|
SAFE ON THE SHOULDERS OF CHRIST By Curtis Pugh Poteau, Oklahoma
Consider the following brief parable
taught by the Lord Jesus: “And 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 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. I say unto you, that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety
and nine just persons, which need no repentance,”
(Luke 15:3-7). We learn from the Lord Himself the two-fold purpose of Jesus
in His use of parables in Lu 8:10 where 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.”
If you and I are included in the “you” in that
verse we can understand the Lord's parables. Those who are the “others” can
understand the words and their meanings, but cannot understand the truths
taught in a spiritually profitable way. Intellectual comprehension is not
that which alone profits. Hebrews 4:2 tells us about ancient Israel:
“...the word preached did not profit them, not
being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
Even the Gospel, which some mistakenly say is the
power of God unto salvation, is only “the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,” (Romans
1:16). The glorious Gospel of Christ is the power of God only to believers!
And it is God who gives the gift of faith through Holy Spirit regeneration.
Spiritual life and all the things that result from it such as repentance,
faith, spiritual understanding and a changed life, etc. are all bestowed
upon Christ's sheep apart from any merit or action upon their part. Paul put
it this way: “For who maketh thee to
differ from another?
and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive
it, why
dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”
(1 Corinthians 4:7).
Notice these things in our text. First of
all, this shepherd had a flock of one-hundred sheep. One of his sheep,
however, was lost. It was a sheep: it had always been a sheep, but it was a
lost sheep. Secondly, notice that this parable has nothing to do with goats.
Goats are not mentioned. For the purpose of the Lord's illustration, this
parable has only to do with those sheep that were the shepherd's. We are
reminded immediately of the Lord's words about Himself in John 10:14-16.
There He said, “I am 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. 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.”
We may say without fear of successful
contradiction that Christ stood in a unique relation to His sheep. We may
safely say that He knows them, having known them from eternity. We may also
say that all His sheep come to know Him. It is also clear that Christ, the
Good Shepherd, voluntarily laid down His life on behalf of – in the place of
– His sheep. He also stated that He had other sheep not of the Jewish fold –
Gentile sheep. He was emphatic in saying that He “must” bring them. He would
do all necessary to “bring” them. He did not mean that He would bring them
to a geographic place, but rather to Himself for He said
“and they shall hear my voice.”
Here He foretold of the breaking down of the wall
of partition that once divided Jews and Gentiles as clearly taught in
Ephesians 2:14-16. Christ's concern and work of redemption was for His
sheep. As quoted above, His parables were understood only by His sheep and
only His sheep believed upon Him. He made this clear by saying,
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my
sheep, as I said unto you,” (John 10:26).
In the third place, we see that the
shepherd went “after that which is lost,
until he find it.” This shepherd was
capable, caring, persistent and successful. He searched for his lost sheep
until he found it. Note that the sheep was lost in a desert place: a place
unsuitable for a sheep: a place of enemies and dangers to that defenseless
creature. Human shepherds, knowing the habits of sheep even down to the
habits of individual sheep, may have an inkling of where a lost sheep might
be found, but the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, being the Son of God
as well as the Son of man, knows exactly where to find His lost sheep. Human
shepherds might struggle through rough terrain in all kinds of adverse
weather, but as one song says concerning our Good Shepherd, “But none of the
ransomed ever knew How deep were the waters crossed; Nor how dark was the
night the Lord passed through, Ere He found His sheep that was lost.” The
Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd entered this world – this waste howling
wilderness. Spiritually-speaking that is the nature of this world. We have
recorded for us the agony the Lord Jesus suffered by taking the sins of His
people upon Himself. God viewed His own Son as sin and treated Him as sin.
We say this on the authority of 2 Corinthians 5:21 where we read:
“For he [God]
hath made him
[Jesus Christ]
to be sin for us, [Jesus]
who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,”
[brackets added]. This Shepherd of ours bore all the sins of all the elect
“without the camp” - where the garbage was burned – an outcast. But He was,
if we may say it this way, an outcast from God also for He cried out,
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being
interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
(Mark 15:34). Christ suffered alone for His sheep! The success of Christ is
obvious. By His death and resurrection, He secured the eternal deliverance
from sin of all His sheep – His people. His shed blood really atoned for the
sins of those for whom He died. If we may paraphrase C. H. Spurgeon, Christ
did not by His atonement build a bridge half way across a chasm leaving the
other half to be constructed by human effort. He bridged the entire distance
between God and man! Christ was made a
“...faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people,” (Hebrews
2:17). Now He either made reconciliation for the people or He did not! The
Bible says He did! All the arguments of men to the contrary, Christ died for
all the sins of His sheep! Because of His work on behalf of His sheep He
could say, “All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,”
(John 6:37).
In the fourth place we see the rejoicing
of the shepherd as he puts the once-lost sheep upon his shoulders and
carries it safely home. Our
Shepherd is the One spoken of in Isaiah
9:6 in these words, “For unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his
shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
His shoulder is mighty enough to bear the
government of this world. He shall do that when He comes to rule. But each
of His lost sheep is placed upon His mighty shoulders and carried safely
home in our parable. Here is seen the great truth of God's preservation of
His people. The Lord Jesus did not die for folk and then allow even one of
them to struggle to be kept safe on their homeward journey. His sheep
certainly have their struggles against the indwelling sin nature and the
difficulties of life, but they do not need to struggle to keep themselves
saved and safe: they are on the shoulders of the Great Shepherd. He is
mighty to save - “to the uttermost”
as Hebrews 7:25 says. We might say that a part of His carrying us home is
stated in these words, “Wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them,”
(Hebrews 7:15). From the farthest distant point
that a lost sheep may wander all the way to the home of the Shepherd, the
now-found-once-lost-sheep need not concern himself with his safety. He is
safe! Thus our Good Shepherd, is also “our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep,”
(Hebrews 13:20). So it was that our Good and Great Shepherd said,
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which
gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father’s hand,” (John 10:27-29). In our
parable the now-found-once-lost sheep rides upon the shoulders of the
shepherd. That is one picture. In the last quoted portion, the Lord's sheep
are in both His and His Father's hand and cannot be removed from that safe
place. To those who would argue that the sheep has power to remove himself
from these sovereign hands and thus be lost forever, we point out that such
a concept does not enter into the Lord's Word here or elsewhere. So why
introduce such a thought? Grace does not include the giving of a gift that
can be lost. The proper understanding of Scripture lies in believing what it
says, not in introducing concepts that are foreign to the context and intent
of its Author. Another part of the Lord's carrying His sheep home is His
working by the Spirit in the born again one. Paul wrote,
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure,”
(Philippians 2:12-13). Earlier in this article God's preservation was
mentioned. Here we have the other side of that spiritual coin: that other
side being the perseverance of Christ's sheep. Being borne upon the
shoulders of the Great Shepherd, the sheep is safe. Being internally worked
upon by the indwelling Spirit, the sheep is caused
“both to will
[to do] and to do of his good pleasure.”
[brackets added]. After all, God's Word
does say, “The righteous also shall hold
on his way...” (Job 17:9). Someone says,
“But even sheep sometimes fall in the mud hole of sin.” Sadly, we agree. But
it is not the nature of a sheep to either eat nor wallow with the pigs in
the filth of this world. So it is with Christ's spiritual sheep: fall they
may, but afterward they sorrow greatly and return to the Shepherd of their
souls. They walk a different path and pursue a different goal for they
hunger and thirst after righteousness.
The fifth thing of note in this parable is
the rejoicing of the shepherd who calls to his fellows to come an rejoice
with him upon arriving home with his sheep. Some have thought this to
picture the rejoicing of angels at the salvation of each sinner saved. It
may be that the angels rejoice as not doubt they do in all the works of God.
It is true that there is
rejoicing in the presence of angels
according to Luke 15:10, but that verse does not say that the angels
rejoice. The New Testament makes it clear that angels do not understand
God's salvation of His people. In speaking of the preaching of the Gospel,
Peter says, “...which things the angels
desire to look into,” (1 Peter 1:2).
Salvation is not within the experience of angels for no salvation has been
provided for those among that class who sinned. Those angels who dwell in
the presence of God know nothing of sin by experience and so cannot know in
a personal way the joy of salvation. In the parable it is the shepherd and
his friends and neighbors who are called to rejoice with him. Is it not more
in keeping with the parable to say that it is our Good and Great and
Glorious Shepherd who along with the Father and the Spirit – and perhaps
those saints with them – the ones whom Christ
“...is not ashamed to call... brethren,”
(Hebrews 2:11) that rejoice most at the repentance of even one sinner?
And that brings us to the sixth thing –
and the final thing – to note in this little study. In this parable Christ
brings home to His hearers this great truth: it is the repentance of a
sinner which brings joy to those in Heaven. We know from the Bible that
repentance and faith are both twin gifts and at the same time twin
requirements. By twins we mean they are always found together. True
repentance and true faith do not exist separately. Imitations of both abound
and are the product of humanistic preaching and confidence in the flesh.
Whenever the genuine two are mentioned together they are always listed in
your Bible in this order: repentance and faith – never faith and repentance.
To put faith ahead of repentance changes the nature of faith, making it
merely intellectual assent whereas genuine faith is a falling upon the Rock
Christ Jesus and being broken in doing so (see Luke 20:18). We know from
God's Word how repentance comes. Paul wrote,
“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation
not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death,”
(2 Corinthians 710). Beware, then of the sorrow of the world! It is godly
sorrow that works repentance. Repentance is a turning from sin to God while
faith is complete trust in Jesus Christ and His finished work. It is
dependence upon Him alone! Paul stated that he preached to everyone both
repentance and faith. To the Ephesian elders gathered at the port city of
Miletus he said, “Testifying both to the
Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ,” (Acts 20:21).
And so in keeping with Paul's example, we
testify to the need for both repentance and faith. The question for each
reader is this: have you repented – turned from sin to God and believed in
Christ? Are you like those in Thessalonica who
“...turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God”?
(1 Thessalonians 1:9). Can you say with the writer of Hebrews,
“But we are not of them who draw back unto
perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul”?
(Hebrews 10:39). In speaking to unbelieving religious Jewish hypocrites, the
Lord Jesus said, “I said therefore unto
you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am
he, ye shall
die in your sins,” (John 8:24). God
“...now commandeth all men every where to
repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead,”
(Acts 17:30-31). Those who do not repent (experience a broken heart which
works a turning from sin to God) and experience faith in Christ and His
finished work, face a guaranteed judgment. It is guaranteed -
“he hath given assurance”
- first of all by the resurrection of Christ as stated in the last verse and
also in the following words:
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God,”
(John 3:18). Unbelievers have a guaranteed future! Those who have not
repented and believed are already condemned! They by their unbelief display
their enmity against God. If we may borrow from the words written by Paul,
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye
reconciled to God,” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
We do beseech you! Hear the Word of God. Repent! Believe! Accept no
substitutes! Those who experience true repentance and true faith shall be
carried safely upon the shoulders of the Good, Great and Glorious Shepherd,
the Lord Jesus Christ, all the way from earth to Heaven! |
