I began reading this and was blessed
by it and didn't realize that it had been so long since we
had studied this, eight years, nearly eight years, since we
looked at this together. So this is a parable of our Lord,
a three-part parable. three-part parable of our Lord
which describes salvation, salvations of the Lord. And these
three parts of this parable tell us the work of God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit, and God the Father, salvation of the Lord. Salvation is the three in one,
doing something for us. And it says here that he told
this parable to publicans and sinners. That's
who it was for. That's who he spoke these words
to. Look at verses 1 and 2. Then
drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners, for to hear him.
To hear him. They want to hear him. not a
dissertation on this or that subject and hear him. Republicans
and Senators, that's who they need to hear. That's who they
want to hear. And that's who they gladly hear. We love that verse that says
the common people heard him gladly. Common people came to hear Christ.
They flocked to him. They were drawn to him. sinners were drawn to the Holy
Son of God. Brother John, that means holiness must mean
something that we don't, that most people don't know anything
about. Isn't that right? You ever been around a super
religious, ultra pious person, you know, who you just, you just
repulsed by them, have you? Have you? You see them coming
at work, Steve? You see those cold winters coming?
And you'd rather hang out with the old, you know, old scallywag,
you know. Wouldn't you? Be honest. I would. That's who Christ hung out with.
That's who loved to hang out with him, too. They were drawn
to him. Holiness must mean something
that most people don't have the foggiest notion about. Right? They're drawn to him, heard him
gladly. Brother Nyberg and I love that verse that says, the people
said about Christ, they said, he speaks as one of having authority,
not like scribes. I can hear those scribes. I've
heard many a scribe, you know, turn to the fourth chapter. Oh,
man. They're dead, and so is their
preaching. Well, he spoke plainly, he spoke simply, down to earth
where the rubber meets the road, where the people were walking, told them stories they could
relate to, and oh, they were drawn to him. It says in verse
2, the Pharisees and scribes murmured. Now, you've heard it,
haven't you? They murmured at him. Murmured. What's this sovereign great stuff
he's talking about? I don't believe that. Murmured. You ever heard him murmuring?
Murmured. And here's what they said in
derision of him. They meant this for evil. Oh, but God means this for our
greatest good. Forget it. Look at this line.
They meant this for evil. They said, this man, this fellow,
receive its sinners and eats with them. You know, they were sitting there
gritting their teeth and scoffing and mocking and all their buddies
were, yeah, that's right, that's right. And there was some old
sinner, some old publican back there, back there said, what'd
you say? This man receiveth sinners. Really? Yeah, and he eats with
them. Where? That's where I want to
go. This is a gospel for sinners. Like we've said so many times,
we'd love to put a sign on top of our church house. Instead,
all of these people have holiness born, you know, the holiness
Pentecostal born-again, rising-above-victorious people church, you know. An average
person, I don't want to go in there. I don't want to go in
there. Let's put a sign on top of the
book or on top of the church that said, sinners only, sinners
only, no good people need apply. Hospital for sinners, all weak
and needy and poor and helpless and hopeless, come here, come
here. That's what Christ did. This
man receiveth sinners. and eateth with them." I wish
you'd never heard that illustration. I'll tell it again. Well, he
eateth with them. All right, this gospel's for
sinners. Salvation is for sinners. Salvation is for sinners. And
this is how God saves sinners. Now, that's why he told these
parables, just to show just how much he receiveth sinners, just
to show how far he goes. Just to show the fact that he
does indeed, absolutely, matter-of-factly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, saveth
sinners. And then he tells us how. All
right, look at it, verse 3. Here's the story of the lost
sheep. He spoke 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 findeth." What man are you, he
said, who owns some sheep? And this was common back then. Shepherds, many people had a
lot of sheep. And he's talking to them where
they are. He said, what man of you having a hundred sheep, that
if he'd lost one of Just one. Doesn't leave the whole, the
ninety and the nine, in the care of someone, and then go after
that one lost sheep. Until he finds him. Until he
finds him. Now, there's a sense in which
every person in this world belongs to God. Am I right? Oh yeah, all souls are mine,
he said. They're mine. I made them. They're
mine. The soul goes back to God who
gave it and made it. All souls. But all men and women
are not his sheep. They're sheep and goats. A sheep
and a goat. Our Lord said that in the end.
He said he's going to gather his sheep on the right hand and
cast out the goat. The sheep and goat, let me tell
you this about sheep. Every one of his sheep are like
this. Lost sheep. I don't know which, some of you
out there may have been in a large family and you were a pretty rotten child. And you
may feel like you're the black sheep of the family. I feel that
way sometimes. Black sheep of the family. I got news for you. I got good
news for you. All God's sheep are black sheep
when he finds them. Every one of them are black sheep.
Every one of them are bad apples, rotten to the core. No good apples
when God finds them. I mean, there's not a sound spot
in it. I went to the market the other day to find some apples,
and I was looking for the best apples, and I found the best
ones, ones that had no wounds or bruises in them. All God's sheep, all God's people
are rotten to the core when he finds them. Scripture says, nothing
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. The test of a good cook would
be bring home rotten apples. Now make a good pie. Huh? That's exactly what our God does.
Nothing to work with. That shows the salvations of
the Lord, doesn't it? All right. And they're all lost,
and that's the mercy of God. All of you don't know it. It's
the mercy of—all of his sheep know it, though. All of his sheep
find out they're lost. What does it mean to be lost? Oh, I hear this religious generation
talking about getting saved. You don't get saved if you're
lost. I'm lost, but I found a way.
Oh, you weren't lost. You weren't lost. If you're lost,
you don't find a way. The way finds you. Isn't that
right? You remember Brother Walter Gruber's
illustration about when he got lost down in Mexico? You remember
that? In case someone doesn't. Brother
Walter, now he lives in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, which is,
I mean, it's hot. And it's hot. I mean, 110 shade
in the summer. And rocky. dry, arid, oh, it's just, it's
rough, it's harsh, it's cruel, it's a wilderness. You go out
in that, and it all looks the same. At nighttime, they don't
have street lights. Isn't that the darkest place
on the earth, men, at nighttime? We drive out to those Pueblo,
those villages at nighttime, you know, and stop the car so
we can all take a pit stop, you know, and close the car door,
and it's pit. You want to know darkness, go
down there. No lights, city lights, street lights, dark. Brother
Walter went and just rushed. Brother Walter went hunting down
there one time. And he went by himself, and that's
just the rule. You just don't go by yourself
down there. You just do not go hunting by yourself. Take a dog
if you have to, or someone preferably. He went by himself, and the men
warned him. This was when he first lived
down there. They warned him that he went anywhere. He got out
in some of that Henica, rocky, way out away from a truck, and
he got lost. And he went on to describe lost. It means you can't find your
way. You don't even have the foggiest
notion of what the way is. You don't even have any idea
which direction is the way. Right? That's law. Instead, he
ran out of water, and he got down on the ground thirsty, where
his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, where he couldn't
even holler. That's law. He said, and the
doctor later on said, you would have died just an hour or so
later. unless somebody came and found
him. He didn't take the first step
toward getting saved. He didn't know where to step.
He was down on the ground. He couldn't step. That's lost. And that's exactly where all
of God's people are found, all his sheep are found. Plumbed,
lost, without strength, without hope, but without God. down on
the ground. Only one way to look up is hell. Only one thing to do is cry out,
hell. And only one hope. Somebody comes and finds you.
Somebody did. Who is it? The good shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd. Look at verse 4. It says that
he leaves a ninety and nine and goes out into the wilderness
and goes after that which is lost until he finds it. until he finds it. And verse
5 says, And when? And he's not coming back until
he does. And when he finds it, when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulder and
rejoices. I want you to turn over to Isaiah with me. Isaiah
chapter 46. This is wonderful. The Lord is
our shepherd. He said that in John 10. He said, I am the good shepherd. I am come to seek and to save
that which was lost. I am the good shepherd. Call
his name Jesus. He shall save his people, his
sheep, from their sin. He said in John 10, he said,
I have sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them. I must. Will he? He shall, until
he finds them. And then what does he do? This
is salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ being made flesh for us,
coming down here among us, and finding us where we are,
lost, dead, and trespassed in sin, giving us life. Let me ask
you a question. Do you picture this story in
your mind of this shepherd going out after
this lost sheep and finding that poor pitiful thing laying on
the ground panting, about dead, and a big strong leather-beaten, tan in the face,
with a staff in his hand, looking everywhere, finding that, and
he found, finds that little, poor little lamb, he can't even
take one step, and he, with those great big hands of his, that
little tiny little sheep, just, just picks it up and picks it
up tenderly, kindly, because it's weak, it's helpless, picks
it up like cattle, And this is the way they carried him back
then. They put him on his shoulder like that. Snuggled up. Snuggled up right around his
neck. Like that, right there. And takes it home. Well, how long does the shepherd
carry that sheep? How long has it carried? I ask
you that. You wouldn't have one of those
little sayings on your wall, would you? One of those little
footprints in the sand? You know that's a silly thing,
don't you? Footprints in the sand. After
a while, there are two sets of footprints in the sand, and the
person, all of a sudden, there's just one. The person gets in
trouble and under trial and suffering and all that, and there's just
one set. person complained, ìLord, why did you leave me when I needed
you the most?î He said, ìI didnít leave you. I carried you.î There
ainít never been but one set of footprints. Look at it here. I love this. Isaiah 46, look
at verse 3, ìHearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the
remnant of the house of Israel which are born, or carried by
me.î When? When did he start carrying her? Isn't that what he said to Jeremiah?
Before you were conceived, I moved you and loved you. Carried from the womb. People,
a lame person, can't walk at all, can they? Can they, Brother
John? Mephibosheth couldn't walk at all. They had to carry him
from the start. Well, how long will he carry
him? Well, the Lord will give you legs that will walk on your
own from then on. Oh, no. Look at verse 4. Even to your
old age, I am He. Your hoary hairs or no hair,
whatever, I'll carry you all the way. I'll bury you. He says, I'll carry you, deliver
you. That's my name, Deliverer. Deliverer. Ah, boy. Now I turn back to the
text. So he finds this little sheep, lost sheep, puts it on
his shoulder. lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.
Oh, this is good. Would you look at it? Any black
sheep out here, look at this. When he comes home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors. Now, this is a picture of Christ
coming into heaven itself in the end. The angels and cherubs
and seraphs and the redeemed of the Lord, and he rejoices
and says unto them, Rejoice with me. I have found my sheep which
was lost." I say unto you, Christ said, that likewise, joy shall
be in heaven over one sinner that repented, more than over
ninety and nine just or self-righteous persons which don't think they
need repentance. Can you get a hold of that, that
the day the Lord revealed the gospel to you? Who are you? Just who are you,
John? Where do you come from? Who knows
you? Huh? Does the world know you? The day the Lord revealed the
gospel to you, it says the angels let out a shout. They had a holy party, if you
will, over John Sheasley II. You get hold of that? The angels
themselves said, Glory to God in the highest. He's found John
Sheasley. You get hold of that? That's
what Jesus Christ said about that. That's what he said. This man received sinners. He goes looking for them, and
he finds them. Thank God. All right, look, here's
the lost coin. Verse 8, it says, Now what woman,
having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not
light a candle, sweep the house, and speak diligently till she
find it? What woman having some money,
if she lose one piece of it, does not light a candle and light
a candle, lighten and take a broom and move the chairs around the
tables and the furniture and all that, looking everywhere
for that piece of silver. Now, you'd think this is a lot
of money here, but it's not. This is not much money at all,
this ten pieces of silver, very little. And one piece is practically
nothing. And here's the point I'm trying
to make. How much am I worth? How much are you worth? How much
are we worth to God? Huh? How much are we worth to
God? You know, have you heard the
saying, if only we could buy him for what he thinks he's worth,
or buy him for what he's worth, and sell him for what he thinks
he's worth, we'd get rich. Have you heard that saying, if
only we could buy this fellow, for what he's really worth, a
plug nickel, and he's not worth that, and sell him for what he
thinks he's worth, we'd be rich. How much are we worth to God?
You remember Don Bell's illustration, don't you, the zeros? Scripture
says if we think we're something when we're nothing. We're all a bunch of zeros, Brother
Don Bell said, a bunch of zeros. That's all we are. It's not worth
the thing. And I don't care how many zeros
you put down. You could keep putting zeros
all day long. And what's that worth? It got
six zeros, six figures. How'd you like to earn that?
Six figures. You wouldn't have nothing. What's
your six figure salary? Come on. It's yours. It's nothing. And what adds value to that?
Now what's it worth? Every zero's worth something.
It's got a one in front of it. And there's only one that's worth
anything to God. There's only one who's worth
anything to God, and because of what he did, because of who
he is, because he became flesh, because he became a man, and
God accepted him, he accepts a whole bunch of zeroes in it. They're made worth something
because the blood of Christ was paid for them. They're worth
something now, worth something to God. How much? He won't lose
a one of them. He won't lose a one of them.
He won't accept nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine
hundred and ninety-nine. He must have every one of them. It ain't worth nothing. One piece of silver, let it go.
No, sir. He's got a state of high price.
He's going after it. Now, this is the work of God
the Holy Spirit. It says the woman lights the
house, or lights the candle. And this is a picture of the
gospel. which enlightens us. The Holy
Spirit lights a candle, illuminates, turns on the light of God's Word,
turns on the light, opens your eyes, your dark heart, and see
who God is. If He doesn't, if He doesn't
open the Word to us, we're in blindness, even as others. Can't
see God, can't see ourselves. Good, when He turns on the light,
We open, he opens our eyes, we see who God is. We look in the
mirror and see ourselves. Oh, it's awful. Then he points
us to Christ. Hey, that's what I need, who
I need. Turns on the light. See that?
And the sweeping. What's that? Sweeping. We sing
a chorus. Sweep over my soul. The Holy Spirit sweeps through
our hearts and minds and gets rid of all the cobwebs and the
dust of tradition and superstition and false refuges of lies and
all that. Gets rid of all that garbage
and fills us with Christ and Christ only. That's the work of the Holy Spirit
and grants repentance. Nobody's going to repent. It's
the goodness of God that leads a man to repent. Ah, look at it again. Here it
is again. In case you didn't appreciate it the first time,
when Christ said that there was a party in glory over one center,
over John Cheesley, he says it again. He said, I say unto you,
when she hath found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together
and says, Rejoice with me. I have found that worthless piece. I have found the peace. Likewise,
I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels
over Benny Hodges, when the Lord revealed the gospel to him."
Who? Well, Gabriel knows her name. Micah, the archangel, knows her
name. The world is just another Hodges
among the 448,532 in Franklin County alone. Right? Just another Hodges, not the
God. Do we need another Hodges? That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
Shines the gospel of Christ in the dark heart and sweeps and
sweeps and away every refuge and all your false hopes and
gives you hope in Christ alone. There is a rejoicing and glory
of one real sinner, a real sinner who trusts Christ. Here is the
work of the Father. He saved the best for last, didn't he? Look at this. Here is the
work of the Father. Look at verse 11. 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 follow them. And he divided
his living unto them, both his sons. Give me. Have you father
and mother ever heard this? Give me. Give me. Give me, give
me, give me. Have you ever heard that? That's a natural man, isn't it?
That's about all he wants out of God. Gimme, gimme, gimme. When they pray, when man prays,
it's not glory, glory, glory, is it? It's gimme, gimme, gimme.
Isn't it? All this prayer nonsense that's
going on today called prayer, you know, gimme, gimme, gimme.
Real prayer is glory, glory, glory. And if there's any gimme, it
might be mercy. Gimme mercy. Well, gimme. The child demands of its parent.
The natural man demands of God, calling on God only when he needs
something. And they get in trouble, get sick, they call on God only
then. Look at verse 13. And so this
son, this wayward son, this ungrateful, demanding son, verse 13, not
many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took
his journey into a far country, far from his father, and there
wasted his substance with righteous living." Wasted his substance. Now, this is a picture of every
man. This is a picture of mankind, far from God. You know, God created
man in his own image. If we could have seen man, oh,
man, if we could have seen Adam, like God created him. We saw the second Adam, but it
still wasn't the same. I mean, outwardly, there was
no beauty about the second Adam. That's because he's the spiritual
Adam. But the first Adam, well, he's indescribable. He
was an indescribable, beautiful creature. You know, Deborah says
when God created all things, he said it was good. And when
he created man, what did he say? It was very good. When he created
man and woman, Adam and Eve, oh, the most beautiful of God's
creation is mankind. Even now, isn't it? Even now,
a handsome man or a beautiful woman is the most glorious of
all of God's creation. Why? Because he's creating the
image of God. Upright, strong, robust. You women think, I don't
know who you think is good-looking today. Henry, I know, I think it's Henry.
But you think he's good-looking. I don't know who you think is
good-looking, but he would look like an ugly duckling compared
to Adam or a woman. But he shook his fist in the
face of God. And now, millenniums later, walk
into a hospital ward and look at mankind. who lived a wretched, vile life
in some seedy part of the inner city, dying with AIDS. Nothing
but a skeleton. Is that Adam? Is that upright,
glorious creature that did it? Is that man? Yeah, he wasted
his service there. Totally. Totally. And people, that's all it is.
We've all got spiritual aid in our necks. We're all lepers,
finally. Children of... Isn't that what Paul said? We're
all children of wrath, even as it is when he finds us. Spent. Plum spent. That's how he found
me. How about you? Spent. Look at
verse 14. It says that when he'd spent
all, there arose a mighty famine in the land. He began to be in
want. There's a famine today, isn't there? The famine of the
hearing of the Word. He began to be in Walton, verse 15, and
he went and he joined himself to a citizen of that country,
and that fellow sent him into the field to feed swine. What
a picture of a religious man this is. You know, our society is rich
and increased with goods and has need of nothing, physically
fat and sassy. It's never been a society more
blessed than the one we're living in now. Absolutely. Had everything they could possibly
need. If you could see the souls of most men and women today,
you'd see a gaunt, die-dead person because of this famine. But people
get needy, don't they? They get some needs and some
wants, and they say things like, try Jesus, try this, try to go
and get problems, problems in their home, and they're married
with their children, and on the job, and they get sick and all
that, so they need something, you know, so they join themselves.
They're a citizen of that country, of the man, a worldling who's
got a little religion. And what does he do? He makes
him a Sunday school teacher. You know, they make their profession,
and they join that religious country club, and And you've
got to keep them, you've got to keep them, give them something
to do, all right? Go feed those swine. I mean, you teach the
sons to do it. That's exactly it. Let me tell you what I thought
of when the Lord said that. Do you remember the story of
the Lord, those demons that possessed that man, asking the Lord to
go into the herd of swine? One of the only other times you'll
hear it in the New Testament, the swine. The story of the swine. Remember? The demons possessed
a whole herd of swine. And it says the whole herd did
what? Ran violently down a cliff and perished into the sea. That's
this religious world. Demon possessed. Jewish demon
possessed. I know this is like the spirit
field, but the demon possessed. Why? How do I know that? preach
the pearl, swine will stomp all over it. Isn't that right? Just stand up and declare the
pearl, ain't no swine going to come and feed on it, only sheep. Swine are out there feeding on
husks. Look at it here. And that man
did. He got religion, and he went, and he, verse sixteen,
he would fain have filled his belly with the husks. Anybody
in here get in trouble and go, well, John Davis is not here.
He went down to, and I'm glad for your sakes that he wasn't
here. But old John was right here. He's just probably down
now. Spent his, wasted his Sunday.
And he joined himself to a little so-called church out here in
the country. Got rid of it. They made him a Sunday school
teacher. And he started teaching the rest of the people. And he
was feeding, feeding, feeding. He said, looking back now, I
didn't get anything out of preaching. I got a little bit full, but
after a while I was so empty. Peace and joy and hope and help
and sin would start coming into me and I didn't have any real
peace until he found me. till the Father sent for me."
It's all spent. Look at it, verse seventeen.
He came to himself. He came to himself. This is the
first, the beginnings of salvation. A man coming to himself. He came
to himself. He came to himself. This is what
God does. He brings a man through this
Word to see himself. I wish I had a great big mirror
up here this morning. You know, if we don't look in
the mirror, we think, we think we look all right, don't we?
Huh? The bigger the mirror, the more
it's magnified. Any of you ladies have one of
those magnification mirrors? Huh? Me and Dinhanna each had
one in their bathroom, you know. Get real close, you know. Boy, you can see the blemishes
then. Try as you may, you'll never get rid of all of them. The more magnified the mirror,
what? Uglier you look. And ladies,
the older you get. Isn't that a good illustration?
The older you get, you're not going to get prettier, are you?
That is, if you keep looking in the mirror. If you keep looking in the mirror
and don't forget what manner of person you are, you'll get
uglier and uglier and uglier. Do you know it's a two-way mirror,
Brother John? Brother John, it's a two-way mirror. You can see
two faces in it. You can see your face in the
other face. The face of Christ Jesus, who is altogether lovely.
See your own lovely face and see his altogether lovely face.
Oh, boy. Well, he came to himself. That's
what it means. Come to yourself. See yourself.
Brother Henry said his worst enemy is himself. He says he
tries to get away from himself sometimes. He said he goes somewhere
to get away from himself, and when he gets there, he's there.
You got that problem? If I don't want to run away from
your troubles, when you get there, he's there with you. Paul said,
Lord, in my members, with me always. This is what it means to come
to yourself. Nobody's going to be safe until
they come to see themselves and love themselves. This is what
it means to come to yourself. I hate myself. Isn't that what
Job said when he finally saw God? He said, I heard you, now
I see you. And he said, wherefore I hate myself. That's what true
repentance is. True repentance is not repenting
over drinking beer or getting drunk or being this and that
and the other. Although, you know, those things
are Those are sins. True repentance is not, you know,
I'm going to turn over a new leaf. Although you do, you do
seek to change. That's true repentance is to
hate yourself and to turn from self, to say, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. It's to renounce everything about
yourself, to put no confidence in yourself ever, ever, and put
all your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. away with it, self-righteousness
away with it. I must have His righteousness.
That's repentance. To hate self. Nobody has ever
been saved until they've been brought to that point. Hate themselves. Turn from self. No confidence
in self. All their confidence in Christ.
If you don't hear anything else, hear that. And he came to himself. Now look
at this. And here's what he said. Here's the conclusion, verse
17. He said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
to spare? I'm perishing with hunger. My father-in-law said to his
preacher one time, so-called preacher, he said, he said, I'm
not getting anything. He said, You're not preaching
something, and I don't know what it is. I'm not hearing something. I don't even know what it is
I need. You say, I just know I got to
go somewhere where I can hear something. Maybe somebody tell
me what I need. This man did that, and he said,
and so he got him a little speech together. I like this. Got him a little confession,
you know. We all do that. We all make our little confession.
We rehearse our prayers. You've never done that, have
you, Brother Henry? Rehearse the prayer? You want to pray
down here in the men's meeting and you kind of think over ahead
of time what you're going to say. You've got to rehearse and
all that. Well, hopefully God will make you forget it when
you went down there. We're not heard very much speaking
of our rehearsed prayers or our little confessions of faith. so-called Catholicism, you know.
Pray for us, Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us, sinners, poor
and needy. Oh, man. Repeat after me, sinners
prayer. Oh, no, no, no. Well, he rehearsed
this little prayer, and here's, and it was, he had true repentance. He said this. He said, I will
arise, oh, I like this, verse 18. I will arise and go to my
Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned Against
who? Heaven. Against God. Right there is true repentance. It's not, I got drunk, but it's, I
hated God. Right there is true repentance. It's not that I did this, I had
an abortion, or I committed adultery. That's not it. Although you will
repent over those things, and not do it again. I didn't have
any interest in the Christ of the gospel. None. Didn't care.
I just repented. I sinned against heaven, and
he said, and before thee. And verse 19, look at this. One
word in here. Unworthy. I'm not worthy to be
called a son. I'm not worthy. Most people and
preachers, you know, Oh, they make over people, don't they?
I think, what an addition to our church, so-and-so. The church
is made up of people who make no addition to it. Unworthy. Unworthy. I'm not worthy. Make me a hired servant. Can
I just keep the door? I'll have to sit on the front
row. Don't make me a deacon. I'm not worthy to be a deacon.
Can I keep the door? If I turn the lights out after
the—I don't have to be treasurer, much less preacher. Please, can
I just—can I just sit in on this?" That's what he said. And so he
arose. I will arise and go to the second.
So he arose, came to his father, came to his father. But now—oh
my, this is wonderful. When he was yet a great way off, a great way off, he's so far
off he couldn't see home. He couldn't see the Father. That's right, Deborah. But the
Father could see him. He foresaw him. He foresaw him. For whom he did foreknow. foresee, forelove, foreordain,
he predestinated. That is, he determined that they
would come. All the Father gives me, what?
Shall come to me, come to Christ, repent, call, beg, come back,
prodigal son. Every prodigal son comes back.
The Father sees to it, foresaw it, foresees to it. That's a
term. Whom he did predestinate, he
called a sinner. You're a sinner, aren't you?
Oh, unworthy, not worthy to be called a son or a daughter or
a child of God or a Christian or a believer. They don't need
me. Just let me sit in on it. Whom he called, he justified. Everybody that comes back to
Christ, comes to Christ, he justifies that fact. There's no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. Oh, isn't that a picture of the
Father's predestinated love and purpose. And look at this. And
when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and did what? Railed on him. Came to him and beat him with
a stick. You ungrateful wretch. Don't
come back here. Had come. There is that word
again. I did not plan it that way. I did not plan it that way. Honestly,
as a matter of fact, that's the first I really saw that word
in this passage. I mean that, Jenny. That's the
first I really recognized that word. Have compassion, tender
mercy on him. And did what? Fell on, ran, ran. Didn't walk, you know, or turn
his back, you know. Act like he didn't care, you
know. There it comes where I'll make him suffer. What's that? That's a speck.
That's my boy. Bang! And bang on his neck. And the boy tried to get his
little say in that. Got to get a little speech out. He said,
Dad, Dad, I read it here. He said, son, they have sinned
against heaven. And I said, no more words, but make me in it
before I can get it all out. The father said, just hush. Bring
the best brother. Bring the best robe. You know
what that is, don't you? The best robe. That's the imputed. Look at this old rotten naked.
He was in rag. You know he was in rag. Feeding
in a hog trough. His clothes were a mess. Take
those rags off him. Take away his sins. Clothe him
with the righteousness of Christ. The best robe. Read on. Put it
on him. He didn't offer it to him. Put
it on him. Imputed it on him. Put it on
him. Put's in impute, isn't it? Right
in the middle. Right in the heart of impute.
Put. Put it on him. And put a ring on his finger.
Who was it that was talking about the ring this week? One of the
men was talking about the ring being a round or a symbol of
love. A never-ending symbol. A man
wears that. Symbolic of that he's married.
When people see that, they say, hey, he's married. He's not ashamed to do so. Why?
Because he's married. It's somebody he loves. That's
a symbol of it. And it's an unending symbol.
And he always wears it. And this love that God sheds
abroad in the heart of everybody, he puts it on them. It's an unending
love. He wears one, too. Father has
one on. He puts it on them, and they
wear it proudly and gratefully. Unending love, commitment. Read
on. And he says, put it on him. Oh,
he must shed it abroad in our hearts. And shoes on his feet. Shoes on his feet. Shot him with
the gospel. Shot him well. He's going to
have to walk for many days. He's just a young one now. He's
got many years ahead of him. He's going to have to walk in
this world You're going to have to have a solid foundation. Put
some good shoes on him. Bring those good shoes, the best
shoes, gospel shoes. Let him wear them. And he'll
find out that 40 years later, there ain't even a hole in them. They ain't never worn out. As
a matter of fact, they fit better than the day they put them on.
Now, Roger, read on. Brings with her the fatted calf."
What's a fatted calf? That means a calf that's been
fatted. Is that profound, Barbara? A fatted calf means a calf that's
been fatted. I'm telling you everything I
know in this one message. I know I'm going. This may be
it for me. One of the kids up at 13th Street,
a teacher asked him what a redeemer was. What's a redeemer? And the child put down on the
paper, one who redeems. That's right. I told the folks,
I said, there ain't an Arminian preacher in the world that knows
that. Now, they say he tried to. They named him Redeemer,
but he didn't redeem anybody. He tried, failed. Now it's up
to you. You be the Redeemer. No, his
name is Redeemer. Because he redeemed. He's one
who redeems. Having obtained, read on, and
it says that a fatted cat, Christ is the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world, prepared for sinner, kill it, eat, let's
eat, let's eat and be merry. Let's eat and be merry. Oh my, this is why. For this
my son was dead and is live again. He was lost and is found. I found him. and they began to
be married. This, my son, was dead. He was
alive again. Why? I gave him life. He lost,
now he's found. Why? How? Who did it? God the
Son, God the Spirit, God the Father. I gave him life, found
him. Yes, our God receiveth sinful
men. This man receiveth sin. I've
preached a while and I'm going to tell you something. The Lord did. There was a young
man, just much like this young prodigal son, years ago, back
in the days of the early passenger trains, steam engines, and he
lived out in the country. He lived out in the country.
His folks lived on a farm. The railroad passed real close
to the farm. My grandparents, Henry, lived
right beside the railroad tracks, about 20 feet from it. I remember
that train coming through. And as a kid, I was thinking,
he's going to run over me, lay in his bed. Well, anyway, this
man lived out in the country like that with his young man,
with his parents. And he got older and decided
he wanted to leave home and venture out, you know, be his own man,
be independent. And he took off, and like this
young man, he wasted his substance. And he was gone for years. And
like young men are prone to do, never called home. Just never
even called home. They didn't know where he was.
Broke his mother's heart. Broke his daddy's heart. Just
thoughtless, selfish, uncaring young man. Well, he got down. He got down with nothing and
nobody. Nothing and nobody. And he thought
to himself, I wonder if Dad and Mom could take me back. I got nowhere else to turn. So
he wrote them a letter. He wrote home and didn't leave
a return address. He was just practically living
on the streets. And he wrote home and all he said All he said in that letter was,
coming home Friday on the new train, if you'll have me, leave
a white towel on the line. If you'll have me, leave a white
towel on the clothesline. So he boarded the train next
week, and he got on that train. That train passed by the old
farm place on the way to the station. And there was a white
towel, and white sheets, and white washcloths, and white shirts,
and white underwear, and everything white that they had in the house.
Come on home, son. Come on home. This man received
it. You got one out here? All right. The Lord bless that
to your heart. Let's stand and just be dismissed
and pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for the mercy of our God that's in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We thank you for your tender mercy, your compassion, your
grace, the salvation that's in Christ for the chief of sinners.
How we thank you for the gospel. It is indeed good news to worthless
sinners, nothings and nobodies, prodigal sons, lost We thank
you for this gospel. Thank you, Lord. We do hear this
gladly, and it draws us to you. But draw me nearer, blessed Lord. Draw me nearer, we pray. Make
this gospel more and more sweet, we pray. Draw someone to yourself. Bring some prodigal home to yourself. For your glory, we pray and ask
these things. Amen.