(Read Matthew 18:10-1410Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 11For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. 12How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. 14Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:10‑14); Luke 15:4-10, 19:1-10; John 4:21-2421Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:21‑24); 1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8).)
IN these scriptures you have no less than four seekers. It is a wonderful thing that there should be four persons busily occupied with you and me. You say, Is the sinner one of the seekers? No, it is the sinner who is sought. I get elsewhere, “There is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:1111There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:11)). If I think what man is I shall never find him the seeker at the outset; he is always the sought.
In 1 Peter 5 we read of some one seeking man. “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
Peter is speaking of saints here, and, if the devil is busy seeking the saints, God have mercy on the sinner. Do not forget you have an adversary going about as a roaring lion. A roaring lion is a creature under the influence of excitement, seeking whom he may devour. I grant you this verse is addressed to God’s people, but you know, my unsaved reader, that you are not amongst them. This is very solemn. It is God’s solemn word to every Christian. But you say, will Satan ever devour a Christian? Thank God, no; but woe betide those who are not Christians, for if this word of caution is so solemn for the saint, how much more solemn for an unsaved, unwashed, unpardoned sinner!
O unsaved soul, you do not think of the adversary’s power, I daresay, but nevertheless it is true he is “seeking whom he may devour.” Young, old, rich, poor, he is bent on your destruction, with untiring activity, with unceasing malevolence. “The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” That is Satan’s effort, and what an easy prey is the sinner. The devil has not much trouble to grip the unsaved soul. He is after the children of God, but, thank God, he will never catch one of them.
You, fellow-Christian, can never be lost, for of His sheep Christ says, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any (angel, man, or devil) pluck them out of my hand.” I give angels leave, and men permission, and demons full opportunity to snatch from the hand of Christ, if they can, one soul that He has redeemed. You are safe indeed if you belong to Christ, but if you are not Christ’s, ponder this―the devil is “SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR.”
Child of God, to you I say, let us be sober, watchful. But, my dear unsaved friend, I want you to see that you are in a position where an untiring, relentless, powerful adversary is ever bent on your destruction. He goes after you as the lion after its prey, and how the lion tracks his prey-swiftly, relentlessly! As long as you are unsaved, the devil feels sure of you. “He is unconverted,” says Satan, “I have him safely.” But God would use a scripture like this to wake you up. Suppose you were cut off as you are, where would you go? You are the prey of the enemy, and if you pass out of this scene—and you may, oh so rapidly—would it be to be with Christ? Impossible! I know you have in your heart the thought, “I hope.” Yes, and the way the devil damns thousands is with this thought, “Go on hoping, attend the means of grace, and it will be all right in the end.”
Did you never read in Scripture what God says as to our state? ― “All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way” (Isa. 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)). All gone astray. Have you got back yet? We will look presently at how you may get back.
Turn now to the other three seekers―blessed seekers I may call them―who are occupied with us. In Matthew 18 we see that the Lord saves the little ones. “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost,” and “seeketh that which is gone astray.” It is very blessed to see that if a young child goes hence it is to Christ, for He came to save the lost, and even the child is lost. In Luke 19 He seeks and saves, for a grown-up sinner―Zaccheus―is in question. Who seeks? The Son of Man―Jesus. He is the seeker of those who have gone astray. And who have gone astray? All. He “seeketh that which is gone astray,”―gone astray on the dark mountains of sin; and the Good Shepherd leaves the ninety and nine, and goes after the straying one.
Who are the ninety and nine? The unfallen angels, I believe. They never went astray. They do not need salvation and redemption; but we have all gone astray. Man is the lost sheep, “and the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Yes, the Gospel comes to you as a lost sinner. It does not come to you as a good person, or a righteous person. The Lord says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Why did He not come to call the righteous? Because there would have been none to answer to the call, ― “There is none righteous, no not one,” says God.
In Luke 15 what is the shepherd after? The sheep. And how long does he seek it? “Until he find it.” Jesus will never give up the search as long as you are on this scene. He is seeking you now. His voice says, “Come unto me, I will give you rest.” He has been down in this world, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and He goes after His lost sheep “until he find it.” And where does He go? To the spot where the sheep is on the dark mountains. Shall I show you where He found one? A man just sinking into the jaws of hell, put upon a cross of wood by the judges of this world, turns round to the Blessed One, dying by his side, and craves His power to save, saying, “Lord, remember me;” and Jesus answers, “Today shall thou be with me in paradise.” Ah! the shepherd found the sheep that day, snatched it from the jaws of death, and bore it home upon His shoulders rejoicing.
In Luke 19 Zaccheus sought to see Jesus, as the result of Jesus having come to seek him first, God having put the desire in his heart to see Jesus. Jesus sees him up in the sycamore tree, and says, “Make haste, and come down, for today I must abide at thy house.” To the dying thief He says, “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise,” because the thief was going out of the world, and to Zaccheus He says, “Today I must abide at thy house,” but it is “today” in each case. To the one going out of the world it is, Today you shall be with me in my house; and to the one who was going to stay in the world it was, Today I am going to be with you in your house; and I don’t know which was the happier, for in each case it was the presence of Christ.
But how is the lost sheep saved? By the work of Christ for us, ―His atoning work on the cross. All the judgment we earned He sustained. We could only sin. He only could put that sin away. We could die, He could bring us into life. We could go astray from God, He could “suffer for sins once, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” He could do what we could not do―viz., present to God a perfect sacrifice, whereby every soul that trusts Him is brought to God.
In Luke 15 we get another seeker―the woman who seeks the silver piece―beautiful figure of the Spirit of God, who came down from heaven on the day of Pentecost. She lit a candle, and the Holy Ghost lights a candle. What does that show?
That darkness reigned. There is the light shed by the Word of God, and the lives of God’s people. When Christ was in the world, He was the light of the world, as He says, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:55As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:5)). But the world in wickedness extinguished the light, and left itself in darkness of its own creation, the blackness of darkness. Oh, do not, my reader, choose the blackness of darkness forever.
The woman seeks “diligently” for the lost piece of silver “till she find it, and when she hath found it she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.” Think of the joy of the Holy Ghost in the sinner’s salvation. Think of the joy that fills the shepherd’s breast as he carries the sheep home on His shoulders, and you may have joy too, for the Lord wants you to know that you are saved, are forgiven, are His child. In the next parable, in Luke 15, of the father and the son, we read of their joy and merriment.
We get the last seeker―the Father―in John 4. Who is Satan seeking? Everybody. Who is the shepherd seeking? The lost sheep. Who is the Spirit of God seeking? The dead―you―I might say―to give new life. The bit of silver was lifeless, though precious to the one who had lost it. We read of being “born of the Spirit.” The Son seeks the lost; the Spirit the dead. The Father seeks the living. He seeks worshippers. He wants to bring your heart into close contiguity with Himself. And how does He make worshippers? By the revelation of grace. When the cup is quite full it overflows; and when you have in your soul the thought Jesus loves me, and has died for me, though I was only a poor sinner, deserving judgment, yet Jesus has borne my judgment for me, and I see God has nothing but love in His heart towards me, then your heart looks up and thanks and praises Him. How can you worship Him unless your heart is happy―unless you are at home with Him―unless you delight in Him because of what He is? If you try to worship Him you cannot: it is impossible; but if you taste His grace you cannot help worshipping Him―you return to give Him thanks.
Oh! will you not prefer the wooings of divine love to the trackings of Satanic malevolence? Believe God’s grace, and go on your way with a thankful heart, saying, “I believe the Son died for me, and the Holy Ghost quickened me, and the Father Himself loves me,” and therefore you worship the Triune God, and can go on your way in the full sense of the favor of the Lord, singing―
“Found by Thee before I sought,
Unto Thee in mercy brought,
I have Thee for righteousness―
From Thy fullness grace for grace;
Thou hast washed me in Thy blood,
Made me live, and live to God.”
W. T. P. W.