“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
Sheep
by nature have a tendency to stray. They
are fearful, stupid, and defenseless.
They require constant attention, and if abandoned, they will wonder in
their own direction. Without the protection
of the Shepherd, they will certainly wonder right into their own
destruction. Jesus is our Shepherd and he gave his life for his sheep.
From
the very beginning, God created man and desired a relationship with his
creation. We had perfect fellowship and
communion in the Garden. Fellowship
between the Creator and the created. The
women was deceived and influenced the man to sin; mankind fell from that holy
estate into sin and degradation. We left
our created nature and took on the carnal nature. The carnal nature, now
grafted into the heart of man, manifests itself in continued willful
disobedience against the holiness of God. Therefore the enmity and injustice
remains between the righteousness of God and the unrighteousness of man. Though we were/are bent towards destruction
and bound for hell, the Creator, God himself, loved us enough to send us a
Savior. Like sheep we have gone astray,
and in going we turned to our own way. From the beginning the going was to our
own way, and yet today the carnal nature within, manifested in willful disobedience
without, takes us down a path that is our own.
Satan would have us believe that we serve our own pleasures, our own
lust, our own ambitions, and our own desires. We reject the notion of a Creator
and exalt ourselves as God. This iniquity cannot be justifiable by the created,
and therefore needed a justifier. A Savior. Jesus Christ. This man, that was
God in the flesh, came down and became the penalty for those standing in
condemnation. The innocent for the guilty, righteous for the unrighteous, holy for
the sinful. Christ took the punishment, and brought salvation to the wayward
sheep. This was not done so that we
might continue to be lost. True, we are born
in sin and shapen in iniquity. God
is just, good, and holy; Christ is just, good, and holy, and they wanted to
bring their creation back to full fellowship with themselves. Therefore, we
must be just, good, and holy. This we
cannot be, while the carnal man remains in the flesh. We must put on the Spirit
and become spiritual. We must leave off going astray, and going our own way. How to do this? How can someone bound in sin be set
free? How can someone that is lost be
found? How can we live holy, in this life?
As
we are sheep, so sheep we must be. We must return to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.
Have the tough conversation, tell God you’re sorry, and resolve to never
sin again, but don’t stop there. Make
the commitment to follow the Shepherd, to be in the flock. Recognizing that without him you are
hopeless, and you need a Savior. Then, ask for the Holy Spirit to live and
reign in your heart. The Holy Ghost will
come in and sanctify you wholly. The
Holy Ghost will make you holy, and through its power you can live holy; with Christ
as your Shepherd and with safely in the fold.
