So if you'll take your Bible,
I am sure of this, and turn to Luke chapter 15. Now we read
this chapter Wednesday night, and I propose to do the same
again this morning. Luke chapter 15. This whole chapter
has to do with one parable that has three parts to it. Why don't
you guys just come right up here and sit with me since you're
coming in late. Hey, Barry and Kim. We're in Luke chapter 15. Let's read now the first two
verses just to describe and set the stage The reason for this
parable with three parts, or if you want to call it three
parables, I won't argue with that, but the scriptures call
it just one parable. And these three parables, or
parts of one parable, have everything to do with the first two verses. The parable proper doesn't begin
until verse three. So we read in verse 1 of Luke
chapter 15, then drew near unto him, unto our Lord, all the publicans
and sinners, tax collectors and sinners, to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes
murmured, saying, This man receives sinners and even has the audacity
to eat with them, to fellowship with them. Now what are they
saying about themselves? You could not print the letters
any larger than are here printed. They counted themselves to be
without sin. And there ain't no son or daughter
of Adam who can meet that requirement. These people are sadly mistaken. It is utterly, utterly untrue. This book says as clearly as
words can put it, there is none good, no, not good. I'm not, you're not, and nobody
else is. I don't care what they say. It
doesn't matter how many titles they've got to their name. There
are no good people in this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ was the
only person to wear human flesh and be good. And the reason He
was good is because He's God good. Nobody else qualifies. Now, believers are made righteous
in Christ, but that's another matter altogether. So here in
this chapter are some awesome, let's read it carefully and I'll
try not to stop for comment or I won't get through till tomorrow. Verse 3, and he spoke this parable
unto them, the Pharisees and the scribes, unto them saying,
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go
after that which is lost, lost, until he finds it? We're all lost. We're born lost. And if God in Christ does not
come to us and find us, we will not ever find him. And when our
Lord said, and when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders,
rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls
together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them,
rejoice with me, for I have found Now watch this, my sheep which
was lost, not a sheep, my sheep. Christ's people are called his
sheep. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents more than
over ninety and nine just persons. which need no repentance, who
do not think they need to repent, like the scribes and the Pharisees. They don't have any sins to repent
of because they think themselves to be above it. And there are
plenty of people in modern day religion just exactly like them. In fact, Baptists might give
them a run for their money. Now in verses 8, 9, and 10 is
the second part of this parable, and it is the parable of the
lost coin. In the first parable, it is about
our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the shepherd of his sheep. Many titles that belong to Christ,
5, 6, or 7, that have to do with his being our shepherd. But in
this second part of the parable, just three short verses, it is
the lost coin. And since the first part of the
parable deals with God the Son, the second part deals with God
the Holy Spirit. Let's read these three verses.
Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, If she lose
one piece, does not light a candle and sweep the house and seek
diligently till she find it. And when she has found it, she
calls her friends and her neighbors together saying, rejoice with
me for I found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto
you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner. that repents. Now this light
and this sweeping is the work of God the Holy Spirit. A sinner
cannot be saved except the Holy Spirit comes and accomplishes
in us what is called being born again or regeneration. Without the new birth we are
hopelessly and forever Now, by far the largest and the most
well-known part of this parable has to do with the prodigal son.
All right, verse 11. And our Lord said, a certain
man had two sons. One of them is a sinner. The other thinks himself not
to be. But the son that stayed home
is infinitely worse than the one that left home. And who is
it that our Lord is speaking to again in this chapter? It is to the scribes and Pharisees
who thought themselves to be free from sin. Verse 12, And
the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion
of goods that falls to me. And the father divided unto them,
both sons, his living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country. And there wasted his substance
with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in that land. And he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country. And he sent him into the fields
to feed swine. And he would feign, not quite
eagerly have eaten the very food that the hogs ate, but rather
he thought on it, but never did actually do so. When he came
to himself, I'm on the wrong verse. In verse 16, And he would
fain just as soon have filled his belly with the husk that
the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. Now verse 17,
And when the prodigal son came to himself, where has he been? Well, frankly, he's been out
of his mind. But when he came to himself,
he said, how many hard servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare, and I perish with hunger." Now here is what he
proposes to do. Verse 18, I will arise and go
to my father And I'll say unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before you and am no more worthy. I am not worthy
to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired
servants. Now this is his plan. This is
what he purposes to do. And he arose He came to his father. But when he was still a great
way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell
on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no more
worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants,
bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring
on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring here the fatted
calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my
son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, And he found himself. No, he's lost and is found. Someone else found him. And they
began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the
field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music
and dancing, and he called one of the servants. and asked what
these things meant. And the servant said to him,
your brother is come and your father has killed the fatted
calf because he has received him safe and sound. And he was
angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out
and entreated him. Now watch what he says. Now remember, when this younger
son got his part of the inheritance, the older son got his. And he
answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve
you, neither transgressed I at any time your commandment. Now
remember, this is the sinner in God. But now we're talking
about a sinner who claims not to be a sinner, which is indeed
untrue. And yet you never gave me a kid,
a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as
soon as this, your son was come, not my brother, your son, which
has devoured your living with harlots. We read that nowhere
else in this whole chapter. You have killed for him the fatted
calf. And the father said to him, son,
you're ever with me and all that I have is yours. It was need
or fit or right that we should make merry and be glad, for this
your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and
is found." I mean, if the older brother has all of his inheritance,
why doesn't he throw his own party? Turning to Luke chapter
15, Lord, we open our Bibles again,
begging and asking to behold the precious Lord Jesus Christ
in this chapter before us. Oh, that we might know Him really
spiritually as the result of His and loving me. That when
Christ died on Calvary's tree, the greatest blessing we could
ever possess is for it to be true that He died for me. Lord,
open the understanding of our minds, the depths of our soul,
that we might understand the message of Luke chapter 15. Our blessed Savior's creation
of this story called a parable described for us why it is that
the Son of Man loves sinners. These are the persons for whom
He died. Teach us this, let us never forget
the word pictures that are drawn for us, how glorious. We beg for your mercy for Christ's
sake. Now as we look at the overall
chapter, chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, several things are strikingly
present in this chapter. If all three are descriptive
of the mercy and grace of God in Christ in the salvation of
sinners, then there are some very obvious lessons that are
taught in this chapter. One of them is that Christ never
loses a single sheep. He never has and He never will. Those sheep are said to be those
that God gave to His Son in old eternity in the covenant of grace
when our Lord set His seal that He would come, be born into the
human race, and live an absolutely perfect life for His people,
go to the cross, and die in their room, place, and stead. and now
reign at God's right hand in eternal glory, overseeing the
accomplishment of all that He purposed in eternity and accomplished
in time, and now He is applying it to those for whom He died. And He maketh no mistake. In the second part of this parable,
having to do with the work of God the Holy Spirit You have
three simple words that easily capture that little part of the
parable, that second part. Lost. You ever been lost? You're sure you've been lost?
Because if you ain't, you're still lost. Lost. Sought. This woman searched diligently. just as the Lord Jesus searched
diligently in the first part of the parable. How long? Until she finds it. So whatever
it takes, wherever the Savior must go in the person of God
the Holy Spirit, I'm talking about right now today, even in
this place, or any other place all over this world, where God
sends one of His messengers with the gospel. Christ is searching
out His sheep, and He cannot tolerate the loss of a single
one. So the first word is lost, the
second word is sought, and the third word is found. And that's
always the formula. Lost sinners, seeking those sinners,
and always Finding those centers. Since we're in Luke, I think
I could quote it, but you wouldn't believe me until I did it. So
I'm going to just ask you to turn. Let's see. It's in chapter
19. I just want to make this point
clear. Luke chapter 19, verse 10. This is at the end of the account
of the conversion of Zacchaeus. And it says in verse 19, as an
explanation of what has just transpired, the saving of Zacchaeus,
calling him down out of the sycamore tree and so forth. For the Son
of Man, our Lord loves that title. But let us never forget, the
Son of Man is also the Son of God. his Godhood and his manhood,
two completely different natures, yet only one person, the God-man,
Christ Jesus. The Son of Man is come to seek
and to save that which was lost. And yet there are places in our
Bible that tell you if you don't search for God, you won't ever
find Him. So how do you account for that? Simply this. When we start seeking Him, it
is the result of Him already seeking us and finding us, though
we don't even know it yet. I'm serious now. That's how it
is. You can't listen to every Tom, Dick, and Harry coming down
the religious highway because they'll tell you a lie in a heartbeat.
And God take my life if I knowingly lie to you. The Son of Man is
come to seek and to save that which was lost. So concerning
the fellow in the verses preceding verse 10 in Luke 19, who was
seeking whom? The Lord Jesus was seeking Zacchaeus,
and as a result of seeking him, Zacchaeus sought the Savior.
All right, we go back to chapter 15 again. Now let's take the
third part of this parable, which is distinctly divided into two
parts. I mean, beginning at verse 11
and going through verse 32, there are two distinct parts of this
part of the parable. And I just don't know any way
except to just There are some statements in here that I'd like
to emphasize and call your attention to and make a comment or two. So let's just start. Verse 11, a certain man had two
sons. Now please understand this about
our Lord and about the parables that fell from his lips. He used
words of his own choosing. and his infinite, infinite wisdom
to draw characters in whatever colors he wished to present them. He constructed this three-part
parable for the purpose of exposing the stupidity and foolishness
and self-righteousness of the Pharisees and the scribes. But
he also is setting forth the glory of his grace in God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Father, the holy three
in one. And the younger of them, in verse
12, said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods
that falls to me. And the father divided unto them
his living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, when
he had nothing left, oh, he had friends running out both ears
until he was out of money. When he had spent all, there
arose a famine. a mighty in that land. Now who sends famines and who
withholds famines? God does. Well, the weatherman says it's
the lack of moisture. Well, who sends the weather then? Same answer. If you don't know
by now, television doesn't like the real God. They only talk
about idols. There arose a mighty famine in
that land, and he began to be in want. He began to be in need. He's getting desperate, which
is what God intends all the while. So he goes and joins himself
to a citizen of that country, and that man sends him into his
fields to feed swine. And he would just as soon have
filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no
man gave unto him. And look at this statement now
in verse 17. And when he came to himself,
Well, where has he been when he had not come to himself? A man is beside himself, we sometimes,
I don't know if you all still use that phrase, but it has been
used among us, that a person is beside himself both morally
and spiritually when they are lost. They do things, they don't act
rationally like rational people. We do some crazy and dumb things
in our lostness. We're trying to quiet one voice
and turn wide open the other one, the one that we want to
hear. When He came to save us, His
judgment is completely out of order. We're at war with God. We don't like anything God proposes
or says or does or points out to us or anything that God sends
our way except what we call good. We'll take all of that, but none
of the other. He came to Himself. His actions
are those of a madman He left the best home in all the world. He spends and spends until there's
no more to spend. That's you and me. He's sane
everywhere except his soul. Insanity is denied until it's
cured by Christ. Then, notice what happens. His reasoning has returned to
him. Who was it that the Lord took
away his reason? Nebuchadnezzar. For a long time,
just made him like an animal. And then just as quickly, gave
it to him. Look what it says, verse 17.
When he came to himself, here's the first thing recorded, how
many hired servants of my father's, How many of my father's servants
do what? Have bread enough and to spare. And I perish with hunger. Bread enough and to spare. I mean, this is the servants,
not the sons. This is the father's servants.
They have plenty to eat. They're not having a famine and I perish with hunger. Another evidence that the man
has come to himself is in verse eight. I will arise and go to
my father and I'll say to him, father, I have sinned against
heaven and before you. I am no more worthy to be called
your son. Make me as one of your hired
servants. Now all of this was what went
through his mind before he ever actually came to his father.
Now starting in verse 20, he is actually in his father's presence.
And he arose and came to his father, but when he was yet,
and by the way, I think you understand this, most of you do anyway,
God brought him to God. This man didn't just one day
wake up and decided to head back home. God has been working on
this man through that famine and through that lack of food
and feeding swine for a living and especially for a Jewish boy
that would be particularly distasteful. All kinds of reasons for this.
I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my Father
and I'll say unto Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before you. Do you know how impossible that
is for a lost man to actually say that and mean it? This is
the result of grace already having been given unto this boy's soul.
I'm no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your
hired servants. Now verse 20, And he arose and
came to his father, But when He was still a great way off,
the Father is not surprised that He's coming back. You have to
understand this. God is omniscient. That's just a big word that means
He knows everything, all the time, about everybody, any place
in this universe. He knows everything there is
to know. His knowledge is infinite. He knows where this boy is. He
knows what kind of condition he's in. He knows what it'll
take to bring him back home, and that's what he sends him. When he was still a great way
off, in verse 20, his father saw him and had compassion and
ran and fell on his neck. And then the son began to tell
his father part of what he had intended. The son said to him,
Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no more
worthy to be called your son. The father ignores everything
he says. But the father said to his servants,
bring here the best robe and put it on him and put a ring
on his hand and shoes on his feet. That robe is nothing less
than the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, imputed
to the sinner who has no righteousness of his own. And this ring is
the engagement ring to the bride of Christ. And these shoes are
the preparation, according to Ephesians 6, I believe it is,
the preparation of the gospel of peace, all belonging, free,
gratis, without money and without price. And bring here the fatted
calf, and kill it, and let us eat. And for this my son was
dead. Sinners, before they come to
Christ, or more accurately, before Christ comes to us, we are dead
in trespass. Ephesians 2, verse 1. This, my son, was dead and is
alive again, lost and is found, and they began to be married. Have you ever found out that we hate the God of the Bible.
We're rebels against Him. I know everybody says they love
Jesus, but they do not love the Jesus of the Bible. The one that
we let Him do things instead of Him. One of those gods is
an idol. We need to find out which is
which. Now in the remaining verses,
25 through 32, I'm just going to read it again. I may stop
a time or two, but I do not wish to camp out on that part of the
parable, though that's certainly a necessary part of it. Beginning
at verse 25, now his elder son, the oldest son, was in the field. And he came and drew near to
the house. He heard music and dancing. And he called one of
the servants and asked what these things meant. And the servant
said, your brother has come and your father has killed a fatted
calf because he's received him safe and sound. And the elder
son was angry and would not go in. Therefore, came his father
out and entreated him. And he answering said to his
father, lo, these many years do I serve you, neither transgressed
I at any time your commandment. And yet you never gave me a kid
that I might make merry with my friends." So back in verse
2, the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying, speaking of
Christ, this man receives sinners and eats. And that's what this
is. And this older son, our Savior
has described him using all the words in whatever language it's
written in to make this description, and it is exactly, exactly what
he intended to use to describe it. Therefore, the Pharisee and
the scribe in verse 2 is the person being described in the
elder brother, the brother who never left home, but who was
lost nonetheless. Verse 30, but as soon as this
your son was come, which has devoured your living with harlots,
you've killed for him the fatted calf. And the father said, son,
you're ever with me and all that I have is yours. It was meet
or fit or right that we should make merry and be glad for this. Your brother was dead and is
alive again and was lost and is Well, it didn't do anything
for the elder brother, but it certainly did for the prodigal. You remember these words of a
hymn, What comfort can a Savior bring to those who never felt
their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing, the
Holy Ghost hath made him so. New life from Him we must receive
before, for sin, we rightly grieve. New life from Him has to precede
our rightly grieving for who and what we are. Without the new birth, we have
no communication not any whatsoever with the knowledge of God in
Christ. We not only don't want it. If
we did, we couldn't find it. We'd look in the wrong places,
and we would approach the wrong people. Now, I want you to do
something else for me. One more thing, and I've got
probably three minutes. I'm usually a minute and a half
fast. I don't know if that's still
true, but I'm turning John chapter 3, I just want to give you a
reading assignment, if I might do so. I don't know that I've
ever done this, but maybe one time over the last 30 years or
so. And I'll tell you up front what
my purpose is, to help me to see, to help you to see if we
are indeed like that younger brother in the parable, the prodigal
son. Or am I still like this other
fellow, the elder? Now, you understand that when
we're born into human life on this globe, we're all born lost,
doomed, damned, dying sinners. I mean everybody except our Savior. And He was born how? without
the aid of a father. And it is through Adam that we
receive our sinnerhood. So when we're born, we're already
sinners. Here are two verses. I want you to just write down
the reference right now. John 3.18 and John 3.36. You can write threes, can't you?
You're in good shape then. All right, now I'll read them
to you, but here's what I want you to do. I'm not going to tell
you to raise your hand if you're going to do it. I'm just asking
you to do it. Sit down, hopefully today, and write these two verses
out in longhand and think about what you're writing, that God
might be pleased to tell me if I belong to His Son." Verse 18,
John chapter 3. He that believes on Him is not
condemned. Whoever truly, savingly believes
on Christ is not condemned. But he that believes not is already
condemned. Because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. Verse 36. He that
believes on the Son has everlasting life. And when you once have
everlasting life, you can't ever lose it. Never. Not ever. He that believes on the Son has
everlasting life. And he that believes not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides, remains
on him.