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The Lord Jesus illustrated the salvation of
individual sinners 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 layeth it on
his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his
friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found
my sheep which was lost,” (Luke
15:4-6).
The two main characters in this
illustration are the lost sheep and the shepherd. The ninety-nine sheep
are incidental. Notice who does the action
in this parable. It is the owner of the lost sheep that does all in rescuing
his property.
Remember the Lord Himself told us the
two-fold purpose of parables. In Luke 8:10 He said,
“Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not
see, and hearing they might not understand.”
Parables are teaching aids to disciples, but
intentionally hide the truth to spiritually dead sinners. Those people have
not received a love of the truth and only twist the Scriptures
“unto their own destruction,” (2 Peter
3:16).
It is to be expected then that the vast
majority of men, being lost in sin, miss the point of this parable. Or they
deliberately ignore it and twist it because it does not fit in with their
ideas and pet teachings. The lost sheep is not said to be looking for his
owner. It is totally passive. The lost sheep does not seek its master and
rightful owner. It is like a baby in the birth experience: the baby is a
participant in its own birth, but it is not the cause of its birth. It is
the mother who goes into labor and it is the owner of the lost sheep who
does all necessary to find his lost sheep and carry it safely home. No
effort, strength, or activity is mentioned on the part of the sheep.
And so it is with the new birth. Men and
women are spiritually dead in their sins (see Ephesians 2:1 & 5), and being
dead do not even know they are in that awful condition. Oh they may give
mental assent to the truth about themselves, but they do not know it in a
spiritually profitable way. But Christ is the Good Shepherd. He seeks each
lost sheep knowing exactly where each one is. He finds His lost sheep and
raises it to His shoulders, as it were, and safely carries it to His home.
Could anything be clearer and more Christ-honoring than to recognize that
“Salvation is of the LORD,”
(Jonah 2:9). Have you seen that salvation is wholly of grace? Or do you
twist Christ's parable by saying that sinners must do this or that in order
to be found? |
