Over in Luke's Gospel chapter
15, He tells us here in verse 3 that the Lord spake this parable
unto them. And it's been said about this
parable that it's just one parable. And you notice the Lord Jesus
said a parable, not parables, but parables. And it's been said
about this parable that it's one parable with three different
sides. And I think that's correct. We
have in the first part of this parable down verses 4 through
verse 7, it talks about the shepherd finding his sheep, the sheep
that are lost and found by the shepherd. And then verses 8 through
10, it talks about a coin that's lost, and this woman with a broom
and a lamp, finding her coin. And then verses 11 through verse
22, we have the prodigal leaving his home, going off into a foreign
country, wasting all he has, and then he comes home. And the
father says, this my son was lost, just like the sheep, just
like the coin, And now he's found, just like the sheep and just
like the coin. So this is one parable with three sides, and
I just want us to look at it this morning. Let's read the
first three verses, four verses. Verse four through verse seven,
and look at this. And he spake this parable unto
them, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he
lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness? and go after that which is lost
until he find it. And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you
that likewise there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons
which need no Now, the first part of this parable is all about
the shepherd, isn't it? All that's said about the sheep
is the sheep was lost and the sheep was found. But it's all
about the shepherd. And what's the first thing that
we can learn here about the shepherd? Well, he said he had a hundred
sheep and one of them was lost. Just one sheep, he said, was
lost, and he said, he goeth after that one until he finds it. Now what does that tell us? That
tells us the care and love the shepherd has for each of his
sheep. I mean, he had the rest of them.
Why wasn't he content? He cannot endure to think of
losing just one of his sheep. I've often thought of this. that
it would take the same sufferings, it would take the same death,
the same bloodshedding to redeem one sheep as it did to redeem
all the sheep. And you know the Lord Jesus Christ
would be willing to do that just for one of His sheep. Isn't that
amazing the love and care the Shepherd has for His sheep? And
you know that's what we ought to think about sometimes too.
We read that He gave Hisself for the church, But you know,
He gave Himself for each individual member of the church. He loved
me, Paul said. And He gave Himself for me. So that's the first thing we
see about this Shepherd. The care and love He has for
each individual sheep. Secondly, we see this about Him.
Look what a successful Shepherd He is. He goeth after that one
which was lost until he finds it, and verse 5 says, and when
he has found it, not if, but when he hath found it. Well,
there is nothing that makes us feel more helpless sometimes
than when we see lost people, and we talk to lost people, and
witness to lost people, and there is no response from them at all.
There's no conviction, there's no desire to seek the Lord, and
don't we feel helpless when that happens? But you know, Jesus
Christ is eternally different than we are. He's not helpless. I mean, we go after Him, and
we come away disappointed, but when He goes after you, boy,
when He goes after you, He won't let up until He finds you. He's a successful shepherd, isn't
He? I want you to look over your
whole bed and look over in Ezekiel chapter 34 and verse 11 with
me right quickly. Ezekiel chapter 34 and look in
verse 11. Here's what He's saying about
His sheep. I think I've said this just the other day, but
I don't think there's anything more encouraging to me at this
point in my life especially as a pastor, than to know. When I feel my utter failure
and insignificance in preaching and witnessing to people, there's
nothing more encouraging to me than to know this, that if you
belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and elect in love, then He's
going to find you. He's going to find you and He's
going to bring you home to the fold. That's encouraging, isn't
it? You say, Bruce, does that mean
you're just going to... No, that don't mean we're going to sit down
and do nothing. That means we're not going to pray. That means we're
not going to witness. No, it doesn't mean that at all.
But it means when we did that and we realized how insignificant
it all is without His blessing on it, we can be encouraged to
know, hey, if you're His, boy, He's going to get you. The Shepherd
is going to find you. And that's what He said in Ezekiel.
Look in verse 11. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I, even I, I, speaking about I now, not you and me, but Him,
I will both search my sheep and seek them out, as a shepherd
seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep
that is scattered So I will seek out My sheep, and will deliver
them out of all places where they have been scattered in the
cloudy and dark day. I will 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, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
I will feed them, and a good pastor and upon the high mountains
of Israel shall their foal be. There shall they lie in a good
foal and in a fat pasture. They shall feed upon the mountains
of Israel. I will feed my flock. I will
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. 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 will destroy the fat and
the strong. I will feed them with judgment,
saith the Lord." So he's going to find them, isn't he? Not a
one of his sheep is going to be lost. See, I know he's going
to find every one of them. And you notice what he did when
he found it? He laid it on his shoulders and he rejoiced. Can't
you just get a picture of that? Ain't it wonderful how the Lord
Jesus teaches us these things that we can imagine in our mind? If you had a sheep and you went
and you found it down in a broiler patch in so much danger, what
would you do? You'd pick it up, put it on your
shoulders, a little lamb, and you'd carry it back to the fold.
That's what he said here in this parable. And he went skipping
and whistling and rejoicing that he found his sheep. And I don't
know who all this is here in verse 7, but everybody here was
rejoicing in verse 7 in our text. I said to you that likewise joy
shall be in heaven. Now who is in heaven? Well, it
could be God. It could be Christ. But he already
talked about his rejoicing, didn't he? Is it the angels? Well, I
imagine it is. They're ministering spirits sent
forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation.
Don't you imagine that these holy angels are capable of rejoicing? When the Lord calls one of His
own, they rejoice at it. When they see a broken-hearted
sinner come to their Savior. But He says here also that there's
rejoicing in the presence of the angels in verse 10. Now,
who could that be? I wonder how much the saints
in heaven know. Do you ever wonder that? We don't
know and all we could do is speculate, but I wonder maybe if it's announced
up there. They're rejoicing in the presence
of those angels. I'll tell you who else rejoices,
the sheep that's found. They rejoice too, don't they?
priest of that eunuch in Acts chapter 8. Remember when he baptized
the eunuch and Philip went on his way and the eunuch went home
and what was he doing? Rejoicing. Rejoicing. So everybody's
rejoicing isn't they? The shepherd, the father, the
angel. The second part of this is the
coin that this woman found and I want to look at it in verses
8 through 10. It's the short portion. 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 until she find it. And when she has found it, she
calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with
me, for I have found the piece which was lost. Likewise I say
unto you, There shall be joined the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner that repenteth." Now who is this woman? If you
read the commentaries, You know, there's different opinions, but
you know who I think this woman is. I think this woman is the
church and the Holy Spirit working through the church by His Word
to find elect sinners, the lost sheep, the coin. And the first
thing that was said here that she did was she lit a lamp. That word candle means lamp.
She lit a lamp. And you know, she didn't light
a lamp so the coin could see. She lit the lamp
so she could see. What is this lamp she lit? Well,
David said, Boy, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light
unto my pathway. You know how lost sinners are
found by the church. You know how we know how to reach
lost sinners? By the Word. Preach the Word
to them. When we preach the Gospel to
lost sinners, this is the way we find out who they are. Who
are the elect? Well, I tell you, when you preach
the Gospel to them, you'll find out who they are. Because there's
always a response sooner or later. Is there not? How else are we
going to find out who the elect of God are? There ain't no other
way to find out. Light the lamp. Light the lamp. and go to preaching and searching.
And then what happens? Well, you'll find the lamp. You'll
find the coin. You'll find the coin. Here's
the woman lighting her lamp and searching. But something else
she does here, secondly, we're told this, that she sweeps the
house. Well, if you ever swept the house,
that creates some dust, doesn't it? You start sweeping, there's
some dust flying and you start coughing. Sometimes your eyes
water and you have to get out and get some fresh air. You know
the gospel sometimes stirs up some dust, doesn't it? When Paul
and when those apostles and preachers went through the book of Acts
preaching and teaching Jesus Christ, you know there were some
who believed and were glad and there were others who were unbelievers
and they got mad. It always stirs up stuff, doesn't
it? Sometimes we forget that. We
think, well, you know, it should calm everything down. But it
don't. It don't always do it, does it?
So she got her broom and she lit the candle, preached the
gospel. She got her broom out and was
sweeping, trying to get the coin. And then thirdly, it says here
that she searched diligently. She searched diligently. You know, that's what we need
to do, isn't it? We don't need to grow discouraged
so quickly. Sometimes seeking the lost takes
patience, it takes diligence. I wonder sometimes, brothers
and sisters, if we were more like Paul, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
Seek them out in every way, witness to them, pray for them, read
to them and do it diligently and do not
be discouraged if if, you know, you don't find it too quickly.
I imagine this woman had to sweep quite some time because she searched,
she searched diligently. And I think probably if we would
search better, more diligently, maybe God would be pleased to
let us find one or two along. You reckon? Searched and this
coin, you notice this coin, what is a coin? It's just a lifeless, inanimate
object. It was taken out of the earth,
it was fashioned, it was farmed, and it's lifeless. When she was
looking for this coin, she was looking for a lifeless, dead
sinner. That's who we're looking for,
isn't it? We're not even looking for sinners with any desires.
We're not looking for sinners who are awakened. We're just
looking for sinners. We're just preaching the gospel
to sinners. And they're just like when the Lord took Adam
from the dust of the earth and formed him and fashioned him,
shaped him, and he had no life in him, did he? And God breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life. That's what sinners
are. They're dead in trespasses and sins, and Jesus Christ has
to breathe life unto those sinners. And that's what we're waiting
for in sweeping, preaching, holding forth the light that they may
see. So that's the first two sides
of the parable. You've got a sheep, I imagine
just a dumb sheep, must have been dumb, got away and got lost.
Then you have this lifeless coin that the woman swept until she
found it. And we come here now verses 11 through verse 24 and
it changes completely. It changes completely. First
it looked at it from the shepherd's perspective. Then from the church's
perspective as she preaches the gospel. Now we look at it from
the sinner's perspective. The lost sheep, the lost coin.
What is it? Well, it's a person. It's a person
with a desire. It's a person with a will. It's
a person with affection. This lost son who went astray. When He's found, all of these
things are involved in finding Him. His understanding is enlightened. His affections are wrought upon.
His will is subdued. All of these things that we never
found out about Him were the lost sheep or the lost coin.
But now we find out more about Him, don't we? Let's read it. Look at the beginning here in
verse 11. A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them
said to his father, 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 to a far
country and wasted his substance with righteous living. And when
he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land,
and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself
to citizens of that country, and he sent him to his field
to feed swine. And he would fain, would gladly
have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat,
and no man gave him to him. And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hard servants of my father's have bred enough
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 I am no more worthy to be called Your Son.
Make Me one of the hard servants. And He arose and came to His
Father. But when He was yet 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 thy sight I 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 that fatty calf,
and kill him, and let us eat, and be married. For this my son
was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found. And they began to be Mary. Here's the son that was lost. What's God's elect like before
the Lord finds them, before the shepherd finds them? What are
they like? We don't know by considering that lost sheep or the lost coin,
but we can find out here's something that they're like before the
shepherd finds them. First of all, what are they like?
Well, they're selfish. They're selfish. Ain't that what
he said, verse 12? Give me the portions of good
that fall to me. Me, me, me. You know one of the problems
with fallen sinners? You know one of our problems?
We're just selfish. We're selfish. It's all about
me. Is it not? My wife brought me
a little shirt one time to wear and it said, what did it say
on it? It's all about me? As I said,
it's all about me. I don't know where in the world
how she described me is that way, but that's what she said.
It's all about me. But ain't that the way people is? It's
all about me. God created man for Himself. Did He not? To know Him and to
love Him and to serve Him and to enjoy Him forever. But when the devil come in and
said, Eve, I know God told you that you
could eat of all of those trees except that one. That one's the
one you want. You want it all. And when she
said, I want that one too, and Adam took that one too, ever
since then it's been all about me. Give me, me, me. It's not about God anymore. It's
not about His will. It's not about His instruction.
It's about me. Give to me. That's what they're
like before the Lord saves them. Secondly, what are they like? Well, at best, it's a life of
hard indifference towards God. At worst, it's outright rebellion
and even hatred. You see there in verse 13, Not
many days hence he took his His journey into a far country. Why did He go into a far country?
My goodness, why not move down the road? Maybe over in the next
county. Why did He want to go afar off? He wanted from under the authority
and rule of His Father. I don't want Him telling me what
to do anymore. I don't want Him watching over
me anymore. I don't even want to be in His presence anymore.
I want to get as far away as I can. Now you know what the
Bible says about the carnal mind, the unregenerate mind? It's enmity
against God. Now you may not see that from
young people. You may not see that sometimes,
especially when they've been raised in the congregation. Sometimes
they are so sweet And you think, what a sweet child, and they
are. They've got a disposition that way. But I tell you, in
the heart, in the mind, they're just as much at enmity against
God as that open and profane sinner. They're wanting to get
away from Him as far as they can be. You who sometimes were
far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. That's the second
thing. The third thing here about the
life of the sheep before the Lord finds them, it's a wasted
life, isn't it? He wasted his substance, in verse
13, with righteous living. A wasted life. It doesn't matter
if a man is an open and a profane person. It doesn't matter if
he's a Baptist preacher. It doesn't matter if he's the
Pope of Rome. It just doesn't matter. If a man is outside of
Jesus Christ, before the Shepherd finds him and saves him, everything
about him is just being wasted. Everything. What he said, he
took all of his substance in, and he wasted everything. Nothing. What did Paul say about his former
life before the Lord saved him? Done. Lost. Nothing. And before the Shepherd finds
us, that's our life. That's our life. It's just wasted,
isn't it? Just wasted. We come down to our deathbed,
and without the Lord washing us from our sin and saving us,
we'll look back over our life, and you know what we'll say?
Wasted. Wasted years. Wasted energy. Everything is
wasted. Wasted time. Just wasted, wasted,
wasted. He wasted His substance with
righteous deliverance. He spent all. In verses 14 and
verse 19, we see the first evidence that this prodigal belongs to
the shepherd. The shepherd is beginning to
call him. How do we know that? Boy, you
see the dust flying, don't you? You see the woman sweeping the
floor here in verse 14. And when He had spent all there
arose a mighty famine in the land. And he began to be in want. There's the dust blind. Man,
what's happened? What's happened in my life? Everything's
messed up. It begins to get turned upside
down. He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country
and would have fed swine and would have eaten with them. But
then he just got worse and worse and worse. You know what's such
an indication? The shepherd is calling. The
shepherd is calling. Dust is in the air. There's a
famine. There's need. There's confusion. I tell you, when the Lord first
began to deal with me, He didn't straighten me all out intellectually.
It turned my intellect inside out. I mean, I got so confused. And the things that I used to
love, He began to kill me to them. That has to happen, doesn't
it? Oh, I want that lust. I want
that lust. Well, you've got to be killed
of that. So what does he do? He sends a famine. Oh, I want
that fine food. I want to see that table with
all the food on it. I want the nightlife. Well, he
killed him of that. Send a famine. That's that dust
to fly. That dust to fly. Here in verse 18 and verse 19,
we see another evidence that the shepherd is calling. finding
her coin, ìI will arise and go to my father, and I will say
unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven before thee. I
am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me one of the
hard servants.î Whatís going on? What is going on? The shepherd has found his sheep. The woman is reaching down in
the dust and pulling that coin out. See the desire that has
changed? Before he said, I want away.
Now he said, I'm going home. Before his affection was to sin,
now it's for the Father's house. What's happening? The shepherd
is finding his sheep. And verse 20, And he arose and
came to his father, and he said, Father, I've sinned. I've sinned. I've sinned against heaven. I've
sinned against you. I'm no more worthy to be called
your son. And there he is in all of his
filth and his rags and his stink. And the father brings forth the
robe and puts on him the ring on his finger and they kill the
fatted calf. And everybody is now rejoicing.
And what's happened? The shepherd has found a sheep.
The woman has found her corn. But it's all one parable, isn't
it? Just look at it from just a little different perspective.
The sheep, the corn, and the lost son. Lord bless His Word. Take a few minutes break and
we'll come back and worship.