The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel | Matthew 1:18-2:1-23

Matthew

this morning and disappointed maybe that

I'm starting by going to chapter one.

I'm going to read the entirety of

chapter 2, but I'm going to focus on

five quotations from the Old Testament.

Look at the way that Matthew is using

these quotations to show that there's

something deeper below the surface

at first meets the eye particularly for

a modern reader. My son this morning is

the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Jesus made the lost sheep of house of

Israel his first priority during his

ministry. Now Jesus the good shepherd

seeks lost sheep in every nation. Many

many times Jesus will refer to himself

as a shepherd and he refers to us as a

sheep. The people of his pasture this is

a new analogy a new metaphor. It's in

the old testaments 23 says the Lord is

my shepherd. I shall not want. It's it's

uh David himself had been a shepherd and

God said I I took you from the sheepfold

to shepherd my people Israel. Shepherds

become an analogy for kings and for

priests to whose job was to lead the pe

people and teach the sheep. We went into

it last week about the analogy today in

the word constant being a shepherd. But

Jesus saw himself as the good shepherd.

And multiple times in the book of

Matthew, he refers to the lost sheep of

the house of Israel. Now, first

appearance, it's going to look like that

has nothing to do with this text, but

I'm going to tell you that it does.

Maybe a complicated sermon. I pray that

God help him uh to bring clarity instead

of obscure things. And I hope he gives

you the attention stand to follow along.

If you read with me now from Matthew

Matthew 1:18

chapter 1 verse 18

starting in Matthew 1:18. Now the birth

Matthew 1:18

of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been matured to

Joseph before they came together she was

found to be with child from the Holy

Spirit. And her husband Joseph being a

just man and unwilling to put her to

shame resolved to divorce her quietly.

But as you considered these things,

behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to

him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of

David, do not fear to take Mary as your

wife. For that which is conceived in her

holy spirit, she will bear a son. You

shall call his name Jesus, for he will

save his people from their s. All this

took place to fulfill what the Lord has

spoken by the prophet. Behold, a virgin

shall conceive and bear a son, and they

shall call his name Emmanuel, which

means God with us. When Joseph woke, he

did as the angel of the Lord commanded

him. He took his wife, but knew her not

because she given birth to Jesus was

born of Judea in the days of Herod the

king. Behold, a wise man from the east

came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he

who has been born king of the Jews? He

saw his star when it rose and had come

to worship him. When Herod the king

heard it, he was troubled and all

Jerusalem with him. And assembling all

the chief priests and scribes of the

people, he inquired of them where the

Christ was to be born. They told him,

"In Bethlehem, but Judea, for so it is

written by the prophet, and you, oh

Bethlehem, and the land of Judah are by

a knowing priest among the rulers of

Judah. For from you shall come a ruler

who will will

my people Israel. Then Herod summoned

the wise men secretly and asked him from

them what time the star had appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying,

"Go and search diligently for the child.

When you have found him, bring me word

that I too may come and worship him.

After listening to the king, they went

on their way. And behold, the star that

they had seen when it rose went before

them until it came to rest over the

place where the child was. When they saw

the star, they rejoiced with great joy.

And going into the house, they saw the

child of Mary, his mother, and they fell

down and worshiped him. Then opening

their treasures, they offered him gifts,

gold, and frankincense and myrr. And

being warned in a dream not to return to

Herod, they departed to their own

country by another way. And when they

had departed, behold the angel of the

Lord appeared to Joseph in the dream and

said, "Rise, take the child and his

mother and flee to Egypt and remain

there until I tell you. For Herod is

about to search for the child to destroy

them." And he rose and took the child

and mother by night, departed to Egypt,

and remained there until the death of

Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord

had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt,

I called my son. And when they departed,

the old angel of the Lord appeared to

Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take

the child and his mother and flee to

Egypt, remain there until I tell you.

For Herod is about to search for the

child to destroy him." And he rose and

took the child and the mother by night,

departed to Egypt and remain there until

the death of Herod. This was to fulfill

what the Lord had spoken by the prophet,

"Out of Egypt I called my son.

that devil.

Sorry about that.

Verse 16. Then Herod when he saw that he

had been tricked by the wise men became

furious and sent killed all the male

children of Bethlehem and all the region

who were two years old and under

according to the time that he had

ascertained from the wise men. Then was

fulfilled what was spoken by the A voice

was heard in Rama weeping in loud

lamentation. Rachel weeping for her

children. She refused to be comforted

for they are no more.

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord

appeared in the dream to Joseph in

Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child and

his mother and go to the land of Israel,

for those who sought the child's life

are dead." And he rose and the child and

his mother and went to the land of

Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus

was running over Judea in place of the

father, he was afraid to go there. And

being warned in the dream, he to the

district of Galilee. And he went and

lived in the city called Nazareth, so

that what was spoken by the prophets

might be fulfilled, that he would be

called a Nazarene. Let's pray. Oh Lord

God, I pray, Father, this morning that

you would give us great clarity on this

issue before us, that you would help us

to see and to hear. God, you would make

us rejoice in you, the good shepherd who

seeks lost sheep, who bring restoration

to the broken, to the backs, to the

person who strayed far from you. Yet you

are a shepherd that loves the lost sheep

and you seek them out and you restore

them to your fold that you might heal

them and save them. We thank you in

Jesus name we pray. Amen. You may be

seated.

Well,

we've gone over this text, most of the

text over and over again up until the

very end. And I was looking and I kept

noticing I I brought it out in previous

ones. He keeps quoting Old Testament

prophets

and then he'll say this was to fulfill

what they said. But then I go back and I

read the original prophet and I'm like,

"Wow, that doesn't look at all what I

would expect to find." What I would

expect to find in the first one with the

virgin shall conceive is that there'd be

a passage that says when Messiah comes

will be conceived of a virgin and the

quote when it talks about uh a ruler

coming from Judah. I would expect it to

all be about the Messiah and where's

going to happen in hundreds of years

being born in Bethlehem. But I find out

it it deals a lot with a lot of things

current and Mike is gay. When we read

the part quoting Hosea 11:1, we did a

Hosea 11:1

whole sermon out of Egypt. I called my

son. You're expecting a passage that

says, "Well, after the baby's born,

he'll spend some time in Egypt to come

out." And again, it's not exactly what

you find. And when we get to the passage

about Rachel weeping for her children, I

I go back, I read it and expecting to

say that all the babies are going to be

killed when Messiah is born. But that's

not what we find in the text. And then

we come to this part that appears that

abundance of prophets said that Jesus

would be born in Nazareth. What's

interesting is even in the New

Testament, it's noted no prophet arises

from Galilee. And the Nazareth was

They didn't expect the Messiah to come

from Natalie.

But Matthew's original audience was not

stupid. In fact, Matthew's original

audience knew the Old Testament

frontwards and backwards. They went

through the reading of the Tanakh every

three years in the synagogue. There was

daily readings, there was weekly

readings, and they would read through

it. They they heard these words again

and again and again.

Matthew, if he was trying to pull the

wool over their eyes, would not succeed

because they were a very biblically

literate people. And here's the problem

with us. We're not as Old Testament

believers. When new believers get saved,

what do we tell them? We say, "Well,

start in Matthew or start in John or

start in Mark and read the New

Testament." And we come and there's

certain things from this that every baby

Christ should be able to quickly derive.

Jesus was born in a supernatural way.

was born of a virgin.

He was to be born in Bethlehem as he

was.

He was um that he went down into Egypt

to escape the wrath of a man king. That

that uh there was there was weeping that

went on when that king killed a bunch of

babies in the town that he was born in.

And that finally his family by the

dictates of the angel Lord moved to

Nazareth where he would be raised. And

that satisfies our curiosity about the

earliest life of Jesus. We sure feel

like know a lot more between 12 and 30,

but God didn't satisfy that curiosity.

But he just gives us some history. Mark

skips over all of this and goes right to

the beginning of his ministry. And John

starts way earlier. He starts before

creation showing that Jesus is actually

God. But Matthew does something very

different. He quotes these Old Testament

passages. And I submit to you that he

wants his audience to go back and read

them and see a connection. And when they

do, you're going to see something in

common in all of them. All of them have

something to do with the children of

Israel being taken into captivity by the

Assyrians in 721 BC or the restoration

to the land. It has something to do with

Israel. Let me explain the term Israel.

Israel in different context in the Bible

can mean different For example, it's the

name of Jacob after it gets changed by

the angel of the Lord. Jacob wrestles

with the angel of the Lord and the Lord

redeems him from evil and he changes his

name from Jacob to Israel.

One who repents of God or one who

strives with God. Jacob ends up having

12 sons and those 12 sons originally are

called the sons of Israel but eventually

they become the 12 tribes of Israel and

then further down they're just called

Israel. All of Israel goes out to fight

battles together.

They go into the promised land under

Joshua. They're divided up under their

inheritance and eventually they want a

king like all the other nations. And so,

uh, God brings a man named Saul from the

tribe of Benjamin. And he appoints him

as a king over all of Israel, all 12

tribes.

And Saul is not a very faithful king.

And so God says, I reject you as being

king. I'm going to take a man after my

own heart, a man you know by the name of

David. I'm going to take him from being

a shepherd to shepherd my people Israel.

And here's this analogy of shepherd.

shepherd over the people of Israel. Now,

Israel is used of the co and David is

the shepherd of his people Israel. David

has a son named Solomon who becomes the

king over all of Israel. But what

happens to Solomon? Well, Solomon, he

starts out great, builds the temple of

the Lord. God grants him great wisdom.

But he loves many foreign wives and they

take his heart after false gods and he

builds up high places to the false gods

and he becomes unfaithful in his latter

years. And when he does, God says, "I'm

going to take from your son, not in your

lifetime, your son's lifetime. I'm going

to take 10 tribes from you, but I'm

going to leave you. I'm going to leave

you a little bit, a little bit of Levi

and Benjamin and Judah. The house of

David would rule over the southern

kingdom. The kingdom would become

divided in the next generation between

someone

and the other 10 tribes would go under a

man named Jeroboam. So now you've got

the southern kingdom known as the

kingdom of Judah and the northern

kingdom known as the kingdom of Israel.

And from there on out, when you speak of

Israel, it's almost always talking about

the northern kingdom until Christ comes.

The northern kingdom was under a man,

Jeroboam, who were fearful that the

people would go back to Judah. And so he

set up idols in the north calves. And he

said all the people could come up here

to worship these cavs instead of going

down to Jerusalem and going to the

temple of Solomon. And that began the

apostasy of Israel. And over the next

several hundred years from from uh you

know David Solomon's temple was built

about 104 BC and up until the 700s there

are two kingdoms the kingdom of Israel

and the kingdom of Judah and there are

prophets that are sent to both and they

prophesy to them because they're all

God's people and God loves them. But the

northern tribes of Israel constantly

fall into idolatry.

worship, astro worship, mole, worshiping

all these false gods, sexual immorality.

And so the prophets go and they say,

"Return to the Lord. Be faithful to the

Lord." He said, "You're you're like an

adulterous woman." He calls him a

And he says, "You're going after false

gods. You're breaking the covenant. The

Lord God's a jealous God. Come back to

the Lord." But they it's there's no good

in northern Israel. It's just bad.

Now in the southern king of Judah, the

descendants of David are on the thrones

and some of them are good and some of

them are bad and some of they fall into

idolatry and then a prophet will rise

and they'll repent and they'll come back

to the Lord. And so there's this back

and forth relationship whereas Israel is

continually committing what God calls

spiritual adultery, idolatry. And then

in the south in Judah, sometimes they're

faithful and sometimes they're not. And

this goes right on up until the 700s.

And in the 700s, God finally says to

Israel, he's going to divorce them and

he's going to take them into captivity.

And a group of people known as the

Assyrians come and they besiege,

northern Israel, and they put hooks in

their noses. They play their king a lie.

They rip his skin off. They take the

people off into captivity and they are

dispersed

into the lands of the Assyrians.

The kingdom of Judah will last about

another hundred years and then they too

will be taken into captivity by another

nation, the Babylonians.

But but in the the first way, men like

Isaiah and Hosea, they warn they want

Micah warned that this is going to come

upon Israel. the children of Israel, the

northern kingdom are going to be taken

in to captivity.

100 years later, a prophet by the name

prophesies and he will warn that Judah

is going to go away into captivity. And

all of these prophecies that we read

here have something to do with this

carrying away into Babylon because the

people have been unfaithful.

And Jesus in the book of Matthew will

talk about his mission being

he to the lost sheep of the house of

Israel. Say it multiple times in the

book of Matthew. So I want to give you a

couple of them before I get into these

verses here. The first one I want to

look at is he sends the 12 disciples out

all over Galilee, which is where Israel

was. Galilee where Jesus ministry is.

where the northern tribes have been.

Jesus will grow up in the land where

Israel have been. He says, "These 12

Jesus sent out instructing them, go

nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no

town of the Samaritans, but go rather to

the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Now, notice he calls them sheep. And

what we're going to look at in these

topics is he talks about God talks about

raising up a righteous shepherd.

Speaking of Christ, the righteous

shepherd who's going to gather the lost

of the house in Egypt and he's going to

bring them back. Then again in Matthew

15 I could quote others in the book of

Matthew but I'm trying to tell you this

is a theme in the book of Matthew.

Matthew 15 it says and Jesus went away

from there and withdrew to the district

of Sidon and the oldest woman from the

region came out and was crying. Have

mercy on me oh lord son of David my

daughter is severely oppressed by a

demon but he did not answer a word and

his disciples came and begged him saying

her away for she is crying out after us.

He answered, "I was not I was sent only

to the lost of the house of Israel."

Again, he phrase the lost of the house

of Israel. In chapter nine, he'll be

looking he's ministering up in northern

Israel where Israel had been. He's

ministering to the multitude. And what

does he see them as? He sees them in

Matthew 9 as as sheep without a

shepherd. As sheep without a shepherd.

And so Jesus has a longing for the lost

sheep of house of Israel. And during his

three years of ministry, he wasn't he

wasn't going to Gentiles. He wasn't

going outside of Israel. His key focus

was

gathering together the lost sheep of the

house of Israel. His main ministry was

in

up north in the northern tribes. Every

one of these quotes that are quoted has

something to do with the dispersion of

Israel. But see, kind of complicated,

but let's get into um our text again.

And first of all, let's look back at the

first one in Matthew 1:22. This is our

Matthew 1:22

first quote. And this took place to

fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the

prophet. Behold, the virgin shall

conceive and bear a son. And they shall

call his name Emmanuel, which means God

with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he

did as the angel Lord commanded him and

took his wife, but knew her not until he

had given birth to a son. And he called

his name Jesus. So Jesus was not born of

both a father and a mother but a woman

only. The Holy Spirit overshadowed her

was conceiving her of the Holy Ghost. He

talked about it again and again. And he

says this was done to fulfill what was

spoken by Isaiah the prophet. Now let's

look at that passage in Isaiah. Let's

see what it says. Now at this time let

me tell you a little background earlier

in the chapter. This king of Judah, the

southern king is up is is worried

because the northern king of Israel and

Syria are partnering together and

they're going to come around and attack

him. He's worried about it. He's he's

he's concerned about it.

And so this name is King Ahab. Again,

the Lord spoke to Ahaz, "Ask the sign of

the Lord your God. Let it be deep as

steel or as high as heaven." Ahaz said,

"I will not ask and I will not put the

Lord to the test." And he said, "Here

then, oh house of Israel. Is it too

little for you to weary me that you

weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord

himself will give you a sign. Behold,

the virgin shall conceive and bear a son

and shall call his name Emanuel." That's

where we like to stop because we don't

want to preach long sermons like this.

We just want to move along in the text.

And we stop there and we say, "See, he

prophesied that the Messiah born of a

virgin. I don't know. But the context,

we're gonna be honest. We got to read

the context. Verse 15. He shall eat

courage and honey when he knows how to

refuse the evil and choose the good. For

before the boy knows how to refuse the

evil and choose the good. The land two

things you dread will be deserted. The

Lord will bring upon you and upon your

people and upon your father's house such

days have not come since the day that

Ephraim departed from Judah. the king of

Assyria. So see what he does is in the

next chapter what he says is he says the

virgin's going to conceive

going to have a child and before the

child knows knows really what good food

is and what bad food is the king of

Assyria is going to come and defeat your

enemies up there in Israel in Syria who

have joined together. It's going to

happen before it's going to happen. So

the miracle sign from their standpoint

is that a child's going to be born and

his enemies are going to be defeated

before the child is even of an age that

they know what good and bad food is.

Well, that's not near the sign as a he

said the signs high in heaven or low in

hell. Not a very impressive sign really.

It's it's a true prophecy, but it's not

that amazing of a sign that you predict

that the Assyrians will come and destroy

them. And nevertheless, it is fulfilled.

We read about it fulfillment in the next

chapter 8. And I went to the prophet.

Oh, so Isaiah went into the prophet.

Okay. To his wife. And she conceived and

bore a son. Then the Lord said to me,

call man Hash for the boy knows how to

cry my father or my mother. the wealth

of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria

will be carried away before the king of

Assyria. So on one hand Jesus's birth

doesn't seem to have anything to do with

Assyria, right? But on the other hand,

there's nothing very miraculous about

Isaiah going into his wife and

conceiving a son. And not only that, his

name is Mary Hashil.

Uh and yet it's cited here if we read on

in the text was the one of the Emanuel

prophets

disappointing fulfillment a burden in he

said ask a sign something really high in

heaven like you know the sun stands

still or open up the earth and and

swallow people alive that would be

impressive but the sign is fulfilled

when a woman by natural means continues

the sun is born

outside

and uh and then by the time the child of

a certain age comes and conquers their

enemies that is what scholars will tell

you is the fulfillment of the prophecy

but it's not a very I wouldn't call it a

fulfillment they call it a fulfillment

Jesus is the great deliverer who is born

of a virgin and and his birth his birth

is is truly to defeat Israel's greatest

enemy but it's not it's uh the original

fulfillment was about the Assyrians

taking Israel into captivity

and Israel are the people that Jesus is

going to reather from the nations and

save them. So that is the context of

this original. Now originally I had a

picture of of the the wall that

had he comes back from defeating

northern Israel and he puts it on the

wall. You can look it up yourself. it

just didn't work that it didn't really

fit on the screen or whatever the

picture it didn't work for some reason

on my my iPad but through the bad relief

of Israel being brought before Kingb and

the the Assyrians are proud of their

torturing the Israelites and the king is

there doing his oasis before them and

and it shows it shows the horror that

northern Israel would suffer because of

their breaking of covenant with Israel

and They were dispersed and sent off to

other countries and they would no longer

inhabit the land. Some would return at

various times, but as a whole, they were

taken off to other nations and and it it

was fulfilled just as Isaiah said. Now,

let's go on to Matthew chapter 2. I'll

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

quickly read what leads up to it, the

context, but I'm going to really focus

on these five scriptures. Not Jesus was

born in Bethlehem in the days of the

king. The old wise men from the east

came to Jerusalem saying, "Where is he

who has been born king of the Jews? For

he saw a star when it rose and had come

to worship him." When the king heard

this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem

with him. And assembling all the chief

priests and scribes of the people,

inquired of them where Christ is to be

born. They told him in Bethlehem of

Judea for so it is written by the

prophet and you Bethlehem in the land of

Judah are by no means least among the

rulers of Judah for you shall come a

ruler who will shepherd my people

Israel. Again this reference to the king

being a shepherd of the people of

Israel. The king is like a shepherd of

the sheep and Jesus was born in

Bethlehem and Jesus is the good

shepherd. So that is clearly taken. But

let's go and look at the context. of

Micah real quick. Micah chapter 5. This

Micah 5 · chapter mention

is the one who prophesied it

back in at the same time he's

contemporary of Isaiah. So around about

the time of the Assyrian invasion,

but he's prophesying to Judah. Now your

troops, daughter of truth, siege is laid

against them. With a rod, they strike

the judge of Israel on the tree. But

you, oh Beth Africa, who are too little

to be among the Judah, from you shall

come forth from one who is to be ruler

of Israel, whose turning forth is from

old from ancient days. Right? The Hebrew

says from everlasting

everlasting. Therefore, he shall give

them up until the time when he who is in

labor has given birth. Then the rest of

his brothers shall return to the people

of Israel. And he shall stand and

shepherd his flock in the strength of

the Lord. And the majesty in the name of

the Lord is God. And they shall dwell

secure. For now he shall be great to the

ends of the earth. And he shall be. When

the Assyrian comes into our land and

trees in our houses, then we will rise

against him

princes of men. They shall the land of

Assyria with the sword and land of

Nimrod at its entrance. and he said,

"Deliver us from the Assyrian when he

comes into our land and within our

border." Now, wait a minute here. That's

talking again about a contemporary,

somebody that's about to come on the

scene. And and some even even Jews

believe this is a messianic prophecy.

They just don't think it's been

fulfilled yet. But there's a there's a

sense in which um

there's a there's a sense in which it

applies to

to to Hezekiah. Hezekiah was besieged by

the Assyrians. And God would would

deliver Hezekiah from the Assyrians, but

there's no record of Hezekiah being born

in Bethlehem. And Hezekiah, his going

forth isn't from eternity, from

everlasting as the prophet said. And so

there's something that fits Hezekiah,

but there's something that doesn't

Hezekiah. It's a partial fulfillment in

Hezekiah, but it points to a greater

fulfillment in Christ. Who deliver his

people. He would save the people from

what? Their sin. He's a greater deliver.

He came for a greater deliverance. But

again, there's this association with the

Assyrians and the carrying away of the

of the children of Israel into

captivity. Now, this becomes more

relevant as we go on. Um I'll skip on

down in the text to um

Matthew. Matthew.

So the the wise men meet Herod. They go

to they go to Bethlehem. They come to

him. They worship him. And and then when

they leave, they're warned to depart.

And it says in in Matthew 2:13, "Now

Matthew 2:13

when they have departed, behold, an

angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in

a dream and said, "Rise, take the child

and his mother and flee to Egypt, and

remain there until I tell you, for Herod

was about to search for the child to

destroy him. And he rose and took the

child and his mother by night and

departed to Egypt and remained there

until the death of Herod. This was to

fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the

prophet out of Egypt I called my son.

Now two weeks ago I did a whole

and how we see that that just as uh

Israel was called out of Egypt was

called out of Egypt.

Just as Egypt, Israel was baptized in

the Red Sea, Jesus was baptized in the

Jordan. And just as Israel was tested

for 40 years in the wilderness, Jesus

was tested for 40 days. But whereas

Israel failed to keep the covenant and

Israel was faithless, Jesus was the

faithful son. What do we not find? We

don't find a prophecy that says that the

Messiah after birth is going to take a

little trip to Egypt. Instead, we find

more references to the Assyrians. Hosea

11 verse one. When Israel was a child, I

loved him and out of Egypt I called my

son. That's the quotation. It's clear

it's not the Messiah, but it's actually

the children of Israel. And Matthew is

quoting it to set up a compar.

They kept sacrificing the bales and

burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I

who taught them freedom to walk. I took

them up by their arms, but they did not

know that I healed them. I led them with

cords of kindness with demons of love.

And I became to them as one who eases

the yolk on their jaws and bent down to

them and fed them. They shall not return

to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall

be their king because they have refused

to return to me. The sword shall rage

against their cities. Consume the to

their gate and devour them because of

their own transfer. Hosea says, "You

know what? You're like a son to me. I

brought you out of Egypt. I took care of

you. But no matter what, you kept going

back to the veils. You went back to the

idols. You you fell into sexual

immorality. You turned from the Lord.

You didn't obey my laws and my statutes.

And the result is what? You're going to

be carried away by an Assyrian king into

captivity."

So, everyone so far we had a comparison.

relation to the captivity of Israel.

Hope you're still following me. All

right. So, let's see the next one. Going

back to Matthew

in Herod when he saw that he had been

tricked by the wise men became furious.

And he sent and killed all the male

children of Bethlehem in all the region

who were two years old and under

according to the time that he had

ascertained from the wise men. Then was

fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet

Jeremiah. A voice heard in Rama weeping

in loud lamentation Rachel weeping for

her children she refused to be comforted

because they are no more all right so

it's like wow so

out of fear that this king is going to

take his job has all the babies in

Bethlehem killed two years and under

we've already talked about this Herod

was an Edomite and just like Esau

wanted to to kill Jacob. So now Herod

wants to kill the Messiah, the baby

Jesus, the Israel of God. That's what

he's after. And it's an Arabic

quotation. All this was to fulfill what

was spoken by the prophet. So you think,

"Oh, okay. So if I go back and read

Jeremiah somewhere, it's going to

prophesy that a bunch of babies are

going to be killed just like they were

killed in Egypt and and various other

things in the Old Testament." But alas,

that's not what we find when we look at

Jeremiah 31. We something something more

than that. And once again, something to

do with the captivity in Assyria.

Jeremiah 31:15, thus says the Lord, a

Jeremiah 31:15

voice is heard in rain, a lamentation,

and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping

for her children. She refuses to be

comforted for her children because they

are no more. Thus says the Lord, keep

your voice from weeping and your eyes

from fear. For there's a reward for your

work, declares the Lord. And

shall come back to their own country. So

early here in the text it associates why

is Rachel weeping for children because a

come and

why why is Matthew quoting he wants his

audience go back and read these

prophecies these prophecies prophesy the

reathering of Israel which is exactly

what Jesus has come to do he's come to

reathering the west back to save them

and to bring them back and he's already

so Jeremiah 31 prophesies the reathering

of Israel after they were taken away.

Very famous later in the chapter. I'm

skipping a lot of verses in Jeremiah

real quick. I'm skipping all the way

from 17 down to 31. You'll know these

verses. Most of you will know these

verses. The old days are coming,

declarant

of Israel and the house of Judah. Not

like the covenant that I made with their

fathers on the day when I took them by

the hand to bring them out of the land

of Egypt. my covenant that they broke,

the lie was with the lie was their

husband, declares the Lord. He says,

"You know what? You never kept the

covenant." He actually divorced them in

Isaiah or in Hosea. He divorced them. He

says, "I'm divorcing you. I'm sending

you away." But now he says, "I'm going

to make a new covenant with you. It's

not going to be like the old covenant.

It's going to be a new covenant." And

Hebrews 8 quotes this passage, which I

won't go to it for length sake.

But look now with me next verse 33. For

this is the covenant that I will make

with the house of Israel after those

days.

I will put my law within them and I will

write it on their heart and I will be

their God and they shall be my people

and no longer shall each one teach his

neighbor and each one his brother saying

know the Lord for they shall all know me

from the least of them to the greatest

declares the Lord. For I will forgive

their iniquity and I will remember their

sin no more. The same chapter that talks

about Rachel weeping because the taken

into captes a new and better covenant

and this is what we call the new

testament.

So this quotation Matthew doing this

deliberately is prophesying the new

covenant. The Messiah has shown up to

keep the new covenant to go after the

lost sheep of the house of Israel. Every

time we talk about we take communion, we

remember this new covenant. This is the

new covenant in my blood.

And what does that what does that infer?

That means that even the Gentiles from

all the nations

are graciously included in this new

covenant.

Jesus in his ministry goes only to the

land of Israel. His ministry is based up

north where Israel has been. He also

preaches in Judah some but he preaches

to the Jews and he preaches to the house

of Judah and house of Israel. But his

intent was always to include the nations

in this new covenant with the house of

Israel. If we don't do the study and go

back to the quotes and look at the

context, we we're missing one of the

greater meanings that Matthew is laying

down with this new covenant. It's no

longer about race. It's about grace. And

all of us are included in it because the

good shepherd is after she not just from

Israel, but from all nations.

If you're a backslider like Israel, if

you're an idoler like Israel, if you're

a homosexual, if you're If you're

promiscuous, if you're a drunkard, if

you're an idoltor, if you're vain, if

you're arrogant, if you're a jerk, Jesus

Christ came to save lost sheep.

He came to bring the rebellious sheep,

which Isaiah 53 says, "All we like sheep

have gone astray, and the Lord has laid

on him the iniquity of us all." These

quotes were intended for the evil reader

and say, "Jesus has come to after the

lost sheep of the house of Israel. And

multiple times in the book of of

Matthew, he uses that phrase. I'm here

for the lost sheep of the house of

Israel. Having died for our sins though,

now he commissiones his disciples to go

in to all nations,

to all people, to rebellious sons and

daughters of Aram all over the world.

But the new covenant is prophesied in

this chapter about

Rachel weeping for her children. She in

context Rachel Rachel had given birth to

her son who would be named by his father

Benjamin. But remember remember what she

called her son she called her son Doni

son of my sorrow. She died giving birth

to Benjamin and she named him son son

son son son son son son son son son son son son son son son son son son son of

my sorrow but but the father say no no

no I'm not going to name it son of my

sorrow so he named him Benjamin son of

my right hand and uh Benjamin would

would be taken later in captivity and

restored but the apostles was of the

tribe of Benjamin and and just the

illusion of Jeremiah is Rachel's all of

her children are gone into captivity.

But the context of Matthew is yet again

another tragedy more groaning. The

babies are killed by its back to

remeance all the times where Satan has

tried to kill the woman has tried to

kill the Messiah, tried to kill the

lion, the Messiah, and it's another

failure because he escaped to Egypt. All

right. Now, here's the final one. This

is this is an old text here. We haven't

read this yet.

it will be called a Nazarene. Matthew

Matthew 2:19

2:19, but when the angel of the Lord

appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

saying, "Rise, take the child and his

mother and go to the land of Israel. For

those who sought the child's wife are

dead." And he rose and took the child

and his mother and went to the land of

Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus

was reigning over Judea in place of his

father, he was afraid to go there. And

being warned in a dream, he withdrew to

the district of Galilee. And he went and

lived in a city called Nazareth, so that

what was spoken by the prophet might be

fulfilled, that he would be called the

Nazarene. Now, all the other ones said

that it might be fulfilling what was

spoken by the prophet. But here's

perhaps very little lots of prophecies

in the Old Testament that says the

Messiah is going to live in Nazareth.

And

then guess what? Not a single one,

not a single Old Testament prophet says,

"He shall be called a Nazarene." Now,

the other one, they had at least a very

definitive text that that you could go

to and and and look at it and read it

and read it context. But this one, he

said something strange. He says, "The

prophet who shall be called a Nazarene."

Why would you use prophets in the world

when there's not

That's a very

you're expecting somewhere and a lot of

people stumble over this like wow he

says it the Jews today say well he's

just making stuff up now he's just

making up it didn't happen some people

say well maybe it was an oral topic

which is a legitimate explanation it

could have been somebody

but but apparently it was something that

was well known if it was oral but that

produces a problem because when

Nicodemus tries to speak up for Jesus

among the are you a

Don't you know that no prophet arises

from Galilee? In other words, there's no

prophet coming from Galilee. Jesus is

from an area where there's no we're not

we're looking for him to come from

Bethlehem. We're not looking for him to

come from Galilee or Nazareth. Nazareth

within Galilee. And yet Matthew says he

shall be called a Nazarene. What is

going on here?

Well, the word Nazarene is a puns

like Hebrew word which is the word for

and there's multip lot of prophecies

that refer to the messiah as the bridge

and it sounds like the word so it's a

word it's I wouldn't quite say it lime

but it's it brings me sounds like the

Hebrew word for branch and we have a

very specific verse where it's the true

ina 11 verse one there shall come forth

a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a

branch a net there from his root shall

bear fruit. Now, what's the picture

here? Just the father of David. The

picture of the tree,

it's been cut down and there's nothing

left.

And you look at the sun, man, that was

once a glorious tree and now it's just

a branch is going to come out of that.

And what's the word picture here? Well,

Isaiah prophesied the destruction of the

northern kingdom and also the prophecies

of the destruction of the southern

kingdom. And the of David would lie in

so much so that one of David's

descendants is a man named Joseph who's

a carpenter in Galilee living in the

northern where the northern tribes are

and so it says there will come out of

this stump there's going to come forth

it looks like it's over for the house of

David it looks like God is done with the

line of David and the promises of David

it looks like the divic covenant has

failed but he's saying no a branch a

little going to grow up off of the side

of that stump. And what's it going to

do? Verse two, and the spirit of verse

two, and the spirit of Yahweh shall rest

upon him. That happens in chapter four,

right? And the spirit of wisdom and

understanding, the spirit of counsel and

might, the spirit of knowledge and the

fear of the Lord, and his delight shall

be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not

judge by what his eyes see, or decide

dispute by what his ears hear, but with

righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of

the earth. And he shall strike the earth

with the rod of his mouth, and with the

breath of his lips, he shall kill the

wicked, speaking of his reign. So the

word there means a branch, right? Uh

verse 11, I'm sorry, verse 10, Isaiah

Isaiah 11:10

11:10. In that day, the root of Jesse,

again, the house of David, the little

Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for

the peoples. Of him shall the nations

inquire, and his resting place shall be

glorious. And that day the Lord will

extend his hand yet a second time to

recover the remnant that remains of his

people from Assyria, from Egypt, from

Pathos, from Bush, from Elim, from

Shina, from the coins of the sea. He

will raise a signal for the nation and

will assemble the banish of Israel and

gather the dispersed from Judah from the

four corners of the earth. The brill

prophecy I can show you numerous ones in

Zechariah and other have to do with with

God raising from the house of David

which has been laid waste a righteous

branch who will gather his people back

from the nation. He will gather them to

all these other lands. He er the place

he lifts all the places he will gather

them and and uh what Matthew is

signaling is this is what Jesus has come

to do. He's come together. Now there are

other branch prophecies and these often

times I I could have gone through quite

a few branch prophecies where the

Messiah is called. I have another

passage I want to go to but um this one

is different. But it's still this idea

of the Messiah being a branch that the

awesome that what would make a king of

Judah live in

that's that is what Matthew is pointing

out. He's it's going to be unexpected.

People going to think he's a Gilean

because he doesn't come from where they

expect. And that that's that's a very

clear point that Matthew was making but

he's playing on words saying yes he was

raised in Galilee because he's the

branch that we've been looking for. He

comes

This is the Messiah who's going to

gather the lost people of the house of

Israel and be a shepherd to them. The

phrase shepherd is very important. So

Jeremiah 23, we have more another branch

here in this very important passage.

Jeremiah 23, woe to the shepherds who

destroy and scatter the sheep of my

pasture, declares Yahweh. Therefore,

thus says Yahweh the God of Israel

concerning the shepherds who care for my

people. You have scattered my flock and

have driven them away. you have not

attended to them. Behold, I will attend

I will attend to you for your evil

deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will

gather the remnant of my flock out of

all the countries where I have driven

them, and I will bring them back to

their fold, and they shall be faithful

and multiply. So he's saying, I I am

going to gather the sheep from all the

countries where I have delivered them.

For Jesus is Yahweh. And that's what

Jesus came to do. Going on to verse

four, I will set shepherds over them.

care for them and they shall hear no

more nor be dismayed. Neither shall any

missing declares the Lord. Behold the

days are coming, declares the Lord. When

I will raise up for David a righteous

and he shall reign in his king and be

wisely and shall exeute justice and

righteousness in the land in his days

will be saved and Israel will dwell sec.

And this is the man by which he shall be

called Yahweh. The Lord is our

righteous.

So when Matthew makes this rail play on

words, he's calling instead of just

trying instead of using up a lot of

paper space, he he's alluding to all

these numerous prophecies about the

branch from Isaiah, Jeremiah. I could go

into Zechariah, Zechariah 3, Zechariah

Zechariah 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 where the man called the

branch was going to gather his people

together. You learn lots of passages,

but the big picture here is that number

one, I want to point out that Jesus is

referred to as a shepherd

gathering his people and is referred to

as the Lord our righteousness.

Yahweh he shall be called the Lord our

righteousness. Now, Jesus never called

him in the New Testament by the name

Hey, Yahweh, right? He never never he

never, hey, where's that guy? Yahweh.

He's not called that. But why does he

say shall be called the Lord in our

righteousness? Because that's what Jesus

came to do.

To bear the sins of the sheep, to bear

our iniquities in himself, to pay for

the sins of his people, to pay for the

sins of the lost sheep of the house of

Israel. was a good shepherd who came to

seek that which was lost to pay for

their sins to reather them and restore

them.

One more next passage in Jeremiah 23

here next verse. Therefore, behold the

days are coming because the Lord makes

them no longer say as the Lord lived he

brought up the people of Israel out of

the land of Egypt. But as the Lord

lives, he brought up and led the

offspring of the house of Israel out of

the north country and out of the country

where they had driven them. Then shall

they dwell in their own land. Here's

what's interesting.

We What do we remember at the Lord's

table? Do we remember what they

remembered at Passover? What do they

remember at Passover? They remember

every year on Passover Jesus remember

how God brought him out of the land of

Egypt. God says, "When the branch gets

here, when Yahweh came here, the Lord of

righteousness gets here. When the good

shepherd gets here, no longer are you

going to be talking about your

deliverance from Egypt, but you're going

to be you're going to be referring to

your gathering." I say, "Well, we don't

do that, do we?" Yeah, we do. The word

church, what does it mean?

You called out

the word synagogue refers to gathering.

Every time we talk about the church of

Jesus Christ made that all the nations

and all peoples, Jew and Gentile, we're

talking about what Christ has done by

sheep from every nation under heaven and

gathering him unto himself. And so

Matthew is calling to attention these

prophecies that Jesus of the house of

David the branch who grows up

grows up in Nazareth. And what's the

mission? The mission is to come to the

house of Israel and now that and now

that he's died for our sins

the house of Israel. So I want to look

at this final passage here in Matthew

15. I want to I already read half of it

earlier. I want to read the other half

of it. Matthew 15 and it was right at

the center of the book. And Jesus went

away from there and the dream of the

district was tired and sight him. And

behold, a Canaanite woman from that

region came out and was crying, "Have

mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My

daughter is severely oppressed by a

demon." But he did not answer a word.

And his disciples came and begged him,

saying, "Send her away, for she is

crying out after us." He answered, "I

was sent only to the lost sheep of the

house of Israel, for the of his

ministry. He said, "I don't I don't

know. That's not what I'm here for. I'm

here for the lost sheep of the house of

Israel. I'm here to fulfill the

prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah that I

would gather the lost sheep of house of

Israel together again. That's what I'm

here for.

That's my job." And he's the language of

sheep and house of Israel.

This woman, this Canaanite

came and knelt before him, saying,

"Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is

not right to take the children's bread

and throw it to the dog."

That would deter you, right? Okay, man.

Do

she

even becomes fall?

Then Jesus answered her, "Oh woman,

your faith Let it be done for you if you

desire and her daughter is healed

instantly. Now some people saying wow

Jesus was really insulted. I I think

making the point here this woman

wouldn't take no for an answer. Well

yeah that's why her she's not one of us.

She's not an

Even even the puppies even even the

puppies get the the master table. She

was humble. She tears just away in

rejection. She said, "Yeah, it's almost

like when when Jesus turns to his

disciples, will you walk away also?" And

they said, "Who else says the words of

life?" She says, "Her

the bread from the master's table and

Jesus commended to her."

Now Jesus was sent to the house of

Israel. But

how does the book how does the book end?

The book ends after Jesus having died

for our sins and rose from the grave

before he ascends into heaven. He gives

permission to his disciples to go and

teach all nations all families of

baptize in the name of the father and of

the son and of the holy spirit. Teach

them observe all things I've commanded

you and learn.

to the end of the age.

So the the the ministry is no longer

limited to an ethnic, an ethnicity, a

people group. And I would guard as as a

way of application here at the end of

the sermon. I I would guard all

Christians should be on guard against

any form of ethnic hatred or despising a

people because of their people group or

their skin color, their ethnicity, their

history. Jew or Gentile or Palestinian

for that matter.

There is no other name under heaven

given to men whereby they must be saved.

Every Jew must come to the father

through Christ.

Every Palestinian must come to the

father through Christ. Every European,

every American, every Latino, every

every African. There's only one way to

come to the father and it's through the

good shepherd through David's life for

the week to gather us together. Not not

to leave us separated. One of the things

that's relevant here is so many people

right now even Christian people are

getting off onto that we're getting so

caught up with ethnicity.

Behold how beautiful the church is. What

do you see on the day of Pentecost? You

see Israelites from both captivity, Jews

from every nation under heaven. They're

coming up to offer gifts at the temple

and the Holy Spirit has come upon the

120 in the upper room and they hear the

gospel in their own language and they

get saved and they believe. What is

that? That's the reathering

of lost sheep of the house of Israel on

the day of Pentecost. They're Jews from

every nation under heaven. They're being

brought to they're being brought to

Jerusalem and they're being gathered

back and What do you see a few chapters

later? You see the Samaritans, half

Jewish, half something else, half Greek,

the enemies of Israel. And what happens?

They get saved and filled with Holy

Spirit and brought into Israel. And in a

few chapters, we get into chapter 10.

And Peter gets a vision that he's not to

call any person on earth,

but all who fear God

are welcome to God.

It's a major

of the New Testament is Jesus came to

save all nations. He's the good

shepherd. The church is the godly union

is a celebration of the good the new

covenant that we read about in Jeremiah

23.

This is the new covenant with the house

of Israel. And we're going to communion

here in a few moments. And communion is

a remembrance of this new covenant that

we read about in Jeremiah 23 in the same

chapter that has Rachel weeping for her

children. And and what do we do when we

come to the Lord's table? Well, we we

remember the new covenant in his dwell.

He's written his laws and our hearts

into our minds. He says, "I will be

their God. They shall be my people. And

everyone shall know me from the least to

the greatest. and their sins and their

iniquity I will remember no more. That's

what we come to the community table to

remember. Now, if you have repented of

your sins and put your faith in Jesus

Christ,

you're a participant in that new

covenant. If you are still clinging to

your idols and your sins and you've

rejected Christ, well, you're not yet a

member of the new covenant.

We would we would ask you if you're yet

to put your faith in Christ to

strengthen your

to do. So now turn to the Lord Jesus

Christ. Turn to him. Come to him. Come

to the good.

He he has demonstrated himself to love

lost you. If you want to come, then come

and he will accept you.

However, we ask you before you take your

communion to be baptized. That's the

news and like a a wedding ceremony. It's

where we make our public vows together.

You done that yet. We ask you to do so.

Uh but if you are a visitor here this

morning and you trusted in the Lord

Jesus Christ and you've been obedient to

the community baptized, not saved by

baptism. We're saved by trusting in

Christ. Nevertheless, don't leave what

Jesus commanded undone.

Be baptized. Do not believe and be

baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Father, we thank you God that Jesus, the

good shepherd, the Lord our

righteousness, the branch of the

hospital that has come. We are gathered

together in his name, the name of Jesus,

and we trust in Jesus. We thank you for

the forgiveness of sins. We thank you,

Lord, for the beautiful work that you're

doing all over the world. That your your

church is made of Jew and Gentile and

male and female. It's been made as slave

and bond and free. God, you you have one

body. You broken down the dividing wall

between us Jew and Gentiles to make us

one new people of God. We rejoice in the

Lord who is our shepherd. Father, I pray

for anyone here today who wonders, have

I too far? Have they gone too far? Lord,

you demonstrate in these prophecies that

it's your heart that every rebel return

would turn to you that they would turn

from their sins to the living God to be

healed of their affliction, their

spiritual affliction, and to be restored

to those of you. I pray Lord that you