I want you, first of all, to
open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53. And Isaiah gives us an account
of it here in chapter 53. He says in verse 1, who hath
believed our report, our gospel, our testimony? To whom is the
arm? The arm of the Lord is the power
of the Lord. It's the Lord Jesus. You know,
he said, my ear is not heavy that I cannot hear, my arm's
not short that I cannot see. arm of the Lord, the mighty right
hand of God, is Christ. And to whom is Christ revealed?
Who believes this gospel? To whom is Christ revealed? For
he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out
of a dry ground. He hath no form or comeliness. And when we shall see him, this
is the Christ, the Lamb of the Son of Man, the Son of God walking
this earth, Son of Mary. When we shall see him, there's
no beauty that we should desire him. He was made in the likeness
of flesh and the likeness of sinful flesh. He's despised and
rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He's despised, and
we exalted him not. We esteemed him not. Did give
him honor and praise. All of these people were offended
because of his family. They said, is not this Jesus? Is not his mother and father
with us, his brothers and sisters? They were offended. They were
offended because of his lack of approved education. They said in John 7, how knoweth
this man letters? He's never been to our schools. He's never been to the approved
schools of our day. How does he know letters? They
were offended because of the country out of which he came.
They came from Galilee and they said, The Scriptures doesn't
say anything about Christ coming out of Galilee. They said Christ
shall come from Bethlehem, city of David. They were offended
because of his vocation. They said he's not just a carpenter.
His lifestyle, he's a gluttonous man, a wine-bicker. They were offended at his doctrine.
Turn with me to John 10, when our Lord speaks to these people. They were offended. They despised
what he said. In John chapter 10, verse 30,
he said, I and my father won. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. And he answered them and said,
Many good works have I showed you from my father. For which
of these works do you stone me? And the Jews answered him, saying,
For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. They call your doctrine blasphemy. I'm the bread from heaven. I'm
my father's one. I've come that they might have
life and have it more abundantly. They say that's blasphemy, because
you're a man and you make yourself God. Offended, highly offended,
despised him, rejected him. All of that is his lack of approved
education, his home country. It's like one of his disciples
said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? His vocation,
he worked with his hands on the carpet. His doctrines. But I'll tell you the thing,
perhaps one of the things which offended these religious people,
these religious people the most, was the people who followed our
Lord, the people to whom our Lord came, for whom he came,
the people who flocked to him, the people who sat at his feet. They were offended because these
people were sinners, sinners. On one occasion in, we'll read
it in a few moments, in Matthew publicans and sinners came to
hear him, and he sat down with them. And these Pharisees saw
him sitting with these publicans and sinners, and they were highly
offended. And they said to his disciples,
they called Peter, James, and John aside and said, Why does
your, why does your master eat with publicans and sinners? We
don't understand. Why does he, why does he sit
with these people? and talk with these people. On
another occasion, they said, he's a friend of publicans and
sinners. On another occasion, when he
went to be the guest of Zacchaeus, this is what they replied. They
all murmured, saying, he has gone to be the guest of a man
that's a sinner. And you know, when the Lord was
having a meal in the home of the Pharisees, And in those days,
they ate lying about on pillars and things of that nature. The
tables were down low near the floor, and the guests, their
feet were out this way. And this woman, a sinful woman,
came in, and she knelt at his feet as our Lord lay there eating,
and she knelt at his feet, and she wept. and washed his feet
with the tears of her eyes, and then uncladded her hair and dried
his feet with the hair of her head. And the old Pharisee sitting
up there on those upper seats that you talked about a while
ago, Brother Paul, he looked down and this is what he said,
if that man were a prophet, he wouldn't let that woman touch
him because he would know she's a sinner. That's the thing that
offended them, the people who followed him, the people who
heard him, the people to whom he preached, the people whom
he welcomed, the people who sat about at his feet. The very worst
thing they could say about him, they thought, was he's a friend
of sinners, his followers of sinners. But let me tell you
something, that which to them was the worst thing they could
say about It's the best news you ever heard. He's a friend
of Senator's. And if he's a friend of Senator's,
he's a friend of mine, and a friend of yours. I want to make four
statements, and you listen to these. Now this is a—somebody
asked me one time, how long does it take you to prepare a message?
It took forty-nine years to prepare this stuff. That's how long I've
been working on this. Forty-nine years. ever since
I started preaching the gospel. And we learn things as we go
along. Here are four statements that
I've accumulated over forty-nine years. And they involve—every
one of them involves you and me. Now here's the first one. It's not your sins that'll keep
you from this divine, heavenly calling. The calling of Christ
is a holy calling, a heavenly calling, a divine calling, an
effectual calling. And it's not your sins that will
keep you from that divine calling. It's your righteousness, your
goodness. Turn to that Matthew 9 now that
I quoted a moment ago, Matthew chapter 9. People always talk
about, well, your sins will keep you from Jesus. That's not so.
That's not a word of truth in there. He came to save sinners.
He came to die for our sins. He came to put our sins away.
That's why he came. It's your righteousness that
keeps you from Christ. Matthew 9, verse 10, And it came
to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, behold,
many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his
disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said to his disciples, Why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said
to them, David, behold, need not a physician, but David is
sick. Now you go, go ye and learn what
that means. I'll have mercy. I'll have mercy. I've come to be merciful and
gracious. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call, divine
call, heavenly call, holy I've not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance." A man said to Spurgeon one time, oh,
Mr. Spurgeon, I think he was trying
to be a little pious, you know, oh, Mr. Spurgeon, the greatest thing between us
and the Lord is our sinful self. Spurgeon said, my friend, you
got it backwards. The greatest problem between
you and the Lord is your righteous self, and it's got to be put
away. He receives sinners and eats
well. I like what that dear old lady,
she came home from church one Sunday and she said to her husband,
she said, the pastor found my name in the Bible. He said, Edith,
that's not even a Bible name, Edith. He doesn't find your name
in the Bible. She said he read it to the congregation. Jesus said, he read over this
man, receive his sinners, and eateth with them. That's your name, mother. And
he receives and eateth with them. Now here's the second statement.
The people who were turned away from Christ in Matthew 7. Let's
turn over there and read about it. Matthew 7. people whom he
turned away, to whom he said, I never knew you. I never knew
you. Depart from me. Depart from me. To whom would
Christ say such a terrible thing? Get out of here. Depart from
me. You workers of iniquity. Those
must have been awful sinners. No, they weren't either. Let's
read it. Many were saying to me in that
day, Lord, verse 22, Matthew 7, Lord, have we not prophesied
in your name? In your name have cast out devils,
and in your name done meaningful work, wonderful works." These
were good people. These were church workers, religious
people. They'd tell the Lord what they
did. He didn't turn them away because
they were sinners. He turned them away because they
claimed to be righteous. They didn't need His righteousness.
They didn't need his forgiveness. They didn't need his blood. They
didn't need his grace. They furnished all of their credentials
and expectations for heaven. And then when I professed unto
them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. What am I saying? and saying,
the people who were turned away from Christ at the judgment were
not turned away because they were sinners, but because they
claimed to be righteous. That's exactly right. They pled
their righteousness, not his. He turned them away. All right,
here's the third statement. The Pharisee in the temple. Turn
to Luke 18. Luke 18. The Pharisee in the temple went
home condemned because he was not like other men. The publican
went home justified because he admitted he was like other men. He was a sinner. Listen to the
Pharisee in Luke 18, verse 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. He said, God, I thank you I'm
not as other men are. What are other men, fellow? Well,
they're extortioners. I'm not an extortioner. They're
unjust. I'm not unjust. They're adulterers. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
like other men. I wasn't born in sin. In sin,
my mother didn't conceive me. I don't have a deceitful heart.
I'm not like other men. I'm not even like that publican
standing up back there. I fast twice a week, I give alms,
tithes of all that I possess, and the perfect understanding
of faith would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven." He
had nothing to claim in himself. He smote on his breast, and he
cried, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, Christ
said, this man went home justified because he was like other men. The Pharisee was condemned because
he wasn't like Isn't that something? Here's
the fourth statement. Most people are reluctant to
admit the one thing, the very one thing that makes them the
object of God's grace. And that is that they're ungodly
sinners. You just, you like pulling your
fingernails out with pliers to get them to admit that they personally,
individually, are ungodly. Born ungodly by choice, by nature,
by practice. Turn to Romans 5. Listen to this,
Romans chapter 5, verse 6. For whom did Christ suffer? For
whom did Christ die? For whom did Christ come into
this world and make himself an offering for sin? Here it is.
And listen, we shy away from these words. We shy away from
them. We just, we just are not going
to use these words in reference to ourselves. But listen to this.
In Romans chapter 5, verse 6, For when we were yet without
strength, without strength, without any spiritual strength or life
or ability in due time, in God's time, Christ died for them godly. Those are the people for whom
he hung on the cross, the ungodly, the thief who died next to him.
That's a perfect example. Today you'll be with me in paradise.
Read on. Scarce before righteous man will
one die, yet for adventure for good man some would even dare
to die. But God commended his love toward us, toward us in
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Our Lord deals with this subject
in Luke, Chapter 15. That's where I want us to go
for the time we have left. Luke, Chapter 15. He deals with
this very subject that I'm talking about. In Chapter 15 of Luke's
Gospel, here it is again, Luke 15.1. Now listen. Then drew near
unto him all the public and the sinners for to hear. This is
that same train all the way through the Then the publicans and sinners,
people who gathered around Christ were those who had a need, who
had no ability to meet that need, who knew that He was the only
one who could meet that need, that He was the Savior of sinners.
They were looking for mercy. The publicans and sinners drew
near to hear Him, to sit at His feet, to listen to Him. And here's
that other crowd, and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, murmured. saying, This man receives sinners,
and eateth with them. There she is right there, old
Edith. He receives sinners, and eats
with them. And then our Lord spake this
parable unto them. I say this so often to our folks,
and I'm sure Brother Paul says it here. Find out who's talking.
When you read the Bible, who's speaking? To whom is he speaking? And what's the subject? Christ
is speaking here. To whom is he speaking? These
self-righteous religious fellows. They have no need. They're not
sinners. They're not lost. Don't need a Savior. He's talking
to them. And what's the subject? He's
talking to them about this very problem. He came to save sinners,
and they don't claim to be saved. And it says he spake this parable
unto them. Now, you're familiar with this
fifteenth chapter. This is what we call today the
parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost troy, and
the parable of the lost sons. But I beg your pardon, they're
not three parables here. They're one. One parable in three
parts. Our Lord spake this parable,
not these parables, this parable unto them. who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous. And this parable Spurgeon said,
this parable is like a pyramid of three sides. A giant pyramid of the gospel.
On one side you have here the Father. One of the pictures,
the Son. And one of the sides, the Holy
Spirit. The Father, the Son, the Holy
Spirit in the redemption of sinners. And he starts out, now, I want
you to listen to me read chapter fifteen here, verse four through
seven, and tell me who's the chief person in these verses. Who's the chief person? Like
you said a while ago, who the chief person is in the wedding
and the scriptures. It's the bridegroom, it's obvious.
Now tell me who's the chief person in this part of the parable. Which man, what man of you having
a hundred sheep, if you lose one of them? does not leave the
ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost
until he find it. And when he has found it, he
lays it on his shoulders, rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls
his friends together and his neighbors, saying with them,
Rejoice with me! I have found my sheep which was
lost. Likewise, I say unto you, I say
unto you likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth over more than over ninety-nine persons, just
persons who need no repentance." Who's the chief person? The shepherd. The shepherd. And that shepherd
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the good shepherd. He's
the great shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. All
you can say about this sheep is, he was lost. That's about
all you can say about it. What can you say about the shepherd?
What do you say? The shepherd owns some sheep. They were his. He loved them. The shepherd loved the sheep. They were his sheep. That's what
it says in verse four there. Which man of you having a hundred
sheep? They're all his. And one of them
was lost. And he went out personally to
find that sheep. He came and he went out to find
that sheep. And the search was costly. He searched and searched and
searched, and our shepherd came and bled and died to save his
sheep. And his search was persevering. He searched till he found it.
He never quit. No matter what it cost him, no
matter what he had to give, no matter what he had to suffer,
he loved that sheep. It belonged to him. He persevered. He searched till he found it.
And when he found it, his search was successful. He put it on
his shoulders. He didn't turn to the sheep and
say, you should have gone out. You follow me, I'm headed home.
You keep your eye on me while we... Lifted him up, put it on
his shoulders, and he came home and said, rejoice with me, I've
found my sheep. His grace always searches for
his sheep, always perseveres. always finds him and always brings
him home. Now let me answer some questions
about this part of the parable. Verse four through seven. We'll
camp here for just a moment. First question is this in verse
four. Who are the hundred sheep? He
says he has a hundred, having a hundred sheep. But I'll tell
you who they are. They're the whole number of his Old Testament,
New Testament, every generation, every day, whether they're—when
He came to this earth, whether they were in heaven, or whether
they were on the earth, or whether they hadn't been born yet, were
going to live on this earth, they're all of His sheep, His
sheep. One day He was speaking about
His sheep, and His disciples were there, and He said, Other
sheep I have which are not of this other sheep I have. What man among you having a hundred
sheep?" Our Lord's sheep were given him by the Father. They
were given him by the Father before the world began. That's
what he said, my Father gave them to me. My Father gave them
to me. And I have these sheep, and this
hundred here is a certain number for an uncertain number. That's
what it is, a certain number for an uncertain number. He has
sheep from every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven. He
has sheep as the stars in the sky and the sands in the seashore,
but they're his sheep, given him by the Father. So this is
all of his sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and I give them eternal life, and they'll never perish.
Now here's the second question. Who is the one sheep that's gone
astray? Well, there are two things taught
here. This one sheep signifies all
of us. Oh, we like sheep that come astray. We turn to everyone
to his own way. And the reason he uses one sheep
is because we didn't see him as a group, each one of us. That's what he did, he said,
one sheep. The shepherd went out to search
for the sheep, and all through the night in the darkness deep,
he searched and he found him, and with love bounds he bound
him, and I was that one lost sheep." Me. See, that's—he says
one sheep's lost. They all went astray. All has
sinned and come short of the glory of God. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've all turned everyone to
his own way, but he says one sheep, because we did it individually. Perfect. Now here's another reason
why he says one sheep. This also shows the infinite
love of the shepherd for each one of his sheep. You see, if
only one sheep had been lost, you or me, to redeem that sheep,
the Lord would have had to do everything that he did. That's
right. If he only came—he came to redeem
many people, many people. But if only one person was lost,
whom he came to redeem, he had been born of a woman, lived a
perfect life, go to Calvary's cross, die, be buried and rose,
rise again, go to glory and then receive for him, if only one.
All right, here's the third question. Who is Franz? He says here, when
he found his sheep, listen to verse six, when he comes home,
his house, his home, he calls together his friends and neighbors.
Who are his friends and neighbors? And he says to his friends and
neighbors, Rejoice to be with me, I've found my sheep. Well,
I'll tell you, that has two meanings. Verse six and seven. The first
meaning is this. When he comes home to his house,
to the church, when the Lord seeks a sheep by His Word, by
by his gospel, and finds him. Where's the first place he takes
him? To the church. His friends, his neighbors. I'll show you that in the scripture.
Turn to John 15. Here it is. He brings that sheep
to the house of God. He brings that sheep to the people
of God. He brings that sheep to the shepherd's
He brings that sheep to the church of God, where that sheep will
worship and praise and receive instruction and prayer and exhortation
from his friends that are already there. Look at John 15, verse
14. You're my friends. You're my
friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call
you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.
I've called you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my Father, I have made known to you." You know, in the, when
Peter preached at Pentecost, and God saved, what, 3,000 at
Pentecost? They were all together. They
broke bread from house to house. Nobody said everything mind that
only became everybody's. And they continued in one accord,
breaking of bread, prayers, preaching. study the word, take him to the
Lord's table, and when our Lord finds his sheep, he brings him
to the church as a pastor, under shepherd, as friends and neighbors
that love him, pray for him, encourage him, exhort him. That's
right. You rejoice with me, and my,
how they rejoice when he finds one of his own. And that shepherd,
that sheep finds a home in that church. till God calls him to
the next home. What's this? Now, what's the
next home here? Verse seven. And I say unto you,
likewise, likewise, Josh shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repented. Well, who's in heaven? The angels?
God? Moses? Isaiah? David? Samuel? Jacob? Joseph? Keep naming them. Heaven's
full of people that know God. And they rejoice when the Lord
finds his sheep and brings them home. Joy in the presence of
the angels. You know, we have guardian angels. In Matthew 18, the Lord talks
about our personal angel. He said, now don't you despise
one of these little ones, and don't you offend one of these
little ones, because his angel is before my Father which is
in heaven. Isn't that what it says? So there's
joy in the presence of the angels when sinners repent. Well, look
at the next line. There's joy in the presence of
the angels, joy in heaven. It says presence of angels in
another place, but joy in heaven over one sinner that repented.
More than over, ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
Who's that ninety-nine? I know. It's those folks I just named
that were in heaven when Christ left to come down here. You see,
this world, the history of man is 6,000 years old. Our Lord
came down here 2,000 years ago to redeem the people. When he
left heaven to come down here and redeem the people, there
was a bunch of people in heaven he'd already redeemed in the
mind of God, in the purpose. He was a lamb slain for the foundation
of the world. But when the shepherd came to
be, the Lamb slain in person, he left a congregation of believers
around the throne, just innumerable, and saved from the time that
the Lord God Almighty created this world. I'll read to you
about it in Hebrews 12. Turn over here. Just persons. Why do they need no repentance? Listen, when our Lord was down
here on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah came down here
and talked to him. They sat beside him in his glory
and talked to him. About what? His death. Why would
they talk about his death? Because he redeemed them by dying. But they were already in glory.
Now listen to Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12, verse verse 20, 22. Hebrews 12, 20. But you have
come unto Mount Zion. We don't come to Mount Sinai.
We come to Mount Zion, the church, to the redeemed people, unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the innumerable
company of angels, to the generous heaven and church of the firstborn,
which are written in And to God, the judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men, made perfect already. We come this morning,
we come in glory, in glory. Heaven's full of just people,
made perfect. When our Lord came down here
and walked this earth, heaven was full of just men, made perfect
in the blood of Christ. You see, there's no time with
God. We're creatures of time. We say this happened here, well
how could it have any effect back then? If you watch a parade,
there's going to be an Easter parade, and you take your children,
you go down and find a good place where you know everybody's going
to pass by. And you sit the children down there on the beach or something,
and then you watch the parade. Here comes the parade master,
and then here comes the and here comes the flow, and you see,
you see them come by you, and they're gone. You don't see them
anymore. You see what's in front of you. But if a fellow's up
in a blimp, looking down, he sees the whole parade from one
end to the other, the beginning to the end. And so I run to him,
one glance, he sees the whole parade. I, my God, knoweth the
end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done." He declares those things done that are not
done yet, but they're done to him. He sees Abel's sacrifice
the same time he sees the last sheep brought home. He sees the
Passover lamb at the same time he sees the Lamb of God, our
Passover. That's right. And when our Lord
came down here to redeem one lost sheep, there were already
nine and nine sitting around the throne, he already redeemed.
Just men, made perfect, who need no repentance, already saved. Well, here's the next question.
How can you rejoice so much over one sinner, when all these other
people have been saved by the Lord, too? Well, I stole this
this illustration from Charles Spurgeon. He said, if a mother
and dad have eight children, one of them's lost in the woods,
out there by himself in the woods. The other seven are home, but
he's lost, and they're looking for him, and finally they find
him and bring him home. Who's going to get the ice cream? The little fellow that was lost
Who's going to get to sit in his mother's lap? Maybe sleep
with mother and dad that night. Not all eight of them. Just him. Just him. Who's going to get
the first serving of the meat at the table? The one that was
lost. I tell you, that's it. Joy among the friends. That's the reason that someone,
the Lord pleased to say someone here this morning. We just ignore
some of you older folks. You've been around long enough
to be ignored. Me too. But we'd sure embrace him. We'd
probably embrace him for about the next six months, you know.
Just so glad, so glad. And that's the work of the shepherd.
And that's the main character in that part of the story. Then
our Lord says in verse eight, and I'll give you this more quickly,
because I've already established the purpose, already established
the message. It's he loves sinners. He died
for sinners. We rejoice over sinners, minister.
Here is either one woman among you having ten pieces of silver. She owns ten pieces of silver.
They're hers, just like the sheep belong to the shepherd. His coins
belong to her. And they're valuable to her.
They're hers. They're hers. If she lose one
piece, light a candle, sweep the house, speak diligently till
she finds it. And when she finds it, she calls
her friends and her neighbors together and says, Rejoice with
me, I have found the peace that I lost. Like the shepherd and
the sheep. This woman and the coin. The
coin's hers. The coin's valuable to her. The
coin is going to be found, and she's not going to stop till
she finds it. And that's the Holy Spirit. That's
the Holy Spirit. What does she do? She lights
a candle. It's dark. The coin's lost in the dust.
The coin's lost in the dust. That's us, the coin. And the
coin doesn't know it's lost. And the coin's content to stay
right where it is. But this woman's not content
to stay there. Wherever it is, she's going to
find it. She's going to find it. And so that's the Holy Spirit.
But she's got to have light. And this is the light. Thy word
is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." And the Holy Spirit
takes the Word of God, and comes with that Word of God, and finds
that lost coin. And it says she took a broom,
swept the whole house. She moved the furniture. She
didn't know where it was. The Holy Spirit does. Now, you
can't make this walk on four legs. But she had, she went all
over, and God tells us, going to all the world. I don't know
where the sheep are. I'm seeking Him. You say, if I believe what somebody
says, well, if I believe what you preach, I wouldn't even preach
it. That's the reason I do preach, because it's His sheep, and He's
going to find it. It's His coin, and He's going to find it. And
I've got the light, and the Holy Spirit leads the preacher to
take the Word of God, the light. And we sweep the whole house,
go into all the world, move furniture, everything, to find that coin.
God will move anything. He'll move people. He'll move
families. He'll move to find his lost coin. That's right. It's like, turn
to Ephesians 1 just a moment. Ephesians chapter 1. She searched
and she found it. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse
3. Now here's the Father in redemption.
Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heaven and places in Christ, according as he chose
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy without blame before him in love. Now that's the Father. Now here's the Son, verse 7,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence." That's the summon. Now here's
the Holy Spirit, verse 13, "...in whom you trusted after you heard
the word of truth." This light, this gospel, you heard it. It
shined—God shined in our hearts the light of the word to give
us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
"...in whom you trusted after you heard the word of truth."
The gospel of your salvation in whom also after you believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. She took the
light and moved about, and that light hit right on that coin.
Boom! There he is. And that light shined
upon that coin, and God takes the gospel and shines in our
hearts to give the light and the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Christ Jesus. And we come. back to the foe. And then this joy in the presence
of angels over one sinner that repented. But our Lord's not
through with this parable. He's talked about His suffering
and sacrifice to find His sheep. He's talking about the Holy Spirit's
illumination, the light of the Word, the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ, the light of truth,
the light of—it shows us who we are, what we are, our inability
and shows how great God is, and the blood of Christ, and the
righteousness of Christ. We see it in the works. But here's
another part of the story. Listen. First, and he said a
certain man had two sons. Man had two sons. And the younger
one said, Father, give me the portion of goods that follow
to me. And he divided it to his living, both of them. And not
many days after, the younger son gathered all together and
took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance
with wicked, righteous living. And when he had spent everything,
there arose a famine in that land. He began to be in want.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country,
and sent him to the fields to feed swine. And he would have,
he fain would have filled his belly with the horse that the
swine did eat, but no man gave to him. And when he came to himself,
why he said, how many hard servants in my father's house have bread
enough to spare? I perished with hunger. The servants
that worked for my father better off than I am. I'm dying of hunger. I'm going to rise and go to my
father. And I'm going to say to him,
Father, I stand against heaven and before thee, and I'm not
fit to be called a son. Just make me a hard surfer."
And he rose and came to his father, and boy, he was a great way off.
The old man saw him. How long do you reckon that man
had been standing by that window, looking out over that hill? Years. Wondering if my boy would ever
come home. And he saw him. And he had compassion and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said, Father,
I sinned against heaven in your sight, no more worthy to be called
your son. But the father said to the servants,
bring the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand,
shoes on his feet, bring the fatted calf for special occasions,
kill it lest he, my, and be married. My son was dead. He's alive again. He was lost. He's found. They
began to be married. Who's the leading character here?
that father. If nothing about that son, it
would cause us even to look at him. He's an ungrateful wretch
that wasted everything. I'll tell you this, I've heard
preachers try to preach the gospel from this, and just to stay here,
it can't be done. Because there's no blood, there's
no cross, there's no shepherd's sacrifice, there's no—this boy
just came to himself. He wanted to He wasn't enlightened,
he wasn't taught who he was. He just came, he just, it was
a commercial thing. He said, folks at home are better
off than I am. If I go home I can get a job
working for my father, it pays a lot better than feeding these
pigs. So he came home. I'll tell you who the chief character,
that father, with his compassion and his love. This is his time. You see, he allowed the son to
have his way. He allowed us to have our way.
But he was still his son. No matter where he was, how lost
he was, how sinful he was, he was still his son, and he loved
him. And the son came home, and the
father ran to meet him. And this is our Heavenly Father.
The Lord Jesus takes his sheep, suffers and dies for them, brings
them home. The Holy Spirit, with the light
of the Word, finds the sinner, quickens him, convicts him, brings
him to love Christ, believe on Christ, come home, and the Father
receives us. He accepts us in the beloved.
Gracious and tender and loving and kind. You know what he did?
He said, bring the best robe. That's Christ's righteousness.
The best robe. Put it on him. Boy didn't go get it, he brought
it, put it on him. Put a ring on his finger. My wedding ring got too small,
I had to have it cut off. My wife found one of my old ones,
put it on one of her fingers, she said, you belong to me, let's
show it. I'll catch you for that now. He put a ring on his finger,
this is my son. This is a prince, I'm a king,
he's a prince. My son. put shoes on his feet,
he's going to walk different than the way he walked down that
hill with those old limp and lame on those old sinful scarred
feet. He's going to walk in new shoes. New shoes. A new road. A new way. And kill the fatted
cow. They kept this for special occasions.
And this is a special occasion. This is going to be one of those
big marriage suppers. Kill the fatted cow. But I won't
close now, but there's somebody hanging around outside. I want
to read you about it. There's somebody hanging around
outside. All right. Verse 25, Now the elder brother
was in the field, and he came and drew near to the house, and
he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants.
He said, What's going on? What's this mean? And he said
unto them, Will your brothers come home? And your father had
killed a fatted calf because he had received him safe and
sound. And he was angry. He was angry. Who'd we start
with? A bunch of Pharisees that were
angry because Christ was eating with sinners. A bunch of religious
people that were angry because, and murmured because Christ was
a friend of sinners. This boy's angry and he would
not go in. He wouldn't. If this man were
a prophet, he'd never let the woman touch him. I'm not going
to have anything to do with these sinners. He wouldn't go in. And
therefore his father came out and entreated him, and he answered
and listened and said to his father, Lo, these many years
I served thee, neither transgressed I at any time. What did the prodigal
say? I've sinned. What did this boy
say? I never sinned. against heaven and in your sight."
He said, I haven't transgressed at any time your commandment.
You never gave me a kid. You never gave me the best robe
or the ring. No, you couldn't give him anything.
He worked for him. He provided for himself. But
as soon as this, thy son, there's no love in his heart. He didn't
say, my brother's come home. He said, that son of yours has
come home. Isn't that right? His nature is just boiling out
with his anger, his pride, his arrogance, his self-righteousness. This son of yours, not my brother,
which is the virage you live in with Harlot, you kill for
him the fatted calf. Oh, my goodness. Let me ask you
some questions, and I'll close. Which one of these sons will
really love the Father most? Well, you know, don't you? Too
much is forgiven. Which one of these sons is going
to bring the Father the most glory? Why, the one who wondered,
he said, oh, the mercy of my Father. I don't say about the
grace of my God, my Father. I'm talking about how merciful
He is, how good He is. This man is bragging on himself.
This man is bragging on his Father. Which one of them, in closest
sense, will never leave home again? That old elder brother's going
to be gone pretty soon. He's going to get mad and quit.
Yeah, he will. I guarantee you that. I guarantee
you he won't be around to see the summer sun. He'll be gone.
He's mad. And he's not going to hang around.
He's sure not going to live in the house with that sinful brother. He's going to be gone. But that
brother who was lost, he'll never leave again. He's tasted the world, and he's
tasted the grace of God. And that ain't got no pull for
him. Isn't that right? That's security. That's grace. That's the word of the Lord.
And that's the gospel. Thank you, brother. Robe, ring, robe, shoes, ring,
and the cap. That's good. Robe, ring, shoes,
and the cap. All right, Sherry, if you'll
come up. 477. Let's sing. This is a good one to sing. 477.
Years I spent in vanity and pride. All right, let's stand and sing
a few verses. 477. Here's a spinning man of tea
and wine, Carrying on my Lord's crucified. Knowing that it was
to me He died, That's what I believe. Mercy, there is pain embracing
us free, Listen to the words of the second verse. Sing that. Till my country's gold and gold
rings out through the Calvary. There, there was freedom, grace,
and prosperity. There, there was love to plight,
to flee. There, I heard it so well, liberty
and Calvary. Last verse. Oh, the love that through salvation's
plans brought him down to man. Oh, the mighty gods and God-forsaken
men had come on thee. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. God in there was multiplied to
me, and my words of energy had covered me. It's been a long time since I've
felt this way. I know it's been a long time since I felt this way. so so