Children's Meeting: Lost Sheep

All right. Everybody know what that is? You don't have to read it. Okay, don't answer questions.

Just remember. Anybody know what this is? You've probably got one in your cart, okay? But the most important thing we're going to talk about is this. Now, my question before we start to read is, what is the similarity between this and this and this? Yes.

Amen. That's what I want. They tell directions.

And what does the Bible do? Tells us how to get to heaven, but it tells us to what? All right, good. Let's everybody open your Bible to Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6. Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6. Everybody remember what I'm going to emphasize here, okay? All the white sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way.

And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. All right? All. All.

And everyone and all. The iniquity of us all. A week ago, there was a little baby who was born to my daughter.

And he's eight days old today. And the first day, that's the picture of him when he was born. The first day that he was born, he did something that reminded me of what that little verse that we had just read together.

That every boy and girl, every man and woman, all of us are one. And you tell me what that would be. Remember what the baby is.

The baby was one or two hours old. And he did the same thing that all of us did. Yes.

He sinned, but what do you think he did? No, no. Not crying. No.

Maybe you boys and girls here in the Blue River don't do this. But I was talking to a little boy just yesterday, and I heard his mom say, What was that? Why? This little baby had been content, had had his little feed just a few hours before, and he wasn't hungry, and he started to cry. And so they gave him another bottle, and nothing happened.

So, the Bible says that all of us from our mother's womb are liars. We're liars. Isn't that terrible to talk about? But God says, that's sin.

That is sin. And that little baby, he was born into the world, and the first thing that he did was put a little, uh... You have children? Listen. We're all the same, aren't we? Doesn't matter whether you're an old people at the back, or whether you're the youngest here in this little tiny school today.

We're all born the same. We all have in our hearts a little desire to do something that's bad. And it's because the Bible says that we were born in sin, and shaven in iniquity.

That's a bad word. It's wickedness. It's hateful to God.

God's holy. And God hates sin. Now, the story I want to talk about, nothing to do with what we have shown you there, but the most important thing is, all of us, as soon as we were born, were drawn astray.

The story I want to tell you about is to do with sheep. And I never was born in a country where there were sheep. I was born in the city.

But I just loved to go up and see the sheep on the hill, and, you know, I was over in Ireland a couple of years ago, and I was in this home, and this man was a shepherd. And he looked like it. He looked like a man that had desire living among sheep.

And you know how many sheep he had? He had 3,000 sheep. And, you know, he had a sheepdog, and the sheepdog was always at his feet, and he told me, he said, Glenn, this sheepdog knows every sheep, every lamb, every single one. And he said, I think I will go too.

But one thing about these sheep is, go astray. That's the first thing he talked about. He talked about those sheep going astray.

He said, it doesn't matter whether you take them down to the nicest field, to the greatest, fresh stream, it doesn't matter what part of that hillside that you want to put them on, they are trying at the very utmost, before a couple of hours, to get away, just to disappear. And that just reminded me of, wow, that's just like me. When I was just a little boy, what my dad taught told me, to be good and punished, to sit up in my class at school, to listen to the teacher, or when the Christians would come to the home to be a good boy, there was always something inside me that wanted to do something bad.

Wanted to say something bad. Wanted to think about something that went bad. And you know, God reminded me of those sheep as we were looking at them across all those hills.

That every one of them had a desire. The Lord Jesus talked about a man that had a hundred sheep. Let's just talk about it for the next five minutes.

He told about a story about a man that had a hundred sheep. And this particular day, he had named them all, he had noticed all their flaws, he had known all about their individual aliquots, and yet there was one little one, and he would call him, and we're going to call him, Black. He had a black spot on his underbelly, and inside he was as bad as the rest.

And so, the day would come, he would take them out to the wonderful fields and enjoy, the sheep would enjoy the refreshment of the pasture. He would take them down to the little stream that was lush and still. He would watch the mountainsides, he would check to make sure there'd be no enemies, no wolves.

And then he would sit down and just sing songs to those people and enjoy the world himself. But you know one day, after those sheep had come to the end of the day, the sun was setting, he'd bring them in, and he had a place that he would call the hole. And you know those sheep would come in, and he would number them, he would count them.

As they came in, he would remember, that some of them were called Hank, some of them were called Ben, some of them were called other names. And you know those sheep, they came in, one by one, and finally he saw Black. And he laid down, the night fell, and another day had gone.

But this day, rose up the sun was shining. And he got up again the next day, and he took them out to another field. And this Blackie, he had no idea that day, that he was going to go astray.

He had no idea that inside him, he wanted to go somewhere else. But inside of him, was a desire to not to please God. Not to please the shepherd, not to please, he didn't want to please himself.

And you know children like that. I can see these boys here, with this beautiful tie on, and you know, they look the best. And you know what, your mama has taught you well, to sit down and listen.

But you know, if somebody was here, not here, for a couple of hours, I can just imagine these boys, wouldn't be sitting here. I just don't think, they'd be sitting here. If you were left for two hours, would you sit here? No.

Not in your life. And you know those girls over here, they're the same too. But you know Blackie, he got up that morning and says, they're going over to those black backpacks, I'm going over here.

And you know before long, he was punishing, they had dispersed. And you know Blackie, he had gone all the way back, to wherever he had gone, the day before. But he forgot, that there was no one else there.

And you know the rest of the sea was gone. But the shepherd, to this new pasture, and right in the middle of the day, the clouds started to gather. And the storm clouds were starting to thunder.

And you know the shepherd, he loved that sheep so much. And that's another thing we want to make sure, just because we're born with a bad heart, and our desire is not towards the shepherd, but shepherds to the mother. God loves his own.

And he loves boys and girls so much, that he is willing, he was willing to send his sheep. For boys and girls, that they might be sick. But you know this shepherd, he took his sheep, out to that pasture land, and he saw the thunder clouds coming, and he brought those sheep back, gradually, and willfully, into his companionship again.

And of course, the numbering, he started to read, 98, 99, Of course, what? So children, last year, I was here. And if there were other children, that were here last year, who are here, And here's this little black one, and he'd gone astray, and he was lost. The storm was over, the shepherd left him and the sheep safely, and he gathered his flock around him, and he took a stab, and he went out, and he wandered the hills and the valleys, calling for the sheep that was lost.

The rain was coming, the darkness was descending, and all of a sudden he heard a faint cry, but it wasn't in the area where he had been, and he faintly, he ran across the fields to another part of the pasture, and by now the rain was descending, and the terrible wind, and here blackie had fallen down into a crevice, and he was helpless, his little legs had been broken, and he was in a place basically where he couldn't help himself. With the children, that's what happens when children go on from life, they get up in life, and they think that they know better, and they get lost, and they don't come to Sunday school anymore, and maybe the ones that were here last year aren't here today because they're lost. Maybe he knows, maybe he's right here, he realizes he's lost.

The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus said, has come to seek and to save that which he has lost, and unless you realize that you're the lost sheep, the Lord Jesus said that you're like a lost sheep. Isaiah said, all who were sheep have gone astray, and if you don't realize that you're lost, you'll never ever be found. You know that little blackie, he couldn't help himself, and here he was on the crevice, and he had broken feet, and he was all wounded, and finally the shepherd came, and he reached down, and he grabbed that little lamb, little sheep, and placed it upon his shoulders.

What do you think he did? Do you think he pulled him up? Do you think he told him that you're a bad sheep? No. The shepherd loves the sheep. And he saved them, and he gave his life for them, because all around was misery, and storms, and the judgment that could have fallen upon that little sheep, could have fallen forever upon them.

Listen, the Lord Jesus, he went through the storm, he went through the darkness of Calvary, so that boys and girls, and men and women, might be saved. They might find a famous friend, and now they're found. That little blackie was placed upon the shepherd's shoulder.

And you know, that shepherd was not only happy to see the little blackie again, but he went and told the neighbors. Can you imagine? He went and told the neighbors that he found the sheep that was lost. It's hard to believe, isn't it? You know, if one of you boys and girls got saved today, there'd be a lot of neighbors on the phone tonight.

And you know what? I might even phone to one of them, and tell them, one of the boys that was sent to school got saved. That'd be a wonderful thing. But listen, the Bible says, there's joy in the presence of the angels of God.

One sin. You know, children, that's the main thing in life. Putting your life first.

You've gone astray, the Lord Jesus loved you, that he might save you. He went to the cross, and he paid the awful price of death, and he's raised again. And he's given us this wonderful, wonderful assurance that it's coming again.

Over to Michael. Okay. Hands for the ones that have the questions.

You want to give a question? Okay. Alright. Alright.

My first question is, what are the... Okay, let's see. Who am I going to pick up? Okay. Did you get the doll? Did you get the doll? Okay.

Okay. What... Alright. Okay.

What did the baby do? Right. He cried and told a lie, right? You ever tell a lie? I'm afraid we all have, haven't we? We've all lied at one time or another. But if we said we didn't, we'd be lying then, wouldn't we? That's right.

Okay. Now, who else got a doll? Okay. I don't want you to ask questions.

Who... I'll come back. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Can you quote Isaiah 53 and 6? All? Very good. Very good.

All we like sheep have gone astray. It's like that baby lion. We've all lied in our lives.

We've all sinned against God. We've all gone astray. And we've all turned to our own ways.

Okay. My third question. Alright.

Who's like a sheep? Okay. You know what I found out? I was like a sheep. Not just us.

But I was that sheep. I found out one day, I was that sheep that was going astray. And I found out something else the rest of us.

That the Lord has layed on Him my sins. And that person? Heard it. Now I've got... I've got three of you.

Now who else has one? You have. Right? Who sought the sheep? Who sought the sheep? Who went after the sheep? The shepherd. Anybody know who the good shepherd was? Anybody know who the good shepherd was? No? Anybody know who the good shepherd is? Who's the good shepherd? Seth.

Oh my goodness. A little more specific. Okay.

That's right. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's a good shepherd.

And went to the cross to pay that price for our sins. That's what we first said. Now here's the big... Here's the last one.

Right? You know him? Did you get a dollar from him? Okay. Alright. Okay.

I'm going to... I'm going to ask you first. I'm running out of questions here. Okay.

I'm going to ask you a question here first. How can I know where I'm going? Okay, we need... What do we have up in here? An atlas and what else? GPS system? And then what else? A Bible. And all of a sudden you can't depend on atlases.

I bought a GPS system the other day. And I'm going to take it back. Because five or six out of the first seven times I've used it just to practice with it, it went off.

You know, it didn't tell me the truth. But what can I depend on today? The Word of God. Do you know your way home? Did you get there without an atlas? Did you get there? Where do you live? Where do you live? Where in Iowa? McGregor? Oh, that's not too bad.

Anybody a little farther away from McGregor? Cedar Rapids? Cedar Rapids. Did you get there by yourself? Okay. That's... That's a relief.

Well, you know, sometimes we don't know that much. How could I know my way back? You can do the math, right? That's how we can know our sins forgiven. Heaven is our home.

We have God's Word. Maps can fail. And GPS systems can fail.

But God's Word will what? Stand forever. Stand forever. Never fail.

So, boys and girls, tend not to the war of people's prices. Good shepherd. That's why he came.

Pay the penalty for your sins. You can be saved. And sure of it, on the authority of God's Word.

He's a good shepherd. Did you do the prayer? Okay. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this documentary. It's a very precious story about the shepherd character of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one that went to where the lost sheep was.

And he brought it home. We pray, Father, that there's any that recognize their way bearing ways here today. That that sheep has gone astray.

That they could look into the authority of thy Word. And know that that's why Christ came into this world. That he could take boys and girls to heaven.

And we pray, Father, that they might trust. And finish working for the Lord Jesus Christ. And depend upon thy Word.

As we commend them to thee. As our thanksgiving for all this time we're together. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.