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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred
sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the
hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I
tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that
did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that
any of these little ones should perish.”
Matthew 18:12-14
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all
gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law
muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose
one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the
ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And
when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls
his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my
lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who
do not need to repent.”
Luke 15:1-7
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Here’s something that everyone in the world
needs to be aware of. Everyone.
A day is coming when Jesus is going to
return to the earth and that second coming will be all about judgment. Period.
For some, it will be the best day ever for
they will receive the gift of eternal life promised when they chose to accept
Jesus as their personal Savior. They will be pardoned because they placed their
hope and trust in the One who had paid the price for the
For all the rest, it will be the worst day
ever because they will be judged guilty of rejecting Jesus and thus sentenced
to eternal damnation for their sinfulness.
That’s right, everyone is going to live
after Jesus’ judgment day, either in glorious peace and joy and light and love
or in perdition. There is no third option and the choice is ours to make
regarding where we wish to be.
Jesus tells us about what this will look
like in the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. Look at His words here:
“When
the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His
glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will
separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.”
“Then
the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed
clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison
and you came to visit Me.’”
“Then
the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You,
or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and
invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or
in prison and go to visit You?’”
“The
King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’”
“Then
He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you
gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a
stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe
Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’”
“They
also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’”
“He
will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of
these, you did not do for Me.’”
“Then
they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46
When Jesus returns, there will be a
sorting, Christians on His right and those who refused Him on the left. Those
who chose Jesus, the righteous, will go away with Him into glory and eternal
life while those who snubbed Him will go away to eternal punishment.
Those who abandoned Jesus will find
themselves abandoned and left behind to languish in hell.
We know this is going to happen. The Bible
makes it clear.
Here’s one other thing the Bible makes
clear. It’s not too late for anyone alive this very moment to receive Jesus and
secure their salvation forever. In fact, the Lord is not willing to abandon
anyone and is actually searching for everyone who is lost and on the road to
eternal doom. We find this as we look at our scriptures for today from the Gospels
of Matthew and Luke. For this devotion’s purpose, we’ll look at Luke’s account.
Now
the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and
eats with them.”
Then
Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses
one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after
the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on
his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together
and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the
same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:1-7
Here we find Jesus using His favorite
teaching method, the parable. In this particular case, He uses an illustration
that His audience could easily relate to, the matter of a shepherd and the love
he has for his sheep.
As He seeks to make His teaching point,
Jesus reminds His listeners of the faithfulness and commitment most shepherds
had toward every sheep in their flock, a faithfulness and commitment that would
not allow him to allow a single sheep to be lost. Rather, the shepherd would be
willing to leave behind the 99 sheep who were together and secure to go after
the one sheep who was astray and in peril. And when that sheep was found, Jesus
reminds them of the great rejoicing that takes place, the lost sheep being
found and returned to a place of safety with the rest of the flock.
So what was the point? What was Jesus
trying to convey?
He tells us with His own words:
“I
tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to
repent.”
The Lord never stops searching for the
lost, the sinners who are wondering away from Him and the flock He wants them
to come to. There is hope for every sinner until that day they draw their last
breath and can no longer make a decision to accept Jesus as Savior. He is never
willing to abandon anyone as long as they have life to receive Him.
Friends, if you are a part of the flock,
Christians who have their salvation and eternal future secured, then revel and
rejoice in the reward that is ahead for the best is yet to come. If you are not
a part of the flock, if you have chosen to reject Jesus in your life and are
destined for hell, here’s the chance to change that. All you need to do is
repent of your sins and turn your life over to Jesus who gave His life up for
you. If you do this, you’ll never regret it. Trust me.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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