positive perspective on a rather dark passage here. But as you look back at the text, God's word continues to be unrelenting in displaying the results of what poor shepherding looks like. Look again at verses five and six. It says, so they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered.

They wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth with none to search or seek for them.

What was the result? What was the result of this poor shepherding? After reiterating that God's sheep have been abandoned and stranded and neglected, we see that the Lord says three times here that the effect of bad shepherding is that the sheep have been Scattered. Scattered. You don't have to be an expert in farming to know that the worst possible scenario for a fold of sheep is for them to be individually scattered.

And with the scattering of a flock, there is an absence of protection, isn't there? There is an isolation of an individual sheep and that isolation means it's certain destruction. And verses five and six here show us that in the presence of every harm, every hurt, every isolation and exclusion of God's sheep, there is an absence of a shepherd who should be leading. And when there is no one looking out for the left out, when there is no one who is willing to watch and warn inevitably, wanton sheep are going to wander away. And this is why here at CHBC, our shepherds put such a high priority on doing what we're doing right now.

So I recognize I'm preaching to the choir, but this is why we gather together for worship. Not only is this commanded in Hebrews 10:24-25, but we know that left to ourselves, we sheep will naturally wander off and scatter. When the pressures of this world come on us, when we feel abused, neglected, oppressed, we have a tendency to isolate, don't we? The opposite of scattering is, of course, gathering. And so we come together here in the morning and in the evening to pray and to worship.

And as we'll do later tonight, we'll express our unity with one another as one flock through the Lord's supper. This is why we pray the membership directory together. This is why we throughout the week as a church body seek to be proactive in checking up on each other and meeting up to pray and disciple one another, encouraging one another and asking hard questions of each other.

Sheep naturally stray when there is no shepherding effort to gather and guide and guard them and one another. And so we also, like sheep, should strive to be gathered and united, not scattered, not stranded. And this was true of Israel, wasn't it? The judgment on this nation of God's chosen sheep was to literally be scattered among the nations while in exile. And while these shepherds of Ezekiel 34 were negligent in every conceivable way, I pray that the effects of this kind of scattering would never be true of us.

Never. So, how does God care for weak sheep? Number one, God speaks in order to warn. Number two, He warns in order to judge. And here's point three: God judges in order to intercede.

Look again at verses seven to eight, where God speaks again. And in a sense, the Lord reiterates the whole of his indictment against the shepherds. Just like us in our legal courts today, the specific charges God has against the shepherds are communicated to everyone before the Lord's verdict of judgment is pronounced. Verse seven, Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord: As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey and my shepherds have become prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore the Lord judges in order to intercede. But how can we tell from this text here in verses 7 and 8 that God is entering in to intercede on behalf of his sheep?

The reason is found in a very small but very profound word there in verses 7 and 8. Do you see it there in the text? I'll give you a second to look for it.

How can we tell from this text in verses 7 to 8 that God is entering in to intercede on behalf of his sheep? Well, we can tell that God is interceding on behalf of his sheep simply because he calls them My sheep. I love how sweet that is. God says to the shepherds, those are not your sheep, those are my sheep. In fact, we see the word my communicated by God just seven times in just these first 10 verses of this chapter.

So it's certainly on God's heart and it should be on ours as well. You see, these wicked shepherds forgot whose sheep these were. And they forgot who they actually belonged to. Here and then throughout the rest of this chapter, God uses the term my sheep. And this is more than an expression of ownership, it's a term of endearment.

It's a term of nearness and it's a term of familiarity and protection and provision on behalf of the sheep. And if I could take the moment to just speak directly to you this morning, what about you? Are you one of his sheep? Could you with full confidence say that God would call you his? Are you assured that when Almighty God looks down upon the state of your soul that he says, that one is mine.

He is mine. She is mine. They are mine. And if you don't personally know that possessive, expression of ownership and endearment from the Lord. You find yourself this morning outside of God's flock looking in on us.

Let me encourage you to understand that the only way into God's flock is to have a good shepherd intercede for you. We see this in John 10 in the New Testament where all of this shepherd imagery throughout the Bible comes to its fullest expression As Jesus, God's son, proclaims this about himself, he says, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

I know my own and my own know me. Just as the father knows me and I know the father, I lay down my life for the sheep. As we heard earlier in the service, elsewhere in the Bible, the scripture says that we all like sheep have gone astray in our sin. And because of our sin, we need God himself to intercede on our behalf. We need him to cover and pay for the sin that we have committed against the holy God.

And so again, by his divine initiative of mercy, God the Father sends his son Jesus to live a sinless life that we never could. He then lays down that life as a spotless, sacrificial sacrifice, as a lamb dying a substitutionary death on the cross in the place of all those who would believe in him. And so therefore, this good shepherd intercedes for all those who turn from their sin and repentance and trust in Christ by faith. And if you hear are unsure if you could personally say, I am his and he is mine, I wonder if you would take a moment after the service and talk to another person that's around you about that. I wonder if you would be willing to talk to any of our pastors at these doors before you walk out.

We would love nothing more than to share with you the hope of the truth of the gospel and the hope that we have in a relationship with a good shepherd like Jesus. And actually, I think there's a second implication here, a second invitation, I should say, Implicitly, there's this second invitation that I think is appropriate to extend today as well. If you are one of Christ's sheep and you don't have a fold of other Christians that you belong to here in the DMV, and if you feel isolated, as this passage says, if you feel scattered, if you feel vulnerable, perhaps you could consider becoming a member of this local church and being enfolded into the life of this flock together. Again, give our pastors the opportunity to get to know you a little bit, meet you at the doors after the service. We'd love to share more about what membership in this local church looks like and where to start.

So again, how does God care for weak sheep? Number one, he speaks in order to warn. He warns in order to judge. Number three, he judges in order to intercede. And here's the great hope that comes in these last two verses.

Point four, God intercedes in order to rescue. God intercedes in order to rescue. Look again with me, verses 9 and 10. It's one of my favorite verses of the section. It reads like this, Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

In these last two verses alone, God shifts to use the first person singular as he lays down the conviction, I am against the shepherds. And then the sentence, I will require my sheep at their hand. And then also his judgment there on the false shepherds when he says, I will put a stop to their feeding the sheep. And in just five simple words, God lays down the gauntlet of his judgment when he says, I am against the shepherds. And then in five simple words, God speaks hope to those who are weak and wounded when he promises, I will will rescue my sheep.

And in just a span of a few words, God promises here to both depose and then to deliver.

Finally, after what seems to have been an endless series of judgmental pronouncements against his own nation, a change in God's disposition is evident here. Yeah, Jerusalem's fallen, Can't do anything about that. Israel's leaders have failed and oppressed their people and it is horrible. And yes, a nation lies in ruins and is now dispersed, but the Lord God Almighty, our shepherd king, he has not forgotten his people. He never does.

He never will. So when you are weak in faith, when others in your life inevitably fail you, when you find yourself in between a rock and a hard place, the Lord comes near to you and he says, since they will not shepherd you, I will. Since they are far off, I'm going to come near. Since they will not lead you, I will lead you. Since they won't provide for you, I will provide for you.

And even though all others have abandoned you, I promise to rescue you.

And who ultimately is the fulfillment of this promised rescue here in Ezekiel 34? It's Jesus, the Good Shepherd of John 10. That good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

But not only is Jesus a good shepherd, in John 10 he describes himself as the great shepherd in Hebrews 13, which says, Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. Through Jesus Christ, to him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

And even more than the good shepherd of John 10 and the great shepherd of Hebrews 13, Jesus is the glorious shepherd of our rescue in Revelation 7, which provides us the hopeful promise that the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and he will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. What a hope.

What a shepherd. What a savior. What a king. Let's pray.

Father God, we praise youe as the good, as the great, and as the glorious shepherd of the sheep. We praise youe that yout are the strength of youf people, especially when we're weak. And we praise youe that yout would be and prove to be the saving refuge of youf anointed. So we pray that yout would save youe people. Pray, Father, that yout would bless yous flock, be our shepherd, and rescue and carry us forever, even unto eternity.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.