"Search and Rescue"

08 November, 1998

Introduction:

In 1981, a Minnesota radio station reported a story about a stolen car in California. The report said that police were staging an intense search for a vehicle that had been stolen and especially for the driver of that vehicle, even to the point of placing announcements on local radio stations to contact the thief. The reason for this intense search was what you might not expect. On the front seat of the stolen car was a box of crackers that, unknown to the thief, was laced with poison. The car owner had intended to use the crackers as rat bait. Now the police and the owner of the VW Bug were more interested in apprehending the thief to save his life than just to recover the car. So the operation was not so much a search and apprehend as it was a search and rescue.

That has basically been God's mission and purpose in reaching His people - to seek and to save that which was lost. And with that thought in mind, I would like to turn your attention to a time in the life of God's people when that very message was given by God to His people. This message came at a time of severe oppression and captivity in the life of God's people and it came through a prophet by the name of Ezekiel.

Background:

Ezekiel was a prophet to the people of God during the Babylonian captivity. And it was during this time that he would be the messenger of God to a rebellious and obstinate people. God had told Ezekiel that the people he was called to warn would not listen to him because they were a rebellious people. And that certainly became a reality. And although Ezekiel often brought a message of doom and judgment, he also brought a message of hope. One of those times was when he spoke the Word of the Lord of the promise of God, the Great Shepherd, who would come and rescue His people who were being abused and who would be scattered and who were literally lost.

The people of God had been abused and severely neglected by the shepherds of Israel for so long. And in the midst of that time of oppression, came not only a stiff warning to the leaders of Israel for their crime of spiritual abuse, but there also came a promise that God would intervene in the lives of His people as their Great Shepherd. Lets read what the Lord said through His prophet as recorded in Ezekiel 34:11-16.

There are two very significant factors about this metaphor of God being their Great Shepherd:

First of all, shepherding was a common occupation among these people so they would fully understand all of the implications of God being their shepherd. This idea would really hit home with them because they knew what it was like to shepherd a flock of sheep. They knew how sheep had to be sought out when they strayed. They knew how sheep had to be rescued when they had fallen into a dangerous predicament. They knew how sheep had to be constantly watched after, cared for and guided by a shepherd. They were fully aware of what it meant when God said that He would shepherd His people.
Secondly, this picture of God as the shepherd of His people was not a new one. It was one of the oldest titles of God in Hebrew tradition. All the way back in Genesis 49:24 the words of Jacob that were spoken to his sons reflects this image of God as the Shepherd of Israel when he said, "Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,"

The shepherds of Israel were those whom God had entrusted the care of His people. After addressing the fate of the delinquent shepherds of Israel, the prophet brings a message of hope that God would intervene in their lives as their Great Shepherd.

So here are the five promises that God basically made to His people.

1. He would search for them - 34:11,12.

The word used for search means to seek with care. The promise, then, is that God would not just let them go as the shepherds of Israel had but, with great care, He would seek them out.

2 He would rescue them - 34:12.

The word simply means deliverance or save. And what would God rescue them from? Well the text says that they were lost. The word actually means to be lost or perishing; it was a common word for "to die or to pass away. So they were in desperate need of being rescued - they were in desperate need of being saved because they were a people who were, in many ways, perishing.

3. He would care for them - 34:13,14.

The word tend or pasture is the primary term for "feeding" domestic animals. In other words, God Himself would provide for their spiritual needs in ways that they could not provide for themselves and in ways that the leaders of Israel had failed.

4. He would guide them - 34:13.

Implied in this metaphor of God being their shepherd is the obvious picture of Him guiding them as a shepherd would guide His sheep. Just like sheep need to be guided to where the shepherd wants them to be, God would guide His people to the land He had promised them. The only way they would get where they were supposed to be was if they were led by the Great Shepherd and if they followed His leading.

5. He would restore them - 34:16.

God would spiritually restore His people and comfort them. He would care for their needs as a shepherd would care for the needs of his sheep.

There is a lot that can be said about each one of these implications of God being the shepherd of His people. We could especially turn to John chapter 10 and pick up all kinds of truths about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. We could also compare this promise to the words of David in Psalm 23.

But I want to take you back to back to verse 11 and focus on that truth of God seeking for and seeking to rescue His people. The fact is that God's people would be delivered from their bondage because God Himself would intervene in their lives to do just that - because God Himself would seek them out and rescue them. Let me point out to you that the construction of the Hebrew word in verse 11 is emphatic so that God's declaration would read, "I Myself, will search for my sheep and seek them out..."

It had nothing to do with God's people finding Him but it had everything to do with God coming to His people.
It had nothing to do with His people deserving to be rescued but it had everything to do with the covenant that God had made with His people to be their God and for them to be His people.
It had nothing to do with them taking care of themselves but it had everything to do with God being their provider. They could not take care of themselves anymore than a sheep can care for it's own needs.

If they were to be found, it would be because God, the Great Shepherd, would seek them out. HisshIIf they were to be rescued, it would be because God had rescued them. If they were to be delivered from the tyranny and abuse of the elders of Israel, it would be because God had come to rescue them.

When Jesus came to this earth as God incarnate, He made it clear that He came for the purpose to seek and to save the lost. When Jesus was visiting Zacheus as recorded Luke 19 and after Zacheus had obviously come to faith in Jesus, Jesus said these words: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." He did not come so that the lost could find Him, He came so that the lost could be found.

We cannot find Jesus anymore than a lost sheep can find it's shepherd. We cannot find God because we do not have the inherent capability to do so. The Apostle Paul will even make this declaration in his letter to the Romans when he says "there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:11,12)

When I called upon the Lord and was saved back in 1978, it was not because I had "found the Lord" but it was all because He had sought me and saved me. As the hymn writer puts it, "He sought me and bought me with His own precious blood." He gave me the faith to call upon His name. And if you have put your faith in Jesus and have been saved, it is not because you "found the Lord" but it is because He has sought you and bought you and rescued you from your state of being eternally lost.

Conclusion:

I wonder if you have you ever been literally lost? Have you ever been so lost that you thought you would never be found? Maybe you haven't but a man by the name of Walter Wyatt, Jr. knows that feeling well. On December 5, 1986, he attempted to fly from Nassau to Miami, a flight that would normally take only sixty-five minutes. But attempted this flight after thieves had looted the navigational equipment in his Beechcraft. Maybe that was a bad decision but it was a decision he made none the less. So with only a compass and a hand-held radio, Walter Wyatt, Jr. flew into skies that were blackened by storm clouds. And when his compass began to gyrate, he concluded he was headed in the wrong direction. So he flew his plane below the clouds, hoping to spot something, but soon he knew for sure he was lost. He put out a mayday call, which brought a Coast Guard Falcon search plane to lead him to an emergency landing strip only six miles away. But it was then that Wyatt's right engine coughed its last and died. The fuel tank had run dry. Things were certainly not looking good. Around 8 p.m. Wyatt could do little more than glide his plane into the water. He survived the crash, but his plane disappeared quickly, leaving him bobbing on the water in a leaky life vest. With blood on his forehead, Wyatt floated on his back and waited - either to be rescued or to die. And it wasn't long before he felt a hard bump against his body. It was what no one in his predicament would need at that time. It was a shark. Wyatt kicked the intruder and he continued to wonder if he would survive the night. He managed to stay afloat for the next ten hours. In the morning, Wyatt saw no airplanes, but in the water, he saw a dorsal fin was headed right for him. Twisting, he felt the hide of a shark brush against him. And in a matter of minutes, two more bull sharks sliced through the water toward him. Again he kicked the sharks, and they veered away, but he was nearing exhaustion. Then he heard the sound of a distant aircraft. When it was within a half mile, he waved his orange vest to get the attention of the pilot. The pilot radioed the Cape York, which was twelve minutes away and told them to get moving because, once again, there was a shark heading right for him. As the Cape York pulled alongside Wyatt, a Jacob's ladder was dropped over the side. Wyatt climbed wearily out of the water and onto the ship, where he fell to his knees and kissed the deck. He'd been saved. Nothing less than outside intervention could have rescued him from sure death. (Readers Digest, October 1987) God's people could no more save themselves than this man could save himself from the watery grave of the ocean he crashed into. Apart from God's intervention, they, as well as you and I, would remain lost. And that is why Jesus came to this earth - to seek and to save that which was lost.

So if you have been saved, it is because God sought you out and called you unto Himself and gave you the grace to call upon Him to be saved. And if you have never come to faith in Jesus, if you have never called upon the Lord to be saved, then you are lost and there is nothing you can do to save yourself. God is the only One who can do that. And that is part of the reason we come to the Lord's table - to celebrate how He came to seek and to save that which was lost. And that which was lost was you and me.

Maybe today you will realize that like never before. Maybe today will be the day that God will rescue you like He has done for so many others just like you. Maybe today, you will realize for the first time just how lost you are without Jesus.