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Of 2013, I went on a short-term missions trip to Macedonia, which is in southeastern Europe. We support the Stouts in this church, who now serve in Croatia, but at this time they were ministering in Macedonia.
And I was there with my former pastor, who I served under at that time. And this was a short-term missions trip, about a week long, that we were there. This was my first time in a foreign country, and I should have changed my morning routine to account for this, but I was foolish and did not.
My morning routine, since I was in college, was to go for a nice long run in the morning, no matter where I was. And when I was in high school, my cross-country coach always told me, he said, if you're in a place, if you're in a strange place, always do an out-and-back.
Because then you can track where you are, and you can just go straight out, and then come straight back. That'll prevent you from getting lost. So I woke up early in the morning. It was super early in the morning.
Hardly anybody in the whole city was awake, but I was. And so I go for my run in the capital city of Skopje, Macedonia. And my plan was to do an out-and-back, like I was told many years before. And as I ran, this was the first time I had seen the city, because when I arrived the night before, it was dark.
It was neat running through the city, as I saw statues of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. And as I started to take the trek back on my run, it occurred to me that I did not pay close enough attention to the place where I started.
As I got closer, everything looked the same. I didn't know where to turn to get back to the stouts house where I was staying. I was lost in a foreign land. I knew that my only hope was for someone I knew to find me.
The only people that I knew in the whole country were the stouts, the pastor I was with, and one Macedonian who had come and visited us before, named Igor. That's all I had. I was lost in a city of a half million people, and hardly anyone spoke English.
And of course, I didn't speak Macedonian. So what do you do? I first started running back and forth down the streets, hoping someone would see me. That failed. So I found a random guy on the side of the road who had a cell phone.
It was early in the morning and hardly anyone was up, but this guy was. Through his cell phone, he had Facebook, and so I sent a message through the Facebook page to Brian saying, I'm lost, come find me.
But he was sleeping. So I had to come up with a new plan. I then went to the grocery store that was nearby, wondering if anyone knew Brian or his wife Debbie, and I was wondering if they had their number, or if they could lead me to their house.
It was a comical scene, because all of the employees gathered at the front of the store, and they didn't know what to do with with this silly American who was lost. During this whole time, I was praying that the Lord would lead me back to the house, and it was remarkable how the Lord answered this prayer.
And if he didn't, I'd still be in Macedonia. A woman who taught, or I should say, a woman who was learning under Brian Stout, as Brian Stout was teaching English, happened to be in the store and said that she knew Brian.
So she called Brian, and you might think, well, problem solved. Nope, he's still sleeping. You didn't answer. But she left a message, and I waited at the store for a while, and finally his wife Debbie, I see her coming in the distance, comes and comes and gets me.
I wasn't that far away. I was like maybe a quarter mile, and then she led me back to the house. And I was lost, but now I was found, and I was in a safe location for the remainder of their trip under their supervision, under their protection during this time.
So why do I start the sermon this morning with a story like this? Everyone in this world is lost, in great need of being found, and even those who are his, even though who belong, even though even those who belong to the chief shepherd, still need to be found sometimes as they drift away, and safely brought back into his care.
So this morning, as we continue our sermon series through Matthew, Jesus explains the care that heaven has for the danger his people are in while they are on earth. So this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 18.
We'll look at verses 10 through 14, and if you're using a red Bible, it's on pages 978 and 979. The sermon is titled, Safe Under His Care. And we will begin by reading the text. Matthew 18 verses 10 through 14.
See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 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 more than over the 99 that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Here's our big idea. Understand that heaven deeply cares about the state of the saints on earth. Understand that heaven deeply cares about the state of the saints on earth. And we will see three parties in heaven that are described.
But before we jump in, let me give you a little recap of where we were one Sunday ago. We looked at verses 7 through 9 of this chapter, and in that passage Jesus talked about the danger of temptations.
There's a great danger in temptations because temptations lead people to sin, and the consequences for sin are enormous. Apart from Christ, the consequences of sinning for the unbeliever is hell. For the believer, there are still consequences for sin.
We know the pain that sin brings in our own lives. The call that Jesus gave is to turn away from the dangerous temptations in your life. And as you do this, you will experience the blessing of the life of not sinning.
Now this leads us back once again to the text that we've already read, but now we will zero in on. And I'm going to begin by looking closely at verse 10, where Jesus is instructing his disciples here, and this is what he tells them.
Do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What we see in verse 10 is the continuation of the conversation that Jesus has about the little ones.
What I already explained to you in the sermon two weeks ago is that the little ones in this text are referring not to literal children, but to believers. What we saw the last two Sundays is that God takes it very seriously when a person leads a believer down the wrong path.
Now what Jesus says in verse 10 is that every believer needs to be careful not to despise another believer. The Greek word for despise means to show disdain or to think little of. Another way to say this is to look down upon another, to be condescending.
What is interesting about this text is that Jesus describes three different groups that are troubled when a believer goes astray. You can see that the care that heaven has for the saints on earth. The first group described are angels.
In the second half of verse 10, Jesus once again says, I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. Now this is interesting. In our day, you hear people say that every person has a guardian angel, and they go to a passage like this to support this belief.
The belief that every person has a guardian angel is nothing new. When Peter was in prison in Acts 12, he was miraculously released and he went to the house of the believers. And when he went to the house of a girl named Rhoda, she went and let him in.
And as he was standing outside, they thought he was in prison. And so she was like, this is his angel. Acts chapter 12 talks about this. So our passage in Acts 12 are two passages that lead people to say that every person has a guardian angel.
Where did this come from? As we can see, this belief was around in the first century. There was a superstitious Jewish tradition that taught that every person had a guardian angel. But the Bible does not tell us this.
But what does the Bible tell us about angels? Hebrews 114 says, they are all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. The purpose of angels is to serve God's image bearers and specifically to serve the image bearers who are his children.
This is important to understand. Just because someone is created by God does not mean that that person is a child of God. 1 John 3 10 says, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.
Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. It is the children of God, those who have received God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, whose God's focus is on.
And therefore, that is the focus of God's servants, his angels. What verse 10 in our text says is these angels in heaven always see the face of my father who is in heaven. What this means is that angels in heaven are always focused on the throne of God in order to help God's people.
They worship God and then they serve God. How do angels help God's people? Angels help people's physical needs and they help their spiritual needs. 11 or 12 years ago, I worked as a sales rep in my territory.
I had a great territory, Minnesota and the Dakotas. Driving in the Dakotas in the heart of winter, that's not a fun thing to do. And one day that I was driving, I got caught on the side road and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground.
And I went down this road that wasn't plowed yet and I had a Jeep, but I had a Jeep without four-wheel drive. Does such a thing even exist? Yes, it does because I had one. And as I'm driving down there, I got stuck.
And you can see snow as far as the eye can see. And I had a small shovel, but I would have been there all day digging myself out. So what I did is I prayed, I'm like, Lord, you're going to have to help get me out of this.
And I see this truck coming from the distance. And as it got closer, they finally stopped. And then all these guys jumped out with shovels and dug me out. To this day, I wonder, were these angels? I don't know.
They very well could have been, though. Hebrews 13, 12 says, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels without knowing it. What the Bible tells us is that angels can and do take on human form.
We have come across angels in our lives and there are angels in this room right now, but you just can't see them. But sometimes sometimes they take on physical form to help people with their physical needs.
And sometimes you hear stories about a nurse who is at a hospital who is extra helpful and extra kind. And then they asked the hospital about this lady. They said, we don't have anyone on the rolls with her name.
You've heard stories about things like that. So they help physical needs, but they also, more importantly, keep believers from spiritual harm. They protect believers from Satan and his demons, and they are sent to encourage.
Angels take great offense when God's little ones, believers, are led down the wrong path. They have great concern for the well-being of God's children because they are invested. They are God's servants who are there for your good.
They desire to see the well-being of believers, and when they see a believer marginalized or hurt in some way by an unbeliever or even a believer, they are troubled by this. What verse 10 says is that when a believer is despised in any way, angels in heaven take great offense at this.
When this happens, God may be sending them to encourage you in some way. This very thing happened to Elijah in the Old Testament. He was a marked man by the evil queen Jezebel. And when he knew that she was after him, this is what 1 Kings 19 verses 4 -8 said, but Elijah went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree.
And he asked that he might die, saying, It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my father's. And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.
And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. And he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
So as we see here, the angel came from heaven to encourage Elijah when he had hit rock bottom. He was so depressed he wanted to die. But this angel gave him food and drink. And this food and drink that the angel provided gave him encouragement and strength to carry on his ministry.
Understand that heaven deeply cares about the state of the saints on earth. And the first party described are angels who are alarmed when a believer is led into sin or in danger in any way. The first party described, or I should say the second party described, that heaven deeply cares about is the chief shepherd who is eager to restore a believer to the fold.
The chief shepherd who is eager to restore a believer to the fold. We'll see this in verses 12 and 13. Angels are not the only ones who are concerned in heaven. Let's see who else in verses 12 and 13.
Jesus said here, What do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray? Does he not leave the ninety nine 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 more than the ninety nine that never went astray.
Now, at the end of verse 10, you'll notice a number or a letter that points to a footnote at the bottom of the page. The footnote has verse 11, which says, For the Son of Man came to save the lost. Now, this is not included in the text because it's not included in the earliest and best manuscripts.
But what verse 11 says in the footnote is certainly true. As Luke 1910 says, The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. The scribe who inserted that in this text probably knew what the Luke text said, so he inserted it here.
What this text tells us in verses 12 and 13 is the story of the shepherd and the care that he has for the sheep. What Jesus explains to the shepherd who is responsible for 100 sheep and one of those sheep goes astray.
Jesus asked the question in the second half of verse 12, Does the shepherd not leave the ninety nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? This is a rhetorical question, and when you ask a rhetorical question like this, there's an obvious answer.
The answer is yes, he does leave the ninety nine on the mountain and he does pursue the one sheep that has gone astray. He knows they will be OK, and he goes for the one who's not OK, who's in danger.
We don't know shepherds and sheep like they did in the first century. As Jesus is telling this story, the disciples would know exactly what he's talking about. They knew shepherds. They may have had family or friends who were shepherds.
To be a shepherd was a noble profession. It meant protecting your own as they face danger. Shepherds would fight off wolves and bears and lions and all sorts of predators in order to protect their sheep who were weak and needed protecting.
Sheep are so vulnerable. Not only are they weak, they're dumb, right? They're the least intelligent animal there is, probably. And what Jesus says is that they would even go after a sheep that went astray.
And sometimes the sheep is like me in Macedonia. You lose track of where you are and before you know it, you realize you're lost. This text is truly remarkable to see the concern that a shepherd has for one sheep that is gone.
Just one. Every sheep matters. Each one is important. Each one is not lost in the shuffle. One thing people don't like about big companies, organizations, and even churches is that, big churches that is, is that in most of these places, you're just a number.
The leadership doesn't know your name. And in the case of a company, they may hire someone younger than you because they can pay that person less. This is what is so bad about communism. In a communist government, according to Trevor Loudon, who's actually featured in Enemies Within the Church, he said, you're just a cog in the machine.
It's what you can contribute to the collective. If you can't contribute anything, then the government has no use for you. If you are against the movement, even worse, they want to get rid of you. And this is how persecution happens.
They see you as an enemy to their movement and they want you to just go away. But in any healthy nation, company, organization, or church, the individual matters. People know your name. People know things about you, like who is your family?
How many children you have? Who's your spouse? They know your hobbies, your concerns, your strengths, your weaknesses, what you love the most. In these places, you matter and the leadership cares about your well-being.
To the shepherds in Israel, every sheep mattered. So much so that the shepherd was willing to leave 99 sheep alone on the mountain to go after the one sheep that went astray. A good shepherd does this whether in Palestine or a pastor in his church.
Scripture compares a shepherd and his sheep to pastors and their people. Another example is a father in his home, as he is supposed to be the shepherd of his home. Any shepherd who cares for his flock is following the greatest shepherd of all, Jesus Christ.
He is the chief shepherd. 1 Peter calls him the chief shepherd. When the chief shepherd appears, he will give you the crown of glory. In John 10, verses 27 -28, describe him as the chief shepherd and what he does.
Jesus says this about himself. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Every Christian who belongs to Jesus is never lost from his sight.
This should be so encouraging to each of you. Jesus knows you. He knows everything about you. He knows your struggles and he's patient with you. He has your best in mind and he is working everything for your good.
You will never be lost from him. You are his forever. As Mark said this morning, he will never leave you nor forsake you. This is encouraging to you and it's also encouraging when it comes to wayward Christians.
That's what this passage is focusing on. Wayward Christians. You know Christians in your life who have gone astray. Sometimes we might wonder if that person's really a Christian. It is true that some fall away showing that they were never true Christians.
1 John 2, 19 says that they went out from us to show that they were not of us. If they were to continue, they would have shown that they were true. But because they walked away, they've shown that they're unbelievers.
But it's also true that some who are going in the wrong direction might not be that, but they might be just a wayward sheep who has gone astray for a time. These are the people that Jesus is talking about.
And you may be one of them yourself. You may have been one of them years ago, or you may know someone who is in this position. It is common for young people to grow up in the church, go to college, question their childhood faith, and then come back to the faith later on after they see that the promises of the world cannot deliver.
I remember my sister-in-law sharing her story with me about her college experience. She grew up in a good church, never went astray during her growing up years, but then went to a secular college where there weren't many Christians around.
She was not the big partier type, but she did get caught up in some of the wrong crowds and didn't have the desire to pursue the Lord during the season. And this led her to drift away from the Lord for a time.
But then when she returned after college, she had to make a decision. Was she going to follow Christ or was she not? At this time, showing her true faith, she pursued Christ again. And when I talked to her this week about her story, she said that she believes she's walking with the Lord because her grandparents prayed for her all the time that she would not walk away from the Lord.
It's concerning. You send someone off, you send a young person off, you wonder, who are we going to get back? What is this person going to be like? Especially if you're sending them to a secular school where there's lots of dangers that are there.
And thankfully, she not only came back to the Lord, but it grew strong in her faith. And then not long after that, she met my brother. And today, the two of them are raising a godly family. There are lots of stories like these where Christians drift for a time, but eventually the sheep return to the fold.
Jesus doesn't lose them. He doesn't lose any of his sheep. He cares about these sheep. He always thinks about them. He prays before his father that they would no longer go astray, but follow him. And as we read in John 10, they won't be lost.
The wayward sheep who are true will be gathered to the flock again. So think about those in your life. If they're true, they will come back. They won't drift forever. He brings his sheep back to the fold.
And the Lord may use our prayers to bring them back. So that's an encouragement for us. Pray for those people. Don't give up. Pray for them. Pray that they would return to the fold. The chief shepherd pursues and does not lose any of his sheep.
He cares deeply for them. He bought them with his own blood. He's not going to lose them. Understand that heaven deeply cares about the state of believers on earth. The second part he described is the chief shepherd, Jesus, who is eager to restore a believer to the fold.
The third party described here from heaven who deeply cares about the state of the saints on earth is the father who desires the well-being of his children. The father who desires the well-being of his children.
We'll see this in verse 14. Thus far, we've seen two parties who deeply care. We've seen angels. We've seen Jesus, the chief shepherd. And now we see the first person of the Trinity, the father. Verse 14, Jesus says, it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
So the father is concerned about the welfare of the saints on earth. And what he is specifically concerned about is that believers on earth do not perish. Now, we need to make a decision about the meaning of the word perish.
The Greek word for perish sometimes carries the meaning of total destruction. For example, John 3, 16, the most famous verse in the Bible, says that anyone who believes in Christ will not perish. What perish means in that verse is total destruction.
It means hell. It means the wrath of God upon the sinner. But that's not the only meaning that this word can carry. We have to look at the context and the context we are in tells us that angels, Jesus, and his father are concerned about wayward saints.
Wayward saints are still saints. These are people who have their names written in heaven. These are not people who will be in hell one day, but rather these are people who will be restored to the fold.
So the word perish in our text cannot mean total destruction, but rather it means the temporary harm that believers face while they're on earth. This is how it is used in Romans 14, 15, where Paul writes, if your brother is greed by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love by what you eat.
Do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So in that word, the word destroy is the same word for perish that is used here. Do not destroy someone. Do not harm someone for whom Christ died. The Lord does not want any of his sheep to be harmed.
The father, like angels and the chief shepherd, are deeply concerned about the welfare of believers on earth. First Peter 5, 7, as I read this morning, such a wonderful verse. Cast your cares on him because he cares for you.
He cares for you. He's fully invested in you. He gave up his son for you. Romans 8 says that. If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not graciously give us all things?
God's grace is there for the true believer. He sent his son to die for that person. To say that it is not his father's will, as Jesus says here, means that it is not his desire. Because he cares so much for his people, he does not want to see any harm done to any of them.
He does not want to see someone lead one of his children into sin, as verse 10 says. And he does not want to see us say it's going down the wrong path, as verses 12 and 13 say. And I'm blessed to have my father here today.
For years, we joked about, by the way, you can wave if you want. That's my dad. For years, by the way, he was featured in this last newsletter. So now you can see him in person. But for years, we always joked, my dad has been overprotective of me and my brother and my sister.
He and my mom would go away on vacation for a week and we'd be left home alone. And he'd write a list down of things we needed to remember to do. And then at the very bottom, he'd write, if anybody calls, don't let them know we're gone for a week.
Say something else. So he goes the extra measure to make sure that we were not at risk. And I was talking to my brother this week. He's like, yeah, he still does stuff like that to me. And I'm 37 or 36 or whatever.
So yeah, but that's a father who cares deeply about the well-being of his children. Our father in heaven cares very much about your well-being as his children. When harm is done to you spiritually by someone, he takes it personally.
And when you or someone else goes down the wrong path, he knows about it. And when he sees this, he sets out to help you, bringing you under his care. He hears prayers. He answers those prayers. He sends his angels to help.
He sends people in your life to encourage you. Yesterday in the men's group, we talked about how he sent Jonathan to David. David was so discouraged and he sends his dear friend Jonathan to encourage him.
Think of all the things that God does in your life to help you. He is fully committed to everyone who truly belongs to him. Understand that heaven deeply cares about the state of the saints on earth. And in this text, we've seen three groups described.
The first party described are angels who are alarmed when a believer is led into sin. The second party describes the chief shepherd who is eager to restore the sheep to the fold. The third party described is the father who desires the well-being of his children.
He sent his son to die for these children. He is fully committed. And in heaven right now, all the saints are safe. They've run the race. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, as Hebrews 12, 1 says.
They're safe. They do not face the hostility from this world that we face. They are in harm's way no longer. But here we are on earth. We live in a dangerous world with many minefields, many foes, many opportunities to stumble, many people who seek to do us harm.
But we have protection as the father, the son and their angels watch over us. And in this, you can take great comfort. And before I before I wrap this up completely here, I just want to say that this is only true of you if you have a sincere relationship with Christ.
And so if you're here today and you've never trusted in Christ, believe in the Lord Jesus today. He went to the cross. He died for your sins. You rose from the dead. And in him, this can be the place that you are in.
And what a wonderful place it is. And think about how dangerous this world is. If you belong to God, you're safe. He's a shepherd who always keeps track of his people. He's a shepherd who never fails.
He will bring every one of them into his presence one day. And those are the promises that we need to hold on to. Now, next Sunday, we will look at a very controversial passage. It's one thing I love about just preaching through the Bible.
Right. If you got a problem, problems with the book. Right. We're just going to the next thing on the list. We're talking about church discipline next Sunday. If your brother sins against you, what do you do?
And the Bible tells us exactly what we are to do in those cases. So we will look at that next Sunday when a serious sin is committed. What is the church supposed to do? But this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father in heaven, thank you for your word, Lord. In the gospel of Matthew, you tell us everything we need to know. Not only in Matthew, but the whole book, the whole Bible. You tell us what we need to know to live the life of faith.
And one of the things we need to know, Lord, is how much you care for us. How much you care for your own as we are here on earth and your design, Lord, to bring us safely into your arms one day. We are we are the safest people on earth.
Satan can't harm us. Our own sinful flesh can't harm us. Unbelievers, the world can't harm us. And I say that in an ultimate sense, Lord, we can go astray for a time. But in the end, we are yours forever.
Jesus loses none of his sheep. And we thank you, Lord, that you truly care about us. And so I pray, Lord, that you would apply this right where everyone is at this morning who is here in Jesus name. Amen.