He Is Our Good Shepherd
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he drinks the milk and he eats the products and enjoys them, but he’s going to feed and take care
of them.
Well, these guys in verse 2 weren’t doing that. Verse 3 says, “Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you
with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.” They were abusing the flock
and not feeding the flock. Now, look at verse four. “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.” See, that’s what he was saying in 1
Peter, not to be lords and oppressors over the flock but examples.
“And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts
of the field, when they were scattered.” They weren’t protected, they weren’t fed, and they
weren’t cared for. “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.” Is
He reproving them? Is He rebuking them? Yes, sternly, and a whole verse here has to do with
them not ministering to the sick. Verse 4 says, “The diseased have ye not strengthened.” Is He
reproving them? He’s saying, “You didn’t take care of the sick.”
Well, what about Him? Does He take care of His sick? Would the Good Shepherd reprove
under-shepherds like that and rebuke them, while He Himself does not take care of His own? No,
He would not. He is the Good Shepherd.
The condition of the sheep is a reflection on the shepherd—what kind of shepherd he is, and how
good he is. What kind of Shepherd do we have? He is Good. He isn’t mediocre, He is a Good
Shepherd.
Say this out loud:
“He is a Good Shepherd.”
What does a Good Shepherd do? He takes good care of the flock.
What if you grew up in the Middle East or in Africa, or in any number of places where they still
shepherd sheep and livestock, just like they did centuries ago? What if you grew up in a little
village, and all of your life, you kept hearing about this “great shepherd.” You kept hearing about
him, he was legendary, and one day, you heard he was coming through the village. You thought,
“Oh, man, I’ve heard about him, the great shepherd.”
So you go out to the road and you see some dust coming down in the distance. And yes, there’s
someone coming, and there’s a flock behind him. Oh yes, this is him! And the closer he gets, you
begin to see, “Whoa!!! Boy, he has noble features! Fine robes. Ornamented staff. That’s got to be
him! Man, he’s something.” The more you look at him, the more impressive he is, and you’re
just “oohing” and “ahhing” and thinking, “Oh my, my, my! He is something.”
Then you look down at the sheep and go, “Hmm...” because they’re a pitiful looking bunch.
Their little ribs are poking out, and it looks like they haven’t been fed in weeks. There’s one who
obviously had some kind of predator that got hold of him and chewed up his ear, and it hasn’t
