the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
Luke 15:4
‘Until he find it’
Read Matthew 18:1-14
I want you to picture the Lord Jesus Christ, our Shepherd, as he searches for his lost sheep. He leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and goes out to search for his one lost sheep. He knows the sheep that is lost. He has a picture of it in his mind. He thinks little of the ninety-nine who need no Shepherd. His heart is all wrapped up in that one lost sheep. This one thought seems to possess his entire being: ‘My sheep is lost!’ Immediately, the search begins.
It is an all-absorbing search. That one lost sheep consumes the Shepherd’s tender heart. He can neither eat not sleep until he finds that lost sheep. The poor, lost, wandering sheep has no thought of the Shepherd, but the Shepherd seems to think of nothing else except that one lost sheep. The sheep belongs to him. He purchased it with his own precious blood and he will not lose it. The sheep is his responsibility. His honor as a Shepherd is bound up in the welfare of that sheep. And he loves his sheep. He cannot bear the thought of its being lost. The Shepherd knows all the pits into which the sheep might fall and all the wolves which thirst for its blood. And he knows that his poor sheep is both defenseless and senseless.
It is a definite search. The Shepherd goes after his sheep. He is seeking one, definite, particular sheep.
It is an active search. No hill is too difficult to climb. No mountain is too high. No precipice is too rocky. No valley is to low. No distance is too far. The Shepherd must have his sheep.
It is a persevering search. He will search for his lost sheep ‘until he find it’.
It is a personal search. The Shepherd himself goes after his sheep. It is a glorious thought to think of Christ himself on the trail of his sheep. Sinners who will not come to Christ are pursued by the Son of God, pursued by the eternal Lover of men, until he finds them!
And it is a successful search. Of this one thing you may be sure: the Shepherd will find his lost sheep! Not one of those lost sheep, for whom the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died will be lost for ever. He will find his sheep and bring it home rejoicing.
