Road To Emmaus: The Good Prophet

Laptop: All right, good afternoon, Waterway Church. Today is Tuesday. What is that? August twenty fifth. August twenty fifth, Javon. Yeah, my word. It's almost time for summer to be over and fall to be here. That's right. All right. It's cool weather. man. I'm telling I'm I'm digging it. I'm a big you can tell I'm a fall guy. I I wear sweatpants and sweatshirts when it's 90 degrees out. So I'm I'm excited for when it's not 90 degrees out. But Waterway Church, we have a big problem. His hoodie that he's wearing today is from Fon Stock Flooring, and nothing wrong with Fawn Stock Flooring, but none of us know where that is. And so Waterway Church, if any of you have a business or or a company or a school that has hoodies, would you please send them to Waterway Church 550 Waterway? Road care of Javon Martin. What do you need? Probably like a medium? Medium or a large. Send a medium or a large for Javon. We need some better hoodies. And if you if you send one to him, he'll wear it here on the podcast and and you might get some free advertising. But I'll wear it probably more than on the podcast. I'll wear it alongside of my Dallas Cowboys hoodie. Well, take that in consideration when you think about the hoodie that you're going to send. Hey, we're not here today to talk about hoodies. we're here to talk about the word of the Lord, and just for another week or two, we're still in this series on types and shadows, kind of looking At how the Old Testament points us forward to Jesus Christ and the Messiah in the New Testament, Jesus Christ who is the Messiah in the New Testament. And so today we're gonna look at the book of Jeremiah. in Isaiah and Jeremiah, there is a ton of stuff that we could pull out in these prophecies, and a lot of those a lot of those prophecies that they talked about have been fulfilled through things that God has done in the last 3,000 years since those prophecies were written. However, there's a lot of stuff that they're talking about that we're still waiting on. So we could do, and maybe. Hey, in the future, do a whole series on some of these prophecies. Maybe. But we're we're picking out just a couple of things. And today we're looking at Jeremiah and some of the things he's talking about with shepherds. we know, spoiler alert, looking ahead in in the Gospels, in Jesus says that he is the good shepherd in John 10. And in first Peter five, Peter says, Hey, you elders of the church, be good shepherds to your flocks, in other words, to your churches or to the people that you look over. So we're looking this shepherd thing today, and Jeremiah goes there. in some of his writings. And so Javon's been doing especially some work on that. He's been looking even some some language stuff, looking at some of the Hebrew there that that's going to come out a little bit. If you have any questions about that, give him a holler or maybe put a note in when you send him that new hoodie. But Jeremiah Jeremiah Javon where are we going today? Well I realized that I I set myself up here. Do not send me any dark green hoodies with the bird of pray that is the national day of this country. That would that would be terribly I will never wear it. That would be terribly inappropriate. Please don't send those kinds of things to Javon today. Alright anyway. All right what are we thinking as we look at Jeremiah? Back to the passage. Yeah. So yeah, we're looking at Jeremiah 23. 23. Yep. And I'm just gonna I'm gonna read through it. so the first thing we notice here Jeremiah 23 verse 1 it starts with the word woe. Whoa. Yeah. Not W H O Ray. This is not a horse and buggy kind of a word. This is this is a this is a serious woe, as in like Woe to you. Yeah. And so these when you see that word often in the prophets, this is a prophetic woe. Where we should think of it as though the prophet, so I I heard it staged this way. If if somebody was murdered, a relative Kind of laying out their lament against an offender. That is the kind of emotional energy that's being poured out here by the prophet. He is so in these kind of woe statements, as we're talking, as we're calling it, there is someone who's being addressed. There's a reason why they are being kind of addressed against, as it were. Okay. And and then there's some sort of divine punishment to follow for their actions. So in this case we get right off the get, Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep in my pasture. That word shepherds e Jeremiah often uses it to refer to the leaders who've been put over Israel and Judah. So Is that the political leaders or the religious leaders or just leaders in general? I I think leaders in general. Okay. But often So this isn't just priests that he's speaking to or anybody like that. But it it can also be pretty specific to kings as well at times. It's specifically thinking about the fact that Jeremiah was prophesying to the kings, so or in the time of the kings. So more often than not, he's referring to the kings who've been put over. But it is just a general leader. Gotcha. Yeah. So here we got these shepherds, these leaders, and what does he say about them? They're destroying and scattering the sheep of the pastor. So this is the reason why there is a woe, an oracle of woe coming against them, declares the Lord. Therefore, this is what the so this is not just Jeremiah who sees it, but God is speaking through Jeremiah, right? You got it. That's an important thing for us to remember as we're reading these prophets. We don't just write down the things that Isaiah said because they were really clever. And we're not just reading the things of Jeremiah because, hey, Jeremiah was pretty sharp. Jeremiah is a mouthpiece for the Lord here on earth. And so so yeah, remember here, Jeremiah twenty three, one. This is something that Jeremiah is saying out loud, but it's something that's being declared by the Lord through him. Yeah, thanks, good point. so he says says to the shepherds who tend the people, I'm here in verse at the end of verse two here, because you have scattered my flock and driven them away, and and have not bestowed now that word bestowed is the Hebrew word pak. The Hebrew word what now? Pecod. Pecod. Kind of sounds like pacod. Like well, it sounds to me like Starship Enterprise captain. Picad. Whatever you want it to be. Picad but it means. Bestowed. You have not Picad care on them. Actually, if you look into this word, if if any of you dive into it into a lexicon or something, it there's a it's pretty complex actually. The the exact real literal sense in what this word means, we actually don't have a firm grasp on. But what we do know is it has to some kind of connotation of attending to or keeping after, giving a special attention to. Okay. In the positive. But you can also be in the negative. And Jeremiah cleverly uses it both ways here. Okay. He says, you have not bestowed care on them. So they have not taken attention to the the people that have been put in their care. So what does God say? I, so now we've shifted. I will bestow that same word, punishment, on you for the evil you have done. So you have not pechad care on them, I will pechad punishment on you. Yeah. So yeah. And I will I will take care of taking care of your evil deeds that you've done. Okay. I am going to take care of punishing you for that. I myself, he says in verse 3, will gather the remnant of the flo of my flock. So now God's doing this. I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I've driven them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. That sounds like Genesis chapter two. Promise to Abraham, exactly. And I will place shepherds, plural, notice, over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor pachad, nor will they not be attended to or taken care of. They they these shepherds will come and they will do what you have failed to do previously. So and notice again, so there's this promise now of shepherds, plural, shepherds to come, but then declares the Lord verse 5. Now we get this shift. to a salvation promise. We're kind of going away from the woe here and shifting into a salvation promise. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In the days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. So we there was like a kind of Jeremia tapped into that Abrahamic covenant. Now he's tapping into the Davidic covenant by talking about this righteous branch that's going to come. And that word for branch kind of implies a sprout that's being brought up for the purpose of fulfillment or salvation. So there's this one to come that God is bringing about that He will bring this righteous remnant back together, and He He will establish justice and and and righteousness in the land. and I'm gonna read, do you have what is your version there? In verse six, I am reading this is the NIV. NIV. Okay. Well, Go ahead read that. Let me let me let gather myself. Go to Yeah. So in his days, Judah will be saved. This is Jeremiah twenty three, six. In his days, this is the king who will reign wisely, the branch that comes up from David. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called the Lord our righteous Savior. Now, the interesting note here, so if you read this in the ESV, it would just say the Lord our righteousness in King James Version of the No savior at the end. Okay. King James Version does the same thing. this is one of the ways I would encourage you, so not all of us obviously can know know the languages. But one of the things that can give us, it's a beautiful thing about the English language. We have so many translations. Right. One of the things that can help us is when we read a passage and we try to study it really closely, read it in different translations. Sure. Because the changes of words can sometimes cue you into things. why does one say this? One does say other. Then then look at your commentaries, talk to your pastor, whatever it be, and and see if anybody comments on well, this is why. Or just look it up. Sometimes too. if you look it up online, there's there's websites or whatever, but you gotta be careful. Obviously, you've got to be careful who you're getting your information from. But my point being, when we're studying God's word, let's, let's, if you, it could be helpful, even if you don't know the language, if you don't know the languages, to look up the different translations, the way different people have have brought it about. So the thing here, the Lord, our righteous savior, the word savior is actually not in. the original text. Okay. But the NIV is taking a translation liberty, as it were, because they know this is talking about Jesus. So it's kind of trying to point you out to that. And so the NIV is using the word righteous as an adjective. The ESV and some others use righteousness as the noun here. This is but but yet what's this all pointing to? This is the name of the king who will reign wisely. This is pointing towards Jesus. Pointing towards Jesus. Now the one thing you lose with that savior, so in the Hebrew that's The word is Yahweh Tzadiq. So our Lord, Lord, our righteousness. Zadik knew, so it's got a personal pronoun at the end, but Lord, our righteousness. There was a king, Zedekiah, which is when this prophecy was made. King Zedekiah, his name means the opposite of that. Zadik, Yahweh. the Lord, or sorry, righteousness, my righteousness is the Lord. versus this saying, The Lord is our righteousness. The the a point of emphasis being I was gonna get us down get us down to the bottom of it. This is this is fun, but what's the right what's Jeremiah really saying to us? Yeah, so the the point being the prophet's almost making a play on think about Zedekiah. Zedekiah was a wicked king, he was the last king of of Judah. Now there was a a situation where the king before him got captured, but that that doesn't matter here. politics happened then too. They did. Okay. And so this king, he was wicked, and and Zedekiah reigned when he was the last king when Babylon came in, conquered Jerusalem, des you know reigned over Jerusalem and came against the temple. And and here looking at this evil and wicked king who could not lead the people in the right direction. This rotten shepherd. Right. Jeremiah is pointing to one who will come, who will give us, who will be righteousness for us, which is a proclamation that we know Paul makes about Christ. We are not righteous in our own. No earthly king, no earthly leader can give us righteousness. It is, and we are not righteous on our own. Right. But it's through Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We receive his righteousness on our behalf to have right standing before God. So that's what that play on the king is. Became sin, who knew no sin, that we might become his righteousness. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's a I like that song. this is why we sing songs in church, so we can remember the things that are true and good. Right, right. Yes, exactly right. So back it up now. What where does this all connect? We we were pointing to Jesus, but also in John ten, verse eleven and fourteen, Jesus calls himself the good shepherd. And in that passage he talks about how he laid down his life for the sheep. We know that the Bible talks about Jesus being that ultimate good shepherd, that leader that's appointed over the people, over the flock, who will lead them in in paths of righteousness. I'm kind of tapping on a s popular psalm. Right, right. you know, he will lead them through. You the valley of the shadow of death. He will he will be the perfect shepherd. But then there's also these, remember these shepherds that were prophesied. So what what do you you have something about shepherds in the New Testament? What's kind of fun is in First Peter. Now remember, Peter was perhaps Jesus' closest disciple as far as how how dedicated he was to him when Jesus was alive. Peter didn't understand everything. Peter made mistakes. He was a human person. But it's interesting when Peter writes to the church later on, 1 Peter 5, he says, to the elders among you. Now he's kind of addressing this. Is kind of the last chunk of his letter. He says, To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings who will also share in the glory to be revealed. So he says, Look, elders, I'm talking to you as an elder, and there are some of us alive now. There are folks alive now who are elders in churches, right? We've been called to that. Here's what he says Elders, 1 Peter 5 2, be shepherds. Of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them. So again, here's this shepherd. Illusion. So praise God that we have Jesus, the perfect shepherd. But now we also have this instruction that there are still shepherds, not perfect, not not the same kind of righteousness as Jesus, but still shepherds who are functioning under the authority of Jesus. He says, Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them, not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be, not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples of Of God's flock. And then he says, When the chief shepherd, that is Jesus, when he appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. So there's some pretty specific instruction here from Peter, who received his instruction from the chief shepherd. He says, Care for the flock under your care. That is your church, that is the folks who gather under your teaching, that is those who are under your responsibility. Not because you have to, but because you're willing. Not to pursue dishonest gain, but ready to serve. Not to lord it over them as some kind of big shot, but just as being an example. And so here in 1 Peter 5, we see some of this same language being poured out that woe to you, poor shepherds. We are looking forward to a perfect shepherd. That's what Jeremiah tells us, right? And now here in 1 Peter 5, we're seeing, in light of the fact that we have received a perfect shepherd, Jesus Christ, John 10, in light of the fact that we've received a shepherd, be a shepherd. Shepherd in that same kind of mold as you care for people until he comes back. We've got a stewardship thing happening here. That's pretty cool stuff. Yeah. Really neat stuff as we see what Jeremiah has done. So, all of this. What is the question that rings? And I think for me, when we think about there are these poor shepherds that led the people astray that Jeremiah is talking about. There's also shepherds that God is bringing up to reflect the ultimate shepherd. Who is your shepherd? Is the question that rings in my head. Yeah. If you are part of the body of Christ, God does raise up people to shepherd you. To influence you, to lead you, to serve you, to guide you. Right. And like you said, they're not perfect. But there's still is there still is a level of there will be people who will be raised up in the church, and there should be people who are shepherding you. And shepherding is not just a a cold thing. Right. It's very relational. And I think of in today's world there are a lot of leaders that we even see human leaders that end up falling, failing. Right. And no one's perfect. Both in the church and outside of the church, right? Right. No one's perfect. And so I think we need to be careful that we don't look at those shepherds in our lives as the ultimate shepherd, right? Because Jesus is the ultimate shepherd. But we can do that very easily, right? we get fascinated by our heroes. Right. The the the amazing preachers, the amazing teachers. We have access to so many of them. Right. you know, we can we can kind of put all of our all of our listening energy in that basket pretty quickly because they kind of scratch an itch. They they say the things we like to hear. Some of them are fantastic and they're pre any sense of to whom they're accountable. Well and that's and that's the thing too is like this shepherding is relational. Jesus Jesus has relationship with us. Yeah. We can listen to people and folks and and have really good input given into our lives. But it should it cannot be a replacement for a small group leader, a pastor, a mentor, people who know you and and are invested in shepherding and guiding you because God has put them in that place. And Your life. Yeah. That's that's one of those things in Jeremiah. It doesn't say these shepherds just self-proclaim themselves. God's bringing them to up, God's calling them up. So I think when you think about your life, who are your shepherds? Who are the people that are guiding you? And are there people who you are relating to relationally that know you, that can shepherd you? What do you have a mentor, a pastor, a small group leader that you are relating to at a very deep level who can shepherd? and guide you. And again, it's not to make them your savior. Christ is your savior. But God has commissioned people to do part of his work with his flock. Amen. That's that's one of the areas where I feel like I've been historically where I've been so blessed is that I have sat under the care, not just under the teaching, but under the care of so many wonderful shepherds. when I was a kid, but even as an adult and as a pastor, just other men who've invested in me, who have loved me, who have who have educated me. And you know, I I I understand the value of a good shepherd. Of course I understand the saving power of the perfect shepherd, but you know, thank you. Thank you, God, for the good shepherds. And for those of you who are listening online today, pray for your shepherds. pray for strength and protection and healing for them. and thank God for the good ones and Let's leave leave the bad shepherds in God's hand too, because we know that God will deliver the woe that needs to be. All right. hey Javon, this has been fun today talking about these shepherds in Jeremiah. I enjoyed it. Thanks for thanks for bringing the study. And yeah, just a reminder to stop by Waterway Church this week. Well, and actually one thing I was thinking to mention to you guys. So so we have the next Sunday, tell me if I'm wrong here. Next Sunday, we got a Road to Mayus sermon this Sunday. Then you're September sixth, we've a Road to Emmaus and then we've got a We're transitioning into a new sermon series, which we don't need to announce just yet. But the podcast is gonna be transitioning with that with that sermon series. And one of the things you will hear more information about, we wanna field questions. Yeah. And more specifically questions related to sermons that are preached at Waterway Church. So just keep that in your mind. Be ready to hear some information about how and when and where to submit questions so that we can talk about them here in the podcast. Good reminder, Javon. Yeah, hereafter especially after the middle of September, we're gonna be shifting into that mode. And maybe you have some questions right now already. Right. So them send those to you can send those to Jesse or Javon at waterwaychurch.com and we'll try to talk about them. Can't guarantee we'll hit them all, that's where we'll be headed. Yeah, stay tuned. but thanks for po checking in and checking out our podcast here as we continue down this road going. Checking in and checking out. Checking in and checking out. Well, you know, some You're quick like Jeremiah with the words there. If if the Lord tarries and people move to another language other than English, there's gonna be some work to do for the translators. much like we struggle with the Hebrew and Greek back in the day. Hey folks, good to see you. Blessings.

Jeremiah 23:1