We're finding in our Bible Luke
chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. And I want to
take a good look at verse 1 down through verse 7 of Luke chapter
15. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is found in verse 6. Notice verse 6, "...when
he cometh home, he calleth his friends together, and his neighbors,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found, I have
found my sheep which was lost." Now notice, the sheep did not
find himself. The Good Shepherd found the one
lost sheep. The title of the message, therefore,
will be lost sheep found. The Lord Jesus Christ, as we
read in John chapter 10, is called the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd
who gives His life for the sheep. And then, another place in the
book of Hebrews chapter 13, the Lord is called the Great Shepherd
of the sheep, who through His eternal covenant made complete
atonement for their sin. The Lord is also called the Chief
Shepherd of the sheep who is coming back again. Our Good Shepherd,
our Great Shepherd, our Chief Shepherd came to save His lost
sheep. His sheep. His elect. His church. And He did so by laying down
His life for them. by sacrificing His life to redeem
those sheep, by dying for them to bring them home to glory. As we read in 1 Peter 3, verse
18, For Christ also once suffered
for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us
unto God." That's how He does it. Through that one sacrifice,
the just one dying for the unjust. Now in this chapter, Luke chapter
15, the Lord gives us in this chapter one parable divided into
three parts. One parable with three parts.
Each part of this parable describes the whole work of the triune
Godhead in the salvation of his elect, the salvation of his church. Someone called it the joint work
of God, the joint work of love. We see in this story, in each
of these three parts, we see the work of God the Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is a good shepherd, finding his sheep,
saving his lost sheep, representing the lost sheep, represent the
whole elect of God, bringing the lost sheep home to glory,
and then rejoicing forever over that blessed, blessed work. The second part of this story,
found in verse 8, down through verse 10, we have a woman who
is seeking a lost coin. She has ten of them. She's lost
one of them, and she sweeps the house, she gets the candle out,
and she diligently searches until she finds that one lost coin. We see in this part of the parable
the work of God the Holy Spirit seeking out and finding His lost
coin, and rejoicing together with the saints and the angels
of God over one sinner who was granted repentance. Look down
at verse 10. Likewise, I say unto you, there
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that is given repentance." What causes heaven to rejoice? What
causes the angels to rejoice? Salvation that is of the Lord. And then the third part of this
parable, in verse 11, all the way down to the end of the chapter,
and we'll be over there in a few weeks, we see the work of God
the Father in receiving the lost son. So we have the lost sheep
being found, the lost coin being found, and the lost son that
is received back by the Father, who graciously receives his lost
son. back into his family and graciously
loves him. Notice verse 24, Luke 15, 24. For this my son was dead, and
is alive again. He was lost and is found, and
they began to be merry. Here we see the work of God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Father in each part of
this one parable given in three parts. Someone described it this
way, it's like a pyramid. A pyramid has how many sides?
Three sides. One pyramid, but three sides,
and that's what this parable is like unto. Now, having said
that, let's set the table by saying this. He that hath ears
to hear, let him hear." Luke 15 verse 1, "...then drew near
unto him all the publicans and sinners. For to hear him, and
the Pharisees instead of drawing near to hear him, they stood
and withdrew themselves. The Pharisees and scribes, they
murmured, saying, Oh, this is a horrible thing. This is a terrible
thing. This man receiveth sinners, and
he even eats with them. Isn't that terrible? This man? Who is this man? Well, we know
who this man is. He is none other than the God-man
Mediator. Now, the Lord had just declared
to this large crowd that had followed Him, He that hath ears
to hear, let him hear. And then, upon that statement,
many, hearing those words, did draw near unto Him. For to, I
love this word, sinners, came near unto him to hear him." What
a miracle of God to be able to hear from God. What a blessing this is to be
willing to hear Him, to have a desire to hear Him, to be eager
to hear a word from Him. Isn't that why you're here today?
You didn't come here to hear me, did you? I hope you came
here to hear a word from Him, to be eager to hear Him, to receive
His Word and believe on His Word, to receive His gospel truth. And this Word of God that we
have is not the Word of man, it is a Word of God that effectively
worketh in you that believe the gospel. I got a letter from a
prisoner down in Christian County. Hawkinsville, Kentucky, where
is that? Some place way down that way. And somehow he got
my address and he wrote me a letter requesting some material, said
he loved to study the word, and I wrote him back. a letter sending
some literature to read over, gospel literature that we put
out here, and I wrote down this verse, Psalm 119, 104, and I
said, the word of the Lord is a blessing to the Lord's people. It's a lamp and a light under
our pathway, and maybe the Lord would be pleased to do something
for him. Don't know. These things don't
happen by accident, do they? They happen by purpose. I love this scripture, John 5,
24. It says, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me," now get this,
"...he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me hath everlasting life." What does that mean? Got it. Got it. Ha! Everlasting life. "...and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life." The Lord said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter
in, he shall be saved. He shall go in and out. He shall go into eternal life,
out of death, and shall have everlasting life." Faith comes
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, by the power of God. Many drew near unto Him, all
the publicans and the sinners to hear Him. Well, isn't that
great? Well, somebody in this crowd
said it was a terrible thing that the Lord was doing here.
Look at verse 2, and the Pharisees, Who were the Pharisees? They
loved their own righteousness. They loved their own self-glory,
pride, and religious works. The Pharisees and the scribes,
the scribes were the religious lawyers of the day, students
of the law, and they did nothing but murmur. They didn't draw
near to hear Him. All they did is murmured against
Him. This same crowd, as we read in
John chapter 10, that picked up stones to stone Him again,
because of not what He did, but what He said. The Pharisees and
scribes murmured, saying, Oh, this is a terrible saying! This
man! This man! What kind of a man
is this? This man receiveth sinners, and
he eats with them." My friend, that's the best news this sinner
has ever heard. They may think that this is a
terrible saying, but my friend, that's good news to me. This
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, mediator, receives unto
himself sinners just like you." That gives me hope. That gives
me hope for this sinner. The scribes and Pharisees complained
and grumbled about these sinful publicans and sinners drawing
near to the Lord Jesus Christ. This man received sinners. It
was true then, it's true today. The truth of God never changes.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Yet
the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. They said on another
occasion, remember, turn back to Luke chapter 7 for a moment.
Luke chapter 7. Luke 7, verse 33. Remember they
said before, John the Baptist came eating and drinking, eating
bread and drinking wine. Baptist came neither eating bread
nor drinking wine, and you say of him, well, he had the devil."
Luke 7, verse 33. Next verse, "...the Son of Man
has come eating and drinking, and you say, behold, a gluttonous
man, a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." Aren't
you glad he's a friend of publicans and sinners? Aren't you glad
that this man receives sinners? They said the worst thing about
him, but what they said is the best news any sinner could hear. Salvation for sinners, do you
know that? Grace is for the guilty. Mercy
is for the miserable. What the Lord did as a God-man
mediator while he was here among men receiving sinners unto himself. I never read one time in the
place of the Word of God, in the Word of God, where the Lord
turned away a needy mercy beggar not one time. Everybody that
came to Him seeking mercy, they found relief. Now the Pharisees
who came seeking to justify themselves, now they were criticized, but
every sinner like blind Bartimaeus who cried out for mercy, received
mercy. Like that leper who came to Him
and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. I will
be clean. Isn't that good news? What the
Lord God did as the God-man mediator among men on this earth, He is
still today. at the right hand of God, receiving
sinners unto Himself. And not only receiving sinners
unto Himself, but gladly presenting them to the Father without spot,
without blame, and without any sin whatsoever. It says over here in the book
of Jude, don't turn, let me just read it to you quickly. Now unto
Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
to the only wise God our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion,
and power both now and forever." He not only receives us to Himself,
but He presents us to the Father. Faultless before His presence,
and He's not ashamed to call us brethren, is He? The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a sham. It's not a fake gospel. It's not fake news. The gospel
is not fake news. The gospel is the real gospel
that's for real sinners. I'm talking about real grace
for real guilt. I'm talking about salvation for
sinners. Turn to another place, turn back
to Luke chapter 5 this time. The Lord Jesus called Matthew
a publican, remember? To follow Him, to be a disciple
in Luke chapter 5. The Lord said, verse 27, follow
me. And he left all, rose up and
followed him. And Levi, this is Matthew, made
a great feast in his own house. And there was a great company
of publicans and others that sat down with them. But the scribes,
but their scribes and Pharisees murmured against the disciples
saying, why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Boy,
they just have one message, don't they? Always beating up on the
Lord. And the Lord answered unto them,
They that are whole need not a physician, but those who are
sick. I have not come to call, I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners." Sinners! Does that describe you? Does
that describe you? Sinners? Ungodly? That's exactly
who salvation is for. He died for the ungodly. He came
to seek and to save those who were lost. Now, he spake this
parable. I want to look at the first part
of this threefold parable in verse 4 down through verse 7.
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
doth not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after
that which is lost? And he goes after it, and he
goes after it, until he finds that one lost sheep. And when
he found that one lost sheep, he lifts it, It's probably stuck
down in the muck, in the mire. He's covered with mud, that little
dirty old lost sheep. And he finds that one lost sheep.
lays it on his shoulder, lifts it out of the mud, puts it on
his shoulders, his broad shoulders, his strong shoulders, his hands
that are powerful hands, he lifts us, none can pluck us out of
his hand. Verse 6, and when he comes home,
he calls his friends and his neighbors together, saying unto
them, Ah, rejoice with me, for that sheep was so smart, he found
his way home. That's not the story, is it?
Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep. I have found my sheep
which was lost. I send you that likewise joy
shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than ninety
and nine just persons who need no repentance. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
in this first part of this parable. He's on the trail of his one
lost sheep. This one lost sheep represents
the whole elect of God. He said, I loved the church and
gave myself for it. Now, who are these 99 who need
no repentance, who the Lord leads in the wilderness? There are
many different ideas by many different writers. Who these
99 are that need no repentance? But to me, I think they represent
the crowd of this religious crowd who murmured against the Lord,
the self-righteous lost Pharisees and scribes who thought and said
that they were not sinners, who thought and said, we need not
repentance. The Lord sovereignly left them
to perish in the wilderness in their sin." I believe that's
who they represent. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
blessed good shepherd of the sheep, who laid down his life
for the sheep, and he bought them with his own blood. We read in John 10, he said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them I also must bring. Now know this, the
Lord Jesus Christ bought His church with His own blood. We are His property. He said,
you are no more your own, you're bought with a price. He's going
to have and enjoy what He bought. He bought the church with His
own blood. And He's going to take that which
He has bought, home to glory, and enjoy us forever. I use this
illustration. It's a homely illustration. You
ladies who go to the store, you make out a grocery list, exactly
what you want. And you go to the store, and
you buy what's on that list, and you go to the register, they
check you out, here's the price, and you pay it in full, don't
you? Or if you just paid half of it,
that wouldn't work. You have to pay all of the price,
and then what do you do? Well, you take your groceries
home and enjoy them. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done. He chose us. He bought us. He picks us off the shelf, He
puts us in the bag of His grace, and takes us home to glory. That's
exactly what He does. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
blessed Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep and
bought them with His own blood. God committed His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,
being justified by His blood. The Lord Jesus Christ left the
heavenly place of His eternal abode, came into the wilderness
of this world to save His lost sheep. He didn't come to save
anyone else but His sheep, but His elect. Look over here a couple
of pages to Luke 19. Luke 19. When the Lord said to another
publican named Zacchaeus in Luke 19 verse 9, the Lord said to
him, This day is salvation come to this house. For as much as
he is also a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man, that is a
God-man mediator, came to seek and to save that which was lost."
And He's going to save every lost sheep, and He has already
done that by the shedding of His blood. Now, it's most evident
that the sheep, the sinner, could not save himself, could not find
his way into the sheepfold. You see, the sheep by nature
are lost sheep, blind sheep, dead sheep. dead in sin. They tell me that a sheep, a
lamb, is one of the dumbest creatures upon topside of God's green earth. His brain, compared to his body
size, is the smallest of any creature. Dumb! And the Lord
picks a dumb animal to picture how salvation must be by the
grace of God. We're so dumb and so ignorant,
so lost and dead, we cannot help ourselves, will not help ourselves. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him. Lost sheep. Isaiah put it this
way, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone
to his own way, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us
all. If the Good Shepherd does not
come and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, we shall die
in our sin, lost, dead, without God, and without hope. If he
doesn't come and find us, and save us, and lift us, and put
us on his shoulder, and put us in Christ, Peter put it this
way, "...who his own self bare our sins and his own body on
the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes we are healed. You were healed, for we were
sheep going astray. But now return to the Shepherd,
Bishop, of our soul. Not only did the
Lord Jesus Christ come and die for our sin according to scripture,
the sin of his people, call his name Jesus, he shall save his
people from their sin, but also to establish a perfect and justifying
righteousness for them. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He died to put away our sin,
but not only that, We need to have a perfect, justifying righteousness
before God, and we have that in Christ. We read in Daniel
9, verse 24, that He came to finish transgression, to make
an end of sins, and He did so by the sacrifice of Himself,
to make reconciliation for iniquity, God was in Christ reconciling
us unto Himself, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Now, I must not only have redemption,
I must have righteousness, and I must have regeneration too.
I must be reconciled unto God. I must be made a new creature
in Christ. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ came to do for us. You see, the Lord also not only
puts away our sin, makes us righteous, makes us new creatures in Christ,
but He also, in doing this, grants us the precious gift of faith
to trust Him. Peter put it this way, Simon
Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that
have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God our Savior Jesus Christ. You see, the gift of faith we
have is the precious gift of God that He gives to us because
Christ put away our sin and brought in everlasting righteousness
for us. The gift of faith the Lord gives
us is the precious gift that He gives unto us. The Lord also,
along with faith, grants unto us this gift of repentance, as
it's mentioned here in the text. Likewise, joy in heaven over
one sinner that repents, that repenteth, that repenteth. In Acts chapter 5 verse 31, you
see, repentance is like faith. Both faith and repentance are
sovereign gifts of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it's a gift of God. In Acts 5
verse 31, Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be Prince
and Savior, for to give repentance to His people, and the forgiveness
of sin. That's what is mentioned here
in verse 7. Likewise, over one sinner that
repented. Now, repentance is like faith. Repentance is not an isolated
act. Repentance like faith is not
an isolated act. It's a continual state of being. I am believing, I have believed,
I am believing, and by His grace we continue believing. I have
repented, I am repenting, and by His grace I will repent. And
repentance is a change of mind that God works in our heart.
Everything by nature we think about God is wrong. We need to
be reprogrammed, rebooted, retooled, and made new. Our thinking needs
to be corrected. Repentance is a change of mind
about who God is. Repentance is a change of heart
about how God saves sinners. And we always have this state
of being. Repenting, brokenhearted before
God. Repentance is what happens in
the lost sinner when the Good Shepherd finds him and lays him
on his shoulder and takes him home all the way to glory. True repentance acknowledges
the truth of God, like faith. The faith of God's elect acknowledges
that God is God. And a true repentant heart acknowledges
that God is God, that salvation is of the Lord. The Lord came
to receive sinners to Himself, to pardon them freely and fully,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, The Lord
came to receive sinners to Himself, to justify them freely and fully,
justified freely by His grace. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
receive sinners to Himself, to glorify them forever in Christ,
being predestinated and conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now notice verse 5 and 6. And when he found this lost sheep,
he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls
together his friends and neighbors and says, Rejoice with me, for
I have found my sheep which was lost. Now notice who found who.
The Lord wasn't lost. We were lost and He found us. He found us dead in sin. He found
us totally depraved, sinful, loving self, loving darkness,
hating God. When the Good Shepherd went after
His sheep and found them, He took them home and now rejoices
forever. And we too rejoice. The friends
of the shepherd, we too rejoice that salvation is of the Lord.
We say with David, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that
is within me, bless His holy name. We do rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say rejoice. You see, we do rejoice in the
great shepherd of the sheep. We read this, Hebrews 13, 20,
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work,
to do His will working in you, that which is well pleasing in
His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. We rejoice in the Good
Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep. We rejoice in
the Great Shepherd. We rejoice in the Chief Shepherd
who is coming again. 1 Peter 5. When the Chief Shepherd
shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth
not away. Now, let's read more about the
Shepherd. Turn over here in closing. I
want to close with this. Psalm, that Psalm about the shepherd,
what is that number? Psalm 23, isn't it? I knew what
it was, I'd just seen it, I was giving you a test. Psalm 23. This is all about the shepherd,
the good shepherd, the chief shepherd, the great shepherd.
Psalm 23. Everybody, whenever I've been to a funeral, Usually
this verse or this psalm is on the back of the funeral card. But I'm just wondering how many
people really know what's being said here. I remember I preached a funeral
over in, I believe it was, I believe it might have been Williamson.
Over at David, I think it was your mother's funeral, I brought
a message from Psalm 23. Now notice, the Lord, L-O-R-D,
capital, the Lord Jehovah is my shepherd, therefore I shall
not want. Now if the Lord is your shepherd,
My God shall supply all your need according to His riches
and glory through Christ Jesus. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. I shall not want. He makes me
to lie down in green pastures. I shall not want for rest. I
rest in Him. He leads me beside still waters. I shall not want for anything
to drink. He said, everyone that's thirsty,
come unto me and drink. He restores my soul, I shall
not want for reconciliation. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness for His namesake. I shall not
want for righteousness. He is the Lord my righteousness. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for Thou art
with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort
me. I shall not want for comfort.
You see, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want for comfort.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. I shall not want. The Lord supplies
us abundantly. My cup runs over. He is plenteous in mercy. Surely,
verse 6, surely this is true. Goodness! and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life. And I'll dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. I shall not want." He found that
lost sheep, laid it upon His shoulder, and He took that lost
sheep all the way home to glory. When He had by Himself purged
our sin, He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, where
our forerunner for us has entered in and sat down, and we have
already been seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus right now.