That's what I mean. She knew
the tune we were singing. I forgot. That's not the tune
in the book, but our pianist knew which tune to use. I forgot to make that change. Luke chapter 15, Luke 15. We need to be thankful to everyone
for everything. A cup of water. God's people are and should be
the most appreciative and thankful people on earth. To him first
and to everyone else that he uses. All right, let's read the
first two verses. 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. Sinners drew near to him. And
the Pharisees said, Well, this man receiveth sinners. Yes, he
does. That's why he came. That's why
he came. He's the Savior of sinners. Lost
people need a Savior. They're lost. Righteous don't
need a Savior, but sinners do. No. Well, the Lord gives this
three-part parable now. Three parts to this parable.
They're all together to illustrate salvation. Three parts. And it's
important that we look at all three parts. because they go
together. He told this one whole parable
together in answer to these murmurers about him receiving sinners.
Yes, he's the savior of sinners. But he gives this three-part
parable to show the work of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But we're going to dwell mostly
on the last part, the work of the Father. True salvation, Bible
salvation, is of the Lord. That's what our Lord shows here.
And it gives Him all the glory. True salvation, Bible salvation,
is God the Father purposing salvation, electing and choosing a people
to be His children, and being the author of this
whole thing of salvation, how it's to be done. Salvation is the work of God
the Son who came down here and did the work, fulfilled the law, paid for the
sins of God's elect, redeemed his people. Salvation is the
work of God the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit to everyone whom
God chose every single one that God chose and gave to Christ
to save them, to die for, to live for. The Holy Spirit in
time comes, in his time, good time, he comes through the preaching
of the Word. This is the power of God in the
salvation. This is what creates that new
life. This is And the Holy Spirit is the one that plants that seed,
that life-giving seed in the heart of an old dead sinner,
opening their eyes, ears, heart, breaking their heart, giving
them repentance, oh, I've sinned against God, showing them Christ,
oh, I need Christ, quickening them and bringing them to Christ
by faith. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
All three of these are in this parable. Now look at the first verse,
verses 3 through 6. 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? If he's a good shepherd
and he's lost a sheep, well, then he goes finds it. If he's
not such a good shepherd, he won't find it. If he's a real
good shepherd, he'll find it, won't he? And he'll look until
he finds it. Our Lord is that shepherd. The
Lord is my shepherd, the psalm says. And he prayed in John 17,
he said, all that you've given me, of all that you've given
me, none is lost. He said in John 10, in that whole
chapter about being the shepherd of the sheep, he said, I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. But they were all lost. You're
not found until you're first lost. Well, who found them? They don't find themselves. What
could be plainer? It says he goes after that which
is lost. That's what Christ did. He came into the world. Why?
To try to make men accept him, to make salvation possible. No. He came after his lost sheep. He left the ninety and nine in
heaven and came after the one lost sheep, and he goes after
it till he finds it. And our Lord Jesus Christ found
every one of them. He had to go looking for them.
He knew where they were, though. He knew where to look. Because
he put them down. Find one on a well, find one
up a tree, one out in the wilderness in a chariot. He finds them all. Look at verse 5. And when he
hath found it, no doubt about it, is it by the same. There's
no possibility that this Lord, our Shepherd, will not find.
Every one of his shoes. When he hath found it, what does
he do? Layeth it on his shoulders. He doesn't say, come on, sheep,
now you've got to walk right. Come on. Follow me. He puts it on his shoulder. Carries
it all the way home. There never has been but one
set of footprints. That's what he said, didn't he,
Nancy? I'll carry them to their hoary
heads. When you're a baby, you need
carrying, don't you? What about when you get old? You sure do,
too. Somebody has to pick you up. That's the Lord. Carries them
all the way home. God hath laid on him, on his
broad shoulders, the iniquity of all of his sheep, and he bore
to the cross and saved them all. Yes, sir. Not one of his lost
sheep will be forever lost. He finds them. And there's joy. Verse 7, there's joy in heaven
over one sinner that repented. Joy in heaven over what Christ
has done for them and what the Spirit has done in causing them
to repent. All right? Now, here's the work
of God the Holy Spirit. Verse 8. He says, What woman,
having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not
light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till
she find it? Candle, light, sweeping. Sweep over. Where did we get that? Sweeping,
seeking diligently. The Holy Spirit of God. is the
one who does this work here. The Holy Spirit of God comes
in search of, through the preaching of the gospel, through the preaching
of the Word. The Word is called a light, is
it not? The Word is a light. It searches
out the dark heart, reveals unto us what we are, reveals unto
us who Christ is, who God is, reveals salvation to us through
the Word. This is the light, They are in
darkness, they don't understand this book. It's a book of Jewish
history. Until God, the Holy Spirit, enlightens
them. All the elect whom God chose,
sons of God, though they are in darkness, even as others,
yet they will always be in darkness. But God teaches every one of
his sons, they shall all be taught of God. illuminated by the preaching
of the gospel, enlightening their dark heart. The Holy Spirit is
the one that does the seeking. The Holy Spirit is the one that
does the finding. The Holy Spirit is the one who
operates on every one of them. I'm giving God all the
glory right now. These are the same things we
hear over and over and over again. We must, the preacher must stand
up and give God all the glory at every opportunity. The Holy Spirit comes seeking,
finding, operating on everyone whom God chose, everyone whom
Christ died. He gives them repentance. It's
a gift of God, repentance. Causes them to ask for mercy
they didn't even know they needed it before. Who taught them? The Holy Spirit opens their understanding. You're guilty. Shows them their need of grace
that they can't save themselves. You need somebody to save you.
Find you. A coin. A coin is an inanimate object,
is it not? What can a coin do? Nothing. What can clay do? Our Lord said,
I'm the potter, you're clay. Clay has no say. And like Adam
of old, the first Adam was of the earth, earthy. How did he
live? God formed him. First, he had
a body first, didn't he? Was he alive? Just a piece of
clay. How did he live? God breathed into him the breath
of life. It's the same way as new birth.
We're living in these bodies, dead and trespassing sin, a creature
of the flesh with no thoughts toward God, but God, rich in
mercy. His Holy Spirit comes. He breathes
in them through this, opening eyes they didn't have before,
ears they didn't have before, heart to beat they didn't have
before, desires that they didn't have before. It's the work of God the Holy
Spirit causing them to see their need of Christ and come to Him.
The reason men and women seek and call and come is because
God the Holy Spirit first did the seeking. in the calling and
came to them in sovereign mercy. God gets all the glory. Salvation
of the Lord. Verse 9, he says that she hath
found it. When she hath found it, she calleth
her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for
I have found the peace which I had lost. is a great gathering of people
which are rejoicing in what Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit
and with God the Father, has done for lost sinners. It's not
a bragging session on sinners who accepted Jesus. It's an eternal
bragging on the triune God for saving sinners. The Holy Spirit made a sinner.
That's a sacred thing. He makes them lost. You understand
what I'm saying? We're lost by nature, but he
makes them understand that they're lost. All right, now here's the
Father's work, and this is where we'll dwell. The work of the
Father, beginning with verse 11. Now, let me say this before
we look at this. This doesn't stand alone. Okay? This doesn't stand alone. And
so it's not different from what he just said. You understand? It goes with what he just said.
Lost sheep? Goes, finds. Shepherd goes, finds. Lost coin? Woman goes, finds
it. Lost son? Son just came. No, no, no. the Father. It goes together. But no parable can perfectly
illustrate eternal truth. Have you ever wondered why the
Lord spoke so many parables? Because one parable cannot perfectly
illustrate eternal truth. And this one of the Father, you
know, It's just a parable, but it's a wonderful one. And the
Father's not passive in salvation, but it was the Father's choice,
God the Father's choice, election, and purpose which made some lost
sinners his sons. He made some sons by adoption.
That's what Romans 8 is all about. We're not sons by birth, sons
by adoption. Sons by new birth. All right? So you see, you understand why
I say that It's just snow falling off the roof. Stay with me. All right. With that being said,
we do need to marvel at God's love and compassion toward lost
sons. Don't ever get over this. This
is my favorite story. This is my story. This is my
story. This is my song. All right, let's read. Verses
11 through 13. 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 Paul had to make. And he divided unto both sons
his living, not many days after the younger son. Now this is
fitting that the younger, that this would all happen to the
younger, not the elder. You know why, don't you? Yeah,
you know. You've been taught. That's God's
electing purpose in Romans 9, the elder shall serve the younger.
Read on. All right, the younger son gathered
all together, took his journey into a far country, and there
wasted his substance with righteous living. A far country, far from
the Father. That's where he wanted to go,
far from the Father. And that's every single child
of God in the beginning, far from God. Before God saves us,
Isaiah 53 says, we all, we like sheep, have turned to his own
way, which is away from God. And it says, he wasted his substance
with riotous living. His substance being his mind,
his body, his soul, he wasted it. Wasted it on the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Wasted
it. And verse 14 says, And when he
had spent all, spent himself, and had nothing left to spend,
outwardly or inwardly, a spent man. It says there arose a mighty
famine in the land, in that land, and he began to be in want. There was a famine in that land.
There was no bread, nothing of any substance or value. No one had anything of any value
or substance to give to this prodigal son, and he was in want. He really didn't know how bad
he was on, because he resorts to something else. And this is
all of us by nature, all the sons of God, the prodigal sons
of God, who spend however many years it is until God in mercy
operates upon them. And they spend themselves in
riotous living in this world, in a world where there's no bed,
no substance, nothing of any value, vanity of vanity, saith
the Lord. Everything is vanity. And we
all spend our mind, body, and soul upon these things with no
thought to our God until we get in need and want and without,
and then everybody calls on God. Well, this young prodigal began
to be in want, and as I said, he did not know what he needed
really, and he turned to many things. Look at it, verses 15
and 16. He went, now he was in want,
and so he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. Now people, this is a picture
of someone who's in want and doesn't know what it is they
want or what it is they really need, like many of us in here,
turning to religion. When nothing seems to fulfill,
or at least when they get in dire straits in this world, turn
to religion and try to find some satisfaction or some help there,
okay? And it says when he jumped, a
citizen of that country being this world, this world, and those that are in it that speak
of the word. Well, what this citizen of the country did was
gave this fellow something to do, to get his mind off of his
troubles. He's got heart problems. That's
his whole problem. He's got heart problems, and
he doesn't know it yet. But that's his problem. Well,
he joins himself to a whirling fellow, and the fellow says,
The problem is you just need to get busy serving. So what we'll do is we'll put
you on the committee of swine feeders. We'll appoint you chairman
of the pig feeders committee. Every Sunday you'll go feed pigs.
Look at it, verse 15. He sent him into his fields to
feed the swine. Everything our Lord says is on
purpose. He didn't feed sheep, he didn't
feed cattle, he fed swine. What's a swine? It's an unclean
thing. A swine. And I tell you why,
because you will never find any pearls with swine. Swine wallow in the mud. They
don't eat green grass, they wallow in the mud. And this world, Christ
is not in this world. You don't cast a pearl before
a swine. Read on. It said, verse 16, he
would feign or attempt to fill his belly with the husks. What's
a swine eat? Anything you put in front of
him. Sheep won't. Swine will. Here's something
good. Ooh, that's good. What is it? Husks. Wonderful. That's a good sermon. What was
it? Don't know, but it was good. Husks. Externals. Look at that. Isn't that beautiful?
Externals. The husks of religion. No meat,
no substance. The husks. Read on. It says, And no man gave unto
him. Nobody could fill him up. Nobody
could help him. Nobody could give him any peace,
any joy, any salvation. Why? He's got That's his whole
problem. Well, get busy. And you get into
religion, and you're convicted over your sin or whatever, and
get into religion, they'll make you something. They'll give you
something to do. You need to serve the Lord. That's
the whole problem. You need to quit doing this and start doing
that and do this and do that and do that. Get busy, boy! And
here's some husk while you're at it. Oh, boy, I feel better. with his belly is rumbling. This
does not fill me up. Right, John Davis? I'm not getting
anything here. I'm busy, but I'm lost. I sure feel outwardly better,
but I've got an inward problem. It says in verse 17, when he
came to himself, he came to himself. Then you just happen to one day
decide, I'm just going to quit this, and nope. He came to see
himself for what he is. Maybe one morning
he got up and looked in the mirror and saw himself. He came to see
himself for what he really was. He looked in that mirror before
he thought he was, you know, I'm the son of a noble man, and
you know, I'm a good fellow. And after so long a period of
time, and finally he begins to be in want and need, and he comes
and looks at himself. He sees nothing but sores, wounds,
and bruises. Peter finds, he sees rags. John, he sees rags. He's wearing
rags. He's a beggar in rags. He looked
at his feet, and he's got no shoes on. He's dirty, and he
looks at himself for what he really is. He comes to see himself
as a beggar on a dunghill, a pigpen feeder. A sinner in a hog trough! Not a son, a sinner! Look at me. And this is a picture
of the sinner coming before the mirror. This is called a looking
glass, a mirror in which God in mercy and grace Reveals the
sound, puts it in the face of sound, and they see themselves
for what they really are. Not a good person, not a sweet
fellow, but a sinner through and through. Blemishes all over. A beggar in rags with no gospel
shoes on their feet. Lost and undone. And they say,
look at me. Look at what I've done to myself.
Nobody's fault but my own. I'm nothing, look at me, I'm
nothing, I have nothing, I've wasted my life, I'm a beggar
now. And he says in verse 17, how
many hired servants of my father's had bread enough, and to spare
even more than enough bread, and I'm perishing with hunger.
Well, I remember my father has everything. And even the
servants eat well back home. This is a picture of some old
sinner hearing somebody tell him the truth through the preaching
of the word. The father, there's bread with him and despair. You're perishing with hunger.
We didn't know it, but your whole problem is you're without God. And you'll never find any peace
or satisfaction because you're without God. You don't know your
Creator. Well, verse 18, he says, Well,
I will arise and go to my Father, and I will say to him, Now, it's
God the Father. As I said, no parable can perfectly
tell the story. Right? It's God the Father. Listen to me. God the Father
sovereignly causes His people to be in want. The world out
there is not in want. People, your old cronies, they
don't need this. They don't need anything. Your
old buddies, matter of fact, they may be very successful out
there in the world. And he may bring you down to
rock bottom materially, as well as spiritually, to show you that
you don't have anything here. That you're not going to make
a living here. That this is not your living here. It's not your
life. But there's nothing here for
you. It is here for a time. It's God the Father who makes
His people to begin to be in want. And He works out everything,
He works out everything to bring them to see themselves, to bring
them finally to a point where they hear the gospel, to see
themselves, to see their need, and to begin to seek mercy and
forgiveness from the hands of God. You being in this room is
not an accident. The Lord is cast into the lap.
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. You came and
sat in that pew, Henry Sword, and heard about sovereign mercy
to an old prodigal son because God willed it and brought you
here through all those circumstances to this point, to your birthday,
if you will, the day of mercy, the day of your salvation. Well,
this was this young man's day. He said, I'll rise and go to
my Father. No one will unless God causes
them. Our Lord said that, did he not?
He said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. The Father must draw them. Didn't
he say that, John? He gets the glory. Well, he said,
I'll rise. He had to say something. His
heart's breaking. His heart is guilty. His heart
is convicting him of what he'd done, sinned against his dad,
wasted his substance, a worthless, no good, ungrateful son. His heart is already feeling
all these things. Where is the abundance of the heart? The mouth
speaks it. It does. And so he makes up,
he's got a, doesn't make it up, this is coming from his heart,
but he has a little speech he wants to give to the Father,
you see. Look at verse, look at verse 18. It says, I'll say
unto him, Father, and it's a good speech. He says, I've sinned
against heaven and before thee, and I'm no more worthy to be
called thy son. Make me as one of the hired servants.
I'm not worthy to be called a son. Just make me a servant. I'll
be content to just sweep the floor, keep the door. I don't
expect any real mercy out of it. I sinned against you, against
God, against you. Well, this is exactly what David
and every sinner whom God reveals himself to says. See, true repentance is toward
God over our sin. Not sorrow over sickness. Oh,
so-and-so is on his deathbed. He made himself right. That's
not repentance. According to the multitude of
God's tender mercy, what he's saying is, I don't deserve anything
from you. I just, but you're going to have
to show mercy. Break out my transgression, wash
me freely from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sins. You're going
to have to do it. For I acknowledge my transgression,
my sin is ever before me. It is thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you might be
justified when you speak, and you're going to be clear if you
send me to hell. But don't, please don't. Just
make me a servant. That's all I'm asking. Well, what shall we call this
fellow? Let's call him Jim. Bill and
Jill. Old Jim. Young Jim. The prodigal. Prodigal son. That's the reason
he doesn't have a name, isn't it? Because he's many people. prodigal daughters out there,
too. You know what? They're prodigal daughters. Girls ain't sugar and spice and
everything nice. Well, he arose when he came to
his father. when he was a great way off,
long before he could see the Father. It says the Father saw him. When he was a great way
off, it says his Father saw him and had compassion. The Father
saw him long before he saw the Father. And what is this a picture
of? Oh, God's eternal electing grace.
Oh, blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places. For he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be sons. The Father
had already determined before the Son ever got there. Before
the Son saw the Father, the Father had determined in compassion
and love to receive him back from sin. to restore everything
unto me." Sounds like he was waiting on
them. Would you? If you had a son? Huh? If you had one son, or a
hundred sons, and they were out there, and you knew, you knew. In fact, You'd be waiting and watching,
looking, wouldn't you? And old Jim's dad would go out in the
field and work every day, and one day he saw a speck in the
distance. A speck. That's what we are,
an insignificant dozen. A speck on a ball of dirt with
a bunch of other specks. who is rich in mercy, who is
a great lover with his loved son. He said, well, there's my
boy. There's my boy coming home. Just like that plan. His father
saw him and had compassion. Oh, people, Christ didn't die
to get the Father in the notion of loving us. God loved his sons from eternity. That's why Christ died. That's
what Jeremiah 31 says, I've loved thee with an everlasting love,
and therefore, with lovingkindness, I sent my Son. It was the love
of the Father that sent the Son for his people. And we don't
tell everybody that God loves them. No. But we do We do want
to give God all the glory for his electing love and compassion. It was the love of the Father
that sent Christ. Yes, it was. And had compassion. Read on.
It says, Now when his Father, when he was yet a great way off,
his Father saw him and had compassion. How much? How willing was the
Father to receive this boy? How willing was he? He ran. Scripture says, God is
ready to pardon. I like that. Ready to pardon. More ready than we are to receive
it. Yes, he is. He ran to redone. And he fell on his neck, not
with a sword of justice, with an arm of love. Can you see this
picture? The boy had been gone all that
time. The father saw it. That's my boy come home. Ran. I believe the boy started running
too and then just fell in the dirt. Overcome. Dad's coming after
me. He's coming to me. He fell on
his neck. They were both down there in
the dirt. And he stooped down where that boy was conviction
and contrition, and both. This is my story. Todd Compton fell on his neck. What'd he do? didn't smite him. He should have
been smitten. He deserved to be smitten. He's
no good, worthless, thankless, ungrateful, perfect. Sign. Oh, sign. Sign. Sign. Daughter. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance. Well, the son, he had his little
speech, you see. He wanted to confess. Verse 21,
he had to. He had to get it out. Verse 21,
he had to tell the dad he was wrong, and we should. Well, he said, he went on, I
sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy
to be called thy son." Just make, book the Father before he got
the whole thing out. He had more to say. Book God!
Knowing what things he had need of, even before he left, he knew
who the boy had sinned against. He knew all things about it.
He knew the boy better than the boy knew himself. And the boy
just had to burst in heart, confess, and before he got his whole confession
out, here's what the father said to his servant. Verse twenty-two,
"...bring forth the best robe." James, John, Paul, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, bring the best robe. My son's home. Put it on him. You see, he was
in rags, wasn't he? A beggar in rags. And all our
righteousness is a filthy rag. What is this robe? Christ's righteousness. We hear it through the gospel.
The servants of God. Put it on him. Put it on that
old beggar. He needs a robe. He's naked.
He's in a rag. Put it on him. Notice that this
son's just standing there. This whole time, the son's just
standing there. He's got his speech out. He had nothing more
to say. And the Father's given all the commandments. Do this. Do that. He's everything's being
done to him and for him. He's standing there. Overcome. Overcome. Bring the best road. Put it on
him. Put a ring on his hand. What's that? That's a symbol
of sonship, a symbol of love. You put one on your wife's hand,
she on yours, a symbol of love, of an eternal bond. Put the ring
on him. Everybody will know it's my son. Shoes on his feet. He's walking
barefoot, shouting with the gospel. Bring here to the fatted calf.
See, the father already had a calf ready and waiting, didn't he?
He had a sacrifice ready and waiting for the Son. Kill it. That's Christ crucified for us
before the foundation of the world. The blood that makes atonement
for the prodigal son's soul. And let us eat. We're going to
eat it together. The Son at the Father's table.
And we're going to be merry. No more tears. was dead, and he's alive again. He was
lost, and he's found. You see, he's found. Our God, our Father, is the one
who causes prodigals to come back. He found us, and they began to
be married. Oh, Mary, that son, now that
son never forgot. He never forgot. You know he
didn't, people. He never forgot that father's
abundant mercy and grace to such an unworthy son as him. Never forgot. The rest of that
story, just in brief, in closing, a brief, is about The other son,
the elder who was with him all the time, and if you'll notice,
it said that he came in and said, Father, you never gave me a calf. I've kept your commandments all
the time. I've never transgressed ever,
and you never gave me a calf. Do you understand what that is?
That's a self-righteous Pharisee in religion who says, Why, I've
kept the law perfectly. I've never sinned, but God never,
the blood of Christ doesn't atone for them. There's no sacrifice
for them. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but prodigals to repentance. And they all come. All the Father
giveth them shall come to him. I'll tell you a story. There
was a young son who, just like this prodigal, left home and wasted his substance, like the
prodigal, riotous living, living for himself, disregardful of
his parents. And finally he came to himself,
too, like this prodigal. Down and out. And he thought,
I'd sure like to go back home. If I could, I wonder if Dad and
Mom would have me. I wonder if they'd have an old
boy like me. So he called. No, he didn't call. He sent a
telegram. This is back for telephones. He sent a telegram. Everybody
rode on the train or stagecoach. And he sent a telegram saying,
coming home Thursday at noon, If you'll have me, put a white
towel on the line, on the clothesline. If you'll have me back, sign
your son." So, come Thursday, a train passing
through, and the old boy's home place was within sight of the
tracks. And he looked at the old home
place, and on the clothesline were white sheets, towels, pillowcases,
underwear, and everything in the house white. Come home, son. Come home. Number 389, may we come to ourselves
by God's mercy and say with the prodigal, I am resolved no longer
to linger. I'll hasten to him. Let's stand. I ever saw the love that lingered
on my worldly life. Things that are higher, things
that are lower, things that are where I stand. I do face and
to Him face and to Him The second is the last. He is the just one, He has the
works of life. I will hasten to Him, hasten
to God and pray.