The Lost Sheep
Notes
Transcript
A poet in the 1800s, Francis Thompson penned a famous poem that startled many religious thinkers. He described God NOT as a distant observer. NOT as a patient spectator waiting for mankind to pull himself together.
Instead, as “THE HOUND OF HEAVEN,” the relentless, untiring pursuer of souls. Who searches for sinners through our dark nights, our rebellious laughter, until he tracks us down and claims us as trophies of His grace. We see that here in Luke 15.
We are examining perhaps the most notable chapters in all of Luke’s gospel. I do NOT pretend to have exhaustive knowledge of the Scripture, nor to be the arbiter of faithful exposition.
That is especially true of Luke 15. Many notable sermons have been preached on this great text of Scripture. Among such would be Charles Spurgeon.
Charles Spurgeon once painted a dramatic scene from this very text. He pictured the Good Shepherd descending into the dark, narrow valleys of the mountainside to track down His lost sheep.
But as Jesus steps into the abyss to claim what is His, the adversary steps out of the shadows to contest the rescue.
Satan points to the sheep in the wilderness and snarls, "They are in my domain! They belong to me!"
But the Shepherd steps forward and shows the enemy the mark; these sheep have been bought and stamped with His own precious blood!
Seeing he cannot claim ownership, the devil engages the Shepherd in open spiritual combat. But Christ crushes him without contest
Desperate, Satan tries to negotiate a compromise: "Take most of them, Jesus! Leave me just a few!" But the Good Shepherd refuses the trick. Not one will be left behind!
Finally, as Jesus gathers the flock to march them out of the dark valley, Satan reaches out a clawed hand and snatches one tiny, frail lamb. He protests to Christ and says, “This is such a little one,” he says. “This is so weak. You would NOT have such a shriveled, scabby one as this in thy bright flock, of the Shepherd of God.”
And Spurgeon says the Good Shepherd looks that devil in the face and declares:
"Sooner than lose a single one of them, I would die again! I would shed my blood all over again to buy it back! EVERY SINGLE ONE that the Father gave to Me, I WILL HAVE!"
Sermon Summary: The broken are carried by grace; the self-righteous resent the rescue.
Luke 15:1-7
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
I. Self-Righteous Resent Mercy (v.1-2)
I. Self-Righteous Resent Mercy (v.1-2)
You recall the context of this passage. Jesus has just ended a banquet on the Sabbath in the home of the Ruler of the Pharisees. Further, upon the great crowds coming to Jesus on his way to Jerusalem, he had them all consider the cost of discipleship: to forsake everything and follow Jesus.
Luke gives us another turn here in Luke 15.
This falls right in the middle of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, from Luke 9:51-19:27; Chapter 15 sits in the middle of those 10 chapters, and this parable is the high point of Jesus’ teaching in this section.
If you notice, Jesus has been increasingly speaking in parables; that is, so those with ears to hear will hear, and those with eyes to see will see, NOT according to the flesh, but according to faith!
1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Notice the two groups of people surrounding Jesus in this text. First, you have the tax collectors and sinners.
Tax collectors were among the more despised in society. They were known as dishonest and extortioners, greedy for dishonorable gain. You may recall that in Luke 3, after the tax collectors were saved, Jesus said they could no longer rob others or take more than they were authorized.
Sinners was a broader term for the lost and those who needed restoration. These were thieves, drunkards, prostitutes, those who didn’t fit the profile of holy.
And all of those TAX COLLECTORS and SINNERS were drawing near” - present active, continually coming near to hear. TO what? HEAR HIM!! AOKOU in the Greek - LISTEN with INTENTIONALITY.
Recall how Luke 14:34-35 ended…
34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored…..It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
And now here are the TAX COLLECTORS, the SINNERS… the unworthy. The unclean. The unwelcome. Coming to Jesus. NOT for a PARADE to Jerusalem. NOT to get their fill of the loaves. NOT for healings. NOT for signs and wonders.
They are drawing NEAR TO HEAR HIM….And Jesus continues proclaiming the good news of the KINGDOM of God. Preaching the GOSPEL of deliverance and rescue from sin! And those who normally would never have been interested in worship or following God. They are drawing near to listen to Jesus.
And then there are the Pharisees and the Scribes
The Pharisees were the rigid observers of the decrees and the interpretations.
And the scribes were the interpreters.
They were among the religious sects. The holy ones, if you will. They saw themselves as dignified, astute, and righteous.
And notice the heart posture of the two groups.
The first, the tax collectors and sinners, are lowly. While the Pharisees and scribes come in PRIDE.
The first comes wanting to hear and be open to Jesus’ teaching; the other comes with their minds made up.
One comes with a heart that is humble in posture, and the other with speech that grumbles!!
You notice the word there - the word means to complain. It means to express indifference and frustration!
It would have called to mind the grumbling and MURMURING of Israel in the Old Testament (Exodus 16; Numbers 14). When they became frustrated with Moses, the people began to murmur and complain against Moses. You’ve led us out here to die!
But God says, when you murmur against Moses, you are NOT murmuring against Moses; you are actually murmuring against GOD!! For it is God who is leading you, and doing that through His servant, whom God has given you, through Moses, for your own GOOD!
And this grumbling all throughout the bible, is a sin that seems small, but has massive spiritual gravitas to it. It is a sin of speech that is dangerous, FULL of poison, and has the potential to cause GREAT harm among God’s people.
In fact, the Apostle Paul reminds us that these things were written down for us, so we might learn from Israel in this area, because they were destroyed by the DESTROYER of God’s judgment against them because of their grumbling and murmuring in the wilderness!!
And it’s serious because it’s NOT only a sin against man, but it is a sin against God. At its heart, this grumbling here and everywhere is, at its core, a heart of ingratitude, expressing unfaithfulness towards God, who is faithful!!
And here are the religious, self-righteous….they are the Self-sufficient in themselves….GRUMBLING against God incarnate!…. in their speech SAYING!!!….. Pres ACtive….they just keep on saying it
THIS MAN RECEIVES SINNERS AND EATS WITH TAX COLLECTORS!!
The self-righteous CANNOT self-examine. They always have to point the finger - THIS MAN!! Jesus, look what he is doing!!
He receives sinners - He waits for them, he hosts, brings them to the table of fellowship….SINNERS….and He EATS with them!!….
This was a picture of table fellowship. This was a picture of nearness, concern, and love.
And this was NOT the first time this has happened.
Jesus said in Luke 7:34-35
34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”
And so the language here again is implied….EMPHATIC and ONGOING!! A CHARGE AGAINST…by the Pharisees and the SCRIBES….a repeated REFRAIN of DISGUST!!! HE ALWAYS DOES THIS!!! HE ALWAYS DOES THIS!!
The Pharisees saw the Sinners and Tax Collectors as outside the faith. They were considered outsiders to Israel and faithless, ungodly, and unclean… and sharing a meal with them was regarded as mutual acceptance and agreement with them.
Something the Pharisees and the Scribes would have despised the thought of. They were to be clean, set apart, and NOT associate or draw near to such a sinner. In fact, Rabbinic teachings were such that they should NOT associate with the godless, even to teach them the Torah.”
And they are upset, yet again, because Jesus is showing mercy to sinners!!
He always does this!! They are saying….Never mind, he was just in the house of the RULER of the Pharisees in Luke 14…..Now, they can’t stand the thought of Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them!
HE ALWAYS DOES THIS!!! They say!!
And PRAISE GOD HE DOES!!
Praise God that Jesus opens his arms and is willing to receive those who have rebelled. Those who have committed sin. Those who are in need of mercy. Those who have been cast aside as unworthy.
Have you ever met someone so loathed in guilt and shame that they thought they were hopeless? They thought that no one would love them. No one would receive them!
And praise God, that Jesus is willing to receive the unclean. The sinner. The broken. The lawless, and rebel…..to meet them with MERCY!!
MERCY that these Pharisees and sinners can’t see….They can’t see their need for mercy, because they think they can be their own savior, so they despise the true savior extending grace to the broken!!
Jesus wasn’t receiving them to condone their actions. Jesus wasn’t receiving them to agree with them. Jesus received them so that His grace might transform them.
30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
It’s the sick who need a physician. It’s the broken that need healing. It’s the sinner that needs restoration. Those who are willing to come humbly to grace and receive mercy, that they might be cleansed.
It’s the same grace you NEED, Pharisees and Scribes, but you are unwilling to see that you need repentance!! You too can be received, but your self-righteousness resents mercy. Because you lack faith and you lack a humble heart willing to come to Christ to find help.
II. The Shepherd Pursues the Helpless (v.3-4)
II. The Shepherd Pursues the Helpless (v.3-4)
Notice that, in response to this grumbling and this self-righteous resentment, Jesus turns and gives this parable. So, in verse 3, he tells THIS parable.
Now, in Matthew 18, Jesus tells this parable; Matthew records the lost sheep. Luke gives a fuller account.
Luke makes it clear that this is one long parable, with three sections. 1 in 3. And every one of them hits on the same theme: something is lost, then is found, culminating in rejoicing.
The dearness of the lost item increases at each turn: from a sheep, to a precious coin, to a son. And in every movement, it highlights the heart of Christ... Again, this is unique to Luke and pivotal to his message in his gospel.
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?
The parable opens with a question for thought. What man of YOU!! Jesus subtly turns the accusation against him and invites self-reflection.
A man has a hundred sheep. Now, it was common for sheep to be gathered together in a collective field. So it’s NOT clear if this man actually owns all these sheep or is merely tending the flock of a hundred sheep.
Either way, the shepherd is to care for the sheep if he loves them!! If he is merely some hired hand, he has no concern for them.
So which of you has 99 sheep, and one is lost. The word there means to PERISH! To be destroyed. He is, PRESENT ACTIVE participle - HE IS PERISHING!! He’s being destroyed. He’s NOT in the field among the flock any longer. But it is isolated, alone. In danger!!
Which of you does NOT leave the 99 - in the open country- and go AFTER the one that is lost until he finds it!!
Now, this is quite an interesting question, isn’t it? I mean, leaving sheep in an open field, the word there is the wilderness, or the desert. It’s a picture of isolation, dry land! …
If you leave and go after the one, then the 99 would be susceptible to wolves and danger. I mean, you’ve already lost one; why put the 99 in danger?
It puts a strain and weight on the heart of the shepherd. On the one hand, He’s still got 99 sheep who are fine, who are safe, who are in the pasture and the field. Yet, on the other, there is one in danger; there is one who is STRAYING, who is PERISHING!!
He’ll fall off a cliff, he’ll be eaten by wild beasts, or he will die of starvation. He has no care, and no shepherd to tend to him any longer. And apart from rescue, he WILL DIE!!
So which man of you would go after him? Because one seems inconsequential. This doesn’t make earthly sense. You have one straying; don’t put the other 99 in harm’s way for the sake of one. I mean, would you really do that? Jesus asks, “Would you do that?” And this would have hit them right in the heart.
Because there is only one reason for a shepherd to do this - And that is for the sake of love; he will tend to each one. If one of his sheep has gone astray and is perishing, he will pursue the sheep! Because that is the posture of love!!
And love isn’t merely words, is it? But it is demonstrated by action!! See, words can be empty. They can be forms of flattery. They can be used to manipulate. The spouse who abuses and oppresses their spouse and domineers over them will say, “Oh, I LOVE YOU!!” But they do not truly love!!
The dinner guest at the banquet can say they love the host until it’s time to go to the feast, and when they don’t show up, their lack of LOVE is proven!!
What does the scripture say? We can say we LOVE GOD, but if we hate our brother, we are a liar…..We can say we love one another, but if there is no tangible action behind that love, it is meaningless.
FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD that he merely said it. NO!! HE GAVE HIS SON!!
1 Cor 13:4-7 - If I speak with tongues of men and angels, and have not LOVED!!!!
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
See Jesus, recognizes that everything within the Pharisees and the scribes would have answered NO to this question. Because they did NOT have love for the sheep.
And He’s categorizing them as the false shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel 34, who were self-serving and who were seeking their own interests. They were all about themselves.
They had no love for the flock of God’s people. So they would take the posture of, well, it’s just one sheep; I’ve got 99 others. Or, it’s one sheep, and it’s NOT my sheep, so what’s the difference?
But Jesus is also doing something else here. He’s also inviting the Pharisees and the scribes to put themselves in the view of a shepherd. Which would have been highly offensive to them!!
Shepherds were uneducated; they were unskilled; they were often viewed as dishonest and weren’t typically allowed to give testimony in court. And because their job required constant tending to sheep in the field, they would have had to work on the sabbath, violating the man-made tradition of the Pharisees; they would have been unclean from their work and would have been ceremonially unclean.
By inviting them to see themselves through the lens of a shepherd, Jesus again prompted them to consider their own pride.
Showing them they were unwilling to care for the lost sheep. And their unwillingness to tend to the spiritual good of their neighbor. Unwilling to care for the broken and sinners who need mercy. Recognizing, in love, the seriousness of the situation for those perishing around them, and pursuing those who were gripped by sin and lawlessness.
And this is the heart of God in Christ: to pursue those in sin and brokenness. Eating with Sinners and Tax Collectors, receiving them, so that those who were lost might be found!
That in their sin, they have wandered, strayed, and will perish apart from rescue. They are isolated, alone, and completely vulnerable to attack and destruction; they will PERISH…..
This is us!! This is all of us. It’s NOT just sinners and tax collectors. It’s all of us!! It’s everyone when we view ourselves rightly. We have wandered; we have strayed from God’s law. We are lost. We will perish. And we would have perished, apart from the rescue of Christ.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Because that is the heart of God in Christ. Who is the true shepherd. He is NOT like a hired HAND, but HE LOVES THE SHEEP. NOT IN WORD ONLY…..but in ACTION!!!…. He laid down His life for the SHEEP!!! (JOHN 10). He is the BETTER SHEPHERD, THE TRUE SHEPHERD!! He pursues the broken, the sick, and the helpless sheep that will perish apart from rescue.
III. The Savior Rejoices in Rescue (v.5-6)
III. The Savior Rejoices in Rescue (v.5-6)
The shepherd is seeking. He is pursuing His lost sheep! And He does NOT stop until he finds it!
5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
This is quite the complete picture of RESCUE. Two primary images are communicated here. The first is that of strength and authority, and the other is that of rejoicing.
The word there is “he lays it on his shoulders.” It is a word that means to lay upon or place upon the shoulder. You’ve likely seen the image of a shepherd carrying a sheep with its front legs on one shoulder and its rear legs on the other shoulder of the shepherd, and the rest of its torso high across the neck and back of the shepherd.
Here the shepherd feels the weight of the sheep. He feels the rise and fall of the breath of the sheep. He feels the beating heart of the sheep.
And the sheep who was once far off has now been brought near….NEARLY FACE to FACE with His SHEPHERD.
This is no easy task. A grown sheep can easily weigh 100 lbs or more. And the shepherd displays great authority, strength, and responsibility to care for the sheep.
Recall of Jesus: Isaiah 9:6
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
But it also gives us a glimpse into the condition of the sheep. They are broken, too weak to walk. They must be carried instead. But it is the Shepherds’ JOY to do this!
For this is NOT a begrudging burden for Him to carry, but He does it instead with REJOICING!! PRESENT ACTIVE PARTICIPLE - that means to be GLAD!!
I do NOT doubt this is to elicit the theme of singing!!
17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
And he carries his sheep from the field of desolation through the field of safety and rest, and brings the sheep all the way back home!! And it’s NOT enough for him to celebrate alone. His joy must be shared! He desires that others delight in His joy!!
So he invites his friends and neighbors to come. SAYING, REJOICE WITH ME!! THAT PHRASE literally means….EXPERIENCE THE JOY I HAVE WITH ME!! ….BECAUSE!!
I have FOUND my SHEEP that was lost!!
This is a picture of celebration!! This is a picture of JOY!! This is a picture of love and delight in God’s rescue, and the great joy of REDEMPTION!!
And this is a picture of God’s love for HIS sheep! A picture of God’s joyful rescue on the cross!
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; 4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
And the means by which Jesus rescues us.
The way He carries us on His shoulders was through the bloody cross of Calvary. It was through the shedding of his own blood to redeem a people for His own glory!
And it wasn’t a begrudging work for Him to complete. Instead. It was His joy!! And it was in JOY that Jesus went to the cross and paid our redemption to save us from the wrath to come!!
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
And the gospel brings us ALL THE WAY HOME!! We who were once far off, destined to perish in the field of the world. Have been brought in, past the shepherd’s field, and into the HOUSE. We have been brought near as children in the FAMILY OF GOD!!
And what JOY this should bring! What JOY redemption should bring. It’s worth celebrating. For we were lost, and now we have been found.
Anyone who recognizes the extent of redemption that has been accomplished. The extent of mercy that is undeserved. The extent of the price paid. The burden carried to restore and reconcile a sheep who was perishing, to bring them to refuge and rest.
ANYONE with a LICK of understanding of that would celebrate!! They would erupt in singing and praise!
YES, PRAISE GOD!! PRAISE GOD he saved me!! PRAISE the LORD FOR HIS MERCY!! Oh HOW I NEED MERCY and GRACE TOO!! PRAISE God for His MESSIAH!!…PRAISE the LORD for JESUS, who is giving His life to redeem us!!
And yet, here are the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes….and they CAN’T REJOICE!! They can’t see the mercy being displayed… they can only grumble and point the finger of blame!!
And the joy of salvation, which is meant to be shared in Christ, CAN’T be received by them. Because they do NOT share in the heart of CHRIST for sinners. They don’t share in Christ’s mercy toward the broken.
And therefore they cannot share in the joy of redemption!! Because of their hardness of heart!!
IV. Heaven Celebrates; Pride Rebels (v.7)
IV. Heaven Celebrates; Pride Rebels (v.7)
It’s probably more than obvious by now. All of the points bleed into one another. This parable was more than earthly shepherding. It is revealing the posture of Christ and the aim of heaven! Note the conclusion in verse 7.
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
This is why, in every point, I sought to allow the work of Christ to drip from the text, because that is the point of the parable. The sheep who is perishing is the sinner perishing because of their sin.
The sheep in need of redemption is the sheep in need of repentance and restoration to the true shepherd, who is Jesus. The shepherd who pursues the sheep is the good shepherd, who pursues sinners.
And so the two groups are mysteriously grouped into different categories - the sinners and tax collectors, and the Pharisees and the scribes are put into the crosshairs here, as sinners who repent and the self-righteous sinners who need no repentance!
That is, the sinner who recognizes His need for mercy. And in so doing sees his need for repentance. Matanaeo in the Greek. To change the mind. To feel remorse and be spurred from the heart to change! CHANGE COURSE!! Who agrees with God about their condition.
Jesus says, there is GREAT JOY in HEAVEN when a sinner recognizes their sin and need for repentance!!
Such tender mercy does CHRIST show to the broken in heart. Such sweet affection does Christ meet the humble in heart, who acknowledge and come to Him in brokenness and contition. To bow their knee and are willing to throw themselves fully upon Christ for mercy!!
Sin brings condemnation and judgment. Christ brings mercy and grace to those who humbly come to Him for Grace... and while God may be angry at our sin, He REJOICES at our repentance!!
God truly shows GRACE to the HUMBLE!!!
But to the prideful… we just get away from this in Luke, can we…To the prideful, God will oppose the proud in heart, and over the 99 righteous ones who need no repentance.
See, Jesus isn’t concerned with the crowds and the masses. He’s concerned with the heart. He doesn’t rejoice when a large crowd comes to follow Him. He sends them away with a hard word of counting the cost and forsaking EVERY THING!
Jesus isn’t impressed with what we build or what we accomplish. That is NOT what causes HEAVEN to REJOICE. God is concerned NOT with the masses who posture in pride, but is always concerned with the heart of the humble, who are broken and in need of redemption!!
In that, Jesus says, HEAVEN SINGS!!
And yet, remains unmoved by the prideful, indignant, self-righteous heart….who sees no need for repentance….That is a present active verb here…..that is, they live their entire life this way! JUSTIFIED, in their own EYES!!
This ought to shock us….The great shock is that God, who is HOLY and RIGHTEOUS, would concern Himself with ANY sinner!!
But it ought to shock us that SO many sinners would parade themselves as righteous!!
There is much to say that the human heart so often goes AWAY from God, NOT towards HIM. The vast majority are moving away from the heart of Christ in pride, rather than toward the Lord in humble repentance!!
But also, that anyone would have the audacity to think they are right in themselves.
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
And the heart of any person who insists in their heart that they have no need for repentance is, by their very nature, resistant to God’s word!!
This is the human condition. This is the rebellious heart of men. To resist God. Rebel against Him. NOT submit to Him. And disobey Him. This is sin. And to refuse to repent is sin upon sin, to NOT AGREE with Him about our sinful condition!!
All of us have rebelled! All of us have committed great wickedness before the Lord. We’ve violated His law. We have transgressed His precepts. We have in our pride resisted Him, declared we know better than Him, and have REVILED His HOLINESS….
We have trampled on His status and attempted to diminish His supremacy and have exalted ourselves as SOVEREIGN.
This is UTTERLY OFFENSIVE to HIM. And we have all GONE ASTRAY! We ALL deserve to PERISH!
EVERYONE of US deserves to be condemned. We deserve every ounce of Judgment that God decides to give. And every drop of wrath poured out on us is FULLY DESERVED.
Every sentence and punishment God would administer for our sin is EARNED by our sin!! BY what we have transgressed against RIGHTEOUSNESS!
We have gone astray. All of God’s image-bearers have GONE ASTRAY!! ALL OF THEM!! And deserve to perish!!
But the SHEPHERD, the TRUE SHEPHERD of SHEEP. The Good SHEPHERD of the FLOCK of GOD!! HE WILL COME AND PURSUE HIS SHEEP who is LOST!!
Behold God’s word to the FALSE SHEPHERDS of ISRAEL!! In EZEKIEL 34. Who have abandoned God’s flock… who have led them astray so that they have become prey and food for the wild beast, and they have NOT cared for the flock. They have NOT fed them…They have forsaken the flock of GOD!!
Therefore the Lord says in Ezekiel 34:10-11
10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. 11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.
And thus from the throne of HEAVEN, comes one who is faithful and true. And gentle and lowly in heart. To be born among men. To come and be born of the virgin Mary, to be born in the city of David….who I write to YOU of MOST EXCELLENT Theophilus….all things we know..concerning the MESSIAH, THAT JESUS is the MESSIAH!!
WHO is the TRUE SHEPHERD, who lays down HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP. WHO RECEIVES ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVES TO HIM!!
And DON’T MISS IT…JESUS WILL LOSE NONE of HIS SHEEP!! NOT a single sheep will go missing who are a part of His flock!
He will pursue them. He will, in grace and mercy, bring them safely from the field to rest securely in His KINGDOM!!
And for those in Christ - we are received and celebrated by the FATHER….That’s the struggle of the human heart, often, isn’t it…
Does anyone notice? Am I seen? Am I loved? Am I of any worth?
Finds its ultimate ANSWER at the CROSS of CHRIST!
And the celebration of HEAVEN declares. You are NOTICED. You are SEEN!! You are pursued in CHRIST!! WHEN HE GAVE HIS VERY LIFE to RESCUE you from darkness and bring you to the glorious light of His KINGDOM!!
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
AND what Joy there is in the sound of heaven, rejoicing over sinners who repent and return to the Shepherd!!
And may we share in that JOY of HEAVEN….
When we confess our lostness. And our need for repentance!! To agree with God and repent!!
What Joy of heaven, when we receive mercy and fall off the shoulders of CHRIST for SALVATION!
What joy of HEAVEN!! When we rejoice in the SALVATION of OTHERS!!
WHAT JOY of HEAVEN when we seek to see other sheep restored to CHRIST, through the preaching of the gospel and furthering of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven!
And so may we come to agree with God of our need for CHRIST! To be CARRIED by GRACE….rather than live in self-righteousness and RESENT the rescue!!
