The Parable of the Lost Sheep

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All right. So if you're not already in there, we'll Matthew 10 we'll look at 10 a we'll start off there. Which says see that you do not despise one of these little ones. So the little ones here is referring to the children from verses one through six, which pastor jeff Um talked about a couple weeks ago.

And remember the the initial context of this conversation. Essentially the disciples were having a contest to determine as the scripture says who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So i'm i'm as i'm preparing this i'm picturing what this looked like.

So I I see you have john maybe reclining on jesus bosom. He's like lord Look at these clowns over here acting a fool trying to figure out who's the greatest. You got bartholomew over in the corner. He's like hey guys look what I can do and he's like doing some weird thing because nobody ever notices bartholomew anyways.

Then you have judas pretending to flex says. Oh, yeah. Beat this. I can lift 30 pieces of silver. And then peter, of course immediately jumping into the challenge. I can definitely beat that. I can bench press jesus.

So he's over here trying to lift jesus and then you have thomas half listening says. I doubt it. Seriously though.

Um.

We all know christ's words in matthew 2016, which says so the last will be first in the first last and in this context of Chapter 18 christ has not yet spoken these words because that was in chapter 20.

However, I do believe that christ had already taught this principle to to the apostles. They knew this this was something they were familiar with. Especially considering what he taught in the sermon on the mount which was in matthew 5.

Verse 5 says blessed are the meek. For they shall inherit the earth. So here christ essentially is telling them. While you over here are all trying to figure out who's the best be careful not to trample these little ones over here.

Matthew henry Referring to little ones calls them the infant seed Of the faithful that belong to the family of christ and are not to be despised. So the word despise here is to feel contempt for someone or something because it is thought to be bad or without value.

So although although this can literally and physically be applied to children It can also be metaphorically and spiritually applied to children of the faith baby christians. Or as we'll see later the weak the weaker brother.

And we know that they are believers because of verse 6 where it says but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me. To sin. So these are ones that are believing in christ. They're not simply little ones.

But believing ones as well. Romans 14 commands us not to despise nor pass judgment on our weaker brothers. And when we get later in the message, we'll actually dive into romans 14 more in detail and see what that actually looks like.

But the point is it's the same language here. In in this verse matthew henry here says we must not make a jest of their infirmities. Not look upon them with contempt not conduct ourselves scornfully or disdainfully toward them as if we cared not.

Would become of them we must not say though. They be offended and grieved and stumble. What is that to us? Nor should we make a slight matter of doing that which will entangle and perplex them. And as a side note I believe we can also apply this, uh this verse to family worship.

As adults seeking to grow in christ and worship on sundays. We should not despise the children. We talk about this a lot here. If there are whiny and restless children. We should not look down on them with contempt nor their parents, but we should try to encourage and support these families.

But this is the way of our culture. Our culture despises children. They're willing to dispose of their children like dross all in the name of comfort. And my fear is that so many churches have done the same they've bought into the same mindset.

They send their children away during worship or during the word or during sacraments. And they do it all for the comfort of the adults. Obviously we find this shameful and we are convicted against it.

Again as henry stated. These children are the infant seed of the faithful. So moving on to uh 10b then it says for I tell you That in heaven their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven.

So i'm going to do a brief discussion here on angelology, which is just the study of angels. So in greek, it's angolos which simply means messenger and in the hebrew, uh, malak, which It has means the same thing a messenger.

So, of course, we're not talking about cute little fat baby angels hanging out in the clouds all day playing their little tiny harps. These types of angels trigger your cute aggression, but they simply aren't biblical.

The angels we're talking about usually appear as men dressed in bright white. And instead of bringing happy warm and snuggly feelings they incite feelings of fear Trembling and terror and they often cause people to fall before them in worship.

It's clear throughout scripture both in the old testament and new testament that god has assigned angels to his people. To watch over us to minister to us and to serve us. So i'm going to go through some passages of scripture here.

Quickly just to show you some of these verses. Uh psalm 91 9 through 13. Because you have made the lord your dwelling place the most high who is my refuge. No, evil shall be allowed to fall you no plague come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone. You will tread on the line and the adder the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

And then the new testament we have hebrews 1 13 through 14 which says into which of the angels has he ever said Sit at my right hand until I make you your enemies a footstool for your feet. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those?

Who are to inherit salvation? So again, you see here the angels serving god's people and then Further down in hebrews 13 verse 2. It says do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for thereby. Some have entertained angels.

Unawares.

So obviously we all know there's a lot of passages throughout scripture telling us to be hospitable to care for strangers to be good samaritans. This passage this verse here is saying that you never know when you could be helping an angel in disguise.

So quickly I want to talk about guardian angels because this is a question that always comes up. Do we have guardian angels? What does that mean? So I want to look at acts 12 13 through 16. And this is referring to peter.

Verse 13. It says and when he knocked at the door of the gateway a servant girl named rhoda came to answer. Recognizing peter's voice and her joy. She did not open the gate but ran in and reported that peter was standing at the gate.

They said to her you are out of your mind, but she kept insisting that it was so and they kept saying it is his angel. And verse 16 peter continued knocking and when they opened they saw him and were amazed.

So essentially this is a common. Probably still is a common jewish belief. That every one of god's people has their own assigned guardian angel. They're they're specifically assigned to that person to care for them.

This however is not scriptural. That comes from an apocryphal story of tobit. So that's where that whole idea of guardian angel comes from. It's from the from hebrew tradition. But this passage shows them that it was a widespread belief.

Enough that these people were thinking that peter was or was his angel not actually peter. So i'm going to look at now some actual, uh practical tasks that angels have. Referring to to the body of christ.

So angels are watching the church first corinthians 4 9 for I think that god has Exhibited us apostles as last of all like men sentenced to death because we have become a spectacle to the world. To angels and to men.

So again, you see here that angels are watching us. And in ephesians 3 9 through 10 to me, though I am the very least of the saints. This grace was given to preach the gentiles the unsearchable riches of christ and to bring to light for everyone.

What is the plane or what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in god who created all things? So that through the church the manifold wisdom of god might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

And then in verse our first corinthians 11 8 through 10. For man was not made from woman but woman from man neither was man created for women but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels.

Now i'm not going to take the time right now to exegete this passage. As I know there's probably some women in here that would like to hear me exegete this passage but the point is that.

Uh.

The angels are watching here. And then first timothy 5 21. This is to pastors. It says in the presence of god and of christ jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging doing nothing from partiality.

So again, these angels are watching pastors. And then matthew 16 27 Angels actually help reward believers. It says for the son of man is coming with his angels and the glory of his father and then he will repay each person.

According to what he has done. And then there's another another uh job that they have angels are guiding us. So if you look at acts 8 26 here we have an angel that directs philip To the eunuch and now an angel of the lord which was not christ we'll get into in a second.

Said to philip rise and go toward the south to the road that comes down from jerusalem to gaza. This is a desert place. So you have an angel speaking to philip telling him where to go. And then further down.

In acts 10 verses 3 through 8. We have an angel, uh directs cornelius to peter. So again, you have an angel guardian directing in verse 3. It says about the ninth hour of the day. He saw clearly in a vision an angel of god come in and say to him cornelius.

And he stared at him in terror. See there we have there's an angel. He's terrified and said what is it lord and he said to him your prayers and your alms have ascended. As memorial took before god and now send men to joppa and bring one simeon who was called peter.

Simon, sorry who was called peter? He is lodging. With one simon a tanner whose house is by the sea when the angel who spoke to him had departed. He called two of his servants and devout soldier from among those who had attended him and having related everything to him He sent them to joppa.

So this this passage here just as a note. This is a very important passage in church history because because the angel sent cornelius to peter. And this is what led to peter accepting the gentiles into the faith.

And then continuing into chapter 11. Or for actually 10 22 first it says and they said cornelius A centurion an upright and god-fearing man who was well spoken of by the whole jewish nation. Was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.

And then in verse 30 and cornelius said four days ago about this hour I was praying in my house at the ninth hour and behold a man stood before me in bright clothing again. There you have the angel and bright clothing.

And then 11 13 and he told us How we had seen the angel stand in his house how he had seen the angel stand in his house. And say send the joppa and bring simon who was called peter. So again, you see from these passages that the angels are actually guiding people.

And angels also provide so quickly we see them providing for hagar and ishmael in genesis chapter 21 um in psalm 28 25 or 78 25, excuse me, we see That the food being provided for a lot. Or the manna being provided.

For israel was actually from the angels. And then in first kings 19. You see the angels providing food for elijah. And then in psalm 91 if you guys remember we mentioned that a minute ago we actually see angels protecting us.

Angels provide deliverance. Uh, let's see x 5 17 through 21. You see them delivering the apostles. Starting verse 17, but the high priest rose up and all who were with him. That is the party of the sadducees and filled with jealousy.

They arrested the apostles and put them in public prison. But during the night an angel of the lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said go. And stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.

And when they heard this they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. So here you see them delivering the apostles and guiding and directing them. And then acts 12 6 through 11. This is with peter.

Now when herod was about to bring them out on that very night peter was sleeping between two soldiers Bound with two chains and centuries before the door regarding the prison. And behold an angel of the lord stood next to him and a light shone in the cell.

He struck peter on the side and woke him saying get up quickly. The chains fell off his hands and the angel said to him dress yourself and put on your sandals and he did so. And he said to him wrap your cloak around you and follow me and he went out and followed him.

He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real. But thought he was seeing a vision. So this is all happening. His chains are falling off the angel's saying go get dressed and he thinks it's he's basically sleeping.

Verse 10 when they had passed the first and second guard that came to the iron gate leading into the city it opened for them Of its own cords here. You see the gate actually opened on its own and they went out and went along one street and immediately the angel left him.

And when peter came to himself He said now i am sure that the lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of herod and from all That the jewish people were expecting. And then we see in daniel 9 20 through 23.

We see the angels dispatch prayer. While I was speaking and praying confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my plea before the lord my god for the holy hill of my god while I was speaking in prayer the man gabriel Whom I had seen in the vision at the first came to me in a swift flight at the time Of the evening sacrifice when gabriel is an angel.

He's a probably the most famous angel besides maybe michael in scripture. He made me understand speaking with me and saying oh daniel I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word a word went out and I have come to tell it to you.

For you are greatly loved therefore consider the word and understand the vision. And again, you see the same thing further in daniel chapter 10 and then We even see angels actually attending people in death.

So luke 16 22 the poor man died and was carried by the angels to abraham's side. And then we see in jude 9 That michael I mentioned a second ago. The archangel was actually fighting over moses body. He said but when the archangel michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of moses.

He did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said the lord rebuke you. And then lastly here I want to look at I mentioned the angel of the lord. Or also angel of yahweh some translations might say.

This is mentioned throughout the old testament. So most of these instances not all but most in the old testament when you see the angel of the lord or the angel of yahweh. These are believed to be christophanies.

Which are just pre-incarnate appearances of christ. So this is where you see christ. In scripture before he came as a child. Um, there's a lot of reasons we can get into a whole a whole message just on that.

But i'm not going to get into that today. But here are a couple verses just to show you what i'm talking about. So psalm 34 7 the angel of the lord encamps and camps around those who fear him and delivers them.

So, of course, we're told in scripture not to fear angels, but here in this verse we see. Or we're also told to fear we're told to fear god. But in this passage it clearly teaches that the angel of lord encamps around those who fear him.

And he delivers them. And then in judges 6 getting encounters the angel of the lord. Who tells gideon the lord is with you so he sees? In scripture says the angel of the lord and the angel replies and says the lord is with you and throughout the rest of that passage.

Then.

Um, the angel of the lord is referred to as lord or yahweh. So to pick back up in matthew then you notice that the rest of this verse says. Uh that their angels always see the face of my father. Who is who is in heaven?

So their angels here have constant access to god the father. And it was customary in eastern courts that highly respected servants would would stand before the king literally looking into his face. For care and concern for wisdom.

They were they were waiting for a moment's notice to act. We actually see this in scripture occurring with king solomon. And first kings 10 8 it says happy are your men. Happy are your servants who continually stand before you?

And hear your wisdom. So likewise Angels have the same access to god. They stand in his presence. They actually have fellowship with him and they're waiting to be dispatched. They're waiting to do the assigned work on behalf of the saints.

Psalm 103 20 says bless the lord. Oh you his angels you mighty ones who do his word obeying the voice of his word. Matthew henry here says the happiness of heaven consists in the vision of god seeing him face to face.

As he is beholding his beauty. This the angels have without interruption. When they are ministering to us on earth yet, even then by contemplation they behold the face of god. So the point here that I want to make is that angels are clearly involved in the lives of people of the people of god.

To what extent i'm not sure but scripture is clear that to some degree were cared for by angels by his messengers. And here scourge says the highest Courtiers of glory counted their honor to watch over the lowly in heart.

So moving on to matthew then let's look at verse 11.

That's a test.

Are you all?

There's no verse 11, is there? Um, this is a disputed passage. If you have if you're looking at the esv, there's probably a footnote.

Um.

It's not there. It's it's um, it's not found in the oldest manuscripts. But it is found in scripture in luke 19 10. So that passage is from luke 19 10 just not from that location. So some versions put it in there some use a footnote some put it in brackets some of the early copyists probably Realized it was maybe not possibly there and so they put it in brackets or they made a note.

Um to keep it safe. So that's why it's weird when you're like, wait a minute. There's no verse 11. It goes from 10 to 12. So verse 12 through 13 What do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray?

Does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it truly I say to you he rejoices over it and more than over the 99 that never went astray. There's a parallel uh passage in luke 15 3 through 10.

Just so you have it. It says so he told them this parable. And what man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them does not leave the 99 in the open country. And go after the one that is lost until he finds it and when he 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 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

Or what woman having 10 silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp. And sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it. And when she has found it She calls together her friends and neighbors saying rejoice with me for I have found the coin that I had lost.

Just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of god over one sinner who repents. So again, you see here in luke that the angels are before god and they're joyous when god finds that sheep. So now we're moving from the relationship of believers to angels to the relationship of believers to god the father and here he's seen as a shepherd.

He's concerned about every single believer. This really is I think a pretty simple parable. The point is that every one of his sheep is precious to him. And notice that this is about believers. It doesn't mention any goats, but sheep.

They are already belong to the shepherd's fold. So I have a couple analogies here um, actually i'm stole this from macarthur, but.

Uh.

He told he tells a story. It's like if I go to sit down at dinner. And I notice that my oldest child is missing. And i'm like, hey Cheryl, where's evie?

She's like, I don't know.

Well, don't worry about it. We have another one. No, that's not gonna happen. Right if a child's missing you're gonna you're gonna stop what you're doing. You're gonna do everything you can to find them.

So how many of you in here you can feel free to raise your hand. How many of you have lost a dog or another pet. A few people. It's probably terrifying, right? Nothing else mattered at that moment. How much more important would it be if you lost a child.

The same goes for god the father when his children are lost. Now who has lost a child? There's a shame on you. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I actually was lost twice as a child. Tell you tell you why. The first time I was five and I was at sea world.

I actually remember this vividly. There was we walked in and there was the penguins and I stopped to look at the penguins for a little bit and then Grabbed somebody's hand and started walking and shortly realized it wasn't my dad.

Uh.

Thankfully, I had the wherewithal to go to the information desk and tell them I was lost. So then my parents hear them calling their name, you know over the thing Mark and susan pearson come find your child, you know, like.

But they were terrified right? They lost me. They were terrified the second time. Uh, basically was like home alone.

At mcdonald's.

Only I wasn't alone. But uh, it was probably 13 or 14 and my cousin and I were riding up with my dad in the back of his truck. Up to my grandparents cabin. And I think we went into the bathroom before we got back on the road and my dad drove off and left us.

Didn't realize it uh because we were riding in the back and uh. So we were pretty terrified. But it was this is well before you had cell phones readily available except for maybe the zach morris like car phone, you know.

Like but we didn't have phones. So I think we were we picked up the uh, The pay the cell pay phone and we're calling anybody we could think of and I think my cousin even called. He was a he was a missionary kid.

I think he even called the missions organization trying to track somebody down. But we're stuck at mcdonald's in the middle of nowhere for like two or three hours before my dad realized we were missing and came back and got us.

Obviously they found us. Um.

But.

Every family has that kid, right? That kid that's always lost or always hurt. And my family it was my younger brother jared who's always wandering off somewhere always getting hurt.

Um.

And so i'm Let me preface this by saying i'm not saying this right here to brag but i'm actually very grateful that god's given me a bit of an internal compass. Um as long as I know where north is I can usually find my way out of Any situation if I can just drive somewhere one time.

And like 20 years later I can remember how to get there. I'm thankful for that. I realized not everybody has that gift. My seven-year-old definitely has that. She always knows where we're at. She always knows where we're going.

Um.

My my three-year-old. Not so much. I think she's more like her mother. Uh, but it wasn't for the invention of gps. Then well, I'll stop there.

Uh.

But there are people here at apologia That I love dearly. They wouldn't know they were stuck on the tracks if a train hit them. And forgive me sage i'm going to use sage as an example here. Most of you know pastor jeff's oldest son sage.

He's that kid. And he's he knows he's nodding. Uh a few. I'm going to tell you a story about winter camp if you don't mind a few years ago winter camp. They were out hiking this was in grier four hours from here in the middle of nowhere.

No real cell phone service and sage got lost and wandered off. I think after an hour or two I think if I remember correctly just kind of fell on the ground and just kind of gave up like oh I guess my life's over and uh I I think he even befriended a stray dog if I remember correctly.

Thankfully somebody drove by and found him laying on the ground and.

But. What I'm getting.

Is I remember the call from pastor jeff. Calling me panicked because sage was missing up in the woods in the mountains and uh. Again, thankfully I found somebody was able to get a call out. Let him know and then you know a couple hours later He got another call that they had found him and and so he was relieved right the family rejoiced.

When they found him they were they were panicked at first. They were jeff would have done anything he could in his power to find sage. He couldn't do much because he's four hours away. But when they when they found him the family was relieved and they rejoiced and that's that's the point I wanted to get to here.

So god loses one child. He leaves the others to find him. And rejoices when he is found. So shepherds became tracking experts. Why because sheep are prone to wander and just like sheep so are we. My favorite verse from one of my favorite hymns is come thou found Oh to grace how great a debtor daily i'm constrained to be.

Let thy goodness like a fetter By my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander lord. I feel it prone to leave the god. I love Here's my heart. Oh take and seal it seal it for.

Thy courts above.

We daily need the shepherd's goodness like a fetter, which is a chain to bind our wandering hearts to him. Like sheep we're prone to wander. We're prone to leave the god we love. And when we do wander just like the shepherd god doesn't sit around and wait for us to return.

He immediately embarks On an exhaustive an extensive search. No cost is too big and he never comes back empty-handed. Shepherds would often return with the dead bones of the lost sheep, but they wouldn't give up.

They would search and search until they found that sheep even if they had deceased. This shows that god is interested in individual heartfelt forgiving care. When the lost sheep is found the emphasis is on restoration and forgiveness.

God along with his angels rejoice Because he delights in forgiveness. This reconciliation and this restoration is so intimate to the father. Like we see in luke 15 that when the lost sheep is found the shepherd just doesn't make him follow him.

He doesn't say all right. I found you now follow me home. Or he doesn't like make him walk in front of him and disgrace and have everybody laugh at him. But he puts him on his shoulders. He actually carries the burden for that sheep and carries him home.

Now this is not a license to sin, but it exemplifies the extent of god's grace. He pursues us because he does not want us to be devastated. He loves us this deeply because we are his children. And because of this We come to verse 14.

So it is not the will of my father who was in heaven that one of these little ones Should perish. It's pretty simple. It's pretty straightforward. Whether it's literally little children or little ones in the faith.

It is god's will that none of them should perish. And here perish is literally to die. Especially in a violent or sudden way or to suffer complete ruin or destruction. Some translations have rendered perish to get lost.

Matthew henry here makes three points. I want to share.

One.

It is his will that these little ones should be saved. It is the will of his design and delight. He has designed it and set his heart upon it and he will affect it. It is the will of his precept that all should do what they can to further and nothing to hinder it.

Point two. This care extends itself to every particular member of the flock even the meanest. We think if but one or two be offended and ensnared it is no great matter. We need not mind it but god's thoughts of love and tenderness are above ours.

And then the third point. It is intimated that those who do anything by which any of these little ones are brought into danger of perishing. Contradict the will of god and highly provoke him and though they cannot prevail in it yet.

They will be reckoned with for By him who in his saints As in the other things is jealous of his honor and will not bear to have it trampled on. So in conclusion. It's a long conclusion. So don't get your hopes up yet.

What does this look like practically for us today? How do we how do we apply this passage to our lives? Just as the culture despises children it also despises the lowly. That would be the poor the needy the downtrodden the drugs of society.

I'm i'll be honest. I'm thankful for this church as you all know. We were founded on the needs of the outcasts of addicts. I think that we do a great job of helping the needy. We got the blessing bags ministry.

We do the homeless center every year. We got the homeless Um outreach once a month we got redeemed rebels. So I want to encourage you guys you're doing we're doing a great job, but I think we can always do better.

I want to move here to james chapter 2. And look at verses 1 through 9. My brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our lord. Jesus christ the lord of our glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man shabby clothing Also comes in have you pay and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say You sit here in a good place.