Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: He already has ninety-nine, they know the truth. If one of them departs from the flock and goes astray, he leaves the ninety-nine where they're safe and he goes after the other one until he finds him and brings him back to the fold. Bringing him back to the fold, that's the love of God. God is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. That is the heart of God.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today Raul will continue our series Celebrating Jesus' Sacrificial Love. Thinking about Jesus' commitment to care for His people as a shepherd cares for His sheep, you'll get encouragement to fully entrust your life to Christ. He seeks you out by name and when you respond to Him in faithful surrender, He'll guide you along paths of righteousness to your eternal heavenly home. Today's lesson is titled "The Parable of the Lost Sheep" in Matthew chapter 18, beginning in verse 11. Here's Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: In Matthew chapter 18, verses 11 to 14, Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep. This story also is seen in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, verses 3 to 7. The picture was very familiar to those that lived in the time of Christ, those that were listening to Jesus.

They were very comfortable. If you've ever been to Israel with us, you know. The first time I ever went to Israel I was blown away. I went back in the '70s. I will never forget, this was before Israel expanded its borders. The Palestinians were still living there, there were borders wherever you went, and there was no safety there.

I remember going to Bethlehem, where you cannot go today. Today they have an iron wall and they have a checkpoint, and nobody can go to Bethlehem because you could be killed. Bethlehem was a place where we always used to take the buses and take the people to the shepherd's fields.

In the shepherd's fields, there was always a nomad family with a tent. They were living on top of this hill and their children and their grandchildren and the little girls were outside with their goats and their rams and their sheep. I will never forget standing by that well, giving candy to those children and watching three shepherds with their flocks of sheep walking in front of the sheep.

John chapter 10 came into my mind so perfectly because the sheep follow the shepherd. As I was watching these three shepherds, they were coming to the end of the road where the road went to the left, it went to the right, and it went straight on. I wondered what was going to happen with three shepherds and all these sheep.

Suddenly, every one of those shepherds made a noise with their mouth. The guy that turned left, those sheep among them went left. The one on the right, they followed right. The one going straight, they followed straight and they separated perfectly and completely. This is where Jesus teaches the lesson in John chapter 10 that we are the sheep of His fold and He is the shepherd.

You think about how Christ not only defends us, protects us, and watches over us, because we make a lot of mistakes. As I was reading the story and reading the parable this morning, the first observation that I came to was in verse 11 where Christ becomes the great Savior of the world, the shepherd of the world.

Notice what it says: "For the Son of Man," which is a title given to Jesus here. It is also a title applied in the Old Testament to Ezekiel the prophet. Then it is also applied to Daniel the prophet. The title is also applied to the Messiah, Jesus, in Daniel. We see it of Christ not only here in the Gospel of Matthew but also in Acts and Revelation. It speaks of His humanity, the Son of man.

The purpose that He came: He came from all eternity, leaving all eternity to come down here, be born of a virgin in a little stable, literally a cave where sheep were kept. Jesus was born in that stable when Mary brought forth that child through the power of the Holy Spirit, being pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

Who would ever think that this little baby Jesus would become the Savior of the world? He grew up to be 30 years old, start His ministry, and for three years would go out and proclaim salvation to a world that hated Him, and still does. People hate Jesus.

It is interesting that they can actually worship Mohammed. He was illiterate; he could not even read. He had many wives, and he had young little girls that he used as wives. Or Buddha, or Krishna, or there are many religions of the world. People become Lutherans or Methodists or Catholics or whatever denomination. Once they enter a church they think they are church members. They become a church member of a building, but not the body of Christ.

You do not become a member of the body of Christ unless you are born into the kingdom of God. You can only be born into the kingdom of God by coming to a logical understanding that God has made you a creature that can think and can make choices, not a puppet on a string. He gives you the power to choose. Christ, heaven, or hell?

Nobody can ever stand before the Lord and say, "Lord, You forced me to come into Your kingdom." Never can that happen. Or stand before the Lord and say, "Lord, You never gave me an opportunity," because He is going to say to you, "You are a liar. Look at all the opportunities you had, but you were too busy."

It is really important that we understand that this is a real thing. This is life and eternity and death: to have Christ as your Lord and Savior. This is why here in verse 11 Jesus, when He speaks to the disciples, He says, "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost." In the Gospel of Luke, He came to seek that which was lost. He is a seeker of lost men, just like the shepherd with his sheep.

God is giving opportunity after opportunity for people to come to the truth. When He is talking here about the Son of Man coming to save that which is lost, that is His purpose. This means that Christ willingly and deliberately left the glory of heaven to come down here and humble Himself for any person that was lost. He went to the cross and died for your sins and my sins. That is who Jesus Christ is.

When Paul the apostle was writing the book of Philippians, he said, "Who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God," which means Christ is equal with God. But he made himself, Jesus, of no reputation. He did not come down here to become popular. He came down here to die for sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost, that lost little sheep. The shepherd has 99 and leaves them and goes after the one because a soul is very valuable to the Lord. It is eternal.

You only live here for a little while; we are temporal here. But when you die, then it is eternal, forever and ever and ever. You better think about that. What is 80 years or 90 or 100 years here compared to eternity? People are willing to take that chance in their lives to live like hell and then go to hell when they could have gone to heaven.

Christ came to give Himself. That is why John 3:16 says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

He goes on in Romans 3:10 and says, "As it is written, there is no one that is righteous, no, not one person. There is none that understand, there is none that seek after God. They have all turned aside, they have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb, an open grave. With their tongue they have practiced deceit, the poison of a snake is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace they have never known, and there is no fear of God before their eyes."

That is Paul's description of the natural man. He does not fear God. He does whatever he pleases. Nobody is without excuse. God has given you a conscience to know what is true and what is not true.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. It's our joy to encourage and inspire you in your walk with Jesus. Visit somebodylovesyou.com to order this series illuminating the life-changing power of Christ's love. And while you're there, browse our full selection of resources. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: When Jesus is speaking in the first verse that we study here, chapter 18, verse 11, the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. Now the second observation: He gives you the parable so that He can clarify it. Observation number two is Christ is the seeking shepherd after His sheep. Notice what it says, beginning in verse 12.

He says, "What do you think?" He is asking a question. "What do you think? If a man has 100 sheep and one of them goes astray..." The word "astray" means to wander off, to go on your own. "And does he not leave the 99 and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?"

If you really are a shepherd, if you are a father, if you are a grandfather, a brother, or a friend, are you going to let your best friend or your children or whoever it is that you love go to hell, or are you going to do something about it? What are you going to do?

He gives you the story that the real shepherd does not stand by. He already has 99, they know the truth. If one of them departs from the flock and goes astray, he leaves the 99 where they're safe and he goes after the other one until he finds him and brings him back to the fold. Bringing him back to the fold, that's the love of God. God is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. That is the heart of God.

It is interesting about the word "going astray" there in verse 12. It is an English word, and the English word used here for astray is the word "planet," when a planet goes out of its orbit. Think about that. When a planet goes out of its orbit, it is on its own destruction. There are a lot of people on their way to crashing. They are out of God's orbit and they have chosen to be in their own little orbit. They have gone astray, away from the truth of Jesus Christ what the Scripture says here.

It is of importance that we understand that He talks about one of them as a little child, remember in the verses before? In the previous verses, the little child that He protects. Because He is talking about a little child that they brought before Him and He put him in the front and He says, "Unless you have faith like the little child, you will perish."

To come to Jesus Christ you have to humble yourself. You have to admit that you have sinned against God and you have to admit that if you do not come to Him you will go to hell, not heaven.

Religion always lies and deceives. It always lies to people, gives them a false hope. Christ is upfront with you. He says you either come to Me or you depart from Me. You are either in or you are out. You are either in the light or you are in darkness. You have to make the choice. Nobody can force you to do that.

It has been amazing studying this passage here because as He uses that word "astray," planet, that is moving away from its orbit, wandering off in its own orbit, then the second thing that I see is that as the sheep are on their way, the shepherd goes out of his way and takes the chance of not only finding his sheep dead, but he finds his sheep going astray.

If you have ever been around sheep, it is interesting that if I was a shepherd and I wanted my sheep to drink water, I would not take them to a river that is flowing with really rushing waters because they would drown. They are so dumb they do not understand that. So you take them to a place where the waters are calm and still where they can drink freely.

The shepherd watches over his sheep. He loves them. That is what Jesus Christ is. That is who He is to you and to me when we come to Him.

He watches over our lives eternally because He is not willing that anybody should perish but all should come to repentance. Notice what else the shepherd does in verse 13. He says, "And if the shepherd finds his sheep, assuredly, I say unto you, he starts rejoicing more over that sheep than over the 99 that already have not gone astray."

He is more happy rejoicing over the one because he knows the 99 are secure, but thank God he found the one that did not want to be part of the 100. There are some of you here today like that. You do not want to be part of the 100, you want to do your own thing.

The Lord is not just with His staff mushing you over and protecting you, watching over you. Sometimes He allows us to go our own way and say, "Okay, go out and try the world and see what is going to happen." He already knows what is going to happen. You are going to end up beat up. You are going to end up hurt.

When a person comes to the conclusion, "Apart from Him I can do nothing," and you submit your will to the will of God the Father and to His Son Jesus Christ and you say, "Lord, here I am, I put myself into Your hands. Do whatever You want to do." It is like the potter with the clay. The potter sits there on the wheel and here is the clay and he molds whatever he wants to do with that piece of clay. He molds it and shapes it and if he does not like it he starts all over again. That is you. That is me.

Paul tells us that those who come to Christ and do not want to come to Christ and stay with Christ and they go back into the world, He chastens those whom He loves. Hebrews chapter 12. He chastens you, He will discipline you because you are one of His.

A true child of the light cannot get away with anything in their lives. Nothing at all. You either surrender and submit or you rebel and then pay the consequences later on. That is the bottom line. You have to make up your mind whom you are going to serve today.

Observation number three: check this out in verse 14. Christ and the Father are one, He tells you. Verse 14, "Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." He comes back in the parable and brings up those in humility that become like little children that have true faith.

If you do not have true faith, if you do not become like the little one, then you are going to perish.

You're going to perish with all of your pride, all your arrogance. That is why number one, God will not allow a single sheep to perish. He will do everything under His power to get you back to the truth.

2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." You come by repentance.

Christ died for the weak brother. Christ died for the sinner and those that are lost.

John 3:17 says, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Jesus Christ is not condemned, but he or she who does not believe in Jesus Christ is already condemned because he or she has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." That is Jesus speaking.

Whenever you see red writing in your Bible, that is the Lord speaking. The red lettering. Jesus says all that want to come to Me, let them come to Me but humble themselves and then He will receive you. Otherwise He cannot receive you.

You have to admit that you have sinned against God. You have to admit that you were born in sin. You rebelled against God, you did your own thing, but now you are tired and you have come to the end of your rope. You come to the end of your life and you have to make a decision before it's too late.

Eternity's coming. There is no more death in eternity. You either go to heaven or you go to hell. If you go to hell, hell is going to be thrown into the lake of fire with the antichrist, the false prophet, every angel that fell with Satan, Satan himself, and every person whose name was not found written in the Book of Life. They were cast into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever and ever. But not so for those that are in the light. Not for those that come by faith to Jesus Christ. Not for those who become little children and humble themselves in the presence of God.

Guest (Male): It is amazing to know that we are deeply loved by Jesus and He seeks us out individually to enjoy a saving relationship with Him. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to hear today's lesson, 'The Parable of the Lost Sheep,' in its unedited form, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of five dollars or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165.

To further underscore Jesus' care as a faithful shepherd, we'd like to tell you about this entire thirteen-lesson series from Raul. It's titled 'Why the Cross Mattered and Still Does,' available on either CD or flash drive. This study will ground your heart in God's unconditional grace and establish your faith in His gift of salvation through Jesus. You'll also learn more about the rich blessings that come from submission to the Lord.

Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's thirteen-message study 'Why the Cross Mattered and Still Does.' We'll send you the CD set for twenty-five dollars or the thumb drive for just sixteen dollars. That's 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765.

Thanks for your partnership in sharing God's eternal word. Every contribution you make is tax-deductible. Tune in again next time as we continue to explore the far-reaching impact of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. We'll get a challenge to follow Jesus' example in extending grace to those who've wronged us, even when it seems justified to harbor unforgiveness. That's next time on Somebody Loves You Radio.

This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.