I want you to open your Bibles
tonight to the book of Luke, Luke chapter 15. You've read this passage of Scripture
many, many times, I'm sure. You've probably heard it preached
from several times. And I hear people say this is
a parable of the lost sheep, and a parable of the lost coin,
and a parable of the lost son. But really, this passage of Scripture
here is one parable, only one parable in three parts. And it's
not the parable of the lost sheep, it's the parable of the seeking
shepherd. It's a parable of the effectual spirit. It's a parable
of the story of the forgiving, loving Father. And it's one parable. And I think you'll see this as
I read it, as I put certain emphasis on certain places. You know,
the shepherd, the seeking shepherd, you have Christ the shepherd
and Christ the sacrifice and Christ the suffering Savior. But here you have the effectual
spirit. There's no blood in this second
story, and there's no seeking shepherd. There's an effectual
Holy Spirit calling someone and taking light and allowing the
gospel light to reveal what needs to be revealed. And then in the
third part of this one parable, is a forgiving, loving father,
but there's a repentant son. There's a repenting son. He willingly
came back home. And there was a forgiving father
who was willing to forgive, and a father who gave him no rebuke,
no reproach, but nothing but a kiss. It's a beautiful, beautiful
one parable. And let's look at it together
here. Chapter 15 of Luke's Gospel. 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. And he spake this parable unto
them, unto those Pharisees, unto those scornful men. He spake this parable to them.
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them?"
Now, notice this pronoun here, he, all the way through this
first seven verses. If he lose one of his sheep,
doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go
after that which is lost until he finds it? And when he hath
found the sheep, lay it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when
he cometh home, he calleth to gather his friends and neighbors,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me. I have lost, I have found
my sheep which was lost. For I say unto you, and each
one of these parts, each one of these stories, ends with the
same statement. I say unto you, likewise joy
shall be in over one sinner. You know, these people had said,
this man received sinners. Well, that's why he came, to
receive sinners, to save sinners. And he said, there's joy in heaven
over one sinner that repented, more than over ninety-nine just
persons which need no repentance either. Now, here's the second
part of this one parable. Likewise, either what woman having
ten pieces of silver, if she loses one piece, does not light
a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she
finds it, using the light of that candle to illuminate the
whole house and find her coin. And when she has found it, she
calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with
me, for I have found the peace which I had lost. Likewise, I
say unto you," this is the Master speaking now, I say to you, to
these people who accused him of hobnobbing with sinners, I
say to you, this joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repented. And he said, a certain man had
two sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.'
And he 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 wretched living. And when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in woe. 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 fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no man
gave to him. And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hard servants of my father." Here we enter
the main character in this third part of the story. servants of
my father's have bred enough and aspire, and I perish with
hunger. I will arise and go to my father,
and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and I am no more worthy to be called thy
son. Make me as one of thy hired servants.' And he arose and came
to his father. And when he was a great way off,
His father saw him. His heart has been that way for
a long time. His eye has been in that direction
a long time. He'd been looking for that boy
to come back. And when the father saw him, great way off, his father
saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and
kissed him. And the son said, repentant son,
said, Father, I sinned against heaven. and in thy sight no world
more worthy to be called thy son. But the Father said to his
servant, Bring forth the best robe, put it on him, put a ring
on his hand, that's the sign of a son, an heir, and shoes
on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it,
and let us eat and be merry. For my son was dead, and is alive
again. He was lost and he's found and
they began to be married. I found this note in some writings
a long time ago. Someone wrote about this parable. It's like a giant pyramid. This one parable is like a giant
pyramid with three sides. Pyramid has three sides. And
there's an inscription on each side. And each inscription is
needful for the other. They don't stand alone. Each
story in this parable is essential for the fulfillment of that story. And when these three stories
are studied together, they present one glorious, wonderful gospel—Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. It's like, you know, I hear people
say, This is the gospel in a nutshell. You can't put the gospel in a
nutshell, my soul, in any other kind of shell. It's a glorious
gospel. It's the gospel of the loving
Father and the seeking Son and the effectual Holy Spirit. Let me show you an example of
this. Just give one verse of Scripture. Don't turn to it. I was quoting for Isaiah 9, 6. He said, Under us a child is
born. So that's not a full gospel there. But the second part, the
second inscription said, unto us a son is given, the man and
the God. Unto us a child is born, a son
is given. What's the third part? And the
government will be on his shoulders. Now you've got a gospel there.
You've got a sovereign Lord, a seeking sinner, all that right
there. Listen to this one in Romans
8. All things work together for
good to them who love God. People use that all the time.
But that's not, that's just part of it. All things do not work
together for everybody. It says, for those who love God.
And what's this? Who are called according to His
purpose. Oh, that's the full story. But now, here's the third part.
For whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate. to be conformed
to the image of his Son, whom he predestinated, whom he called,
he justified, whom he justified, he glorified. Oh, you've got
a whole gospel there. Here's a third one that I think
is a good illustration here. John 6, 37. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me. I know that. But watch this second
part. It's so essential. And he that
cometh to me, I don't know why I was cast out. And here's the third. For I came
down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him that
sent me. That's the whole story. The whole story. And that's what
this is here. I found that out a long time
ago. I've been looking at it for a long time about this parable. This parable with three Three
stories, three parts. Now, here's the occasion for
this parable. Let's start with verse one. Then
drew near unto him publicans and sinners. That's sinners now. They came to hear the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the Pharisees, standing off
to the side, they murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners. This
man receiveth sinners. These people were saying this,
they were saying this in scorn, in sarcasm, in ridicule. But that's the best news a sinner
ever heard. This man received sinners. We
had a lady in our church. Her name is Edith. Edith's been
gone a long time. I've known her for many years,
and I preached on this one time. She came out the church door
and I said, found your name in the Bible. She said, you found
my name in the Bible? My name, Edith, in the Bible?
Yes, sir, I sure did. I found your name in the Bible.
She said, where is it? I said, right here. It says,
this man received sinners and Edith with him. She said, glory! And that became her favorite
scripture. This man received sinners and
Edith with him. Me with him. I'm glad he does. Oh, how glad. Let's turn to Matthew,
chapter 9. This same crowd was giving our
Lord a hard time over eating and drinking with sinners in
Matthew, chapter 9, verse 9. Matthew 9, verse 9. I want you
to read this. In Matthew 9, verse 10. Matthew
9, verse 10. As Jesus said it meet in the
house, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and
with his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said to his disciples, scornful, sarcastic, why eateth your master
with publicans and sinners? But when the Lord Jesus heard
that, he said to them, they that behold need not a physician,
but those that are sick. They that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. Now you go learn what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am come to call, not to
call the righteous, I've come to call sinners to repentance. Carol Irons' grandfather, Jeff
Thornberry. was a great, good, precious friend
of mine. He was my first elder when I
was a 24-year-old preacher called to that big church in Ashland,
you know. And he was my teacher and mentor. And he said to me
one day, he said, Pastor, he said, I'd rather stand before
God charged with murder than stand before God charged with
self-righteousness. A lot of people raise their eyebrows
at that, you know. I'd rather stand before God charged
with murder than with self-righteousness. Then he went on to say, the Lord
saves murderers, saved that thief, saved Saul of Tarsus. You know,
Saul of Tarsus had a part in the death of Stephen. He held
their coats while they stoned Stephen. He was a murderer, wasn't
he? The Lord saved murderers, but the Lord never ever saved
a self-righteous man. So Jeff was telling the truth,
wasn't he? I'd rather stand before God charged with murder than
be charged with self-righteousness. You see, salvation is not by
merit. It's by sovereign mercy. Salvation is not by works. It's
by His effectual grace. And salvation is never, ever
by your holiness, but by His." Well, let's look at our parable
here. I want you to look at verses four through seven. Now, who's
the leading character in these four verses? Who's the leading
character? Not the sheep, not the 99, it's
not the neighbors and friends. All you can say about that sheep
is, he's lost. And all you can say about us,
all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his
own way. But I tell you, you can say a
lot about this shepherd. Listen to him. What man of you
having a hundred sheep, he has a lot of sheep. Other sheep I
have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring." He has,
he said, thousands of them, thousands. He said, a number which no man
can number. He has a lot of sheep. And he owns them. And he is. He said, what man of you having,
owning, possessing these sheep? They're mine. They're mine. They're his sheep. I don't care
if they're lost. or stolen, or wandering, or straightaway, they're
still his sheep. They're my sheep. That's exactly right. And he
says here, he said, out here in verse 4, he says, he leaves
a night and night in the wilderness and goes after that sheep. He
goes after him until he finds it. He finds a sheep. You know, back here in verse,
in this fourth verse, I skipped over this, but it'll be interesting
to you. It says, what man of you having
a hundred sheep, if you lose one, does not leave the ninety
and nine? Let me give you a lesson here. Who are the ninety and
nine? I'll give you a choice. I'll
give you three choices. Here's the first one. Matthew
Poole. Now, he's a well-noted, long-time
commentator. Matthew Poole, one of the best
commentators that you can buy. He says, these ninety-nine are
sheep that have already been found. Who's this ninety-nine? Well,
John Gill. Now, I suppose there's a writer living better than John
Gill. back in the 16th, 17th century.
John Gill says they're self-righteous people. Another commentator says
this, maybe. Maybe they're infants who never
have sinned after the submissitude of Adam's transgression. So just
take your pick. Who are the 99? I don't have
the faintest idea. And what's more, you don't either.
Because no parable can walk on four legs. This is an earthly
story with a heavenly meaning. And it has its places and it
has its application, but there's another place where you just
can't find the application. So we're looking at the shepherd
right now. We're not looking at the sheep,
we're looking at the shepherd. That's what this, that's the
leading character in this parable right here. There are his sheep,
he owns these sheep where the lobsters stolen. or wandering
away, where did he get them? Where did he get these sheep?
His father gave them to him. Turn to John chapter 10. John
chapter 10. His father gave them to him.
John chapter 10 verse 27 through 29. Watch this. John 10 verse
27 through 30. Listen to this. My sheep, hear
my voice. And I know them, and they follow
me. They're my sheep, and they follow me. And I give them eternal
life, and they'll never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hands." He loves his sheep. They're his. He died for them.
He said, I lay down my life for my sheep. And he goes after that
sheep. And the scripture says here in
our text, in verse 4, he goes after that which is lost until
he finds it. And when he finds it, he layeth
it on his shoulders and says to his neighbors and friends,
rejoice with me, I have found my sheep that was lost. Let me
tell you, the Samaritan woman, he found her. the Ethiopian eunuch,
he found him. Lydia, seller of purple, from
the city of Thyatira, came down to Philippi, went over there
to that group of women meeting on the Sabbath day because they
had no synagogue in which to meet. And she met with them,
and Paul walked in with the gospel. And he found her. He found Timothy. And he found you. And he found
me. That's right. He said, I'll go
after them, my sheep, and I'll go after them until I find them. I'll put them on my shoulder,
and I'm going to bring them home. I'm going to bring them home.
He said, go to a prepared place for you, and if I go to a prepared
place, I'll come again and receive you unto myself. There where
I am, there you may be also. We used to sing an old song.
The shepherd went out to search for the sheep. And all through
the night on the rocky steep, he searched till he found him.
And with love bands he bound him. And I was that sheep. I was that poor, long sheep. That's it. And that's what the
leading character in this story here is a shepherd. He's a shepherd. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned all of us to our own way, but the Lord laid on
Him my iniquity and your iniquity to pay for it. All right, let's
see about this second part here. Verses 8 through 10. Either what
woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one, does not light
a candle, Sweep the house and seek diligently for it. Who's the leading character here?
The Cohen? No. The Cohen's lifeless. The Cohen
doesn't know it's even lost. It's totally lifeless. And then
she brings a light. The light's not the leading character.
The woman is. The light is that instrument
she used to help her find her This is the Spirit of God. All
right. Here's the application here. Number one, it was her
coin. It was her coin. Number two,
it was lost in her house. That's right. In my father's
house. That's what it was like. Number
three, it was lost in the darkness. But number four, here's the main
part of this whole story here, this part here. She took a life. What is that life? It's the gospel,
which is absolutely essential for the salvation of a sinner.
It's the gospel life. Let me show you the scripture.
Turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
It's the power of God and the salvation. to everyone that believe
it. Now watch here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 verse 3. If our gospel be hidden, well,
the lost coin was, it was lost and it was hidden. It was left
lifeless. It was dead. Can't find itself. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, whose image of God, should shine
unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
we preach Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for
Jesus' sake, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of the
darkness." Now, I just see that woman, she's going lost, can't
know where she is. She brought a light. She brought
a light, and she swept the house, and she used that light, and
that light focused on that colon. That light revealed that colon.
That light revealed where it was. That light revealed it,
and she picked it up. Oh, that's what it's saying here. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the glory the knowledge, the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell
you, one time there was an Ethiopian eunuch who went to Jerusalem
to worship. Went up there for three days
to these sacrifices and all, baptisms and all these things,
and he went up there to try to find God. Find out something
about God. He was Ethiopian, a man of great fame in his home country as a
treasurer, the treasurer of Ethiopia. And she went up to the United
States for three days. But he never learned anything. Here
in all these Sadducees and Pharisees. And on his way back, he was sitting
in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah. He was reading the prophet
Isaiah on his way back to Ethiopia. And the Lord sent the Holy Spirit. He sent a light. And Philip,
he sent Philip down, and Philip walked alongside the chariot.
And he heard him reading Isaiah. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him by his stripes. He heard him reading. And he
looked in the chair and he said, Do you understand what you're
reading? No, he didn't. I didn't either. You know, I
came home from the Navy. I did a little preaching in the
Navy. Didn't know a thing. Totally ignorant. When I went
into the Navy, I was 17 years old. And I wanted to apply for chaplain's
assistant because I was a religious person. I was a member of the
First Baptist Church in Fairfield, Alabama and worked with young
people and things like that. Didn't know the gospel. Didn't
know the gospel at all. Just religious free will. And
I did a little preaching because I was on a ship. I was on a landing
ship. We took the Marines from Maui
to Iwo Jima. And from there to Okinawa. And
we had just 120 men on the ship, but we had about 300 marines
and soldiers, usually, for the invasion. But no chaplain. And so one of the officers said
to me, he said, well, you preach? I said, no. I'll try, though.
He said, I can sing if you can preach. So we got together and
had a little service on the ship there, but didn't know the gospel.
I didn't know it, not a bit. I got to Ethiopia and Munich
just reading scripture. Didn't know anything about it.
This man was reading the scripture. Do you understand what you read?
Do you understand it? No, I didn't understand it. I
was playing church. But one day God opened my heart
and I did understand it. 1950. I was 24 years old. I learned
the gospel. But anyway, He said, do you understand what
you're reading? I cannot, except somebody show
me. And Philip got in the chair, and he said, this man he's talking
about here, this man, who's he talking about? Is he talking
about himself or some other man? And then the light shone through. And then the gospel was proclaimed.
Then the light, that woman took the light, and there it is. There
it is. When God reveals, opens your
high eyes, you've got to have two things to see. Eyes and light. You can have eyes and not see.
You've got to have light. You've got to have the light
of the gospel. God is shining in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that Philip began right there
to preach to him Jesus Christ. I don't know how long they were
in that chair and how long they were riding along, but I do know
this. After a while, the man said, Here's water. What does hinder me from being
baptized? Evidently, Philip had talked to him about confessing
Christ and following the Lord in baptism and all these things. He'd gone through the Scriptures
with it. He said, What does hinder me from being baptized? Right
now. And Philip said, Well, if you
believe with all your heart, you may. He said, I believe. He didn't know this before. He didn't know this before. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, light by the Spirit of God, the gospel. You've got to have the gospel.
You've got to hear the gospel. not feeling, not emotion, the
gospel, the truth of God, the truth of God, got to heaven. How can they call on Him in whom
they've not believed? How shall they believe in whom
they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? How are they going to hear without an effectual
Holy Spirit to take the light of the gospel and shine in these
poor, darkened hearts of ours and let us see Christ to go with
God. That's right. That's the second
part. Let's see the third part here.
The third part, Luke 15. The third part is, you know,
over here, find this in Luke 15. I'll come back to this. But
when Paul was talking about the work of the Holy Spirit, the
work of the Father in redemption and the work of the The Lord
Jesus Christ in substitution and the work of the Spirit in
regeneration. He said, whom you, in whom you, let me
read it for you. It comes and goes, Dr. Paul.
It comes and then it's gone. I'm glad I can laugh, aren't
you? Here's what he said. He said,
in whom you trust it. in whom you trusted after you
heard the word of truth. You didn't trust him until you
heard the word of truth. Listen, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom, in whom You were sealed with the Holy Spirit upon us.
That's that Holy Spirit bringing the light. And you heard and
you believed. You were saved. That's right.
Here's the last one. Luke 15, 8 through 10. I love this right here. No, it's
verses, not 8 through 10. That's verse 11. And a certain man had two sons. A younger son said to the father,
Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he
divided unto him his living. Not many days after, the younger
son gathered together everything and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance, his righteous living. And when he spent all that rose
a mighty pandemon in the land, he began to be in want. And he
went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. Now this is
a Jew, and he had to go feed the swine. That was a tough experience
for him. He was about as low now as a
fellow can get, just about as low as a fellow can get. He sent
him to feed the swine, and he would have filled his belly with
the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave to him. And when he came to himself,
How'd he come to himself? There's no Holy Spirit there.
There's no word to read. There's no gospel. See, what
we're talking about here, we talked about the shepherd who
seeks and finds, the Holy Spirit who opens hearts to those, and
the Father who forgives. And that's who we're talking
about now. The Father. Stay with the Father. Do that. Stay with the Father. All right.
And he came to him and said, I'm going to tell you about my
father, how wonderful he is. This old boy's going to tell
you about his dad now. I'll tell you about my dad. How many hired
servants in my father's house have bread enough to spare? That's
a wonderful father. Those servants have all the bread
they need. You know, the Scripture tells
us that I'm old. I've been young, but I'm old.
I've never seen God's seed baked bread. I've never seen the righteous
forsaken. And even these servants of the
Father have plenty to eat to spare. That's right. I will arise
and I'll go to my father, verse 18, and I'll say to him, Father,
I've sinned against heaven. I like that. He didn't say, I've
sinned against you. He said, I've sinned against
God. My sins are against God. He's telling the truth. He had
a real awakening here. I've sinned against heaven before
you. I'm not fit to be I'm not worthy to be called a son. Don't
make me a son. Make me a higher servant. This is true repentance. This
is true repentance. And he arose and came to his
father. And when he was a great way off, his father saw him. I just somehow believe that that
father had a vigil, that he looked for that boy coming down that
road one of these days. He knows he's coming, and he
looked for him to come. He saw him a great way off. And
his father had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and
kissed him. Kissed him. And the son says,
Father, I've sinned against heaven in your sight. I'm not fit to
be called a son. But now, wait a minute. There's
no rebuke? The father did not rebuke him.
The father did not demand restitution. I hear these people talking about
restitution, going to have to make up what I've done. No restitution
needed. Not when love's present. No rebuke,
no restitution, no probation. Heard a man say not long ago,
well, I'll receive you, but it's going to take time. Not love.
Love doesn't take time. It's right now. It's right now.
It's right now. No rebuke, no restitution, no
probation. He kissed him. And he said, listen
to this, verse 22, bring forth the best robe. No secondhand
garments for God's sons. Bring the best robe, the robe
of Christ's righteousness. And you put it on him. You put
it on him. and bring a ring. That's a token
of union and sonship and heir. This is my son. This is no stranger. This is my son. He welcomes home
his lost sons. Shoes on his feet. He's going
to walk a different path now. He's going to have new shoes.
New shoes. And bring the fatted calf and
kill it and let us eat and be married. My son was dead. He's alive again. He was lost. He began to be married. You know,
as we get older, we kind of go through all of these things that
God teaches us. All of the wonderful, loving
Savior that seeks His own and finds Him, searches for Him until
He finds Him, puts Him on His shoulder and takes Him home.
And the Holy Spirit who brings us the Gospel. I thank God down
there in 1950, in April, 1950, when I heard the gospel for the
first time, at Potter's Baptist Church, Brother Byron preached
the gospel to me. I was so glad to hear that. And then the father, all that
shenanigans, you know, religion and dead works, and he doesn't
have a restitution. He doesn't put you on probation. You know, when I used to lead
the singing, I asked a woman to sing. This is a true story. I asked a dear lady. I loved
her very much. She's the mother of a good friend
of mine. She had a beautiful voice. She'd never sung at the church
before, but I asked her to sing. And one of the deacons came up
to me. And he whispered to me over the
side, he said, I'd rather you wouldn't ask her to sing. And
I said, why wouldn't, why? She's a believer in, oh yeah,
but she hadn't, she hadn't, she hadn't lived long enough to live
down with her passion. So we better not have her sing.
I told the pastor, I said, she sings or I go home. She sang. But no restitution, no probation,
just forgiveness. But like I said, when you get
older, you go through all these troubles. Doris and I had three
sons and a daughter. And we've got three sons and
a daughter, two of them in Glover now, but the other two are still
living in our presence and fellowship. One morning, we woke up back
in that terrible 60s, you know. We woke up one morning to get
the children off school, and our 16-year-old was gone. His
bed hadn't been slept in, and he was gone. And he ran away
from home. And we spent a whole month hoping,
seeking, calling, doing different things, but nobody had seen him
or knew where he was or anything for a whole month. That's tough.
That's a tough trial. But I left home and had to go
to Houston, Texas for a meeting to preach out there. And Doris
was home with the other three children. And the phone rang late one night. Darce was calling. She said,
Danny's home. I said, that's wonderful. That's
wonderful. We put him on the phone. So we
put him on the phone, and he said, Dad, I'm sorry. I said,
forget it. Forget it. You're home. We're glad. Don't
ever bring it up. Never bring, don't tell me where
you were, what you did, or why you did it. Anything, just, I'm
glad you're home. Forgiveness. Love, that's the
way it responds. So, this is my son who was lost,
now he's found. And when that father ran to meet
him, boy, he put his arm around him and kissed him. Kissed him. Put the best robe on him, shoes
on his feet, a ring on his finger. Let's have a party. Let's have
a party. All right, I hope the Lord bless
that too. The leader actually.