Wanted--A Good Shepherd | Zechariah 10 | Message 15 | 12/8/2024

notice the title of our series return to

hope that's what Christmas is about

Christmas is all about a world that was

hopeless a world that was in despair a

world that was hoping for there to

be a savior and a Divine healer for us

just in hearing the prayer request this

morning of cancer and of difficulty and

heart issues we are aware of that this

morning we're going to turn again to the

book of Zachariah if you don't have a

sermon outline these gentlemen are

coming forward to give one to you lift

your hand you need it grab a pen find a

pen uh maybe one there as we look at

this beautiful passage from the Old

Testament in the book of Zachariah now

this morning this is a great Christmas

passage I'm amazed at how God often

brings together our regular study of the

Bible over the courses of the months

that are we that we um are studying

books of the Bible to the particular

special emphasises emphases of the

holiday season um I believe that this

message will make your Christmas better

I believe it will make your singing

better I believe it will make your

listen to this your feasting better you

say okay that's good I believe it will

make your gift giving better as we look

at this I believe it will make the

attitude of your heart at Christmas

better as we look and we see this

beautiful passage from Zachariah do you

have your sermon outline it's stapled

together there I want you to do

something with me for just a moment take

it and look at all four pages first of

all you have that front page wanted a

Good Shepherd we're going to look at

several points a little bit of review

but also some key points at the

beginning and then we're going to see

some passages of scripture the Bible

tells us as New Testament Believers

listen to this give public

attention give attention to the public

reading of scripture Christian churches

should read the Bible together so when

we have certain sermons that come along

and there's several passages you're

going to see why these passages are here

but as we do that I want to encourage

you to just Embrace this beautiful thing

of us reading scripture together do you

know a lot of churches get in trouble

because they stop reading

scripture the Bible is everything to us

I mean it is it is the foundation of

what we believe it is it is what lets us

know up from down and for your personal

life when you need the wisdom of God not

only for your own salvation but for

daily life and how to live and to walk

on the earth listen the word of God will

speak to you God has designed it for you

to hear from him well what happens when

we stop reading

scripture the messages of the world

start to infiltrate our thinking and the

values of the world and the fallacies of

the world begin to distract us from the

great heart of God and so this morning

we will read some scripture um look over

there at the Box part where it says

Zechariah 10 do you see that one that's

our main scripture that we're studying

in will look at our pre-work on this

will help us understand the scripture

and then at the very end it'll move very

quickly um we will see some things that

will tie it all together about Jesus the

Good Shepherd that the world is so

desperately needing now the other thing

that I would say to you is

this one of the reasons I believe the

Bible is because the Bible is so honest

about God's

people do you know that in Civilization

after civilization when they record

their history what do they do with

recording their history whether it's on

tablets or on hieroglyphics or whatever

generally speaking do they declare their

failures no they only declare their

victories and not only do they only

declare their victories a lot of times

they will change the history now if you

pay attention to the news we do that in

this modern day as well right before

your very

eyes um there are different perspectives

about that now what I what I love about

God's word is God tells us The

Good the Bad and the Ugly about his own

people about the people that are

supposed to be his the people that he

has blessed the people people he looks

at them and says I love you come and

stay with me come and walk with me and

what do we see over and over and over

again they don't do that and so it

almost makes it look like God is the

failure but what we see when we look at

the whole Arc of scripture not at all

God is the perfect savior the scripture

is very honest and it helps us see well

so the book Go Zachariah that we've been

studying helps us with this and I am so

blessed by this for those of you who are

brand new to us I know that we have Dan

and and Stephanie Miller here former

Deacon uh couple here in the life of the

church they're home and others from up

North are here if you're if you're new

to us this first part is to help

everybody be on the same page together

kind of know where we've been we're now

in studying the 10th chapter of

Zechariah notice this if you're new to

us understand here here's the context of

Zachariah number one the prophet

Zachariah lived and preached in Judah

after Jews the Jews returned to

Jerusalem from Babylon now were they on

vacation in Babylon and they came home

from

vacation no everybody say no no they

were what they were in captivity in

Babylon but God that's right 70 years

they're in captivity God opens the door

for them to go home he changes the

situation that they're under he causes

the leader of Babylon to release them

they come home to a city in Ruins they

come home to Jerusalem and they're

supposed to rebuild the walls and

rebuild the Temple and that doesn't

happen either and that's where we pick

up in Zachariah they are depressed

because they've been home for 20 years

and there's still a big mess where the

temple used to be so look at number two

initially the nation was discouraged

because Jerusalem and the temple were

not rebuilt number three Zachariah

preached God's message to them and what

was his message to them read it out loud

with me return to me and I will return

to you so just like when they left Egypt

a thousand years before they still had

problems with obedience they left Egypt

after the 10 plagues God miraculously

moved in fact after that final one where

the death angel came and he took the

firstborn of the Egyptians the Egyptians

were like get out out of here they come

with their gold they give them their

gold and send them out of Egypt so God

miraculously delivers them and just a

few days later they're complaining in

the desert and then a few days after

that Pharaoh's Army changes its mind is

coming after them the walls of water on

each side there in the Red Sea they pass

through in dry ground miraculously they

get to the other side Pharaoh's Army

comes in and God closes up the sea over

them destroys their enemy before their

very eyes and yet just a few days later

once

again they are turning away from the

Lord Moses goes up on Mount Si to

receive the Ten Commandments they don't

know where he is they don't know God's

plan they don't really know what's going

on they become impatient and they take

all that gold that the Egyptians gave

them and what did they do they make a

golden calf like they had seen in Egypt

the Egyptians

that they would worship and so we see

over and over and over again God's

people

failing in this and now God brings them

back a thousand years later brings them

out of captivity in Babylon and even

there they still are sinful they persist

in their

sin my friends this shows us a patient

God is what it does notice number four

here Israel had repeatedly been

faithless and disobedient but God God

kept presenting to them his salvation if

they would obey God gave Zachariah

multiple dreams to preach this theme to

them we won't go into all those dreams

we've already studied them but number

five in chapter 7 we saw that the people

persist with what did we what what does

it say not weak said what does it say

diamond hard Hearts against

God number six in chapter 8 God reveals

that he's going to save his Remnant so

he has this Remnant not all of them some

of them persist in no faith and

Rebellion but there's a Remnant there's

a there's a calling people that are

there and he causes he will cause them

to live in what

obedience that's predicted in chapter 8

in chapter nine we see and this is where

we saw the Lord of the Rings Title Here

The Return of the King the fact that the

king is going to return in chapter n and

this God is going to come and he's going

to claim you remember what we said there

it is right in front of you he's going

to claim his land through his King for

his people so the king is going to

come and it's going to be for his

kingdom now what we see in all this as

well we've made eight and nine are very

important we're reviewing here look what

it says in number eight God

progressively

reveals that it is his master purpose

for creation and Humanity to fully

establish his eternal and divine kingdom

here on Earth his work is perfect

towards that end so God is setting the

stage to renew the world God is setting

the stage not just Israel and Judah but

his great Kingdom over all of the earth

he is setting the stage to do that we

see that not only through the Old

Testament prophets but we see that in

the words of Jesus and we see that all

the way through in the words of John as

we come to the Revelation at the end of

the Bible we see these pictures that are

progressively revealing God's Master

purpose verse or number nine we also

learn the concept of double

prophecy sometimes a prophet's message

not only applied to the the near future

for that Prophet but it often pointed to

an intermediate or look at this a what a

distant future as well so there's

sometimes when there's a a double

meaning a double prophecy he's saying

and notice this verse bullet there

sometimes God foretold a sooncoming

blessing like a good King is going to

come or a victory or to rebuild like to

rebuild Jerusalem but it might also and

more importantly this is important for

you to get if you'll get this point

you'll understand a lot of the Old

Testament the that it's perhaps more

importantly pointing to the Messiah or

his victory over sin and death or the

coming of his what kingdom his eternal

Kingdom so not just an Earthly Kingdom

that is bound by sin and time and the

temporal nature of it but an eternal

Kingdom um that is beyond that again God

is progressively revealing to us his

ultimate Plan of Salvation and so he

does that through prophecies um notice

the last one there the prophets of the

Old Testament are often prophesying the

coming Eternal Kingdom or Judgment of

God or Judgment of God so we see both of

these things happening in their in their

moment in time but also pointing to the

long range and um you can get that as we

go in into this passage notice this this

this block that is here at the bottom of

the first page there the coming Messiah

as the great and Good Shepherd now on

your outline there where it says the

coming Messiah can you just write

Christmas exclamation point above

that because we've just been

singing about Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel

oh how we need God With Us oh how we

need the promised savior and we see in

Zechariah that this is all about God's

coming salvation and how does this

salvation come it comes through his

Messiah and who do we learn that to be

in the New Testament we learn that to be

God himself and so notice here number

one we see this it's all looking to this

great and Good Shepherd God reveals many

things about us about himself self and

his plan through the issue of

leadership God just deals with us we

learn a lot about ourselves we learn a

lot about humanity and we learn a lot

about him when we look at leadership

number two human beings are finite

beings we are limited in many ways we

need

leadership and care

we need leadership and Care notice

number three God shows us our need and

he shows us his heart through leadership

in our lives so when we look at

leadership on an Earthly realm in in a

human realm I don't know how many of you

watched this last night did any of you

see that they

reopened um the the Basilica in Paris

yesterday they reopened in it's called

notam that means our lady I usually call

it Lam which means their lady in France

um cuz I I I'm not into singing Mary

Mary Mary Mary Mary um as you know

there's a lot of Pomp and Circumstance

we're we're told not to worship anyone

except Jesus so I'm very careful about

that but I've been in that building many

many times we used to live in France and

um it is an extraordinary Place

extraordinar beautiful the music was

extraordinary beautiful but I I just sat

there and watched with amazement as the

leaders of the

world gathered for that

ceremony and as I think about this and I

I saw macron is sitting there next to

Trump and Mrs Biden and I mean you just

go down to zalinski they're all there I

mean well not all of them she was not

there Putin was not there but many of

the leaders were

there and I just think about as I look

at that how their hair is perfect their

coats and their ties and their dresses

are perfect they look so

perfect but every single one of them are

so

flawed every single one of now they have

a very high estimation of themselves and

in some regions people around them have

a very high estimation of them but my

friends what we see when we look at

human

leadership is we see how limited we

are we see how sinful we are in fact

this is plays into this notice this he

uses human leadership to teach us about

his Divine

leadership so there's parts of it that

we look at and we see our deficiency and

we see his super

sufficiency number four or generally

speaking God uses three primary types of

leaders excuse me that says three it

should say four four primary types of

leaders in the Bible kings prophets

priests and pastors so a lot of times

when you when you read the Bible you

will see he's dealing with Kings I mean

you look at Saul and David and Solomon

and all the rest of the Kings and then

you look at the prophets we look at the

priests the judges as well but when we

come to the New Testament we see more

the picture of the pastors the plans

that he has for the life of the church

in that and it's very important for us

to understand that the term Pastor

literally means

what Shepherd the term Pastor literally

means Shepherd so when you look at me um

and you say Pastor Andrew you it's like

you're saying she Shepherd Andrew I

don't smell like a sheep usually I don't

always smell good but I don't smell like

a sheep like my friends that are

Shepherds in North Africa where we used

to live as well um they usually smell

like the animals they're with it's very

interesting till they go take a shower

and wash their clothes um but

we pastors you're saying

Shepherd and we see that in the Old

Testament as we're going to see in the

book of Zechariah this morning now

number five is very important

we see both good leaders and we see evil

leaders now to be honest with you we see

a whole lot more evil leaders of God's

people than good

leaders there's and we're going to look

at that there's a lot of

problems with human

leaders we learned that human leaders

are

limited we learn that human leaders are

sinful I mean think about these passages

that I've outlined that are here when

you look at Genesis chap um 6 and verse

5 listen to these words the Lord saw

that the wickedness of man was great in

the earth and listen to this and that

every inclination of the thoughts of his

heart were only evil

continually wow that's a picture of the

human

heart and nothing truly changed that by

the flood that occurred after that we

still emerge from the flood with still a

wicked heart Jeremiah

179 um 1500 years later would record

this the heart is deceitful about above

all things and desperately sick who can

understand it Romans 3:23 says for we

Romans 3:23

have all sinned and fallen short of the

glory of God in 1 John 1 and verse 8

says if we say that we have no sin we

deceive ourselves and the truth is not

in US goes on in verse 10 to say if we

say that we have not sinned we make him

a liar and his word is not in

us so human

leaders are

sinful um every single one of

us now notice the next part here we

learned that human leaders should be

dependent on

God it is their sinful nature that makes

them need desperately to be dependent

upon God they need to know God many

times when we read in the Old Testament

there is a king or there's a prophet or

there's a priest and it says that they

did not know the Lord wow they were a

leader and they did not know the Lord or

they did not worship God

or they did not love God the only hope

for a human leader to do what is truly

right is to know God to worship God to

love God we learn that God is unlimited

and fill it in he is faithful and he is

Sovereign in his leadership that means

there's no one that leads over him that

rules over him he is the perfect leader

and that's the last one we learn that

God is the perfect leader whom we need

to

follow but what we see in Zechariah

Zechariah 10 · chapter mention

Chapter 10 is that it's dealing with

this perennial fill in in this perennial

that means

reoccurring problem of human leadership

and we see its only solution and so I I

I just want you to see this morning

let's take a few minutes and look at how

depth the depth of the problem in fact

on the top of page two write in big

capital letters the problem right above

that at the very top of the page it's

not there for you but just fill that in

the

problem after right below that after

King Solomon so Solomon was not a

perfect leader he was wise and he was

rich but he wound up

um with idolatry and he wound up with

pride and so he wasn't necessarily a

good King and rabo after that comes

along and divides the kingdom because

they weren't paying attention to

everything is there just look at the

screen here for a minute this was all

intended initially to be the people of

God the kingdom of God kingdom of Judah

and the Kingdom of Israel were really to

be one one Kingdom and Jerusalem right

here where that would be the center but

we see after Solomon's rule that is here

with rabam and jeroboam um we see that

there is a split because of sin because

of bad

leadership so God punishes them by

splitting the kingdoms in two and this

brings a lot of trouble for them well

listen to this after King Solomon there

were 39 Kings in Judah and Israel so

there were 39

Kings only eight Kings of Judah were

good that means 12 were

bad so far more bad than good listen to

this all 19 Kings of Israel were

bad and there were also many Wicked

prophets and so we just see that even

with God's we're not talking about the

Phoenicians and the Babylonians and the

Assyrians the Godless people the the

people who had no faith in go we're

talking about the people that were

supposed to be God's people they had bad

leaders Jeremiah would write about this

in his day Jeremiah 23: 1-4 look what it

says woe to the what to the Shepherds

who destroy and Scatter the Sheep of my

pasture declares who the Lord verse two

therefore thus says the Lord the god of

Israel concerning the Shepherds who care

for my people you have scattered my

flock you have driven them away and you

have not what attended to them behold I

will attend to you

that's kind of

concerning behold I will attend to you

for your evil Deeds declares the Lords

then I will gather the remnant there's

that word again circle the word Remnant

remember with me God always has his

people his true

people it's a smaller group it's not the

large group I will gather my remnant

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 fruitful and

multiply verse four I will set Shepherds

over them who will care for them and

they shall fear no more nor be dismayed

neither shall any be missing no sheep

will be missing declares the Lord so

they had a real leadership problem and

here's the promise God will bring good

leadership look at Ezekiel 34 very

similarly 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 what are they

supposed to do feed the sheep but what

have they been doing they've been

feeding themselves should not Shepherds

feed the sheep you eat the fat you

clothe yourselves with wool you

Slaughter the fat ones but you do not

feed the sheep we 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 with force

and harshness you have ruled them that

sounds like a pretty bad group of

prophets and leaders doesn't

it Matthew chapter 7 Jesus speaking he

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

says beware of what FAL false prophets

they come to you in what sheep sheep's

clothing but inwardly they are ravenous

wolves the Apostle Paul would put it

this way he's speaking to the he's

speaking to the pastors or the the

elders he's saying goodbye to them at

Ephesus for the last time and notice his

words of warning here in the new

Testament era he says in verse 28 pay

careful attention to yourselves talking

to the pastors pay careful attention to

yourselves and to what all the flock in

which the Holy Spirit has made you

overseers to take care for the Church of

God which he ordained excuse me which he

obtained with his own

blood I know that after my departure

Fierce what w wolves will come in among

you not sparing the flock so that's

going to be evil leaders are going to

rise up in the church and look at this

in verse 30 and from among your own

selves will arise men speaking Twisted

things to draw away the disciples after

them my friends that was the truth 2,000

years ago and it is very much the truth

today how many churches have dis

appeared because of bad

Shepherds how many churches have left

the Bible left the scripture when you

leave the Bible you have no reason to

gather when you leave the that's what

happens with liberalism liberalism that

starts deciding all the things we don't

believe as opposed to embracing all the

things that God says and after a while

there's no reason to come together and

that's what we see happen when classical

liberalism came through the United

States and started infecting the pulpits

of the American churches churches

started to decline because there was

there was no gospel to live for there

was no gospel to die for it was just

good old moralism be

good that's not the gospel and so these

ravenous wolves that come in leave the

gospel and do not hold on to the truth

and very often for sorid gain look at

second Peter chap 2 in verse 1 now there

were also false prophets among the

people just as there will be false

teachers what does it say among you they

will secretly introduce destructive

heresies even denying the master who

bought them bringing Swift destruction

on themselves so that's yet another New

Testament passage look at 2 Corinthians

11 for such men are false prop Apostles

deceitful workers masquerading as

Apostles of Christ and no wonder for

Satan himself masquerades as an angel of

Light isn't it not surprising then if

his servants masquerade as Servants of

righteousness their end will correspond

to their actions now what that says is

is that those who do that are going to

be judged by

god notice the last one after we studied

the book of the book of John in the life

of our church for about 2 and a half

years we studied the little tiny letter

of Jude at the end of your new testament

it's the last letter just before the

Book of Revelation if you're new to us

from 10 years ago you ought to read the

book of Jude it's just 24 verses long

and it's 24 verses of

warning to you and to me about false

teachers who are going to come in

they're going to become pastors and

here's the reason they're going to

become pastors because they want money

they want sex and they want Power how

distorted and twisted how

evil and this is the reason that my

daughter my own daughter we were talking

about one of her friends and she and I

said well does that does she walk with

the Lord and she goes oh

Dad she's she's been unfortunately as

she grew up she was in one Church where

there was a failed pastor and then she

was in another church there was a failed

pastor and then there was another church

of a failed pastor and she wants so much

to go she wants so much to believe but

Dad it's an uphill climb with

her you see when there is

wickedness in the pastor when a pastor

doesn't depend upon God and doesn't

depend upon God's word as the only hope

it's Katie bar the door on what can

happen and the

destruction that will occur in the

hearts of

people notice here with me in Jude 1

and: 4 this is at the end of the New

Testament and it's not that these false

leaders are coming they're what they are

here for certain men have crept in among

you what unnoticed you see that's what

happens when we're not

careful ungodly ones who were designated

long ago for condemnation they turned

the grace of our God into a license for

what

immorality and they deny our only master

and Lord Jesus

Christ now if you thought you were going

to show up at Sheran Hills today and

hear a nice little sermonette for

christianet who smoke cigarettes you

kind of were wrong

right you tonight or this this afternoon

this morning I could have given you a

nice little cookie cuz it's Christmas

time but I hope you're getting a

stake I hope what we're seeing here is

that the word of God warns us about very

real things and not just warns us but

listen to this promises us good things

very quickly I want us to look look at

this passage in verse three and we're

going to move very quickly through this

the restoration of Judah and Israel so

here's chapter 10 this is chapter 10 and

Isaiah 10 · chapter mention

we're going to look at verse one and and

look what it says this is in the Box on

the page on the left side of the page

look what it says ask from the Lord in

the season of spring rain from the Lord

who makes the storm clouds he will give

them showers of rain to everyone the

vegetation in the field he's saying the

Lord is good ask of him he is the one

who can truly

Reign verse two the opposite of that for

the household Gods utter what nonsense

so the picture is here why are you

asking the household nod God

when you could ask the lord of the earth

verse Two for the household Gods utter

nonsense and the diviners see lies they

tell false dreams and give empty

consolation therefore the people wander

like sheep they are afflicted for

what lack of a

Shepherd my anger is hot against the

Shepherds and I will punish the leaders

for the Lord of hosts cares for his

flock the house of Judah and will make

them his Majestic Steed in battle we're

going to see what that means verse four

from him shall come the Cornerstone from

him the what the tent Peg from him the

what ble battle

bow from him every Ruler all of them

together verse 5 they shall be like

Mighty Men in battle trampling the foe

in the mud of the streets they shall

fight because what the Lord is with them

they shall put to shame the Riders on

horses so the fiercest people on the

battlefield are on a horse those are the

ones who can stay up high enough to get

to escape most of the swords they're

moving faster and with it with a a a

good swordsman on board a a a horse uh

mounted on a horse is a fierce fierce

Fierce weapon on a level Battlefield

notice here what it says he says they

shall be put to shame they shall put to

shame the Riders on horses so even those

will be destroyed verse six I will

strengthen the house of Judah and I will

save the house of Joseph so that's

Israel I will bring them back because I

have compassion on them and they shall

be as though I had not rejected them for

I am the Lord

their God and I will answer them then

Ephraim shall become like a mighty

warrior and their heart shall be glad as

with wine their children shall see it

and be glad their hearts shall rejoice

in the Lord I will whistle for them

that's like a like a a Shepherd whistles

for his sheep or calls his sheep I will

whistle for them what does it say there

and gather them for I have redeemed them

and they shall be as many as they were

before verse 9 though I scattered them

among the Nations yet in Far countries

shall they remember me and with their

children they shall live and return I

will bring them home from the land of

Egypt and gather them from Assyria I

will bring them to the land of Gilead

into Lebanon there shall Till There is

no room for them so they're going to

come back in such great number look at

verse 11 he shall pass through the Sea

of troubles and strike down the waves of

the sea and all the depths of the Nile

shall be dried up and the pride of

Assyria will be laid low and the scepter

of Egypt shall depart verse 12 I will

make them strong in the Lord and they

shall walk in his name declares the Lord

just very quickly and I'm give you these

and then you can go back and read them

more this afternoon verses 1 and two the

Lord is the true God who can bless you

and take care of your needs the Lord is

the true God who can bless you now

that's compared to the false gods that

are a sham they are a complete sham who

make empty Pro promises and cannot help

you now let's just be real clear about

this Israel and Judah weren't the only

people who had false gods that they

looked

to sometimes the people who sit right

here in Sheridan Hill sometimes you and

me can look to false gods that promise

things that are a complete

farce when we are looking to pornography

when we are looking to materialism when

we are looking to status when we are

looking to retirement when we are

looking to a fancy house or a fancy car

or when we are looking to our own

children we are creating

gods that cannot

deliver in the true meaning of life the

true happiness of the Soul or the true

purpose for which we were created those

are false gods and these people

worshiped false gods I'm not am I saying

you should hate your children no I'm

just saying you shouldn't worship

them I'm not saying that you should hate

your work you should enjoy your work God

Made You for work but don't idolize your

work don't live you you heard Johnny say

this morning that he idolized money he

idolized it so much that it not only

deceived him but it it punished him

wound up in jail for it committing tax

fraud you see we can be guilty just like

them of worshiping false gods sheep need

a shepherd and they didn't have one look

at verse 3A bad leaders hurt the people

and will be held accountable that's what

you see in verse

three in verse 3B which is the second

part of chap of verse three on the other

hand the Lord cares for his flock and

will supernaturally empower the flock to

perform as a warhorse in battle can you

imagine sheep running across the

battlefield to go engage uh an army

you would say okay that's like when pigs

fly I mean that's not going to happen

well listen no with the Lord what he

does is he does it so that he can show

his might this is this is like when

Jericho when the people marched around

the city of Jericho and what did they do

they yelled and they shouted they yelled

and they shouted glory to God and what

happened the walls of Jericho came down

not by shooting bows arrows gunpowder

and C Cults but by God and his power so

it might be known that he is the

difference and in fact that's what we

see here notice the next one verse four

and five the Good Shepherd will build

stability and Military might that will

be victorious over their and the Lord's

enemies his presence is what makes all

the difference look over there in verse

5 look what it says there in that second

set it says they shall fight because

what the Lord is with them you see his

presence makes the difference look at

verse six both Judah and Israel House of

Joseph will be restored despite their

sin in God's judgment why will they be

destroy why will they be

restored why because the Lord has

compassion do you see that in verse 6

look what it says in in verse 6 I will

bring them back

because I have compassion on them

remember with me whoever tells you that

the Old Testament is full of a god of

wrath and not of a god of Grace and

compassion doesn't know what they're

talking

about the God of the Old Testament is

the same God of the New Testament that

sent the Messiah and we see him

delivering on those promises in verse 7

that's Ephraim the northern Israel they

had been very very Wicked but look

what's going to happen in verse s they

are going to be blessed and they're

going to be rejoicing this is

amazing in verses 8-10 this is like a

whole new Exodus from Egypt bringing

them to life so that had happened a

thousand years earlier that they were

released out of Egypt but now we see

that another Exodus a bigger Exodus and

by the way this is where we start to

really see the double prophecies it's

like this God God says I'm going to

deliver you and not just from your

captors that are human captors but I'm

going to deliver you from the Captivity

of your

sin and I'm going to set your soul free

for eternal life that's part of what we

see in the Prophecies of the Old

Testament there's this double meaning

it's this double prophecy I'm going to

show you that I can do it physically

here on Earth so that you can start to

believe me when I tell you I'm going to

do it spiritually for your

eternity Jesus didn't come to rule over

the Earth in a physical sense of the

Roman Empire Jesus came to bring us

eternal

life notice this um this new Exodus

bringing them to life that is like

Deuteronomy 30 look at this once again

God delivers them from from slavery and

that's like from Egypt to the South and

Assyria to the north if you read those

verses once again God blesses their land

Gilead and Lebanon were very fertile

prosperous places and that's why it says

that look what it says over there in

verse 10 it says I will bring them home

from the land of Egypt so they had been

captive there and they had been captive

in Assyria so he's going to bring them

home from those look at verse 10 and I

will bring them to the land of Gilead

and Lebanon for those of you you know

unfortunately many of you only think of

Lebanon and you think of beut and you

think of a war torn Place Lebanon is

absolutely

beautiful I mean if I could live

somewhere in the Middle East if there

wasn't War it would be Lebanon it is

unbelievably beautiful fertile rich I

mean there were the Cedars of Lebanon

that we read about in the Old Testament

this is this is what God is doing he's

saying I'm going to deliver you from all

your captives and I'm going to bless you

I'm going to prosper you I'm going to

take care of you this is a good ch

Shepherd look at verse 11 we see it um

God will Vanquish their powerful enemies

and God will humble their powerful

enemies God is going to destroy the

wicked God is going to put them under

foot under his foot in

righteousness and

then the crem deem is verse 12 look at

verse 12 with me look what it says

I will make them strong where in

might in Army I will make them strong in

the military is that what it says what

does it say at the bottom of your box

what does it say down there I will make

them strong where the Lord in the

Lord so something spiritual is going to

happen have they been strong in the Lord

no they keep blowing it just like you

and just like me

but the Bible is saying here that he's

saying I will make them strong in the

Lord and then look what it says and they

shall walk in his name you know what

that means they will have a heart to

obey so God will change their

hearts and then God will change their

hearts and he will give them a heart to

obey I think I left that one out but

it's you give them a heart to obey

very quickly I want you to see this as

we wrap

up so here's the solution we saw the

problem first here's the solution and

this is what Zechariah 10 is all

about so God promises to Shepherd his

people that's what he promises to do and

he is the great and Good

Shepherd and that's what is Promised

Isaiah 40: 10 and 11 look what it says

behold the Lord God comes with my and

his arm establishes his rule his reward

is with him and his recompense

accompanies him verse 11 read it out

loud he tends his flock Like a Shepherd

keep going he gathers the Lambs in his

arms and carries them close to his heart

he gently leads the nursing you this is

the heart of God he is the good and

righteous Shepherd he is the one who t

tends his flock look at John 10:1 17 of

John 10:1

course who is speaking this look what it

says in verse 7 so Jesus said again

truly truly I say to you I am the door

of the sheep all who came before me are

what thieves and robbers does that not

play into what we've just been reading

it was a big mess but the Sheep did not

listen to them I am the door if anyone

enters by me underline it he will be

saved

D and will go in and out and find

pasture verse 10 the thief comes only to

steal and to kill and destroy I came

that they might have life and have it

what

abundantly read verse 11 out loud I am

the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays

down his life for the Sheep he who is a

Hired Hand and not a Shepherd who does

not own the Sheep sees the wolf coming

and leaves the sheep and flees and the

Wolf snatches them and scatters them he

flees because he's a Hired Hand and

cares nothing for the

Sheep I am the Good Shepherd I know my

own and my own know me just as the

father knows me and I know the father

what does it say and I lay down my life

for the Sheep verse 16 and I have other

sheep that are not of this fold I must

bring them also and they will listen to

my voice so there will be one flock one

Shepherd verse 17 for this reason the

father loves me because I what lay down

my life that I may take it up again no

one takes it from me but I lay it down

of my own accord I have authority to lay

it down and I have authority to take it

up this charge I have received from what

my father you see this is the Messiah

speaking this is the promised one of the

Old Testament promised promised promised

promised that he's going to come and

redeem his people and this is exactly

what he does and he is called the Good

Shepherd and why is he good because he

lays down his life look at First Peter

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 pastors are instructed here

look what it says so I exhort the elders

among you as a fellow Elder and a

witness of the sufferings of Christ as

well as a partaker in the glory that is

to be revealed here's what they're to do

verse two what does it say Shepherd the

flock of God that is among you

exercising oversight not under

compulsion not because you have to but

willingly as God would have you and not

for sorrow for shameful gain but eagerly

not domineering over those in your

charge but being examples to the flock

and then look at verse four and when the

chief Shepherd appears you will receive

the unfading Crown of

Glory you see there's a chief

Shepherd Hebrews 11:13 and this is the

Hebrews 11:13

end of the book of Hebrews um this is

right there at the end of it look what

it says in verse 20 now may the God of

Peace who through the blood of the

Eternal Covenant brought brought back

from the dead our lord Jesus that great

Shepherd of the sheep and look at verse

21 what he's going to do equip

you with every good thing to do what his

will and may he accomplish in us what is

pleasing in his sight through Jesus

Christ to whom be glory forever and ever

amen and what we see in all of this is

that there is a good shepherd He is a

good shepherd He is a great shepherd He

is the chief Shepherd and he is the one

that fill it in notice that the great

Shepherd not only saves

you but he also this is very important

enables you to do his

will some people just think I got to try

harder I got to do more it's up to me no

listen Jesus said in yourself you can do

nothing but in me you can do everything

he says without me you can do nothing

John

15 and this is why when you and I wake

up in the morning we need God to be in

charge of our life we need the Holy

Spirit to be filling us with his spirit

so that we can control our tongue and

control our actions notice I'm holding a

steering wheel so that we can do what

we're supposed to do and not do what

we're not supposed to do it is only

through his power that this happens

because that's exactly what verse 21

says he will equip you with every good

thing to do his will it's him so

questions for application today maybe at

lunch maybe at dinner maybe at

bedtime you and your wife you and your

friends you and your children number

one what is the setting in heading of

the world without the coming savior what

is the setting and heading of the world

without the coming savior you ought to

talk about that

today number two how can Zachariah be

considered excuse me how can Zachariah

and you can put on there chapter 10 how

can Zachariah chapter 10 be considered a

great Christmas scripture passage that

would be a good thing for you to talk

about if if Christmas is all about hope

if Christmas is all about the love of

God the grace of God how is Zechariah 10

showing that number three how does our

persistent propensity to

sin or what does our persistent

propensity to sin reveal to us about

God's salvation it reveals some very

important

things that's worth discussing and then

finally that last passage that we just

looked at number four what does Hebrews

13: 20- 21 reveal about our

ability to

obey God friends I want you to

see that the Lord is the Good

Shepherd he has been promised throughout

the Old

Testament we need

him he is

wanted in a world that is messed

up and he has

come he has come that we may know God

that we can be saved from our sins by

the blood of his Covenant he saves us

and he empowers us

amen let's stand together as we go