Turn to Luke 15, Luke chapter
15. The title of this message is this, Once I was lost, but
now I am found. I do not know and cannot say
at all that everyone in this room is saved. But I can say everyone in this
room was born lost. We were born lost, every one
of us. We all have that in common. Every
last one of us came into this world lost. Now, I'm not going
to deal with this whole chapter, but in this chapter you have
a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. Everything in this
chapter was lost. It was lost. And someone else
found it, or it would not have been found. Lost. Now, here in verse 11,
Our Lord speaks of a certain man who had two sons, and the younger son said to his
father, Give me the portion of goods that fall to me. He divided
unto them his living, and not many days after, as soon as he
got things straightened up, he headed out. He left home. He desired his inheritance, but
here's what he desired, to go his own way. Our Lord said, it's
written in Isaiah 53, like sheep we have all gone our own way. We've gone astray. We've all
gone our own way. And that's what he wanted to
do. He wanted to get out from under his father, get out from
the authority of his father, leave that house, and live like
he wanted to. He wanted to go after the passions,
the lusts, the desires of his mind and of his flesh. And that's
why he left home and he journeyed, it says, to a far country. He
didn't want to go to the next town. He wanted to get way out
there away from Dad. He wanted to get way away from
home so he could live and do what he wanted to do. Look over
in Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2. This describes
us by nature. Ephesians chapter 2. And you who were dead in trespasses
and sins, this describes us by nature, wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. This describes us by
nature. I don't want anybody to have authority
over us. That starts when you're a teenager. Well, I don't know.
That starts down there when you get about two years old, maybe.
No one has authority. I don't want anyone to have authority.
I want to be my own man, my own person, go my own way. That's
the last thing you want. You end up just like this guy.
So he takes off. He takes his inheritance. He
leaves home. And one of the first things he
did with it, he wasted. He wasted his substance. He wasted
what his father gave him. Who gives to this world every
day? Who gives men jobs? Who gives men what they have?
Who gives men their homes, and who gives the food we eat? And
what do we do? We waste it. Men naturally waste. They waste what's given to them.
He wasted his substance. He spent it on riotous living,
as I read to you there in Ephesians. to fulfill the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. And it didn't take long. It doesn't
take long to waste the things that this life does. You can
go through a million dollars like that. You can go through
your inheritance, whatever it is, pretty quickly. And this
young man threw everything to the wind. He's like, I'm going
to do what I want to do. I'm going to, whatever my heart
desires, I'm going to do it. I'm going to fulfill the desires
of my mind and of my flesh. I'm going to do what I want to
do. And he wasted his substance, just spent it in righteous, as
in righteous living. But it didn't take long, and
he began to be in want. He broke. He's broke. This is the end result of sin.
Broke. This is what this life, this
life without Christ, leaves everyone broke. Bankrupt. Those who die without Christ
die bankrupt. Spiritually bankrupt. Broke.
Nothing to stand before God with. So here he is, he left home,
he went as far away from home as he could get, wasted his substance,
spent it on righteous living, fulfilling the desires and flesh
of the mind, and he broke. He began to be in want, and he
got a job. He went and he joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and here's what that citizen
did. He said, you go out there and feed the pigs. I got some
swine out there. I'll hire you. You can go out
there and feed the pigs. And that's what he did. Here
was a man whose father was rich, had plenty. I have no doubt his
father had plenty. But he wanted his way. He wanted
to go his own way. He wanted to fulfill the desires
of his flesh. And he ended up being in want.
broke, and this is where God has to bring us. He has to bring
us to where we're literally spiritually broke, bankrupt. We have nothing. We are nothing. This man, here he is feeding
pigs, slopping the hogs, and while he's doing this, God's
at work. The Spirit of God is at work. It says, He came to Himself. There in verse 17. And when He came to Himself,
and this is probably the most important phrase in this verse
right here, in these verses. He came to Himself. He did not
come to Himself by Himself. This is God at work. This is
God. I can see here God giving light,
God giving understanding, God bringing this man, this young
man, to the very end of himself. He came to himself. This is what
happens when God saves a sinner. He brings them to themselves.
He brings them to the end of themselves, and He brings them
to themselves. You remember that demonic, an
old man could tame him. They put him in feathers and
he'd break it and he was in his cave running around naked. And
the Lord came over, got out of the boat. He come out and he
said, what do I have to do with you? And he asked me his name.
He said, Legion, because we're many. And he cast him out into
what? Those swine. He cast him out
into 2,000, probably about 2,000 head of swine. And it says that
that demonic that no man could tame was sitting at the feet
of Christ and in his right mind. I can say this truthfully. A person is in the right mind
when God brings them to Christ. They bow to Christ. They believe
Christ. They love Christ. That person,
for the first time, is in their right mind. That's true. You think about being against
God. Is that sane? You think about
not believing God, rebelling against God. A person's in the right mind
to believe God. to worship God, to follow God,
to trust Him. That's when a person is in the
right mind. He came to Himself, and as He's
feeding those swine, slopping the hogs. You look there in verse
16. Why He's slopping those hogs?
He said, He would have faint-filled His belly with the husk that
they did eat. He was so hungry. He was so broke,
so hungry, so devastated by His own doing. by his own doing,
but he came to himself, and he said, speaking to himself, how
many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, to
eat enough to spare, and here I am perishing with hunger. For
the first time since he left, he's now thinking of his father
and how good they have it there at home, how blessed they are. They're well fed. They're well
taken care of. And here I am slopping with the
hogs. I will arise. He determines to go home. I will
arise and go to my Father. And I'm going to say to my Father,
I have sinned. I admit I've sinned against heaven
and I've sinned against you. What I have done is awful. It's
wretched. It's sinful. It's iniquity. It's
transgression. Father, I've sinned. What did
that publican say when he smoked on his grass? Oh, forgive me
the sinner. The sinner. That's what I am.
No more. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. And I'm no more worthy to be
called thy son. I'm not even worthy to be called
a son of God. I'm not. I'm not worthy to be
called a son of God. You're not worthy to be called
a son of God, child of God. But we know who our worthiness
is. Our worthiness is not us, it's
Christ. Thou art worthy. That's what
they sing in heaven. They sing of His worthiness,
not worthy of more. He said, I'm no more worthy to
be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. It's repentance what's going
on here. There's a real change happening
here. There's a real turning that's happening here. He thinks
of his father, his father's house, and how the people there are
blessed, and he's not worthy to be called a son. He's not
worthy of anything. He said, just make me like one
of your higher servants. What happened here? What happened
when he came to himself? He goes through this in his mind
and his heart. What's taking place? What's taking place? Here
are some things that's taking place. This takes place when
God saves a sinner. He realized for the first time,
I mean, He realized it in his heart. He knew this. He realized
his condition. Lost. Have you ever been lost? Lost. Man will never be saved until
God gets him lost. I was lost one time. I remember
up in West Virginia. We was hunting up in Hardy County,
West Virginia. Walked out that morning, left
the truck, went out, started snowing. About two or three hours
later, snow was covered everywhere. I had no idea where I was at.
I'm walking around, walking around. Nothing looked familiar. And
I remember, I was about 16, 14, 15 years old. Me and James went
up to Dad. And I did not know where I was
at. And I remember that feeling of loss. I'm lost. And it dawned
on me. It wasn't until I turned around
and looked back that I realized I was lost. I didn't know how
to get back. You know, I was going this way. Then I decided, well, it's time
to go back. And I turned around and looked back, and I didn't
know where I was. I was lost. It wasn't until Dad started blowing
the horn that I realized. That's the direction back to
the truck. Lost. That's the way we come
into this world. Lost. It says in verse 4, What
man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
and not leave the ninety-nine and go into the wilderness, and
go after that which is lost, Lost. Verse 9, When she had found it,
she called her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice
with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost. And over here in verse 24, he
says, For this my son was dead, and in his life again he was
lost. Now he's found. Lost is to be without God. To
really know your lostness. is to know that you are without
God, without hope, without Christ. That's what it means to be lost. And blessed, blessed are those
who are lost. Christ said He came to seek and
to save what? The lost. Blessed are those who hunger."
This man was hungry. He was hungry. He said he would have pain filled
his belly with the husk that the wine were feeding on. He
was so hungry. It's not until God makes us to
hunger and thirst after righteousness that we'll seek Him and seek
after that righteousness that we need. This man realized he was hungry,
he was needy, he was in rags, he was bankrupt, he was filthy,
he was unhappy, he was living with pigs. And he said, I want to go home. I want to go to my father's house.
He knew his father was gracious. He knew him. He knew him. And
he realized the devastating effects that sin has. You realize, this
is killing me. This is going to take me down
to torment. There's pleasure in sin. For
how long? The Word of God says, for a season. But as we all know, seasons end.
They have their end. He realized the devastating effects
of sin because his health was gone. His money was gone. His family was gone. His friends
were gone. Gone, gone, gone. That's what happened to him. Sin costs us all that we have
and all that we ever will have. That's the cost of sin. He's
standing there in that pig pen. And he's hungry, he's needy,
he's in rags, his health is gone, he's broke, he has no family,
he has no friends. That's not much of a friend to
send you out there just to feed swine and leave you hungry. That
guy wasn't even a friend. I love him. But then he realized this. He
realized. I'm going to rise with my father's
house and I'm going to say to him, I've sinned. He recognized
his sin against his father. David said in Psalm 51, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
He recognizes the one whom he sinned against. And that's true
repentance. That's true repentance. It's
not feeling bad because you did something, but it's truly a broken
heart over sinning against God. His goodness, His mercy. Why are you not in torment right
now? Why am I not? The mercy of God. He sinned against his father
who gave him all that he had. He sinned against his father's
goodness. His father was good to him. He sinned against his father's
provisions. He sinned against his father's
wisdom. You know his father probably
was struggling. You don't want to do this. You don't want to
do it. I'm sure his father had a talk
with him. Son, you don't want to go out
there. You don't want to go out there in that world. You don't
want to leave this place of worship. You don't want to leave this. And he sinned against light.
He knew better. You and I know better. We know
what's right and what's wrong. We know better. So he realizes and he acknowledges
that he has sinned against his father, he has sinned against
heaven, he says. And we realize this too. We realize the one
whom we've sinned against. They shall mourn when they look
upon him whom they have pierced. We've sinned against our Lord's
providence, we've sinned against life, we've sinned against heaven,
we've sinned against God. And we realize this. But here's what he did. In verse 20, he resolved, this
is faith. Here's faith. You see, he was
brought to the end of himself. He was brought to the end of
himself, and he came to himself. He's broke, he's busted, but
he was brought to himself. This is the work of the Spirit
of God. And by faith, he arose. And they said, I'm going to go
to my father's house. Sink or swim, I'm going to Him. Sink or swim, I'm going to Him.
And He arose and He came to His Father. But when He was yet a
great way off, His Father saw Him. You see, He's got all this
going through His mind and His heart. His repentance is there. It's real. And when He sees His
Father, He says, I want to tell Him how sorry I am. Forgive me
for what I've done. Forgive me of my foolishness,
my sinfulness." But that father sees him long before he sees
the father. He sees him up far off. He sees
him coming way down the road. And he recognizes him. That's
my son. That's my son. He's always been
my son. You know, this has caught my
attention. This younger son left, but I tell you what, when he
left, he was still a son. When he was out there wallowing
in the pig pen, when he was out there in his righteous living,
he was still a son. He was still a son. I've always
been his son. If I'm his son, I've always been his son. I can't
explain that. He's loved me with an everlasting love. You can't
explain that. I can't explain that. But he left his son. He stayed out there. He was his
son. He came back his son. The Lord came to save what? Sheep. He didn't come to turn a bunch
of goats into sheep. He came to save the sheep. Lost
sheep that were given to him by the Father before the world
began. That is so over our heads, you know, we can't even begin
to explain it, but we can believe it because the Word of God teaches
it. It teaches it. So he arose and
he came to his Father. But when he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on
his neck and kissed him. What a reception. What a reception. I'm sure that he felt that his
father had every right to just sit him down and just rip him.
Just absolutely rip him. You spent your inheritance. Look
what you've done. You've embarrassed the family.
He grabbed him, just hugged him up, and he kissed him. He fell on his neck, and he kissed
him. And the son said to him, Father,
I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy
of anything I'm about to ask you for. I'm not worthy of forgiveness. I'm not worthy of what I ask
God for. That's why we ask in Christ's name. What's the matter
if you ask in my name? He's the one worthy. But the
Father said to His servants, bring forth the best robe. Take
these rags off. Take the rags off. You know,
I'm sure he was really smelly. I guarantee you. Have you ever
been around I mean, it's an odor, and it'll stick on you. And it's
smelly. And this young man comes back
all smelly, stinking, smelling just like the pigs he was feeding. He'd get down there with them
in those ragged clothes. You know how what a stench that
was, not taking a bath. And the father hugged him and
kissed him, smelling like that. That's his son. He saw someone different than
everybody else saw. They saw a stupid kid that went
out and wasted everything. The father saw his son. This
is my son. This is my son. And he said, bring forth the
vest roll. What is the best robe? I've already
told you earlier. It's the righteousness of God's
Son. His righteousness. Take that
smelly stuff off. Washing. You know he took a bath. Washing. To be washed in the
blood of the Lamb and to be clothed in His righteousness. It doesn't
get any better than that. and put a ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatty calf
and kill it. Isn't that what God did for us?
Did He not take the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and
slay Him for us? That's what happened on Calvary.
There was not a man dying on a cross making salvation possible
to a bunch of rabbits. It was the Lamb of God being
slain for us, a multitude of sinners, chosen
by the Father, given to the Son to redeem. He arose, He went home, and His
Father embraced Him and kissed Him Happy! Except for one. An older brother was upset. Just
like the Jews were upset because those Gentiles got to come into
the house. They said, let the dogs in the
house. And that older son said, I was
with you all the time. I've always been here. You didn't
kill no fatty calf for me. Well, I didn't need to. You're
here. Bring hither the fatty calf,
kill it, let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead." I
read you in Ephesians chapter 2. Dead in trespasses and sins. That was us. Lost, but now he's found. Do you believe God? Do you believe
this gospel? You're found. You are found. And they began to be merry. Don't
you like stories that have happy endings? Our story, I'm talking about the believer
now, those who believe God, has a happy ending. It has a happy ending. Look in
this, Look back in verse 6, after this
lost sheep is found. And when he cometh home, you
see in verse 5, when he hath found it, he lays it on his shoulders
rejoicing. He does all the work. He carries
it all the way home. No, it's not me. He's carrying
us home. The Lord is the one who takes us home. He brings
us all the way home. And when he comes home, he calls
together his friends and neighbors saying, I said, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. And I say unto
you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repents, more than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." And in verse 9, when she found
that coin, and when she had found it, she called her friends and
her neighbors together saying, Rejoice with me, I have found
the peace which I had lost. Likewise, I say to you, there
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repents. Do you realize the joy that goes
on in heaven when God saves a sinner? When God saves a sinner, the
whole of heaven, the whole host of heaven, rejoice. They rejoice. A sinner is found. A sinner is saved. And the Lord
is honored. Every time a sinner is saved,
the Son is honored. And here He says, this My Son
was dead and is alive again. He's lost and found and they
begin to be merry. Oh, what a happy ending. I like
stories that have happy endings. All who go to Christ In faith
and repentance, we'll find the same happy ending. And as this world goes on, you and I are going to pass away
from this earth and we'll go and be with the Lord. And when
one sinner repents, we'll be a part of that host that rejoices.
I can't comprehend what that's about right now, but he says
there's joy in the presence of God. over one sinner that repents. Let me read this to you, and
I'll close. Look in verse 1 and 2. Then grew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear him. The publicans and the
sinners felt comfortable in his presence. The ones who did not
feel comfortable in his presence, were the religious people, the
Pharisees and the scribes. They felt uncomfortable in his
presence. But the sinners, the Republicans,
they felt comfortable in his presence. And the Pharisees and
scribes murmured, saying, and I'm sure glad they said this,
even though they meant it in a bad way, it's something to
rejoice in for you and I. receives sinners and he eats
with them. He doesn't just receive them,
he sits down and he eats with them. They found that appalling. I find it to be a note of praise. This man receives sinners. That means he can receive me.
That means he can eat with me, he can have fellowship with me. I'm telling you what, the gospel
is for the lost. If you're lost, if you're lost,
come to Him. Come to Him. You'll have a happy
ending.