I'll leave off the series of
messages that we've been looking at in Genesis and move into the
New Testament whenever we look at the Old Testament we're looking
for Christ for the Old Testament scriptures testify of Christ
that's what they're for but rather than get stuck in a rut for a
long time I want to come back into the New Testament into Luke's
gospel and chapter 15 and in Luke's gospel chapter 15 we have
three parables that our Lord told a parable of a lost sheep
a parable of a lost coin and a parable of a lost son and the
title of this message is Lost by Nature found by grace lost
by nature found by grace on the bulletin on the back of the bulletin
I've put an article by Tom Harding in his bulletin of this week
natural or spiritual contrasting the natural man who is lost by
nature and the spiritual man who is found by grace I thought
that was a very appropriate article and so that's why I've put it
in there William Huntington was a preacher of the gospel of grace
a couple of hundred years ago and he was pilloried by the religious
world for preaching the true gospel that we seek to preach
and embrace and proclaim and the religious world hated it
And they called him an antinomian and all sorts of things of that
nature. And William Huntington, you know we like to put letters
after our names of degrees, you know, BSc, MA, PhD, all of these
things. Well William Huntington had two
letters after his name. William Huntington SS. You know
what that stands for? sinner saved that's all he could
say about himself what am I at the best he said I'm a sinner
who's saved at the best in his flesh like all of us by nature
what could he say I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all I'm
a sinner I'm a sinner But praise God, at his best, in grace, in
the grace of God, in the mercy of God, he was a saved sinner. He was saved. What does it mean
to be saved? I know you know. I know I tell
you again and again. But it's worth repeating, he
was saved from the just condemnation of God, under which every one
of us are by nature. For God is holy, for God is pure,
for God is altogether higher than we are. God must condemn
sin. God's justice cannot overlook
sin. He will by no means clear the
guilty, he says. And salvation is to be saved. To be a sinner who is saved from
that. It's to know about a God who
is strictly just, and yet, because of salvation, is able to justify,
declare just, a sinner. He's a just God and a saviour. He's a just God who justifies
the ungodly. How does he do it? In our Lord
Jesus Christ. He declares them righteous, holy. We must pursue holiness, we must
follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. No
one's going to heaven without... How much holiness? Have you got
enough? Ask this, have you got enough holiness? If you die today,
will you go to heaven? Because only those who are holy
enough will go to heaven. And how holy must you be? You
must be as holy as God. You must be absolutely perfect.
Well then, who can be saved? With man, with the natural man,
it's impossible. But with God, nothing is impossible. With God, he has accomplished
salvation. Why? Because he has justified
his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's made his people
the very righteousness of God in him. Why? Because Christ took
the sins of his people and bore them away. He bore them in his
own body, on the tree. Justice, which screamed out for
punishment, for penalty, has been satisfied. Justice, the
justice of God, has cried out when it looks at Christ and all
that he bore on the cross, it looks at him and it says, enough,
enough, no more is needed, enough, the price has been paid, there
is nothing left to pay. He's redeemed. He's paid redemption's
price. He's made propitiation. God,
who is angry with the wicked every day, you know, big wide
world out there, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for
your life. No, the scripture doesn't say that. Listen to what
the scripture says. God is angry with the wicked
every day. That's what the scripture says.
But our Lord Jesus Christ has propitiated that anger of God
in his own blood. We're redeemed, not with corruptible
things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ. He sanctified a people to himself. He has made his people holy.
They haven't done anything to make themselves in any respect
holy. They haven't done progressive sanctification to make themselves
holy. He has made them holy. He's imputed the righteousness
of God to them through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has imparted
by his Holy Spirit a holy nature, which though they're still in
the flesh, they love the things of God. And he's made his people
alive by Holy Spirit quickening. He's given repentance to see
what we are. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. He's given his people faith to
see eternal realities. He's given them that, but how
has he done it and therefore what's the consequence of it?
That's what I want to look at today in Luke chapter 15. Lost
by nature, found by grace. We see, look at verses 1 and
2, we see two sorts of people right at the start. Then drew
near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth
sinners and eateth with them. on the one hand you've got the
publicans and sinners sinners sinners on the other hand you've
got the pharisees and scribes the religious folks the folks
that thought they were so good and the pharisees and the scribes
preach the gospel. Do you see that? The Pharisees
and scribes say this, what words of grace from such evil lips,
they say, this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, receives sinners
and eateth with them. What are you? Which camp are
you in? Publicans and sinners? Or the Pharisees and the scribes?
If you're in the publicans and sinners and you know it, hear
what the scribes and Pharisees say. This man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, receives such as you. He receives sinners. He eats
with sinners. What words of grace! This man
who's preaching, whose message they, the scribes and Pharisees,
hated, receives the publicans and sinners and eats with them.
What words of grace! These publicans and sinners Amongst
them there would be those who know what they are. You know,
the Holy Ghost has made them so. Sacred things, they're sinners,
he's given them the spirit of repentance. They're what the
scriptures call stopped mouth sinners. Romans 3, 19. What does
the law say to those that are under the law? It says that every
mouth might be stopped. No excuses. No coming back with
excuses. Every mouth stopped. And the
others? they're self-righteous before
the justice of God, oh they're good enough and Jesus sees them
and he discerns them and amongst them they must be his sheep because
he's speaking to his sheep in the first of these parables,
the lost sheep. He says what man of you If you've
got a hundred sheep, you know, imagine the shepherd, the farmer,
hundred sheep, you've got a hundred sheep and you count them. I don't
know how they stay awake, but farmers and shepherds love to
count their sheep to make sure they're all there, they've got
them all, right? And you've got a hundred sheep, and I can count
99, but one of them's missing. I've lost one of them. It's gone.
Where's it gone? What does he do? Say, oh, I've
got 99, I'll just look after the 99. No, he goes out. If he lose one of them, does
he not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after
that which he's lost until he's found it and when he finds it
what does he do give it a good telling off no he gets hold of
it and he puts it on his shoulders tightly you know have you seen
the way the shepherd does it over his shoulders holding on
to it he gets hold of it tightly and he brings it home rejoicing
because he's glad rejoice with me I found that which was lost
I found that sheep which was lost do you know what this is
teaching us? God has his sheep. Our Lord Jesus
Christ has his sheep. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that
he was the good shepherd of the sheep. He has his sheep. And when did he get his sheep? He had his sheep from all eternity. from before the beginning of
time the sheep were his he always, who are the sheep? A multitude
which no man can number we don't know them we cannot discern them
a multitude that no man can number but they are his sheep and they're
his sheep from eternity from before the beginning of the world
because they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world because they were saved in him before time began, as
Paul writes to Timothy. Jesus was speaking in John chapter
10 to some Pharisees, and he says to them, you don't believe
me. You don't believe my gospel. Why don't you believe my gospel?
He says, you're not my sheep. You never were my sheep. You
never ever were my sheep. That's why you don't believe.
Because why? Because my sheep, says Jesus,
my sheep hear my voice. and I know them and they follow
me when they hear they follow whatever else they're doing whichever
other direction when they hear they follow and I give them eternal
life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand this saving of them this giving of them eternal
life is something which nothing can stop, nothing can thwart
it. My Father which gave them, the sheep, to me is greater than
all. The Heavenly Father gave these
sheep in sovereign grace, in election, to the Lord Jesus Christ
to redeem in time from their sins. And the world, and the
Pharisees' The religion of everyone who does not believe this hates
this gospel. Jesus said, don't be surprised
when men hate you. They hated me. And why did they
hate him? Why did they hate such a good
man? Why did they hate him without a cause? Because he preached
this. He preached sovereign grace and particular redemption of
his sheep. The world hates it. The Pharisees'
religion hates it. But what does it teach us? All
of Christ's sheep, by nature, are like this one sheep. They're
lost. All of them. You, me. If you're
amongst the sheep of God, you know that in your natural state
you are lost. You know that in your natural
state you do not discern the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to you. You don't, you can't understand
them, you don't know them, they don't make sense to you. And
the reason is, as Ephesians 2 tells us, we're dead in trespasses
and sins by nature. Because Paul's writing to the
Ephesians, believing people who believe, and he says, you believers,
you were, before you believe, in your natural state, dead in
trespasses and sins. You were, he says, children of
wrath. those who deserve the same wrath
as everyone else even as others is what he says we're all lost
sheep by nature but the sheep of our Lord Jesus Christ must
not be lost eternally. They must not be lost eternally.
He must go out and find them, and find them he will. Time must
be given to find every sheep. Why are we still here 2,000 years
after our Lord Jesus Christ died for his sheep? Why are we still
here? because there are yet sheep to be found there are yet those
that the father gave to him before the beginning of time who must
be found and they're in rebellion and they're in unbelief and they're
dead in trespasses and sins and they're children of wrath even
as others and yet they must be found they're lost sheep if they're
his sheep they're lost sheep and they must be found 2 Peter
chapter 3 and verse 9 the Lord is not slack concerning his promise
as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to usward not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance
now those who preach a free will universal redemption will tell
you there you are the scriptures prove that God wants everybody
that ever existed to be saved it doesn't it doesn't he's long-suffering
to usward his people his sheep not willing that any of his sheep
should perish but that all his sheep should come to repentance
and so that's why we're still here God is long-suffering waiting
for all of his sheep to be found for none of them must be lost
Jesus says no man can come to me unless my father draw him
and he who comes to me I will in no wise cast out and he said
this is the will of the father that of all he has given me I
should raise it up at the last day and should lose nothing."
Lose nothing! None of them will be lost! Every
single one of the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ must be found,
must be found, in his timing, according to his way, according
to his purposes. These publicans and sinners had
amongst them lost sheep. Where will the Good Shepherd
go to find and recover them? Where will he go? Even if there's
only one, where will he go that he might lose not a solitary
one of them? Where will he go? He'll leave
the 99 in the wilderness, as in the parable. He'll leave them.
What's the wilderness? We know it's where the Church
of God is. He's got his sheep there, they're in the wilderness.
It says in Revelation that God puts his church in the wilderness
of this world to keep them, to feed them there. They're alright,
they're kept, but he's off looking for that lost one. it's his sheep
from eternity he must bring it home he must find it he must
go and get it and bring it home he must go and get that one which
is lost because that one which was lost was chosen by the father
in Christ before time began that's what Paul writes to Timothy before
the world began People say, oh, I don't like that. I don't like
that. Well, if you don't like that
sort of doctrine, get your scissors and cut out of the Bible everywhere
which speaks about God choosing his people and saving just his
people by particular redemption. Now do that, and do you know
what you'll end up with? very, very little left in your Bible,
because it all speaks of God's sovereign electing grace and
his particular redemption. How does he go out looking and
finding his lost sheep? He goes to where they are, where
they are. Even though he is accused by
the Pharisees of being ungodly in the process, this man, look
at him, he eats with publicans and sinners, he receives publicans
and sinners, he doesn't tell them that he's holier than thou,
believe me, go away from me, don't stand near me, I am holier,
he doesn't say that, though he was harmless, he was holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. He goes out to where they are
with a message of grace. He goes out with a message, this
was the message of Christ, salvation accomplished. He goes out with
a message of it being certain that it's finished through what
he is doing. He must have preached in the
temple look at what they're doing, what's this talking about? This
is testifying of me and of what I have come to do for you, my
people, who hear me, the lost sheep. He goes out with preaching
and in all ages he sends forth preachers. Romans 10 verses 13
to 15 says this, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. That's how we knew when we were
looking in Genesis and it says, and so-and-so began to call upon
the name of the Lord, there's a saved man. They are saved. Why? Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call
on him in whom they've not believed? You've got to believe to call,
you know, to know, you've got to believe and trust. You don't
have a rest by not trusting the chair you're sitting down on
chairs you trust the chair you believe in it and you're getting
rest by sitting down on that chair well how are you going
to how are you going to believe on someone to the salvation of
your soul if you've not heard of him And how are you going
to hear about him unless someone comes and preaches to you? And
how is someone going to come and preach unless God, the Holy
Spirit, sends that person with the message of grace as it is
written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of great things. It's irresistible grace he comes
with. When he comes to his lost sheep,
he doesn't mess about, you know, the parable says it. He gets
hold of this sheep. He puts it on his shoulders tightly.
He brings it home rejoicing. Irresistible grace. He gets it,
verse five, and when he has found it, he layeth it on his shoulders
rejoicing. You know, it's not, will you
accept me? He comes and gets you. He comes and makes his people
willing in the day of his power. makes them willing. And in taking
this one loss that was always his home, having found it and
brought it home, he says there's joy in heaven amongst the angels
of God. Joy in heaven over one sinner
that repents. Here's another one of those the
father gave to the son being brought home. Do you believe
Christ? Do you rejoice in his gospel?
Do you trust, do you commit your immortal soul to his keeping?
How do you do it? Is it by his choice? Or did the
good shepherd come and get you? Did he come? Did he send a preacher?
Did he come and get you? Well the next one from verse
8 the next parable is the parable of the lost coin and it's the
same idea the same idea the woman had, what does it say, she has
ten pieces of silver she's got ten coins in a purse whose coins
are they? They're hers They've always been
hers. They were her ten coins. Nobody
else had a claim on them. They were her ten coins. But
she loses one. She counts her money. She's lost
one. She's only got nine. What does she do, says our Lord
Jesus Christ? She lights a candle. she sweeps
the house she searches in all the you know when you lose something
you know boys when you lose something and you know that that critical
piece of Lego that you've lost and you need it for the thing
that you're making and you know you go looking for it don't you
you look under the you move the furniture around you look for
it until you found it this is what this woman did in the parable
She looked for this coin. Why? Because it always was her
coin. It was never anyone else. It
was her coin. It was always hers. Nine were
safe, but one was lost. All Christ's coins are lost by
nature, but he doesn't leave them lost. He searches. He finds. He rejoices. But unlike the sheep,
which are living animals, Coins are inanimate, they're just pieces
of metal. They're precious, they have value. They have value to
the owner. If I was to say to you, all of
you, you know, the money that you've got, the coins that you've
got, it's worthless, isn't it? Give it to me. You'd go, oh,
hold on a minute. No, no, there's good things I can do with that.
No, no. No, I need my money. No, it's precious to me. But
they're inanimate. They're not alive. They're without
life. And it's picturing this, that
we The lost coins of the Lord Jesus Christ are dead in trespasses
and sins as we are. but the Holy Spirit comes and
does his work to make alive the Holy Spirit comes and shines
that light of the knowledge of the glory just as God said let
there be light in the beginning he comes and shines the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
into the hearts of his people to make those who were dead alive
so the natural man who does not discern the things of the Spirit
of God doesn't receive them, doesn't know them, doesn't understand
them, they mean nothing to him becomes the spiritual man. There's
two natures in the one man, the old man of the flesh which is
there until the day that we die and leave this body. But for
the child of God, for the sheep of God, for the coin of God's
purse, he makes them alive and puts a new man in, born of the
spirit of God. The spirit like the wind blows
where it lists you don't know where it's coming from all right
we've got good weather forecast but you you couldn't tell me
in June this year coming which direction is the wind going to
be blowing on the twentieth of June this coming year you haven't
got a clue and so it is he says with the spirit of God you don't
know where he blows but he comes and he does his work and he makes
a life he causes a new man of the spirit to be born within.
Not of the will of that man, nor of the will of the flesh,
but of the spirit of God. So every coin is recovered, and
so all God's spiritual coins. This is biblical salvation. Biblical salvation is effectual
salvation. You know the salvation of false
religion is always flawed in that you don't know whether it's
accomplished or not. You don't know whether you have
accepted Jesus well enough to be saved. You don't know whether
you've believed and are sanctified well enough to be saved. But
the salvation of the Bible, true biblical salvation, is effectual
salvation. It is absolutely accomplished.
Do you know why? It is entirely God's work. From
the beginning to the end it is the work of God. And this is
the key thing. Do you know the salvation of
God's people is dependent on nothing that they are. It didn't
depend on what the sheep was, the lost sheep was. It didn't
depend on what the lost coin was or what it did in any way. It's God's work. He goes out
and finds his lost sheep and brings them home and puts them
in his son. The third parable is the very
well-known parable of the prodigal son. Because here we see we've
had a lost sheep, then a lost coin, and now a lost son. You
know the story very well, we read it earlier. And it's a story,
Jesus is telling a story to illustrate a heavenly point. It's a story
that they can relate to, an earthly story, an allegory. He often
said the kingdom of heaven is like something that you're familiar
with. He said it's like a field in
which a farmer sows his seed. He said it's like all sorts of
things. He used parables to teach his
people about salvation. And in this story there's a farmer,
a man, who is clearly a rich man and he's got two sons. And
the home, I would imagine, is a loving home, it's a prosperous
home, it's a caring home, it's good in every single way. But
the younger son, the younger, comes to his father one day and
he's thinking, I don't like it here. I want my freedom. I want to be able to do what
I want to do. And, you know, he's quite rich, he's the old
man, so I'm going to ask him. I want my share of the money
now. Because I've got things to do now. While I'm young and
I've got the energy, I've got things to do now. So he comes
to his father and he says, Father, give me that which is going to
be my inheritance one day anyway. You know, I don't want to wait
for it, I want it now. Because now that I'm young, there's
things I can do with it. And so we don't hear of his father
objecting, his father divides up the inheritance and gives
it to the younger son and off he goes into a far country, away
from home. He goes off into a far country
and he wastes everything he's been given. He wastes it because
he doesn't value it. He thinks it's just for having
a good time with now. And he gets friends around him
who are fair weather friends. Those will be with you when things
are good and when there's riches to be passed around. And when,
you know, he'll buy them drinks and he'll buy them meals and
he'll do all sorts of things with them while he's got money.
And as soon as the money's run out, the friends desert him.
And then there's a severe famine in the land because these things
happen. and in severe famine he gets
so hungry he goes to a man of that far country and asks for
a job and the man gives him the most menial of jobs which is
feeding the pigs and that must have been very poignant to the
Jews feeding the pigs was all they could give him to do and
he gets so hungry that he even eats. Do you know what we feed
pigs? What's the food that we feed to pigs? Do you know what
it is? It's pig swill. Pigswill. Horrible. You know,
that's what they used to do. I don't know if they do now,
they've probably got highly nutritious feeds. But it used to be the
case that the pigs got buckets of potato peelings and all sorts
of other old rubbish. It really was just disgusting
stuff, and the pigs would eat it. They would eat the pigswill.
This son, this prodigal son, that means this wasteful son,
he got so hungry he would even eat the pigswill. And when he
was in that state, he thought, he started to think, you know
something? This is a dreadful state to be
in. Even the servants in my father's
house don't eat pigswill. Even the servants there, I wonder,
as bad as I've been, I wonder if my dad would give me a job.
If I went back, I don't know, what can I do? He'll probably
be so harsh with me for what I've done, I deserve what I get.
I wonder if he'll give me a job. I've got no other choice, I'm
going home. And so he sets off home and he's rehearsing what
he's going to say to his father. And he's nervous about what he's
going to say. And then Jesus tells us the father sees him
a long way off. Long before the son saw the father,
the father sees the son. And what does he do? He runs
to him. He runs to him and when he gets to him, he doesn't rebuke
him, he doesn't berate him. He puts his arms around him and
kisses him for he's rejoicing, his son that was lost is coming
home. And he puts a robe on him, because
his clothes are rags, he puts a robe on him. And he puts shoes
on his feet. And he puts a ring on his finger.
And he goes and kills the calf. There's a sacrifice made so that
they can rejoice. And it's a celebration of mercy
that the son that was lost has come home. That son was always
the father's son. That son was always the father's
son. though he was prodigal in sin,
he was wasteful in his sin. But his father was patient, his
father was gracious, his father rejoiced at his return. And it's
teaching us that by providence God made this son, that was always
a son, come to his senses, come to an end of himself, come to
his senses. He made him willing to come home.
That boy wanted to come home. that boy wasn't forced to come
home he wanted to come home in my father's house even the servants
don't eat what I'm having to eat there are so many examples
like that in the scripture and no doubt in all of our experience
think about the the Gadarene man the gathering, you know the
one that lived amongst the tombs was out of his mind, was so powerful
that nobody could restrain him, they chained him up and he broke
the chains and Jesus went to him and then we see him, where
do we see him? We see him found, we see him
sitting at the master's feet in his right mind, this is what
grace does. Think about Zacchaeus that sinner
that extortioner of people's money tax collector abusing his
powers corruptly abusing his powers and he's up in a tree
being nosy who is this Jesus that's coming by and Jesus comes
by underneath the tree and looks up Zacchaeus come down I'm coming
to your house for tea I'm coming to your house to eat with you
today he finds his lost sheep He finds his lost coin. He finds
his lost son. The Samaritan woman at the well. Why did Jesus have to go that
way? Normally they wouldn't. They used to avoid Samaria. The
Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans. But Jesus must, needs,
go that way. Why? Because there's a woman
there. What is she? She's one of his lost sheep.
She's a lost coin. She's a lost son. She's a lost
son. He must go and get her. He must
go and find her. He must go and bring her home
rejoicing. There must be rejoicing in heaven over this sinner, albeit
a Samaritan woman who's repented. Etcetera, etcetera. Endless examples. You? Me? Endless examples. If we believe Christ, of his
grace, coming and finding the lost sheep. What are the lessons?
Republicans and sinners. They came to Christ. Here is
hope for publicans and sinners. This is the lesson. None is bad
enough in themselves and in their sinful rebellion to remain lost. For God will save all his chosen,
redeemed and justified people. All that Christ has died for,
and you say, well I don't know if he's died for me. Oh, I'll
tell you. If he's put in your heart a longing
to be right with him, a longing to come home to the Father's
house, I tell you, I'm confident he's died for such. He's died
for them. He's redeemed them. He's satisfied
justice on their behalf. God will save all his chosen,
redeemed, justified people. None will ever be lost again. They'll all be willingly in the
sheepfold. They'll all be in the purse,
the coins in the purse. They'll all be sons restored
to the father's house. And never again, although they'll
slip and they'll fall, never again will they be willingly
prodigal in their sin because none can pluck them out of the
Father's hand. Jesus said that. Do you think
you're beyond the reach of God's saving grace? Do you think that
you're already too sinful to be reached by him? Do you think
it's too costly in your life to trust Christ? You're no worse
than these publicans and sinners. All God's people have been as
lost as that sheep, as that coin, as that prodigal in sin as that
prodigal son in his sin but there's also a warning did you notice
it at the end he talked about the older brother the elder brother
of the two this is speaking to the Pharisees and the scribes
the self-righteous folks that were there he was outside of
the house he wasn't in it he had all of the ordinances of
the house the father said you're always with me, he had all of
the ordinances of the house of his father's house, but he had
none of the blessedness of his father's house. Because he was
self-righteous. He was in his self-righteous
state. These scribes and Pharisees, in their self-righteous religion,
Jesus said, beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees.
Heaven is not attained by anything other than what Christ has accomplished
for his people. Here are the three lessons. We'll
close with this. There's hope for the lost. Hope
for the lost. Without Christ and without hope
in the world, but if you know you're lost, that's such a good
thing. If you know that you're a sinner,
the Holy Ghost has taught you so. If you want to be right with
Him, He's coming for you. He'll get you. He'll find you.
He'll bring you home rejoicing. There's hope for the lost. There's
assurance for those who were lost but have been found. Are
you trusting Christ? There's assurance. He will never
be lost. He keeps every single one. And
there's a warning for the self-righteous. There's a warning for them. That
Christ rejecting, not believing the gospel, that they're cast
off, they're rejected, they're disowned by him. Three important
lessons. Lost by nature, found by grace. Amen.