Luke chapter 15. And I've entitled
this message, The Need of Every Sinner Fulfilled. The Need of Every Sinner Fulfilled. In verse 1 of chapter 15, we
read, "...then drew near unto Him, unto Christ, all the publicans
and sinners, for to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners." and eateth with them." The first thing I want you to
see is the need of these sinners for Christ. The need of these
sinners for Christ. Our Lord here was found preaching.
He was preaching. He was always preaching. Wherever
He went and whatever He was doing, He was preaching the Word of
God. And he was preaching to a very specific class of people,
to publicans and sinners. These were considered to be the
worst among that society. These men were men of reputation. They were known to be publicans
and sinners. The Pharisees, if they didn't
know them, they couldn't have said that He eateth and drinketh
with sinners. These men were vile in their
conduct. They were the worst of their
day. These wicked, vile men, they
gathered around Jesus for one reason. They had a need. They had a need. They had heard
of Him. They had heard how He preached
to sinners. They had heard that His gospel
was a message of forgiveness of sin. His message was one of
healing. His message was one of resurrection. He had done many miracles, all
of which pictured what He would do for sinners. for sinners. By nature, man is diseased with
sin. He is blind as to how he might
be righteous before God. He is full of leprosy, of sin,
and has need of cleansing. And so then the message of Christ
was for such men as this. were sinners. Therefore, it's
no wonder that these sinners, wherever Jesus went, whatever
He was doing, He was being followed by this class of people. Sinners. Sinners. He was always preaching
to sinners. Isn't this what Timothy said
the purpose of His coming was? This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came to save who? Sinners. Sinners. It's the vilest of men, not the
best. Paul said, I am the chief of
sinners. He came to save me. But this second group of people
that are here, these Pharisees, They were very religious and
moral men. They were the best society could
produce. They were faithful to attend
the synagogue. They wore their religious robe.
They prayed in the streets their pious prayers. Yet they were appalled at this
sight, that Jesus was preaching and eating and drinking with
sinners. They thought, surely if this
man was a prophet of God, he should know what type of people
these are. We know what type of people. If he's a prophet,
surely he knows. How in the world could the Christ
come and dwell among sinners? Remember, they thought that Christ
would come and exalt them. the righteous, he thought Christ
would come and exalt their zeal and their fervor and their obedience
to the law. They thought that he would overthrow
the Roman government and establish a kingdom on earth and that these
religious men thought that they should be the rulers of this
new kingdom. Weren't they surprised? They were so surprised that they
were offended. He came not to exalt man, but to abase man. He came to expose sin. Remember when He said this, Had
I not spoken to them, they had not sinned. Now He didn't say
that they weren't sinners already. He just said they had not understood
their sinful nature. Had I not spoken to them. He came to show all men both
religious and vile. Now listen, I got a group of
people here, and I'm sure that I have a mixture of what society
would call religious and vile people. But I want you to understand
that both religious and vile people are sinners. Both of them are sinners. I know that we think that only religious people can
be self-righteous. These Pharisees were self-righteous,
weren't they? They were self-righteous. They thought themselves to be
obedient to the law of God and pious and perfect in their conduct. They were self-righteous and
they looked down on everyone who was beneath them. But I don't want you to think
that just religious people are self-righteous. I'll tell you,
I've met some of the most self-righteous people in this world are the
most vile people. The most corrupt people are self-righteous
as well. I've seen the vilest of men try
to justify their actions. You ever seen a man try to justify
himself? Well, I did this because of so-and-so. What is he doing? That's self-righteousness.
He's saying he's not the bad guy. This other guy is the one.
Not me. I'm better. I would have been
better had this thing not been done. Had my parents been better,
I'd have been better. That's nothing but self-righteousness. And the religious man says, well,
I'm better than the vilest of sinners. Because I did this,
and I've done that, and I've been baptized, I attend church,
I'm a member of this church, I'm a deacon of the church, I'm
better! No. I love that the Scriptures are
what I call the great leveler. We just had to pour that slab
out there. And you know those men, they pour that concrete
and then they just level it off. They scrape it and they level
it. That's what the Word of God does.
It puts us all on the same field. All on the same level. Here's
the level that everyone in this room is on. Sinner. There is no such thing as a better
or worse sinner. There's a sinner. A sinner. Both of these men were self-righteous. Both those religious men and
those sinners and publicans were self-righteous. And what does
this mean? It means this, that we all have
a need. Every sinner has the same need. And that need is to hear the
gospel of Jesus Christ and believe on Him. That's your need. Everything else is not a need.
Food is not a need. It's a need to this body, but
it has nothing to do with you being a sinner. We need Christ. Both needed Christ. And I'll tell you this, If you'd
never feel your need of Christ, you will always hate this Gospel.
You will always hate this Gospel. But these men were not the people
that Jesus came to preach to anyway. Self-righteous and religious
men are not who Christ came to save. In Luke chapter 5, the
Pharisees murmured against Christ, saying, He eats and drinks with
publicans and sinners. And you know what Jesus said?
He said, they that are whole need not a physician, but what?
They that are sick. They that are sick. I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So I am this morning
preaching to sinners. Now if I've got any sinners,
then you should pay attention. This is for you. Now what is
a sinner? That's a good, pretty good question. What is a sinner?
Since everybody's a sinner, what does that mean? Well, if man's ever going to
be saved, he's got to know this. He is a sinner. I emphasize that word, is a sinner,
because sin is not what you do as much as it is who you are.
What you do is a result of who you are. You sin because you
are a sinner. You're not a sinner because of
what you did. You're a sinner because of who
you are. That's who you are. You are a
sinner in the very root and core of your nature, and being you
are absolutely corrupt. Utterly defiled, full of sin. Isn't that what God said about
the people in Noah's day? He said their every imagination
of the thought. Now I like that. Before it actually
became a thought, there was an imagination of it, and they were
sin in the very imagination of the thought before they did the
deed. Isaiah says from the sole of
the foot to the crown of the head is no Soundness no wellness. No goodness at all The carnal mind is enmity against
God That's just a fact That's your
whole mind. In Ephesians, Paul said we were
dead in trespasses and sin. And what's the manifestation
of our dead nature? It is this, we walked according
to the course of this world, the prince of the power of the
air is building, and we were children of wrath. Haters of
God, that's the evidence. Now listen, this morning, If
you have no need for what I'm saying, it's because you're dead.
Now, that's just plain and simple. You have no need because you
don't think you're a sinner. You still think there's something
in you that's okay. I don't need this. We know this, for as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners." We were made sinners by a representative
man, made sinners by our father Adam, and this sin was passed
on us as we were born into this world. So then you were born
a sinner. And this is why men hate the
Gospel. Now listen, I didn't say they hate religion. Man loves
religion. Man loves religion. If you give somebody something
to do in the church, they'll stay. You know that? You give
them a job, give them something to do, pat them on the back a
little while, tell them how good they're doing, they'll love it.
God doesn't do that, does he? No. He gives no praise to man. No glory to man. Why? Because there's no goodness in
man. And because there is no goodness,
there's only sin and corruption. Man makes up a god of his own
imagination. Man is so foolishly depraved
to think that he can actually earn God's favor. He brings the holiness of God
down to His level so that He can meet it with His works. He believes He can somehow, by
some outward religious act, affect the inward part of us. Remember,
Jesus said it's the heart. That's the fountain of all sin
is the heart. And I don't care what you do
on the outside. Nothing you do on the outside
can change the heart that is on the inside. You can change
your moral character. You can stop doing this and stop
doing that and start going to church and be baptized. You can do a whole bunch of things
outside. But that has no effect on the inside. And when you tell
men this, they despise it. But this is the Gospel. Unless
you know you are a sinner, indeed, you will never seek Christ. You will never have a need or
an interest in things of God. It is always my prayer to God
that He would reveal our nature to us. You know why? Because only those
who are sinners have a need. And only those who have a need
will come to Christ. Paul said, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. I was talking to one of the pastors
this week and I was accounting someone I was talking the gospel
preaching to God telling the gospel to and They look like
my little puppy my little dog. You know when the puppies got
a question He just looks puzzled kind of cocks his head looks
at me. You don't know what I'm talking about, huh? That's how
they look at me. They like I'm speaking a foreign
language to them and I am and They don't have any interest
in those things because they don't have a need. It's a mystery
to them. Even the hidden wisdom of God,
which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none
of the princes of the world knew, for had they known it, they wouldn't
have crucified Christ. As it is written, I hath not
seen, nor heard, neither entered into the heart of man the things
that God had prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit. Don't you know that being a sinner
is a revelation? It's a revelation. God must reveal this to you. This is the first thing God must
do, and He does this by one means. His holy nature. If you ever
get a glimpse of the holiness of God, most surely you will
see you are a sinner. In Him is light. He is light. Unapproachable light. Perfect, holy, and just. If God ever reveals that to you,
He shows you what He demands. we see that we are sinners and
can buy no means or effort of the flesh ever provide what god
demands friends that's what these men the centers that came to
jesus that's what they need new they knew themselves to be centers
they didn't need the publicans that they didn't need that fair
seas tell them they knew they were sinners that's why they
were there they are sinners Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner from the sole
of your foot to the crown of your head? We confess. Yes. This preacher confesses. Yes. In my very nature, that's
all I am, is full of sin. Full of sin. Is there any merit to please
God in you? I confess, no merit in me. No hope in my works. If that's
a sinner you are, then this is the message for you. This is
the message for you. Look back at your text. Now,
our Lord gives the fulfillment of this need of every sinner
in three parables. Really, it is one parable. He
said He spake a parable unto them, and yet we have three of
them. But all of these are one parable. All three of these,
the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son, are all
speaking of one thing, the fulfillment of the need of sinners by God
in the sacred trinity of His persons. This parable of the lost sheep
speaks to us of Jesus' work as our shepherd. The parable of
the coin speaks to us of the Holy Spirit's work in finding
everyone that is lost. And the prodigal son parable
speaks to us of the love and work of the Father in the salvation
of every sinner. So let's look at these briefly.
First of all, the parable of the sheep. Look at verse 4. What man of you, having an hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety-nine
in the wilderness, and go after the one which was lost, until
he find it? And when he hath found it, notice what he does,
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. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." Our Lord
here is the Shepherd, isn't He? He's the Shepherd, and He has
a hundred sheep. Ninety-nine of those are self-righteous
people, and one of those is His particular sheep. Now, what is
this showing us? It shows us the Deity of Christ.
He owns everyone. They're all His. They're all
his. But our Lord Jesus Christ has
one focus, one object, and one work, and that is to rescue the
sheep that's lost. He has nothing to do with the
other 99. He leaves them. And he goes and he finds the
one that is lost. He finds the one... Jesus said,
I am the good shepherd. And the good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. The shepherd, he is come. And his sheep by nature are sinners. Therefore he came into the world
to seek and to save them. Now how did he do that? In that
phrase there, he layeth it on his shoulders, I believe is the
whole sum of this. This is the whole measure of
his salvation. When that shepherd took that
sheep and put it on his shoulders, what did he do? He bore the whole
weight of the lamb. The lamb had no responsibility
whatsoever in bringing himself back home. All of the weight
of the salvation of the sheep rests on the Shepherd, Jesus
Christ. Here's good news for sinners,
because sinners have a need of salvation that they can't do
themselves. This is the good news. Jesus
Christ has already accomplished what you could never accomplish.
He's finished what you could never finish. He has taken the
load of our nature, our sin, upon His own shoulders. Remember what the Psalm Isaiah
53 says, We all like sheep have gone astray, turned everyone
to his own way. Now that's a sinner. But the
Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. You see, He bore our
sins in His own body on the tree, and took total responsibility
for our salvation. You remember that Paul says that
He is a surety of a better covenant, better testament. What is a surety? A surety is one who guarantees. Judah became surety for Benjamin. He said this, "'If I bring not
the lad to thee, let me bear the blame.'" What a picture of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who our Good Shepherd said this in a covenant with
the Father of all the sinners He was given. He said, "'Let
me If I bring them not again today, if I fail to save not
one of them, let me bear the blame. And I'll tell you this,
God was so pleased, so pleased with His offering.
And listen, how did he say that? He said, he put it on his shoulders
rejoicing. Don't you know that it is his
good pleasure to do this for you? I'm so thankful he's not like
us. We have to do something for someone else. What does the flesh
say? The flesh is always like, really? You mean I have to give
up something of myself to do something for someone? Christ
never said that ever. He willingly did that. For who? You listen. Sinners. Sinners. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. The second one is this, the lost
coin. Look at verse 8. Either what woman, having ten
pieces of silver, if she loses one piece, does not light a candle
and sweep the house and search diligently till she find it.
And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors
together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece
which was lost. Likewise I say unto you, There
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth." What's the difference between
a coin and a sheep? Coins lifeless. See the picture? You and I, the elect of God,
are as dead as the coin. No life. No life. Lost in the darkness. Covered in the dust of death
and sin. Until when? Until the Holy Spirit
comes and gives us light. And now He says, "...she lighteth
a candle, and searcheth." And now what the Spirit of God is
doing this morning, He is searching for who? His people. His lost treasure. Don't you
see we are valuable to Him? that He sends His Spirit into
this world and He comes to us at the appointed time and shines
the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Gives us life. And notice this, and she takes
a broom. The broom of conviction. You
know when you sweep a dusty room, the dust just flies everywhere. It's intolerable. It just eats
your sinuses all up, and you're sneezing, and you're snot coming
out of your nose. It's horrible! So is conviction,
isn't it? When the Spirit of God shines
the light and shows us the dust of death on our souls, He sweeps! And He cleanses us. He washes
us with the pure water of His Word and we are cleansed. Listen
to this, what Christ said, you are clean every what? Every wit. Every wit. Oh, have you been
sought for by the Spirit of God? Have you been found of Him? I'll tell you this, if you've
been found of Him, there's some rejoicing going on. There's some
repentance taking place, isn't there? There's joy in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth, rather than the rest who need
no repentance. See, sinners have a need. They
have a need of repentance and faith. And only those the Spirit
of God gives life and faith to, they're the ones that God saves. And this is by the power of the
Holy Spirit. Now what's the evidence of that?
A lot of people have conviction. I've seen people, you've known
people in your own family, they've gotten in some kind of trouble.
Man, they've just gotten in all kinds of trouble, and next thing
you know, they're going to church, and they're doing this, and they're
trying to get right with everything. They're trying to clean up their
lives. They're weeping and crying and everything, conviction on
their heart, and next thing you know, they're right back in the
hog pen where they were before. Well, that's not the Holy Spirit
convicting them of anything. That's their conscience, but
not the Spirit. You know what the evidence is?
Faith in Jesus Christ. Continual, constant, ever-living
faith, looking only to Jesus Christ. I'm a sinner, but I know
this, I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God, looking to Jesus
Christ alone as all my hope. Now, that's one who's been saved. Now, the last one is this, the
prodigal son. the prodigal son. And he said, A certain man had
two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give
me my portion of goods. Follow to me. And he divided
unto him his living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance on riotous living.
Now then, That's a sinner. Right? You not see that? To him,
he asked for the inheritance even before his father's death.
To him, his father was dead to him. Just give me my stuff, you're
already dead to me. Father says here, take it. And he goes his way and spends
it all on riotous living, lust and passions and worldly possessions
and family relations and things of the world. Until when? Until he had spent it all. And
when he had spent it all, there arose a famine in the land and
it became in want. And he went and joined himself
to the citizen of that country, and he sent him to the fields
to feed the swine. And he would fain fill his belly
with the husk that the swines did eat. And no man gave unto
him. Now here's a man in conviction. Here's a man experiencing by
the providence and grace of God the result of sin. Don't you know that sin is nothing
more than like eating husks? You know, there's no nutritious
value in a husk. You can eat a thousand of them,
and there's no value in it. You'll still starve to death.
And this man said, I just like even the husk. This was God moving
in providence to show him his poverty. Verse 17, "...and when he came
to himself..." This is the Spirit of God working on the heart of
a sinner. He said, "...how many hired servants
of my Father's house have bread enough to spare, and I perish
with hunger. I will arise and go to my Father's
house 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 we come to God?
As beggars? Listen, no sinner ever came to
God demanding anything. Not if he ever is going to be
saved of God. He never comes beggar. He comes as a beggar.
Say, God, just make me a servant. Don't you know that it would
be better to live in the corner of heaven than to dwell in the
tents of wickedness? I tell you, I'd rather be in
that corner right there hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ than
to be a king of a godless nation fulfilling my lust. I'd rather
be here with you than any other place in the world. God, just make me a servant.
Just make me the least. I can't be the best. Surely I
can be the least. Make me the least. But you notice
what happens when every sinner comes to the Father. He says
this, But when he was yet a great way
off, the Father saw him, and had compassion on him, and ran,
and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and said unto him, He said
unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against thee,
and no more worthy to be called thy son. But before he could
get another word out, The father said to his servants, bring the
best robe and put it on him. Put the ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and
let us eat and make merry for this my son was dead and is alive
again. He was lost and is found. And
they began to make merry. This is the only time in Holy
Scripture where God is pictured being in a hurry. You see that the Father is not
surprised by the return of the Son. He was expecting it. He was waiting for it. You understand
this, that God appointed the time of love for you It is though God were sitting
on the edge of His throne, waiting for that time, longing for the
time when His Son should return. And when His Son comes to Him,
He comes as a sinner. Father, I have sinned against
Thee and against heaven, and am not worthy to be called Thy
Son. Shut up. Shut up. You take that best robe
of my righteousness and You put it on him. You take the ring
of sonship and You put it on his finger, and I'll kiss you
with the kisses of My Word." Isn't that what He did to your
soul? Is there any sweeter kisses than
the Father kissing the wounds of your sin with the gospel of
His Son? It's a glorious thing for a sinner. It's a wonderful thing for a
sinner. The Father comes, and the Father
sends His Spirit, puts on the best robe. You know why? He's killed the fatted calf. He's already atoned for all your
wasted life. Is that not the most wonderful
thing? All your wasted life He's already atoned for. Kill the
fatted calf. Christ has been killed. Sin has
been atoned. All you need is ready. Isn't that the message? Isn't
that the message of the wedding feast? All is ready. All is ready. Self-righteous men begin, one
after another, to make excuse why they can't. I can't come.
I don't understand what you're saying, preacher. No, you understand
what I'm saying. Give me that excuse. You understand
what I'm saying. You just don't want to come. You don't have a need. Go you into the highways, into
the hedges and get the blind, the hawk, the lame, the maimed. You get them and you bring them
in. All is ready. My house will be
full. Full of what? Sinners saved by
grace. And I tell you what, there is
joy in heaven over one sinner. You know what I would love to
see? A sinner. One thing I can't find in this
generation is sinners. You know, if I ever found a sinner,
they would come and hear this. They'd come and hear Christ.
If I ever found one. They wouldn't want to talk about
themselves. They wouldn't want to talk about their righteousness.
They wouldn't want to talk about their works or their free will.
They'd want to talk about Him. You remember that other son that's
in this parable? He was out there when his brother
came in. He was out in the field, working. He was mad. He was mad. He said, I've been
here. I've been doing this. I did this.
I stayed. I didn't go out and do that.
I was in the field working. And you're going to accept him? That's a self-righteous man,
isn't he? That's somebody who don't have a need. That man did
not have a need. And you know what? He wasn't
happy, was he? No, he's miserable. Self-righteous
people are miserable. You know that? They're miserable
people. and they will not enter into
this june but i know who will centers have a name they want
to hear him want to hear his word his word is that He's the
Good Shepherd that gives His life for the sheep. He carries
us all the way home. Isn't that good? It's not a cooperative
effort. I'm thankful for that. There's
not some cooperation on your part and His. He's laid you on
His shoulders. He carries you home. You are
the lost coin, He finds with the light of His gospel, by the
power of His Spirit, and He brings you to Himself. You are the prodigal
son feeding on the husks of this worthless existence of what you
call a life until God causes you to come to yourself and you'll
go to Him as a sinner and the Father will receive such. You
know that? This is a promise. If I've got any sinners who will
come to Christ right now, they will be received of the Father. But you have to come as a sinner.
No other way. You must repent and believe on
Christ. And I tell you, there's joy in
heaven and in the church, isn't there? Wouldn't that be wonderful
if we could see what happened in the days of the apostles when
three and five thousand men believed at one time? Would that not be
the greatest joy? But I'll tell you this, I'll
just take one. There's rejoicing in heaven over
one, so it doesn't matter if it's three thousand or one. I
tell you this, there's one right here. And I know there's sinners who
have repented there, out here. I pray God will bless this to
you. Let's stay and be dismissed in prayer.