We'll be in Luke 15. We won't
be turning tonight. I want to keep you right here
in Luke 15. And as a pastor, I understand that's dangerous
because you all got up bright and early this morning before
the sun come up. You've been working all day and you wore out and
you're tired and it's easy to get sleepy in this warm room
in the evening. If you'll stay with me, I don't
want us to all have to get up and drink water and stand in
the back of the room and do pushups. But if you'll stay with me and if
the Lord will keep us attentive, you'll walk out of here beaming,
speaking of nothing but this for this coming week. You'll
come in here Sunday and you'll say, Kevin, I thought about that
all week. That's right. That's amazing. Somebody has to have
joy over this. I'm just excited to preach it
and I hope I have people here that want to hear it. I do. We're gonna stay right here in
loop. So you stay with me, okay? I won't have you turn no way.
So don't be looking down here. You pay attention to what I got
to tell you and then you can be like the Bereans and go home and look it up later.
See if what I was telling you is right. I'll give you the notes
and then this is recorded digitally and I can send it to you on your
phone and you can listen to it at any time. So let's be here
while the Spirit's with us tonight, okay? We know these three parables
we just read in Luke 15. There's the 99 sheep and the
one sheep and the shepherd goes and gets it. And there's a whole
nother parable. And it's a lady that lost a coin
and she gets a candle and she finds that coin. And then there's
a whole nother parable, the prodigal son. Everybody knows that one.
And we always said, well, you know, the 99 saved one. Well,
they lit a candle to find a coin. And well, that son came home.
He was down there. He said, I've sinned against
heaven. And you saw it. We quote these things, but if
God will let us have the context of this, this is going to come
alive to us. And this, he's going to be precious
to us. This is special. What's here. We know these parents,
but I pray we could see him tonight as just one parable. This is,
this is one story. This ain't three parables. That's
one pair. Now you're agreeing with me unless
we'll send him in. Here we go. Here we go. Verse one. Then drew
near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
Says then, then. What happened before that? Well,
the master just healed a man on the Sabbath back in Luke 14.
And he gave the parable of that wedding feast. And he said, you
don't go set in a high room. You show up to a wedding, don't
you go set in a high room because there may be somebody greater
coming and you're going to have to go down to the lower room
and you're going to be embarrassed. or pay attention to these things,
learn from God, teach us these things. He's the one that's more
important, it's coming. And then he gave the parable
of that great banquet and all those, they servants, they went
out and they said, come, come to this feast. Ain't no different
today. Why ain't this room packed full?
Well, people bought oxen that they ain't never seen and they
bought land they never looked at. They never set foot on and
used to be for 5,950 years. That's married to a wife that
wouldn't let them come. Our Lord gave the cost of discipleship.
He said, you think of how much it's going to cost to build this
building. Before you go building a building and you ain't got
the money to finish it in time, and the whole neighborhood is going
to laugh at you. That's what he said. He said, he's the builder. He's the cheap cornerstone. And
he knew the cost going into this. And he said, you know, the cost
going into this, this cost of discipleship and like a king
going out to send his enemies to fight his enemies. You got
to better see how big your enemy is before you go fight them.
Or you're going to be embarrassed and you'll be part of their kingdom.
He's counted that cost. And just like he went to that
man next to that pool, he said, would you be made whole? You
like attending this gospel, and you like going to conferences
and stuff, would you have God save you? Because that means you're
going to have to forsake everything else. All that old idols, all that
old religion, family. Well, my parents, or my cousins,
or my friends, or my neighbors, my children, or whoever, well,
now they're saved, but they're in Catholicism, or Arminianism,
or Reformedism, or some other ism. You're going to have to
forsake that, and God's going to make you cling to him. That's
the cost. Would you be made whole? He said,
if you can't forsake all these, you cannot be my disciple. And it begins here in Luke 15,
verse one. It said, 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 he spake this parable. That's
singular. Is that singular in your Bible?
Look here in verse three. He spake this parable. That's
singular. unto them saying, and then he
gives a parable, doesn't he? Who's speaking? That's what my
pastor got me through English class. And he taught me how to
write essays and everything else. He helped me out a whole lot,
but we didn't know who's speaking to whom are they speaking? What
are they speaking about and what's going on? Why is this being spoken? There's something, there's a
context to it, right? Who's speaking here? This is the triune God
in human flesh, talking to publicans, sinners, and Pharisees and scribes. This is a triune God, the Godhead
in a body. I wouldn't argue with someone
for five minutes about the Trinity. I wouldn't argue with someone
for five minutes about anything. A fool will bring you down to
their level and they'll beat you with experience. They've
been a fool longer than you have. Don't argue with them. This ain't
debatable. This ain't to be brought up and
shared. The Gospels be declared. But I would refer people to scriptures.
I know the scriptures say we have our God as one God. And, but Genesis says they looked
down and said, let us make man in our image. And when that Messiah
came to the earth, that lamb slain before the foundation of
the world, he came, he was baptized and the heavens thundered. And
the father said, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. That's
a whole message for you. And then the spirit descended
on him and lit on him like a dove. The cross said he must go to
the Father. And he said, if I go to the Father, then I must send
a comforter. If I don't go to the Father,
there ain't no comfort to be had. But there's the Father, there's
the Son, and the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, isn't
it? And then what did the Lord do to the disciples? Tell you
what it says in my Bible. You got your Bible that says
something else, get something different. Throw that one away. He sent
those disciples out into all the world. And he told them, remember what
he told them? He said, go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost." All three. Teach them to observe all the
sayings, all the things, whatsoever I've commanded you and lo, I'm
with you always, even to the end of the world. So there's
a triune God. There's a Father, there's a Son,
and there's a Holy Ghost. All three of them in that great
eternal God's high holy command, that Godhead is in a body, it's
in a person, and he's standing right in front of these people
talking to him. What if he was standing in front of us today
talking to us? Would we hear him? Or would we murmur? Would
we have something to complain about? Who's speaking? This is who's
speaking. The Lord Jesus Christ, the King
of Kings, the Lord of Lords. That's who's talking. Who's he
talking to? Well, there's publicans and there's
sinners. That's the ones that came. And you know what? That's still the ones that come.
Well, I can read my Bible and I can listen to stuff and I know
I'm comforted all by myself in my home. No, you're not. If you're one of God's sheep,
you can't live that way. Go to a conference once a year, you'll
starve to death. That's so, ask any other, I heard
three of them preach it last week. I didn't even talk to them.
Public and sinners still come, didn't they? They hear the words
of this man speak and they say, he speaks like no man's ever
spoke before. I gotta hear him. I gotta hear these things again.
It's not something nice I do on Wednesday because I ain't
got nothing else going on in my schedule. I have to have this. Those publicans,
they were tax collectors. You know, that's where they used
to, when they got out of the tax collecting business, they opened
a house. That's a public house. That's where you can get food
and beer. We call it a pub. They're bar
owners, tax collectors. What about sinners? That's unprofessional
ones. That's ones that don't make money
at it. No matter what they're doing, publicans and sinners,
that's who was there. But that wasn't all that was
there, right? Let's get these characters down. That wasn't
all that was there. There's Pharisees and scribes were there too, weren't
there? Who's that? That's the religious folks of
the day. And they had something to say.
The publicans and sinners, they're quiet. They're soaking up everything
that Christ had to say to them. But these religious experts,
these theologians, these doctors of divinity, these ordained by
men, These that's honored by men. These that are seen for
their long prayers and their accolades. They had a rub over
the perfection standing right in front of them. The Lord's
speaking and they didn't like it. They hadn't liked him for
a long time. They hated where he was from.
They said nothing good could ever come out of Nazareth. What
are you talking about? They hated his education. Did you know that? So the Jews marveled, saying,
how knoweth this man letters, having never learned? He ain't
never went to the schools we went to. How could he know such
a thing? They hated his occupation. This
is a carpenter's son. What two occupations in our day
are looked down upon? One, rightfully so, carpenters
and preachers. Isn't that true? It's just a
manual labor and that's just some preacher. The almighty father made his
son on this earth and gave him two jobs. What was it? Made him
a carpenter and a preacher. That's so. They hated him because
he's God. They said, no man can be God.
Nobody can forgive sin, but God, who do you think you are? You
gonna think you're gonna reign over us? They hated him because
he receiveth sinners and ate with them. Verse two there in
Luke 15 says, in the Pharisees and scribes, they murmured. Under their breath, I would never. Do you know who he associates
with? Do you know who I caught him with? I was driving by and
he was down there at Jersey Mike's eating with somebody. I saw him. They murmured saying, this man
receiveth sinners. He lets them in his company and
eateth with them. Back in that culture, they take
them four fingers and they take a piece of bread and they reach
in that big pile of rice and all that stuff, goo, and they
scoop it up and they'll say, here, and they'll shove it right
in your mouth. And I went like this. I ain't never washed their
hands. I'm a germaphobe. But he would
reach over with sinners. Now you think of the dirtiest,
nastiest person that's got more dirt on them that's on the ground.
Filthy, drug addicts, prostitutes, whatever, whatever. Think something
that you don't like, but you happen to be above. He would
sit down with them, and they'd be eating a peanut butter and
jelly sandwich, and he'd reach over and grab it and say, how was your day?
And bite right where they bit. And these Pharisees, these theologians,
they said, what's he doing? Look at him, he don't just receive
them, he eats with them. That's terrible. I'll tell you
what, that's good news if you're a sinner or a Republican. It's
good news for those folks. Who's speaking? God Almighty
in human flesh. Who's he speaking to? Everybody. Good, bad, pretty, ugly, rich,
poor, educated, uneducated, publicans, sinners, Pharisees, scribes,
it don't matter. The message is the same. and
they got a rub because he received sinners. Pharisees problem. And
the Pharisee or the publicans and the sinners have a joy because
he receives and eats with publicans and sinners. They murmured about
this. They murmured about it, him receiving
them now and him receiving them to come in time. We'll see that. If we have any
interest in feasting with the Savior now, having communion
with God now, having His Spirit with us now, and to come in eternity. We have an interest in this parable.
If we have any interest in communion with the Son and the Spirit and
the Father in this life now, or whenever we close our eyes
in death, which may be this evening. If we have any interest, we're
gonna have interest in this parable because that's what Christ preached
to them. We're a public and a center, this is for us. It says in verse
three, he spake this parable, that's singular, that's one.
He spake this parable unto them, all of them, saying, what man
of you, having a 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? And when he hath found it,
he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying
to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which
was lost. What's this? This ain't hard
to understand, is it? We know what's happening here. Here's
a shepherd, and that shepherd owns sheep. One's lost, and he
leaves 99 of them, 99 of them, and he goes and he gets that
lost one. What's that showing us? This
is a picture of sacrifice. This is a picture of redemption. This is a willingness. This shepherd
willingly went to gather that sheep, to redeem that sheep.
He had the ability to. He's the shepherd. What kind
of shepherd is he? A good shepherd, chief shepherd,
great shepherd. He willingly did it. He was able
to do it. And he had a relationship with
that sheep. He owned it. And so he went. That sheep was given to him before
time. He went and he got that sheep and he brought it back. That's the work of the son, you
understand? Verse seven says, I say unto
you that likewise, there should be joy in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth, more than over 99 just persons which need repentance. Now this is why we're on this
earth. He saved us, not the other way around. He wasn't the one
that was lost. Well, when I found the gospel,
you ain't found it yet, or you just ain't learned to talk yet,
because your tongue's still tied, you're saying the wrong thing.
We were the ones that was lost. He came, he redeemed us. And
a lot of people, they preached, there's good messages out there,
I'm sure, on those 99, and I get it. People don't care. 99% over that of this county
don't care, of this nation, this world. But I want to look at
this lost one. Why? That's me. I was lost. Didn't know I was lost. Just
out there trodding around thinking I was eating and I was fine.
Didn't even know I was owned by somebody. And maybe, just
maybe, there's somebody that's lost here tonight. Maybe, just
maybe. And that's in this life. He had
to come to this earth and redeem us at Calvary, right? But this
is that resurrection too. That's that communion now with
the son now. These things are revealed to
us, but that's in time to come. If we die, or he comes to us
while we're still living on this earth, we're gonna be resurrected.
He's the resurrection, isn't he? What's gonna happen then?
The bulk of our brethren, from Adam on, is gonna be in glory
already. Do they need a righteousness?
Does Elijah need a righteousness right now? No, he's got Jehovah's
Sick Kid now. He's got the Lord Our Righteous right there with
him. I don't need nothing, he already gave it to me. And the
Lord's gonna come, our king is gonna roll back those clouds,
and he's gonna come down here and get us and take us home back
to our brethren. And it's gonna be nothing but rejoicing and
celebration, much rejoicing. What's the end state of this
story right here, this part of this parable, this work of the
son, this picture of Christ? Rejoicing, rejoicing. That's an upside down frown,
okay? That's called happiness. No breaks. That's the first thing
that he spoke. He gave this parable. He doesn't
take a TV timeout, okay? Still singular, but it's a different
action that's taking place. Look at verse eight. Either what
woman having 10 pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not
light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till
she find it. And when she hath found it, she
called her friends and her neighbors together and said, rejoice with
me for I found the piece that I had lost. Likewise, I say unto
you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repenteth. One that's turned. One that's
turned. How does this story end? This
part here, this part two. How is this? The same way. There's
joy. There's rejoicing, isn't it?
Well, what took place? Is there sacrifice that takes
place in this part of this story? No. Ain't no sacrifice, really. That already took place, didn't
it? The sun already did that. when it got to land. Here's a
woman that went looking for her lost coin. Whose coin was it?
It's her coin. But the coin could not call out.
The coin could not approach her and say, here I am, come get
me. The coin couldn't figure out and roll its way back into
her pocket. It could not perceive where she was. So she looked
for it, diligently. She saw, what's that? What's
she have with her? A candle. a candle, light, light. What'd David say? Psalm 119. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path. The word came, this woman came
with the word. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. Moving like the wind, we're listed. You can't really
tell where it's coming, where it's going and all of a sudden
that word comes to you and you said, that's right, that is singular. This is one parable, that is
the work of the Lord. I didn't do that, I didn't figure
him out and then happen to find somebody that was preaching in
the lines of my upper mentality that already figured him out,
no. I was lost, I was dead, I couldn't call out, he came to me. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. Lord told us in John 15, He said, when the comforters
come, the Holy Ghost has come, I'm gonna send from the Father.
There's a Father, there's a comforter, there's Him. Son's speaking to
Him, right? Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father,
He shall testify of me. This lady came, what's she doing?
Just taking that light and projecting it around, seeking diligently.
And ye shall also bear witness Tell him John 15, 27, because
you've been with me from the beginning. If that light shines
on us, dead coins that can't go out, you know what our profession
is going to be? Our confession, we're just going to tell the
truth. We've been with him from the beginning. He found us. He did the work. Salvations of
the Lord, John said. He did this. That lady come with
a lot and we looked at that last week. Jesus said to them saying,
I'm the light of the world and he that follow with me shall
not walk in darkness. You can't be in darkness if you're
in the light. He shall have the light of life.
And I thought to that spirit is the bride of Christ, isn't
it? Isn't that us? Aren't we a lamp on a hill? And that's a task he's given
us to do whatever it takes to get this gospel out there. Make
it on YouTube, put it on Sermon Audio, hand out them bulletins, business
cards, whatever. Come hear about a man, come church
with me. To walk through this community
as a peculiar people that ain't like other people, that don't
just kind of forgive, but truly forgive, that are merciful. that
act according to this word, because we know this word. That's why
I ain't doing that. Well, I'd have done this. Well,
I can't do that. Why can't you? My Lord don't do that. He's gracious
and merciful, and I have joy in us, and we have love in us,
and longsuffering in us, and our neighbors start to ask, what's
wrong with you? You ain't right. You're different than us. Come
to church with me. That spirit is diligent. That's
the work of the spirit, and it's abounding, like a linebacker. And that woman ain't gonna quit
until she gets that coin. That candle ain't gonna go out
until it finds the coin that she's out to seek. It's unstoppable. Another word for that's irresistible.
You can't stop it. That's the work of the son. He
sacrificed, got the sheep. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
Where lost coins didn't even know it because that sheep was
alive, wasn't it? This coin ain't alive. It comes to us and finds
us and brings us, gathers us with other coins. What about the father? Remember
this is triune God given one parable. Look at verse 11, same
parable, no intermission, no breaks. Luke 15 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 him his living. That's a lot. Give me my inheritance. Here you go. That's a bunch. What's this showing us? Buddy,
we had a bunch given to us in our garden one time, didn't we?
I don't know how long Adam was there, but I'd have lost it faster. Verse 13, and not many days after
the younger son gathered all together, and he took his journey
to a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. Well, we ought to be frugal and
mind our pities so our daughters take care of themselves. Now,
do that if you want to. That ain't what this is picturing.
Let's hear God speak. Let's see the context of this
and maybe our teacher. Is there sacrifice in this prodigal
son? No, this is splurging. This isn't
sacrifice. This is squandering on the son's
part. The sacrificing and success has
already been finished. That was the first part of this
parable, right? Is this diligence? Was he diligently searching as
servitude unto the Lord and his father's house? No, this is providence
hedging him about. What was the Lord doing in Providence? Look at verse 14. And when he
had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land. Who sends
famine? Lord sends famine. Why? Because this son had left his
father and he's got to come home. Lord controls all things. What
shambles this country is going to be in. I promise you one thing,
here I'm going to prophesy to you. God's using this to save
his people. You wanna stop that? He might,
well, if he looked at us, he said, get behind me, Satan. Oh,
buddy, we'll keep our mouths, stop the murmuring, huh? He spent
all he wanted to, verse 15, and when he joined himself to a citizen
of that country, not his father's country, he
just went and played church with somebody else of that country,
and he sent him into his field to feed swine. He gave him work
to do. not a labor of love, commanded him to do something. When he
would fain have filled his belly with the husk of the swine did
eat, no man gave to him. He would say, I'd eat what these
pigs are eating. Give me some pig feed. And no
man even give him that. You can't have nourishment from
this world. You are not saved underneath
a false gospel. His word says so, I promise you.
We'll go look Jeremiah if you need to. You can't be nourished
by that. Well, I can eat the good parts.
No, you can't. You'll die. Verse 17, and when
he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my
father's have bread enough in and to spare? They're all eating
good and they got enough to share. They got leftovers and I perish
with hunger. I'm here dying. He came to himself.
Did this man come to his senses, well, I finally, I give, I've
learned enough now that I know this is right, and I will now
give assent to these truths. No, his father had trained him
up from before, and that word came back, and through the providence
of the Lord, he said, that's right. The Lord teaches lessons
in his time. I'll just get up here and I'll
give you all I got for 45 minutes. And it may be five years from
now, and you'll forget I even said it, Like cologne, we was talking
the other day on the phone. You don't even remember I said
it. And the Lord will make it come back alive, didn't it? That's
what his father did. Why? Is the son diligent? No,
the father's diligent. And what's the Lord command us?
We're accountable, us parents are. He said, train up a child
in the way he should go. And when he's old, not whenever
he's 21 years old. I gotta remember this. When he's
old, he'll be 30, 40, 50 something. He will not depart from it. The
Lord turned that back on. He'll remember. This father told
him, but the Lord made it effectual, didn't it? That's what Peter
wrote about. He said, I write unto you in
which I stir up your pure minds. How? By way of remembrance. Remember? He remembered his father's servants.
That's what the means was used to call him back. He got to think
about them servants of God who were faithfully assembled over
there eating a ton of bread and they got bread coming out their
ears. And he said, I'm over here all by myself and I'm hungry.
There's hungry sheep scattered out around this nation and they're
willfully doing it. And I pray God bring them back, make them
hungry and put them back in a house of bread where there's plenty
enough to eat. Ain't nobody gonna affect us. We ain't gonna go hungry. Come
on. Move back. David said, like this man, did
he come to his senses? And well, he just, he figured
it out. David said, when you said, seek my face, Lord, my
heart said unto thee, thy face will I seek. He's looking for
God in the scriptures. God was looking for you first,
and you'll declare that if he did it. You'll profess that. Any person that found the Lord
and does not confess the Lord did the drawing has not been
drawn to the feet of Christ. That's so. What does this seeking
produce? Look at verse 18. I will arise
and go to my father and will say to him, Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before thee. He's rehearsing it. He's practicing. We're kind of rehearsing a lot
of these things in this life, ain't we, till we're with the
Father, till we're in glory. But he's rehearsing these things,
and boy, what a confession. He didn't say, Daddy, everything
I did for you, I wasted your money, you worked hard for that,
and I've offended you, and then God saw it all. He said, I've
sinned against thee, and thee only have I sinned. I've sinned
against God, and you just happened to be here to witness it. I'm
sorry you had to see that. I'm sorry you had to see that.
I say it a lot. I'm sorry you had to see that.
It's against the father's who he's seeing. And I am no more
worthy to be called thy son. Make me one of thy hired servants.
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the Lord's house. What a privilege
that would be. Shining door handles, great privilege. He said, you're
a son. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was,
that prayer was in him. That song was in him before he
ever got to the father. Stay with me. Verse 20, when
he arose and came to his father, but when he was yet a great way
off, father saw him and had compassion and ran fell down on his neck
and kissed him I thought of Genesis 46 because we just finished that
up Joseph he made ready a chariot not a wagon a wagon something
slow you carry a lot of heavy things in a chair it's a little
thing that you go real fast in He had a chariot and he went
up to meet Israel, his father. He went to meet Jacob in Goshen
and he presented himself to him. And what would Jacob do? He fell
on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. They said, when
we get to glory, that resurrection takes place and all the saints
are in glory together. There's going to be silence for 30 minutes.
We looked at that in Genesis 4, 6, we weep, because then the
Lord's going to wipe away our tears. We'll have tears for him
to wipe away, and he's going to wipe away all tears, and there's
going to be no more crying. We're going to fall on our neck,
and we're going to weep a good while. Verse 21, And the son
said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in
thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Is it right
for the Lord outside of Christ to send you to hell? I ain't worthy to be a son. I
ain't worthy. Christ saves us. That's what
he did. And the Holy Spirit came to us, revealed these things
to us through the light of this word. And you know what we do? We profess him in believer's
baptism. I was baptized in Christ 2,000 years ago when John the
Baptist baptized me. I was in him then. And then he
told his children, profess me in believer's baptism. You profess
me, I'll profess you for my father. I was getting into water. That
ain't no big deal, is it? It was to a leper one time. He
said, I ain't getting in no river. They said, if they had something
big for you, you'd have done that. They'd build the world's
tallest building. You'd have done that, get rid
of your leprosy. He said, just go get in water. That separates, do you see the
separation of pride? I can't do that. People think I wasn't
saved. Or do we forsake all, count it
all but done, and cling to him, what he says? Verse 22, but the
father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and
put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his
feet and bring him the fatted calf, just like Abraham, not
one on sale, not that old freeze dried stuff you got in the back
corner of that freezer, the good one and kill it and let us eat
and be merry. Eat it and be merry. For my son
was dead and is alive again. He was lost in his family. He
was blind, now he sees. Who did that? The son did. This was a lost sheep. He redeemed
him. How'd he find out about it? The
spirit came through the preacher to the gospel in his word and
said, that's right, Lord did that. And we came home and said,
I ain't worthy to be your son. And he gave us the robe of righteousness,
the wedding ring of that diamond with his name written in it.
Everlasting shoes on our feet, the preparation of gospel. We're
there, we're in glory. Killed a fatted calf. He's gonna feed
us and serve us. That wedding supper of the lamb.
And they began to be merry. Well, I ask you something. When was the shepherd in this
parable, this singular parable glorified? Was it when he had
all 100 and the one wasn't lost? Was it while he was out there
looking for the one and put it on his shoulder? Or was he glorified
and honored when he came back and you think him walking through
all them bramble bushes and chaparrals, whatever y'all call them. You're
gonna get, we went hiking one time, my knuckles was bleeding,
didn't even know it. His feet would be bleeding, his
hands are bloody, his brow's bloody by thorns. You see? That's when he's glorified, when
he comes back and he said, let's rejoice. When was that rejoicing took
place with that lady? Was it before she lit that candle?
Did she light that candle and keep it all to herself in a cave
somewhere and keep her hands warm? Was she rejoicing then?
Or when the light revealed that that dead, cold, lifeless coin
And she picked it up and brought it in with the other coins. That's
when she rejoiced, wasn't it? And did the father, did he get
reverence? Did he get honor? And was he
rejoicing when his son came to him and said, give all my inheritance
early? And he just, here boy, I've saved a bunch of money for
you. I've been good. Here's your livelihood. This
will give you a good starting life. Was the father honored
in that? No, he wasn't. When was he honored? When that
no good for nothing, no account son come waddling back smelling
like a pig. And he ran to him and smothered
him in love and smothered him in affection and in gifts and
fed him that good young calf." That's when all the servants
said, we're going to be married and be happy about this. Master's happy. Father's happy. We're happy too. That's when it was rejoicing.
That's when there was glory found. Paul wrote about this. Let's
read this and we'll close. Ephesians 1. I told you, if you
read these first 14 verses backwards, it's our experience of it, but
we'll see what we just read come to pass here in Ephesians 1.
The work of the Son, the work of the Spirit, and the work of
the Father. Ephesians 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
behold Him without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood. Him coming to get
us, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Here's
a spirit wherein He hath abounded towards us with that light of
the word, that light of Christ in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His
good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself, that in
the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him. That one's lost, all hundreds
is gonna be together, it's gonna be complete. In whom we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who
first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, you
trusted in the same one. After you didn't trust in him
before you heard of him, you trust him after you heard of
him. You can't believe in somebody you ain't never heard of. You
can't profess somebody you ain't never heard of. In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye had heard the word of truth, that lie, the gospel of
your salvation, in whom, that's a person, Also, after that, he
believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
put tight in the Spirit's pocket. Coin purse, which is the earnest,
that's the down payment, of our inheritance until the redemption
of that purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. What a thing, huh? We always divide those up. You
know, you can't have one without the other. You have to have that
sacrifice. You have to have that diligence
of the Spirit for the Father to be satisfied. That's one parable,
isn't it? Have you ever seen something
like that? Does that make us happy? That's something to chew
on for the next weekend. That's special. That's special
to me. I pray it was to you. All right, Brandon, let's get our
hymnals. We'll turn to 187.