Turn with me to Luke chapter 15. This chapter contains three parables, three parables known as the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son. These are three, but together they give us one gracious view of the salvation of sinners with respect to each person of the Godhead. We see the salvation of the son in the parable of the lost sheep. We see the work and salvation of the Holy Spirit in the parable of the lost coin. And then we see the receiving of the prodigal sons and daughters by the father in that last parable of the prodigal son. Now the reason that our Lord spoke these parables, we're told of something, well, what's written here in the first two verses. And our Lord is responding here to what the Pharisees were saying. And it shows us a picture of who the people of God are. that they are sinners saved by grace, as opposed to those who are not the people of God, those who need no repentance and need no salvation and need no grace. Let's read these first two verses here then. Then drew near unto Christ all the publicans Now, we don't necessarily have Roman tax collectors, but this might qualify for anyone with an unsavory position of employment, something that is despised in the world or seen as unclean. 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 so we have this one group called the publicans and sinners, and they draw near to Christ. These would be such that maybe knew of the ordinances of God, knew of religion, but didn't think themselves qualified or didn't practice with any regularity the ordinances, didn't go to the temple, didn't go to the synagogues. And then there's another group here described as the Pharisees and Scribes, and they are seen to be drawing back from Christ because of these sinners that are coming in. These sinners and publicans are coming in and Christ is receiving them. These are those who regularly practiced and partook of the ordinances of God prescribed under the law. It's as if they believe their holiness would be polluted. That if they allowed these sinners near to them, they would be polluted. But I ask you, is God's holiness polluted in receiving sinners? Is he defiled in some way in receiving sinners? Well, His holiness is our holiness. If our holiness is our own, then yes, it will be polluted. It'll be defiled, as it were. But if it be our Lord's, that's our hope. Our God upholding us, sustaining us, keeping us that we may minister to sinners. Because what more do sinners need but the gospel? They're the ones who need the gospel. They're the ones who need to hear. And so it's a good thing when they draw near to hear Christ. Religion without a spirit of grace, without that spirit of grace has a way of making the possessors of that religion and the practitioners of that religion hard and cold and cynical, right? Bitter about those, unbelieving of those, not believing that they could be turned by the Lord's grace and power. Those without a spirit of grace are often complaining. And they find fault with those who they have disagreements with. They find fault, usually not fault with themselves, but the fault in others. They're very good at picking out the faults of others and somehow don't see themselves in the mirror of the scriptures. And they charge others with sin, but make excuses for their own, despising those sinners whom Christ received. when Christ receives. Now, one other thing I want to add before we look at these parables is that there's a group of people that are always left to themselves. You'll notice that there's ones being sought after, and then there's a group of those left to themselves, described as the 99 sheep, or the nine coins, or the elder son. They're left to themselves, but there's always a remnant that is searched out and found and brought to salvation, brought to glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's the point that's being, you'll notice this in every parable here, the point that's being driven home is that the Lord has a people whom he seeks out that are despised by the majority and the others. And those others were never lost. In their minds, they need no redemption. They're pretty good. They're pretty good. And they don't need Christ the way the sinner needs Christ. Well, what we see here is Christ isn't looking for them. He doesn't come for them. And he makes that known. And I believe the Lord makes that known because there are those who are his people that identify with the Pharisees and scribes, but that he in mercy shakes them, shakes their confidence, strips them down, shows them their need of Christ, and brings them out of that Pharisaical self-righteousness that we all must be delivered from. And so if you're not a sinner, you've no part in Christ. So if he makes you to see that you're a sinner, there's a hope there, that you are one of that remnant whom Christ has redeemed by his blood. So let's read beginning of verses three and four. He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it? So our Lord is using this parable And spiritually speaking, it describes the love of the Son of God, who, as the Christ of God, came into this world, taking upon Him the weakness of our flesh, to redeem those given to Him by the Father. to give us life, to wash us of our sins and to give us life in Him, to give us His Spirit whereby we know Him with understanding and serve and worship God in understanding of that spiritual life which He's given. He previously had told the complaining Pharisees back in Luke chapter five, verse 32, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ came for sinners. He came to seek that which is lost, that which is fallen in sin, ruined in the fall, has no righteousness of themselves, cannot keep the law, cannot work a righteousness, cannot merit the favor of God, who need Christ to do everything for them. In verse five then, he says, when he hath found it, when he found that lost sheep, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. This brethren describes the redemption work of our Savior to do for us gladly, willingly to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. When he came in the flesh and fulfilled all righteousness under the law to show that he is the Lamb of God, that he is the Christ of God, able to save his people to the uttermost, And He went to the cross for His people, bearing His people in His own body on the tree, putting us to death with Himself to the law, having satisfied the law, having satisfied the justice of God to deliver us by Himself. He put our sin on His account and put it away forever by the shedding of His blood and so This transaction of redemption, his death on the cross in the place of his people, is pictured here in him laying that lost sheep on his shoulders, bearing their penalty, bearing them up, though they don't deserve it, though they wandered, though they lost themselves, though they ruined everything for themselves, but he comes and finds them and brings them back safely, safely in himself. All we like sheep, the prophet said, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He bears the government on His shoulders. He bears His kingdom. He bears His people. All rule, all authority, all power is given unto Him. He is the Savior. Look to Him. Look to Him, sinner. He is the Savior of the sinner. Believers do not live by the law now. We live by the Lord Jesus Christ, by that spirit of grace, in faith, hope, and love. In faith, hope, and love, we look to Christ. We live by Christ. The gospel is our rule of life. Turn over to Galatians 2, because I want you to see this. In Galatians 2, at the end of that chapter, Galatians 2, and we're going to begin in verse 19. And just listen to the language of Paul, how he lives. This is the Apostle Paul and how he lives. He says, Galatians 219, I through the law, in Christ being made dead to the law, delivered from the law, I through the law, by that law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, His faithfulness, trusting Him for all things, living by His life, His Spirit. who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead and vain. How are you going to walk in faith, in righteousness, trusting the Lord, living unto the Lord who loved me and gave himself for me? Not by the law, but by his spirit of grace. by that spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Lord, save me. Deliver me from death. Deliver me from the lusts of the flesh. Give me life, Lord. Keep me ever looking to you. We live in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the believer's life. He is the rule by which we walk, that rule of faith, of life, of liberty in him. So in my flesh, I still feel the stripes. I still feel the burdens and the sufferings, the infirmities of the law of sin and death. I feel it in my members. I'm very keenly aware of my weakness and infirmity of this flesh, but by faith, I know that my Savior has saved me. I know that my Savior has given his life for me. That is my hope. That is my hope. to trust Him, not myself. I don't turn back now and look and monitor myself. I keep looking to Him, trusting Him, seeking Him who is able to save me to the uttermost, who sanctified me and set me apart for His use. And that's true of us all, brethren, in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that I shall die, but when I die and my body is laid in the grave, it shall not hold me. shall not hold me, but I shall live. That with these eyes, as Jeremiah said, or maybe Job, that with these eyes I shall see my Savior. He will stand upon the earth and I shall see Him. I shall awaken His likeness. For He has spoken it. He's promised it. Believe Him. Believe Him. Now Christ adds in verses 6 and 7. 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 who need no repentance. And so, This is the hope of the believer that the Son of God has come in the flesh to give me life, to put away my sin and to give me life in Him that I might live unto God through Him. That's our hope, brethren. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. We do speak of them, it's just that we struggle to fully contain with our words what Christ has done for me, the sinner, to save me, to give me life in himself. Christ didn't do that for the other 99 sheep. They were never lost according to their own words, according to what they said themselves, they and they shall bear their own sin in the judgment. If the Lord shows you your sin, hear Him, listen, and look to Him. Seek Him for His grace and mercy to know that deliverance, that salvation which only He can give. If you look to your works, I pray that you'll be disappointed because it's not gonna be by your works and your doing, it's gonna be by His grace. Now, the first parable there describes the accomplished, the finished work, the accomplished redemption of the Son of God. And what follows redemption? Well, in the day of grace, it pleases the Lord to bring His people out of darkness and to a knowledge of Himself, to give us light and understanding of what Christ has done for His people. It pleases the Lord to show His people this salvation. It delights Him to glorify the Son in the hearts of His people. And so this is seen in the second parable, verse 8. Either 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. Now this lost piece of money is a good description of what we lost in the fall, what we lost by our ruined sinful nature. We're lost in and of ourselves, and so it describes how that our nature lies in darkness. We have no understanding. We're void of understanding. Yet, when it pleases the Lord, a candle is lit, both in the preaching of the gospel and Some sit under the gospel for many years and never hear it. And some sit under false religion for many years, never even hearing the gospel, even with the natural ear. But when it pleases the Lord, always, he must give his spirit. He must give faith. He must give life to enable you to hear that word, to bring you either out of dead letter religion into the truth, to hear the gospel, or you sitting there under the preaching of the gospel to hear it with the ear of faith. As our Lord says, he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. Right? That ear of faith, that ear given to you by the Spirit to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And so And when it pleases the Lord, a candle is lit in the preaching of the gospel, and that word preached is made effectual to the hearts of his people, to hear that word, to receive that word in ground prepared by the Spirit. where it takes root and is not choked out by weeds, is not scorched by the heat of the sun under persecution, but takes root and bears fruit unto the praise and glory of God. And so he brings forth the light that shines upon that dust in which that coin is lost under. under that dust and rolls under a cabinet, as it were, and it's hidden away in darkness. not seen or found, but his illuminating grace comes by the Spirit that shines a light, and a search is begun, a search is made by the Lord." And it's described here as the Spirit sweeping the house, blowing the wind as it were, sweeping that house, moving the flesh out of its place, out of its comfort, withering the flesh, stripping us down. removing us from vain confidences in the flesh, and trusting an outward form of dead-letter religion, where we circumcise and cut ourselves. We're not saved by the flesh. We are saved by the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and he gives his spirit, which circumcises the heart and removes the flesh that's over the heart. that keeps us in darkness. He does this in grace and in mercy, described here as a sweeping of the house. He's the one that makes that preaching of Christ to be heard and to be received of Him, to hear what Christ had to do for me, the sinner, to shed His blood because I am that ruined, that dead in trespasses and sins. that gone with the world, going the course in the way of this world. It's his grace that does that. And he shows us our need of Christ, and he shows us Christ and what he has accomplished and done. And we cry out and beg him for that grace and mercy. It's the Lord's grace that shakes his children lost. It's the Lord's grace that moves us out of our comfort, that strips us of vain confidences and trusting our works to save us. And so he does this diligently till he finds it. First, he does it. Without the Lord moving upon us, we'll have no interest in him, except he do that first for us. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Right? So that we see Christ all the way back there in Genesis 1-1 and 1-2 when the world that He created lay in darkness. and the Spirit of God moved upon it. Verse 3 says, And God said, Let there be light. And he brought forth the uncreated light. which is the Lord Jesus Christ, to shine upon that dark world. And when Christ shone his light upon it, it signaled the grace of God to save a sinful people that he would prepare for his darling son, that he would make for his son to be his people, his inheritance. It's all right there speaking of Christ from the very beginning of creation. And he's just bringing it forth now, illuminating it, and revealing it to us in the revelation of the mystery of God revealed to us in the face of Christ. Now, the scriptures teach that when the Holy Ghost has come, when he sends the Holy Ghost, he will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. and of sin here, in that he makes his lost child know, I'm the sinner. I've got a problem. I've offended holy God. I've tried to do his righteousness prescribed under the law, and I've come short. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He makes his child to know, by his grace, you've come short. You're not perfect. You're not doing perfectly before me. Your ways are darkness. Your ways are wrong. Your ways are sinful. But the Holy Spirit makes us to know that. The Holy Spirit reproves the world of righteousness. That is, abandon your own righteousness, forsake your own righteousness for the righteousness of Christ. Seek His righteousness. He is the very righteousness of God. Apart from His righteousness, we have no righteousness, and shall suffer the wrath of God. And so he turns us to look to Christ. As Paul, the apostle, said, that I might be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. I want to be found in His faithful righteousness. I want to be found in Him who faithfully served the Father for His bride, who served for His bride and obtained her. I want to be in that body. And that's what He makes His people to know by the giving of His Spirit, that I'm the sinner and He's the righteous. That without Him, I'm not righteous. I have no righteousness of my own. I need Christ. And the giving of the Spirit reproves of judgment. To know and trust that God's judgment toward me in Christ is satisfied, put away. That He is on all for me and provides everything that I need to stand faultless before the throne of God and be received of Him in grace and mercy. It's the Spirit that shines that light of the Gospel, exposing me for what I am by nature, exposing me of what I am by my works and my sin, and shines upon Christ, or makes Him to shine forth to us gloriously to see that He is all. He shines that light of the Gospel in the darkness. He sweeps that place, giving His people a new birth. a new birth, the putting off of old things, of trusting old things that cannot save, of putting off the form that we once trusted in by the flesh to save us, to find that Christ is all and made all unto his people, regenerating us by the seed of Christ. And so by the grace and power of the Spirit being poured out through the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. Because of what he's done here, that lost coin is found, recovered, redeemed. It's regenerated, reconciled, and restored unto God. For if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And our Lord tells us again, now back in Luke 15, verse nine and 10, and when she hath found it, right, because he gives it to his bride, he makes his bride to know what he has done for her, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the peace 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. Because that lost coin is found under the blood of Christ. He did it. Now, the Holy Spirit doesn't do that for the other nine coins. They were never lost. They were never lost. But you that are lost, you that are sinners, come to Christ. Christ receiveth sinners. And if you're not a sinner, you have no part in Christ. Now, in this third parable, we see the redeemed and the regenerated child who is received because of Christ's work and because of the spirit he gives. We are received of the Father. So let's pick up in verse 11. And he said, a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living." It's a picture of what we have here in this world, a livelihood in this world. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And so again, the elder son here appears to be one who stays constantly upon the ordinances of God. He goes to church. He goes and worships. He sings the hymns and he reads his Bible and he says his prayer, but it has no profit. It's not made profitable to him. It has no effect on his soul. He never left. He needed no repentance. That's the picture there. There are those who sit under religion and outwardly do that which is right, but have no heart for the Lord, no true change, no desire, no understanding of what Christ has done for them. They can say it, right? Doctrinally, they might be able to speak it, but they don't believe it, that it was for them. They don't know the love of Christ for them and what he does in his people. Now the younger son is dead in trespasses and sins here. He's a son that's dead in trespasses and sins and behaves himself, goes out and lives riotously, wickedly, in outward, overt sin. He is not a partaker of the ordinances of God. He doesn't come to services. He doesn't hear the word preached. But as we'll see here in this parable, what our Lord says here is that God has set his love and affection on one and not the other. And what he's showing us here is it's not our works that save us. By all means, we ought to attend to the ordinances of God. We ought to hear the preaching of the word, read our Bibles, and pray, all the while begging God to make it effectual in our heart. That's what he's showing us here, that without him we can do nothing, nothing. And so, when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land. And he began to be in one. Now, he doesn't know it, but it's the Lord who does this. It's the Lord who providentially will stir up adversity and stir up affliction and stir up hardships and cause us to fail that we would see our need of Christ. It pleases him to do this for his child, to make us know our need of Christ. He does this. Trials and afflictions are good for the people of God, at the first and continually. He does it continually to show us our need of Him. Now, this second-born son here, this younger son here, he does seek relief. He does begin to seek relief in what can only be likened to the dead-letter religion of flesh of this world. this dead letter fleshly religion. It says in verse 15, and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. And that citizen sent him into his fields to feed swine. Now, what he's done is he's turned to the dead fleshly religion of the world. It says, do and you'll live. Just do these things and you'll be fine. Do this and you'll live. And this citizen of that country is not Jerusalem, which is above, but that which is of Hagar, in bondage with her children, that Jerusalem which is below, yet under the law, and in bondage under the law. And the swine here, they picture hypocrisy. hypocritical, self-righteous, dead-letter, fleshly religion. Why? Well, a swine appears godly. It appears to walk godly. It appears to be clean. Why do I say that? It has a cloven hoof. It has a cloven hoof. When it puts its foot down, you say, oh, yeah, you're walking in a good manner. You look godly. You look good there because you have that cloven hoof. You appear to be walking the way of God. But within, there's no life, because they don't chew the cud. They're not chewing the cud. On the outside, they look good. Inside, they do not chew the cud. They do not feed upon Christ. They do not hear and digest that word. They don't receive that word to their profit and to their good. And he would have feigned, it says, the sun would have feigned filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. He desired, I wish I could be as satisfied as they are with this dead letter religion. And that's what he's saying. He saw that they were satisfied. They were happy to eat the husks with no nutrition. They were happy to fill themselves with emptiness and deadness and things that cannot save. And it shows us that the swine have no problem. They don't have the problems and the afflictions and are affected in that way that the children of God are affected, finding no comfort and no peace in what we do. Because if God is after you, if God is looking for you, sinner, He's gonna find you and He's not going to allow you to be satisfied in dead things that cannot save. He's not gonna let you be satisfied with the husks of religion. He's gonna shake you and stir you up and bring you out of it. He's gonna call you out of that whore of Babylon, dead letter religion of the world. The swine is satisfied with dead things, but the sinful younger son finds no comfort in them. And the scriptures say, and no man gave unto him. No man gave unto him. And that is what he needed. He had no living bread, no bread of heaven, nothing to fill his body and give him life and to sustain him, because God would not allow it. They didn't have it to give, and God wouldn't allow it to be given. God was searching for him. He was bringing him out of that death. And so this famine causes this young man to come out from among them and to return unto his father, to go back to his father, this time as a new creature, a new creature born again. Let's look at verses 17 through 19. And when he came to himself, that is when the Lord saved him. What's transpired here is his redemption. What's transpired here that we didn't see is the regeneration of the Holy Ghost. Pictured in when he came to himself, when the Lord delivered him and converted him, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger. He was hungering for righteousness. He was hungering for the bread of heaven. He's hungry, he's thirsting for righteousness. I will arise and go to my father and will say unto 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. There was a time when he was proud and arrogant and confident in himself. He didn't fear God, he didn't worry about these things, but now God has humbled him, showed him his frailty, showed him his mortality, showed him the weakness of his flesh, and that he's nothing apart from God the Father, nothing apart from the Son, nothing apart from the grace of God in Christ. And so now he comes seeking the satisfaction that only the true and living God can give. only the true and living God. It says, verse 20, that he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. And it just reminds me of what we saw in the beginning, how that Christ saves sinners, how that Christ receives sinners, even those who are a great way off. Be patient with your brethren. Be patient with sinners. Those that need the grace of God, be patient because the Lord sees them a great way off. A great way off. And had compassion on him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And so, Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord in this. He's able to bring his people, to draw his people in by his grace and mercy. Everyone who comes seeking mercy finds it. That is, those in whom the Lord has stirred up and shown them that what people are eating and consuming in this world both in sin of the flesh and in the sin of dead letter religion, that it does not satisfy. It does not satisfy them. But the Lord is drawing them, and it's because he has redeemed them. If they come to Christ and they stay upon Christ, it's because of Christ. It's because of him. Any of you that trust Christ, it's because of Christ. The scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow in the blood of Christ. You will not be turned away in shame because you're too vile, too sinful. Go to Christ. He's the only one that can put away your sin. Trust him. Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And He'll do it, and He'll finish that work. What He begins, He finishes. What follows them here in this text are the spiritual blessings of God which are freely given to the people of God. Verse 22. The father said to his servants, you that preach the gospel, you that minister the gospel, declare what Christ has done. Bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and 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. And so these spiritual gifts of the Father, they're not deserved by this Son. He didn't merit these things. He didn't deserve these. These are freely given, spiritual gifts in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. His kisses are His love and His grace ministered to us. His robe is the righteousness of Christ put upon us. The ring is the adoption of children into the family of God. The shoes are our being grounded in the gospel of His grace, the gospel of peace. The Father slew Christ our Lord. Picture there in the slaying of the fatted calf upon whom His people feed and are comforted, are given life and satisfaction in Him, and we rejoice, make merry in Him. glorify Him. And what it's showing us here in our satisfaction is that you that believe Christ will want for no other righteousness. You will need no other righteousness to be received of the Father. You shall be merry, joyful in Christ for all eternity in Christ. Now these things are never done for the elder brother. He never enters the house to partake of that feast. He remains out in the field. with the swine and the citizens of the country. This partakers with them. He can't minister the grace of God to others. All he can minister is the law, because that's all that he knows. But you that have had the grace of God minister to your hearts, you minister to others and bear patiently with them as you've been ministered that grace to your own hearts. And so the point of these parables here, this parable, is to show the grace and mercy of God in receiving sinners graciously, freely in Christ, and nothing is done by the lost. They're all found by the free, sovereign grace of God. They didn't find themselves. They didn't first come back to the Lord. The Lord found us. He finds His people. And so, does any man here, is any man here a sinner? Any woman, any child a sinner? Let nothing stop you from fleeing to Christ, going to him and crying out to him for grace and mercy. We see God's abundant care, nurture, and forgiveness in these parables for sinners who are lost and have gone astray. Look to the Lord. He's able to save to the uttermost. And in Christ, you shall be received of the Father. I pray he bless that word. give you much to chew on throughout the week in the Lord Jesus Christ to the satisfaction of your souls. Amen.