Well, good morning. Welcome to
our continuing Bible study in the book of Luke. And if you
turn your Bibles to chapter 15, we'll begin there. Luke 15, and
this whole chapter is comprised of three parables, and as a bit
of a background, Remember, he had been invited to supper at
the Pharisees, or the breakfast at the Pharisees, and then the
conversation that he had with them. And then after that concluded,
then Luke chapter 15 and verse 1 says, Then drew near unto him
all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees
and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto
them, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he
lose one, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness,
and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he
hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And
when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep
which was lost. I say unto you that likewise,
Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than
over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. And
neither what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose
one, doth not light a candle and sweep the house and diligently
seek until she find it. And when she hath found it, she
calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with
me, for I found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto
you, there is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth and then and then the concluding part of the parable
of the the prodigal or the lost son and so we'll We're not going
to cover that last parable today, but we are going to kind of look
at an overview of them as they fit together, because they all
three form a composite picture of the redemption of the church
and the involvement of the Trinity in that redemption. So we have three parables, and
as we mentioned in the previous lesson, Christ receiveth sinners. They're all pointed to the same
subject in words which Christ spake to these Pharisees. Again, the three parables kind
of give us a composite view of the lost and unregenerate. nature
of man and the gracious work of the Trinity in redeeming them. And the complaint of the Pharisees
was that Jesus not only associated with what they considered the
kind of the off scouring or the the ones that they didn't care
to be with, the people that were lesser than them. And not only
that, he actually ate with them. And you know, it's like many
times we find people in the Bible that make statements that were
because of the determinate counsel of God. They don't really understand
maybe what they said, but they do, in fact, relate some message
or some point that he is making unbeknownst to them. And here
we have that case. He receiveth sinners and publicans
and eats with them. Ew, how awful. And the term receiveth
here represents more than just the simple act of receiving,
and we kind of went into that in our last message. It's more
than just a passive receiving, and it actually is from the Greek
word pros dekomai, which means to receive to oneself, to receive
favorably, and gives the idea of to look for and to wait for. So when these Pharisees saw Jesus
in these cases where he ate with sinners and publicans, he said,
he kind of actually looks forward to meeting with them and associating
with them and eating with them, and that's why he came. And he
came to save sinners. And so he actually appeared to
eagerly look forward to being with them and eating with them.
And the Pharisees murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and
eateth with him. And in the first parable, he
uses the metaphor of a shepherd. And I'm sure these Pharisees
were saying, we just kind of insulted him with this, you're
hanging around with people you shouldn't be hanging around with,
and now he's talking about shepherds and sheep. What is this all about? And we went through the law of
parables where he says, under the church, under you it's given
to, they said, why do you speak in parables? He says, well, under
you it's given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom,
and under them it is not given. So he uses this metaphor of a
shepherd, and you know, the Pharisees would have considered a shepherd
your lower class citizen, with whom they wouldn't normally associate. In Luke 18, 9 it says, He spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous and despised others. So anybody that didn't fall into
that pharisaical class, they despised them. They didn't want
anything to do with them. And yet, they were the ones that
supposedly knew the law, the ones that supposedly knew the
Old Testament and prided themselves in those things, and yet they
didn't apply any of the things that were in there because they
didn't see them. They didn't, unless a man be
born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. He can't understand
it. Natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God
because they're spiritually discerned. And so a lot of that they just
didn't see. And this subject of eating is
brought out. The Lord often uses eating to
display grace and to display fellowship and to bring a sense
of family and security. He's displaying grace by being
with these Pharisees that were plotting to do away with Him. Their ultimate goal was to be
rid of Him. So He displayed grace unto them,
although they were blind to that. They could not see it. After
His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples displaying grace
and fellowship and comfort. And they're all in Luke 24, if
you want to turn your Bibles there to Luke 24. And after His
resurrection, And all the disciples are communing together, and they're
all upset. And as they spake, Jesus Himself,
in Luke 24, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and saith
unto them, Peace be unto you. That peace that comes from Him
alone, that peace that He provided through what He just went through
in His death, burial, and resurrection, the peace that He made with God
in their behalf. They were no longer at enmity
with him because of what he did. But they were terrified and frightened,
and supposed they'd seen a spirit. But he said unto them, Why are
you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold
my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see,
for spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. And
when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.
And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said
unto them, have you here any meat? And they gave him a piece
of broiled fish and of honeycomb, and he took it and did eat before
them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the
prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me." Boy, they were all upset
about what had happened, and he says, I told you over and
over and over again that these things must all come to pass,
they must all be fulfilled, so you shouldn't be upset that they
actually did because it was for your benefit that they did. And
then he opened their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. What a key phrase we have at
the close of that dialogue. He opened their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. And that's what he
does for the church in these parables. And another example
in Luke 22, where he's with them for this. this final Passover
meal, and he says, with desire, I desire to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer. It just spoke to his passion
about his relationship with them, and how much he loved them, and
how much he cared for them, and he desired to have this last
time with them where he would tell them it's not the physical,
here's the spiritual meaning of this meal. And he said, this
bread, I'm the bread of life. This is my body that's broken
for you, and this cup. So he wanted to impart to them
this spiritual message before he departed and suffered what
that was all about. So with that background, let's
look at several things that each of these parables have in common.
Again, we have this whole chapter that's comprised of three parables,
and each one of them directly relates to those Pharisees that
said, He receiveth sinners and eats with them. What a view that
they had. Three parables, and each one
of them kind of represents or emphasizes a different part of
the Trinity and or a combination of them. And yet all in union
in the redemption of the elect and sinners that they would save
by grace. And in parable one, we have the
shepherd. Well, who does that represent?
The great shepherd. Jesus says, I am the shepherd.
The shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. In parable number two, we have
the light, the lit candle. The woman that sweeps lights
a candle. and then sweeps diligently on
the floor for this valuable item. And then in parable three, we
have the Father. And so these three aspects bring
our attention to God and the Spirit. Christ as they redeem
the church. And in each parable, there's
a valuable possession that's involved, a valuable possession
that belonged to someone. And then that possession is lost. In parable 1, it's the sheep.
And in parable 2, it's the coin. And in parable 3, it's the son,
the younger son. And then in each case, the possession
is sought out by the Great Shepherd, the Seeker via the Holy Spirit,
and that possession is found and returned. And I found that
which was lost. I found it. It didn't return
of its own. He says, I went out and searched
it out and found it. And lastly, There's joy. It just struck me as so interesting
that God does all the, He does everything. And when He accomplishes
it, He has joy in it. And in those that are the redeemed,
they say, Hallelujah, you've earned it because I would never
have come to this of myself if he hadn't overcome me, if he
hadn't brought the gospel to me, if he hadn't given me a new
heart, if he hadn't done all these things. I would have never
returned of my own. I would never have repented.
I would never have come to Him. And isn't that what the Scriptures
say? There's none that seeketh God,
none that understandeth, none that are righteous, until He
makes that difference in us. And I think there's an article
on the back of your bulletin that speaks to those very issues,
if you read those sometime today. But you know, when He does all
those things, and they come back, It gives him joy. It's rejoicing. Every one of those parables ends
in rejoicing. So the Pharisees, on the other
hand, seem to represent a different character in each parable. But,
you know, they would have been offended by these comparisons. They say, Christ, he receives
sinners and eats with them. And he says, well, a shepherd,
the person that you think the lowest amount of, if he lost
a sheep, he'd go out and find it. I'm here with these sinners
and publicans, and among them are my sheep. And yet they would
not stoop so low as to go out and have anything to do with
the shepherd. And in the first parable, they're
like the ninety and nine sheep. So I say unto you, likewise,
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety-nine just persons which need no repentance." Well,
you know, that is a... There is no such thing. But in
their mind, that's how they perceive themselves. We don't need any
repentance. We be Abraham's children, and
we keep the law, and I do this, and I do that. And all the things
that they use to justify themselves, they just believe that they didn't
need to repent of anything. They had nothing to repent of.
And so we have this, he says, The one that did repent, the
one that I went after, the one that I gave a new heart to, the
one that I sought out, found, and brought back. I have joy over that, but I don't
have joy over those 99 that need no repentance. That's what it
tells us in Luke 18, verse 11. The Pharisees stood and prayed
for themselves. You all remember this scripture
where the two went up to the temple to pray, and the Pharisee
and the publican, and the Pharisee said, prayed thus with himself. That's a key point there. That's
about as far as it went. It didn't get any higher than
his mouth. I thank God I'm not like other men. I thank God I'm not like other
men. extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican next to me. And you know the publicans,
we've covered this in many of our lessons, that they were singled
out for extensive hate. rejection because they were tax
representatives of the Roman government and their mission
was to, they would bid on these tax regions and they would be
awarded the ability to collect taxes for the Romans in that
area and then whatever they got above and beyond What the Romans
said, we expect this amount of revenue from that region. Whatever
you get after that is your own business. We don't care about
it and don't want to know about it. They were pretty liberal
in their approach to that. I think Lazarus or Zacchaeus
said he was rich from his endeavors as a publican. And so, they were
hated because they were extorting money out of the public, out
of the Jewish people, and giving it to their hated enemies that
had put them in subjection. So, any less adulterers and unjust,
everybody except themselves were pretty much included in this
sentence there. I thank God I'm not like them.
I'm good. I keep the law. I don't dirty
my hands with all that other stuff. I don't have dinner with sinners.
I don't have dinner, I don't hang out with the publicans.
So, that's their view. They despised everybody but themselves. The key point in the parable
here is that, again, that there was joy. in finding one of these
sheep that turned and repented. And they were found and there
was subsequent repentance. And there was not joy in the
ninety and nine, which in their mind needed no repentance. And
to our earlier list, we have in each case, we have something
valuable. And I stress that in our last message. how valuable
Christ views His sheep. He made the most costly payment
for them that could be made. He paid for them with His own
life. He paid for them with His own blood. And He says there's
nothing that can compare to that. So, the price of redeeming the
sheep for the Father is just the blood of His own dear Son.
And that valuable something becomes lost through the fall, through
the sin that evolved from Adam. And just like Adam, we don't
see the lost nature of it until something happens. Like it says in Ezekiel, until
I give you a new heart, until I clean you up, until I change
you, until I turn you, you're just not going to see yourself
in that condition. Adam says, I'm okay, I'm okay. That's what I always say. I fall
down in the garage or something and Yvonne comes up. Are you
okay? Yeah, I'm fine. Except for this big bruise down
my side and whatever else, but that's our immediate reaction.
I'm fine. Nothing wrong with me. So they
don't consider their lost condition. They must be found in the wilderness
to which they've gone astray. They must be brought from that
condition of lostness. In Ephesians 2, verse 12, it
says that at the time, in our old nature, when we were like
the lost sheep or the lost coin or that son. At the time you
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, And
without God in the world, what a predicament we find ourselves
in because of the fall. And yet we say, I'm fine. I'm
okay. I don't need anything. I've got
these fig leaves here. I'm going to sew me up some clothes
here as soon as we get done talking. And what a miserable substitute
that was. And you know that then we find
that valuable something sought for, searched out. And I think
we read this scripture last time, but we'll read it again from
Ezekiel chapter 34, verse 11 and 12. Thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I, even I will both search my sheep and seek them out. Well, he wouldn't need to seek
them out if they weren't lost. But he says, you know what? He
says, they're my sheep. They're his possession. And they're
valuable enough to him that he is going to diligently search
and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among the sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep. And we'll deliver them out of
all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark
day." That cloudy and dark day in the garden where the fall
occurred and we all developed the sin nature from that. That
cloudy and dark day that affected every one of us. That valuable something then
is found. In Ephesians 2, verse 13, it
says, But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were afar off
are now made nigh by the blood of Christ. Brought close, brought
to an intimate connection and knowledge. in Luke 15, 6 in our scriptures
today in our text, it says, And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, I found my sheep which was lost. What a wonderful way for,
when we think about, sometimes I think we just lose track of
how God feels about us, Him saving us. and how much he rejoices
in that, and how much he shares that. And this repentance, the
turning, we refer to that as the turning. In the parable of
the lost sheep, the sheep, when it's found, is picked up. Remember the scripture we read
last time, when we were yet without strength, we had no ability to
stand up on our own. When we were without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. He findeth that sheep, and he
picks it up, and he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Isn't that kind of the opposite
view that you get from religion? Well, you know what? You need
to get right with God and then come to him on your own feet
and then come forward and then do all the things and then walk
with me, come with me, follow me. Well, you know what? He picks
you up and carries you on his shoulders, back. And then he
rejoices. Now one of the objects of the
parable is the Pharisees, who rightly should have been a shepherd
to those sheep. Norm's been covering some of
this in the Wednesday night lessons about shepherds. And they were
among those that failed miserably, and the ones that had the most
knowledge about the Old Testament, the gospel, that should have
been able to point people to Christ. and the Great Shepherd,
and they said, no, what we count on is being in the lineage of
Abraham and keeping the law and self-righteousness and being
total liars. That's what we count on. So they
should have pointed them to the Great Shepherd, but not only
did they not do that, but they despised them The ones that they
should have been pointing, they despised them. Just the total opposite of what
should have happened. And not only did they despise
them, they stayed as far away from them as they could possibly
manage. They wouldn't even, they would
see a publican come and they would move over to the other
side of the road just to avoid close contact with them. And
woe to you lawyers, in our lessons from chapter 11 of Luke, woe
to you lawyers, you've taken away the key of knowledge, and
you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in,
you hindered. You were a stumbling stone. You
were a blockage to them. You not only didn't point out
Christ to them, you tried to just keep them away at all costs. And then this final thing that
we find in these three parables is this rejoicing. Again, this
rejoicing in joy. Hebrews 12, 2 says, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God." So when he says, I found
my sheep, rejoice with me. I have joy in that sheep that
was found and returned. And when he looked forward at
the cross and said, for the joy that was set before Him in redeeming
all those sheep. He endured all that. He endured contradiction of sinners
against Himself, because those sinners that were His sheep,
He loved them, and loved them with an eternal, everlasting
love. So it's a great wonder and a
sense of peace to every believer to consider that God has loved
you eternally, Searched you out in spite of your enmity to Him. Found you at the time that He
appointed. Caused you to hear the gospel of His dear Son. Saved
you, not according to your own works, but according to His own
purpose and will and grace. And after He's done all, you,
like the sheep, have done nothing." We're just like passive recipients
of all this. Thank God. He rejoices after
He takes care of everything. We always say that whatever God
requires, He supplies, He fulfills. Well, when He does all that,
He rejoices. He has joy every time He causes a great work of
grace in one of His sheep. And He sees you as a work of
grace in His Son and rejoices. And there's no joy in God in
the 99 that don't need, no thank you. We don't need that. I'm
fine. I tithe twice a week. I give
tithes of all I have. I fast twice a week, I guess
it is. I do all these things. All these I've kept from my youth
up. What else do I need? I don't need anything. So, there's
no joy in, there's no work of grace in any of that. There's
no joy in the results of it. In parable two, we have similar
circumstances, and yet more grace is revealed. Either what woman? Boy, here's another. The Pharisees
didn't probably have too much to do with the women in doing
anything. So what woman, having ten pieces
of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and
sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she
hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together,
and saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which
I had lost. Likewise, in the same way I say
unto you, There is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth, in similar fashion to the ninety
and nine coins that not seemingly lost in their view that need
no repentance. They bring no joy in the presence
of God or in the presence of his angels. Likewise, it's the
same case here. And yet, There's so many similar things
in this parable. We have the something possessed,
something that became lost, something that was of great value, a diligent
search for it. God searches His people out no
matter where. I mean, I just think we can't
imagine all of the... all the rainbow of grace that
He provides to get His Word to someone or bring someone to His
Word. Just amazing. So, we have this
parable representing a piece of silver, a coin. They call
it a drachma. original terms there, the valuable
something is lost, and it's down on the floor. It's down. It's
down in the dirt. it's in the dark. In those spiritual
pictures that we derive from this parable, this coin that's
fallen and gotten lost, and maybe it's in a crack or under some
dirt and cobwebs and junk. And the first thing is, there
has to be a light. Even if you swept the floor in
the dark, you're not going to see it if it gets turned up. She lights a candle. God who
commanded the light. I think this is on your bulletin,
too, this morning from 2 Corinthians 4-6. For God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness. has shined in our hearts to give
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ." And you know, that's just the work of the Holy Spirit
to testify, to reveal Christ to and in the elect. It's kind
of a two-fold process. He reveals Christ to them, but
He also reveals Christ in them. And that's what Paul said, when
it pleased God, to reveal His Son in me. That's something for
us to consider, that He reveals His Son in us. And in John, he
brings that out quite a bit in his prayer, in John chapter 17,
the unity of the Spirit that he has with God is also with
the Church. I in them, them in me, I in the
Father, the Father in me, and we become one in unity. And this Holy Spirit that This
shines this light of the gospel and reveals Christ to the sheep
and the elect, the church, reveals Christ to them, and then through
the rebirth reveals Christ in them. When the Comforter has
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit
of truth which proceeded from the Father, he shall testify
of me. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak, and he will show you things to come." So his job is not to
magnify himself. His job is to magnify and glorify
Christ and apply the gospel of Christ to the sheep,
to them and in them. And that's what Paul said in
Galatians 1. He says, "...when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me that I might preach Him among the heathen." He says,
"...immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." He was
getting what he needed right from the Spirit. This woman in
the parable, she sweeps and searches diligently. No corner is left,
no nook, no cranny overlooked. And Ezekiel 34, 12, as a shepherd
seeketh out his flock in the day that he's among his sheep
that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and deliver them
out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloud
and dark day. She's going to pull out that
piece of furniture that it might have rolled under. And when she
got under there and shined the light, it was way worse than
what she expected. It was full of dirt, and she
swept all that out. And with the light, looked for
her coin. In the conclusion of the second
parable, Jesus likens it to the first parable. He says, likewise,
in the same way, I say to you there's joy in the presence of
the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." So he applies
this spiritually, and I'm sure those Pharisees are saying, coin?
We know what coins are good for. We like the sound of coins. What's
that got to do with the sinner repenting? There's no repentance
in the 99. There's no repentance in the
nine coins that weren't lost. There's no joy, which again,
typifies those Pharisees. And in contrast, the Pharisees
were so far from seeking that which was lost and shining the light of the
Gospel of Christ on it. They were just in the total opposite
way of that. So we're going to stop there,
and next time we're going to look at the third parable, and
we're going to apply everything that we learned in the first
two parables. And when everything is concluded,
we find the Father racing out to greet the returning Son. and rejoicing again. What wonderful
grace. So until next time, my friends,
as always, be free. We look forward to our next lesson.