February 24, 2019 – Luke 15:4

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
—Luke 15:4

If you look into that shepherd’s face, there is no trace of anger.25 It is all love and nothing else but love, before he finds and until he finds [the lost sheep], and you may be sure that careful tenderness will be in full action after he has found it.
And mark, for a shepherd there is no giving up. The sun has risen, and the sun has set, but as long as the shepherd can see and the sheep is still alive, he will pursue it until he finds it. He is impelled onward by irresistible love, and he must continue his weary search until he finds it. It was precisely so with our Lord Jesus Christ. When he came after you and after me, we ran from him, but he pursued us; we hid from him, but he discovered us.
He would not be turned away. The Lord Jesus has in hundreds and thousands of cases pursued sinners with unflagging mercy until he has found them. We are now his forever and ever, for he who has found us will never lose us. Blessed be his name.
If ever you are seeking the conversion of any, follow up until you find them. Do not be discouraged. Put up with a great many rebuffs and rebukes. Whisper to yourself, “I might well have put the Great Shepherd off from caring for me, and yet he was not turned aside. If he persevered with me even to the death, I may well persevere as long as I live in seeking and finding this soul.” Persevere with loving entreaties! Until you bury your unsaved ones, do not consider them dead.
Live or die, or work or suffer, whether the time is short or long or the way is smooth or rough, let each one of you be bound to seek a soul until you find it. You will find it then, even as Christ found you.
—C. H. Spurgeon