Until They Are Found

"Until They Are Found: The Story of a Relentless and His Rogue Sheep" is my first book. It examines the text of Luke chapter 15; the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son.

Over the years, the Parable of the Prodigal Son has become one the most famous and well loved of all of Jesus' parables, yet we have often become so focused on the son, that we have overlooked the father - and it is the father who should be the focal point of the parable. It is not the son's decision to return home that we should be excited about - it's the father's eagerness to forgive and to accept that is exciting. I believe though, that we do the parable a grave disservice by reading it without first reading the preceding verses, which are the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. In fact, these are not three separate parables, but rather one single parable. And as such, they are all teaching the same basic point. These stories are about being lost and then being found - and the first two stories show that the reason you have been found is because someone came looking for you, and utterly refused to give up until you were found.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the book, please email me by clicking here. Cost is $10 for an e-copy or $20 for paperback. To give you a taste, here is the first chapter. Enjoy!

The shepherd looks over his flock of one hundred sheep, but he can count only ninety-nine. He recounts them to be sure. His fears are confirmed; a certain one has gone. He knows which one is missing; it may be a white-faced sheep with a black mark on its foot, for he knows all about it, because the Lord knows those that are His. One terrifying idea possesses him; one of my sheep is lost! He is dreadfully upset. A sheep is lost. A sheep is lost. It invades his being like the grief of a lost loved one invades ours. He cannot eat; He cannot think; he cannot sleep; he cannot rest while one of his sheep is lost. The thought, ‘One of my sheep is lost’ is quickly replaced by, ‘It must be found’. And so the shepherd goes off in search of his precious lost sheep. The search of the shepherd is an all-absorbing search. He is thinking only of his lost sheep. He leaves the ninety nine behind while he searches for the lost. Are they left in safety? We are not told. We can safely assume that the leaving of the ninety-nine at least involves the possibility that they too may become lost. But for now, the shepherd only has eyes for the one sheep that is lost. In the search for this sheep, the shepherd will travel a path that he would not choose to travel otherwise. It may be a path full of danger. It may be a path of unknown peril. It is certainly a path that the shepherd would have preferred to avoid. But avoid it he will not, for finding the lost sheep is the only thought the shepherd ever had. The search may involve the shepherd climbing a steep mountainside with great danger. His determination eclipses his fear, and his passion supplies him with the feet of a mountain goat, and he stands rock solid where he would otherwise slip and fall. It may be a terrible path that the shepherd must follow, but it is not terrible to him. The only terror of the shepherd is that one of his sheep might be forever lost. He fears this, and nothing else. This is a story intended to offer us a vision of God. Jesus, of course, is the Good Shepherd who searches out His lost sheep. But who precisely are Jesus’ lost sheep? They are the ones for whom He came, and they are the ones for whom He died. But who are they? Did Jesus only come for some, and only die for some? Or did Jesus come to save everybody? Did Jesus die for everybody? The answer comes from the Apostle John. JN 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

The Greek word translated as ‘world’ is kosmos. It literally means the entire universe. I think it is clear that God loves absolutely everyone and Jesus came to save absolutely everyone and that He died for absolutely everyone. It is therefore proper for us to conclude that ‘absolutely everyone’ is who Jesus meant when referring to the lost sheep. We are all lost sheep, every last one of us; from the great to the small, from the successful to the failures – lost sheep in desperate need of a Good Shepherd. Here in Luke, we are presented with a vision of the Good Shepherd who knows only one thing; how to save the lost. If saving the lost is the only thing that the Good Shepherd knows how to do, theoretically the list of things that He doesn’t know how to do would be very long, but I wish to discuss only one. The Good Shepherd does not know how to give up. He knows nothing of cutting his losses, for if He did, He would surely never have searched in the first instance. After all, ninety nine out of one hundred is a pretty good standard, don’t you think? Ninety nine percent might be good in our books, but it is not good enough for God. Nothing short of one hundred percent will satisfy the Good Shepherd. Look at what Jesus says in verse 4. “Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”
Notice that word ‘until’. It is there deliberately. It is not by accident that Jesus does not say, “in an attempt to find it”. Jesus says that the shepherd will search until it is found, hence the title of this book.

This story says nothing about not finding the lost sheep; no hint of failure is given. That there may be a sheep belonging to Him that He will never find, is a conclusion that this story precludes us from believing. Praise God! It is Jesus who is the Good Shepherd, and the success of the search and rescue operation depends upon His skill. He sees so clearly, and intervenes so effectually, that He will most assuredly bring them in. Jesus Christ will not lose one of His sheep. True, some sheep may wander in the wilderness for a time, but to be forever lost? Never! A thought that He cannot bear. Could the Christ fail to save even one of those for whom He came and for whom He died? Impossible! Such a thought He could not endure. A defeated Christ is a Christ whom I cannot conceive of. That is what this story is telling us. Jesus will not lose even a single sheep. We might think that losing only one in a hundred is perfectly acceptable, indeed, a very fine job. But not so for the Good Shepherd. He will not lose even one. The devil will never say that he has taken one for whom Jesus has died. His work of love cannot become a failure even to the slightest degree. The death of Christ in vain – never! It is not the will of the Father in Heaven that any one of these little ones shall perish, and neither is it for the glory of Christ that one of His own sheep should be eternally lost.

What may we say was the reason for the lost sheep becoming found? Was the sheep saved by the doing of good works? Was the sheep saved by the following of law or commandment? Was the sheep saved because it recognised its own state of ‘lost-ness’, and went searching for its shepherd? Heaven forbid! The lost sheep was found for one reason and one reason alone. The lost sheep was found because the Good Shepherd came looking. The shepherd commenced a search and rescue operation that would never finish, until his sheep was found. His is a personal search, a persevering search, a successful search. He will search until they are found. The lost sheep contributed nothing to its being found.