The Divine Shepherd Hears His Sheep
The Divine Shepherd will always hear and respond to the cries of His lost sheep, guiding them back to Him through obedience and sacrifice.
Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about the unwavering love and compassion of our Divine Shepherd, who tirelessly seeks after His lost sheep, even to the point of sacrificing His own life. Just as a shepherd listens for the cry of a stray sheep, our Shepherd listens for our cries and is always ready to answer and rescue us from our deepest pits of despair. Despite our fears and failures, when we lift up our helpless cries to Him, His tender love is always seeking us, ready to bring us back into His loving embrace.
Text
He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee.
ISAIAH 30:19
THAT Was the Shepherd of the flock; He knew
The distant voice of one poor sheep astray;
It had forsaken Him, but He was true,
And listened for its bleating night and day.
And thou, fallen soul, afraid to live or die
In the deep pit that will not set thee free,
Lift up to Him the helpless homeward cry,
For all that tender love is seeking thee.
ANNA L. WARING
OUR Divine Shepherd followed after His lost sheep for three and thirty years, in a way so painful and so thorny that He spilt His heart's blood and left His life there. The poor sheep now follows Him through obedience to His commands, or through a desire (though at times but faint) to obey Him, calling upon Him and beseeching Him earnestly for help; is it possible that He should now refuse to turn upon it His life-giving look? Will He not give ear to it, and lay it upon His divine shoulders, rejoicing over it with all His friends and with the angels of Heaven? For if our Lord ceased not to search most diligently and lovingly for the blind and deaf sinner, the lost drachma of the Gospel, till He found it, how is it possible that He should abandon him who, as a lost sheep, cries and calls upon his Shepherd?
LORENZO SCUPOLI
Sermon Outline
- The Shepherd's Love
- The Shepherd's Voice
- The Shepherd's Response
Key Quotes
“He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“OUR Divine Shepherd followed after His lost sheep for three and thirty years, in a way so painful and so thorny that He spilt His heart's blood and left His life there.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“For if our Lord ceased not to search most diligently and lovingly for the blind and deaf sinner, the lost drachma of the Gospel, till He found it, how is it possible that He should abandon him who, as a lost sheep, cries and calls upon his Shepherd?” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We must call out to the Shepherd in prayer, seeking His guidance and salvation.
- We must obey the Shepherd's commands and follow His will to be found by Him.
- The Shepherd's sacrifice on the cross represents His love and willingness to save us from our sins.