May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn therefore
to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, and we'll read verse 7. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 15,
and reading verse 7. 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. Often the great blessing of repentance
is passed over and it seems that we do not realise the necessity
of it and the importance of it and the blessing it is when God
grants the favour of true repentance. It's clearly set before us in
the Word of God. It's not something that we should
ignore and turn away from. And so in this chapter, which
principally covers the words that the Saviour speaks, from
after the first couple of verses the rest are all the words literally
of the Savior and he starts with the illustration which is obvious
and this was no doubt very suitable in the day and age in which he
lived and no less suitable today about a man having 100 sheep
and we know that if he lost one of them he leaves the 99 in the
wilderness And he goes after it, that which
is lost, until he find it. And when he has found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them,
Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost. You can imagine how pleased a
shepherd would be having lost a sheep and then eventually found
it and was willing to pick it up and to carry it home, no doubt
exhausted from wherever it had been. And so the Lord uses this
illustration to speak to us and to say this, I say unto you that
likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth
more than over 99 just persons which need no repentance and
he goes on of course to the next parable about the woman who had
ten pieces of silver and she lost one and she hunted high
and low until she found it and she said rejoice with me for
I found the piece which I had lost likewise I say unto you
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repenteth Well, we have the evidence in these two
parables of the blessing that repentance is, and the need there
is for it, and how wonderful it is when it is granted. Likewise, joy shall be in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth. Well, we need of course to always
bring the Word of God to ourselves. to our personal lives and to
look into our hearts and let us remind ourselves the Word
of God encourages us to examine ourselves, not to examine other
people, not to look around at other people, but to examine
ourselves. And so this evening if we are
able to examine ourselves, do we find there the evidence that
God has granted us repentance and what does that mean well it means that we are truly
sorry for our sins we are truly sorry for all those things wherein
we have offended God and it would have had an effect upon us it
won't be just weasel words it won't be just a mere statement
because it will have an effect. And the effect will be, as it
were, to make us reverse that which we've been going after.
We know what reversing is, don't we? With a car, or whatever,
you go in one direction and if you want to reverse you have
to put it in a different gear to go in the opposite direction.
So it is with the blessing of repentance. It's to reverse our
attitudes, reverse our way of life perhaps, and to go in an
opposite direction. And very simply, that means this. We would have been serving the
devil and doing those things which he has directed us to do. But if the Spirit of God grants
us true sorrow for our sin, and a desire to change, or mean changing,
and going in a different direction. And that direction is not to
listen to what the devil instructs us to do, but to listen to what
the Word of God directs us to do, and to hear his Word, and
to study his Word, and be concerned that we don't continue to offend
a holy God, but be submissive to his will. That's the blessing
of repentance. And the result is, if that is
granted to us, it's not something you and I can suddenly produce. It's not something that we have
power to do ourselves. But bless God, the Holy Spirit
can help us and does help us and enables us to turn around
and go in an opposite direction so that we find ourselves privileged
to be found serving the Lord, privileged to be honouring and
glorifying His great and holy name. This is the outcome of
true repentance. And what a blessing it is if
this is granted to us, and we must realise that no unrepentant
sinner enters into glory. It's not something that you and
I should say, well, I think I'll put it on the back burner, I
think I'll wait a bit and see how things develop. You and I
don't know if we'll be struck down dead tonight. That would
be a very tragic scene, wouldn't it? if we hadn't sought for true
repentance. If we hadn't really cried out
to God that he would give us repentance in order to change
our ways. Now it won't be easy. It won't
be easy. Because the flesh, you see, likes
the things of the world. But bless God, the work of the
Spirit in our heart directs us to desire the things of God,
because the wonderful outcome is the things of God will bring
us home to glory. The things of evil, the things
of the world will not. They'll take us in the broad
road, which will mean we'll have an easy life and an endless eternity
in complete misery. ponder the consideration. It's so important for us today. The devil wants to stop our ears
so that we don't hear the truth of God. And he's a very cunning
person. Don't underestimate the devil.
You see, what he does, he comes alongside you in chapel, he sits
there and he directs your mind to think about the things of
time. things that you've done, the
things that you want to do, and therefore you don't hear the
Word of God. That's what the devil was always
trying to do, and he's pretty successful on many occasions. And my friends, may he not be
successful tonight, and may he not be successful indeed in our
lives, but may we have that real concern to be granted true repentance. And as I said, true repentance
has a real effect upon us, because we don't then continue doing
those things which were wrong. If we continue doing those things
which are wrong, it is clear we have not been blessed with
repentance. It's no good just pretending
to be blessed with repentance, and pretending We've asked for
repentance when we continue in a wrong way before a holy heart
searching God. It's so important that we are
not to mock God. We had those words before us
on Friday in the Galatians in the sixth chapter. God is not
mocked. God is not mocked. We must not
pretend to be what we are not. God looks at our heart. You may
think, well, I've impressed people. They think I'm a good person.
I'm doing a good thing. You and I stand before God. And
God looks into our hearts. And God sees what is really there.
And my friends, we need true repentance, not a false repentance. We need true repentance. Well,
we have this word then, likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth. more than over 99 just persons
which need no repentance. I wonder whether there has been
in our lives joy in heaven because of the grace given to us to repent. I mentioned in prayer the very
relevant words in Romans, the second chapter, the fourth verse,
the goodness of God leadeth us to repentance. I believe that
is a very true and a very effectual word. Because when the Holy Spirit
shows to us his goodness and mercy, which has been to warn
us, perhaps naturally, perhaps you're young people in exams
at school, perhaps the Lord has helped you and he's granted you
the ability to be able to answer questions adequately So you've
been able to pass exams. And what has it been? It's been
the goodness of God. And if it's been the goodness
of God, has it led you to repentance, to be sorry for your sins, sorry
the way that you treated the blessed God in walking contrary
to him, in walking in a worldly way rather than a godly way? And yet do you still expect God
to look upon you and still grant you success? The goodness of
God leads us to repentance. What a mercy that is when the
Holy Spirit enables us to observe His goodness toward us and it
makes us come to Him truly sorry for our sins and confess our
sins. It's easy to say, isn't it? to
confess our sins. It's far more difficult to actually
come before God and to confess our sins. The devil doesn't want
you to do that. And our nature doesn't want to
do that. But we should be very thankful to Almighty God when
he gives us grace to do that. And that means to bow down before
him and to acknowledge that we have been wrong. We have fallen. We have offended a holy God. What a blessing it is when the
Holy Spirit, as it were, brings us to our senses. Now that's
really what this third parable in this chapter directs us to.
And it's a well-known parable which we refer to as the Prodigal
Son. And as we read it together, And
we're told this man had two sons. And the young one wanted his
portion of goods that was due to him. And so his father gave
him his portion. And what did he do? He left home. He gathered his goods together.
He went to a far country, no doubt thinking no one could see
him. No one would be able to observe what he was doing. And
what did he do? Did he do good things? Did he
honour his God? He did contrary things. He wasted
his substance in riotous living. And it's very easy to waste our
substance in riotous living. You know, when you young people
leave home and go to university or whatever, or perhaps leave
and go to work, away from your family, away from people that
can see you. Perhaps you go away on business.
Perhaps you have to go to other places and other countries. It's
very easy to be tempted by the devil, to spend our time in riotous
living. You might think, well, I haven't
done very much bad really, I've only just done this and just
done that. Well, it's a question of have
you done that which is opposition to the truth of the Word of God. You see God has given us all
a conscience and we know before God whether we are doing the
will of God or whether we are pleasing the devil. And so here
we have this position told us here about this son, this younger
son. He spent all his substance, all
that his father had given him, He went away and spent it in
riotous living. We have to be very careful in
our lives today that we're not tempted by peer pressure. Peer pressure is very strong.
You don't want to be felt to be an odd man out or an odd woman
out. You want to, as it were, try
and go with the flow. Well, if you go with the flow,
you may find you're doing things which you'll regret all your
life. You may find you're led into
things which you didn't expect to happen and you'll find yourselves
being turned away. What a blessing it is when the
Holy Spirit enables us to stand firm for the truth of God. You see, people may invite you
to go and do this and go and do that. Well, it's very hard
to stand and say, well no, I'm not, in actual fact, I'm going
home. In actual fact, I'm going back to my lodgings, or whatever
it is, or going back to my hotel. And they say, well, won't you
come with us? You'll enjoy it. And you see, it's very hard to
stand out against these things. But we can bless God that we
have a very encouraging word in the first chapter in Peter's
epistle, when he tells us, kept by the power of God. And that's
why the Lord Jesus in that glorious prayer, which he taught his disciples,
he said, pray lead us not into temptation and deliver us from
evil. It's a good prayer to pray every
day for all of us. especially young people in the
world in which we live, because we live in a very evil world.
When anything goes, immorality is rife and everything is acceptable
in this day and age in which we live. But it's not acceptable
with God. And so here we have this statement. This man, he wasted his substance
in riotous living. Now, The wonderful favour of
this man was the Lord looked upon him. Doesn't mean to say
God's going to look upon you and me. He may leave us to ourselves. Disaster. Eternal disaster. Well, here was this man and what
happened to him? Well, when he spent all that
he had, we're then told, coincidentally, in accordance with the will of
God, a mighty famine came. Well, he hadn't got any money
to buy anything. He was now really destitute, wasn't he? So the
Lord graciously arranges things to occur in our lives sometimes
to turn us, to hedge up our way, to direct us, and to be kept
from evil things. Well, in this case, there was
this mighty famine, And what are we told? For the first time,
since he left home, he began to be in want. Well, what a blessing
it is when you and I spiritually begin to be in want. That means we recognize by the
power of the Spirit our sinful condition before a holy God,
and we need to be cured. We need to have our sin cancelled. We need to have our sin taken
away. Well, this man, he didn't have
it easy. And the word of God tells us
this, and you young people just remember it, if we walk contrary
to God, he will walk contrary to us. Don't think everything's
going to be plain sailing. Don't think you can just say,
well, I'll just say a few words and pray for forgiveness without
actually emanating from the heart. So this man, he went and he joined
himself to a citizen of that country. And he sent him into
his fields to feed swine, to feed the pigs. Didn't have anything
else to do. Didn't have any food. And he
would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine
did eat, and no man gave unto him." Well, the good thing is
sometimes the Lord brings us into these conditions where we
begin to be in want. We realize we have a need. This man had a need. And then we're told, he came
to himself. He came to himself. He sat down
and he thought about all his life. He thought about all the
terrible things he'd done. He wasted all his money. And
we're told he came to himself. He said, how many hired servants
of my father's had bread enough and to spare and I perish with
hunger. I will arise and go to my father
And was saying to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son,
make me as one of thy hired servants. Well, he'd come to himself. He'd come to realize where he
was. And it enabled him to look back
and to see his father's house. Now, the blessing is for us in
a spiritual way. if the Lord brings us to a condition
where we begin to be in want in a spiritual way. Then perhaps
we look back and we think, well, my parents, they weren't in want,
they worshipped God and they read the Bible and they prayed
and they rejoiced in these things and I haven't. Let me now retrace
my steps. Let me turn around. What was
occurring in this man's life? Repentance. Repentance. You see, he reversed his position. He had to. There was no real
alternative. Otherwise he would perish. And
that's the same in our spiritual lives. We will perish in our
sins. How wonderful it is when the
Holy Spirit enables us to reverse, change our direction from an
evil one to a right one. Now, what caused him to do this? We must believe it was the work
of the Holy Spirit. And what will cause us? to change
our course, to turn around. The once again desire to come
back and to worship the true God. And he said, I will arise
and go to my father. And he did. And he arose. He arose and came to his father. Now the good news was, His father
was out looking for him. He expected him. He'd no doubt prayed for him.
Perhaps from the very day he left. And so he returned. He came to his father when he
was a great way off. His father saw him and had compassion
on him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Now we have
here a physical natural reaction of a earthly father. But you know what a blessing
it is when you and I are given grace to return and go back to
our father's house and to truly bow down and worship the Lord
and to be received, not cast off, not thrust away. This father had natural love. My friends, our heavenly father
has wonderful love to such rebellious men and women who run away from
God We've turned our back upon the things of God. And yet you
see, this father had no doubt prayed for his son. And our heavenly
father looks upon us. He knows where we are, he knows
where we've been. He knows the terrible places perhaps we've
gone into. He knows the sinful friends perhaps
we've had and indulged with. And yet, his love, has not changed. He hasn't said,
well, now, you are too bad. I'm not going to look upon you. You're out of reach. No, our Father in heaven is compassionate. And our Father deals with us
in love to our souls. And he deals with us for his
honor and for his glory. And so he arose and came to his
Father And he was a great way off. His father saw him and had
compassion and ran on his neck and kissed him. And what did
the son say? Well, confession. Isn't it wonderful? When God gives, godly confession. When God gives, godly repentance. And he came and said, Father,
I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more
worthy to be called thy son. This is not a unique experience. This is an experience common
to the church of God, to the household of faith, who come
confessing to God they are unworthy of any notice. Father, I have sinned against
heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy
son. It's very important to note that
when he planned to go back, he planned to say to his father,
make me one of thy hired servants. But he doesn't get that far on
this occasion. He confessed his sins. He'd been
blessed with true repentance. And he was received by his father
with love. And the father said to his servants,
Bring forth the best robe and put it on him. A ring on his
hand, shoes on his feet. Bring hither the fatted calf
and kill it. Let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead
and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. Surely It agrees with these words
in the seventh verse here, likewise joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons
which need no repentance. It's a wonderful blessing to
be given godly repentance and it is most important and it is
most necessary. And if God gives it to us, we
have great cause to praise God and the Church of God will praise
God. The Church of God are waiting and watching and looking for
occasions like this. You see, godly people have good
eyesight and they're looking for the signs of a return. They're looking for signs of
repentance. And when they see it, they rejoice and bless God
for it. Joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth. Well, what a blessing it is for
the Church of God when these occasions occur. What a mercy
it is when you and I are able to observe them and to bless
God for them. It's a wonderful thing, we only
have that parable recorded once, but it's enough, and it's there
for our instruction, and it's there for our direction, so that
we may truly come and bless God. Now then, we must realise that
the blessing of repentance is not something that you and I
can produce naturally. And the Apostle, when he wrote
to the Romans, he clarifies this very clearly, and when he spoke
and wrote in the 11th chapter and the 29th verse we're told
this for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God calls us first for as ye
in time past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy
through their unbelief even so have these also now not believed
that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy for God
has concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon
all and then he says oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and
knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways
past finding out For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or
who hath been his counsellor, or who hath first given to him,
and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever. And my dear friends, if God gives
us repentance, to recognise that we have offended almighty God,
to recognise that our sins have caused the Lord Jesus Christ
to suffer upon the cross at Calvary. It's because of our sins, our
personal sins, that have caused the Lord that anguish. What a
blessing we have such a merciful God. And how humbling to think
that that God has looked upon us. He looked upon, in this parable,
this son. Has the Lord looked upon us,
has he looked upon you and me, and granted us true sorrow for
sin, so that we've turned away from our sinful way and desires
to be found serving the Lord. A complete change. Oh, bless
God. And all of us need it. All of
us may have it. A true change. It's a work of
the Holy Spirit. And what a wonderful thing it
is to observe it. And we do observe it. And it
is evident. Because the effect of the work
of God in our souls changes our motives, changes our desires,
changes our words, changes our actions. It is a glorious work. And it is the work of God. My
friends, we have Almighty God who does great things and what
a mercy it is, you see, and we are therefore to praise and to
glorify our God for all these wonderful blessings that he brings
to such unworthy people, sinners of the earth, sinners of the
earth, bad sinners with nothing to in merit in themselves. Now the apostle, when he wrote
to the Corinthians, it's useful just to mention one or two scriptures
because they confirm the gracious and glorious work of God. And
when he wrote to the Corinthians, and we know the Corinthians were
not a good people, they needed a lot of correction. And in the
seventh chapter, the second epistle, we read in the ninth and tenth
verses, now I rejoice, says the apostle, not that you were made
sorry, but the sorrowed to repentance for ye were made sorry after
a godly manner that ye might receive damage by us in nothing
for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented
of but the sorrow of the world worketh death you see there's
a big difference between the sorrow of the world and a godly
sorrow A godly sorrow means that you and I are truly sorry for
our sins. And truly sorry that our sins
have caused the Lord Jesus Christ to suffer on that cross at Calvary. To realize that it is us, our
sins, our terrible sins that cause the Lord Jesus to suffer
and to bleed and die. Now, when the Holy Spirit gives
us The glorious gift, as it is, which we've said, of repentance. Then it is, you see, that we
are led to the Saviour. And we see in Him all that is
necessary to take away all our sins. Because He came to die,
that we might receive the blessing of eternal life. And that He
would redeem us from all our sins. There we were, in need. being redeemed. Now we were a
captive, but the Lord Jesus came to set us free. Free from Satan's
clutches. You see, unless the Lord frees
us, we continue in the clutches of Satan. But oh bless God tonight,
if we understand what it is to be blessed with this true God-given
repentance. Remember, it is God-given. It's
not something that you and I have produced ourself. It's something
which Almighty God has blessed us with. And so we should thank
God. When the apostle wrote to his
son Timothy, and in the second epistle of Timothy in the second
chapter, we read this towards the end
of that second chapter, the last few verses. And the servant of
God, the Lord, must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt
to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose
themselves, if God, perventure, will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth. That means that God gives us
the ability to acknowledge that the Lord is right, his word is
right, and we are wrong. And that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him
at his will. Again, never underestimate the
power or the skill of the devil. never think you and I will be
strong enough. Again, reverting to the Apostle
Peter, you think that when after that glorious sermon in the upper
room, the disciples came out with the Lord and Peter was so
definite that he would die for the Lord. He would never deny
him. And yet just a few hours later,
faced with the questions from a maid. He denied his Lord with
oaths and curses. Never think you and I have strength
ourselves. We only have strength as God
supplies it, but he does. As the Apostle says, I can do
all things through Christ that strengthens me. So faced with
difficulties and oppositions, don't look to your own strength.
Don't think, well, I know how to answer this. I know how to
resist it. Pray to God that he will help
you because he will not forsake you. He will not fail you. But
do pray and pray from your heart. Don't pray from your head. Pray
truly desiring that he will deliver you and he will strengthen you
and help you. And what a mercy that will be
when that occurs. The Lord makes ways. Ways when
there seems to be no way. You may be hedged up all around.
You think, how can I escape this position? God is able to do that
for you and me, which we can't do. He can change men's minds. He can make men unable to pursue
what they wanted to do. Have faith in God. Have confidence
in the almighty God. That one who has looked upon
us and we might say, one who has loved us so much that he's
given his life that we might be blessed with eternal life. What a gracious, kind and glorious
God we have. Oh, that you and I might praise
him more that you and I might honour him more, oh that you
and I might acknowledge his great favour toward us in his love
and mercy and grant into us that spirit of repentance. And so these words tonight, likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. And
when the Lord gives us that true repentance, it produces relief
in our hearts. We're thankful the Lord has helped
us. The Lord has been mindful of
us. He hasn't cast us off, but he's enabled us to look to him. That's a good place. Look unto me, says the Saviour. Be encouraged by it. Don't rely
on yourself. My friends, don't walk contrary
to God. Oh, do acknowledge the Word of God, because the path
set before us in the Word of God is a path that leads to eternal
life. Don't follow the path of the
world. Don't follow the insinuations
of Satan. Don't listen to evil men and
women, boys and girls. Listen to the word of God. Commit
thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall
bring it to pass and give you cause to praise him for his great
glory in saving your souls, in dying upon the cross, redeeming
you from all your sins, and that casting all your sins behind
his back and shedding his most precious blood to wash away every
sin so that you are complete in him. Well, remember these
words. Likewise, joy shall be in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth more than over 99 persons which
need no repentance. May you and I be that one sinner
blessed by God. Amen.