You can open your Bibles with
me to the book of Matthew, chapter 18. We'll continue our study
of Matthew 18 this morning. Before we begin, let's bow before
our Lord in prayer. Our Father, how thankful we are
that you've given us this and other opportunity to meet together,
to open, read, and study your word. Father, I pray that you
would reveal your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, our hearts this
morning. Don't let us look into your word to find anything except
our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, take the word this morning
and show us your glory. Apply it to our hearts to give
faith and strengthen faith and comfort and rest in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, what we pray for ourselves,
we pray for your people who meet everywhere this morning to worship
thee. Father, we pray you bless. We
pray a special blessing, our brother Eric, as he's preaching
in Lexington today, that you bless him in a special way. You
give him and Abby traveling mercies as they come back home. Father,
for those who are hurting, who are sick and in difficult times,
Father, we pray for them. We pray that your hand of healing
and comfort and direction would be upon We're so thankful to
know that none of these cases are too hard for the father again,
bless us, bless us. As we look into your word, teach
us more of the person, the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray and give thanks. Amen. I've titled the lesson
this morning. Christ saves that which was lost. Every one which is lost shall
be saved. Verse 11, Matthew 18, For the
son of man has come to save that which was lost. And our Lord
gives a parable here to tell us why and how he seeks and saves
that which was lost. And the first thing I want us
to see is this. The Lord saves the lost sheep because he loves
that sheep. Look up at verse 10. Take heed
that you despise not one of these little ones. For I say unto you
that in heaven there are angels who always behold the face of
my Father which is in heaven. The Lord calls his people his
little ones. And that is a term of endearment. That's what we call our little
children, our little ones. It's the ones that we watch out
for and protect and love. The Lord calls his people his
little ones. Now this is a term of endearment.
He loves his people. The Lord loves his people so
much He gave his life's blood to redeem him. He gave himself
all that he is to redeem his people because he loves them. And he says here, you take heed
now. He said, they're angels to always
behold the face of my father. Look over at Psalm 91. The Lord
loves his little ones and he uses his angels at times to take
care of his sheep and to protect them. Look here at Psalm 91. In verse 11. For he shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone. Now, there are times that our
Lord uses angels. They are physically there to
protect his people. It's a mystery to us, we don't
know anything about it, but that's what scripture teaches us. But
now, our Lord God, is the one who watches over and preserves
his sheep. He does it by his power, by his
love for his people. But you know, the Lord is a,
is a God of means. And some, sometimes the means
that he uses to protect his people are his angels. And it made me
think of this. We don't know a whole lot about
angels. We know that there are angels who fly about the throne
of God crying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts. The
sole purpose of angels that we read about in scripture, their
sole purpose is to serve God. That's their sole purpose. And
this is one of the ways that angels serve God by preserving,
by protecting, by watching over his sheep. And it made me think
this, you and I can serve God in the exact same way by watching
out for God's people, by helping them, by, by just watching out
for them. And Lord warns us. Now you take
heed. You be very careful not to offend
one of these little ones. Now the Lord loves his little
ones. He loves them so much. He warns us when you offend one
of those, one of these little ones, I love my people so much. When you offend my, one of my
little ones, you're offending me, me. Remember what the Lord told
those, those goats on his left hand, It's as much as you did
not do it, or to the least of these, my brother, the least
of them, these little ones, you did it directly to me. That's
what the Lord said. And I don't need to tell anybody
the danger of offending God Almighty. He's our God. He's our life giver. He's our judge. We should be
very careful not to offend them. These little ones are the ones
the Lord loves. And that's why he saved them,
because he set his love upon them. And you know, the love
of God means something. I love my children. I can't protect
them. I can't, there's this things
I just cannot will to happen for them. The love of God means
something. God set his love upon his people.
You can bank on this. Every last one of them is going
to be saved because God loves them. Second, the Lord Jesus
Christ came where that lost sheep was so he could save it. Verse
11, back in our text here, Matthew 18. For the son of man is come
to save that which was lost. Now it's not just that the Lord
took a long journey, physically a long journey to seek and to
save his sheep. He did a whole lot more than travel millions
of miles to come save his sheep. Look at Philippians chapter two. He came more than travel a great
distance. I'm sure he did travel a great distance, but it's more
than that. The Lord of glory came down, down, down, down,
down, down to become a man, to become what his people are so
that he could be their savior. Philippians chapter two, verse
six, who being in the form of God, Thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. It's not robbery for the Lord
Jesus to say he's equal with God because he is God. It's not
wrong for him to say that because he is. But verse seven, he made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant
and was found in the likeness of men and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Now that's the longest journey
ever taken. That the Lord of glory became
a man. He came down to be a man. He
came down so far. He suffered and died for his
people. How far he came down. He came to where his people are
so that he could save them. The Lord loves his people so
much. He has union with them. He became what we are so that
we could become what he is. so that we could have union with
him. This parable sometimes is referred to as the shepherd seeking
and saving his lost sheep. Well, we know our Lord Jesus
Christ is the shepherd, isn't he? He's the great shepherd.
The shepherd became what his sheep are so that he could dwell
with them, so he could be their representative, so that he could
be their savior. The shepherd is also called the
lamb, isn't he? The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. the shepherd became one of his
sheep. He became what they are. Not only did he come where they
are, he became what they are so he could be their representative
and save them from their sin. And you'll notice that the Lord
did not wait for his lost sheep to come to him so they could
be saved. He didn't even wait for his people, that lost sheep.
He didn't even wait for that lost sheep to take the first
step in the right direction before they would be saved. And you
know why he didn't wait? because it never would. That
sheep never would take the first step toward him. So the Savior
came all the way down to where his lost sheep is so that he
would save that sheep from their sin. He came from glory to live
in the sewer of sin, the sewer or the cesspool of this world.
He lived right amongst us so that he could save his people
from their sin. He endured the humiliation of being made flesh.
He endured the humiliation of appearing in the weakness of
human flesh so that he could save his people from their sin.
He even died for his people. He died in their place. The holy
son of God endured the shame of being made sin. You and I have no concept of
that. First of all, we've got no concept
of what it means that the Savior was made sin. But we also have
no concept of the humiliation he suffered to be made sin. We have no idea the humiliation
of that because that's all we know. We're so dead. Our flesh is so dead in sin.
We're just not ashamed of it. We just don't feel it. We don't
feel the humiliation of it, the filth of it. He did. He did. He knew what holiness
is. He knew what it is to be righteous,
and he knew what it was to be made sin. He endured every horrible
effect of sin. He endured everything that sin
is, with the exception of the commission of it. He knew the
guilt of it. He knew the shame of it. He said,
he called it mine iniquity. He said, it's so great I can't
look up. The shame, the guilt of it. And he suffered the justice
of it. He died under the rod of his
father's justice and he willingly did it. You know why he willingly
did it? Because that was the whole reason he came. He came
to save his people from their sin and that's what he did. Life
himself suffered death for his people so that they would never
die. He did that because he loves
his people. The Lord Jesus Christ was here on a mission. He said,
I've come to save, to save that which was lost. He didn't come
to try to do it. He came to do it. He didn't come
to be an example. He didn't come to be a reformer.
He didn't come to be a miracle worker. His mission was to save
that which was lost. And that's exactly what he did.
He saved every lost sheep. Every one of them. All right,
number three. The Lord saves the lost sheep
because that sheep belongs to him. He says here in verse 12,
what think ye if a man have a hundred sheep? That sheep belongs to
him. These ones that are lost, now
they belong to Christ, but they became lost. They became lost
in Adam. When Adam sinned, they sinned
because they were in Adam. When Adam became guilty, they
became guilty because they were in Adam. When Adam died, they
died because they were in Adam. They became separated from God
in Adam. God thrust them out of the garden
and they're lost. They're lost. And the sad thing
is they don't know they're lost. They just don't even know it.
They're lost. They cannot find their way back
to God. And they wouldn't go back to God. Even if they knew
the way, they wouldn't go back to God. Not by their nature.
They wouldn't because their nature's fallen. Their nature is dead. They love sin and hate righteousness.
They love the flesh and hate God. So that even if they knew
the way to go back, they wouldn't. Maybe that lost sheep here, here's
one of God's preachers. Tell them the way back to God.
It's through Christ and they won't believe it. They won't
come to him. They won't beg him because they're lost. They're
lost. Not only are they physically lost, they're, they're spiritually
lost and they don't even know it. And that applies to every
single son of Adam, every one of us. That's our nature. And every son of Adam would perish.
Every son of Adam who is lost and separated from God would
be eternally separated from God unless almighty God chose to
save a people out of Adam's fallen race. And that's what he did.
He chose a people to save. They're his elect. They're the
people he chose to save, and God calls them my sheep. So often
in scripture, he calls them my sheep. And they belong to God. They belong to God because God
chose to make them his. They belong to God because the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, promised in eternity, I'll
purchase them. I'll redeem them. I'll purchase
them with my own precious blood. And that's just exactly what
he did. That's why he came, to shed his blood, to pay for the
sin debt of those people. And that lost sheep belongs to
God. In the parable, the lost sheep
belongs to the man. He said he has it, it belongs
to him. That's why he goes and gets it when it's lost. Yes,
it's lost. Yes, it's out there where it
ought not be, but it still belongs to the man. And that's why he
went out there to get it. It belongs to him. See, this
man that owns the sheep, He's not a hireling. You know, a hireling
might say, well, I got 100 of my boss's sheep here, and I'm
bringing 99 back. 99% is pretty good, isn't it? Well, that would be an A every
time, wouldn't it? Wouldn't you love to get 99% of everything?
I mean, oh, you'd be hailed as just a great student. If Christ
comes back with 99%, he's a complete failure. Complete failure. So he owns that sheep. 99 is
not good enough. That sheep belongs to me. He's
going to go get it. He's going to save it. That sheep
is lost. That sheep was rebellious. That
sheep is, I don't know anything about sheep, but I read about
sheep that they're pretty dumb. They'll just wander off. None
of that matters. Yes, it's the sheep's fault.
Yes, it's the sheep's fault he's gone away from the shepherd.
Yes, it's the sheep's fault he's in danger. Yes, the sheep is
wrong. He's in the wrong place. But
that sheep belongs to that man. He's going to go save it. Yeah,
the sheep's in peril because of his own stupidity, because
of his own ignorance, because of his own rebellion, absolutely.
But that sheep belongs to the shepherd and he's not hiring.
He's gonna go get it. It belongs to him. That sheep,
he knows all of his sheep by name. By name. Whatever that
sheep's name, George. George is missing. I'm gonna
go get him. I'm gonna go get him. He knows them by name. He
knows where that, the sheep don't know where he's at. The shepherd
knows where he's at. He always has his eye of love upon them. So he knows where they're at.
He knows what they need at all times. They belong to him. That
sheep belongs to Christ by covenant purchase or by covenant arrangement.
The father elected a people and he gave those people to his son
in a covenant of grace. And there he is, there he is.
The sheep belong to Christ by lawful purchase. The Apostle
Paul told those Ephesian elders that the church is the people
that the Lord Jesus Christ purchased with his own blood. They belong
to him. They belong to Christ because
he has union with them. He dwells in them. He dwells
in their hearts and they dwell in him. He's the head and they're
the body. They belong to Christ. and he's
not going to have his body separated from his head. You're not going
to do it. They're going to be one. He has
union with them. They belong to him and that's why he saves
them. They're his, since they belong
to him, they're his responsibility and he's going to save them. All right, here's the fourth
thing. The Lord seeks that lost sheep until he finds it. Verse
13 says, and if so be that he find it, Oh, if so be, he's gonna
find that sheep. Look at John chapter 10, I'll
show you that. He's gonna find every lost sheep. John chapter 10. Verse 16. And 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. Not much doubt there. Is there
not much doubt? I must bring them and I shall
and they shall be one. The savior must find his sheep. He must, he must find it. He's
already paid for it. He's paid for with his precious
blood. He not going to pay for a sheep
and I have it. Oh, he's going to have it. He paid the redemption
price for that sheep. That sheep cannot stay lost. He must save it. And he must
find that sheep because his glory depends upon it. His glory depends. As I said, 99% is not good enough.
99% means he loses all of his glory. If Christ fails to save
even one, one out of a number that no man can number, he lost
all of his glory. So he must find that sheep. He's
purchased it. He must find that sheep because he's honor bound
to do it. Honor bound. He gave his word
and his promise to his father in the covenant of grace. He
gave his promise. I'll redeem him. And the father
is the one that first trusted in Christ. The son gave his word
and the father trusted him. Trusted him to keep it. He's
honor bound to do it. He's honor-bound to redeem his
people from their sin, because God can't lie. He promised he'd
do it, so he must do it. He must save every last one of
his lost sheep. And I'll tell you how he finds
those lost sheep and how he saves them. Through the preaching of
the gospel. Through the preaching of the
gospel. It may be a miraculous, earth-shaking event, like the
Philippians they are. It may be what seems like a quiet,
ordinary day, When Lydia goes down there by the river, there's
a group of women she heard. She's traveling through. She's
a seller of purple. She's on Business Street. She heard there's
a group of women meets down by this river, and their prayers
want to be made there. And she thought, well, I'll go.
She met a preacher. And then she met Christ. Somehow,
some way, God's going to cross the path of his people with a
preacher, preaching the gospel. so that they believe Christ somehow. And when he does, suddenly they're
found. Suddenly they're found. Look
at Isaiah chapter 40. They may be like some of the
apostles that came and told their friends, oh, we found the Messiah. Who found who? Well, I guess
they thought they found him. He found them. And when he finds
that sheep, he gently and lovingly carries them and brings them
home. Look here, Isaiah 40 verse 10.
Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand and his arm
shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. He should feed his flock like
a shepherd. He should gather the lambs, that
lost sheep, those lost lambs, he'll gather them with his arm
and carry them in his bosom, close to his heart where he loves
them, and shall gently lead those that are with young. When he
finds that lost sheep, it's finally found, the Savior's gonna be
the one to bring that sheep home. And when that sheep is found,
here's the fifth thing, the Lord saves. He saves his lost sheep. Not only, he doesn't just find
them, he saves them. He doesn't find that lost sheep
and offer that lost sheep a chance to be saved. He doesn't find
that lost sheep and offer them a chance to have salvation. He
doesn't leave salvation up to them in any way. He saves that
lost sheep. He saves them. He saves them
by being smitten for them. Look back at John chapter 10.
He saves that lost sheep by being smitten for them, by being made
sin and then being smitten by the rod of justice for them to
die in their place as their substitute. John 10 verse 11. The savior says, I'm the good
shepherd and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
But he that is in hireling and not the shepherd who's owned
the sheep or not, he sees the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep
and fleeth and the wolf catcheth him and scattereth the sheep.
The hireling fleeth because he's in hireling. That's his nature.
He cares not for the sheep. I'm the good shepherd and know
my sheep and am known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even
so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I
lay down my life for the sheep so that they will not die. And
if you look over a few pages in John chapter 18, here's the
fulfillment of that. John chapter 18. Verse four. Jesus, therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth and sat unto
them, this crowd coming out to meet him, led by Judas. He came
out and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am. You notice that word he there
is in italics. That's added by the translators. The Lord didn't
say I'm he, the Lord said I am. I am. Remember at the burning
bush? God said I am. My name is I am.
that I am. He's telling them I'm God. I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with, with them. And as soon as he said unto them,
I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. And then
he got up and then asking them again, whom seek ye? And they
said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I've told you
that I am. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way, that
the same might be fulfilled, which he spake of them. which
thou gavest of them, which thou gavest me, I have lost none. See the Lord found his sheep
and he saved them. He saved them by suffering and
dying in their place so that they would be saved so that they
could, would go free. And he had to be the one to do
it cause he's the only one able. He's the only one able to say,
and he saves his lost sheep freely. All right. Now look back here. Matthew, 18 again, verse 13. This matter of the Lord saving
his lost sheep makes him rejoice. Makes it, this is not just a
legal transaction. That's okay. It's done. He rejoices
in it. Verse verse 13 and if so be that
he find it. Verily I say into you, he rejoices
more of that sheep than of the 99 which went not astray. Now
you think of this, the Lord saves one of his lost sheep, and he
rejoices. He rejoices. One of the writers
I read this week, I forget who it was, I wish I could remember,
give him credit, but whoever it was said this, when God saves
one of his lost sheep, there's a holiday in heaven. There's
a holiday in heaven. He rejoices. He rejoices in doing
everything it took to save them. He rejoices. and watching that
lost sheep, now it's saved. Now he knows Christ. He rejoices
in watching that sheep depend upon him. He rejoices in it.
He doesn't say, oh, they're dependent on me. They need me for more.
No, he rejoices in that they depend upon him. He rejoices
in seeing that sheep given life and faith. We rejoice when God
gives us life and gives us faith. Aren't we happy about it? He
rejoices in seeing that lost sheep have faith. He rejoices
in watching that sheep rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. He rejoices to see that lost
sheep satisfied. That lost sheep was wandering,
looking for something, wasn't it? Wasn't satisfied. If it was
satisfied, it wouldn't keep looking, wouldn't keep wandering. It was
looking for something that could not be satisfied. Now he met
Christ. Now God saved him, now he's satisfied. All he needs. Now look over at
Luke chapter 15. The Savior rejoices so much that
this lost sheep has been saved. He calls all of heaven to rejoice. Luke chapter 15, verse one. Then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and
scribes murmured saying, this man received with sinners and
eateth with them. Like it's this horrible thing,
this man is eating with sinners and receiving sinners. And in
response to that, he spake this parable unto them saying, what
man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does
not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost
until he find it. And when he has found it, he
layeth 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 found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you that
likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repented
more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. Now who are these ninety and
nine that the Lord left in the wilderness? Well, there are people
who are not the Lord's sheep. There are people who are unbelievers.
See, this parable was given in response to this Pharisee's self-righteous
attitude. Like, you know, the Lord should
be receiving me, not these wretched sinners, you know, publicans
and harlots and so forth. They're self-righteous. The Lord
says here, they have no need of repentance. Do you know anybody that doesn't
need repentance? Now, what is the Lord saying
here? It's not that they don't need repentance, they think they have
no need of repentance. They think they have no need
to quit trusting their works. They think they have no need
to quit trusting their idols. They think they have no need
to turn to Christ and trust him instead of whatever it is that
they're trusting in now. Other men might be impressed
with their so-called righteousness. Other men might be impressed
with their religion and their morality, but the Lord doesn't
rejoice in it. The Lord finds it offensive.
He doesn't rejoice over them. Oh, but he rejoices over that
sheep that was lost. and now it's saved. He rejoices
over that one. He rejoices in that one who has
such great need of him. Then here's the last thing the
Lord seeks, saves and finds that lost sheep because it's his father's
will that he do it. Verse 14, Matthew 18 even so
it is not the will of your father, which is in heaven, that one
of these little ones should perish. Now, the whole cause of salvation
is the will of God. It's God's will. He's the one
who willed their salvation in divine election. He's the one
who willed their salvation, put them in this covenant of grace
that was made between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
It's God is the one who willed the payment for their salvation.
What's gonna save them? Nothing but the blood. Well,
it can't be the blood of bulls and goats, can it? It's gotta
be the blood of God. He willed the payment, and he
made the payment. And he's the one that wills to
apply that salvation to the hearts of his people. He's willed an
exact time that he's gonna move and give faith and life in the
hearts of his people. He's the one that willed that
to happen, and he's the one that makes it happen. Salvation's
all by the will and by the doing of God. And since that's true,
it's impossible It's impossible for any of his little ones to
perish. It's impossible because everything God wills, God does. Everything God wills happens. On Wednesday nights, we're going
through the six days of creation and on every day of creation,
God said, and it was so. Well, that's true of everything.
Everything God wills is so. You know, we have friends and
loved ones, maybe even ourselves, that are lost now. They're lost. Others are lost. But I'm telling
you what, if they're one of God's, they're going to be saved. They're
going to be found, and they're going to be saved. And that makes
me right happy. It really does. It makes me happy. It gives me just the determination
to keep doing what we're doing, preaching Christ, because that's
how God's going to save and that's how God's going to feed his people.
All right, I hope the Lord bless that to you.