Come back to Luke 15. Luke 15. It says in verse 1, "...then drew
near unto him the publicans and sinners." I can just see these publicans
and these sinners. He had something to say to them.
When he spoke, he had something to say to them, and they heard
it. Grace poured from his lips. Publicans and sinners were welcomed. They were welcomed in his presence.
We are welcomed. I hope we could ever get a hold
of that. We are welcomed in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The physician is surrounded by
his patients. Those who need Christ will come
to hear him speak. If you need him, you'll come
to him. I know that. Those who need him will come
to him. And Christ welcomes every sinner that needs him. He welcomes
every sinner into his presence. But these Pharisees, these religious,
lost Pharisees and scribes murmured, they complained about Christ
receiving sinners, about Christ healing and doing good and eating
with these sinners, and keeping company with sinners. You know,
he was despised because of the company he kept. They hated him for that. They thought if he were a righteous
man, he would not keep such bad company. If he was like us, if
he were like us, he wouldn't keep such bad company. That's
the way they felt. But, our Lord was not affected
by the slanders of men. He knows what's in man. He knows
man is sin. He knows that. And the Lord speaks
here in verse three. He spake this parable, it says,
unto them. The Redeemer of sinners speaks
now. God incarnate. This is God Almighty. This is God of heaven and earth. This always fascinates me when
I go through the Gospel and really through the whole Word of God.
Here is God in the flesh speaking. and even speaking to those parishes. God speaks, and He speaks to
them and to us here in this parable. He gives us an earthly story
with a heavenly meaning, and the message of this whole thing
is this. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which
is lost. That's what He came to do. He
did not come into this world to impress anyone. He did not
come into this world to get anyone's attention or get our praise.
He came to save. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to save man. That's what He came to do, to
save man. Now, here is the parable. He says, What man who has a hundred
sheep, if he lose one? will not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness and go and find that lost sheep." I
thought today, bad would be that shepherd who would not go after
that one sheep. That would be a bad shepherd.
Bad. But our Lord is called the Good
Shepherd. He's called the Good Shepherd,
and He's not going to lose. He is not going to lose not even
one sheep. But you say, but one, he's got
ninety-nine left. If he lost that one sheep, he
would lose his glory. He'd lose it. He came to save
every one of the sheep that was dealing with him. He's going
to go into the wilderness of sin and death and recover that
one sheep. That's right. He saved his sheep. One at a time, this one, this
one, this one. One sheep. He always saves one
sheep. And those one make up many. They make up many. And notice this. It is his sheep
that went astray. He did not go out after some
goats and turn them into sheep. They were his sheep. They're
always his sheep. And he's going to save every
last one of those given to him by the Father. Those from among
the Jews and those from among the Gentiles. Listen, he started
out, this shepherd, started out with a hundred sheep, and when
this is over, he's going to have a hundred sheep. He's not going
to come in with ninety-nine of them. He's not going to come
in with eighty of them. He started out with a hundred,
it was given to him by the Father. He's given a number that says
that no man can number. And when this time is over, that
whole number that was given to him is going to be brought in.
Not one of them is going to be left in the wilderness. Not one. He's going to have them all.
One is as important to him as the ninety-nine. What was it that David, I meant
to look it up today, but didn't he kill a bear or a lion? and
got a sheep, and he took it and killed it, and delivered that
sheep, I would have let you. I know what I am by nature. I'd
say, well, I've got 99 of them. I'm not going to risk my life
against an animal, a bear. I can't do that, or a lion. I
can't. Our Lord came into this world,
and he's going to save every one of those lost sheep. He's
going to deliver them. Now, he does not leave the ninety-nine
in danger. You say, well, he left the ninety-nine
there to whip. They're not in danger. They're under the care
of God. They're not in danger. He didn't
leave that ninety-nine in danger and go after that one. They're
safe in the fold. They are safe in the fold, but that one in
the wilderness is in danger, and he's going to go after it.
He's going to go after it. He doesn't find it. I know this,
he'll never find him. It's lost. It's lost. He doesn't go out and find it.
It'll never find him. The shepherd must come and find
us. He must find us. We're the ones lost. He's not.
We are. And look, when this happens, when he finds that one sheep,
when he finds his lost sheep, He puts it on his shoulders and
rejoices. That's right. When he finds that
lost sheep, here's ownership. It's his. When he finds his lost
sheep, that's his sheep. And he puts it on his shoulders.
He bore the penalty of our lostness. He carried our sorrows and griefs
in his life and death. He carried us home on his shoulders. That's right. He bore our sins
in his body on the tree. He does all the carrying of the
sheep, doesn't he? He goes out there in the wilderness
and finds that lost sheep, and he puts it on his shoulder? How
safe is that? He's not going to put that sheep
down and say, now, follow me. Now, try to keep up with me.
Try not to get lost this time. No, he put that on his shoulders,
and he carries it all the way back to the fold. And I'm telling
you, that's what God is doing with us, with this church. He's
carrying us all the way home. He's got us on his shoulders.
On his shoulders, he's carrying us home. And you notice this,
he doesn't scald that sheep. He says, you dumb animal. You dumb sheep. He doesn't beat
the sheep. He doesn't kick it. I had a man
tell me. It's back to last summer. He
told me about he had a bird dog. I said, what about my bird dog?
And he said, I had a bird dog that wouldn't come to me. And
he said, that thing wouldn't go out, and I couldn't get it to come
back. And he said, I went over, and I just beat that thing to death. I thought, oh, man, what a master. What a master. You know, the
psalmist said that the righteous is kind even to his animal. He's
kind even to his animal. So when he finds his sheep, he
doesn't scald it and just or beat it, or you know what he
does? He rejoices. He rejoices over that pursuit,
and he brings it home. He brings it home. And he, listen,
he calls his friends and his neighbors. He doesn't bring it
home and say, now listen, let's not tell anybody about this because
it would embarrass the family. Let's not tell anybody. Let's
keep it just to ourselves. We're just going to tell anybody.
He calls the family, He calls friends and neighbors to come
and rejoice with Him because I have found my lost sheep. Found it. That's something to
rejoice about. God the Father is bringing us
home on the shoulders of Christ. And when one lost sheep is found,
and just one, I think when one person says, When one person
says, I believe, I tell you what, we rejoice in that. We rejoice
in the lost sheep being found. And he says this, there is joy
in heaven. We can't even comprehend what's
going on in that world. But I know this, because he says,
there is joy in heaven over the saving of one lost sheep. Our
earthly family may not rejoice. Many of them don't, but our heavenly
family rejoices. He says, there's joy in heaven
over one lost soul being saved. Then he continues this parable.
He says, what woman, there in verse eight, what woman, having
ten pieces of silver, if she loses one, does not light a candle
and squint the house and seek diligently till she finds it?
She starts out with ten pieces of silver, and she loses one
piece here, one that belonged to her. And I thought about this
today. She worked hard for that coin. She worked hard for all ten pieces
of this silver. She's not going to lose what
she earned. She's not going to lose one penny,
not at all. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
going to lose one center which he's earned. He's earned, he's
not only saved us, he's earned us also. He's not only bought
us, but he's earned us. He's earned us like this coin,
it was not easily come by. You know, it's not easily come
by, money is. You've got to earn it, you've got to work for it,
and no doubt she did, she worked hard for it. Sinners are not
easily to come by. It takes God to make a sinner. Everybody's a sinner when you
just find one. You just find one. You just find one who believes
that if God sends him to hell, that he deserves it. That he's
a wretch. Like Paul said, old wretched
man that I am. You find someone like that, you found the work
of God. That's what you found. The work of God. And she lights
a candle, and she sweeps the house until she finds that toy,
that love. She looks under every nook and
cranny of that light, and she sweeps the house. I tell you
this, the gospel is the light by which God looks for sinners.
The gospel is that light by which we search for sinners. It's just
what I'm doing now. The truth is that broom from
which God sweeps the house. He'll find that sound. He does
that. He uses, I'll tell you this,
he uses his church, he uses his church in the preaching of the
gospel, or permission to go out and preach the gospel, and in
doing this, in fact, using the light to find the sound. So he's
sweeping things. And when he finds this lost voice, She finds it. She does the same
thing. She calls her friends and her
neighbors. She doesn't hide it and say,
they'll think I'm stupid for losing that coin. She calls her friends and her
neighbors to come in and rejoice with her. She said, I found this
lost coin. This is mine, and I found it. As the shepherd rejoices, so
does his church. So does his church. Rejoice over
sinners being found and saved. We rejoice over that, too. We
rejoice. Then he comes here to the prodigal
son. This father had two sons. Now, we started out here with
the shepherd and his sheep. We started out here with a woman
and her coin, and we're going to end up here now with a father
and his son. Now, the father and the son always
had that relationship. They always had that relationship.
He was always the son of the father, always. No matter what
he did, no matter where he went, no matter what he got into, he
was always his son. just as those whom the Lord saves
have always been His." Always. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, always been His. If you'll notice here, who owns
everything? His Father. His Father owns everything. If you'll notice here, if we
go through this, who's the one who's rich? His Father. His Father is the one who's rich. And you'll notice the one here
who shows mercy, that's his father. His father shows mercy. His father
owns everything, his father's rich, and his father's the one
who shows mercy. Who leaves and lives in sin,
his father. He's the one who left. Adam left God. God did not leave
Adam. Adam left God. And we left him
in Adam. He's the one that left. But I also want you to notice
here, where does he go when he leaves his father's? He leaves
his father's house. The son leaves the father's house.
Where does he go? Does he go out on the mission
fields and tell everyone about his father's house? Does he go
out to tell everyone about his father? No, no. He goes into riotous
midst. When Adam failed, that was the
human race. They went into riotous living.
Every one of them went into riotous living, and this is where he
went. He went into riotous living,
leaving, listen, leaving our Father never leads to anything
but trouble. Leaving Him never leads to anything
but trouble. He went after the flame. That's
what he went after. He took the blessing of his generous
Father, and he wasted it. He wasted it. And I thought, have we not done
the same things in days gone by? And still, still I, I'll
speak to myself, still I waste too much. Still I waste too much. I don't deny that. But after he went out, and he
went into riotous living to fulfill the lust of his flesh, that's
what he did. He spent all that he had. He spent all that the
Father had given him. He just wasted it. A famine,
he said, arose in the land. God knows how to bring his people
home, doesn't he? God knows how to bring his children,
his prodigals, home. That famine happened on purpose.
It did not just happen. It happened on purpose. There
might have been a lot of people suffering from that famine. But
there's a son that's going to come home out of this family.
He's going to send it to them on purpose. And he's going to
bring his son home. That's what he's going to do. And it says
in verse 14, he began to be in want. Here was a young man who
was rich at one time. At one time he was rich. But
now he's poor. Now he's in want. Now he has
nothing, and I know this, God our Father must bring us to what?
He must bring, spiritually, spiritually speaking, He must bring us to
what? He must empty us before He'll
ever fill us. One day you woke up, you who
believe the gospel, you woke up and realized who and what
you are, and you realized, I have nothing. I have nothing. I am
nothing. I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. And as usual, as usual, we try
to fix things up ourselves. We go, we go join a church, we
get religious, we try to quiet our conscience by doing something
better. It says here, he went and joined himself to a citizen
of that country. God brought this family. This
family comes upon the land. And so what does he do? He goes
and joins himself to probably somebody getting met in his righteous
living. That's about what he did. So he goes and he joins
himself to a citizen's action. He joined up with the wrong crowd
and the wrong country. And notice the informant that
they gave him. Go feed my pigs. I'll hire you. Go feed my pigs. Go and slop
the hogs. Lord told Peter, he said, Peter,
feed my sheep. The world says, feed my swine,
feed my hog. When we run out of money, we
run out of friends, don't we? Solomon said this. Solomon said,
the rich have many friends. He had many, this guy had many
friends for a while. The rich have many friends, but
the poor is despised even of his neighbor. He was so poor that he would even like
to have been able to eat what the hogs were eating. He'd like
to have been able to eat the slop that he was slopping the
hogs with. That's how poor and desperate this man became. He
even envied the hogs. He envied the pigs eating. They've
got something to eat. They've got a place. I don't
have anything now. I'm totally broke. That's the place he has to come
to. This is the place he has to come to before God brings
him home. He will not come home until this happens. It says there,
no man gave unto him. No man gave unto him. He lost
favor. This guy lost favor with everybody, but his father. He never lost favor with his
father, but he lost favor with everyone else. God will see to
it. that none will fulfill his needs. His needs are not going to be
met by anybody but his father. No one's going to fulfill his
needs but his father. He's going to come home with
empty pockets and an empty belly. That's where he's going. This
is the way he's coming home. Right. So that the father can fill it
with good things. Good things. But it must be empty pockets.
When he came to himself, that's what it says in verse 17. This
is the work of God, when he came to himself. You know, whenever
the Lord saves a man or a woman, that, for the first time, is
when they really come to their senses. Like that demon, when
he cast that demon out, they said he was in his right mind.
He was in his right mind. And here it says, when he came
to himself, God must bring us our spiritual senses, make us
realize who and what we are. And he remembered his father.
He's sitting there feeding those hogs, and he remembers. He comes
to himself, and he remembers his father. He remembers his
father's service, how well they had it. He remembers him. He remembers his father's mercy.
He knew something of it. He learned something of it. He
knew of his kindness. and the blessings of his father's
house. He knew that. He remembered. It brought to
his attention. Scripture says, it is the goodness
of God that leads me to repentance. It's not the threatenings and
the thunders and the lightning. It's the goodness of God that
brings me to repentance. He says in verse 18, I will arise
and go to my father. Oh, this is giving life. This is like being given life
from the dead. I will arise and go to my father. And notice here
how he rehearses what he's going to say when he gets there. He
said, I'm not worthy to be called a son no more. He's broken, and
he knows it, and he knows he's not worthy, and he says, and
he rehearses this. I'm going to tell him, I'm not
worthy to be called a son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. He was truly humble, wasn't he?
Truly humble. This is not false humility. He's
truly humble. He knew that he was not worthy
after spending all the inheritance in righteous living and then
go back home and act like nothing happened? No. He knew better than that. He said, I will arise and go
to my father, and he goes home to his father, and when he was
a great way off, his father saw him. He was just staggering up
the road, probably weak from not eating. He's coming up the
road, and long before he saw his father, his father saw him. He saw him walking up the road
in those old, tattered boots. That's not the way he left. He
didn't leave in tattered clothes. He left with shoes on his feet.
He's coming back to America. He didn't have his shoes on his
feet, his clothes tattered, and he smelled like a hog pen. You ever smell a hog pen? That's the way he came back.
And probably no one else recognized him, but I tell you this, his
father did. I mean, a long ways off. Way down the road there. Here he comes. Make just a spot
down there that the Father knew that night. Our Heavenly Father always sees
us. No matter how far off we are,
He always sees us and He always knows us. Always. Long before
we ever see Him. He sees us. Because we've always
been His. And know what the Father does.
He had compassion on him, and he ran and fell on his neck,
and he kissed him. He delights, the Scripture says,
he delights to show mercy. God delights to show mercy. And
the Father ran to him, and he fell on his neck, and he kissed
him, and he embraced him. As not our Heavenly Father ran
to us, and kissed us, and embraced us in Christ. Is that not what
He has done to us in Christ? Has He not embraced us in Christ?
Has He not kissed us in Christ? He has. And note here, the son
speaks what he has rehearsed. He begins to speak what he has
rehearsed. But the Father, you'll notice
here, the Father, it says here in verse 22, but the Father said He's not ignoring them. He hears
them speaking. He's standing here, and he's
going to his father, I'm not worthy to be called your son.
Just make me one of your hired servants. And the father is speaking
to his servants, and he's telling them, he says, you go get the
fatty calf. Let's get a supper ready made
here, and rejoice over this. I'll tell you what he's doing.
The father is taking control of this whole situation. The
Father is going to get the glory here when this is all said and
done. He's going to receive all the
glory. And he tells his servants, you bring the best robe. Get
this smell off of him. Get this attired clothing off
of him. You get rid of that old garb
that he's wearing and that smell of piss. Get it off of him. You're not of this world, the
scripture says. You're not of this world anymore. We don't
wear the garb of this world anymore. Bring out the best robe and put
a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. You know what he's
doing? He's treating him just like he's
a son. He's treating him as his son,
as he's always been. What he's doing? He's treating
him like he's a son. Dress him up like he was before
he left. Even better, get the best robe. Get the best robe. I bet the
best robe belonged to my father, didn't it? The best robe was
his robe. And the best robe we have is
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Get the best one
to put on him. The best we have is the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And kill the fatty cat. What
better occasion to rejoice and be merry than this? My son, who was dead, is now
alive, who was lost, but is now found. Can you think of a better
occasion to rejoice than this?" Oh, he said, and make merry,
make merry. This my son, he says in verse
24, but this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost
and is found, and they began to be merry, but listen here.
I wish somebody got to be jealous of me. If there's more than one
kid in the family, then somebody's going to be jealous. Now, his
elder son was in the field. And he came and he drew nigh
to the house and he heard music and dancing. And he called one
of the servants and asked, what's going on? What's going on at
the house? Nobody told me about it. I didn't
know he was having a party. I didn't know he was having people
over today. I didn't know that. And the servant said to him,
Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the
fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound."
Safe and sound. He made him whole. And he was
angry. Isn't that awful? Isn't that
awful? He was angry, and he wouldn't
go in. He wouldn't go in. Therefore
came his father out and entreated him, spoke to him. And he answered
and said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither
transgressed I at any time thy commandment." Well, that's what,
that's your opinion. That's what the Jews said. We
never, we don't break the law. Paul said, I never broke the
law. I kept the law. And here these Gentiles are getting
to come in. made him mad, didn't he? Those Pharisees and scribes were
upset because he ate with publicans and sinners, because he ate with
that riotous son. That's why they were upset. He'd
sit down, and he ate with publicans and sinners and harlots. He said,
these are the ones who left. These are the ones who spent
all the, they'd taken advantage of the blessings, and they He
said, I kept the law. No, you haven't. Not really. No one, you know this, no one
ever kept the law perfectly. He's bold enough to think he
did here. He was transgressed at any time by commandment, and
yet, and yet, thou gavest me, thou never gavest me a kid that
I might make marry with my prince, with my prince. that I might
make merry, not that the father was going to give you honor,
not that the son was saved, not that the prodigal came home.
No, he just decided to have a good time. But as soon as this thy
son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots," he's
pointing out his sins, isn't he? He's just going to point
them out. He's living with harlots, and
look what he's done, and look how he's lived. This doesn't
make sense. He really knew that father he
was. He had the heart of a father he'd known. Tell you what, that
was his son he'd known. That's this son he'd known. And he said unto him, Son, thou
art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
It was fit, it's neat, it's fit, it's right, that we should make
Mary be glad. Son, be glad with me. That's
what he's saying, be glad with me. You ought to be happy and
rejoice. For this thy brother that was
dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and he's found. You ought to be happy. Christ said, you ought to be
happy that these publicans and sinners who were dead are now
brought to life. You ought to be joyful about
that. Here's what he's teaching. Christ came into the world to
seek and to save that which was lost. That's what he came to
do, whether it's Jew or Gentile. He came to seek and to save his
lost sheep, that lost corn, that lost pot of corn. That's what
he came to do. And he delights, he delights
to show mercy to sinners. God delights, he says. God delights
to show mercy to sinners. And I'm so glad he does. Christ.