Now let's turn tonight to Matthew chapter 18. My text will be verses 10 through 14. Matthew 18 verses 10 through 14. Let's just begin at verse 10. Our Lord Jesus is speaking concerning his disciples. He compares them in the previous part of the chapter to little children. They are God's little children.

He says, take heed that you despise not one of these little ones, not even one. Take heed that you despise not. Now that word despise not means to look down upon, to hold in contempt, to be contemptuous of, to disdain. The Lord Jesus says, don't you look proudly down upon any of my little children. Don't you dare do it.

For I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. We must never look down upon God's elect, and we must never do so for many reasons, principally because they're gods. They're our brothers and sisters in Christ. And it's our business to love them and to care for them, to nourish them, to cherish them, to comfort them, to cheer them, never to despise them.

Besides that, to despise the redeemed is to despise the Redeemer. To despise the saint is to despise the Savior. To despise the people of God, any of God's people, even one of God's people, is to despise God. So our Lord says, you be careful that you despise none of these little ones, not even one of them.

And then he gives another reason. In addition to the fact that they are God's children, that they are his little ones, he tells us that the angels of God are their companions, their friends, and their protectors. John Calvin, commenting on this verse of scripture, said, it is no light matter to despise those who have angels for their companions and friends.

God, through his angels, takes care of and protects his elect. Their ministering spirit sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. But these angels do not guard and protect and care for God's elect as a mere mechanical duty. but rather they watch over God's saints with deep interest and love, carrying them, as it were, in their very hearts. Listen to the scriptures.

In Luke 15, we read that there is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repented. The angels of God rejoice when one of God's elect are brought home. The angels of God who have watched over that chosen one from the day that it came forth from its mother's womb speaking lies unto the day that God in mercy calls that chosen one by his grace, the angels who watched over and protected him rejoice, like one whose heart is affected by what happens to another. More than that, we read of Lazarus, that old beggar. When he died, he was carried by the angels, and Abraham was tenderly, affectionately, the angels of God with their hearts watch over God's elect.

Now, I have no intention this evening of preaching to you about angels. I probably will never bring a sermon on angels. They would blush if I did. They would have me to speak of the Redeemer. But I am certain that none of us is sufficiently aware of the work which God has appointed to his angels for us.

We were talking in the back about God's providence and how the Lord in so many ways watches over and protects us that we're totally ignorant of. Both before conversion and after conversion, God watches over us all. And one of the ways by which God watches over us, I know the Lord God could simply will it and it be done. But he has created a host of heavenly beings, spirit beings, whose specific work it is to minister to and care for his people, the angels of God. God created them for that purpose. He created them to be ministering spirits sent forth to minister to, that is to serve those who shall be the heirs of salvation. Now, because we are so ignorant of what the angels do for us and the work which God has appointed for them to do, we are not as thankful as we ought to be for them.

Let me show you some things the scriptures clearly teach. You might want to jot these down. We're not going to look at the text, but I'll give them to you. Here are seven things the Word of God tells us plainly about angels. Now, please understand this. I know there's so much tradition and we kind of get our minds cluttered with tradition sometimes.

Angels were created from eternity and they were created as a race of spirit beings to serve God's purpose and God's people. There are no angels being made today or being created today and somewhere along the way foolish Religious tradition has taught folks that when babies die, they become angels. That's just utter nonsense. The Word of God nowhere teaches such a thing.

The angels are spirit beings created and given to serve seven specific purposes. First, we're told in 2 Thessalonians 1, 7 that the angels of God are constant attendants of Jesus Christ, our exalted Savior. They're constantly with him. Isaiah saw the angels of God bowing before the throne of God, the mercy seat, beholding the Lord Jesus Christ, swiftly flying to do his will. In Luke chapter 2, we read that the angels of God were the first to bring the good tidings of Christ's incarnation.

They were the first gospel preachers, that is, the first ones to proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ had come into the world in Luke 2.14. We read in Revelation 5, 11 and 12, that the angels are heavenly choristers.

They seem to join with the saints of God in songs of praise to the Lord God our Savior. But not only do they join with the saints of God, they sang his praise long before there were any saints in heaven to sing his praise. Isaiah beheld them singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. And so the angels of God are constantly singing God's praise in heaven. Fourthly, they are, as I have already told you, the protectors of God's chosen.

You can read that in Hebrews 1.14. The angels of God are defenders of the saints. You remember how the angels protected Peter. The Lord says in Psalm 34 that he will give his angels charge over you, that not a bone of yours shall be broken, not a foot shall be dashed against the stone. And in Matthew chapter six and first Corinthians 11. The angels exemplify obedience. They swiftly fly to do our Savior's will. They obey Him quickly. They obey Him readily. They obey Him constantly.

And throughout the scriptures, in the parables in Matthew, in 1 Peter 1, verse 12, in Revelation 20, verses 1, 2, and 3, the angels are set before us as executioners of divine justice. So the angels of God have very specific works which they are appointed of God to do on our behalf for the glory of our God.

Now, we do not worship angels. We do not pray to angels. We don't do so because all the way through the scriptures, every time a man attempted to worship or to pray to an angel, he was rebuked for doing so. To do so would be idolatry. We worship God alone. But while we do not worship or pray to the angels, we must not ignore them.

They are companions to the saints of God. They are with us in some sense in the General Assembly, in the Church of the Firstborn, the spirits of just being made perfect, and the angels of God are described as being part of that General Assembly in Hebrews chapter 12. Now look at verse 11, if you will.

For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. The mission of Christ. the work for which he was sent into this world. That work which he has undertaken and for which he is responsible as our divine surety is the salvation of God's elect who were lost through the sin and fall of our father Adam.

Our Lord Jesus spoke plainly concerning this in the passage we read earlier in John chapter 10. Look at verse 16 of John chapter 10. Now again I remind you because this needs to be clearly understood That our Savior, when he speaks of his obedience to the Father, and when he speaks of his responsibility to the Father, when he speaks of his mission from the Father and the work that he must do, he is speaking as our covenant surety. He's speaking not as one who is inferior to God in nature, for he is himself God in all things equal with the Father and the Spirit. But he speaks as a covenant surety, as the God-man, our mediator, because he volunteered to redeem and save us. This is what he says.

John 10, 16. Other sheep I have, they're already mine. The whole world's divided up into two groups, sheep and goats. And the Lord Jesus says, they're all mine. Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

So the Lord Jesus was sent here on an errand of mercy to seek and to save God's lost sheep who were given to him as a covenant surety and a covenant shepherd before the world began. His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, I can't say that too often. I can't say it too emphatically. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world on a mission. The mission for which he came was the saving of his lost ones, the saving of his people, the saving of his sheep, and he will indeed save them. Not one shall perish. The universal teaching of scripture is this. God's lost one, All whom the Lord Jesus Christ came to save shall be saved because that is the will of God and God Almighty always does His will. Look at verse 14.

Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Oh, what a word of comfort. If there were the slightest possibility that God's will might be frustrated, if there were the slightest possibility that God's will might be overturned, if there were the slightest possibility that somehow God's will might not be performed, it would be of no comfort whatsoever for the Savior to say, it is not your Father's will that one of these should perish. But when he says, it is not the will of your father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish, he's saying this is certain to come to pass because God says, I will do all my pleasure. So if it's not God's will for you to perish, you'll not perish. If it's not God's will for one of his lost ones to perish at last, they'll not perish. They will all be saved.

Now, in order to illustrate this fact, and to enforce it clearly with a picture, the Lord Jesus gives us a parable. In verses 12 and 13, it is the parable of the lost sheep. Read it with me. How fake ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray."

Now hold your hands here and turn to Luke chapter 15. Matthew is here quoting the same parable that Luke records as it was spoken by our Lord Jesus. He's recording for us that statement which our Lord Jesus gave. But on the occasion which Matthew records, the Lord spoke it in a different way, or gave just an abbreviated version of the same parable. The parable is spoken more elaborately in Luke 15 in verse 4, or verse 3 rather.

He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an 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. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repented, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance.

Now, if you compare the way these parables are given by Matthew and Matthew 18 and by Luke and Luke 15, obviously there are differences in the parables, not discrepancies, not contradictions, but differences. Why the differences? because they were used and spoken on two different occasions for two different purposes.

Here in Matthew chapter 18, Matthew was inspired to record the parable in this abbreviated way. Perhaps this is exactly the way the Lord Jesus spoke it on this occasion. But he was inspired to record the parable this way because the object of our Savior's message in Matthew 18 is to give a word of comfort and consolation and assurance to his children that not one of them should perish.

Notice in Matthew 18, he's talking to his disciples. In Luke chapter 15, he's giving a word of comfort, but it is a word of comfort spoken not to his children, but about his children. The word is spoken to the Pharisees. The Lord is rebuking the Pharisees and at the same time giving assurance to his children that he will save his own, but he has no regard for those ninety-nine self-righteous Pharisees which men generally consider themselves to be, or indeed always consider themselves to be, self-righteous needing no repentance until the Lord God is pleased to call them by his grace.

So our Lord's purpose in Luke 15 is to condemn the self-righteous and our Lord's purpose in Matthew 18 is to give comfort to his saints. In both places, the object is to assure us that he has come to seek and to save sinners, to seek and to save that which was lost.

All right. Now, taking the true parable or the parable as it's put together in both of these passages, I want to show you five things this evening. And I'll move along as quickly as I can, but I pray that God, the Holy Spirit will be our teacher. First, let me talk to you about the shepherd. That's the most important part of the message. Our Lord Jesus is called many, many things in the scriptures. One of the most common descriptions given of him, one of the most blessed descriptions given of him is that of a shepherd, not a harrowing shepherd.

A harling shepherd may not have any care at all for the sheep other than just to get his paper taken care of. But an owner shepherd is one whose heart and tender care is involved with the sheep. Because his life as a shepherd and his livelihood as a shepherd is involved in those sheep.

And so he has gentle, tender care for the sheep. And our Lord Jesus is not a hireling shepherd. He's an owner shepherd. His heart's involved with you. His glory as a shepherd is involved with him. His welfare as a shepherd, his fullness and fulfillment as a shepherd is involved with him. If one of his sheep perishes, he loses some. He loses some. So he's not a harling shepherd, but he is an owner's shepherd. All that of shepherd he is, is what Jesus Christ is to us.

The Lord is my shepherd. What a word. The Lord. The infinite, eternal God. He's my shepherd. What does that mean? A shepherd is a man who tends and serves sheep. He knows sheep. He knows how to lead them and how to feed them. How to protect them when they're in danger and how to nurse them when they're injured. He leads them out in the morning. He tends them all through the day. and he folds them again when the day is done.

Even so, our Lord Jesus Christ is throughout the scriptures described as a shepherd. Let's look at some scripture. Turn back to the book of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 13. Our Lord Jesus is here described as Jehovah's shepherd. Zechariah 13 and verse 7. He is Jehovah's Shepherd, smitten by the sword of divine justice, so that his sheep might go free and be saved. Look in verse 7.

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. That is, I will gather them from afar. I'll bring them safely home to myself.

Look in John chapter 10. We've read it earlier, but in John chapter 10 verse 11, the Lord Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Our Lord Jesus as the good shepherd, willingly, voluntarily laid down his life for the sheep. When he is described as the good shepherd in John 10, it has to do with redemption.

It has to do with the sacrifice of himself. In Hebrews 13 20, the apostle tells us that he's the great shepherd of the sheep. And that's talking about Christ in his resurrection glory. He is the great shepherd who rose in triumph and in victory from death, hell and the grave as he suffered death, hell and the grave as our representative and substitute. And then Peter describes him as the chief shepherd, the chief shepherd who shall appear without sin unto salvation unto them that look for him. And then fifthly, our Lord Jesus is called again by Peter, the shepherd and bishop of our souls.

Look at that passage. First Peter, chapter two, first Peter, chapter two and verse twenty four. Who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. that we, being dead in sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. Now look at verse 25.

For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned. Notice how the language is used. Peter is not writing accidentally, but on purpose, by divine inspiration. He does not say you were a sheep going astray, but now you have returned. He says you were a sheep going astray. That's what we're good at. But now are returned. And he's speaking as though we were perfectly passive in this returning. We have been returned by the shepherd unto the shepherd and bishop of our souls.

In Ezekiel 34, our Lord Jesus is the covenant shepherd under whose tender care we have peace as he gathers us and tends us. In Isaiah 40 in verse 11, our Lord is described as the shepherd of the sheep who gathers his little lambs in his arms and carries them in his bosom. Rex frequently prays that the Lord Jesus might be pleased to gather some of his little lambs. Oh, what a good description for God's sheep.

Little, helpless, defenseless, straying, dirty, vile lambs. Incapable of doing anything for themselves. Always exposed to danger. Oh, may the shepherd gather them with his arms and carry them in his bosom. The Lord Jesus Christ is the shepherd and we are the sheep who belong to him. We belong to him by two arrangements. First, the sheep belong to Christ by covenant agreement.

Now I want you to look at two texts of scripture in this regard. Look in John chapter 6 and verse 39 and hold your hands there while you turn to Ephesians chapter 1. John 6 and verse 39 and Ephesians chapter 1. And John 6, 39, our Savior says, This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Now, what he's saying is this.

Before the world began, the Lord God gave into his hands. The Lord God gave to his trust. The Lord God gave to him a people who must be saved by his blood, by his righteousness, by his grace, by his intercession. Look in Ephesians chapter 1. First time I saw this, it just thrilled my soul and it still does. The Apostle Paul is writing to the Ephesians talking about God's purpose of grace and the covenant of grace and all the blessings of grace given us in Christ before the world began. that we should be, verse 12, to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And let me tell you what I am confident that passage is saying.

Before the world began, when the Lord Jesus said, I will go, and redeem your people. I'll be surety and shepherd for them. Trust them to me. Give them into my hand. And at the last day, I will present them holy and unblameable, without spot, unreprovable in your sight, my father. I'll say, Lo, I and the children which God hath given me. And the father said, All right, here they are. Here they are.

And he trusted him. He trusted him with your soul. He trusted him with his glory and your eternal welfare. Oh, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. You understand that? We heard the word, the word of truth, the gospel that declared, you're saved! And he did it because the Father trusted him with your soul from eternity.

Now then, not only are we his by covenant agreement, so that he bargained for us in the covenant of grace. But our Lord Jesus actually purchased us on Mount Calvary, and we are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold from our vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, who barely was slain as a lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world. And so we're His by lawful purchase as well.

The Lord God gave us as sheep to the Son, who is our shepherd. And the Lord Jesus laid down his life for the sheep. Now be sure you get this. The Lord Jesus Christ, our shepherd, knows his sheep. Look at John 10, verse 14. John chapter 10, verse 14. I am the good shepherd. and know my sheep, and have known of mine." Reckon why he says, I know my sheep?

If he means for us to understand, I know everything, know everybody. That's not what he means for us to understand. He knows his sheep with a peculiar knowledge of love and grace. He knows all about us. That certainly is true. But this is much, much more than knowing about us. He says, I know my sheep. One of these days, he will say to the wicked, depart from me, you cursed. I never knew you. But he says, I know my sheep. He knows who they are.

Someone reprimanded Mr. Spurgeon one time for preaching the election. And he said, if you believe that only the elect and the sheep are going to be saved, why do you preach the gospel to everybody? He said, because I don't know who the sheep are. He said, if you can figure out who they are, and you go paint a yellow street down there back, I'll lift up shirt tails and just preach to them.

But since I don't know who they are, I preach the gospel to everybody and say, come, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and Christ will give you rest. Look unto Him and live forever. And the sheep hear his voice. The shepherd, though, knows his sheep. He knows where they are. He knows exactly where they are. And when he gets ready to call them, he'll send a preacher to fetch them. And he'll send his Holy Spirit with the word of the preacher and make his word effectual so that his sheep will follow him.

In his wise and good providence, God moves things around. He just moves things around. Ezekiel saw God's providence as a great wheel. And that wheel's constantly in motion. And sometimes things that are down here, you look up and they're up there. And things that are up here, they're down here. God's just constantly moving things around.

You know why? Because he knows where his sheep are. And he's arranging his providence for the calling of his sheep. And he's going to call them. He knows what they've been. He knows what they've done. He knows what they need. And he knows what he'll make of them. He knows when and where he will find them. He knows how to protect them. And he knows how to bring them home. He says, I am the good shepherd. I know. And if he knows, it doesn't matter whether anybody else knows or not. He knows. Now, secondly, let me talk to you for just a minute about the sheep. Benjamin Keech, who was first pastor of the church that was later pastored by Spurgeon and Gill and Rippon. Benjamin Keech has an excellent volume, rather lengthy.

It's about twelve, thirteen hundred pages on the parables. But he said, and I'm just giving you a synopsis, obviously, he says with regard to this parable, that the 100 represent all mankind lost in Adam. Do you see that in the parable back here in Matthew 18? The Lord said, what think ye if a man have an hundred sheep?

The same thing is recorded in Luke. These represent all mankind lost in our father Adam. You see, the whole world belongs to Christ. Both the sheep and the goats. Here they're referred to as sheep simply by way of metaphor. They're simply referred to to give us this parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep.

But the Lord Jesus owns all men, both the saved and the damned, both the elect and the reprobate. They belong to him. He is God and he disposes of them as he will. And then Mr. Keats said that in 1909, represent the self-righteous Pharisees of the world. Our Lord said this plainly in Luke 15.

He said the ninety and nine of those just persons who need no repentance. Now there ain't no such thing. There's no such thing as a just man or a just woman who needs no repentance. You need repentance. You need to be forgiven of your sin. You need to be redeemed. You need to repent before God of your sin and be washed in the blood. To think themselves to be something when they're nothing. Men and women who dare to assume that they are not guilty and deserving of God's wrath. These are the ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance.

But that one lost sheep. That one lost sheep represents all God's elect. scattered throughout all the world. Those who were brought by divine grace to see their lost and ruined condition. These are the lost ones. Our Lord says, I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, I know folks say, well, everybody's lost. No, they are really, but very few folks know it. Now, I'm telling you, If you ever find yourself lost before God, lost, I'm talking utterly lost, the Lord Jesus was sent to seek and save that which was lost.

God's people in this world are set forth as silly, lost, helpless, ignorant sheep. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way. We were all lost by the sin and fall of our father Adam. As soon as we came forth from our mother's womb, we all went astray from the womb, speaking lies. And left to ourselves, sheep would do nothing but roam and stray.

We are great at straying. we could never find our way home back to our shepherd again. Silly sheep have no sense of direction. Dogs do, horses do, cats do, even hogs do, but silly sheep have no sense of direction. They just stray further and further from home until at last the shepherd finds them. Thirdly, this parable speaks of a search. He goes after the one lost sheep. The shepherd leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness and goes out to search for his one lost sheep.

Now, in our text here in Matthew 18, Matthew records the words like this, and if so be that he find it. And the words are recorded simply because Matthew is giving us an abbreviated version of the parable. Our Lord is in this text giving us an abbreviated version of the parable. But in Luke, our Lord says, until he find it.

Until he find it. You see, nothing is left to chance. There's no if or maybe about it. This search goes on and continues until the shepherd finds his sheep that is lost. He knows which sheep is missing. He has a picture of it in his mind. He thinks of little else. The ninety and nine are of no concern to him.

Now, I'll probably get in trouble with some folks who hear this, but I'm accustomed to it. But I want you to understand, people talk about common grace and the general love and benevolence of God for all men. This book doesn't talk about such a thing. God's grace is anything but common. The Lord has no concern for the ninety and nine. His interest is not in the ninety and nine.

I want you to understand everything God does in this world, he does for these lost sheep. Everything. Rex Bartley, the rising and falling of nations is for these sheep. Wars are fought. Nations destroyed. People and races annihilated and kingdoms raised up and kings sitting on their thrones for these sheep, for these sheep. Tornadoes and earthquakes and whirlwinds and hurricanes and all the elements of the world, all things governed and ruled by our God for these sheep.

He leaves the ninety and nine and goes after his sheep. His mind, his heart is consumed with this sheep. His entire being is absorbed with thoughts of that one lost sheep. And so he takes this search upon himself. It's an all-absorbing search. That one lost sheep consumes everything in the shepherd's mind.

He loves that sheep. And it cannot bear it being lost. That sheep belongs to him. He purchased it. And he's responsible for that sheep. He will not appear before God at last without that sheep. It's a definite search. He goes after that one sheep. His sheep. That one definite particular sheep. His elect, redeemed sheep.

Down in the islands, particularly in Jamaica, Folks let goats run wild. They just, they run everywhere. They run all over folks' yards. You drive down the streets and even in downtown Kingston, you got to stop and wait on goats. And I had scared him one time. I said, how on earth do you know whose goats those are? He said, reach out there and try to grab one of them. He said, the owner's not far off. And those owners watch over those goats. They'll take care of those goats. And I'm telling you, the Lord Jesus has His heart's eye on His sheep in everything He does. It's a very active search. No hills too difficult to climb. No mountain too high. No valley too low. No precipice too rocky. No distance too far.

The shepherd must have his sheep. And he perseveres in the search until he finds it. Oh, what a personal search. It is the shepherd who goes searching for the sheep. The shepherd. Christ himself comes searching out his sheep. Spurgeon said it is glorious to think of him still personally tracking sinners. who though they fly from him with desperateness of folly, yet are still pursued by him, pursued by the Son of God, by the eternal lover of men, pursued by him until he finds them. And I'll tell you one more thing about the search. It's always successful. Always successful.

I know that all men will not be saved. Not everyone who hears the gospel will believe. I'm about to leave you to go on another preaching mission. I'll preach over Lexington tomorrow night, down in Fayetteville Thursday night, in Jacksonville Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, God willing. And I know that not everybody who hears me is going to believe.

It may be that many of those for whom I labor with heavy heart will perish at last. But of this one thing I am certain, not one of Christ's sheep shall ever perish. Not one of those lost ones for whom he suffered and died and now lives again, whom he searches out by himself, will ever perish.

Now, fourthly, look at the salvation that's described here. Turn over to Luke's account of this. Luke chapter 15. Luke says here in Luke 15 and verse 5, And when he had found it, He layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing, and cometh home. One of the old writers said in his incarnation, Christ came after his sheep. In his life, he continued to seek it. In his death, he laid it upon his shoulders. In his resurrection, he bore it on its way. And in his ascension, he brought it home.

Now picture the lost sheep. It shouldn't be hard. He's fallen over the edge of a high cliff on a dark, dark, stormy night. Overhead, he sees the lightning and hears the peals of the thunder of the wrath of God Almighty. Below him, he sees hell gaping for his soul's destruction, and he's slipping fast, slipping into hell, but then the shepherd. reaches down the long arm of his grace, picks up the sheep with his hands, he gathers his lambs with his hands, carries them in his bosom.

That's the salvation of God's elect. It is not something that the Lord Jesus offers to men. It is not something that the Lord Jesus says, here is my salvation if you can get it. Oh no, he reaches down the hand of almighty grace and causes his sheep to come after him and carries them all the way to glory.

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry. From the waters lifted me, now safe am I. And he lays his sheep upon his shoulders. This is the place of rest for the sheep. Happy is the sheep who just rest on the shepherd's shoulders. You ever seen a farmer having to carry a little calf best way on this earth to carry it is to get his front legs over here in this hand and his hind legs over here in this hand and just wrap them around your shoulders and carry it. And the cat just seems to naturally lay there and he causes himself nothing but pain if he doesn't. Even so, our shepherd takes his sheep and lays them upon his shoulders and carries them Oh, bless God.

He carries us all the way home. All the way home. He doesn't leave it for us to take one step or even one breath by ourselves. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter one. Let me show you this. What security this is. If the good shepherd carries you in his arms, on his shoulders, There is no possibility, no possibility that you shall perish at last. Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 30. The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. And in the wilderness where thou hast seen, how that the Lord thy God bare thee as a man doth bear his son in the way that ye went. until you came into this place. So the Lord thy God doth bear thee. Now, fifthly, our text speaks of satisfaction. Both places talk about joy, rejoicing.

Satisfaction is found for both the shepherd and the sheep. The shepherd is satisfied. That man who had lost his sheep is filled with joy in finding his sheep. And the sheep, the source of his joy, is filled with joy as well. He sacrificed himself and he shall see of the prevail of his soul and shall be satisfied. This is the joy that was set before him for which he endured the cross, despising the shame. His sheep are at last going to be with him in glory.

Oh, how satisfied they are. Let me look at one more text with you and we'll wrap this up. Look in Psalm 65. Psalm 65 verse 4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest. It's God's choice that put us among the sheep. and causest to approach unto thee. That's the finding of the sheaf, God's effectual grace.

That we may dwell in thy courts, we shall be satisfied, we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Ron, I have no idea, really, what awaits us in God's holy temple. But I know this, when we walk in his holy temple, we'll want nothing. We'll be perfectly satisfied with all the goodness of his temple.

Now get a picture of the shepherd. Whenever you picture the shepherd, try to ignore all of those silly looking pictures of some effeminate Jesus walking around with a halo around his head, carrying sheep in his arms. No, you picture him on the dark, stormy night with the lightning bolts flashing around him, his body emaciated with pain and agony, covered with blood. as one who's bearing the very wrath of God. But in his pierced hands, in that pierced heart of his, carrying his sheep in his bosom to glory. Got the picture?

Now learn this. He delighteth in mercy. There's a holiday in heaven every time a sinner repents. As a holiday in heaven, every time a sinner repents. Now, children of God, as Christ gave himself to save us, let's give ourselves to serve him. As we have filled his heart, Can you imagine that? We feel His heart. He's concerned for nothing else but His sheep and the glory of His Father. We feel His heart. So let Him now fill our hearts. Oh, Son of God, come fill our hearts. Oh, Infinite grace we ask for, we don't know. But if you will fill our hearts, we want nothing else and can want nothing else. Fill our hearts for the glory of your name. Amen.