Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.highlandparkbaptist.net/sermons/96255/the-chief-shepherd/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Well, you can go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 4.

[0:17] ! I'm not going to read it yet. We'll get to that in just a moment. 1 Peter 5, 4. That's going to be our beginning place. And I promise you, next week, next Sunday, if the Lord gives us another Sunday, you never know, we'll be getting back to Luke, Luke chapter 14.

[0:39] So you can go ahead and read ahead and you'll be ready for the sermon next week of Luke 14. This morning we've come to the final message in this kind of short series of messages that I've entitled The Shepherd of My Soul.

[0:57] Jesus, of course, is the shepherd, right? He's the shepherd. And who are the sheep? Well, we are. We're the sheep. And that's not a real glamorous thing to be, by the way, if you know anything about sheep.

[1:11] But Jesus is the shepherd. As Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 25, the passage we looked at at the very beginning of this series, Peter said He, speaking of Jesus, is the shepherd and bishop or overseer of our souls.

[1:32] That is, as sheep, that's what we are. If you have been born again, you're one of the sheep of His pasture. As sheep, everything you need, everything I need, both temporally as well as eternally, both physically as well as spiritually and everything in between, everything you need as the sheep of His pasture, our shepherd can and does provide for us, His sheep.

[2:03] And so He's the shepherd and overseer or bishop of our souls. And so we've been learning this truth by looking at three particular passages in the New Testament that when you put these three passages together, they really kind of define for us and describe for us the full ministry of our shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:28] Now let me take you back to the first sermon in this series. We looked at John chapter 10, verse 11, remember? John 10, 11, and we saw that Jesus is the, what?

[2:42] Good shepherd. At least some of you were here a couple Sundays ago. The good shepherd. He's the good shepherd. And the good shepherd, according to John 10, 11, lays down His life for the sheep.

[2:54] So His ministry is a dying ministry, isn't it? The good shepherd. Paul said in Romans chapter 5, verse 6, For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.

[3:07] Which is an unusual statement. He died for the ungodly. Who would die for the ungodly? Well, only Jesus would do that. In fact, it goes on to say, For scarcely for a righteous man will one die.

[3:18] Yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[3:33] That's the good shepherd. And so when I say that Jesus is the good shepherd, He had to be good because He died for the sheep, I did not mean to suggest that there's something good in the sheep.

[3:45] That somehow Jesus died for the sheep because He saw something good there or lovely there or valuable there or worth dying for there, either now or in the future.

[3:57] None of those things exist in the sheep, apart from the new birth in Christ Jesus. So Jesus is the good shepherd. He died for the sheep.

[4:09] He died for the sheep. And then last Sunday, we looked at Hebrews 13 and verse 20, remember, and we saw the great shepherd. The great shepherd.

[4:21] And His is a living ministry, not a dying ministry, but a living ministry. He lives for the sheep, in the sheep, through the sheep. So He is our great shepherd.

[4:34] He lives for us. He lives for the sheep. And what is the great shepherd accomplishing in His sheep, according to Hebrews 13, 20? He's accomplishing perfection.

[4:47] Perfection. Now, He's not going to be completed with that in this life. It's something that will come after we leave this world. But He is working to perfect His sheep. He's perfecting us to the very life of, in the very image of the shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[5:05] All right, so we might think of the ministry of the shepherd, at least to this point, we might think of the ministry of the shepherd in these terms. The good shepherd dies for the sheep, and so He is freeing the sheep, or has freed the sheep, from the penalty of sin, because He paid the penalty.

[5:22] He paid the price there on the cross. His was a dying ministry. The great shepherd lives for the sheep, and so He is freeing the sheep from the power of sin, which is a glorious and wonderful thing.

[5:36] He is sanctifying us, freeing us from the power of sin. And so the ministry of the shepherd is wonderful, isn't it, and great, and we thank God for it.

[5:47] But the ministry of the shepherd is not complete there. It's not finished there. There's one more thing that He will do. Because, you see, my soul, and I think you would agree with me, your soul yearns for the day when you will be freed forever from even the very presence of sin.

[6:11] And we're not there yet. We have the presence of sin all around us. The good shepherd frees us from the penalty of sin once and for all, and He is ongoing freeing us from the power of sin, but He has not yet freed us or delivered us from the very presence of sin.

[6:33] And that is the ministry of the shepherd as well. And so, if you haven't already, you can take your Bibles and look to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 4.

[6:45] And let me just read this one verse. 1 Peter 5 and verse 4. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

[7:03] And in the context of the passage, He's speaking of elders, the elders of the church. He started with that subject or that particular group of people at the beginning of this chapter.

[7:17] So, we're not going to be looking at the reason why Peter included this particular passage here in verse 4, but only to realize something about the chief shepherd.

[7:31] And so, that's the adjective, isn't it? We've been looking at adjectives that appear just before the word shepherd, and here, what is the adjective? It's chief. The chief shepherd.

[7:44] And so, what will the chief shepherd one day do for His beloved sheep? He will appear. That's the ministry of the chief shepherd.

[7:54] He will appear when the chief shepherd appears, is what Peter said. So, the good shepherd, we'll put this all together, the good shepherd dies for the sheep, the chief, excuse me, the great shepherd lives for the sheep, the chief shepherd is coming again for His sheep.

[8:12] Yeah, hallelujah. We used to sing, and from time to time, it kind of crops up every once in a while, the old hymn, One Day. Maybe you're not familiar with the title of it. It was written by the great, great preacher of many, many years ago, J. Wilbur Chapman.

[8:26] And the chorus goes like this, Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far away.

[8:37] Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. Oh, glorious day. I just love that old hymn, especially the chorus.

[8:48] Now, as we have seen, each adjective, you know, every word in Scripture is inspired of the Holy Spirit, and so we want to pay attention to every single word.

[9:00] And so adjectives are very important, key to our understanding of the meaning of Scripture. And so, in this case, these three cases in Scripture where we find the word shepherd, the adjective tells us something about the shepherd.

[9:13] Good, remember, speaks of the love of the shepherd. Greater love has no man than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends. And that's what Jesus did for us.

[9:23] The good shepherd did for us. So good speaks of the love of the shepherd. Great speaks of the power of the shepherd. It goes almost without saying. The great power and sovereignty of our shepherd.

[9:36] But now the word chief, or the adjective chief, speaks of the supremacy. The supremacy of the shepherd. He's the chief shepherd.

[9:48] As the Scripture says, Chiefest among ten thousand. Literally among thousands of thousands of thousands. Uncountable. That every time you find ten thousand in the New Testament, it's always talking about a number you can't count.

[10:05] Ten thousand was the highest number they had in the Greek language. And so it just means you can't count them. And so he's the chiefest among all. He's the chief shepherd.

[10:17] Now, you know that Jesus has not yet revealed himself as the chief shepherd, has he? He hasn't revealed himself as that yet. Except, of course, in his word.

[10:28] He's revealed himself as the chief shepherd in his word. And we can learn a great deal about the ministry of the chief shepherd from the word of God. But he's not yet revealed himself as the chief shepherd.

[10:39] That's out in the future. That's one day. Maybe closer than we think. But he will reveal this ministry, his ministry, as the chief shepherd one day. And so this morning, I want us to consider the chief shepherd and what God's word says about what he will one day do when he appears.

[10:59] He has some unfinished business to do. His work was not done at the cross. It's an ongoing work. He continues to live in the sheep. But even after this age is over, he has work to do that he's going to accomplish.

[11:13] And he will accomplish that when he appears. So what is Jesus going to accomplish at his appearing? And I want to share that with you.

[11:24] And I want to lay it for you, before you, in chronological order. By the way, I'm going to give it to you as I understand and believe scripture, okay?

[11:35] So there's not always agreement on all these points. But I want to share the ministry of the chief shepherd. That is what he will accomplish when he does appear.

[11:46] Now, last week, I gave you four words that describe the ministry of the great shepherd. And they all began with the letter P because I just love to do it that way. And P, by the way, is one of the best letters to use in alliteration, in case you're interested.

[12:01] This morning, though, I'm going to give you five words that will detail for us the chief shepherd, what the chief shepherd is going to do when he appears, what he's going to accomplish when he appears.

[12:14] And they all begin with the letter R. R is also a pretty good letter. So all five of these are going to begin with the letter R. And here's the first one. Number one, rapture.

[12:27] The rapture. The rapture of the church. Sometime before the seven years of great tribulation. When? No one knows. It's not something the Bible gives us a sign for.

[12:40] Not something that's going to happen to say, well, now you know this is going to happen next. There's no sign for it. It's imminent. And it is the rapture of the church.

[12:51] When Jesus will come in the air and he will call his church out of this world. Every true believer.

[13:02] Out of this world. He will snatch them away. He will rapture them. Rapture them. Now the rapture is mentioned in a number of places in scripture.

[13:14] Some places I think are very clear. Some places are somewhat in cryptic. And I think the first time you see the rapture mentioned is in John chapter 14.

[13:24] I think it's very clearly there. In John chapter 14. Let me just set that up. You remember that Jesus is nearing the time of his death. His resurrection and his ascension. Back to the right hand of the Father in heaven.

[13:36] And of course among the apostles and disciples there is growing concern and fear and anxiety. And of course Jesus wants to have them not be troubled.

[13:48] You know this famous passage. And he wanted them to remain hopeful. To trust in him. And so he gave them and us something to hang on to.

[13:58] To hope for. And he said in John chapter 14 verse 1. These very familiar words. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me.

[14:10] That is keep on believing in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

[14:21] That's where Jesus is right now. He says I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again.

[14:32] That's clear reference to the second coming. I will come again. And listen to this. And receive you to myself. That where I am.

[14:46] You may be also. You may be also. I think it's a reference to the catching away. The rapturing of the church. I remember John in the book of Revelation.

[14:58] The first three chapters of John are all about the church. You have all the letters to the churches there. And then after chapter 3 ends. The beginning of chapter 4. The Holy Spirit says to John.

[15:10] Come up here. And I will show you things that were yet to come. I think again an allusion to the rapture. I mean after chapter 3.

[15:20] You don't have any mention of the church. The church is not here. It's been caught away to be with the Lord. And there he will be. We will be with him. Forever and ever. I think also we could say that the rapture is mentioned.

[15:33] Certainly mentioned in 1 Thessalonians. First letter to the Thessalonians. And you remember Paul planted a church there in Thessalonica.

[15:44] And he had led many, many to Christ. There in Thessalonica. And but yet he was forced to leave because of persecution. But later he sent Timothy to Thessalonica to see how they were progressing in their faith.

[15:58] How the church was doing. And Timothy discovered that they were having some doctrinal questions about the coming of Christ. Second coming of Christ. And their main question pertained to their Christian loved ones who had already died.

[16:13] They were saved but they are dead now. And they were concerned about them. What would happen to them when Jesus comes second time? Will they miss out on that glorious event?

[16:23] That was their basically their question. So Paul answers that. And in answering that question he kind of details, outlines in order the events that will take place around the rapture of the church.

[16:38] And you can turn to it if you want to. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And I'm going to start reading in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13. He says, Those who have died already gone before us.

[17:18] We're talking about believers who have died. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout. With the voice of an archangel. And with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

[17:30] Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these things.

[17:43] Several more years later, the aged apostle John would write about the rapture in the book of Revelation. I've already mentioned one particular passage.

[17:54] But in chapter 3, Revelation chapter 3 in verse 10. This is Jesus' letter to the church of Philadelphia. Really a great letter. One of the only positive letters in all the seven letters.

[18:06] And the church of Philadelphia represented the true church. The true bride of Christ. And it's followed by a letter to the Laodicean church. Which is representative of the apostate church.

[18:17] But Paul, or rather Jesus, wrote to the Philadelphian church. And he said this. He says, Picture, it's a reference to the rapture.

[18:40] Delivering from the hour of trial. Which is to come upon the whole world. So first, the rapture. The chief shepherd. You see, at his coming.

[18:52] He's coming for his sheep. Praise the Lord. The second word is the word reward. The word reward. And sometime immediately after the rapture.

[19:04] Somewhere in the heavenlies. All Christians will stand before Jesus at the judgment seat of Christ. That's what the Bible calls it. The judgment seat of Christ.

[19:15] Paul tells us about that in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10. He says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. He's talking about we. He's talking about all believers.

[19:27] Appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That each one may receive the things done in the body. That is in this life. According to what he has done. Whether good or bad. Now, the word judgment is a little bit scary here.

[19:42] And so the question is, are we going to be judged as whether or not we're true believers? Is that what this judgment seat of Christ is about? I mean, are we going to be judged for all of the sinful things, sinful works, sinful deeds that we have done?

[19:56] And the answer to that is no. Absolutely not. This judgment, the judgment seat of Christ, this judgment there is not related to sin in any degree. How could it be? Because we were judged and our sins were judged and punished where?

[20:12] At the cross. And that's already done. Jesus said it's finished. And so you see, the Greek word that's translated judgment seat is the word bima.

[20:23] Bima. And in ancient Athens, you know, they had the Grecian games, the Olympics. And the arena where the games were held had a raised platform at one place there on the arena, on the grounds there.

[20:42] And it was there that the president of the games, the Grecian games or the Olympic games, that's where the president would sit, the president of the games. And from this platform or seat, he would reward the winners of each event.

[20:59] That was the purpose of the bima seat. It was called the bima seat. It was called the reward bench. The reward bench. And so Paul then, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he uses this same word, bima seat, uses the same word there in that passage I read a moment ago in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10.

[21:20] And so it is the judgment seat of Christ. It's the bima seat of Christ. It's the reward seat of Christ. And so at the bima seat of Christ, believers will not be punished, judged, condemned for their sins, because that's already done, it's already done at the cross.

[21:36] But rather, they will be rewarded for their works, for their good works. And Paul describes this event in 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

[21:49] You can turn to it if you'd like. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, starting with verse 9, where Paul says, For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, you are God's building.

[22:02] According to the grace of God which was given to you, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. He's talking about the gospel foundation. And another builds on it, but let each one take heed how he builds on it.

[22:16] For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He's talking about salvation. That's the foundation. Salvation. Then we build upon that. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear, become evident, revealed.

[22:41] It'll become clear. For the day will declare it. Because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is.

[22:54] If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

[23:08] Saved but singed. And so, you know, let's just put this in a nutshell because it's a very important passage in relation to the judgment seat of Christ. In fact, it's the key passage in relation to this event that will take place in our future.

[23:24] First of all, every believer, all of us, all of us together at one time, in one particular place, will stand before Jesus at his judgment seat.

[23:36] We will all stand before him. And it will be before Jesus because John 5, 22 says, For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son. And there will be a trial by fire.

[23:50] Those are the words that Paul used here. In verse 13, he said, Each one's work will become clear, become evident. For the day, what day is that?

[24:03] The day of the judgment seat of Christ. Christ. The day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire. And this revealing fire, however it is to be understood, whether it's literal or figurative, this revealing fire will reveal instantly all of our works.

[24:24] All of our works in the name of Christ that we've done as believers. All of our works will be revealed by this fire. Paul said, The fire will test each one's work of what sort it is, what quality it is.

[24:38] And it's going to reveal two things about our works. It's going to reveal those works that were done by God through us as we yielded to the control and power of the Holy Spirit of God in us.

[24:53] It will reveal those works, and it will also reveal those works that were done in the flesh and in our own strength, according to our own faith and strength in ourselves.

[25:06] So the fire will reveal those works that are done for the glory of God, and it will reveal those works that were done for the glory of self. We have a lot of those in our lives.

[25:17] We are real proud of them. And those works which are done in the flesh, done in our own strength, and done for our own glory, described by wood, hay, and straw, those works will be burned away suddenly, just gone, obliterated.

[25:40] It's a process of purging us, of all self, all works done for self. So one might ask, you know, well, what if all I have is wood, hay, and straw? Well, that's all there is.

[25:52] Am I going to be burned away? Am I going to lose my salvation? No, no. Because Paul said there in verse 15, look at it, if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.

[26:03] Yeah, you're going to suffer loss because you're going to have burned away a lot of things you thought you were pretty proud of. You thought were really good works. And so you're going to suffer loss.

[26:14] But, Paul says, he himself will be saved yet as by fire. That's why I said saved but singed.

[26:25] Still going to make it because the foundation has been laid which no man can lay, and that's Jesus Christ. That foundation cannot be burned away and dissolved away. It's permanent. It's what's been built on top of that.

[26:37] All of our works, works of righteousness. And some of those were self-righteousness. Some of those were true righteous works. The self-righteous works will be burned away because we don't need to be in heaven with anything of self.

[26:51] Somebody said the only man-made thing in heaven are the nails, prints, and Jesus' hands and feet. Everything else will be burned away. And so this is not speaking to the loss of salvation.

[27:08] This is talking about our works. Now, some of our works will be revealed as gold, silver, and precious stones. Those are things that remain. Those are things that are permanent.

[27:19] These are those works that were done for God's glory and done in the power of God. And these are truly good works done for the glory of God. And they are indestructible.

[27:30] They cannot be burned away. And they will remain. And they will be rewarded. And so we have the rapture. We have the reward.

[27:41] This is the ministry of the chief shepherd and what he will accomplish when he appears. Third, the return. The return.

[27:54] After the rapture of the church and after the reward at the Bema seat of Christ, the judgment seat of Christ, the church will then spend seven years with the Lord in seclusion, just as a new bride would spend a week with her husband in the bridal chamber, according to the custom of the old oriental weddings, the Jewish weddings.

[28:20] So we'll be in seclusion. And we will sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is a glorious and wonderful thing. And yet, during that blessed time with Jesus, God, here on this planet, will be pouring out his divine wrath upon the inhabitants of this earth and the creation itself.

[28:45] The Bible calls this the tribulation. Jesus said in Matthew 24, 21, For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever will be.

[29:01] And at the climax of that tribulation, at the end of the seven years, Jesus Christ will then return. Return all the way to this earth in all of his glory and majesty.

[29:13] He will return visibly. He will return bodily. He will come all the way to the earth. But Jesus will not be returning alone, though. Jude, verse 14, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints.

[29:30] There's that word ten thousand. It means an innumerable number. Thousands of thousands of thousands of his saints. The Lord will return. So this is the church coming with Jesus at his return.

[29:42] The bride of Christ. This time unveiled for all to see. Right now, we're veiled. You know, but we will come unveiled. The true bride of Christ will come at his return.

[29:57] And he will execute judgment at his return to judge unbelievers for their sin, their rebellion, their unbelief. Jude 15, verse 15 says, To execute judgment on all, To convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, Which they have committed in an ungodly way.

[30:19] That's pretty redundant, isn't it? Ungodly people, ungodly deeds that they did ungodly. I mean, ungodly deeds you would expect to be done in an ungodly way. Then he says this, And to judge of all the harsh things, cruel things, Which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

[30:40] He's going to judge the things that were said of Christ. And when you add to this, This is poetic justice, by the way. When you add Matthew 25, verse 40, Where Jesus said, Truly I say to you, As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, You did it to me.

[30:55] So everything that unbelievers have said about to believers, True believers in Christ, They'll be judged for that.

[31:06] Every word. This is amazing. You know, Christians have and are today Receiving a lot of very harsh, very cruel, very wicked words.

[31:17] Not just words, but a lot more than that, But wicked things. And I can kind of imagine that after the rapture of the church, And when the world stops wondering, You know, where we all went, You know, when they can't figure out what happened to us, They're going to be saying, Well, we finally got rid of those right-wing fundamental Christians.

[31:36] We just got rid of those. And then, at the triumphal return of the Lord Jesus Christ, With his church now unveiled, They're going to look and say, Oh, no, they're back.

[31:48] They've come back. And suddenly, every ungodly deed, Every ungodly word will be brought to light, Will flash suddenly before their eyes. They will be judged for those things.

[32:01] We, in that judgment, Will be vindicated for all that we suffered here, And all that we testified to, And were not believed, And were hatefully spoken about, And hatefully abused.

[32:14] All of that, That no one in this world, Many in this world would not believe, All that will be vindicated, When Jesus returns. And that leads to the fourth event, And that is the reign, Not R-A-I-N, But R-E-I-G-N, The reign, The rule, Of Christ.

[32:36] Your pastor believes, In a literal, Millennial reign, A thousand year reign, Of Jesus Christ, On this earth. When Jesus returns, With his saints, He, And we, Will not be given, A warm welcome.

[32:55] Won't you know that? When we come with him. The devil, And his wicked minions, The beast, And the false prophet, They will be prepared for us. Or they think they will be.

[33:08] And they will have rallied together, A mighty army against Jesus. And I want you to notice, What happens. In Revelation chapter 19, Let me just read this to you, Starting with verse 19, Revelation 19, The Bible says, And I saw the beast, The kings of the earth, And their armies, Gathered together to make war, Against him, Who sat on the horse, And against his army, That were his army, By the way.

[33:39] Then the beast was captured, And with him, The false prophet, Who worked signs, In his presence, By which he deceived, Those who received, The mark of the beast, And those who worshipped, His image.

[33:51] These two, Were the beast, And the false prophet, Were cast, It says here, They were cast, Alive into the lake of fire, Burning with brimstone, And the rest were killed, With the sword, Which proceeded from the mouth of him, Who sat on the horse, And all the birds, Were filled with their flesh.

[34:12] These are all of the unbelievers, Who remained at the end, Of the tribulation. And they will be destroyed. Then I saw an angel, Coming down from heaven, Having the key to the bottomless pit, And a great chain in his hand, And he laid hold of the dragon, That serpent of old, Who is the devil, And Satan, And bound him for a thousand years.

[34:36] And he cast him into the bottomless pit, And shut him up, And set a seal on him, So that he should deceive, The nations no more, Till the thousand years were finished.

[34:47] But after these things, He must be released for a little while. We'll get to that here, In just a minute. You see, His reign, Jesus then will set up, His millennial kingdom, Here on this earth.

[35:00] Revelation chapter 20, In verse 4, Speaks of that, Where John, In his vision, He saw thrones, He said, I saw thrones, And they sat on them, And judgment was committed to them, And I saw the souls of those, Who had been beheaded, For their witness to Jesus, And for the word of God, Who had not worshipped the beast, Or his image, And had not received his mark, On their foreheads, Or on their hands, And they lived and reigned with Christ, For a thousand years, Blessed and holy is he, Who has part in the first resurrection, Over such, The second death has no power, But they shall be priests of God, And of Christ, And shall reign with him, A thousand years, So, His reign, So we have, The rapture, The reward, The return, The reign, The ministry of the chief shepherd, And then there's one more event, And that is the, Retribution, The retribution, At the end of the millennium,

[36:03] The thousand year reign of Christ, With his church, Satan will then be released, Revelation 20 and verse 7, He will be released from his prison, And once again, Because he never will learn, Satan, Through deception, He will rally together, From the four corners of this world, An army of unbelievers, Those who were born, During the millennial reign, He will gather, Gather an army, An army of unbelievers, Whose number, The Bible says, In Revelation 20 and verse 8, Is as the sand of the sea, Vast army, And he will lead them, To surround the city, Of God, That would be the new Jerusalem, The place of the millennial, Throne of the king of kings, And lord of lords, But this time, The battle will not last long, In fact, It will be over, Even before it begins, John records in Revelation 20 and verse 9, The fire came down from God out of heaven,

[37:03] And devoured them, All of them, Devoured them, The devil who deceived them, Was cast into the lake of fire, And brimstone, Where the beast, And the false prophet are, And they will be tormented, Day and night, Forever and ever, The divine retribution, Of the chief shepherd, See this idea of Satan, Being the lord of hell, That's crazy, It's ridiculous, The idea that Satan, Is some guy in a red suit, With a pitchfork, And he's making people, Shovel coal for an eternity, That's ludicrous, It's ridiculous, That's not in scripture, See listen, The bible does say, That hell was prepared, For the devil, It's created for him, And when he is given, A one way ticket there, He will not be the ruler of hell, Some master of hell, He will himself, The bible says, Be tormented day and night, Forever and ever, And ever, But also know this,

[38:06] The retribution, Is not complete, With the lord's punishment of Satan, And his angels, Because john also saw, A great white throne, John saw, Also the one, Who sat on that throne, And he doesn't name him, But we know it as Jesus, Because remember, All judgment has been given, Over to him, And john says, In revelation 20, Verse 11, Then i saw, A great white throne, And him who sat on it, From whose face, The earth and the heaven, Fled away, And there was found, No place for them, That is literally, Jesus will turn his face, To the earth, And its skies, And the entire universe, And it will all, Just simply melt away, Peter said, In second, Peter 3, 10, The heavens, Shall pass away, With a great noise, And the elements, Shall melt, With fervent heat, And earth, The earth also, And the works, That are therein, Shall be burned up, And what else,

[39:09] Did john see, Well he saw, Something extremely frightening, At least it's frightening, For some, Not for me, For you, If you, Are a follower of christ, He said in revelation 20, Starting with verse 12, And i saw, The dead, Talking about the wicked dead, Small and great, Standing before god, And books were opened, And another book was opened, Which is the book of life, And anyone not found, Written in the book of life, Was cast into, The lake of fire, That's where the devil is, The beast, The false prophet, All sinners, Forever and ever, So, You know it's pretty sobering isn't it, So there you have,

[40:09] The ministry of the, Of the shepherd, The good shepherd, The great shepherd, The chief shepherd, And in closing this series, Let me just put all of this together, And have you turn, To psalm 22, I want you to turn, To psalm 22, And see, An interesting, Bit of, Proof of the inspiration, Of scripture, Though there are many proofs, Of its inspiration, Psalm 22, I'm not going to read, The entire psalm, We're just kind of, Recapping all of this, The ministry of the good shepherd, The great shepherd, And the chief shepherd, Psalm 22, You don't have to read very far, In fact, You don't even have to read, Past the first verse, To know that this is prophetic, It's a messianic psalm, Of the cross, Because some of the things,

[41:10] That Jesus said from the cross, And some of the things, That were said about him, And done to him at the cross, Are contained here, In psalm 22, Right at the very beginning, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me, Jesus said that, On the cross, Didn't he, And you go a little bit further, And skip on down there, To verse 7, All those who see me, Ridicule me, They shoot out the lip, They shake the head, Saying, He trusted in the Lord, Let him rescue him, Let him deliver him, Since he delights in him, Those were the very things, That were said, By those who were, Bystanders there at the cross, And they hurled those insults, And ridiculed him, And you can go a little bit further, In verse 16, They pierced my hands, And my feet, I can count all my bones, They look and stare at me, They divide my garments, Among them, And for my clothing, They cast lots, The very thing that happened, At the cross, Right?

[42:09] And what's Psalm 22, A picture of, The good shepherd, The good shepherd, Who dies for his sheep, The good shepherd, Who went to Mount Calvary, And with his hands, And with his hands stretched out, And feet stretched, And body stretched over that cross, He was nailed there, For his sheep, For us, That's a picture of the good shepherd, Now skip over to Psalm 24, We'll get back to Psalm 22 in a minute, But Psalm 24, You read this Psalm, And you have a clear picture, That this is speaking of the return, Of Jesus, Verse 7, Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, You everlasting doors, And the king of glory, Shall come in, Who is this king of glory, The Lord strong and mighty,

[43:10] The Lord mighty in battle, Lift up your heads, O gates, Lift up your everlasting doors, You everlasting doors, And the king of glory, Shall come in, Who is this king of glory, The Lord of hosts, He is the king of glory, This psalm, Points us to the chief shepherd, Who's coming again, It is in a sense, We can think of it in the sense of Mount Zion, Christ's return, So Psalm 22, Is the good shepherd, Mount Calvary, Psalm 24, Is the chief shepherd, Mount Zion, The shepherd who's coming again for his sheep, And then Psalm 22, Is the valley between those two mountains, It's a valley psalm,

[44:11] It's a psalm about this life, About where we are now, And in relation to our shepherd, And David said, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still water, He restores my soul, He leads me in the paths of righteousness, For his name's sake, Yea, though I walk through the valley, Of the shadow of death, And that's where we're walking right now, By the way, The valley of the shadow of death, But as David said, We can say, I fear no evil, For you are with me, The shepherd is with me, What is this but a picture of the great shepherd, Who lives for the sheep, He lives for us, Here in the valley, It's a valley between two mountains, And so when things get tough,

[45:12] We can, As the Bible says, Look to the mountains, From where comes our help, The good shepherd, The great shepherd, The chief shepherd, Everything you and I need, As his sheep, We have in Christ, Thank you.