Lost Sheep
I don’t really remember how I came to be looking up “sheep” or “lost sheep” the other day, but I found a real eye-opener. Did you know that you can be a sheep without being a Christian?
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and
commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city
of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
“But he answered and said, I am not
sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
We know
from the beginning of John that “His own received Him not”, so we would have to
conclude that the lost sheep of
“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Matthew 9:11-13
Just with this we would be able to say that a lost sheep needs salvation, so the question becomes whether a sheep that goes astray is lost. Jesus told some Jews that they were not His sheep:
“Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” John 10:24-29 KJV (Emphasis added)
So the question becomes whose sheep you are, not whether you are a sheep or not. The question also becomes thus: If you are a sheep of Christ’s and you go astray, do you need saving or not? We of course have the most famous passage about this in Isaiah 53, although there are others in the Old Testament.
“All 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 KJV
Now lest someone say that Jesus died only for His sheep (and some do), we have evidence that Jesus is the Saviour of everyone:
“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” First Timothy 2:4-6 KJV
“For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living
God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those
that believe.” First Timothy
Now according
to Isaiah the entire house of
We of course have the parable of the lost sheep to look at; we’ll take Matthew’s account:
“For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How 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? And 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. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Matthew 18:11-14 KJV
We have a few questions to answer here. Was the sheep that went astray never in the possession of the shepherd? Was the sheep that went astray forcibly removed and plucked away from the shepherd, or did it leave? Did the sheep that went astray need to be found, because it was lost?
Let’s make it personal. If you stop following Jesus’ voice and go astray were you never following His voice? If you go astray do you need to be found again? If you go astray is it Jesus’ fault?
Extreme ES says if you stop following Jesus’ voice and go astray, you don’t need to be found again because you’re still saved (complete license for sin).
Moderate ES says if you stop following Jesus’ voice and go astray you were never following Jesus’ voice and need to be found period. You were always lost despite being numbered among the original 100. If you get found after going astray, somehow only being found this latter time counts, being with the flock at the start wasn’t real.
Or it would have to say that the real sheep went astray and needed to be found, but the shepherd would always bring him back because he really was of the flock. This has some credibility with the parable, but includes a hidden license to sin. If you are truly part of the flock you can go astray and Jesus will always find you again, therefore to go astray still leaves you saved. Suddenly moderate morphs into extreme, for you can be lost and yet saved!
Eternal security teachers will never admit this, for it would make them responsible for people believing their sin does not mean death. I found some pretty heavy duty stuff in the Old Testament about the lost sheep and who God was holding responsible:
“1:
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the
sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of
3: And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries
whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they
shall be fruitful and increase.
4: And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they
shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the
LORD.
5: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth.
6: In his days
7: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no
more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the
land of Egypt;
8: But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the
house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had
driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9: Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones
shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because
of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
10: For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land
mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are
dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11: For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I
found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
12: Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the
darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon
them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
13: And I have seen folly in the prophets of
14: I have seen also in the prophets of
15: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets;
Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall:
for from the prophets of
16: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the
prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of
their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
17: They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil
shall come upon you.” Jeremiah 23:1-17 KJV
I think that verse 5 could be actually still in the future, for Jesus did not come to reign and execute judgment the first time around, but will be the second time around. That notwithstanding, I see plenty of parallels to what we have today. Pastors are destroying sheep by feeding them bad food, food that tickles ears and keeps them from being prepared for what is coming. Notice too that a remnant was brought back, even though it was the Lord’s sheep that were destroyed.
The prophets and priests were corrupt and full of wickedness. Let me see, pornography is just as rampant in the leadership as in the congregations, scandals show up here and there, adultery and fornication is found in the very people who lead many. Many are driven by money and power. I don’t think too much has changed, including the punishment. You think this is heavy? It gets worse. Further on in Jeremiah:
“Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.” Jeremiah 25:10 KJV
This sounds just a little bit familiar doesn’t it? Yes, we find much the same in Revelation, just arranged a little differently:
“And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” Revelation 18:22-24 KJV
There are
some who believe that things happen twice in prophecy, and this one certainly
seems to be slated to work that way!
This is the chapter of Revelation that says “Come out of her my people”
as well. While I have not fully
researched it I believe that the great whore is organized religion, which will
include mainstream Christianity with its idols of unbiblical doctrine that it goes
whoring after so that they can have their cake and eat it too. In a more literal sense, some have prophesied
that
Since we have some exact words between Revelation and Jeremiah, we would do well to get some more information from Jeremiah 25, and it isn’t pretty:
“And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever: And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.” Jeremiah 25:4-7
Verse 15 into the 30s shows explicitly how God made the nations drink of the cup of wrath, that too sounds very familiar (take a read through). Then we see who is to mourn the losses:
“Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture. And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD. He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.” Jeremiah 25:34-38 KJV
There is
still time to repent, o shepherds of
“Woe unto you, when
all men shall speak well of you! for so did
their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke
That alone should scare the mega-ministries that people love to listen to.
Woe to those who do not prepare the Christians for tribulation, for you preach peace and safety, in the pre-trib rapture we trust.
Woe to the Eternal Security teachers, for you say “Ye shall not surely die” when it comes to sin, while the Bible explicitly says that your sin will cause you to die if you do not repent.
Woe to those who love money and teach others to do so, for you falsely call riches prosperity, where instead it is deceitfulness and death.
Woe to those who love power and fame in the name of Jesus, yet serve self. How can the love of God abide in you?
Woe to those who have not built on a foundation of love, your gifts will crumble to nothing.
Turn from
your wicked ways
Ezekiel 34
also has strong stuff for the shepherds, this time saying that they feed
themselves and not the flock. We see
that too in our beautiful country.
Things really haven’t changed that much, we see so many of the things
that happened to
There was more about lost sheep that I meant to get into, but I kinda went off on a tangent here.
Going Astray
This is not to say that the shepherds are the only ones responsible. We as sheep are of course responsible for ourselves as well. So I’ve looked up the word “astray”, and found it 18 times in the Bible. I won’t quote all of them here, but we’ll do a few anyway.
“Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.” Psalm 58:1-5 KJV
I wonder which congregation this speaks of. Probably it is of the world.
“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.” Psalm 119:67 KJV
“I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.” Psalm 119:176 KJV
In this Psalm it seems like an accidental straying, one where God would be willing to step in. Interesting that after affliction he doesn’t go astray anymore, sort of like the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin in First Peter 4:1. We need suffering and tribulation, but that’s not popular preaching.
We see also that going astray can be completely deadly, lest anyone think it safe to go astray. Consider what Proverbs has to say about a harlot:
“And, behold, there met him a woman
with the attire of an harlot, and subtil
of heart.” Proverbs
“Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.” Proverbs 7:24-27 KJV
The message is clear. A harlot will lead you to hell if you go astray that way. Do you think that with grace it is any different? Even if you were truly saved in the past? If you do not repent you will surely die. You think I enjoy saying this? I condemn the man I once was, for though I “served God” I was a slave to porn. I was on my way to hell thinking all was okay. Repent and live, for why shall you die? And many will go on thinking that they will live. How dangerous this is!
‘Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.” Proverbs 28:10 KJV
Howl shepherds howl!
“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.” Jeremiah 50:6-7 KJV
“1:
Then came certain of the elders of
2: And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
3: Son of man, these men have set up
their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock
of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?
4: Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up
his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh
to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the
multitude of his idols;
5: That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they
are all estranged from me through their idols.
6: Therefore say unto the house of
7: For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth
himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his
heart, and putteth the stumblingblock
of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him
concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
8: And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and
a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall
know that I am the LORD.
9: And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the
LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and
will destroy him from the midst of my people
10: And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment
of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh
unto him;
11: That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be
polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my
people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 14:1-11
Doctrine that can hurt others but not you is bad doctrine and can be an idol. Eternal security must say that I am saved and death can no more touch me, but someone else was never saved. If death can’t touch me, then sin is no longer a real issue other than rewards later. For all of the “God forbid!” about continuing in sin, it won’t kill me. But if death can still touch me, obviously I don’t have eternal security at all, so why do you assure me of life? Thus “sin won’t kill me” must be the reigning factor in the equation, and I now have a license to sin. Eternal Security is bad doctrine.
The pre-trib rapture must say that I am ready and will not face tribulation and persecution, someone else must do so. And should I not be ready and miss the rapture, it never was any good to me anyway, a false hope. That is bad doctrine.
Overemphasizing gifts of the Spirit without love means that I can enjoy all the power of God, it’s someone else that is “nothing”. That is bad doctrine. Refusing to acknowledge the gifts of the Spirit means that everyone else with gifts must have a demon. That is blasphemy, very bad doctrine.
Ezekiel wrote some pretty heavy stuff like Jeremiah, and it has plenty of meaning for us today. Watch out for those idols, they’re deadly.
Now second Peter 2 has some interesting parallels with Jude, so they need to be looked at together at some point. He does point out those who go astray into the ways of Balaam, having forsaken the right way.
Going Astray, Walking
Away
I think the parable of the Prodigal Son is there partly to mess with the “God will always bring you back” school of thought. For all of the searching and finding in the parable of the Lost Sheep, we see with the Prodigal that the father simply waited and watched for his son’s return. It had to be the son’s choice to walk back just as he had walked away. In this case, it was probably necessary, for had he been brought back before he had his fill of wild living, most likely he would have been longing to go back to it.
So God will do things exactly as He sees fit, and not necessarily consistent with the way we interpret the Bible. He’ll never contradict the Bible, yet will contradict our views of it, so it is us who must change the views.
This is not
to say that the Prodigal remained saved, for twice the father says “alive
again”, meaning he was dead while in his wild living (Luke
Sheep Follow
Our natural tendency is to cling to what we were first taught and follow that to the day we die, even if it’s wrong. This makes it harder to pull someone from a false religion to Christianity, unless their religion really hurts them somehow. They have been indoctrinated into whatever it is, let’s say Islam, so they will cling to it even if proven wrong. As a general rule it will either take Islam really dealing them a bad blow or something major on the part of Christ to convince them to switch.
Unfortunately
we have the exact same thing inside the
So whatever our shepherds teach, wrong or right, we tend to believe. When someone says something opposite we immediately put up walls and defend our position. This is not wise, especially if you only know what you believe and don’t have a complete understanding of why you believe. And thus the shepherds shall be held quite accountable if they don’t repent. Yet to repent and admit you were wrong is very hard! Many are too proud to do it, even with evidence staring them in the face.
Why warn them of their doom? I had to think about that a bit. If they are not warned (not to say that I am the only one who warns), then they will have excuse when their judgment comes, for nobody said anything. Yet if they are warned and refuse to heed, then everything is on their own head. Now that I see all these problems, for me to keep my mouth shut puts their blood on my head even though they will die. Most won’t listen and I know it.