Matthew chapter 18, verses 11 through 14. We'll
read through these few verses and then we'll
pray and get started. For the Son of Man has
come to save the lost. What do you think? If
a man has 100 sheep and one of them goes astray,
won't he leave the 99 on the hillside and go
and search for the stray? And if he finds it,
I assure you, he rejoices over that sheep more
than over the 99 that did not go astray. In the
same way, it is not the will of your Father in
heaven that one of these little ones perish.
Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you
for a good day today. We thank you for your good
words. I pray, dear Lord, that you would free
us of the distractions and the worries and the
thoughts of this world. I pray that in these
few moments that your Holy Spirit would speak
to us, Lord. There is no good word that I can
speak today, God, if it does not come from you.
And so I pray that you would just... Take away
any fear or pride that is within me today, dear
Lord, that I would humbly preach and teach your
word. I pray that you would help us to be able
to understand it and to live it, dear Lord. God,
perhaps if there are some today who have gone
astray, that they would humble themselves before
you, dear Lord. That they would be found by you
and that they would find you. And I ask these
things in Jesus' name. Amen. Jesus! used this
illustration a couple of different times, and
I believe it was probably different occurrences
in which this took place. We see it also mentioned
in Luke chapter 15, the story of about someone
who has a shepherd who has 100 sheep and one
goes astray. We see a similar story in Luke 15,
and that story is followed not long after by
the story of the prodigal son, but In that instance
and in this instance, Jesus is using this illustration
in a little bit of a different way. In some way
it's similar, but I believe it's probably two
different occurrences of Jesus using this example
of a lost sheep. But to really understand what
Jesus is saying, we need a little bit of context.
Now that's always important. I will always encourage
you when you read the Word of God. Always try
to read the verses before it, maybe even the
chapter before it or the chapter after it. We
really need to understand kind of what's going
on in the whole of chapter 18 at the beginning
here to really understand what Jesus is saying.
So why is Jesus speaking this parable about the
lost sheep? Well, he gets to it in kind of a
roundabout way. What we see at the beginning
of Matthew chapter 18, verse 1, is this. At that
time, the disciples came to Jesus and said, who
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now,
I don't think they were just asking this question
for knowledge. I don't think they just had a
curiosity. Oh, we just love to know who's the
greatest in heaven. No, when we begin to look
at the disciples on other occasions, their concern
was not just who was the greatest, but Am I going
to be the greatest? I want to be the greatest.
I want to be seated at your right hand in heaven.
And the disciples, they probably were not so
unlike us. We kind of like to think we're the
best. We like to be the teacher's pet. We probably
are a little better than the one sitting next
to us. I mean, they might be pretty good, but
we probably pray a little more. We probably know
the scripture a little better. And we're probably
a little smarter and a little faster. And there's
something in us. We kind of seek that greatness.
It's just part of our human struggle, and maybe
some of us struggle with it more than others,
but I suspect all of us, to some degree, we struggle
with that idea of wanting to be the greatest,
to want to try to outdo everybody else just a
little more. I'll give you a good example of
this. Yesterday, I went and played golf with
my dad and my uncles. Man, you get out there
on the golf course, and you're waiting for them
to take their shot, and a couple of them hit.
And they hit a good long drive off the tee, long
and far. And then you get up there and you say,
I want to hit it further than them. I want to
be greater than them. And so you swing a little
extra harder in hopes that it'll go right down
just a little past them. But usually it goes
off in the water, left or to the right, in the
woods. But there's this desire in us that when
we see somebody do something, there's a part
of us that wants to outdo them a little bit,
to show them up a little bit. We want that affirmation
that we're... a little better, that we are the
greatest. And that's kind of what started this
whole conversation. It's his disciples said,
well, who's the greatest? Who's the greatest?
And Jesus took this as a teaching opportunity.
And Jesus took it as a teaching opportunity to
say, you need to understand what you're asking.
You need to understand what really matters. And
it's not about striving to be the greatest. It's
about striving to be And that's what Jesus is
trying to teach us throughout this passage and
ultimately with this parable of the lost sheep.
They said, who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? Who's the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? And Jesus is saying here, I believe,
you want me to tell you about the kingdom of
heaven? You want me to tell you about the kingdom
of God? Well, let me tell you who's going to
be in the kingdom of God. It's not going to be
those who... who strive to be great in themselves.
It's going to be those who humble themselves
and recognize their need for God, who recognize
their need for a Savior. See, there's a problem
in our life. When we strive to be the greatest,
there's some pride often that comes along with
that. And we kind of become consumed with being
the greatest and being the best and being the
greatest and outdoing everybody in what we do.
And Jesus teaches us throughout the scriptures
that's not a good heart for us to have. Because
that heart leads to pride. And man, that pride
leads us to not treat people in love and to treat
people in the way that God desires for us to
treat people. And so Jesus says, look, it's not
about being the best. It's not about whether
somebody in this world pats you on the back and
tells you how good you are. Or the rest of your
golf mates say, man, that was the greatest drive
I've seen all day. You really smoked us. It's
not about that affirmation. Jesus says the kingdom
of God is worth so much more than that. And Jesus
teaches us that the kingdom of God is entered
into. Not by those who seek to be great, but
by those who seek to be humble. And so when they
ask Jesus this question, the scripture says that
he takes a child that is nearby. And he said
if anyone wants to enter the kingdom of heaven,
he has to be like a child. Now there's a certain
beauty and innocence to a child. Man, a child
is just there to just kind of... They just kind
of do what you say, however you lead them, whatever
you tell them, they just accept it. There's a
certain innocence and a certain purity, and that's
a beautiful thing. And they don't question anything.
They just see a mother, they see a father, and
what you tell them or what you do, they just
believe it, and they just follow you. And Jesus
says this is the type of faith that we need to
have, that we need to have a childlike faith.
That we are those who hear the word of God, that
we are those who hear the teachings of Jesus
Christ and we accept those teachings and we live
on those teachings and we just trust that God
has our best interests in mind. You notice he
doesn't say have faith like a teenager. He doesn't
say those who are like a teenager are learning
the kingdom of God. Because, man, kids are so
good and they're so fun and you can have a good
time and you can laugh and cut up and you can
tell them what to do and they're like, yeah,
let's do it. And a teenager, like, all of a sudden
they have a mind of their own and he doesn't
say those who are like teenagers will enter the
kingdom of heaven. He says those who are like
this child, who are innocent and who are humble
and who are pure in some way. And he uses this
example and he continues on with this illustration
about... This little one. That those who are
God's children are like children of the world.
That there's a certain purity and a certain innocence
and a certain humility and a certain dependence
that we learn that we have on God. You know,
when a child is born, they are completely and
totally dependent on an adult. And that's how
we are with God. We need to recognize that. That
we are completely and totally dependent on God.
That everything that there is has been created
by God. That God is the one who takes care of
us. That God is the one who strengthens us. That
God is the one who will be with us. That God
is the one who will encourage us. That God is
the one that through His Son, Jesus Christ, will
forgive our sins if we would trust in Him. We
are completely and totally dependent on God,
not just for help in this life, but for salvation
in the life to come. So we need to look at our
life today. And we need to say, man, am I like
a child? And my desire to just follow God and
be dependent on Him and to humble myself before
Him and just to allow God to be the Lord of my
life? Are we those who are seeking greatness
on our own, in ourself? Because it feels good.
When you can be really good at something in this
world, and you can be great at something, whether
it's a sport or whether it's your job or whether
it's singing or whether it's playing an instrument,
it feels good to be great in those ways. It feels
good for people to tell you how great you are.
But those things lead to pride. And those things
can become our God. Our own desire for greatness
can become our God. And Jesus says, look. It's
not about who is great. The kingdom of God is
made up of those who are humble, who are like
that child that Jesus gathered to him. Now, I
think certainly in the context, he's probably
talking about children, physical, literal little
children. But I also think that Jesus is probably
making a connection there. That when he talks
about the little ones or the little children,
he's not just talking about kids that we see.
I think he's talking about his followers. Those
who enter the kingdom of God have to become like
a child. We see similar language in the letters
of John. I believe in 1 or 2 John. I don't remember
the exact verses, but I believe it's 2 John.
He refers to little children many times. Little
children, little children, little children. And
he's talking about Christians. He's talking about...
followers of Jesus Christ. And I believe in some
way that Jesus is using this phraseology, this
term little ones, not just talking about the
children, but also those who are his followers,
those who are going to enter the kingdom of God.
So we kind of begin to see what Jesus is working
on here. And he gets to this parable of the sheep
kind of in a roundabout way because they're asking
who's the greatest. And Jesus says, no, no, no.
Let me use this as an opportunity to teach you
about humility. And that God loves those who
humble themselves, not those who hold themselves
as something great. And that's where he says
in the verse that we looked at this morning,
For the Son of Man has come to save the lost.
Now that's a beautiful verse right there. That's
a beautiful verse that Jesus Christ has come
to save the lost. Now that's good news for you
and I. Maybe you don't even know it's good news,
but I want to tell you it's good news because
every one of us in here today, we are lost on
our own. Now, we may be successful in some way
and we may be good at something or we may have
good health and things in our life may be going
pretty good. But at the end of the day, the Bible
says that we are all sinners. We are all lost.
We are all separated from God and there's no
path back to God. based on anything that we can
do. There's nothing we can do that's going to
get us on the path back to God on our own. It
doesn't matter how successful we are, how great
we are. The only way that we get on that path
that leads us to God is through Jesus Christ.
He is that narrow path that leads us to the Lord.
And praise the Lord, Jesus said that he came
to save the lost. That's you and I. That's everybody
in this room. That's everybody that's ever walked
this earth because we all see and we all do and
say and think and act in ways that just are not
good, that are against the will of God. But Jesus
said that the Son of Man has come to save the
lost. And then he gives us this parable. What
do you think? If a man has 100 sheep and one
of them goes astray, Won't he leave the 99 on
the hillside and go and search for the stray?
This is a beautiful, simple story. We can understand
this. We can picture that there's a shepherd
somewhere out on the hillside. There's a shepherd
with his flock there, taking good care of them,
protecting them. Got a hundred sheep. That's
a pretty good flock of sheep. And if one goes
astray, maybe you look for a little while and
you say, I got 99 more. I'm doing okay. I can
afford to lose this one. But that's not what
Jesus says in this story. He says, no, if a shepherd
has a hundred sheep, then he wants to protect
all of his sheep. He doesn't want to lose a single
one. And if that one sheep goes astray, what
does the shepherd do? Jesus says the shepherd
goes and looks for that sheep. Now, this is good
news. Because we are those who have gone astray.
We are the lost that Jesus came to save. And
we are lost because we have gone astray. God
has created humanity. He's created everything.
And it would be fantastic if all of God's people
always would have tried to seek him with all
of their heart and live in obedience to him.
But you know as well as I do, man, we go astray.
There are temptations and there are things of
the world. And whatever that temptation is for
us, sometimes those desires, And those sins in
our life, they lead us astray and we find ourselves
in a bad shape. Because as long as we're in the
presence of the shepherd, we'll be protected.
We'll be provided for. But once we leave the
protection of the shepherd, we're in harm's way.
I was reading about a sheep this week. The sheep's
name was Shrick. And the sheep escaped one day.
And this farmer had a lot of sheep, and they
tried to find Shrek, but they never did find
Shrek. And they found Shrek like six years later.
They finally found this sheep. He was still alive.
He had been hiding out in caves in the area for
six years, and nothing had attacked it. But its
coat had just kept growing and kept growing and
kept growing, and you couldn't even hardly tell
it was a sheep. It was just like a giant ball
of wool. And eventually the sheep would have
died, but... Praise the Lord, they found the
sheep and they sheared the sheep and even the
sheep that had been gone for that long, the farmer
was still looking for it. And if the farmer hadn't
found the sheep, that sheep would have died.
Maybe we're not so different. Maybe today we're
not so unlike Shrek, not the green ogre, but
the sheep. Maybe we've gone astray. Maybe some
of us, it's been years that we've gone astray.
And maybe we see the effects of that in our life.
We see how it makes us feel. We see how it makes
us act. We see that our life has fallen apart.
We have the struggle in our mind and the struggle
in our heart. And life is hard. And we've made
some really boneheaded decisions. And we find
ourselves in a place that we're in a bad shape.
And if the shepherd doesn't come for us, then
we're not going to make it. But I got news for
you today. The shepherd has come for you. The
scripture says that Jesus Christ is the good
shepherd. And he has come for you. When he came
and died on a cross, he came for you. Even if
you would have been the only one, he would have
come for you. If you would have been the only
lost sheep, he would have come for you. He knows
your struggle. He knows what you're dealing with
today. He knows the sin in your life. And he
died on a cross so that you could be forgiven
of that sin. But we have to humble ourselves
before that Savior. You can come today and you
can hear these words and you can even acknowledge
in some way that you believe that they're true.
But even if you believe that these words are
true, but you don't humble yourself before the
shepherd Jesus Christ today, then you'll leave
that door when you walk out today and you'll
be just as lost when you leave as you were when
you come in. But there's a good shepherd who's
been looking for you, who gave his life for you,
who wants to pick you up and he wants to throw
you over his shoulders and he wants to bring
you back home. He wants to bring you back to
pastors. He wants to bring you back to still
waters. He wants to bring you back to a place
of safety. He wants to bring you back to a place
where he can provide for and take care of you.
And Jesus says in this parable, it's not about
being great, it's about being humble. That God
loves the weak. He loves the helpless. If they
would just humble themselves before him and they
would just seek him, if they would just call
out to him, he's there. He wants to bring you
back into the flock. In verse 13. And if he finds
it, I assure you, he rejoices over that sheep
more than over the 99 that did not go astray.
Now that doesn't mean that he doesn't love the
99. Of course. He rejoices over the 99. But he
wants the 100. He wants everybody. The scripture
says that God doesn't want anybody to perish,
but all to come to repentance. Jesus doesn't
just want all of, just a few of us to be saved.
Today, he wants all of us to be saved. He wants
all of our sins to be cleansed. And so there's
rejoicing when a lost sinner puts their faith
and trust in Jesus Christ. Maybe there are some
here today. Maybe there are some of you that's
in the flock. God loves you just the same. There's
rejoicing over you. Man, there's rejoicing when
a lost soul puts their faith and trust in Jesus
Christ. In verse 14, In the same way, it is not
the will of your Father in heaven, That one of
these little ones should perish. It's not God's
will that anyone should perish. But that they
would trust in Jesus Christ. That's what God
desires for our life. He does not want anybody
to perish but all to come to repentance. To humble
themselves before him. So what about us today?
What are we striving for in our life? Are we
striving for greatness? Or are we striving for
humility? Now the world will teach us to strive
for greatness. To be the best you can be. To
make sure everybody knows that you're the best
that there can be. That you're better than everybody
else and that you can step on everybody else
on your way to the top. That's what the world
will tell you. But Jesus tells us something totally
contradictory to that. Jesus said it's not about
you and it's not about your greatness. It's about
your humility. His disciple says, who's the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven? And he says, hold up.
Those who are going to enter the kingdom of heaven
are not going to be those who are the greatest,
at least not in the sense that the world talks
about. But those who are going to be in the kingdom
of heaven are going to be those who are... What
about us today? Jesus wants us to humble ourselves
before Him. He's the good shepherd who's looking
for the sheep who's gone astray. We see this
beautiful illustration throughout Scripture that
Jesus has become the Lamb of God, but He's also
become the shepherd of the flock. That as part
of the flock of the Lamb of God that he became
the sacrifice on our behalf. That Jesus Christ
was crucified and died and nailed to a cross
so that you and I could be forgiven. He was the
sacrificial lamb for us. He died so the other
sheep could be saved. And he has become the good
shepherd. And he is the good shepherd today who
is looking for those who are lost. And he wants
to save you and he wants to bring you home. Would
you humble yourself before Jesus Christ today
and trust in him? Let's pray. God, we come to
you today. We thank you for your good word. And
I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us not
to be those who are proud and who seek greatness
for ourselves, dear Lord. God, I pray that you
would help us to humble ourselves before you
this morning. That whatever sin may be in our
heart, That we would lift it up to you, dear
Lord. That we would ask for forgiveness today.
That we would repent of that sinfulness, dear
Lord. God, maybe there are some in here today
that are struggling and they're yours. And maybe
they've gone astray. Maybe they know the truth
of your word, but they hadn't been living by
it, dear Lord. They hadn't been trusting in you.
I pray today that they would know that you still
love them. Even if they've been astray for years,
dear Lord, if there's anything in their heart
this morning, God, that you're working on, I
pray that they would just come to you and that
they would pray and that they would repent and
that they would seek Jesus Christ. Maybe there
are some here, dear Lord, and they've never been
part of your flock. Maybe they've never realized
just how much you love them. Maybe they've been
trying to do it their way. Maybe they've been
trying to survive based on their greatness. But
God, I pray today that they would humble themselves
before the greatness of Jesus Christ. God, I
pray that you would help our attitudes to be
that of a little child, dear Lord. That we would
become dependent on you and humbly seek you and
listen to you and follow you wherever you lead
us. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.