Sermon No. 2576: Zion's Prosperity
Exposition: EZEKIEL 34:11-31.
The former part of the chapter contains a prophetic denunciation against the evil shepherds—the men who fed not the flocks, but fed themselves—who fouled, with their filthy feet, the waters where the flocks drank, and trod upon the soft grass that otherwise might have afforded pasture for the sheep. After pronouncing judgment upon them, the Lord turns His thoughts to His sheep and gives this precious promise—
Verse 11. For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep and seek them out. The shepherds did not do this. They left the sheep to wander and many were lost on the mountains. But where men fail, God proves Himself all-sufficient. My Hearer, are you sitting under an unprofitable ministry? Then look to the Chief Shepherd and not to the man who is unfaithful as an under-shepherd!
12. As a shepherd seeks for his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and wiil deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I t does not matter where the place is, the Lord will find His sheep. If it is the castle of Giant Despair, He will find them. If it is the worst dungeon in Doubting Castle, He will discover them there! They may have wandered upon the mountains of Despondency and Dejection. They may have been lost in the gorges of some dark Valley of Desperation, but the Lord says, "I will both search My sheep and seek them out." And, mind you, He does not seek without finding! He discovers them, for He knows where they are. Oh, is not that a "cloudy and dark day" wherein we wander from God and know not how to return to Him? But clouds and darkness are banished when we see the light of His face!
13-15. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabitedplaces of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord GOD. There is a blessed state of rest! God's flock are not only to be fed, but they are to lie down while they feed! You have sometimes noticed a flock, at noontide, when the sun is hot, lie down upon the grass and feed while they rest. That is what God's people are to do. They are to lie down in tranquility of spirit. They are to lie down in a state of placid submission to His will, in a state of perfect security—a state, not of idleness from the Master's service, but still a state in which they know there is nothing for them to do for their own security since Christ has accomplished the whole of their salvation! "I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God." It is not everyone of God's people that has attained to this blessed experience, to be able to lie down in quiet confidence and rest—
"Thousands in the fold of Jesus, This attainment never can boast To His name eternal praises, None of these shall ever be lost." Deeply engraved on His heart their names remain. If you are His sheep, yet even if you have never come to lie down in peace, if you cannot say, "I know and am confident," and cannot rest while you feed, it is still comforting for you to feel that all Christ's sheep are His sheep, whether they are lying down or standing up, or even wandering from Him!
16. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away. Ah, one little thinks, perhaps, that there should be such a thing as a poor sheep driven away, but it is sometimes true! A legal preacher drives Christ's sheep away from Christ. A seeking soul would gladly come to Jesus, but he is told that he must be something and do something before he can come. The poor sinner would trust in Jesus, but he is told, first, to get such-and-such a state of heart. He is told, "You are not the man who should be encouraged to come to Christ—you must have some deeper experiencebefore you come." But, blessed be God, the Good Shepherd says, if Satan has driven you away, or a legal preacher has driven you away, "I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away."
16. And will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. Those who boast of being fat and strong, who glory in themselves—these, God will destroy! But the poor, weak, sick souls shall be fed with kindness tempered with judgment.
17, 18. And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. Seems it a small thing to you to have eaten up the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? And to have drunk of the deep waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet? Oh, how many there are, even of God's sheep, that foul the waters! They come up to God's House, where, perhaps, they get some sweet morsel in the sermon, but there are some things in it with which they do not quite agree. They are walking home with some young Christian and he is thinking how blessedly he felt under the sermon, while, perhaps, that old professor is grumbling the whole time and stirring up the waters with his feet! If the pasture is not good enough for you, you should let the lambs eat of it without treading it down! Others like it, though you may not, and if you do not like it, you can always leave it! But what is the use of finding fault with it and treading it under your feet and not letting others eat of it? It is a great crime, says God—"Seems it a small thing" to tread it down under your feet, to spoil the spiritual enjoyment of your Brothers and Sisters? It seems, to some, of very little consequence what harm they do to God's weak ones—but it is not so—it is a great sin to tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures, so you quibblers and critics had better beware!
19-21. And as for My flock, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because you have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad. I wish some people would not thrust so much with side and shoulder in their controversies with their brethren. It may be all very well for a man to be honest and faithful, and push with his horns, but there are some diseased ones who cannot stand rough usage when they are only coming in all simplicity to drink at the Fountain of Life.
22, 23. Therefore willIsave My flock, and they shallno more be a prey; andI willjudge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them. There is only one Shepherd. As for the rest of us, we are only under-shepherds. There is only one Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ—we are simply the men He employs to look after His sheep a little. He is the Great Shepherd and when He shall appear, we also shall appear with Him in Glory. "I will set up one shepherd over them."
23-25. And he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, andMy servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. AndI will make with them a Covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. Those who have seen the watching of flocks by night in the East could give you quite a picture of the meaning of this verse. Sometimes the shepherds will sit down in the midst of bushes and briars that may grow at the side of the woods and, taking some of them for firewood, they will light a fire in the night. And when the wolves come around them, the sheep are quite safe. I have read of this in books of travel—and what a beautiful thing it seems to sit, with the full moon shining down on the forest, and the fires alight, feeling that, notwithstanding all the wolves, the sheep are quite safe with the shepherds there to protect them! So is it with God's people. They must always expect, while they are in the woods of this world, to have a scratch, now and then, from the briars and thorns, but, "they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods." God will always take care of His own, for, "the Lord knows them that are His."
26. And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. My earnest prayer is that this church may be a great blessing to all who are around us—and I firmly believe it will be so, by God's Grace!
27. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. The Jews will know that God is the Lord when they shall return to their own land. The poor tired sinner, best of all knows that God is God when he gets the bands of his neck broken off him! By nature, we all have bands about our necks—it is only God who takes them off. Pilgrim, you know, lost his burden when he looked at the Cross—it rolled away down into the sepulcher. And if you had asked him then, "Is God, God?" "Yes," he would have said, "otherwise, I should not have had the bands of my neck loosed." No man who has had the bands taken off him will ever doubt that there is a God! Let him experience that holy calm which springs from the fact of his having been set at Gospel liberty and he will say, "This is the work of God! No man, no human power could have done it." I can never be an Arminian as long as I feel myself a sinner. I am obliged to come back to this—Lord, I must be saved by Sovereign Grace, or not at all. A single day's experience is enough to take all the self-conceit out of a Christian if the Lord should leave him to his own unaided strength. We best know that God is God when we have had the bands broken off our necks. How many are there sitting here with bands on their necks—slaves, wearing the yoke upon their shoulders? They cannot see it, but it is there, nevertheless. Who is there who can say, "My bands are broken from my neck"?—
"'My sins are drowned, as in a flood, Of Jesus'pure and matchless blood.' I am finally discharged; the bands are broken off my neck, verily, God is God."
28, 29. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a garden of renown. Jesus is "a garden of renown," because you may go to Him at all times and you will always find fruit on Him. That is more than you can say of any other garden. You may go to Him and you will always find the sort of fruit you need. Is He not "a garden of renown"? You will find healing virtue in His leaves and satisfying fruits hanging in clusters upon Him. He is "a garden of renown" because His Father planted Him, because He has food enough for all His saints and a gracious variety for all their tastes! And He will blossom through eternity! Because of the multitude who sit under His shadow and rejoice therein, He is "a garden of renown" to His people, for under His shadow they are begotten and brought forth! The greatest transactions of their lives have taken place beneath the shadow of that old tree, "the garden of renown."
29, 30. And they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, even the house ofIsrael, are My people, says the Lord God. Thus shall they know it. Do you know it? Has God told it to you? Have you the witness of the Spirit within your spirit that you are born of God? My Hearers, never be satisfied till you get this, for you will never be truly at rest until you know that you are God's people and until you can, each one, say, "My God, my God, you are my God"
31. And you My flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD. ' 'However much I may have lifted you up, you are only men, after all. But I am not a man, I am your God," says the Lord. And we rest more upon what God is, than upon what man is, for He, "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask, or think."