Go ahead and begin, we'll see what happens. Good morning. We've got quite a crowd here, but it is 10 o'clock, so we'll begin and see where we end. This is a day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This third Sunday of December is a December of joy, a week of joy. We, as you see the candles up on front, you see a purple candle on your far left that we lit to signify the hope of the prophets. The center purple candle we lit last week to symbolize the proclamation of the angels, the God-man, the one who would come, the proclamation of the angels to the shepherds, the proclamation of angels throughout the scripture, these ones that were made so exalted, so that people are actually considered psalmates a little lower than the angels. And Jesus, the Son of God, became a man. And so Hebrews says that Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, was made lower than the angels. And so we lit that second candle. Today is a candle of joy, where we have the shepherds did receive the news of the angel. And the message that the angels brought to the shepherds was, behold, I bring to you good tidings of great joy. And so this third candle symbolizes the joy of the shepherds. It symbolizes how we rejoice as we anticipate seeing the one who has been provided. the baby in Bethlehem, this one who is the Savior of this world. What color is that? Pink. That is a pink candle. And so, remember, for the month of December, for our Adult Sunday School classes, we are basically trying to think through, how do we see Jesus proclaimed? How do we begin to anticipate seeing Jesus in the Old Testament as we read our Old Testament. Many of us next January will begin back in the beginning, right? We'll begin in Genesis and start reading through our Bibles. And those first 37 books, you know, Jesus has not taken on human form. Jesus has not yet been born. And so, how do we find Jesus in the Old Testament? So, this series has the purpose of helping us to look to the Old Testament to see a rising need for a Savior, a rising sense of here is one that is going to meet expectations, here is one who is going to fulfill, as our Christmas carol says, the hopes and fears of all. And so what our memory verse is, 1 Peter 1, verses 10 and 11. is a reminder that the Old Testament prophets did not fully understand all that they wrote, and yet they did write of our salvation. They did write of Christ. So we'll say 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11, take a few minutes to hide it in our hearts and meditate on it. and go from there. All right, together. 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11. Alright, let's spend a couple minutes meditating on this, and then we'll try to say it. you. All right, let's try this together. 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you? searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11. All right. Wonderful words of life. The Scriptures record this, throughout the Scriptures. the sufferings of Christ, the glory that she followed. This is indeed God's grace come unto us as revealed by the Holy Spirit. And so this month, we have looked, first of all, at the prophets. And in the Old Testament, there are prophets, but these prophets anticipate the final prophet, the Mosaic prophet, Jesus Christ. And then we began to look at the search for the God-man, as we have angels throughout the scriptures, proclaiming the Lord and preparing the work of God. And today, as we see the shepherds, we're looking for a priest for our good shepherd who is the one who intercedes, who makes the sacrifice that we need. So yesterday we looked at the angels, or last week we looked at the angels, it seems like just yesterday. who are God's messengers, our helpers, servants of God, and yet agents of heaven, heavenly angels. And these angels proclaimed the God-man. All right, so today, as we are in the scriptures, please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter two. We're going to see how shepherds see the Lamb of God. Brother Nob, can we go ahead and get the light off up front so that a lot of this glaring off is gone. Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 20. Thank you, Brother Nob. You heard your name, didn't you, Brother Nob? I know. I've got to pronounce clearly. All right, so Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 20. So we have the baby born in verses 1 through 7, verse 8. In the same region, There were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be for all people. For today in the city of David, There has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be assigned to you. You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was, there appeared with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth. peace among men with whom he is pleased. When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known unto us. So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they may known the statement which had been told them about this child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told for them. How do we see Jesus, our Lord, in the Old Testament? Well, we see here in the Christmas story, shepherds. But you know, these are not the first shepherds of the Scriptures. There are many shepherds from Genesis on. And it's helpful for us to consider Who were these men who received this angelic news? Who were they? What were they like? What were their lives like? And so as we try to kind of get a picture of these men, you know, we might be used to, you know, The kids dressed up in robes with a stick as a shepherd's staff, you know. And, you know, those kids come from practice and, you know, they've got clean sheets. They smell nice, like fresh laundry. That is kind of an idealized picture. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 46. Genesis 46. This is Joseph after 20 years separation from his brothers. I think it was 20 years. A long absence, a period of being sold by his brothers into slavery, time with Pontifer, time in prison, finally exalted as a second ruler of Egypt, the Vizier, and his father and his brothers come to him before they go to see Pharaoh. And Joseph offers a little political counsel to his brothers about themselves. So there are some handouts with notes. Brother Noam, okay, I think he left it on the back table back there. But what we see here is that these shepherds were humble. So we're in Genesis 46, we're dropping down to verse 31. So Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, I'll go up, I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, my brothers in my father's household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me. The men were shepherds, for they've been keepers of livestock, and they brought their flocks and their herds and all they have. When Pharaoh calls you and says, what is your occupation? You shall say, your servants have been keepers of livestock. A little bit of nuance here, an emphasis on livestock generally rather than on the sheep. Have been keepers of livestock from our youth, even until now, both we and our fathers, that you may live in the land of Goshen. Notice this purpose statement. Why are you presenting yourselves this way? For every shepherd is loathsome. Gross, right? Loathsome. Disgusting. Loathsome to the Egyptians. What I want you to understand, what we sometimes forget as we see shepherds in the Bible, as we know that so much about What the Bible says about Jesus being the good shepherd is that shepherds, let me say this as kindly as I can, they were low class. They did the job that was not socially esteemed. The Egyptians viewed shepherds as actually loathsome. There were jobs that were respectable. You know, there was a priesthood. There were those in nobility. There were people of power, authority. The shepherds had none of this. They were not anyone with any political pull. They were not powerful. They were the poor. They were the despised. Who got to be the shepherd boy in the family of Jesse, the baby, right? David, the eighth son. These the person that was going for a position of prominence of influence Was not going to be a shepherd right This is some so this what we see here is that there is by their very position their social status there is a really a requirement of humility of humbleness these are the down-and-out these are those without position, influence. Now remember, as we look at the Gospel of Luke, Luke emphasizes, as he records the Sermon on the Plain, blessed are the poor, period. Remember, it's the poor, those who have nothing, realize they cannot save themselves. They need help. They work, but even with work, sometimes there's not enough to eat. These are the ones who are the first victims of famine. These are the ones that are the first to go without food, who are the first to have their children or their loved ones die of disease because they can't afford doctors. These are the shepherds, the humble. And so we see here that they are humble. And yet, they are humble, and you see there in the yellow, they have a low social status, as far as the way everyone else looks at them. But not only that, they have hardship. So this is number two, they had hard lives. This was not a life of ease, you know, where someone's out there feeding you grapes and, you know, you just sit there back on the couch, reclining, having a good time. This is a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week responsibility. The sheep have to be fed every single day. You can't just put them in the fold and leave them. You've got to take care of these sheep. They're not going to take a Sabbath day. They need to be let out of the fold every day. They need to be led every day. They need to be protected every day. And so they have hard lives. They're out there in the rain, in the cold, in the heat. They are out there sweating, shivering, getting wet, chasing the sheep that goes astray. Remember Luke 15. And so they are with, I'm sorry, stupid sheep, who sometimes don't know the best thing for them. And those sheep have natural enemies, wolves, lions, other wild critters. Not only do they have natural enemies, there are people who want to steal the sheep. There are false teachers for people. Yes, okay, so. So these shepherds have hard lives. Think of David. He's out there with his sheep. He's doing his thing and all of a sudden a lion comes out. So what does he do? He kills the lion with his little slingshot. Another day, another attack, a bear, and he kills the bear. So it's not easy. It's not necessarily safe to be a shepherd. If David had been without that slingshot, he could have been killed. Yes, he grabbed him by the beard. All right, so not only was there natural dangers, but there were also shepherds were taken advantage of by others. Why? They've got no power. And so people with power say, you know what? I'm hungry. Give me your sheep. And they say, no, it's mine. And the people of power say, tough. I've got the sword. You've got the sheep. And so we have David, who goes out and sins abominably. And the prophet Nathan comes to him and says, you know what? You've got all these wives. You've got all these women. And if you wanted something more, more blessings, I would have given it to you, God says. But what do you do? You go to the one with one. One what? A little sheep who slept with his sheep, who had pet sheep. And you did what? You killed the shepherd and took the sheep. Nathan doesn't include killing the shepherd. but David killed Uriah, right? Shepherds are easy to take advantage of. David did that figuratively, but also Jacob had that experience with his uncle, Laman. Turn in your Bibles, please, to Genesis 31. Here is Jacob. Running away from home, his brother wants to kill him, so he goes to find refuge, safety, from Uncle Laban. And Uncle Laban has some pretty girls as his daughters, and Jacob decides he wants one of them, agrees to work for one of them, but gets the other. Oops. And Laban goes on and says, OK, fulfill the week. And you can have girl number two, half Rachel. All right. So we work 14 years to get the one girl that he really wants. And then we have Jacob continuing to work for this stinker, Laban. And so look at Genesis 31. Remember, Jacob really is at the mercy of his uncle here. So we're at the time where God has told Jacob, say, bye-bye, go home. And so now he is being confronted by his uncle Latham because he took his wives and left. I'm married to them. I can decide that, right? All right, so Genesis 31, 31. We'll read down to verse 34. No, let's go down to verse 36. Genesis 31, 36. So Jacob became angry and contended with Laban, his uncle. Jacob said to Laban, what's my transgression? What's my sin that you have hotly pursued me? I haven't done anything wrong, right? Verse 37. Though you have felt through all my goods, remember Laban had lost his God. His idol was stolen. What have you found of all your household goods? What did I steal? You can't find anything. Set it here before my kinsmen, your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. Verse 38. These 20 years I have been with you, your ewes, your female goats, have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. So he wasn't paid with his meals. Verse 39, he didn't steal from his uncle. Verse 39, that which was torn a beast, all right? Wild beast, remember, dangerous job. I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of them myself. It wasn't the employer's responsibility. It was his job as a worker, taking advantage of Pierre, right? I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Poor guy, right? Verse 40. Thus it was, by day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. These 20 years I've been in your house. I served you 14 for your two year, two daughters and six years for your flaw and you've changed my wages 10 times. Can we say that this guy was being taken advantage of? Verse 42, if the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. And that was the normal status of shepherds. They were poor. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands. It's hard work. So he rendered judgment on my son. Alright, so shepherds were humble. They had humility. They had hardships, hard lives, physically hard, taken advantage of by others, wild beasts, but that did not stop them from having a relationship with God. Life was hard, but God was good. God was with them, those who trusted in himself. And so even though life was hard, even though they were poor, even though they had no political pull, these shepherds on that hill had a vision of the angels. Herod didn't see any angels. The wise men did not see angels. They saw a star. The kings of those days, Caesar Augustus, No angels ignored the star. But shepherds, the poor, the lowly, the afflicted, see an eternal vision. And so you notice that it was a young shepherd boy, David, out in the hills as he does have the downtime with the sheep. He sees the skies. declaring the glory of God He sees the beauty of God's creation He meditates upon his God he realizes that as a shepherd he has Responsibility as a shepherd. He takes care of his sheep and David the shepherd Becomes a sweet psalmist of Israel And David, this humble shepherd, writes that the Lord is my shepherd. And so what we see here is that David out there in the hills and dales, the valleys, the mountains, he could learn to play the harp and would take his harp to the very courtroom of Saul. And so, hardship is no reason to stop praising. So here we have the hallelujahs, the hosannas of shepherds. Harps and hosannas, we have the shepherd David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the one who is the author of Psalm 23, where we see that even though life is hard, the Lord is my shepherd. He makes me to walk in the green pastures by the still streams. He leads me in the dark valleys through the valley of the shadow of death. And though I go through all these things, I will fear no evil. He's got lions, he's got bears, but the good shepherd is with this shepherd boy. and blessing, and preserving, protecting, and guiding. So you see that second paragraph there. Shepherds could praise God despite hardship, despite their lack of social recognition. And remember, God does well with the humble. God exalts the humble. Here was not someone who was full of himself. He saw his need, his need of protection, his need of provision. And so he could say, the Lord is my shepherd. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still water. The Lord spreads a table before David in the presence of his enemies the Philistines Saul his king and father-in-law His family, his sons, who would just as soon see him dead, so that they could have the throne. So David could keep his eyes on his Lord because of his hardships. Because he could not rely on himself. He had nothing to be proud of. And that was a hell. The shepherds here in Luke 2 receive news of Messiah. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. That is what this purple or pink candle stands for, that joy of the shepherds. Good tidings of great joy. Today is born in Bethlehem a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. So what is it that the shepherd saw? Well, the angels, yeah. But next to what they saw next, the angels were just a, you know, sidelight. because they went and saw Jesus. And it's far better to see Jesus than to see Jesus' angels. You know, we think we would like to see angels, wouldn't we? But we see Christ in here as we open God's word. And so these shepherds, you know, they look at one another and they said, let's make haste. Bali, Bali, hurry, hurry. We've got to get there. Let's go to Bethlehem. Right? And so they went to see what? Not just a shepherd boy, but the one who would be the good shepherd, who would proclaim himself to be none other than the shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. Now then turn to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 34. Yes. Yes, sir. Dr. Lamentations, Jeremiah Lamentations, Ezekiel 34. Now the first 10 verses talk about, we've been kind of idealizing shepherds here, but let's get the reality. Not every shepherd was a good shepherd. Jesus spoke about hirelings in John 10. And here in Ezekiel 34, the first 10 verses are basically, you know what? There are some lowly bad shepherds. Some people who are not in it for out of care for the sheep or honor in taking care of their master sheep know they were in it for themselves. They were going to do what they needed. So Ezekiel 34. The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Now here we're not talking about people out on the mountains. We're talking about leaders. Prophesy, say to those shepherds, Thus says the Lord God. Woe, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves instead of feeding the flock. Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. So here are sheep that should be taken care of, and they're starving. Verse four. Those who are sickly, you have not strengthened. The diseased, you've not healed. The broken, you've not bound up. The scattered, you've not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost. But with force and severity, you have dominated them. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd. They became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered. Through all the mountains, on every high hill, my flock was scattered all over the surface of the earth. There was no one to search. therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord as I live declares the Lord God surely because my flock has become a prey my flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd my shepherds did not search for my flock But rather, the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds. I will demand my sheep from them. Pay it back. Remember the talent, that one guy that hid his talent under the ground, refused to invest it? His master said, give it back. I'm going to require verse 10. I Will demand my sheep from them and make them cease and lose your job your father I will make them cease from feeding sheep So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will notice the Lord says I will From their mouth so that they will not be food for them. I Now then, the focus switches from the bad shepherds to the better. Alright, look at verse 11. Death says to the Lord God, behold, I myself, here is the Lord as the shepherd of the sheep. I myself will search for my sheep and seek for them. Do you think this shepherd will find his sheep? If he looks, do you think he'll find them? You better believe it. He's got a pretty good eye. He sees it all, right? As the shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for my sheep, and will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy, gloomy day. Have you wandered from God? Have you wandered from Jesus? He'll seek you. He'll find you. He'll bring you back. Verse 13, I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the streams in the inhabited places of the land. Who is writing this? This is Ezekiel. When is he writing this? Where is he writing this? He's writing this in Babylon, as one of those scattered sheep. And here is God saying, don't worry about this. You're going back to the promised land. 70 years, but I'll get you there. Verse 14, I will feed them in a good pasture. Their grazing ground will be the mountain heights of Israel. They will lie down on good grazing ground and feed and rich pasture on the mountain of Israel. I will feed my flock. I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, strengthen the sick. The fat and strong I will destroy. In other words, those selfish, prideful people only out for themselves. I will feed them with judgment. I'd rather avoid that guy. Verse 17, as for you, Those who believe in me, those who trust in me, those who look to me as a good shepherd. Thus says the Lord God. Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. Isn't it a slight thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Those hooves just making things nasty. You know how this does. Got all that beautiful green pasture, and the sheep are there for a few hours, a few days, and it's just a bunch of muddy mess. Right? Verse 18, that you should drink the clear waters must you foul the rest with your feet. You're walking around in the water, stirring up the dirt, and that clear water where you can see the rocks at the bottom becomes just a muddy mess, doesn't it? And this is what our sins do to our lives. Dirt. Unwholesome. Gross. Verse 19. As for my flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet, and drink what you dowel with your feet. Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them, Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. So we've gone from shepherds to sheep heaven. Same group. The fat sheep are the bad shepherds. The lean sheep are just the humble heathens. Verse 21, because you push with side and shoulder and thrusted all the wheat with your horns until you scattered them abroad, therefore I will deliver my flock and they will no longer be afraid. I will judge between one sheep and another. Now look at verse 23. This is key. 23 and 24. Then will I sit over them one sheep. Who is this one shepherd? Well, he's my servant, David, the son of David, right? He will feed them. Remember, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, the one shepherd. He will feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God. And my servant David, the Davidic son, will be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken. One more verse. I will make a covenant of peace with them, eliminate harmful beasts from the land so they will live security in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods, I will make them in the places around my hill of blessing. I will cause showers to come down in their season. They will be showers of blessing." Ever wonder where that song came from? There shall be showers of blessing. There it is. All right, so the Good Shepherd. So just because you live in the fields, you know, in the 1800s there was a bunch of artists and writers in England and the United States who were known as romantics. They like rustic things. They idealize Native Americans as these prime examples of peoplehood. They talk about the goodness of the rustic or country living, these elegies that speak of the goodness of country life. Well, there is an element of truth there, but the Lord gives us the whole picture, the ugly with the good. So here we're bad shepherds, but the Lord would deliver from the bad shepherds and bring his one good shepherd. And so finally, as we finish up here, we see the sheep. Fat sheep, thin sheep, and finally, the Lamb of God. As the shepherds go to Bethlehem, they see the one good shepherd. But they also see the shepherd who would make that final sacrifice of his sheep, that final sacrifice of his own life. He would not sacrifice his sheep. He would sacrifice himself. The shepherd who gave his life for the sheep gave his life as a lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, was the baby, the shepherd's son, Derek and Bethlehem. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good, love, and joy. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this proclamation by angels to humble shepherds. of a Savior like them. Almighty God have put on human flesh to become the shepherd of his sheep. The shepherd is our good shepherd who knows us by name, who leads us and guides us, who makes us to lie down in green pastures and clear waters, who restores our souls. O Father, thank you for sending Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Thank you that that little baby in Bethlehem became our Savior by dying on the cross for our sins. Thank you that he rose again and lives forever. interceding now for us, and one day living with His saints to reign. In Jesus' name.