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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-lavery/the-shepherd-seeking/
Now turn with me please to Luke chapter 15, verse 3. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he laith it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he cometh home, he calleth together all his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it.
Now chapter 24 please, well known so we won't read too many verses here. Verse 19. And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and their rulers delivered him to be condemned to death.
And then verse 22. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher. And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
Now verse 27. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now John chapter 20 please. Verse 11. John 20 and verse 11. But Mary stood without a sepulcher weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one on the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
And they said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master or Teacher. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. Now, one last verse in 1 Corinthians 15.
Verse 5, we'll break in there. And that he was seen of Cephas, and then of the twelve. Now, we know that God will bless his word with what we have already heard in the meeting. I want to speak a little bit more about the shepherd.
And the thought that I have this morning is the shepherd seeking. Wonderful thing to know that the shepherd sought us out when we were in our sins. That's what we have in Luke chapter 15. The shepherd went out after the lost sheep.
And that's a beautiful picture, really, of conversion. And the shepherd, he didn't stop until he found us. And you say, well, is the shepherd still seeking sinners today? Well, I think he certainly is.
It may not be in the same way. I think maybe in Luke chapter 15 at the beginning, when you have the shepherd going after the lost sheep, it's the Lord going after the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
But when we come to the next parable, where we read a little bit about the woman, and she's searching for the silver. And that woman, I think, usually, we take that as a picture of the Holy Spirit. That's what the Holy Spirit is doing today.
He's seeking out lost sinners. He sought you out, and he sought me out, and he found us. He removed every obstacle and gave us some light. He enlightened us, and we saw that we were sinners. And maybe you say, well, could a woman really be a picture of the Holy Spirit?
Well, I think maybe it's the Holy Spirit in the church. The church, the bride of Christ, that's what we're occupied with, looking for lost sinners. Now, when it comes to believers, the Lord is still seeking.
I don't know if you've ever thought of it. But when the Lord was in the tomb, and already before he went to the cross, he told the disciples and others, he said, now, the third day I'm going to rise again.
There's going to be a resurrection. How many of the disciples or the believers in that day really took it in, that there's going to be a resurrection? I don't think there were any. They all should have been around the tomb.
There should have been the crowds around the tomb waiting for the stone to be rolled away and the Lord to come out. But there was none of them. None of them there. Was there something? Now, if that had been you, put yourself in the Lord's place, I'm speaking naturally now.
You know, you could have been very grieved and said, what's the matter with these people? Here I am, I'm a good shepherd. I told them I'm going to lay down my life for the sheep. And then I said, I not only have power to lay it down, but I have power to take it up again.
This commandment I received from the Father. But there wasn't one of them there at the tomb. Perhaps God ordered it that way. But anyhow, you'll just bear with me. But you know, the Lord was seeking for them.
And here's a woman, thank God, Mary, lovely picture of a devoted Christian. And women usually in the Bible speak of subjection. And here's a woman really in subjection to the Lord. And she loves the Lord.
And while she didn't have very good theology, she said, I came to take his body away. She wasn't coming to see the resurrection. She said, I'm going to take his body away. And she's looking for him and nowhere to be found.
But the Lord found her. The Lord found her, not lovely. The Lord didn't say, well, I'll just leave them to themselves. After all, they should have been waiting for me to rise from the dead. And they're so dull in their understanding and their hearing.
But the Lord's not like that. The Lord seeks out the lost. And he seeks out the believer that's grieving. And that follows up, I think, what our brother was saying. I want you to look at it from that point of view as well that he looked at.
We should be doing the very same. We should be trying to comfort those. And how are we going to comfort them? Well, I'll tell you. When she thought that he was a gardener, the gardener couldn't satisfy her heart.
There's no man could fill the longings of her heart. And there's no human being can fill the longings of our heart either. But you know, when she found out it was the Lord, Mary called her by name. Sure, it must have really been wonderful for her.
How tender the Lord is with his own. And then Mary, she said, Rabboni, teach her. Psalm 73, isn't it? The psalmist says, whom have I in heaven but thee? And who is there upon the earth that a desire that is like unto thee?
And I think that fits this little chapter here. No one can fill the longings of the heart. But instead of, although she in a way was searching for the Lord, the Lord was searching for her. Now, when we come farther over in the Gospel of John, I didn't read about the Lord appearing in the midst of his own.
There they were. They were gathered together and don't know what they were expecting. They were afraid of the Jews. And the Lord appeared in the midst. You know what the first word the Lord said to them from the resurrection?
Peace. The Lord wants us to live in peace. There should be peace among God's people. No reason why there shouldn't be. And the Lord appeared in the midst. And then he appeared later, of course, when Thomas was there.
Think of the local assembly. That's a little picture of it, I would think. And you know, the local assembly, you know what makes it great? The Lord is in the midst. And it's not just so much that we gather together and then the Lord comes at the assemblies for us.
It's a place for God to dwell. That's what they said on the banks of the Red Sea. He is our God, and we will prepare him in habitation. It's a place for him that we can go and meet him where he is. It's not just all about you.
It's not just all about me. It's all about the Lord, the shepherd. And he showed them his hands and his side. And I'm sure their hearts were touched. I'd call those the marks of love. The Lord allowed himself to be nailed to a rough Roman cross.
And you know, they would see that, and they were glad. You're glad when you gather together with God's people. Sometimes you'd wonder. I don't want to be critical, but some places I go and the singing is really pathetic.
Oh, you wonder if we're really glad, if we really know what we're singing. We've got some of the most beautiful hymns in any hymn book. I don't know if you know this, but, you know, Billy Graham had a song leader called Cliff Barrows, and Cliff Barrows was at a Bible and book, I don't know what he called, convention.
And he gave a little speech. And he said, you know, I have a little hymn book, a little black hymn book at home. And he said, I sing a hymn from it every day. And it's called the Believer's Hymn Book.
It's tremendous. It's not inspired, but I'll tell you, it's some beautiful hymn. Let's, when we do sing, let's keep at it. And let's, it's not a dirge, it's something that we're enjoying. The disciples were glad the Lord's in the midst is raised from the dead.
Now, he appeared unto Peter. Think of poor, I'm going to say poor Peter. He denied the Lord. Wonder what he was thinking. The Lord's crucified. And I have denied him. I love him. But I denied him. What was the Lord's reaction to Peter?
Still loved him. And the Lord sought out Peter. Sought him out later on publicly, public restoration in the Gospel of John here, last chapter. But before that, it was a little private meeting that he had with him.
He knew how he would feel. I think shepherds anticipate that. How the sheep feel in certain circumstances. Many a times, we have denied the Lord. And sometimes it's very obvious. And our hearts get cold.
Wasn't it wonderful the Lord drew near? Even though he could have abraded Peter, saying, how come you said you'd never deny me? And here you are, right in the high priest's palace. When I was all alone, of course, you know, the Lord had to go all alone.
I know that. There's no one could share with him in that work of the cross. But nevertheless, Peter denied him. Warmed his hands at the world's fire. But the Lord said, I'm going to seek him out. The pure and the safest.
Doesn't tell you any other place in the Bible when that was. But the Lord had a heart, even for the one who had denied him. And he still has a heart for us, even though we often deny him. We miss so many opportunities to say a little word for the Lord.
But then what about the two on the way to Emmaus? Well, I tell you, we have a lovely picture there of a shepherd, don't we? The Lord draws near. Ask questions. He wants to draw out their heart. He knew exactly what happened.
They said to him, are you the only person in Jerusalem that doesn't know what happened? And he was the only one that didn't know what happened. They had no idea till later on really what took place on the cross.
But the Lord knew. But he didn't abrade them. There they are. They're discouraged. We had trusted that you're going to raise from the dead. Besides all this, it's the third day since these things happened.
And there they are. And they're going away from Jerusalem. They're going to their own home, likely. And the Lord draws near to them. And then he says, you know, foolish ones, slow of heart to believe.
And what does he do? He unfolds the scriptures to them, the things concerning himself. Now, you know, what scriptures do you think he used? I'd love to have been there, wouldn't you? But we have the scriptures, you know.
And it would be the scriptures that showed that he had to suffer, that he had to go to the cross. He didn't seem to be able to take that in. And no doubt he would go through maybe the Levitical offerings.
That would be wonderful. Some things about the Levitical offerings, I'm not too sure about. But I'm sure the Lord knew all about them. Must have been wonderful. And then Isaiah. He'd go through Isaiah.
And what we know is Isaiah 53. And they're beautiful scriptures. He would go through all these. And the disciples, my, their hearts must have been thrilled. And after he went through, and the Psalms too.
Maybe Psalm 23, Psalm 22 at least. He would go through that and tell how he had to suffer. So that they could be brought into this place of redemption. So they could be redeemed. Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
So the Lord draws near. And he encourages them. Do we need encouragement? We don't need flattery. But we need encouragement. We all need to be encouraged. We should never be despondent really. We wouldn't be if we really got into the Word.
I think that's the secret here. You see, an elder or a shepherd must be apt to teach. Now it doesn't mean that it would be a man with a tremendous amount of gift. Could be. We need people like that, I'll tell you.
But someone at least knows the scriptures and knows how to handle the scriptures. I don't need to tell you. I don't think. I don't try to get into assembly problems. I try to keep out of them. But there are problems.
And you know, from what I can see, it's happening in certain places. There are elders that don't know how to handle things. They just don't know. And maybe they'll say, well, this is the way we did it 50 years ago or 20 years ago.
That's not good enough. What about the scriptures? The scriptures cover all these things. And apt to teach means an aptitude to teach. So we all need a knowledge. Knowledge isn't gift, but we all need to have a knowledge of the Word.
And this is how we're going to see people restored. It's through the Word of God. And particularly, maybe the scriptures concerning Christ himself. That's what we need to do. See the Lord Jesus in all the scriptures.
First book my father sent me after I was saved was a Bible, a John Nelson Darby Bible. I didn't even know. I knew he read his Bible. It was a few that were worn out. When it said in the back, new translation, I didn't know if he had gone a bit loose or not.
But that's what it just calls it. A new translation. And the second book he sent me was The Glories of the Lord by Hewlett. Some of them are out there, I think. He wanted me to be occupied with the Lord.
That's the important thing. There was a group of young men in Ireland one time, and they're studying the Psalms. And my father asked him, well, what are you studying? Oh, we meet and we're studying the Psalms.
Well, he says, forget the Psalms right now and get into the Gospels. Get to know the Lord himself. That's so important. Why would we not want to know more of this one that we're going to meet someday?
I've often said, and it's worth maybe repeating, I hope, when Rebecca was going through the desert, well, what was she talking about to the servant? It was a picture of the Holy Spirit. You'd think she was telling him what a nice place she had when she was at home with her father and mother and her maids and so on.
And a lovely tent. And not at all. She wanted to know about the man she was going to meet. Well, tell me about Isaac. I don't know. In a way, I'm glad my mother didn't pick any partners for me. But maybe she would have done okay.
Couldn't have done better. I know that. But you like to choose your own. At least you think you do. You know, you run after your girlfriend until she catches you. But anyhow, you think you want to be in….
Well, you know, there are countries where the parents choose a husband for the bride, for the daughter. And I'm not sure if they really do that now. But here's a woman going to meet a man she's never met.
She's going to get married. Wouldn't you want to know the kind of a person you're going to marry? We're all going to the marriage supper of the Lamb, you know. It'd be good if we knew the person that we're going to meet, whom having not seen, we love.
We love him because we have learned from him in the Scriptures. And I believe that Rebecca was saying, tell me about Isaac. And then he would tell her, well, my master's given all things into his hand.
He's really rich. Well, that'd be pretty good. We're going to marry somebody rich. That could be all right. But she would say, no, I don't want you to tell me about that. Tell me about when he was on the altar.
Tell me about when the ram was caught in the thicket and brought to take his place there. And for us, what are we…. We want to find out more about a man on the altar, a man on the cross. And you know, that's what the Lord did.
He unfolded these things to them, and he taught them, the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. But then, you know, he said, tarry at Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. The word endued, I think, could be rendered clothed.
Clothed with power from on high. What was the Lord doing? Well, you know, there was 40 days at the beginning of his ministry. He was showing his competence, whether it's to reign or be the perfect servant or a perfect man.
And then the 40 days at the end, just before he ascended into heaven. What are they? They're a little preview or a prelude of what he's doing now. The Lord's still drawing near to his own. It says he vanished out of their sight in Luke 24.
I think a better way to look at it, he ceased to be seen of them. He's still with them. This is what he's doing now. He's drawing near to us. But, you know, he also said, you're going to be clothed with power from on high.
And what I'm saying really is that he's our high priest. As our great high priest, he draws near to us. Sympathize with us in our weakness, to succor us in temptation, to bring us right through this wilderness world, the safe to the uttermost.
But now he's saying, I'm clothing you with priestly garments. This is what I want you to be doing. I want you to be occupied with the welfare of the Lord's people, to try and help them. There's all your own little way.
I don't need to spell it all out. There's different ways you can draw near and encourage someone. The sisters can do it maybe better than we can. They can take the cookies and the stuff to somebody that's shut in and give them a little word.
That's what God is looking for. They're branding the same. Sometimes there might be a lineup for the platform, but usually there's not a lineup in the hospital. You visit someone that's in a hospital bed or someone that's shut in or someone in the old folks' home, and you know what you'll find?
You'll find that they'll maybe encourage you instead of you trying to encourage them. They're dependent on the Lord, and they know the Lord's presence with them. But nevertheless, we have a responsibility.
The Lord sought out the sheep to help them. So may the Lord help us to seek out the sheep to help God's people and to encourage them when they may be despondent and do it from the Word of God, the things concerning himself.
That's what we need to be encouraged and be like the shepherd. We're not under shepherds in the same way as we've been thinking about shepherds in the assembly, but we all should have a shepherd's heart, really.
You know, there are quite a few women in the Bible that were shepherds. Well, not Rebecca was a shepherd. She watered the flock, and she was willing to water the camels and everything else, I'll tell you.
She was some shepherdess. So you see, it's not just for men. We're all part of a priesthood, a holy priesthood in the sanctuary, a royal priesthood in the testimony. So may the Lord help us to be like him, seek out the lost and the perishing.
That's important. But also to seek out the Lord's people and be a help and a comfort to them in times of difficulty.