Alright, turn with me now to
the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. I was reading God's Word, asking
the Lord to give me a message. I believe this is from Him. This is a parable that our Lord
told, and it has three parts. And I remember my pastor one
time saying, you can't just, you need to deal with all three
parts, because the Lord told all this at the same time. Well,
he didn't, my pastor didn't always do that. He's got messages on
one part and then the other, and I do too. I was going to
deal with the whole thing, but I couldn't get past this lost
sheep. I just couldn't get it. I was
too taken with it. So now what we're going to do
is three messages. Wednesday night will be the lost
coin, and next Sunday, Lord willing, will be the lost son, the prodigal
son. Let's read it, verses 1-7. Then
drew near unto him Christ all the publicans and
sinners to hear him. The Pharisees and scribes murmured,
saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And so
he spake this parable unto 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
laith it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repented,
more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. You know our Lord is not saying
these just people need no repentance. The Scripture says there's not
a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not. That he
is in himself. Every sinner needs to repent. Every person is a sinner. You
know he's not saying that. He's speaking to these Pharisees
who thought they were just. They justified themselves by
their works. And you know, we're not justified
by works, are we? Scripture's so plain. If we're
justified, that is, accepted with God, or allowed into His
holy heaven because of something we do, because our worth, Christ
died in vain. He didn't need to come. That's
how I start with that, because it's that serious. And he said, he went after this
one person out of a hundred. One out of a hundred. You remember
the scripture, John, is it Isaiah 45? He said, Surely one shall
say. Is that Isaiah 45? Let me look
it up real quickly. Yeah. Surely shall one say in
the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to Him shall
men come. These sinners were coming to
Christ to hear Him. The public is the sinner, not
the person. And all that are incensed against Him shall be
ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified
in glory. I hadn't planned, I didn't have
all that written down to say that, but I couldn't help myself.
I had to say that. Sinners come to Christ. Sinners are justified by His
blood, by His righteousness. I thought about this as a way
of an introduction. It's very clear to me that we're
in the last of the last day, the very last day. When Christ
came to this earth 2,000 years ago, He said it was the last
day. And he said, this generation
shall not pass away to all these same people, a 2000 year generation. But it's clear to me we're in
the very last of the last day, the 11th hour, the final hour,
because of the scripture. If you read passages like Matthew
24, 25, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 2nd Timothy, 1st and 2nd Timothy.
It's clear, very clear from scripture. because of the state of the world,
the state of society, the state of religion. Very clear. They were in the last days. Scripture
speaks of a harvest quite often. A harvest. And when our Lord
came, He said, look, the harvest, the fields are white with harvest. Isn't it? The laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest.
That's Him. will send out laborers. The fields are white with harvests,
and many to be saved will be brought into the fold. Sheaves
to be brought in. And our Lord did. He sent out
servants, didn't He? Preachers. He called, while He
was on earth, eighty-two preachers. Twelve apostles and seventy men,
right? Eighty-two for just Israel. 82 gospel preachers in a place
about the size of Franklin County. And they went everywhere. And
the Lord saved 3,000 at Pentecost. 5,000 just a little while later. That's upwards of 10,000 people
in and around Jerusalem alone. And they went out. And there
was persecution in Jerusalem, and they were scattered everywhere
all over the world. And Paul, the Lord led Paul to
go out and preach, and there were churches everywhere. You know this. And now, it's the end of the
harvest. It's very clear. You're not hearing
of people being saved everywhere. In fact, the Lord's calling in
the preachers. Called in Brother Cody Groover
in his prime. A man the Lord was using greatly. Called in Brother Walter, Henry
May, and on and on it goes. You know that over half of the
race preachers I know are in their seventies. And you're not hearing of people.
The Lord saved people. We've got eight or ten teenagers
in this room. Kingsport has more than that. Young people. You're not hearing
them. Lord save these young people. You're not hearing a young man
going out to preach the gospel. I mean, called their preacher. There's churches that need pastors
right now. Nobody's interested. It's sad. But we've got it. We still have the gospel. My hope and my prayer. Here's
my hope and my prayer based on this story. I hope, I'll pray,
that the Lord will call one. Just one more. From our midst. Whoever, whoever. And we'll rejoice? Scripture
says heaven will rejoice. One. One lost sheep. One lost son. One lost daughter. Would you rejoice if the Lord
saved just one lost daughter? Would you not rejoice? Oh, how
we would rejoice. We'll rejoice. The Lord told
this parable as said in three parts. And it's the work of the
Son in this order, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the work of
the Father. Salvation is of the Lord. Now look at verse 1. Then drew
near unto him all the publicans and sinners to hear him. They
drew near. Sinners. What kind of sinners?
Harlots. Street walkers. Republicans,
they were, people thought they were worse. Sinners. You know,
everybody is a sinner. You know that? There's not one
sin that can be committed that hadn't been committed by most
everybody and that most everybody hadn't thought of doing, except
the restraining grace of God kept them from it. There's only
one reason why You ladies are not walking the streets of Roanoke
at night. One reason. One reason. It's the grace of
God. It's the mercy of God. Mary Magdalene lived a hard life, didn't she?
The Virgin Mary did not. And they were best of friends
when it was all over. And the Virgin Mary realized
that I am no better than Mary Magdalene, but by the grace of
God. We're both sinners saved by grace.
The Lord kept me from walking the streets. Everybody's a sinner. People don't know it. Most people
don't think it. These Pharisees and these scribes
didn't think it. I've heard modern preachers actually
say, there's one notorious woman who said plainly, she said, I
don't sin anymore. She said that. If any man saith
he hath no sin, 1 John says he's a liar, calling God a liar. These
sinners drew near to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because this
is a faithful saying. Christ came into this world to
save one kind of person, a sinner. And they drew near unto Him.
And you know what the Scripture says? Draw nigh unto God, and
He'll draw nigh unto you. And nobody will come unto Him
except the Father which hath sent Him draw us. What He does to us first is make
us realize we are sinners. Christ said, I didn't come to
call the righteous, but sinners to repent. He said, the well
don't need a physician, but they that are sick. And so the first
thing that our Lord does, the Spirit, is make us realize we're
sinners through and through. In our flesh dwelleth no good
thing. I need a Savior from sin. And He reveals to us, there's
one, Jesus Christ. And so Christ said, come unto
me. Come unto me. Who will come? Who will come? Sinners. Sinners will come. Come to hear Him. Hear Him. Oh, how few today. Look at this.
My Grace Church, you know, my Grace Church standards today
and the Grace Churches we know, it's a pretty large crowd. You know that? I've gone to all
these churches. A couple of you know, fairly
large, maybe twice as this, but not many. Most of them are half
of this. Why is that? You can't find a
sinner. Everybody says, sure for heaven's
sake, they're already there, like Paul Williams used to say.
They're all fixed up, you know. We sang that song, I'm Only a
Sinner. He said, now I'm a sinner. Saved by grace. Still a sinner. Hmm. They came to hear Him. Came to hear Him. Very few come
to Christ because they're not sinner. And very few come to
hear Him. Todd, what do we do here? Every Sunday, every Wednesday,
we speak of Him. Who wants to hear Him? Who wants
to hear a man preach? Him. You know what they're doing
in glory right now? You know what they're singing
in glory right now? Listen. Unto Him that loved us. They're singing hymns. It's not
a hymn if it's not about Him. It's not the gospel if it's not
about Him. It's not worship if you haven't
come to hear and worship Him. It's all about him. They came
to hear him. Do you? Is that why you came? Really? Sally? Ann? There's one. She's from Winston-Salem,
North Carolina. What's she doing up here? Shepherd went and got her. Through
the gospel, didn't he? Alabama. New York? Well, our Lord said this, He
said, My sheep hear My voice. You'll hear my voice. He goes
after them in the gospel, with the gospel. This is how God saves
sinners. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. That's why I began this message,
Brother John, like I did, because that's the gospel, isn't it?
How Christ came to save sinners by the sacrifice of Himself.
Justify sinners. He cannot be justified by the
works of the law. Cannot. One way to justify it. Jesus Christ. And all that believe
Him are justified from All things. All manner of sin shall be forgiven.
How? By Christ. One way. He said,
My sheep hear my voice. They hear my voice. And I hope
and pray just one, just one, that hadn't yet heard His voice
will hear Him. There's a story in the Old Testament, 1 Samuel
3. Young Samuel. And the Lord chose,
loved, and was going to call to be a preacher. And it would
just thrill my heart for the Lord to do that to one of these
young men. But young Samuel was brought to the temple by his
parents. They insisted that he come to
worship the Lord. He did not yet know the Lord.
Scripture says that. He did not yet know the Lord.
But his parents had him sitting there listening to Eli preach. and watched the sacrifice. They
brought him. And then his mother, remember,
his mother committed him to the Lord. Lord, please take Samuel.
You gave him to me. Please, Lord, you take him. You
gave him to me. I hope he belongs to you. Isn't
that what you do with those you bring here? That's our responsibility
as parents. If they're under our roof, if
they're under our power, If they're under our dominion, bring them
to hear the gospel. They're not going to be saved
otherwise. Well, young Samuel did not yet
know the Lord, and Eli was his preacher. And Eli said to him,
Eli said to him one day, he was in the temple, and Eli said to
him, son, go lie down, and when the Lord calls you,
You say, speak, Lord, my servant here. If he calls you, you call
him. And he did. He went home, went
to his bedroom, and he laid down. And the Lord said, save me. He
said, speak, Lord, my servant here. And he spoke, and the Lord
saved him. And I'm telling you, young people,
call on the Lord. You don't have to go home and
lie down. You can do it right now. Call on the Lord. Ask Him. Lord, speak. The Lord's speaking
right now. He's speaking to somebody. He
said, My sheep hear my voice. You need to hear His voice. Speak,
Lord. I pray that He will. And these
scribes and Pharisees murmured and they thought to bring him
dishonor. They wanted to try to shame him
and dishonor him. You know, the wrath of man will
praise him. They said, this man receiveth
sinners and eateth with them. Aren't you glad? He's eating
with us right now. He said, behold, I stand at the
door and knock. If any man open the door, I'll
come in. That's the church. And I'll sup. Anybody hungry? Anybody thirsty?
Christ is the bread. He brings His body and His shed
blood and comes in where His people come to hear Him, have
answered His call, and He sits down and we just feast together.
Isn't this word wonderful? Bread. Pharisees and myrmidon. Myrmidon. This man received sinners. That was meant to dishonor him,
but it gave him his greatest glory. You know what God's greatest
glory is? Moses saw the Red Sea parted.
Moses saw water out of the rock. Moses saw manna come down from
heaven. Moses saw the enemy smitten and
all this. And he said, Lord, but show me
Your glory. He said, I'll show You my glory. I will be merciful. I'll show mercy to whom I will.
I'll be gracious to whom I will. I'll make all my goodness pass
before me. Be merciful and gracious. Reserving mercy for thousands. It's His great honor and His
great glory that the Lord would come down into this world. The
Lord of glory would come down into this world and suffer shame.
That the Lord of glory would leave heaven to go through hell.
That the Lord would come down to this place from a multitude
of heavenly hosts singing His praises down to this earth to
save one worthless sinner, let alone millions. Well, he said this parable, beginning
with verse 3. He spoke this parable unto them,
saying, What man of you, talking to these scribes and these Pharisees,
which one of you, if you had 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? One lost sheep. Now, every word is significant.
Who did our Lord come for? Sheep. Not goats. Sheep. Sheep. The Lord spoke much of sheep,
didn't He? John 10, the whole chapter is
about the shepherd of the sheep. Brother Patrick read Ezekiel
34. That's about the shepherd of
the sheep, isn't it? Not goats. There are sheep. And there are goats. And when
this is all over, in Matthew 25, He says He'll put the sheep
on His right hand and the goats on His left hand. So what does
this say? That Jesus Christ didn't come
down here to try to save everybody. He came down here, He said, He
said, I'm the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth His
life for the sheep. Listen, I am the good shepherd,
know my sheep, and am known of mine. Other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, they shall hear
my voice. There shall be one fold and one
shepherd." Who's this speaking? Did you read Ezekiel with Brother
Patrick? I put one shepherd over them.
They're one fold. Sheep. He said, I'll judge between
cattle and cattle. The he rams and the he goats. Sheep and coats. Is this necessary
to keep saying that? It sure is. It sure is. God has a select people. A chosen
people. And he calls them sheep. He calls
them sheep. Brother Bill Clark preached here. You knew him. Labored as a missionary
in Africa. All over. Europe, all over Europe. France,
Italy, Spain. Took my father into Russia. Okay? Bill. He said in Africa, there
are sheep and goats that look just alike. And quite often they'll
be in the same kind of pen, so to speak. All right? A fold. A holding area. And he said,
there's no way you can tell them apart. They look alike. He said,
but there's one distinguishing mark between them. He said, the sheep have their
tails tucked between their legs. And the goats run around with
their tails sticking up in the air. Now isn't that a good picture? Pride. Isaiah 2. Pride. Humility of God's people. But here's another way, and our
Lord gave this. He said, there'll be a common
fold, and they all may look alike, but here's how you know them.
He said, my sheep will hear my voice, and I will call them. I know them by name. I chose
them. I bought them. My Father gave them to me, and
I call them by name, and when I call them, they come to me. They follow me. He told sheep and goats. And
he said here in our text, he said, what man of you having
a hundred sheep if he lose one of them? And I began this by
saying, you know how the Lord gets you saved? How the Lord
saves you? He gets you lost. Brother Barnard
used to say that. He was a traveling evangelist.
And he traveled everywhere and people just in the South 60 years
ago. That's how long ago it was. 70 years ago. The 50s. Man. 70 some years ago. These
Southern Baptist so-called churches, all these places, Methodists,
what have you. They'd hear there's an evangelist
and they'd call him up, not knowing what he preached. And they'd
call him, come preach. And boy, They didn't know what
he preached, so they wouldn't have called him. But when he'd
come, he'd preach the truth, the true God, the sovereign God,
electing love, electing grace. Christ, who died for his sheep,
didn't come to try to save everybody. Did you read the articles in
the Bulletin? Arthur Pink, the second one?
He preached the God who is God. Not trying to be God. God who
is God. Not a God you let be God. God lets you know He's God.
He preached to Christ who came to save his people. Not try to
save, not make it a possibility, not put a down payment on it,
but to pay for their sin. Put away their sin. To save his
sheep. He said, my sheep will hear my
voice and they will follow me. He's not frustrated, not disappointed. He'll see the travail of his
soul, Isaiah quote, and be satisfied. Christ who came to do what the
Father sent Him to do, and He did it! And He said on the cross,
Finish! He gets all the glory. And every
sheep. And when it's all over, when
Christ is sitting on the throne, He's going to say to the Father,
Behold, I and the children that Thou hast given Me. Not one is
lost. Not one. I have kept them all. That gives Him glory. For Him
to die for somebody and they not make it to glory, that makes
His blood worthless. For God to love somebody and
can't save them, what good is His love? But I'm here to tell
you. Yes, I am. I'm here to tell you.
I'm told to tell you that God loves His people. Jacob have
I loved. And he said, happy is he that
hath the God of Jacob for his help. Because if God loves you,
you'll be loved forever. And you will be saved. And Christ
came in this world to save sinners. And if you're a sinner, if He
lets you know it, you will be saved. Yes, you will. If your son or daughter is a
sinner, if they ever find out they're a sinner, they're coming.
He's going after them. My sheep, hear my voice. And
he went after this one lost sheep. Now let me ask you this. Is a sheep a valuable creature? Is it? Is it really? Is a sheep more
valuable than a goat? Come on. I've eaten goat meat. I've eaten lamb. I don't know which I prefer. Goat, I've got a coat. It's cashmere. Cashmere is expensive. My dad
gave it to me about, wow, 45 years ago. I've still got it.
That gray flannel coat I'm wearing, that's cashmere. That's a fancy
name for goat. I've got wool clothing. That's
sheep. You know, God made everything
on purpose. Everything gives Him the glory, somehow or another.
Okay? But there's one more value than
another. A worm. Is a worm valuable? Is
it? God made worms. What for? Fertilize
the dirt. Aerate hard soil. We speak, I
speak, we speak of man as being a worthless creature. And I'm
telling you it's the truth according to the Scripture. God called
Jacob, whom he loved, a worm. And the word is maggot. You ever seen maggots? Why is that? Because they feed
on dead things. Sheep. When you think of sheep, you
think of these beautiful little white creatures. Aren't they
lovely? They've been real close to someone. They're dirty. They get dirty really easy. They
get in the mud just like a pig. They're stupid. You shouldn't
call people stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Man's
stupid. He's a stupor. He's ignorant. He's blind, he's hot, he's lame,
he's dumb, he's ignorant, he thinks he's wise, he's a fool.
Rejects his Creator, bites the hand that feeds him. He won't
seek after God. He said, I keep smiting you,
you won't seek me. I keep smiting you, you won't seek me. You don't
even know it's me. You don't even acknowledge me. Man's a
stupid. He said the ox and the ass are
smarter than man. Isn't it? And I'm not trying to belittle
anybody. God did make man in his image,
but man lost that image. Man does not have that image
anymore. You know that? The only ones that have that
image are those who have this new creature in them. Christ
didn't. And yet the Lord loved Jacob,
called a worm, and now He loves many. He loves many. You can't
count them. There are people that know, but
they can't make a number. Worms! He calls them sheep. Let me say this. has compassion
on all mankind. His tender mercies are over all
His works. They really are. But He doesn't
love everyone. No, He doesn't. Because God saves
everybody He loves. Now here's my point. He went
after this one lost sheep. It was not worth going after. What's one sheep out of a hundred? What's one worm out of a million? And, you know, there's a vast
multitude of domestic animals out there, dogs and cats, animals. You have a dog or a cat, do you?
Some of you have more than one. Why would you have one? It's
a good question. More than one. But you do, don't
you? Do, don't you? You know how many millions there
are out there? Billions? Huh? That you've got. Is your
special, is your more special Helen, I know I've been around
them now. Tell the truth. Are they more
special than a dog down in the pound getting ready to be killed?
No, they're not. Why are they special? They are
special to you. Because they're hers. Helen, I will give you $1 million
right now for both those dogs. No, you're ruining my illustration
here. You just ruined my illustration. The fact of the matter is you
wouldn't take, you love old Bodie. Oh man, if there ever was a worthless
dog. But she loves him. She loves
him. She bought him. She brought him
home. She named him. He's hers. And don't you say anything about
him. That's what makes him worth something. Do you see that? And you know, God does make a
change. There's a new creature in Christ. But God's people are
still sinners. And often they act like goats.
And it's a shame. It brings shame on them. They
don't want to ever do it again. And they repent. They keep repenting
all their lives and acting like goats. But there is a difference. But
what makes them of any value whatsoever is that Christ died
for them. He paid a price for them. You see, every single one that
Christ died for and paid for, He's got to go after them. He's
got to. He paid the price for them, he
said. He can't save the father. Here they are. They're all here.
No, there's one I couldn't do anything with. He was too wild.
I couldn't get him. He wouldn't come. There's not
going to be one that he can say, he just wouldn't come to me.
Oh no, hold on now. That's not the story. What happens? It says he goes
after him. Until he finds him. And then
what does it say? Every one of these stories say,
and when he finds him, what does he do? Picks him up. Lays hold of him. Puts him on
his shoulder. Takes him all the way home. Never
puts him down. That's our Christ, she said.
That's our hope. for our lost loved ones. God, you know, we say salvation
of the Lord, why do we say that? Because it is! Because we were
lost sheep. And we've got children and husbands
and wives and mothers and fathers that don't know the Lord and
what's our hope? When we talk to them, they won't
hear our voice. They won't believe us, will they?
No matter what we say or what we do, they won't do it. Here's
our hope, brother, that if the Lord goes after them, if the
Lord speaks to them, they're coming. You say, if I believe
in an election, why? If you believe in an election,
why preach? Because the Lord said to. And because the Lord
said, this is the power of God and the salvation. And he said,
my sheep will hear my voice. And they will come. And modern religion can't understand
how you don't beg people, you don't ask people, you don't sing
a hundred verses to try to coerce people down the front, you don't
bribe them with money under the pew and have dinners to bring
them in. You've got to get them in somehow
or another. No, you don't! He said, I will gather my sheep
from the north, south, east, and west. They will come. How? The Gospel. Simon Peter stood
up at Pentecost and just preached Christ Crucified, buried, risen
again, high and lifted up. Christ said, if I be lifted up,
I will draw all men out of every kindred, nation, and tongue that
have to me. And they will come. You can't
keep them back. He goes after them. Don't you
like that? He goes after them. Look at it. He went after him. What man of
you lose one sheep? You lost that dog? One of those
dogs? And I've seen it. You go after him. We had a Shih
Tzu he knew about, Charlie. Oh, a very worthless dog. He
was appropriately named, Shih Tzu. But anyway, he would run
off. He wanted to run off. He's prone
to wander. Let him outside, and he'd be
doing this. With Charlie standing. And boy, it did. And Mindy would
holler. She could use her rub. Stop,
Charlie, stop, stop, stop. She's just getting a frizz. And he's laughing at her. What'd she do? What'd we do?
He ain't worth going after. He's running from you. Well, we did. We went after him. And boy, if I went after him,
he knew he was laid hold of by Kelly. And I wasn't, oh, sweet
Charlie, that poor thing, he didn't know. Try to save his
life and bring him back home. He went after him. He went after
him. Oh, people. Oh, this is why we
say salvation is of the Lord, and we talk to people, we tell
them the gospel, and we try, but we can't bring them. So we
beg the Lord, Lord, please go after them. Send the gospel. And He will. He'll send the gospel.
You know, we've got children that have heard the gospel. He
said, My word will not return void. It's seed. We don't know when the Lord will
germinate that seed. He said it won't return void.
It won't perish. Not a word of Samuel will spell
the ground. And not one word of God's will
fail. And He sends that Word. I heard the Scriptures from a
child like Timothy. And I remember later in life,
I was a prodigal son. I remember later in life, piercing
my conscience. And that Word come back to my
heart. And so that's our hope in the
system. Brother, that's our hope. They heard the Gospel. That's
the power of God in salvation. And He can very easily, He did
it to me, very easily pierce their heart with that Word that
they heard and bring them back. This is how He goes after them. Sends the gospel like mercy and
truth. Goodness and mercy in Psalm 23. I was watching, I love
to watch these border collies. I've been to one of these dog
trials where they herd sheep, you know. Those dogs, sheepdog. One dog. There was a story of one, a man
had 300 sheep. and had a big farm in Virginia.
And the fence broke, and later on he discovered the fence broke,
and he estimated those sheep had been scattered over a three-square-mile
area, 300 sheep. And it was dark and it was foggy. You couldn't see in front of
your face. And that shepherd sent one doe. And that one dog gathered 300
sheep and brought them back into the fold. The gospel is the power
of God. One word. That's all you've got
to say. Come! And they will come. I was watching another one on
YouTube. Watch them. This sheepdog was
sitting there and his master and those sheep were all scattered
all over that hill. Long, far way up. And that sheepdog
was sitting there right beside his master. And the master said,
Go get them. Go get them. Go after them. Amen God. Brought him back to the shepherd. What am I doing? I'm preaching
the gospel. Preaching the gospel. And if
the Lord gives a word, they'll come. They'll come. Oh, he goes after them until
he finds them. How long can a sheep be lost? He says, until he finds them.
How long is that? How long can a sheep be lost?
How long can someone be lost? Twenty years? Thirty? Forty? Fifty? Abraham was 75 years old. Is there no hope? Can you be so far off, so long
gone, that there's a point of no return? Nope. His arm is not short. John, He made bare to us His
holy arm. How's that? By reaching down
for you and me. How far do you have to reach
for us, John? Can someone be too far gone,
too far off, too wild, too sinful? Can you? It was a demoniac. The Lord left one side of the
sea and went all the way over to save one man. What kind of
man was it? I'm a wild man, like a relative of mine. Nobody could tame Him. Only the
Lord did, didn't He? How do you know? When they
came and found Him, He's seated, clothed in His right man, worshiping
Jesus Christ, pure in His voice, loving every minute of it, thankful,
until He finds You know, you can be lost in the pew as well
as the barstool. You can be just as lost sitting
in a pew as you can sitting at the barstool. There's people
right now at Ippies sitting on a barstool, 10 a.m. right now. Sad life, isn't it? It's just
as sad to sit in a pew in false religion. You're just as lost.
These Pharisees and scribes were lost! They thought they were
found. Anybody have a father or a mother
steeped in religion, steeped in self-righteousness, steeped
in works religion, steeped in free will religion? Anybody? Anybody have a husband who cares
nothing for anything but hunting and fishing and drinking and
his job and making money and running around? Anybody got a
husband like that? Can they be too far gone? Can they be too
wrapped up in this world? No. Anybody have a wife who cares
nothing for anything or anyone, especially God, except their
house, their children, the world and vanity, life and their grandkids
and all of this and that and the other, school functions? Anybody got a wife like that? Anybody got a son or a daughter
who's out in the world and it has hold of them? and taking them down to hell.
Anybody? Can you be too far off? Can you
be too far gone? No. I'm here to give you hope, people.
He says he goes after them until he finds them. Until he finds
them. And then verse 5 says, and when
he finds them, We don't know when that is. You
see, this is our hope, isn't it? We don't know when that will
be. But He does. He does. And if, and when, He does. It will be worth every tear you
shed. It will be worth it all. All
the pain. You know what our Lord said?
It says in Hebrews 12, it says, He who for the joy set before
Him endured the cross, went through
all that, thirty-three years of hell, despised the shame,
put the shame to keep these shameful creatures from being put to shame. despised and rejected of men,
of men and women that weren't worth saving, and young people
that weren't worth saving. That's who he came for. He really
did. And he endured that for the joy set before him. And when he had found it, it
says, he lays it on his shoulder. Verse 5, he lays it on his shoulder. You know, this is why I hate
those silly little sayings, you know, two sets of footprints
and then there was one. Why did you leave me? Here's what Isaiah 46 says. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob,
you that have been born by me. from the belly who carried from
the womb that carried you all your days. He said to your old
age, I am He. To your hoary hairs, I will carry
you. I have made you. I will bear
you. Even I will carry you and will
deliver you. Aren't you glad? When he finds it, he lays it
on his shoulder rejoicing. And look at verse 6, and I close.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors.
You know, that's us. Where's his home? Where does
our Lord dwell? Where does he live? He's saying
heaven. Well, hold on a minute. He's right here in the midst
of his people. God's house. God's people. His friends and
his neighbors. When he comes home, when he finds
one of his lost sheep by the gospel, lays them on his shoulder,
and brings them to his house, and sets them down there. And
boy, there's a celebration that goes on. And he instructs every one of them.
You know this. He told his preachers this. Whosoever believeth and
confesseth me in baptism. But he brings them to his house,
and it says in verse 7, I tell you, there's joy in heaven over
one sinner that repenteth. More than 99 just, so-called
just persons that need no repentance. So this is why I say, for the Lord to save, for one
person to be saved, it takes the Lord. He's got to do it. For one person to be saved is
infinite mercy and grace. And there's not one person worth
saving. Nobody deserves a chance to be
saved. Nobody deserves to be saved. The wages of sin is death. That's what we learn. But God,
so merciful, so kind. And when He saves one, oh, it
says heaven erupts. One sinner that repented. And
boy, Lord, we've got more than one. We need you to do something. Please. He's going to save somebody. The gospel is still being preached.
The door is still open. He's going to save one. Why not
you? Count. Okay, John.