Christians are ... Sheep

Text: Luke 15:1-7

Theme: What are Christians? According to the Bible we are, Saints, Sons, Sheep, Servants, and Sufferers.

Date: 08/09/2020 File name: Christians are - Sheep.wpd ID Number:

References to sheep are found throughout the Bible.

Sheep were often used as sacrificial animals (Numbers 28:4; Exodus 29:39).

They are one of the primary sources of wealth and income in ancient Middle Eastern cultures. In the opening verses of the Old Testament Book of Job we read that Job owned a huge amount of livestock—including 7,000 sheep. And yet, interestingly enough, shepherding was one of the lowliest occupations in the Middle East. In most families it was the job of the youngest child of the family’s duty to tend the sheep, as in David’s case.

Sheep are also used symbolically to represent God’s people (Matthew 25:32).

The Bible even refers to Jesus Christ as the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:19).

I. CHRISTIANS ARE ALL LIKE SHEEP

1. the Parable tells us we are weak and helpless like a sheep

“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? "And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. "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.’ "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." (Luke 15:4-7,ESV)

2. Jesus says that you and I are just like sheep

ILLUS. When you and I hear that we’re sheep and Jesus is the shepherd, it makes us feel warm, and fuzzy. We think of fluffy little lambs and green pastures and still waters. But you need to know when the Bible calls him the Great Shepherd and us sheep, it is a very important and very well-meant spiritual insult.

a. we're weak and totally helpless and we’ve wandered away from the Great Shepherd

3. Jesus reminds us that God is just like the shepherd

a. He actively pursues lost sheep!

ILLUS. Back in the early 1970s W. Phillip Keller wrote a book entitled A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm. In it he makes several observations: Sheep are dense, Sheep are dependent, and Sheep are defenseless.

A. SHEEP ARE WEAK AND HELPLESS BECAUSE THEY ARE DENSE

1. they're just not the smartest of animals

ILLUS. On the raising of sheep, one commentator simply stated: “Einsteins they are not.”

2. when a sheep is lost, it can't find its way home

a. they nibble hear and nibble there and just keep following their teeth

b. dogs will come home; cats will come home; even Salmon return to the mountain brook they were hatched in

c. but sheep just keep wandering

ILLUS. When sheep see grass, no matter where it is, no matter how steep or how dangerous the spot, they go for the grass.

1) is it any wonder why the O.T. prophet Isaiah would write: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6)

3. they often play “follow the leader” even when the “leader” takes then in the wrong direction

ILLUS. In 2005, Turkish herdsmen watched in horror and fascination a 1,500 sheep all jump off a cliff. The shepherds had just finished their breakfast when they noticed the flock’s alpha-ram heading toward a cliff. Suddenly he tumbled off. The entire heard followed, jumping off the same cliff. 450 animals died and the only reason more didn’t was because after the first several hundred, the rest of the sheep had the bodies of the dead sheep to cushion their fall.

4. when the bible compares men to sheep it’s God’s way of saying that we are not the brightest of creatures at times

a. you can have degrees as long as your arm, but if you don't know Jesus you are stunningly ignorant

ILLUS. Many of you will recognize the name Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan was a very intelligent man. He hosted the PBS series called Cosmos. In that show, he frequently implied that with the rise of modern science, we no longer need God because we no longer need a god to explain the universe. Scientists have done that for us. Shortly before his death in 1996 Sagan had a conversation with a rabbi friend. In that conversation Sagan asked his friend, “You’re a very intelligent person. Why do you insist on believing in God?” To which the rabbi responded to Sagan, “Carl, you’re a very intelligent person. Why do you not believe in God?”

Stephen Hawking, (who died about 2½ years ago) was the first scientist to articulate the theory of black holes. He was one of our world’s great intellectual powers. In an essay titled The Origin of the Universe he concluded the article with these words: “Although science may solve the problem of how the universe began, it cannot answer the question: Why does the universe bother to exist? I don’t know the answer to that.”

5. the Bible, however, does answer the “why” question

a. very simply it says this universe exists because God intended for it to exist

b. a man may know how to judge the seasons, produce abundant crops or breed prize-winning stock, but if that man doesn’t know Jesus, he’s wearing a spiritual dunce cap

c. a man may understand nuclear fission and how to split the atom, but if he doesn’t know Jesus he’s unlearned and unschooled in that which really matters

6. sheep are weak and helpless because they are dense

a. the Bible says that lost sinner are like sheep—they’re spiritually dense

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, "and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." (Romans 1:21-23,ESV)

"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. "They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity." (Ephesians 4:17-19,ESV)

b. these verses speak to the spiritual denseness of heart and mind of those outside of Christ

7. because they’re spiritually dense and spiritually discerned, sinners have wandered away from the shepherd

B. SHEEP ARE WEAK AND HELPLESS BECAUSE THEY ARE DEPENDENT

1. without a shepherd to lead them to water, they would die of thirst

2. without a shepherd to lead them to pasture, they would go hungry

3. without a shepherd, sheep will die

ILLUS. In his book, Philip Keller writes about what shepherds call a "cast sheep." One of the most dangerous times in the life of sheep is just before they are sheered for their wool. They are so large and round that if they lie down and happen to roll into a small depression in the ground, they cannot right themselves. It is in a position which the shepherd calls "cast." The sheep may paw the air frantically and try to get back on its feet. It may bleat, but most of the time it will just lay there and suffer in silence. If the shepherd is not alert and finds such a sheep in a hurry, the heat from the sun or wild animals will eventually kill it.

3. like sheep, we are in need of a shepherd to pull us out of the depressions and pits we have fallen into

"When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things." (Mark 6:34,ESV)

4. the most difficult pit for the lost sinner to right his or her self from is the pit of sin

a. sin is a burden that the lost person cannot escape from

b. sin is a condition that the lost person cannot fix

"Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24,ESV)

c. the world, the flesh and the devil will do all that they can to make sure that you do not escape this body of death

5. only Jesus has the power to make the dead live again

"even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—" (Ephesians 2:5,ESV)

a. in the KJV it reads: “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . .”

b. that phrase hath quickened us means to make one alive

c. the word is a verb which is in the aorist, active, indicative mood—which I know you all wanted to know

1) what it means is that God’s the one who made us alive in Christ, He’s done it once for all and will never renege, it’s a done deal!

6. sheep are weak and helpless because they are dependent

a. the lost sinner is dependent upon God for eternal life

C. SHEEP ARE WEAK AND HELPLESS BECAUSE THEY ARE DEFENSELESS

1. sheep have no claws, no fangs and are not very fast compared to those animals which prey upon them

a. they are totally defenseless without the protection of a shepherd

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8,KJV)

2. God has a plan for your life, but so does the devil

a. that plan is to destroy your life

3. why is Jesus a friend of sinners and outcasts?

a. because we so desperately need him!

4. we need Jesus because we are weak without him

II. CHRIST IS THE SHEPHERD WHO SEARCHES FOR LOST SHEEP

A. HE URGENTLY SEARCHES

““Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep ... ?” (Luke 15:4, NIV84)

ILLUS. Phillip Keller writes: “A sheep is a stupid animal. It loses its direction continually in a way a cat or a dog never does. Even when you find a lost sheep, the lost sheep rushes to and fro and will not follow you home. So when you find it, you must seize it, throw it to the ground, tie its fore legs and hind legs together, put it over your shoulders, and carry it home. That’s the only way to save a lost sheep.”

B. HE LONGINGLY SEARCHES

““Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4, NIV84)

C. HE JOYFULLY CELEBRATES WHEN THE SEARCH HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL

“And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’” (Luke 15:5–6, NIV84)

III. APPLICATION

1. 1st, this teaches us that like sheep, we need to be rescued—we constantly need to be rescued

a. like sheep we constantly look for good stuff to feed on

1) your soul is feeding on something

2) that means you have taken the deepest hopes of your heart for happiness and security, and you’ve rested those hopes in something

a) it might be image or status, it might be wealth, it might be family

b. whatever it is, if you are feeding your soul on anything but Jesus you’re like a sheep on the ledge

c. the Bible says we’re all doing that— “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have all turned to our own way.”

1) therefore, all sheep need to be rescued

2. 2nd, this teaches us that Jesus is the Great Shepherd who rescues the sheep

a. a sheep can contribute nothing to its rescue

b. the shepherd, to rescue the sheep, unlike rescuing a dog or a cat, basically has to subdue it, and then walk it all the way home

1) the shepherd has to do everything for the sheep

c. in traditional language, this is saying we human beings are utterly lost in sin and can do nothing to contribute to our salvation and have to be saved solely by grace

ILLUS. For 200 years in Western society the cultural elites, the educated people, the intellectuals have all said the Christian doctrine of original sin—that we are hopeless, that we are born sinners, that we cannot save ourselves in any way—that it is a repugnant doctrine. The current educational, psychological, and sociological trends teach that children are born innocent, and society messes them up—particularly conservative Judea/Christian culture messes them up. We’re essentially innocent and the idea of original sin is repugnant.

d. but the parable of the sheep teaches us that we are sinners—we’re not innocent—we’re rebellious creatures who are lost, and we’re lost by choice, and we have to be rescued and saved by sheer grace

Dietrich Bonheoffer “The grace of the gospel confronts us with the truth and says, ‘You are a sinner, you are a great desperate sinner. Now come, as the sinner you are, to God, who loves you. He doesn’t want anything from you. He doesn’t want a sacrifice, a work; he wants you alone. This message is liberation through truth. The mask you have to wear before everyone else will do you no good before him or before your brothers and sisters. Confess your sins to one another. Get the freedom of being sinners before one another. Confess your sins ... and be healed.’ ”

Jesus Is Your Friend Because He Is the Great Shepherd Who Seeks Lost Sheep