Returning to Ezekiel chapter 34. Ezekiel chapter 34 this evening for our Bible reading. Jeremiah Lamentations, Ezekiel, one of the major prophets and we're reading from verse 1 of Ezekiel and the chapter number 34. The word of the Lord came on to me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds. Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks. Ye eat the fat, ye clothe you with wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty Have ye ruled them? And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd. And they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill. Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey and my flock became meat to every beast of the field. Because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock. But the shepherds fed themselves and fed not my flock. Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Neither shall the shepherd feed themselves any more, for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord God, behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock, in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in a cloudy and dark day. 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 inhabited places of the country. And 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 will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, must strengthen that which was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and I will feed them with judgment. We'll end our reading at the 16th verse there of this chapter. Let's just keep the word open, and let's seek the Lord in a word of prayer, please. Let's pray. Our loving Father, we rejoice, O God, of whom we have been singing about in all of our hymns this evening. We thank thee for the shepherd, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we thank Thee for His tender care, His provision for us. We thank Thee that He laid down His life for the sheep. We thank Thee, O God, for the great sacrifice that He made on our behalf. And as we speak of Him tonight, O God, give me the tongue of the learned. Grant, O God, the infilling of Thy Spirit. For this preacher I pray, grant, O God, us to know an anointing unction that comes only from thee. May every heart be taken off to the Christ of God. Answer prayers. glorify thy son for we offer our prayers in and through Jesus precious and worthy name amen and amen if you were with us last sunday evening in our gospel service you will know that we have commenced a series of gospel messages related to various sectors within the farming industry, an industry that some in this congregation are personally involved in, while others may just have family and friends and neighbors involved within the agricultural sector of Northern Ireland's industry. Last Lord's Day evening, I preached a gospel message that was suited for the poultry farmer, and I took as my text the words of Matthew 23, verse 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thee, thy children together as a hen, gathereth her chickens under her wings. and ye would not. Well, this evening I want to preach a gospel message, and I'm sure it'll come as no surprise to you. For those who are involved in looking after sheep, a gospel message for a sheep farmer. Now, shepherding is almost as old as time itself. Although the first man, Adam, was a gardener put into the Garden of Eden, the paradise of God, to dress and to look after that particular place that God had so provided for the first man and first woman, Adam's son, his second son Abel was a keeper of the sheep. Abel was not the only man in scripture who we find involved in some way within the sheep industry. We think of Abraham, had many flocks, Lot, another individual. We think of Laban. Think of Moses who was sent to the back side of the desert to care for Jethro, his father-in-law's sheep. And then we think of the psalmist David, The great writer of the 23rd Psalm, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And how he was taken from among the sheep foals in order to lead the children of Israel. Many in the Bible find themselves as shepherds. By the time the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, the vast majority of people were involved in some way in Israel, making their living from some kind of animal husbandry or agriculture. Shepherding was the most popular even during the time of Christ. And we know that to be the case because of the prominence of references to shepherds and to sheep as well as the many and the multiple illustrations from shepherding indicating to us the importance of the industry, I believe, during the time of the Savior's earthly ministry. For example, it was to shepherds that the angel came to announce the birth of a newborn king. Shepherds outside that little town of Bethlehem, they were the ones who heard the news that a Savior had been born. The shepherds and the hearing of this message emphasizes the humble beginnings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Shepherds were little thought of, It was considered unskilled labor in the time of Christ. They were relegated to the lower stratum of society during the days of the Savior. And so, this theme. The shepherd and the sheep comes to us throughout the scripture, from Genesis right through to the book of the Revelation. But it is to this Old Testament book, the book of Ezekiel, I want to turn your attention to this evening. I want us to think about a shepherd that's second to none. A shepherd that's second to none, but the shepherd that we want to think about is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that Christ is the shepherd spoken of here because of what we read in the 23rd verse of the chapter, and I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. he shall feed them and shall be their shepherd and I the Lord will be their God and my servant David a prince among them and I the Lord has spoken it. Now you need to remember that Ezekiel writes these words during the days of captivity. King David The individual that we know that went out to slay Goliath, the individual that took over from Saul, that David is long dead. He's not speaking here about David the son of Jesse. No, this is David's greater son. This is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And he's speaking here about Christ himself. And so I believe Ezekiel chapter 34 speaks to us of Christ the great and the good shepherd. Now this chapter is a chapter of contrast. There is a contrast between the false shepherds of Ezekiel's day and the nation of Israel and the true, the great and the good shepherd, Christ himself. These false shepherds have charges brought against them by God. Charges with respect to their sin. Two charges with respect to sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of commission being those things that they had done And then the sins of omission being those things that they had feel to do. Greediness, selfishness, cruelty, violence were all stamped upon their actions. They fed themselves. They fed themselves with the fat of the flock. were taking from the flock the best of the animal and butchering it and enjoying the festival of food that was received from such a fat ram. And they also clothed themselves with the wool received from even the fleece of that sheep. They had ruled with cruelty, with force. There was no compassion for the sheep. No, rather, they were ruthless. no care, no heart, no concern, no compassion, as they ruled the flock. But Ned, there was the sins of omission. Yes, those sins of commission, the things they did, but what about the things that they did not do? We read of them in the verse number four, the disease have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. So careless, so unconcerned were they for the sheep that they allowed them to be scattered. They were scattered here, there, and yonder. Verse 5 and 6, and they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill. Yea, my flock was scattered upon the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. In response to their negligent care, God, God intervenes. God declares that he would take up their case and that he would become a shepherd to such ones. Tonight we want to look then at what this shepherd, this good shepherd, this true shepherd, what he does for his sheep, what he does for those who already belong to him and yet have wandered far away, and then for those who are not yet his sheep, who have not yet come under his tender care, what he will do for you, even in the gospel. I've entitled then this gospel message quite simply, Christ the Shepherd Extraordinaire. Christ the Shepherd Extraordinaire. The first thing that Christ the Shepherd Extraordinaire does is that he seeks his sheep. He seeks his sheep. Now that truth is emphasized time and time again within the chapter. If you look at the verse 11 and the verse number 12, you'll see that to be the case. For we read, Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep. We'll deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in a cloudy and in a dark day. God declared that he will both search and seek out his sheep. The word search that we have in the verse number 11 speaks of a search with care. It is a searching with care. This is no casual searching of the sheep that's happening here, rather this search is marked by care on the part of the shepherd extraordinaire. God's seeking of his sheep is again affirmed in the verse number 16 when he states, I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away. This need for a searching, This need for a seeking, it brings to our thoughts and our attention the common condition that marks both sinner and backslider, for both are lost. Let me explain. The sinner has never been found, and therefore they are lost. Lost in sin. Lost because of sin. Lost to God. lost to righteousness, lost to heaven. This is what the state of the sinner is. By nature, we are born lost, lost in our sin. The backslider, the backslider having wandered from God, wandered so far from the fold of God that they are too lost. Not lost in the sense that they have lost their salvation, but lost in the sense that they cannot seem to find their way back to God. They cannot get back into fellowship with God. No matter the resolve that they have, it seems so difficult for that individual to ever find themselves in the place that they've ever been with God before. I know of individuals like that. Individuals that once walked with God. once served God, once prayed and read and was involved in the work of God. But it just seems to be that it's so difficult for them to ever get back to God again. And it seems to be that they're lost. They're lost in that way. And it seems that they just cannot find their way back to the fold. I wonder, sinner, are you aware that tonight you're lost? You're in a lost condition before God. Like the sheep that we find in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 6, we have gone astray. And because of our going astray, because of our sin, we become lost to God, we become lost to righteousness, we become lost to heaven. Because of our sin, we are lost. A.W. Pink, he said, man is lost in every way. He's lost in every sense, and that's true. Men and women are lost federally. They're lost federally by the accrediting of the guilt of Adam's sin. They've become stained by sin and because of their relationship with their federal head, the first Adam, Adam's sin has been accredited to us and because of the accrediting of his sin to us, we are lost federally. We are also lost effectually because there has been the transmission of that sin nature to us from our parents and therefore effectually we are lost. And then we are lost actually by our own sin. By our own rebellion, by our own transgression of God's law, by our own conduct, by our own iniquity, our own sinfulness, we are lost actually, and then we are lost practically. By the informing of evil habits within our hearts, we are now held by the cords of our sin. And so we're lost, completely lost, needing to be found. needing to be found. Sinner, you're lost. And I tell you back, Slater, you're lost. Because once you walk with God, And once you enjoyed fellowship with God, and once you knew the joy of salvation, but that's all gone. You've lost your way. You've lost your joy. You've lost your assurance. There may be even someone here tonight who once walked with God, and because of your sin, you've lost your very testimony. But it is to lost ones. that this shepherd extraordinaire comes. He searches and he seeks him out. That's the good news of the gospel, because whether tonight you're a sinner or whether you're a strayer, regardless, God is actively seeking you. He seeks you in the gospel. Though you have wandered from His fold, Backslider, He still seeks you. Yes, you, you who have shamed His name, you who have damaged your own testimony, you who have damaged the testimony of the church of Jesus Christ, you who have caused the name of Christ to be blasphemed by your departure from God, He still seeks you, Backslider. And He seeks you, sinner. Though you have strayed from all that is true, and all that is righteous, and all that is good, and all that is decent, though for many years you've walked your own way and did your own thing, God searches you tonight. He seeks you out, and He seeks you out by His Word and by His Spirit. Oh, that tonight you would be found of the great shepherd, this true shepherd, this shepherd extraordinaire. There's none like him. where he pursues you in your sin. Though you bear the scars of sin, thank God the shepherd. The shepherd, he'll pour in the oil and wine, he'll bind up the wound, the wound that sin has brought, and he'll lift you and he'll carry you on his shoulders, just like the sheep in Luke chapter 15. and they'll bring you the whole way home rejoicing. While the world may maybe look at you tonight as a hopeless case sinner, while some in the church would write you off backslider, not the shepherd, no, the shepherd seeks such ones. We have read about them tonight, those that were sick, those that were diseased, those that were broken, those that were driven away, those that were lost, he comes and seeks such ones in the gospel. Oh, that he would seek you and find you, and find you in this meeting, wherever you are, hiding behind some individual with head bowed low, maybe feeling the conviction of sin upon your soul, understanding, yes, I am lost, I feel it. I understand it. I sense it when I go home. I sense it when I stand at the farm or when I'm doing the dishes. I understand it as I drive in my car week after week. I understand it, preacher. I can sense it that I am lost and I need to be found. Well, thank God this shepherd extraordinaire will search and seek you out. This is what he does because he's not like these false shepherds. He allows the individual just to go their own way. Your friends will allow you to go your own way. They don't care whether or not you end up damned. They don't care whether or not you end up in hell. They have no concern whether or not you die in your sin and where Christ is, you'll never be. There's no concern in their heart. Ah, but for the heart of the true shepherd, for Christ himself, he would draw you. He would seek you. He would search you out, or may He find you. Not only does Christ, the shepherd extraordinaire, seek his sheep, but in the second place, he gathers his sheep. These are so simple, these thoughts. Run your eye down to the promise that God makes in the verse number 13 of the chapter. Verse 13 of the chapter, 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 inhabited places of the country. I will gather them from the countries, having found his sheep, having searched for them, having found them scattered far and wide. The shepherd does not leave them where he finds them. He doesn't leave them to perish in the place that they're found, but rather Having sought and found them, he now gathers them unto himself. What has taken them? What has taken the sheep away? It was the false shepherd. No one cared for them. They went their own way. No one watched over them. They decided to have and to do their own thing. And because of that, they're found in the countries, in the surrounding countries. Oh, notice how far they've gone. It isn't that they've been gathered and scattered in the land of Israel itself, but it's to the countries far beyond. They've went into the far country. Maybe that's where you are tonight. You're in the far country, all the suits on, the berry on the heads there, but where's the heart? Is it in the far country? Is it far from God? He gathers them. Oh, guilt and temptation and Satan, their own doubts, their own fears would have driven them from the shelter of the fold, and yet the promise runs, I will bring them from the people and gather them. He'll gather them. How does he gather? How does he gather? That's the question. How does he gather the sinner? How does he gather the backslider? Well, for the sinner, he gathers them by the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of God's Word. I'm fully aware that God is able to use anything to draw sinners onto Christ. He can use the death of a loved one. That's drawn many a person to Christ. He can use some tragic event in one's life, maybe a time of sickness, a hymn, the reading of a gospel tract, the entreaty of a faithful witness. I believe I told you this before, but there is an elder in our Six Mile Cross congregation. He was saved as a direct result of the announcements. He was saved by the announcements. Reverend Greer was a minister at that time. I heard it from his own lips. This isn't hearsay. Reverend Greer was a minister at that time in Six Mile Cross and he was just doing what I did this morning with respect to the table of the Lord. It was Communion Sunday. He spoke there within the announcements concerning the individual who is a worthy partaker of the Lord's Supper, the individual who's saved and walking with God and in fellowship with God and with the family of God. And as that man listened to that little snippet within the announcements, that man became aware that he wasn't in a right standing before God. That he wouldn't be a worthy partaker of the Lord's Supper. That he wasn't saved by the grace of God. And he was so convicted that he came to Christ that very day through the announcements. God so took that word, that challenge to the heart of that man. But I believe that the main and primary means that God uses to draw the sinner onto himself is by the preaching of God's word. Because it is by the foolishness of preaching that God has ordained to save them that believe. It is by preaching that sinner you'll be aware that you are lost. and that you need a shepherd to find you. And without a shepherd finding you and rescuing you and saving you from your sin, you'll die and go to hell. Let me ask all gathered in this house, have you been gathered unto Christ? It is to him that you are to be gathered. To him shall the gathering of the people be. You may gather yourself with the people of God from week to week, enjoy the singing, enjoy the preaching. You might gather yourself with the family of God, but I ask you, have you been gathered on to Christ? Are you a Christian? Has there ever been a time, a moment on life's journey that you've repented of your sin, you've left your sin behind, you've come to trust in Christ alone for salvation? We're really thinking about what we thought about last Lord's Day evening, aren't we? The gathering of sinners onto Christ. How oft would I have gathered thee, to gather thy children, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. God is willing to gather you, but are you willing to be gathered? I repeat the same challenge as last week. What about you, Baxleiter? How is the Baxleiter? How is the Baxleiter gathered again to his or her God? I'll tell you how they're gathered again back to God by having a renewed sight of God and having a renewed sense of his mercy. You see a preacher may thunder, and bawl and roar and may take the word of God and use it as a rod or as a whip to flog the backslider. But I'll tell you, no preacher will ever be able to shout or bawl or roar or flog a backslider back to his or her God. No, no. The backslider must be drawn by mercy. The backslider must be drawn back to God by the goodness of God, which leads all men to repentance. Consider how Peter was restored by just a look from the Savior. Just a look. A look I'm sure That was a look of mercy, yet also a look of reproof. But there was something in that look from his God that caused Peter to go out and to weep bitterly. I tell you back, Slater, that's what you need. You need a look from your God tonight, understanding his mercy to you. I tell you, Spackslider, God looks, and your Savior looks at you tonight through eyes of mercy and love. His heart and hands are toward you despite your wanderings and your failures. Tonight he would restore unto you the years, yes, the years, that the locusts have eaten. And he can do that in this very moment. Where are you found tonight? Where has sin taken you? No matter the distance, no matter the sin, God's grace reaches further than your worst mistake. Because where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. God would gather you tonight, because that's what the shepherd extraordinaire does. not only seeks and searches out the sheep, he then gathers them. Something else, having sought and gathered his sheep, he then feeds his sheep. Look again at Ezekiel 34, verses 13-15, three times within those verses, God promises to feed the sheep of his flock, and I will bring them from the people and gather them from the countries, and will bring them from their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers. and in all the inhabited places of the country, I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be, and there they shall lie in a good fold, and in that pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock and will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God." You know, God had denounced the false shepherds for not feeding them. The verses three and eight. They had not fed the sheep, but having been sought and found and gathered, God promises to his sheep that he's going to feed them. And he's not going to feed them on the scrag ends, in some old piece of marshy ground where there's very little grass, but we read rather that he's going to feed them in good pasture. He's going to feed them in the fat pasture, You know, that feeding, it suggests, at least in my mind, that whenever he found them, there wasn't much fat on them. It seems to be that they had been ravished by hunger. They needed to be fed. Their days of wandering had been unsuccessful, but that hunger now comes to an end. They're brought into the good and into the fat pasture, provided by them by the good shepherd. I put it to the sinner, I put it to the backslider. You know this to be true, but there's been nothing in this world, nothing, that has been able to satisfy the deep hunger of soul. I have tried to feed yourself on the husks of sin. You've took to the feasting at the pig troughs of this world. But nothing has satisfied the spiritual hunger pains within. Nothing. And nothing will. Relationships, money, houses, land, nothing in this world will satisfy. But tonight, Christ, the bread of life, the manna that came down from heaven, he will feed you. and he will satisfy the hungry soul. I know that to be so because of what I read in Psalm 107, verse nine, for he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. He'll feed you, he'll satisfy you. God will fill the empty soul, the one who comes to him in their impoverished state. He feeds His sheep. Something else, He secures His sheep. The shepherd extraordinaire, Christ, He secures His sheep. That's very evident from a little detail that we have in the verse number 14. Notice that we're told that upon the mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good fold. The fold. It's the place where a sheep experiences two things. Rest. We're told that they lie down, the sheep. They lie in the good fold. Verse 15, I will cause them to lie down. And you'll know any animal that chooses to lie down is an animal that is at rest. I often look out and I see the cows out of the back of the manse. I don't know whose they are, but I see them lying down and I often think to myself, they're happy cows, content cows. They've got plenty of grass around them, plenty of space around them. They're not tramping the ground. Those animals are at rest. And such it is with sheep and any other type of animal. Lying, it's a position of rest. There's rest within the fold. There's refuge in the fold. Yes, no predatory animal can reach into the fold. Because in the Bible times, the shepherd, he placed himself at the entrance of the fold. He became the door. That's why Christ said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture, good pasture, refuge. Once enclosed into the fold, the sheep experiences refuge from danger and from death. And God has a fold in the gospel in which he will enclose his sheep. Jesus said, John 10 verse 16, And all their sheep of I, which are not of this fold, them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, just one, and one shepherd. Just one shepherd, just one fold. And whenever we come to enter into that fold through Christ the door, we find just like an ordinary sheep, we find also a place of rest and a place of refuge for our souls. Our sin-weary souls find rest inside the gospel fold. We find also a place of refuge, refuge from coming judgment. Are you restless? Are you seeking rest? Enter into the fold. Come to know the shepherd extraordinaire. Come to know Christ as Saviour. Find your rest in God. Rest your soul in the finished work of Christ, and you'll find gospel rest. Come on to Him, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest. Do you seek a place of refuge? You'll find it in Christ, in Christ alone. Where are you going to seek refuge, sinner? When the storm of judgment breaks, where will you seek refuge? Where will you hide when the judgment befalls this world? When God will come with His holy angels to execute righteous judgment on all those that obeyed not God and obeyed not His gospel, where will you find refuge? There is no refuge outside of Christ, outside of the fold, but there's refuge in God. Isaiah 25 verse 4, Isaiah speaking of God, he says, for thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy and the distressed. a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible one is as a storm against the wall. He's a refuge, a refuge for the soul. And outside the refuge is danger and death, just like the sheep outside the fold. It places itself at tremendous peril. And outside of Christ, You place yourself in danger. Oh, run to the refuge. Run to the refuge, sinner! Sinner, I say it just one more time. Run to the refuge, the refuge that is Christ and Christ alone. Run to the cross. Run to Christ. Yes, the shepherd extraordinaire, he seeks, he gathers, he feeds, he secures his sheep, but one final thing, he restores his sheep. Because of their wanderings, these sheep are found in a pathetic state. I tell you, put these sheep in the market, Take them to Coleray whatever day. I think they sell sheep in Coleray, I'm not too sure. I need to get some nods from some individuals. I'm sure they sell sheep in Ballymena Market. Imagine if you had taken these sheep to the market having found them in their pathetic situation. Do you think many people would have bought them? Do you think many people would have owned them? They would have probably been left in the market. No one would have even put a bid in for them. But Christ, He comes to such individuals, those that nobody else wants, the outcast, those that are broken and diseased and driven and lost, those that have really, they're at the point of death, as it were, really they're good for no one, they're good for nothing, and yet He comes. and by his tender care. He seeks, and He brings again, and He binds up that which is broken. Look at the verse number 16, just to remind you. He says, I will seek that which was lost, I'll bring again that which was driven away, and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and I will feed them with judgment. All the damage, all the sickness, all the injury that was done, because of their wanderings is reversed by the restorative power of the Good Shepherd. The lost are sought and found. The driven are brought back again. The broken are bound up. The sick are strengthened. This is what God does for the sinner and the backslider. The lost are found. The driven away are brought back again. The brokenhearted have their broken hearts bound up again. The sin-sick one that is without strength is strengthened. This is what the shepherd extraordinaire does. That's why I said at the beginning, there's no shepherd like this shepherd, none like him. I wonder, is there a lost sinner in this house tonight? The Good Shepherd seeking you. Maybe there's a wandering saint driven away from God by your backsliding. The Great Shepherd, the desire is to draw you back onto himself. Maybe there's a broken hearted one. The Chief Shepherd wants to mend that broken heart of yours. Maybe there's a sin sick soul. Christ the Shepherd wants to impart saving health to you this evening. There is no case. that God cannot meet. So whether you're lost, whether you've been driven away, whether you've been broken, God can meet you at the point of your need, and He can restore. He can restore you. I can say this without fear of contradiction. There is no shepherd like Christ the Good Shepherd. He is a shepherd extraordinaire because he seeks and he gathers and he secures and he feeds and he restores. This is the shepherd you need. And this is the shepherd that is presented to you in the gospel. Come into his fold. Find rest and refuge for your soul. Come to know the great, the good, the chief shepherd. May God speak to your heart and may he do that for you this very moment. Let's bow our heads in prayer. O God, we bow. We just still our hearts now in thy presence. We're praying for the unsaved individual who knows not this shepherd Oh God, we pray that they will come to know him tonight in the gospel. Sinner, I speak to you now just, in these moments, maybe God has been speaking to you. Maybe backslider, God has been drawing you, speaking to you. Want to renew that fellowship with you once again. Seek counsel. Let me help in whatever way I can. But seek the Savior. Turn to Him. May He save you. May He restore you. He's able to do that. O God, our Father, we pray that Thou wilt take that which has been of Thine. We pray, O God, that Thou wilt speak clearly. speak to the heart, maybe of some individual, not only here, but maybe we'll take this message and download it, and we'll listen to it, maybe as they go out and they look after even their own sheep, as they think about how they have failed as a shepherd, at times with respect to their sheep. Oh God, help them to realize that the great shepherd, the good shepherd, never fails. O God, we pray that thou wilt speak to such a heart and draw men and women and boys and girls unto the shepherd extraordinaire. Answer prayer, and as we've prayed, take that which has been of thine and use it to the saving of the precious soul. For we offer prayer in and through Jesus, precious and worthy and wonderful name. Amen and amen.