simply amazes me every time I sing that hymn. The amount of the gospel message in one simple phrased hymn. Four verses, but absolutely astounding. Absolutely astounding.

I better put this microphone on. Okay, it's on. Good. Okay. I'll be hearing later if it's not on, so Need to make sure it's on, but so thankful for these gospel hymns. Boy, they're just so full of message. Get this out of here so I don't, sorry. Fumble with the paperclip there. Okay.

Before we get into the message, we'll go to God in prayer again. Just to let you know that there are things that's happened this week that are very encouraging. I've been speaking with some people concerning the gospel and some people really seem to be receptive of it and just pray for them. Ask God's mercy on them. Got some texts this week of encouragement from the messages that they've been listening to. sure does encourage us to continue. I'm so thankful when God does give us glimpses of what He's doing. So thankful to see that. And I just pray for these people that are attentive to the gospel. Ask your prayers for me as I desire to preach the gospel to you.

I don't know, I feel more I always thought I'd feel more capable the more I did this, and it's just the opposite. I feel less capable of doing this. It's amazing, somebody can ask me a question regarding a text somewhere, and it would all flood my mind, and I'd be able to answer the questions, and yet I still feel inadequate to explain it, inadequate to communicate it. It's a mystery, isn't it? Paul said we speak in a mystery. And the gospel to the lost is a mystery. And you just don't understand how they can't get it. You don't remember what you were like when you heard it the first time and you didn't understand it. You didn't know it until the Spirit gave it to you. I have to remind myself of that. You were like them. And to tell you the truth, I was worse. I had academic knowledge, which is worse.

Pray for those that God is working in and ask God to reach down his hand of mercy and give life. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing and a surprise? I'll tell you what, it would be a great surprise if it happened in this generation, wouldn't it? It would be an astounding miracle of observation to see many come in this generation. It is not beyond the arm of Christ to do it. It's not beyond Him. May God ever give us faith to believe and trust that Christ is always doing His work. He is always about His Father's business in saving His people. Whether we see it or not, that don't matter. It doesn't matter. We trust that He is.

Pray for those churches that still have no pastors. Ask God's mercy upon them. Those that are sick in our congregation, those are sick. I have a young man that's suffering. He cut his hand. He got tetanus in his hand. And now then that that seems to be over, there's still complications and still going into the hospital and so forth like that. He asked for prayer. So if you would pray for him, his name is Robbie. Would you pray for him? May God be gracious. to him and his wife in this time.

Any other requests need to be mentioned? Yes, dear. Dave Hurd. Yes. Yes. Go ahead. Dave lost his wife last December, and he couldn't get her back. He took care of her for seven years, three years she was dead. So we'd like to know, Janet, if you and husband would like to object Okay, pray for Dave. He did lose, nobody could hear this online, so I'll just repeat what she said. Dave lost his wife this last week, and he's struggling with, he took care of her, like she said, seven years. Constant care, 24 hours care, and now he's alone. And he's struggling, so pray for him. And pray that God's grace be upon him.

Thankful for Moose. Thankful for the surgery that was a success. They said it was a success. Said that he's going to be able to preach, and that's good. He had to cut into his vocal cords. to get to the cancer there, and the good news is he's going to be able to preach. May not sound like the same, but that's okay. He's not worried about that, I'm sure, as long as he can talk.

So pray for Moose and Sandy, if you will, and give thanks for what God has done for them.

Let's go to him in prayer. Again, our Father, we bow before you. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, according to his righteousness And His blood, according to the merits of His work and His person, we come and lay ourselves before You. Father, we have many struggles, many afflictions, many trials and difficulties, and You know them all. And yet You surely command us to make our requests known unto Thee, and we do. We take all of these things that we have mentioned, You have heard, We lay them out before you tonight.

As Hezekiah did, he lays them out before thee and bows, recognizing that, Father, you are sovereign. You are Lord over all things in time and eternity, the matters of the soul, the matters of the body, the mind. We confess that you are sovereign. And yet we know this, that you're gracious, that you're merciful, that you're tender. We know this, that Christ, our High Priest, was touched with the feelings of our infirmities and understands and was tempted in all points, yet without sin.

And Father, so we lay these petitions, we beg these things. Those of our brethren who are sick, heal their bodies, please. Those who are struggling in their minds, Touch their hearts and clear their minds of the darkness. Shine the light of the gospel in their hearts. That they might see the face of our Lord Jesus Christ and cling to Him by faith. I pray you would save sinners tonight. I pray that you would call sinners to yourself. That they should believe and that all the glory should belong to you.

Thank you for all the wonderful things you've done. Thank you for the healing of our brothers. Thank you for what you've done to Brother Moose and Sandy and what you do for all your people who have been sick. You've healed them. I pray that you would continually be with us. Help me tonight as I desire to preach. I ask you for grace and power and strength in the spirit, not in the flesh, but in the spirit that you should You should take this gospel and make it effectual, make it powerful to the souls of men. Comfort the hearts of your people. Lord, I ask you to do this in the name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.

All right, take your Bibles now and turn me to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. I entitle this message, The Need of Every Sinner Fulfilled. The Need of Every Sinner Fulfilled. Look at this in verse 1. Scripture says, Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners." Now why? For to hear Him. And, listen to this, the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Now here I want you to notice a distinction that's made. A separation between all men is here seen. You have two divisions of people. You have, first of all, the publicans and sinners. These were the worst people imaginable. These were the lowest people. They were publicans and sinners. And listen, they were notorious. Everyone knew who they were. This was not maybe. These people weren't just, you know, middle ground people. These were the lowest people. And notice what they did. They drew near to Christ. They drew near to Christ. Why? They needed something. They needed something. And they knew this, that what they needed, He had.

And the second group of people are the most moral people. The most elevated people in the village. Everybody knew who they were too. They were the scribes and Pharisees. They were the religious group. The most exalted in the town. Everybody knew who they were. And what did they do? They murmured. At what? This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

I know that this time and season, most every message that's in churches today is gonna be the birth of Christ. I read that this morning, at the very first, concerning the birth of Christ. Men love Christ in a manger, don't they? They like to keep him there. But I'm here to tell you tonight why He came. Why He came and was born in a stable, or in a cave rather. Why He came into this world as a man, as bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He came as a representative man to do a work. And that work is simply this, He came to save sinners.

But why He came? You want to know the reason for the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ? You want to know the reason why He was born into this world? Simply this, He came for one purpose, to save sinners. And that's it. That's His purpose. And you notice who's drawn to it? Sinners. Sinners.

Three things that we're going to see tonight. First of all, I want you to see who needs Christ. By this division, you see right here in these verses who needs Christ and who doesn't. Who needs Christ? Our Lord here is found preaching to publicans. I want to explain that. That's tax collectors. They're the worst. They're the worst. They were even before sinners. You got that? It was always publicans and then sinners. They were the worst. They were the thieves of the day. They were the scum of the earth, publicans and sinners. These were considered the most vile and wicked men. Their reputation preceded them as they came before Christ. These Pharisees knew exactly who they were. They were publicans and sinners. These were the wickedest and vilest men.

And they came around to hear Jesus because of what? They had a need. They had a need. You see, they heard that Jesus was the friend of sinners. They heard that He had a message from God specifically for sinners. a message of forgiveness, a message of pardon, a message of peace with God. And they heard that He healed the sick. They heard that He caused the blind to see. In other words, He had care for the poor, for those who were disabled, to those who had no ability to help themselves.

You know, every time he healed somebody physically, what was he doing? He was preaching to them. He was preaching the gospel to them. See, by nature, man is diseased with sin. We are blind as to how to be righteous before God. We don't understand that. We don't know. Religion's guesses. That's all they are. It's a big guessing game. How am I going to be righteous before God? And they start making up stuff. Well, you've got to do this, and then you've got to do this, you've got to stop doing this, and then you'll be righteous before God. One thing about that though, they never find an end to that. There's always got to be something else you've got to add. Therefore, no wonder sinners came to Christ. They couldn't keep what those Pharisees were telling them to do. So they came to Christ. No wonder they came to Christ to hear His Word.

This gospel that Jesus preached, that He was given, this gospel message, friend, is only to one type of person. Listen to this, sinners. This message is not intended for anybody else. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not intended for the righteous. Listen to what Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 1. He said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of everybody to accept it. Listen to this, this is faithful. Jesus Christ came into the world to save, who? Sinners, and notice what Paul said, I'm the chief, of whom I am chief.

Now the other group, the Pharisees, the religious and moral men, these were the best society had to offer. They were so faithful to attend the synagogues, dressed in their priestly robes, they exuded piety everywhere they went. You could hear them pray in the streets. They're like that Pharisee that prayed thus with himself, Jesus said, He said, I thank God that I'm not like these sinners. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And I'm not like that man.

So these men, when they see these sinners flocking around our Lord Jesus Christ, what did they do? They murmured. They murmured. They were appalled to see Jesus Christ. Surely if He was the Christ, He would know what kind of people these were. He did! What they missed is He didn't come for them. He came for the sinners.

You see, they thought that Christ would come and exalt them. That's what they believed. When Christ would come, they said they'll be the ones exalted. But when Jesus didn't do that, He came as a servant, He came rather to expose sin. That's what our Lord did. He came to expose it. He came to shine the light of the Word of God upon the hearts of men to reveal the truth that we all are sinners. That's exactly what He did. He revealed the truth.

In John chapter 15, our Lord said this about the Pharisees. He said, Had I not come, they had no sin. Now He didn't say, Look, they have sin only because I'm here. That's not what He's saying. He's saying this. Had I not come and exposed them, they never would have seen it. But now, He said, they have no cloak for their sins. He came to show that all men, both religious and vile, Both corrupt and pious are sinners.

I love the scriptures. It is what we call the great leveler. It does not matter your position or your status or your wealth or poverty, or age. It has no bearing on this subject. We, by nature, are all guilty of sin. We are sinners. So it doesn't matter who you are. We are all, by nature, self-righteous.

I used to work in a prison a long time ago, jail. And I'm telling you what, there ain't no guilty people in prison. I mean, this is, it's strange, it's just amazing how many people in prison, none of them, ask them, they'll tell you. Wasn't me, I didn't do it. Well, it's not, I did it, but it's not my fault. I did it because of My parents, I did it because of this. What's that? That's self-righteousness, isn't it? You have it at the lowest and the basest of men. The most immoral, the most hideous and vile people are what? Self-righteous. Not my fault. Not my fault. But the religious aren't any better. The religious are no better. The religious say, well, they base their salvation on if I'm better than the other guy. Well, at least I'm not like this. Well, I go to church and I give and I do good things, so obviously I must be better than this person. Nope. Nope. Scripture says there is none righteous, listen to this, no not one. Do I have to explain that? How many are righteous? No, not one. Well, how many understand? There's none that understandeth. Wait a second, isn't there anybody seeking after God? God said, nobody's seeking after me. None seeketh after me. They are all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good, no, not one.

The only difference here in this text is this, these who are publicans and sinners came to hear Christ because of this, they had a need. You know what the self-righteous don't have? They don't have a need. They never have a need. They don't need Christ. They don't need Christ. These men were not the people that Jesus came to preach to, not self-righteous men. Jesus said this, In another place, in Luke chapter 5, they're accusing him of this again. In Luke chapter 5 and verse 30, it says, The Pharisees murmured, saying, Why do you drink with publicans and sinners? Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician. They that are sick. Isn't that clear? Who needs a physician? Sick. He said, Therefore I came not to call the righteous. But who? Sinners to repentance.

So this evening I want to talk to sinners. That's who Christ was talking to, wasn't it? That's the ones that draw near to Him. Sinners. Sinners. Well, in order to do that, I must ask this question then. What is a sinner? I imagine that you ask religion, they'll have varying opinions as to what a sinner is. There'll be a certain threshold as to what a sinner is. But I don't want to tell you what men think, I want to tell you what God says about a sinner. I want to tell you what God says about a sinner, what makes a man a sinner.

Listen, your sinful actions do not make you a sinner. are a sinner and therefore you sin big difference big difference men think that religion thinks that man comes in neutral or good and then when he does bad things he becomes a sin that's not what God says I'm sorry it's not what God says God says you're born a sinner You're born a sinner. Sin is not what you do, it's your nature. Isn't this what our Lord said? That adultery and fornication and all sins, where does it come from? It comes from within, doesn't it? And it comes out. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications. Why? Because that's your nature. Your nature is a sin. It's to be a sinner.

How'd that happen? Well, that happened with Adam. Adam is the reason that you were born a sinner. There's no doubt about that. In Romans 5 and verse 19, for by one man's disobedience, listen to this. Listen. It's what God said. Many were made sinners. You see when you were made a sinner? When Adam sinned, you were made a sinner. And this Sinful nature is expressed from birth. Scripture says we came forth from the womb speaking lies. I never taught my son and my daughter to lie. I just, I imagine I did it in front of them. There's no doubt about it. But I didn't have to teach them. My parents did not teach me those things either. I was born a liar. I was born a liar. Romans 8 and verse 7 says the carnal mind, listen to this, is enmity. It didn't become enmity, it is. You're against God by nature, that's what we are. And the proof is this, we are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Paul calls it like this, we are dead in trespasses, born dead in trespasses. and sin. He said we all had our conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, by nature, haters of God, even as others.

So we are corrupt by nature and depraved, so depraved that we believe that we're pretty good. We're pretty good. I'm not I'm not like I'm not as good as other people, but I'm I'm OK. You know what that's a sign of? That's a sign you're not OK. That's proof that you're not OK. Man by nature is so depraved, he thinks he can he can somehow earn God's righteousness.

So when the gospel is preached, that he came to save sinners. Listen, man by nature has no interest. No interest. I don't need it. Why? Because he doesn't know he's a sinner. If the Holy Spirit ever reveals to you that you're a sinner, the first thing you're gonna see is you're gonna have a need. And that need is only found in Christ. And until then, this gospel will be a mystery to you. It'll be an enigma. It'll be a proverb that you cannot understand.

Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 2, he said, We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom of God. See, it's hidden. The gospel is hidden. You can't understand it. And you'll never need it. He said, It's a hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of the world knew. Not the best religious minds knew it. For had they known it, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. As it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit.

You see, the only way you're going to know you're a sinner is if the Spirit of God reveals it to you. You that believe, you know this about yourself. This is not something new. You know you're a sinner. This is what the Spirit of God reveals to us. Are you a sinner? Are you guilty before a holy God? Have you transgressed the law of the sovereign God of the universe? The sinner says, yes. Is there any soundness in you? No, the sinner confesses, from the sole of the foot to the crown of my head there is no soundness. but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Do you have any righteousness? The sinner confesses, I have none. Is there any hope to make yourself righteous? The sinner confesses, none in myself.

Well, then look. Oh, never mind. Well, I forgot to cut my phone off. I'm sorry. Would you take this back there, Cheryl? So it doesn't interrupt me again. Obviously, I've not gotten on that new phone. Sorry.

But now look in this text, look in this text, and I want you to see who comes to Christ, who is it that has a need, it says, and then said, It says, Then drew near to Him all publicans and sinners for to hear Him. Now, the Lord then gives them a message. Now, what's the message that the Lord gives sinners? He gives three distinct parables in this passage. Three parables He gives in this passage that He preaches to sinners. Now each one of these parables testifies of the work of God in the Trinity of His persons. Three parables. The first parable is the parable of the lost sheep. The lost sheep. This is a parable concerning the work of Jesus Christ who is the Great Shepherd. The second parable is that of the lost coin. The woman lost one of her coins. and she takes a candle, and she searches out, and she sweeps the room, and she finds it. This is a picture of the Holy Spirit's work. And thirdly, we have the prodigal son. You remember the rebellious son who goes off and spends all that his father gave him, and he comes back, and you remember who it was waiting. It was the father. The Father runs to him and restores all that he has. Well see, that's the work of the Father.

So let's see each one of these parables. As the Lord Jesus Christ preached to these sinners. First of all, the parable of the lost sheep. Look at this in verse 4. He said, What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he found it, he laith it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbors, saying to 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 99 just persons who need no repentance.

Our Lord Jesus in this parable, you know he's the shepherd. Why? Because in John 10, that's exactly what he tells us. He said, I am the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. Now in this parable, the hundred sheep belong to him. That's just not a picture of his elect people. He's just showing you that a shepherd owns all the sheep. He owns it all. Does not our Lord Jesus Christ own every soul? Is it not His? It is His. By divine right, you belong to Him. He is your King. He is your God. He is your Creator. You are His.

But I want you to see this, that the only one the shepherd goes and finds was the one that's lost. The one that's lost. Jesus is the good shepherd. And Jesus is telling him that his sheep, the ones that are lost by nature are sinners. That he will go and find them. Now how? Does the Lord Jesus Christ find His sheep? How? What did it cost Him to find His sheep? Well, we know this. Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as a man for one purpose, to save that which was lost. You see, He said, I'm not come to call the righteous. If you don't need Me, I'm not come for you. He came for one group of people, that which is lost.

Notice this, the shepherd is always successful. He goes out and he intends to save his sheep and he saves them. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ came in this world to do. He came to provide righteousness for His sheep. Why? Because that's what sinners need, isn't it? Sinners need righteousness that we could not provide for ourselves. So Jesus Christ came into the world as a man and obtained righteousness. Remember how we became sinners? We became sinners by the disobedience of Adam. How then can we who are sinners now be made righteous? Only by the obedience of Jesus Christ. He came and obeyed the laws of man to obtain righteousness for us. And not only this, He came to lay down His life. Now listen, God is not going to wink at the sins of His people. God isn't like you and me. He doesn't just sweep their sins under the rug and say, let's just put it behind us. No, justice must be satisfied. God could not save His people with His justice not being satisfied. Therefore, the Lord Jesus came into the world to bear the sins of His people. Isaiah 53, Isaiah puts it like this, We all like sheep have gone astray and turned everyone to his own way. But, here it is, The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Behold the work of the shepherd. He came as a surety, as a representative man, as a high priest for His people, and He bore their sins in His own body on the tree. I remember this illustration of Aaron, the high priest. His sons, remember, his sons were priests. And God specifically told them, He said, you must make this incense. You can't come to Me without anything but what's in these ingredients. And He gave that incense to them. And you know what they did? They said, we can make it better. And they put their own stuff in there. And they brought that incense in before God and God killed them.

If you bring your righteousness before God, if you mix your righteousness with Christ's righteousness, God will kill you. One thing about a sinner is that he doesn't have any righteousness. I ain't got no righteousness to bring. So what does a sinner do? A sinner can only come by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. See why I hear Him? See, I want to hear Him because He's my righteousness.

What do I have to pay? What debt do I owe to God for my sins? It is a debt I could never pay. Yet my shepherd paid it all. Every last farthing my shepherd has paid. Matter of fact, the scripture says he paid double. Paid double for all our sins. And then he came and found me. He did all that before he found me. I was his sheep long before he found me. God gave me to him. And then he came and paid the price. And then what'd he do? He found me. He found me. I was a wandering sheep. I did not love the fold. I did not love my father's voice. I loved afar to roam. My shepherd found me, nigh to death, famished and faint and lone. And like a good shepherd, he bound my wounds. And notice this, the shepherd is the one who carries the sheep. Every sinner understands this. If I'm going to make it to heaven, he's going to have to carry me.

Isn't this wonderful about our God? Our God doesn't need to be carried. Religion's gods need to be carried. You need to help them out. Those poor gods, they can't help unless you let them help you. Oh, I don't know any God like that. No, my God carries me.

Second parable, quickly. Second parable is found in verse 8. This is a picture of the work of the Holy Spirit. He said, Either what woman having ten pieces of silver and she loses one piece, does she not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it? And when she had found it, she called her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace that I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angel of God over one sinner that repenteth."

The picture here is that God's people are the coin. Now, the silver piece is valuable. The piece of silver was valuable. But what value is it if it's lost? It's of no value. You see, God chose His people. He knows their value. He gave them to Christ and Christ redeemed them. But that's not how we come into this world, is it? We come into this world like a dead coin, useless. We're lost. But now behold, who it is that shines the light is the Holy Spirit. Who it is that seeks God's people that are lost? It is the Spirit of God. Jesus said this, ìExcept a man be born of water, even of the Spirit, he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.î You see, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to give life to the dead sinner.

Now listen, you were a sinner and didn't know it until when? Until the Spirit of God came to you. You knew you were not great. You knew that you needed to be better. But you didn't know you were a sinner.

How does the Spirit of God reveal our dead condition? The candle here is a picture of the Gospel. The light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why did these people come to Him? Because He was preaching light. He was telling them the truth about themselves.

Listen, I'm not here to trick you. I'm not a used car salesman. I'm here to tell you the truth. You, by nature, are dead, and you cannot save yourself. Now, you'll never know that until the Spirit of God shines a light of the Gospel in your heart. You won't know that. Dead? That don't sound right.

When the Spirit of God shows you you're dead, He does it by the light of the Gospel. And notice this, in this parable, the woman takes a broom. She's sweeping. Well, she don't care about the dust and she don't care about the cobwebs. She's only looking for one thing, but she sweeps the whole dead gum room to get it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said the Spirit of God is coming for His people and think about all the things that He moved to draw us to Himself. All the dust and all the particles and all the men and all the providences God uses and He sweeps it all for one purpose, to bring His people to Himself. Don't you see that? That everything is moving according to the sovereign will of God to bring His people to Himself.

People don't understand what's happening in the world. I do. I understand what's happening. I don't know how it's going to happen, but I know what He's doing. He's moving everything. You know what He's going to do? He's going to save His people. he gonna find his coins and he's gonna bring them to himself.

Now what Jesus said, all that the father giveth me, what'd he say? Shall come to me. Every lost coin is coming in. Who's gonna stop it? You know what? Not even me can mess this up. That gives me peace in preaching the gospel. Not even me can mess this up. He's gonna find them. And when he finds one, you know what he does? It's astounding. He rejoices over one sinner that repents. Isn't that astounding?

Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4, real quick with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 4. It says, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them.

Well, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. When God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, was there any hindrance? Was there anything to stop His command from happening? No. Paul said, just like that. He has shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

You listen very carefully. Every sinner God chose, every sinner Christ redeemed, the Holy Spirit will find them and He will call them and they will live and they will believe without a doubt. Without a doubt. Isn't this good news to sinners? Because that's the only one he finds. He only finds sinners. The third one, the prodigal son. Read this very quickly. Look at verse 11. He said, A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to the father, Father, give me the portion of goods that has fallen to me. And he divided unto him all his living. You see, he said, I want my inheritance. I want it now. To him, his father was already dead. He didn't even wait until his father died. He wouldn't even wait. He said, give me what I got coming right now. OK. And the father gave it to him. Look what he did with it.

Not many days after the younger son gathered all together. and took his journey in a far country and wasted his substance on riotous living. Oh, what a picture of what we are. We hated God. We despised His nature and said, give me what I've got coming to me. And what do we do with everything God gave me? Everything God gave you, He gave you life, He gave you breath, He gave you family, He gave you friends, He gave you money, anything He gave you, what did you do with it? What do we do with it? We spend it on ourselves. I'll have my way. I'll have my way. This is the heart of every one of God's people by nature.

But look what God does in Providence. He spent all He had. Verse 14, And there arose a mighty famine in the land. He began to want. And he went and joined himself to the citizens of that country. And he sent him into the fields to feed the swine to the Jews. There was no lower place than to feed swine. Swine were the lowest of animals. And now you were tending to the lowest of animals. You were below them. You see how God moved providence for us? Everything was going well until God took away all our need, all our joys. The joys of sin became ashes in our mouth. Our riotous living, we spent it all and had nothing. Isn't that what sin is? You spend it all and what do you have at the end? Nothing. Always wanting more and more and more and never satisfied with sin. No peace, no joy in sin.

So what do we do? We join ourselves to religion. He joined himself to that country. He didn't run back to the Father. He joined himself. That's what we do. We join ourselves thinking, I need religion. You know, we find religion, if God's going to save a man, religion is going to be like the husk, the swine feed on. Works religion is not going to help. Not the sinner. Not the true sinner.

So what does he do? Look at this. When he came to himself. Oh, when I came to myself. Standing in the hog pen of my sin, I came to myself. That was a work of the Spirit. Now listen. He said, How many hired servants in my father's house have bread enough to spare? And I perished with hunger. This it is, I will arise and go to my father and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. Isn't this how a sinner comes to God? What does he come with? Nothing. God, please, just make me a slave. If you just make me a slave in your house, I'm not worthy because you're a son. Make me a slave. Does anybody want to be a slave of God? Anybody want to be a servant? Give me the lowest place in your house is better than the tents of wickedness. the lowest place.

But you know who was waiting? He arose and went to his father, and when yet he was a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion. Listen to this. Before I ever came to the father, the father was waiting for me. And before I even came, the scripture says, and he ran. This is the only time you ever get a picture of God being in a hurry. The father ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said, Father, I'm not worthy to be called thy son. I've sinned against thee and against heaven. And he wasn't even allowed to finish. He wasn't even allowed to finish. And his father said, get the best robe and put it on him. Take the ring and put it on his finger. Kill the fatted calf.

What is this? When a sinner comes to the Father with nothing, listen, he gets everything. Isn't this astounding? You notice what's not here is rebuke? What you find here is love. What happens when a sinner comes to God in humility, seeking to be found in Christ? You know what he finds? He finds compassion. He finds mercy. He finds grace. Why? Because this was always the Father's will.

If you are a sinner, listen, what do you have? that you can offer God. The sinner says nothing. Well, Jesus Christ came to save one type of people. Who is it? Sinners. Sinners. The good shepherd came to find his lost sheep. The Holy Spirit now seeks his people with the light of the gospel and brings them in. And the father, the father's waiting for his children to return. And everyone who comes to God as a sinner, what do they find? They find the robe of Christ's righteousness given to them. You need righteousness? Well, the father gives the robe of righteousness to everyone that comes.

The ring. Sonship, that's what that picture is. Every son of a royal family had the family ring given to him. Everyone that comes is a son of God. Every sinner that comes to God by Christ is a son of God. Heir in joint heir with Jesus Christ. And listen, every sinner that comes, that fatted calf that the father killed, what a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, that prodigal son, his sin was not just swept away. The fatted calf is the one who died. It was an offering. He said, let's make an offering for the sin of my son. Wasn't that pictured with Abraham and Isaac? When Isaac was to be offered. Remember how the ram was caught in the thicket and he said, don't touch the lad. Take the ram. The father said, don't touch my son. Take the fatted calf.

Is it then any wonder why sinners would draw near to Christ? It's not a wonder to me. Why? Because I'm a sinner. I am just a sinner that's been saved by the grace of God. I'm no different than anyone else. I can't look down on humanity. I'm one of them. But thank God for the grace of Christ to find me, the Spirit to call me, and the Father to love me. And there's joy in heaven over one sinner that repented.

You know, there was a... I'll close with this. There's a... Adoniram Judson was a missionary to Burma. Spent 20 years in Burma preaching the gospel. And as far as he knew, he only had one convert. One person believed out of 20 years of preaching. One person. He comes back to England and they ask him the question, well, how many converts? He said, one. Peradventure, God give me 20 more years, I might get another one. Why? Because God rejoices in one sinner that repented rather than 99 who don't need any repentance. Those who don't need Christ.

Listen, Jesus didn't come for you. You don't need Him? That's alright, he didn't come for you anyway. He came for who? One group, sinners. Any sinners, any sinners will then draw near and hear Him. And those that hear Him, He'll save you. Even you. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.

Our Holy Father, thank you for your mercies and your grace. Thank you for Christ, our Savior, our Shepherd, our King, our High Priest, our righteousness, our redemption, our atonement, our justification, our sanctification, our wisdom. Christ is all. Thank you for coming to save sinners. Thank you for not waiting until we were righteous enough But then in while we were yet sinners, Christ died. Please shine forth your love and grace and call sinners to yourself. I ask in Jesus' name, amen.