Let us hear what he says in Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. I'm going to read the first 11 verses. Isaiah 40 from verse 1 to verse 11. Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The voice said, cry out, And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. Let's pray once again. O God, our Deliverer, God, our Sovereign, Gracious King, we bow before you and we ask that, speaking to us in the Scriptures, you would speak to us as they are explained and applied. Lord God, may the voice of a man recede and may the truth of God be plainly heard. Lord, teach every soul. Grant comfort to your people, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. God speaks comfort to his people. He sets himself forth, especially in verses 10 and 11, in two very sweet and precious relationships. He is a triumphant sovereign and he is a tender shepherd, and there is no conflict between the two. This is a royal shepherd, this is a true governor of the people. Yes there is much weakness, yes there is much frailty, but God comes in glory to redeem. The king comes for his people and the king cares for the people for whom he has come. The shepherd has a flock, Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. This Great Shepherd, this Chief Shepherd, this Good Shepherd, the Lord coming in glory, Jesus Christ our Saviour has a people who are His by gift and by purchase. The Father has given a people to him and he lays down his life in order that they might be his. They are his flock, they are the sheep of his pasture, they are the people of his hand. and he will provide for them full care. When we read here, he will feed his flock like a shepherd, we probably think primarily in terms of going to get something to eat, but the language of feed here is actually richer language. You might say he will tend his flock, he will care for his flock, he will provide for his flock, everything that is needed. It's the sweeping term for a shepherd making sure that the sheep are safe and happy and secure. And then Isaiah, speaking to us from God, about God, begins to particularise that care. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. In other words, this shepherd, in his regard for the whole flock, recognizes that in that flock there are some who can be characterized as lambs and some who are described as those with young, the nursing ewes, the sheep who are still recovering from giving birth to their lambs, those who are suckling them and therefore have particular frailties and vulnerabilities associated with them. Now in some sense you could say that if we're going to talk about weakness, weariness and suffering, all of God's flock could be described as lambs in some sense and needy ones. But the implication here is, looking across the whole flock and taking account of all capacities and all infirmities, nevertheless, the shepherd provides the needed care. Jesus Christ will take care of each and every one of his people, taking account of their distinct capacities and infirmities. He will do so by his word. He will do so in his ordinances, as we gather together for worship, as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, as we sing his praises, as we enjoy fellowship with one another. He will do it by his under-shepherds, the pastors of each flock, seeking to care for the people of Jesus Christ who have been committed to their responsible oversight. But the Lord Jesus, by these various means and many more besides, is always shepherding his sheep. He is always tending to his flock. Brothers and sisters, there is no moment of our life in which Christ does not have an eye upon us. There is no season of our service in which the shepherd is not taking account of us individually and together in accordance with our particular circumstances and needs. This language, he will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young, implies three particular great concerns that the shepherd has and of which he must take account. It also identifies three great qualities of the shepherd as he takes care of his flock And then the three great kindnesses, as the character and the capacity of the shepherd meets the particular need and distress of the flock. So then, three great concerns for the shepherd, and they're all implied by the language of this verse. Why do you need to gather someone? Because they're wandering. Why do you need to carry someone? because they're weak. Why do you need to lead someone gently? Because they are worn. Christ's care takes account of the wandering, the weakness and the worn outness of his flock. By nature we are wanderers. It won't be long in the book of Isaiah before he underscores that all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. We need to be gathered in because by nature we are distant from God. There is no natural affinity between us as a sinner and God in his holiness. We have no desire for him. We want our way. We want to do our thing. We want our appetites. By inclination, how hesitant we are. My friends, when the Lord Jesus first began to deal with you, and I mean before that moment when you first came to him, As the Word of God began to probe in your soul, did you enjoy that? As your sin began to be uncovered, did you rejoice in that? Did it not humble you? Did it not distress you? Did some of us not kick against that? Think of someone like the man that we think of as Paul the Apostle, Saul of Tarsus. the man who for a long season was kicking against the goats. Christ was revealing himself to him. There were witnesses like Stephen and others whom he was persecuting, who would suffer and even die with their faces toward Jesus Christ. And rather than saying, I've got this wrong all along, how obvious this should be, Paul kept fighting. by ourselves, even as believers, are we not inconstant, unreliable? Is it not my instinct still to wander? It doesn't take very much, does it, to turn us from the path of righteousness and holiness. It doesn't take a great deal for us to be drawn away, seduced by the things that are in this world. Some of them are, if you will, there's an almost neutrality in them, aren't they? Like a child who sees a butterfly going past and suddenly starts chasing it, you don't know where they're going to end up. But if that thing takes us away from what we ought to be concentrating on, then it's not a good thing in itself. But how often it's not the butterflies or the flowers that I turn aside to, it's uglinesses. Sin still dangled before my eyes. John Bunyan's Madame Bubble, dressed up like a prostitute, alluring the travellers on the road. Come and taste my pleasures. Come and enjoy my good things. We are ignorant. We don't have all the answers to all the questions. It's easy for us to take a misstep. Easy for us to stumble. The shepherd is concerned at the proneness of the sheep to wander. He recognises that by nature they are afar off, and even drawn near by grace, still, to use Robert Robinson's language, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. The shepherd is concerned for the wandering sheep. The shepherd is concerned for the weak sheep, those who need carrying. There are some who are particularly feeble and frail. They might be, in this case, lambs. They might be very young in the faith. Now those of you who have perhaps been Christians for many years, it doesn't mean that you are now strong in the sense that you never need carrying, but you think of how you have grown, how you have matured, the things that the Lord God has instructed you and how he's helped you and established you. But go back to the beginning of spiritual life and there's a great deal of frailty there, is there not? There's a great deal of weakness. Satan loves to come roaring in as soon as he can against the lambs of the flock. And we can become weak, we can begin to be bowed down, we can get weary in following. And then you've got those who are with young. those who perhaps are still suckling, those who in the image that we're looking at here may be somehow profoundly burdened and distracted. There's a really interesting incident in the Old Testament in the life of Jacob that sheds some light upon this. In Genesis chapter 33, when Jacob is coming back to the land of promise, and Esau goes out to meet him. And Esau says, let's take our journey. Let's go, and I will go before you. And Jacob said to him, verse 13 of Genesis 33, my Lord knows that the children are weak, lamb-like, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. so vulnerable, so feeble, so burdened, so afflicted. Perhaps we might think of this maybe even as the language of conviction, or perhaps a description of affliction. But these are people who, they're on the edge. Have you ever felt on the edge? I don't think I can take much more of this. I don't think I can handle much more of this. Sometimes that's a spiritual battle, isn't it? Some sin that's been exposed in you again. And you might say, Lord, after perhaps so many weeks or months or years still fighting with this, some temptation that leaves you again feeling vile and foul. or perhaps some trouble that has come upon you in your walk as a Christian, some battle that you must fight daily, some trouble that you have to deal with again and again, and it bears you down, and you think it wouldn't take much more and I'd be a goner. If you were to drive hard those who are on the point of collapse, then they wouldn't survive. And Christ knows the condition of the whole flock. Christ knows the wandering and the weak and the wool. He takes account of the lambs who need to be gathered or carried and of those who are with young. At our best, we're all sheep. Sheep don't have a reputation for strength. Sheep don't have a reputation for wisdom. You don't see armoured sheep galloping across the green fields, do you? Fighting off the wolves and the lions and the bears for themselves, baring their teeth, pulling out their claws, taking care of themselves. When trouble comes, the sheep run or scatter. They need protection. And here you've got perhaps these particular hints of immaturity or difficulty. Lambs and those who have born young, so exposed and so needy. And the shepherd looks over his flock and he sees the needs of the whole and the particular needs of each individual according to their capacity and their infirmity, the difficulty or immaturity that they may be struggling with. Now see secondly the three great qualities of the shepherd that are also presented here. he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm, he will carry them in his bosom, and he will gently lead those who are with young. So here the Lord, through his servant Isaiah, taking account of those particular concerns that a shepherd would have for his flock, presents to us a shepherd who is well able to meet those particular needs. He identifies his arm, he identifies his bosom, and he talks about his way. The arm is representing gracious strength. We already saw it in verse 10. Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. This is a divine arm. This is a symbol of real personal power. This is an arm that can crush the world in its rebellion against God. And this is an arm that is now extended to do good. Gentleness is not a function of weakness, gentleness is a function of strength. Okay, you can't be gentle with a little baby if you can't pick them up. When your children, when you run to dad or mum, even you very young ones, those are your two or three. Okay, you kids, listening now? Great, got your eyes. When you run to dad and mum, what do you want them to do if you're afraid and in trouble? You want dad to be strong enough to actually pick you up and keep you safe. And that's what the good shepherd, Jesus Christ, is like to his lambs. This is gracious strength. He is able both to grasp and to keep those who need him. John chapter 10, verse 28. They are in my hand and they're in my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. This shepherd has an arm that is strong enough to conquer all his enemies. And that arm is now being extended to look after his flock. This shepherd also has a bosom, an embrace. If the arm speaks of gracious strength, here the bosom speaks of great love. You understand the symbolism almost naturally, don't you? How do you hug your children? How do you show affection to your wife? You don't just reach out and take them by the scruff of the neck and hold them at arm's length, do you? What do you do? You wrap them in your arms. You bring them close. You bring them close to your heart, even in that embrace that you give them. Even when you pick up your children and you hold them, they're up here. They're close to you. They're in your bosom. They're at your breast, your chest. They're close. to you and that's the imagery and the language here of the shepherd with these needy ones he has a tender heart and he has a loving embrace he lifts up and he keeps close i don't know if we use there's a an older english word to cherish do you use that word very much to cherish It means to hold dear. You cherish something that you esteem precious to you. This is cherishing language. The shepherd has a bosom to which he can draw in with warmth and affection. And then I did think that perhaps we could talk about his hand. Maybe we could talk about his foot. Either would fit, gently leading those who are with young. There's a way here, isn't there? And there's a way of gentle wisdom, taking account of circumstances. You're going to go on a walk with your children. Will and I have a New Year's walk that we do. Now, the balance is going to shift before very long. When he was young, we would only do a few miles. Now he's older and stronger, we do a lot more miles. It won't be long before William will be saying to me, Dad, we might need to cut back on the miles for your sake. But you take account, don't you? A hard walk for a three-year-old isn't the same as a hard walk for a 30-year-old, is it? And the Lord Christ knows the way that we take. He knows when a way is hard and when we are not well suited to it. Some of you are training for a half marathon and you've got your system in place, haven't you? What are you up to now? Five, six, seven miles when you do a run, maybe then a few less one day, and then you get an injury. Can you do your seven mile run tomorrow having strained your quads? having twisted your ankle. What are you going to do? You might still say, I want to exercise, but you might not be able to run as far and as fast and as hard as you did. Why? You have to take account of the weakness that is in you about the burdens that you bear. Now you have a shepherd who knows your circumstances. He knows when you are, in this imagery, nursing those who are young. He knows the troubles and the distractions that come upon you. He knows every need of his flock and he knows how to meet each and every one of them. And so as the shepherd looks across his sheep and considers how he will tend and keep them, he sees those who are wandering. He sees those who are weak. He sees those who are worn. But he is a shepherd of gracious strength. He has a strong arm. He is a shepherd of great love. He has a warm bosom. And he is a shepherd of gentle wisdom. he has a good way. And those three precious qualities are seen in all the shepherd's dealings with all of his sheep all the time, all his precious flock whom he cherishes. So we'll bring them together as Isaiah does. The three great kindnesses from the shepherd toward the sheep. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. What will that look like? He will gather the lambs with his arm. He will carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who are with young. Everything that is in the shepherd meets all the particular needs of the sheep. His glory is revealed in doing them good. He gathers the wandering and he does it by his arm. He puts forth his divine strength He stretches out his strong right hand. He extends, he makes bare his arm. Isaiah speaks more than once as if the Lord is literally rolling up his sleeves or pulling back his sleeves. He's making his arms bare. As you would if, you know, when you've got a hard job to do, those of us who are wearing jackets or coats or something, if you really had a job to do, if somebody had a puncture and needed fixing, would I fix it dressed like this? I'd take my jacket off, I'd roll my sleeves upright, time to go to work. And you'd do the same thing. The shepherd goes to work in order to gather his wandering flock, to bring them in and to keep them near. His strength is such that he can overcome all my and your proneness to wander. Sinner, it does not matter how far away you may be today, this arm is long enough and strong enough to reach you where you are and to bring you home. Remember how our Lord picks up this imagery of the good shepherd who goes out to find that one lost sheep? What quality does he demonstrate? Yes, there's love and compassion that lies behind the going. When he gets there, he reaches out, he gets that sheep, he lifts it up, he puts it on his shoulder and he carries it back because the shepherd is strong enough to save. the good shepherd, the great shepherd, the chief shepherd of the sheep, is strong enough to save, to bring, to fix your heart upon him. Matthew Henry has some lovely little words on this verse with regard to this gracious strength He will gather them in when they wander, gather them up when they fall, gather them together when they are dispersed, and gather them to himself at last. That's very Matthew Henry-like, if you know Matthew Henry. Gather them in, gather them up, gather them together, and gather them to himself. When you wander, he'll bring you back. When you fall, he'll bring you up. When you scatter, he'll bring you together. And at the very end of all things, he will bring you to himself. He will do that because he has a strong arm, gracious strength. It reaches out, it lays hold, and it never lets go. Then there is this guarding of the weak. He will carry them in his bosom. The Lord Christ abandons none of his people. When we are weary, when we are faint, when we are bogged down, when we are struggling, when we have nothing left to give, he takes all the weight. None of you have seen a sheep lost in a bog, or a lamb on those wobbly little legs of it when it can't keep going any further. or you know yourself what it's like to walk until you, I just need to stop. Now, you might say, no one's gonna look at a grown man, certainly some of us grown men, and say, don't worry, I'll pick you up and carry you. What's that? That's the privilege of the lamb, isn't it? Everyone's a little one to Jesus Christ. He has strength and love. I can't go to my dad anymore and say, help, but I can go to Jesus Christ. When I need him, he is both willing and able to lift me up and to hold me close. He is my comforter by his gracious spirit. He can provide full support with warm affection. Christ Jesus is not a cold crutch that I lean on when I'm about to fall. He's a loving shepherd who wraps me in his arms and carries me and suckers me, strengthens me, takes care of me until I am ready to walk again close to him. His gracious strength reaches out. His great love holds tight. and he gently leads those who are with young. When we are heavy laden with sorrows and burdens, who not only knows the way that we do take, but the way that we should take? It's the great shepherd of the sheep. He knows when I don't know where to put my feet. He knows how to bring me out of a dangerous path into a safer one. He knows how to adapt the pace so that I can keep up. He knows how to lead me in a way which is good for me. He chooses both the right path and the right pace for those who are with young. He gently leads them. If he pushed us too far and too fast, we would crumble and stumble, fail and fall. And so Christ knows how to hold back. Notice that those who are with young, these who may be burdened and distracted, he doesn't drive them, doesn't go behind them and say, go on, go on, move. He goes before them. and he leads them. He chooses out the way that you are able to go in accordance with his gentle wisdom. Again, Matthew Henry, by his word he requires no more service and by his providence he inflicts no more trouble than he will fit his people for. Christ does not demand of you what he does not provide for you. He is not going to weigh you down with something for which he will not give you strength to carry, but you will need to keep close to him that he might gently lead you under such circumstances. His gracious strength reaches out to take you and to hold you. His great love draws you near, holds you tight, and his gentle wisdom will lead you on every step. Everything that we need is the sheep of Christ's pasture. Everything that we need as the flock of his love. It's not so much that Christ gives to us as that Christ is for us. He is the shepherd. It's his arm. Why this image is so sweet? There's a danger, isn't there, in abstraction. There is strength here. There is love here. There is wisdom here. That's all true. And it's wonderfully true. But it's the strength of the shepherd's arm. It's the love of the shepherd's heart. It's the wisdom of the shepherd's way, guiding by his rod and his staff, which comfort us. How do we know that the shepherd is like this? Well, we know because God says so. We know because Isaiah has made it known to us. We know because we've experienced it, if we're God's people. We know because we've seen it in action. Where do you see the strength and the love and the wisdom of God magnified as the shepherd cares for his sheep? It's when Jesus lays down his life for his people. There is strength when he saves us from our sins, when he conquers all his and our enemies. Remember the same arm, the same arm that conquers and rules is the arm that reaches and saves. Where do you see the shepherd's love? All through the career of Jesus of Nazareth, but how gloriously When his arms spread wide to receive his beloved, he shows that he loves them to the very end. Where do you see his wisdom? In coming to the cross, in using the cross for us, and in telling us that he knows the way that we take, and that if we are like him to take up our cross and so to follow him, that he is able to sympathise with us in our weakness, that there is no trial through which we will pass, no trouble that we will face, which he does not already know, and where he, as our incarnate God, is not then able to stand alongside us and to lead us and to help us. our triumphant sovereign, is at once a tender shepherd. There's no conflict between it. The same strength by which he conquers is the same strength with which he cares. The love that he shows in bringing us to himself is the love that he will always demonstrate in keeping us near himself. And the heavenly wisdom by which he has accomplished these things is the wisdom that will guide all his flock every step of the way. Brothers and sisters, what a shepherd we have. What kindness we know. What blessing we receive. So kind and true and tender. So wise a counsellor and guide. So mighty a defender. What do you need as a sheep? Not necessarily a sheep at your best, but a sheep at your lowest and neediest. What do you need in your immaturity and in your frailty? What do you need in your present capacity? Do you not need a shepherd strong enough to gather the lambs with his arm, loving enough to carry them in his bosom, wise enough to gently lead those who are with young? Such a shepherd you have. That should give you cause to praise God. It should give you peace in your soul. It should give you rest in your heart. What a shepherd we have. So do you have such a shepherd? Can you say this morning, I am his and he is mine. I am of the flock of his pasture. Will anyone sit here this morning and tell me that you are so right and so strong and so sure that you need no such sovereign saviour to save you and to guide you and to keep you? You will learn bitterly if you will not learn by what God says how much you need a shepherd like this. And the tragedy is that some of you, perhaps even today, are still kicking and still rejecting and still self-determining, I will do it myself. I don't need any help. It is a sin in you to deny what God says to you this morning. It is folly in you to turn your back upon the good, great Chief Shepherd and to say, I don't need him and I don't want him. You might say, why would he have me? Why would he take me? Can he really save me? Is he willing to care for me? The Apostle Peter, writing in his letter, describes the circumstances and the happiness of those to whom he writes. He says, Christ himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. The Christians who are here this morning aren't Christians because we were strong enough and because we were tough enough and because we were clever enough. We are Christians because our shepherd was strong enough and loving enough and wise enough to find us, to save us, to keep us and to carry us. Is he strong enough for you? His arm can gather in all his flock. Does he love enough for you? He is ready to carry the weakest cradled in his arms. Is he wise enough for you to get you out of the mess and the misery of where you are and to lead you in a good way? He will gently lead those who are with young. What a shepherd we have and what a shepherd you may have if you will repent now of your sins and trust in him alone. Amen.