WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.320 Well, church, I want you to reflect a little bit here. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:11.119 Have you in your life ever experienced bad leadership? 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.800 You've been under a bad leader. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:26.160 Could have been in a local church, could have been in a place of employment, could have been in your own family, your parents, maybe your father. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:29.440 Have you ever experienced bad leadership? 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:36.880 And just seen the destruction and the decay that comes from bad leaders. 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:38.560 A withering. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:45.439 Whether it once was life and there was hope and joy, it kind of withers away under bad leadership. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:51.039 I think most of us can relate to that in different aspects or areas of our life. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:54.960 And then there's the question about good leadership. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:57.119 Have you experienced good leadership? 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:01.920 And think about maybe this is something you haven't experienced before. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:06.959 But being under someone who, their leadership brings life. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:13.359 It promotes you to strive and to kind of pour yourself out. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:24.799 You find the work that you have to do, whether that's in the home or out in the workforce or wherever, there's a sense to be, there seems to be a joy about that because it's a good leader. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:33.359 You see quickly the blessings of a good leader, and you see quickly the destruction of a bad leader. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:43.519 In the whole Bible, I think the whole actually human experience is telling us, one, that we need someone to lead us. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:51.599 But more than just a leader or a coach, we need an authority over us. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:02:02.480 We need someone who genuinely has genuine authority over us to tell us how to live, when to stop doing this and to start doing that. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:07.599 So you can have, you can have a parent, and then you grow up and you can leave. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:26.960 What you really need, what we need, is someone who has a substantial authority over us. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:28.719 Our heart needs that. 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:33.919 Because we are prone to wander, we're prone to do what we want to do. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:36.879 See, we need a shepherd. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:38.560 A shepherd over us. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:41.360 A shepherd is someone who tends to sheep. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:45.280 They're there with the sheep, caring for the needs of the sheep. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:52.719 They gather the sheep together, they keep them from danger, they move them to greener pastures as they go. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:55.439 This is what a shepherd does. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:02.719 And I'm sure you probably know this, but we as people are very much like sheep. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:08.319 If you haven't been around sheep very much, I'm just telling you, you're like sheep, I am like sheep. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.039 We do this, our behavior matches them. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:19.520 And so this comparison that the Bible does, this analogy, is very fitting because we all do behave like sheep. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.439 The Lord knows what we need. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.639 The Lord knows that we need shepherded. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:30.719 We need this authority in our lives. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:35.520 God does not give up on us because we are sheep. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:44.960 As a matter of fact, as we'll see in this passage this morning, the Lord makes three promises to his people. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:50.479 So in Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah was written by the prophet Jeremiah. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:57.919 And this is coming at the very end of Israel's time in the land, before they got taken off into captivity. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:04.879 So if you're familiar with the Bible and these stories, Israel is God's people, and they're in this land called the Promised Land. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:08.800 God was full of wicked, wicked people. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:14.240 And the Lord used Israel to bring judgment onto those extremely wicked nations. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:16.399 The Lord gave them this land. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:19.199 It's a promise, this beautiful land. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:23.040 And right as they get in, they start rebelling and doing what they want to do. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:27.279 And the Lord is patient with them, calling them to repentance again and again. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.959 And then what happens is the Lord says, I'm going to discipline you. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:37.600 I'm going to judge you because I love you, and I'm going to carry you off into captivity, into Babylon. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:44.879 And right before that happens, Jeremiah is writing, and he's calling the people to repent. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:54.959 And here there's this warning given, this judgment given, and encouragement given to the people of Israel about their shepherds. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:57.519 Jeremiah 23, verse 1. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:05.439 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:13.279 Therefore, thus says the Lord the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:21.439 You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:28.000 Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:42.079 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 fruitful and multiply. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:56.959 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, declares the Lord. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:15.680 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will rise, raise up front fr for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king, and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:29.040 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely, and this is the name by which he will be called, the Lord our righteousness. 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:51.360 And then there will be this righteous shepherd given. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:57.360 This righteous shepherd, which was promised to David, to King David. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:00.000 God will fulfill his promises. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:07.759 So he begins that God will judge the sh the selfish shepherds who scatter and destroy. 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:12.079 He gives this woe to them, this warning. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:17.360 I've been nothing but faithful to you. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:22.079 And yet, what do you do as religious leaders, as shepherds of the people? 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:30.399 Well, you oppress, you destroy, you cause the sheep to scatter and flee. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.600 So the Lord brings this judgment on them. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:41.120 I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:45.600 And there is this judgment that will come in this discipline. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:48.240 They get carried off into captivity. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:58.879 And so most of these wicked leaders are going to die in a foreign land, stripped of their honors, stripped of their self-righteous glory. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.720 They're going to become slaves in a pagan land. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:12.879 Here, the God of Israel's people, the covenant people of God, taken captive into a pagan place. 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:18.959 We see this pattern throughout Scripture. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:26.560 This pattern throughout the Bible of shepherds not doing what shepherds should do. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:29.839 Even the best of them fall short. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.440 I think it's clear that Adam was the first shepherd. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:38.559 He was called to steward the earth, to tend and care for creation. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:43.039 He had authority to attend to these things, he had responsibility. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.240 And Adam failed. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:05.840 A people would descend from Abraham and be a mighty nation and be nations. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:09.919 But even Abraham fell. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:18.720 Even Abraham doubted at times and looked to other things to fulfill God's covenant promise. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.720 He was a broken shepherd. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:29.279 Moses delivered Israel out of captivity and through the wilderness, shepherding them the whole time. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:36.240 They're complaining and just throwing a big fit because they don't want to leave Egypt because it's as bad as slavery is. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.159 There's some food there, apparently. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:42.879 They go into the wilderness, they're complaining, and Moses is seeking to shepherd them. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:46.000 But even Moses falls short. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:51.840 Moses cannot change the hard-heartedness of the people. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:10:01.440 You have King Saul, head and shoulders above the rest, called to be the first king of Israel. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:04.320 He destroys his reign. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:06.960 He destroys his family. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:15.679 David, the shepherd boy, kills the giant, is the anointed one, the covenant shepherd of Israel. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:22.960 Yet even David, King David, kills, steals, and destroys. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:28.879 Plunging Israel into chaos for centuries. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:41.200 Into what we know as the book of Judges, which is just a cycle of one bad leader to the next, to the next, and maybe a decent one, and then right back to their wicked shepherds. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:51.600 And here Jeremiah is writing, saying the Lord is going to bring judgment on the wicked shepherds. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:57.200 And yet, God will provide for his people. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:04.960 Even in captivity, God is providing for and disciplining his people because he loves them. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:10.559 So God will provide selfless shepherds who gather and give life. 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:15.279 Bring them together. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:19.519 He's going to set shepherds over them who will care for them, as verse 4 says. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:24.080 They won't fear, they won't be dismayed, they won't go missing. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:30.960 So I think Jeremiah's prophecy in verse or chapter 23 here is twofold. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:38.000 I think one, he's speaking about when he brings the exiles out and brings them back to the promised land. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:45.360 So he's saying, you will be taken, judgment will come upon you for your wickedness, but then God will not forsake. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:47.519 He will bring his people back. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:50.960 And he will put good shepherds over them. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:54.159 Think about Nehemiah helping rebuild the city. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:59.919 Ezra, the teacher of the law, calling the people to repent and to trust God's word. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:01.519 And that's what happens. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:02.879 God does just that. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:06.559 He rebuilds the city. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:12.799 They have all these pagan kingdoms just giving them all kinds of money, which is wild. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.639 Ezra comes and he's teaching, and there's this great repentance. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:21.200 I mean, amazing revival sweeps through God's people. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:25.039 God's doing what he promised he would do. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:29.759 I think the other part of Jeremiah's prophecy is yet to come. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:36.559 Even for us, still, yet to come when God will do this once and for all and completely. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:48.399 But what's interesting, even in the story of the people coming out of judgment, out of Babylon, they've just suffered for their sins. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:50.240 They've been disciplined. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:53.039 They come back and they repent. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:55.120 There's this genuine repentance. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:13:06.559 I mean, so significant that families, husbands who have married pagan wives are saying, listen, we're separating from them and we're following the ways of God. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:11.679 If they want to repent and follow Jesus or follow the God of Yahweh, we're there for that. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.919 But we're following God now. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:19.440 If the pagan wives did not want to follow, they left. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:24.159 Radical change. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:31.759 But even within just a few years, just a few years, they're back at it. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:33.679 They're back at their sin. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:35.519 They're marrying the foreign women again. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:37.200 They're practicing idolatry. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:40.080 They're giving themselves over to pagan worship. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:45.200 They're forsaking the God who has delivered them again and again and again. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:51.279 They're going back to their sin so quickly. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:56.399 They had good shepherds, it would seem. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:01.120 Men who knew the Lord and knew the law and could teach them. 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:04.960 It was still an issue. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:10.240 I mean, this is a relapse on a national scale. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:15.919 And you just you you scratch your head and you think, how discouraging is that? 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.080 I mean, they had the God, the Creator, covenant-keeping God. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:22.320 He brought them out of Egypt. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:25.519 He brought them into the promised land, out of the desert. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:27.759 He brought them, brought them everything they need. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:29.200 He took them into captivity. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:30.799 He brought them out of captivity. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:33.519 What more do you need from God? 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:36.639 You still don't want to follow Him? 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:39.039 You still don't want to obey Him? 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:47.600 Well, as Paul speaks in Romans chapter 7, the law reveals our sin. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:52.559 The law reveals our fallen condition. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:55.919 That there's actually something going on there. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:59.840 That this isn't just a behavior modification. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:07.279 And this isn't just, if we can just get the right shepherd in the right time, then things will work out. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:10.799 And that's a lie that we so easily fall for. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:36.320 If I could just find the right career, if I could just marry the right person, if I could, if I just had better parents, if I just had a better boss or whatever it is, you think if that thing changed or if this thing was different, then I would fill in the blank, be happy, uh, give more money, be kinder, use whatever I have more generously. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:37.840 We have this kind of equation. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:40.399 If I had that thing, then this thing would be true of me. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:50.399 And what the Bible is saying, what thousands of years of uh history in the old covenant is saying is no, there's something deeper going on. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:56.000 What you need is a righteous shepherd. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.879 The righteous shepherd. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:01.519 And this is the amazing thing of the gospel. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:03.759 It reveals the law. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:06.799 There's a God and He's holy, and He created all things. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:12.639 Reveals that, reveals how you've fallen from that in your sin. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:14.639 You're not law keepers. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:17.679 That's the problem. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:22.240 You it's not that you are choosing to not keep the law, it's that you can't keep the law. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:25.279 And deep down, you don't want to keep the law. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:37.039 You might want to behave for a certain way, you might want to obey a certain thing, but your heart is not to worship and adore God. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:39.279 This is our problem. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:42.480 This is the beauty of the gospel. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:46.639 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:51.919 When I will raise up for David a righteous branch. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:54.799 A righteous branch. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:55.919 And what will he do? 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.639 He'll reign as king wisely. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:03.039 He's gonna bring justice and righteousness in the land. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:07.039 This isn't the justice that you think should be brought. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:09.599 This isn't in an inerrant justice. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:12.480 There is no error in the justice he will bring. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:17.759 There's no mistake in the righteousness that he will display. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:23.200 It's not some righteousness mixed with some, well, he's human, he's broken. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.000 This is perfect righteousness. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:27.839 And what will happen? 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:29.279 His people will be saved. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:32.640 Judah will be saved, Israel will dwell securely. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:36.160 And he will be called the Lord is our righteousness. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:38.559 That's what he will be called. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.920 This is, church, Jesus Christ. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:51.920 He came to earth to live this perfect life and to die on the cross, paying the price, atoning fully and completely for your sins and for my sin. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:57.759 Then raising up from the grave, what did he do in coming back to life? 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.839 Defeating death is what he did. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.880 Death no longer can hold us. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.079 Christ holds the keys to death and to Hades. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:12.880 He is the conquering king, he is the branch. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:19.039 Jeremiah speaking of the Messiah to come. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:25.839 See, remember, we typically think about this. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:27.599 We think about the resurrection. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:29.359 We look back 2,000 years. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:30.640 The resurrection of Christ. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:32.880 And that's that's our perspective in the new covenant. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:36.720 We're living in the new covenant, and we look back on the resurrection. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:46.240 But for centuries, millennia, God's people were looking forward to the promised Messiah. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:49.599 They heard about these prophecies. 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:51.680 They heard there was one to come. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:57.200 So out of Egypt in the desert, they hear there's there's going to be a deliverer, a savior. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:02.880 In captivity in Babylon, there's going to be a deliverer, a savior, he will come. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:10.160 The 400 years between the testaments, there's no official prophecy given, silenced from God. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:15.200 But yet we know there's going to be a savior who will come. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:22.720 And when he came, he came in a completely different way than everyone thought he would. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:25.839 He came as a suffering servant. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:33.200 He came afflicted, beat down, persecuted. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:35.759 He came to be mocked. 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:40.240 He came to be crucified for his people. 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:46.079 And through his crucifixion, he would deliver his people. 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:49.119 Through his death, there would come life. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:54.720 Through his suffering, there would come joy, gladness. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:58.480 This is the branch that is to come. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:06.640 Not even Jeremiah could have known fully what the Messiah would have looked like or how he would have ushered in the new covenant. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:08.720 But he knew he was going to. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:20.240 In Isaiah chapter 11, verse 1 says, There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his root shall bear fruit. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:22.640 Jesse is King David's father. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:24.240 Why is it a stump? 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:34.160 Well, in Isaiah, it says the Babylonians are going to come in and they're going to cut off Israel like trees being cut off and leave stumps in the land. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:37.680 Stumps everywhere. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.799 Where's the promise keeping covenant God now? 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:42.880 It's just stumps. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.359 He said he would deliver. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:46.559 Where is he? 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:49.519 But there is a promise. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.319 Even from a stump will come a shoot. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:54.559 A branch. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:06.640 Isaiah 4 speaks in that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:14.640 And he who left in Zion and who has left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:36.880 Everyone who has been recorded in life in Jerusalem, whom the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the blood stains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:41.440 There is this atoning work that's gonna happen. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:44.720 They didn't know what it was gonna look like in Isaiah's day. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:59.759 They didn't know what it was going to look like in Jeremiah's day, but in our day we look back and we see what that atoning work was, the judgment that was brought, and to whom it was brought on. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:06.559 On Jesus Christ, the Lord, the righteous shepherd. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:15.039 And so when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we need to remember: yes, he died for our sins. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:17.359 Yes, he defeated death. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.640 But he is the righteous shepherd. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:31.759 All of God's people for thousands of years past have been looking to this moment to look and see when the Messiah would come. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:41.519 When once and for all, no longer would they be struggling with having the law but failing to keep it. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:50.240 Now, in their place, the shepherd has come and he has kept the law for them. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:54.160 Church, Christ has kept the law for you. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:57.599 And this is the amazing thing of the resurrection. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:01.680 It wasn't just that someone had to die. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:07.519 It's that a perfect sacrifice had to be given. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:09.920 A perfect sacrifice. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:13.200 And you could never be that perfect sacrifice. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:15.440 I could never be that sacrifice. 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:28.559 Only the Son of God could take on flesh, humbling himself, going, living through life, a perfect life, not sinning once. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.880 And every time, every time he kept the law and he did not sin, he did that for you. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:40.079 Because he knew you cannot keep the law. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.960 There wasn't anything left to do for you. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:56.799 It's done in Christ. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:59.440 He is the good shepherd. 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:02.160 He is the righteous branch. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:11.599 We are his covenant people. 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:20.319 And so we're right there with Jeremiah and with Isaiah, looking to the Messiah, having our hope in the Messiah and nothing else. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:22.160 Because nothing else can deliver. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:26.799 Nothing else will bring us from death to life. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.480 It is the righteous shepherd. 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:36.240 And we know that still in our hearts there is this element. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:38.720 We still have this sin nature. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:41.920 Even as Christians, the Bible says we're born again. 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.039 We're given a new nature with new desires. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:47.039 We're regenerated. 00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:50.160 But yet the old man is still there. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:52.079 There's still the flesh. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:57.839 Jesus came to be your righteous shepherd. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:24:59.599 Submit to him. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:03.920 Everything he has for you is good. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:05.599 There is no bad. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:09.920 He will not take you to ungreen pastures. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:15.119 He will not take you where there is no living water. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:17.359 He will not neglect you. 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:21.440 Where you are will bring life because he's the good shepherd. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:22.880 You will not be destroyed. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.079 You have no need to fear. 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:28.640 He will care for you. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:34.640 Follow him and joyfully rejoice in what he's done for you. 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:36.640 He is the good shepherd. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:39.200 He's defeated death. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:42.480 He's paid the price for all of your sins. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:49.440 He's now invited you into his family to walk in newness of life. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:58.240 See, the amazing thing about the resurrection of Christ is it literally happened. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:02.240 Jesus is who he says he is. 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:07.680 And here we are as sheep. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:15.359 We don't even understand barely what the fact that we have sinned and how God can atone for our sin. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:17.119 But it's true. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:22.880 Don't let your doubts rob you of joy. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:25.680 You are not the shepherd. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:28.079 He is the shepherd. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:30.079 So we submit to him. 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:34.160 We rejoice in his care for us. 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:38.400 We rejoice that we are now free from the bondage of sin. 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:40.240 We belong to him. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:42.000 Let's pray.