And he spake this parable unto
them, not these parables, but this parable. And this parable
is not over until verse 32. This is one parable in three
parts. Who is the audience? Look in
verse one. Then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear him. They are the ones who
hear, you'll remember from last time in verse 35 of the previous
chapter. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. 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. Now that is the audience, publicans
and sinners, and scribes and Pharisees. And he spake this
parable unto them, these two groups. Now, he says in verse
four, what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one
of them, doth not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after
that which is lost until he find it? Now, this didn't make sense
to them. I don't know how much sense it
makes to us. If a man had 90 or 100 sheep and one of them
is lost, does he leave the 99 in the wilderness? They're in
trouble too. If they're there without a shepherd, if they're
there without protection, the predators can come in and kill
them and eat them and scatter them. Seems like he'd go ahead
and stay with the 99 and cut his losses. But no, this passage
of scripture says he leaves the 99. And these same 99, he goes
on to describe as the 99 who needed no repentance. I was amazed by all the different
things I read about who these 99 who need no repentance are.
But some said they were people who had not lost their baptismal
purity and all these kind of different things. They didn't
need to repent. They were really good people,
you know. No, the 99 are the scribes and the Pharisees. And
I think that they could smell this, that the Lord almost seemed
to be showing favoritism to that one lost sheep, because really,
this doesn't make sense to leave 99 in the wilderness to be up
for grabs by any predator that comes along and goes after that
one lost sheep. But so he did. Now, there are
three stories in this parable about things being lost, being
found, and the rejoicing that takes place when these things
are found. Now this word lost, talking about
the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, is also translated
to die, to be marred, to perish, and to be destroyed. This is
a very strong word considering this lost sheep. and this lost
coin and this lost son. The lost sheep is in danger because
he has no sense of direction. He can't find his way back once
he's lost. He's in trouble. He can't possibly find his way
home. The lost coin has something to
do with deadness and inability. That lost coin can't cry out.
A sheep can bleat. A sheep might accidentally find
its way back, but a lost coin cannot do anything to help itself
being found. It's lost and in the dirt. The
lost son has to do with a lost relationship and it speaks of
the willfulness of that lostness. That boy was wicked in what he
did. It was all his fault that he was lost the way he left his
father. So you have these three stories
of lostness. Now the lost sheep speaks of
the danger of this lostness. A sheep is defenseless. It doesn't
have any fangs. It doesn't have any claws. It
cannot protect itself. Anything that comes after this
sheep, the sheep is no match for it. It is absolutely defenseless. It can't run away from predators.
Have you ever seen sheep running around in circles? Well, that's
what they do when a predator comes. The predator can just
sit there and wait for the sheep to wear itself out if it wants
to because it's going to run around in circles. It can't outrun
any of its predators. This sheep that's lost is in
such danger. And a sheep is so dumb that it
has absolutely no sense of direction. And that's true about sheep.
Sheep have no sense of direction. They can't find their way back.
And a sheep can so easily go astray. And when it is gone astray,
and when it is lost, it's easy prey to the predator. Do you
know, this is a fact about sheep, it has the smallest brain compared
with its size of all mammals. It really does. It's the dumbest
animal alive. Now, if you're a last sinner,
you're in danger. And you're as defenseless as
a sheep. Sheep can't protect itself. The
lost coin, hidden in the dirt, speaks of the deadness of the
lost sinner. What can a lost sinner do to
facilitate it being found? Now, like I said, that sheep,
at least it can bleat. Maybe when the shepherd's out
looking for it, he hears it bleeding. Or maybe just accidentally it
finds its way back. Not because it had any sense
of direction, but maybe accidentally, one out of a thousand times,
a sheep makes it back. The lost coin can do absolutely
nothing toward its recovery. It's hid in the dirt, completely
senseless and helpless, dead in trespasses and sins. And the
lost sun speaks of the willful wickedness of being lost. What
that means is, if I'm lost, it's my fault. It's all my fault. There was a willful wickedness
involved in this man leaving his father's house at this time. And we're going to consider that
in a couple of weeks. We're going to confine our thoughts
to the first part of this parable, the lost sheep and the shepherd
going after the lost sheep. Now, isn't it interesting that
the animal God uses to describe his people is sheep? Sheep. They're dumb. They're dirty,
they're directionless, they're defenseless, and they easily
go astray, and they can easily be led astray. In 2006, there's
the case of one sheep that led 400 other sheep over a cliff,
and they all got killed just following each other. That's
how dumb a sheep is. They do things like that. I'll tell you what, this sheep
needs a shepherd. Christ, the son of David, is
that great shepherd. I love the story of David going
after the lion and the bear to protect that one little sheep.
Scripture says he grabbed the lion by the beard. He was given
supernatural strength as this great shepherd, and he smote
the lion and delivered the sheep from its mouth, the care he has
for his sheep. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. If you're a sheep, he's laid
down his life for you. Turn with me for a moment to
Matthew chapter 18. Verse 11. For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. You remember how I said to the
Syrophoenician woman, I've not come but for the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. Christ Jesus came to save that
which was lost. How think ye, if a man have an
hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave
the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh
that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it,
verily I say unto you, he rejoices more of that sheep than of the
ninety and nine, which went not astray, even so it's not the
will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these
little ones should perish. He came to seek them and to save
them, and it's not God's will for one of them to perish. And
bless the Lord, it's not gonna happen. Christ came to save the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. And he goes after that sheep.
You know, that sheep was his sheep before it was lost. And
he goes after that sheep. And if you're a lost sinner,
I know somebody who's seeking you right now. You know what? He's going to find you. He will. You may be lost to society. You
may be lost to your family. Why, your mother may even disown
you. But if you're a lost sheep, a defenseless sheep, a sheep
that has no direction, a sheep that's completely dependent upon
the shepherd, the shepherd is coming after you. and he will
find you. You see, he came to seek and
to save that which was lost. Turn with me for a moment to
Ezekiel chapter 34. I think Brian read this passage of scripture
Wednesday for the service. Ezekiel chapter 34, beginning in verse 12. For thus saith the Lord God,
behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he's
among the sheep that are scattered. So will I seek out my sheep and
will deliver them of all the places where they've been scattered
in the cloudy and dark day. And I'll bring them out from
the people and gather them from the countries and will bring
them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel.
by the rivers in all the inhabited places of the country. I will
feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good
fold in a fat pasture, and they shall feed upon the mountains
of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I'll cause them to lie down,
saith the Lord. I will seek that which was lost."
and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up
that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.
But I'll destroy the fat and the strong. I'll feed them with
judgment. Lord, seek me. Come after me. Bring me. Now, beloved, that's why he came. I think of the Lord saying, I
lay down my life for the sheep. That simple, glorious statement,
I lay down my life for the sheep. You know, sheep, when he laid
his life down for you, you were found. You just don't know it
yet. You'll find out. But when he laid down his life
for the sheep, he actually accomplished their complete salvation. That's
why he came. come after his sheep. The shepherd
is going to have his sheep. Now, I think of all the examples
in the scriptures that are so encouraging. Scripture says in
John chapter 4 verse 2, I think it is, or I can't remember what
verse it is, maybe verse 4, it says, he must need to go to Samaria. Why?
One of his sheep is there. He didn't have to go through
Samaria, but one of his sheep is there, and he's always going
to have his sheep, and that poor old woman at the well, he came
after her. And he made himself known to
her. Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, a tax collector,
the Lord passes by and looks at him. He knew that was one
of his sheep. He said, Matthew, follow me. And immediately he
rose up and forsook all and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. That was
the call of the shepherd, the invincible, irresistible call
of his grace. He said, the sheep know my voice.
They know my voice. I know them. I give unto them
eternal life. The man born blind, sitting there blind, the disciples
said, Lord, who sent him? This man or his parents that
he's born blind? He hadn't had a dumb question. And the Lord
said, neither, but that the works of God might be revealed. And
he gave this man sight. And then he gave him spiritual
sight later on. Why? He's one of his sheep. And the
shepherd is going to have all of his sheep. Zacchaeus, the
chief among the publicans. And he was rich. He was a crooked
man. And for some reason, all of a
sudden he had a desire to see Jesus who he was. Who put that
thought in his heart? Have you ever had a desire all
of a sudden, I want to know who Jesus Christ really is. I want
to know the truth concerning him. Who put that desire in your
heart? The shepherd did. He ran up to
the sycamore tree because he knew he was going to pass that
way. And how did he feel when the Lord stopped and looked up
and said his name? This is the shepherd calling
his sheep, Zacchaeus, make haste, come down. For today I must abide
in thy house. And Zacchaeus made haste and
came down. and received him joyfully. That woman with the issue of
blood, the scripture says she heard of Jesus and she came in
the press behind him to touch the hem of his garment. She said,
if I can just touch the hem of his garment, if I can come in
contact with the border of his garment, I'll be clean. And immediately
she was cleansed. You know why? She was one of
his sheep. And when she was crawling through
that crowd with that issue of blood, it was because his grace
was causing her to. The leper, he comes running and
falls at the feet of Christ. He didn't know it, but that was
the shepherd causing him to do it. And he cries out, Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. And the Lord looked at that man,
that's one of my sheep. I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. The Gadarene demonic, living in the tombs, naked. Many
had tried to tame him. But when sin would call, the
chains would be burst asunder. But the Lord went across the
lake to go after this one sinner. Everybody else after this happened
told him to leave. This one sinner was there he
was after. And he comes up to him and that sinner, the Gadarene
demonic, whose name was Legion because there were many, he comes
and falls at the feet of the Lord worshiping saying, what
have I to do with thee? He couldn't think of any reason
why he had anything, any connection with the Lord. Scripture says
he worshiped him, and anybody who comes to Christ worships
him. And you know if you worship him, it's because he caused you
to do it. That's the shepherd drawing the
sheep in. And he found that sheep later
on clothed, sitting at the feet of Jesus in his right mind. That's the shepherd going after
the sheep, the woman that was a sinner. That's the shepherd
going after the sheep. What man, verse 4 of Luke 15,
what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
doth not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after
that which was lost, until he find it? He will not stop until
he find it. Verse 5, and when he hath found
it." You know, that's the same wind as the thief on the cross
when he said, Lord, remember me when you return in your kingdom. I love that. That's so amazing,
isn't it? I mean, hear that, Lord? That guy's hanging on a
cross. And he sees that one beside him.
He knows he's the Lord. He knows he's the absolute dictator
of the universe. And he knows he's not going to
stay on that cross. He knows he's going to come back
as a mighty reigning king. And he says, Lord, remember me
when you come in your kingdom. When he hath found it. Oh, the shepherd always finds
his sheep. When he hath found it. I'm so
thankful that the Lord goes after his sheep. He does it. And he finds them. and he brings
him to himself. And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders. He bears all the weight of that
sheep, rejoicing. You've all seen that picture
of two footprints in the sand and all of a sudden there's only
one footprint in the sand and somebody says to the Lord, well,
There you left me alone and I was all by myself. I was the two
of us and then it was alone. And the Lord tells him supposedly
in this illustration, no, when you only saw one footprint, I
was carrying you then. When's he not carrying you? When
is he not completely carrying you? Don't you love being on
his mighty shoulders? The Lord taking that sheep that
was lost and putting it on his mighty shoulders. And when he
had found it, he laid it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Rejoicing, how happy he is. And
when he cometh home, he calls together his friends and neighbors,
saying unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep. which was lost. You know the
Lord delights in his people. Yeah, this is glorious. I wish I believed it the way
I ought to believe it. I make him happy. I make him happy. He rejoices
in saving me. He rejoices in saving all of
his people. Think of that scripture, looking unto Jesus who for the
joy that was set before him endured the cross. despising the shame,
the shame that he experienced in bearing my sin before his
father. He despised it all for the joy that was set before him.
Endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the
right hand of the majesty on high. You know the scripture
says, or the Lord says, I will rejoice over them with singing. Now that's the Lord's attitude
about His people, and what this lets us know is the reality and
the power of justification. If I'm justified, if He paid
for my sins and I'm justified, He sees me as completely lovely,
beautiful without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That's what
justification is. And he rejoices with singing
over his people. Now, look what he says in verse
7. I say unto you. I love it when
the Lord says that. That makes me want to listen
real carefully exactly what he's saying. When he says, I say unto
you. This is not some man. This is the Son of God speaking.
I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth. More than over 99 just persons
which need no repentance. I've thought of those 99 just
persons which need no repentance before, and it's worried me. Are there folks like that? There's folks who think that
way. They think they need no repentance. They think they need
no change of mind. They're okay. They're fine. They're
great. Everything is going fine. They
think they need no repentance, and I have no doubt that the
Lord is referring to the scribes and Pharisees at this time. who
murmured in him for these sinners who drew near with him. And this
statement, this thought, lets us know about how little we really
understand holiness. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only truly holy man, with no sin, the only holy man to ever
live. and sinners drew near to him
without feeling judged or threatened." What does that tell us about
true holiness? We know very little about it. I think of people who
are supposedly holy people, or they think they are, and how
threatened, how judged you feel around them. But here the one
time true holiness walks upon this earth, true holiness, sinners,
publicans, could draw near and not feel threatened. And the Lord says, I say in you
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth
more, more than over the 99 persons that need no repentance. Now
these 99, he leaves them alone. They're left in the wilderness.
They're easy prey for anything. He's left the 99 to go after
the one. Boy, I want to be that one, don't
you? I want to be that one he goes after and seeks and came
to save and laid his life down for. Now what is the evidence
in our text? What is the evidence that somebody
is a lost sheep that he's came to save. What is the evidence
that he picked this sheep up and put it on his shoulder and
brought it back into the fold? What is the evidence that I'm
somebody, that you're somebody, for whom the shepherd laid down
his life? I want to know, what is the evidence? What's the evidence he gives?
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven." Isn't
that a glorious thing to think about? Joy in heaven! Joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that, what? Repenteth. More than over 99 just persons
which need no repentance. Now I would love to speak the
last few minutes about what this thing of repentance is. It's
one of the most misunderstood concepts in the scripture, but
you know I say that about everything. Everything in the Bible is always
misunderstood by the natural man, but the natural man generally
when they think of repentance, you need to repent of your sins.
Well, I wouldn't deny that. Yeah, we ought to repent of our
sins. We ought not sin anymore as far as that goes. We ought
not ever sin again. Sin is nowhere in any respect
okay under the gospel. Sin is evil. It's wrong. We ought
not sin. And I mean that. We ought not sin anymore. Didn't
John say these things right unto you that you sin not? Now, does repentance mean you
stopped your sin? Well, if it does, where does
that leave you? Where does that leave you? It
means you haven't repented. It means I haven't repented. Now, the word is so simple. It simply means a change of mind. Now, it will result in other
changes. I don't have any question about that, but what the word
means, by its very definition, is a change of mind. A sinner that repents is a sinner
that has changed his mind. Now, you've had a change of mind
before. There's been times when you felt totally different about
something. You felt very strong about something, very convicted
about it, and you don't feel that anymore. I was wrong. I
was wrong. I feel differently about it now.
That's what repentance is. It's a change of mind. Change
of mind regarding God. Essentially, repentance toward
God. You know, I used to think God was too holy and it bothered
me. It made me not love Him. It made
me not even like Him. But you know what? My mind's
been changed. I love His holiness. I love how
He is. God's sovereignty used to scare
me to death. I mean, I'm left without any control. If God's
absolutely sovereign, that means I've got no control. And I didn't
feel safety in that. Why? I'm in trouble. There's
nothing I can do to save myself. But you know what? My mind's
been changed. I love God's absolute sovereignty. And it's the only place I find
any safety at all. My mind's been changed. You know,
there was a time when I really had no love for the doctrine
of grace. Didn't love it. It was five points
of Calvinism. It was theology. And anytime that someone feels
that way, it's because they don't really believe themselves to
fit into that T part. Totally depraved. But when your
mind's changed about yourself, and you see that you're totally
depraved, and you believe that about yourself, oh, what good
news it is that God unconditionally elected some people to be saved,
and that Christ actually accomplished their salvation. God's grace
cannot be resisted. That's the only kind of grace
that'll save me, because I'll resist if he doesn't cause me
to be saved. Oh, how sweet it is to know that
I'm enabled by the grace of God to persevere all the way to the
end. My mind's been changed. You know,
I used to really believe I had a free will. I believed that. I believed I had a free will.
If the circumstances were right, I could change and straighten
things out. I don't believe that anymore. My mind's been changed
about myself. My mind's been changed about
the forgiveness of sins. I used to think, well, I'll be
forgiven if I fill in the blank. Here's what I need to do to be
forgiven. I need to blank, blank, whatever it is, fill in the blank,
whatever it is. If it starts with an I, I need to do this.
You know, my mind's changed. I don't believe that a bit anymore.
Salvation begins with the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins,
even God paid me for something I did. He forgives my sins for
Christ's sake. Your mind is changed. You know, You hate what you once
loved and you love what you once hated when by the grace of God
there is repentance. Now when I see a man in repentance,
repenting of his dead works and looking to Christ only, there's
a man I know the shepherd has sought out and found and laid
him on his shoulders. What about the ninety and nine
that need no repentance? Lord leaves them in the wilderness.
There they are. I don't want to be one of those
people, do you? I don't want to be somebody he leaves in the wilderness.
I want to be somebody that he seeks out and finds. Now let's
close just reading Psalm 23 about our great shepherd. You know
what I was thinking about this? What a blessed thing it is to
say, the Lord is my shepherd. Is there anything better than
that? The Lord is my shepherd. And because my shepherd is the
Lord, I shall not want I shall not lack anything because my
shepherd's the Lord. I've got an almighty shepherd.
I've got an all-powerful shepherd. My shepherd's the Lord, and I
shall not want. He makes me to lie down. He makes
me. You know, I want him to make
me do stuff, don't you? Don't you want your shepherd to cause
you and to make you do things? That's what I want. I don't want
him to say, you can lie down if you want to. It's up to you.
No, I want him to make me lie down in green pastures. I want
to be caused by invincible grace to lie down in green pastures,
but I shall not want rest. There remaineth a rest for the
people of God. He leadeth me, verse 2, he leadeth
me beside the still waters. Waters of quietness. Because my shepherd is the Lord,
I shall not want peace. What a peace there is in having
the Lord as your shepherd. He says in verse three, he restoreth
my soul. I won't lack restoration. How
often do you need restored? You know he always restores. What a glorious shepherd he is. He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for his namesake. Now there's two things I want
to say about that verse. I'm not going to lack righteousness.
Because my Shepherd is the Lord, He leads me in paths of righteousness. I'm not going to lack righteousness.
I have righteousness before God. And I've got a reason why I have
that righteousness. For His name's sake. For Christ's
sake. I've got a reason to know that
I have His righteousness. I'm given his righteousness for
Christ's sake. Verse four, yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. I won't lack protection. For
thou art with me. I won't lack companionship. He's with me. Thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me. I won't lack comfort because
my shepherd is the Lord. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. I won't lack provision. Thou
anointest my head with joy, with oil. My cup runneth over. I won't
lack joy. My cup runneth over. Surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I won't lack assurance. Surely,
surely. Surely, I'm going to have these
two watchdogs following me. The Lord's my shepherd, and he's
got two watchdogs following me, two sheepdog. They're called
goodness and mercy, and they will never let me go. They're
always going to be behind me, causing me to go toward my shepherd. And I will not lack a place to
dwell forever, for I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Because my shepherd is the Lord. Now, it's a good thing to be a sheep.
A dumb, defenseless, dirty, directionless sheep. It's a good thing to be
a sheep. Because if you're a sheep, you have an almighty shepherd. Let's pray.