If your Bible's with you, turn
with me to Luke chapter 15. The 15th chapter of Luke. I'm so glad that the Lord has
brought you here today to hear this word. I'm glad he's brought
me here. The gospel, what a blessing to
be able to share the gospel with others and I'm thankful for this
opportunity. I appreciate being asked. If
you would, Luke chapter 15, verse number one. Scripture says, then
drew near unto him, that is unto the Lord Jesus, all the publicans
and sinners for to hear him. You notice that the publicans
and sinners, they come to the Lord Jesus Christ and they come
to hear him. They don't come, at least not
on this occasion, as we're told here, they didn't come looking
to see a miracle. They didn't come hoping to be
fed by loaves and the fish. They didn't come as the Pharisees
and the religious leaders normally came to Him, hoping to catch
Him saying something that they could accuse Him of. No, they
came to hear Him. And that's my desire for us this
morning, for you and for me, that we come to hear Him. Not
to hear about him or of him, but to hear him. That's what
I need. That's what you need. We need
to hear from him, from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice verse
number two. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. They murmured. This was their
specialty. If there was one thing that they
specialized in, the religious leaders of the Jewish people,
it was murmuring. They murmured and they complained
that the Lord Jesus and his disciples received sinners and ate with
them. That is, that he associated with
sinners. You remember when the Lord Jesus
called Zacchaeus. He said, Zacchaeus, make haste
and come down, for today I must abide at the house. And you remember
what they did? They murmured, right? That was their specialty, they
murmured. They said, he has gone to be a guest with the man that
is a sinner. Now notice verse number three. It's on account of this murmuring
of the Pharisees and the scribes that the Lord Jesus, it says,
and he spake this parable unto them. On account of them murmuring,
on account of them complaining. Our pastor a couple weeks ago
on Sunday night brought a message from Luke chapter 15. And he
told us at that time that he believed that this was one parable.
It has three stories in it, but that it's one parable. And the
more I've thought about that, I believe that that's true. I
believe that's true. It was all spoken based on this
one thing that had happened. The scribes and the Pharisees
murmuring because the Lord Jesus received and ate with sinners.
And he gave these three stories, the story of the lost sheep,
the story of the lost coin, and the story of the prodigal son.
And the Lord willing, what I would like to do is this morning, I
want us to think about the story of the lost sheep. And then tonight,
Lord willing, that we would think about the lost coin. Our pastor
brought his message on the prodigal son two weeks ago. And so let's
look at these first two. You know, when he announced his
scripture a couple weeks ago, I already knew what I wanted
to try to preach from today. And I thought, oh, no. He's going
to preach from my passage. Well, he did, but he chose the
third parable, the third story in this parable. So he left open
for me today the lost sheep for this morning. The Lord Jesus
vindicated his own conduct to receive sinners, and he described
or illustrated the gracious dealing of God with sinners through these
three stories. He vindicated his own behavior.
They accused him. They were telling the truth.
He received and ate with sinners. And he vindicated himself in
doing this through these three stories. So let's look at the
first one, the lost sheep. Notice verse number four. He
said, 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 his neighbors,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep
which was lost. And I say unto you, that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. more than
over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. You
notice in verse four again, he said, 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? You know, as you read the commentators
on this story of the lost sheep, I think they all agree that the
shepherd in this parable, this story, that it speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, the great shepherd, the chief
shepherd, that the shepherd here speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said of himself, he said,
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. So all agree that the shepherd
in this story speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, the
shepherd of the sheep. You remember what he told the
religious leaders. I mentioned the story of Zacchaeus.
He said the Son of Man has come, what, to seek and to save that
which was lost. And so the shepherd here that
goes out to seek the lost sheep is no doubt the Lord Jesus Christ. All agree that the lost sheep,
at least the ones that I read, that the lost sheep here pictures
every sinner that the Lord Jesus Christ seeks and saves. All of
them agree in that. There are various opinions as
to who the 99 sheep speak to. I mean, you can read about as
many opinions as people that you read. Who did the 99 represent
in this story? Some say, well, the 100 sheep
in this story, they represent the whole number of the elect,
whether in heaven or on earth. The 99 signify the sheep of Christ
that are already in heaven, whom the Son of God left when he came
into this earth to seek and to save that which was lost. And
the one sheep is speaking of the one upon earth, that sinner
that Christ would seek and save. So that's what some people believe.
And some people say, no, that's not what it means. What it's
speaking of is speaking of a sheep who comparably need no repentance. That is, There's a sheep that's
been found already. He's been saved. He's been regenerated
by the Spirit of God. He's come to the Lord Jesus Christ
in faith. And it's not speaking of him,
it's speaking comparatively, that the 99, that the one doesn't
need, that the 99 don't need repentance. They've already come
to Christ. It's that one that still needs to come. And so that's
the way they interpret the 99. And the others say, well, the
99 refer to the holy angels. the holy angels that the son
of God left in heaven when he came to the earth and became
man, that that's who this is speaking of. But I don't find
anywhere in the scripture where angels are ever referred to as
sheep. Sinners are referred to as sheep, but not angels. They're
never referred to as sheep. And can heaven be rightfully
referred to as a wilderness? He said to leave them in the
wilderness. I don't think heaven is a wilderness,
right? Heaven is not, it's never referred
to that way in the scripture. Well, others, and I'm among these
others, Believe that what the 99 referred to, it's pharisaical
or self-righteous people who see themselves as not needing
repentance. They're just. Why would they
need to repent? And I believe this interpretation,
it fits perfectly with what brought about our Lord telling this parable
in this story, right? It was these religious people
who looked down upon the publicans and sinners and accused the Lord,
the savior of sinners, that he ate with and he received sinners. And that's why he spoke this
parable in the first place. On another occasion, you remember
the Lord Jesus said this. Hear me, I've been rambling on
here for a few minutes, but hear this. Hear what the words of
the Lord. He said, they that are whole
need not a physician. Isn't that true? They that are
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I am not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That rejoices
my heart so much. To hear him, he said he came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Isn't
that wonderful news? On another occasion, I had it
in my notes that we would turn here, but for time's sake, we
won't. The Lord Jesus told the religious people there that were
They had kicked out that blind man whom he had healed. They
had kicked him out of the synagogue because he confessed that Jesus,
it was Jesus who had healed him. And you remember that they asked
the Lord, they said, well, are we blind also? That's what the
religious people said, are we blind also? You remember what
the Lord Jesus told them? He said, if you were blind, you
would have no sin. If you were blind, you should
have no sin. He wasn't talking about physical
blindness. They didn't need a prophet. They
knew everything already. They didn't need the Savior.
They were righteous in themselves. The Lord said, if you were blind,
you should have no sin. Oh, Lord. And you remember what
the Lord asked that blind man. He said, do you believe in the
Son of God? And that blind man, he confessed
he couldn't see, didn't he? He had restored his physical
eyes, but spiritually he could not see. He said, Lord, who is
he? Who is he that I might believe in him? And the Lord Jesus said,
you both see him and are talking to him. Amen. Right? But he told
those religious people, if you were blind, you should have no
sin remaining. Don't you many times feel spiritually
blind? I do, I confess, I fear, but
I pray, Lord, help me see. Just like that man who said,
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. I think that's
the testimony of every believer. Now, I don't wanna scare you,
but I have eight truths. I have eight truths from this
story that I would like to share with you very briefly this morning,
and I think, I think, believer, this will be a blessing to you.
My prayer, if you are here without the Lord Jesus Christ this morning,
that the Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd, the Good Shepherd,
the Chief Shepherd, that he would come even this morning, and he
would seek you out, and he would find you, and he would save you. That's what he came to do. May
he come here this morning to do this. So eight truths quickly
from, I think that we can take from this story. Here's the first
one. The world that we live in can rightfully be described and
compared to a wilderness. This world that we live in can
rightfully be compared to a wilderness. What's a wilderness? A wilderness
is a desert place. That's what the word actually
means here, a desolate place. And I can't think of a worse
place to be lost than a desert. Can you? Because in a desert,
you can find no food, and you can find no water. You can't
find either one, both of which are absolutely necessary for
life, for our physical life. And this world can be compared
to a desert, a desolate place, spiritually. Sure, this physical world, thank
God for his mercy. that he causes the rain to fall
on the just and on the unjust, and he causes his sun to shine
on the just and on the unjust, so that we do have food in this
world. Many places, there are places
in this world where they don't, but praise God, there are many
places in this world where we do have food, and that's all
by the mercy of God. We don't deserve it. We don't
deserve one blessing from his hand, and yet in his mercy, he
gives it to us. But this world is a spiritual
desert. May not be a physical desert,
but it's a spiritual desert. That is, listen, if you don't
hear anything else that I say this morning, please hear this.
This earth has no food. This earth has no water for your
soul. It's a spiritual desert. The
Apostle John, you remember he exhorted the believers, he said,
love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
Wow, John, why? Apostle John, why should we not
love the world and the things that are in the world, why? For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust
of the eyes and the pride of life, it's not of the Father,
but it's of the world. And listen, and the world passeth
away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever. You see, this world, it's a desert. It's a desolate place. It has
no spiritual sustenance for our souls. Spiritual sustenance can
only be had, you read later in 1 John where John spoke those
words, can only be had by knowing Him who is from the beginning. That's the only, what's the will
of the Father that we believe on Him who He has sent? And spiritual
sustenance may only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ and
the bread of heaven, knowing Him that's from the beginning.
Who is that talking about? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.
The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Who's it talking about? Our souls can only be fed by
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's why my prayer is that
we would hear Him this morning. We would hear Him. Here's the
second thing. Sinners, sinners, yes, even the elect sinners,
the elect of God, All of us are born into this world lost. Sinners, even the elect, are
born into this world lost. What is it to be lost? I don't even like the word, lost. What is it to be lost? What is
it to be spiritually lost? You know, I think in the story,
the account that we have of Adam, we can see what it means to become
lost. To become lost. Adam and Eve
were not created lost. They were created in the image
of God, and they were not created lost, but when they disobeyed
God, they became lost. And I think we can see, as we
see Adam and Eve's situation, as we read their account, what
it is to be lost. We see in Adam, first of all,
to be lost. He lost the knowledge of God.
He lost the knowledge of God. What is it to be lost spiritually?
It's to not have the knowledge of God. You think of Adam. Do you think before Adam and
Eve failed, do you think anyone could have convinced them that
they could run and hide from God? That they could hide from
the one who fills all time and space and place? Of course not. Not as they came from the hand
of the creator, no. But when they fell, they lost
the knowledge of God. They now thought they could run
and hide from God. You see, the scripture says,
Adam, he fell, right? He fell, and when he fell, he
lost the knowledge of God, but we, all of us, We came into this
world lost. He wasn't created lost and became
lost, but we came into this world lost. And that's so plain from
the scriptures. The scripture says, as it is
written, listen, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seek after
God. Why do men not seek after God, the only good that there
is for us? Why don't we seek after him by
nature? Because we don't understand.
Oh, spare us, Lord, from becoming angry at the loss, at the unbeliever. Why can't they see? They can't
see because they don't have the knowledge of God. They don't
understand. And because they don't understand,
they don't seek after God. That's what it is to be lost.
It's to be missing the knowledge of God. Secondly, we see in Adam
one who lost the life of God. He lost the life of God. God
said, he forbade him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. He said, for in the day, in that
very day that you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. You say,
well, Adam didn't die the day that he ate that fruit. He lived
several hundred years later. No, he died that very day, just
as God said that he would. He didn't die physically that
day, but he died spiritually. He died spiritually. Just like
that's true of all of us as we come into this world. We come
into this world, we have no spiritual life. We come into this world
and you hath he quickened, being dead in trespasses and sins. What did the Lord Jesus tell
Nicodemus? And that's why when we prepare
to preach, you know, we get the opportunity to preach, to teach,
we always pray, oh God, be merciful to those who will hear the message.
Lord, unless you bless, unless you call, unless you regenerate,
None will be profited, right? What did the Lord Jesus tell
Nicodemus? He said, except a man be born again. Except a man is
born from above, born from God, born of the Spirit of God. What
did he say? He cannot see the kingdom of
God. And you look in your marginal
reading, what does that word mean, see? It means he cannot
perceive the kingdom of God. We come into this world dead
in trespasses and sin, spiritually dead, and we cannot see. We're
lost. We see in Adam and Eve, they
lost the image of God. How horrible, right? They lost
the image of God. They were created in the image
of God, and when they sinned, that image was greatly marred.
Fourthly, we see in Adam, he lost communion with God. Before,
Nothing thrilled the soul of Adam and Eve like communing with
God. They walked with God. And when
they fell, what did they do? They ran and hid from God. Why? Because now they feared
God. Why? Because in themselves they were
undone. They were lost. They were not
worthy to be in the presence of God. And so therefore they
ran and they hid. They lost that communion that
they had with God. And friends, there's no greater
joy There's no greater joy that any son or daughter of Adam in
this world can ever have than that God would allow us to have
communion with him. You say, are you talking about
the Lord's table? That's of course included in
it. I'm just talking about for God to receive us. For the Lord Jesus, the eternal
son of God to receive us and to eat with us. You say, does
the Lord Jesus still receive and eat with sinners? He does.
He still does, and there's no greater joy in life than when
he does. And they were brought under a
curse. They suffered the curse of spiritual death immediately,
just as soon as they disobeyed God. But they were brought under
the curse of physical death to come. One day they were going
to die physically and of spiritual death, eternal death, if they
were left in that lost condition. So every man and woman, as we come
into this world, I hope you can see that we come into this world
lost. We come into a wilderness lost. Here's the third truth, and I'll
try to speed up here. Christ's lost sheep, listen,
Christ's lost sheep, Christ's lost sheep cannot go home on
their own. Christ's lost sheep cannot go
home on their own. They're spiritually dead. How
can one who is spiritually dead go home to the shepherd, come
back to God, be in unity and union with God, be reconciled
to God, it's not possible. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. We're pictured as being not only
spiritually dead, the scripture doesn't stop there, it says that
we're blind. We're spiritually dead and we're
blind. Scripture says we have the understanding darkened. If
you're here this morning, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is not what the Bible says about somebody else somewhere else. It's what it says about you and
me this morning if we're outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them. Notice, because of the
blindness of their heart. And you know, we're pictured
as being dead, we're pictured as being blind, and it gets even
worse. We're pictured as being fallen
into a horrible pit, a horrible pit. That's what the scripture
talks about, being a slimy pit. Can a sheep make its way out
of a horrible pit? Imagine this huge pit out here,
it's full of mud and slime and everything else, and that sheep
has fallen into that pit. Can that sheep climb his way
out? Of course it can't. He's hopeless. She's helpless. Unless the savior, the shepherd
come and rescue him. Fourthly, we're pictured as being
caught in the briars. The briars, the stickers. Oh,
sheep, they have plenty of wool, don't they? They have lots to
get caught in stickers. And my friends, it's so easy,
even for the believer, to get caught in the briars, the stickers
of this world, the allurements, the temptations of this world.
That's how we're pictured. So it's clear that sheep cannot
go home on their own. Don't listen to anybody who even
remotely seems to give you the idea that you, apart from the
grace of God, can ever come back to God, because it's just not
true. A sheep cannot find his way back
to the shepherd from the wilderness. Fourthly, the Lord Jesus came
into this world. I'm glad I didn't stop at point
number three. I determined even if I was running too long, I
would not stop at point number three. I was at least going to
get to point number four. The good news, the Lord Jesus
came into this world to seek and to find and to save lost
sheep. You say, oh, it's so horrible,
I'm a lost sheep. No, that's a good thing. If you're lost,
that's a good thing. Why? Because there is a savior,
there is a shepherd for lost sheep. The Lord Jesus came to
seek such. And listen, we should never imagine
that sheep, the sheep, the elect of God, the sheep of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we should never imagine that they're lost in
such a way that the shepherd doesn't know where they're at.
He knows where his sheep are at, every one of them. Just like
he told Paul, you remember the apostle Paul, he went to Corinth,
and the Lord told him, don't be afraid, Paul, to preach to
the Corinthians. Well, why, Lord? Because I have
many people here, right? I have many people here. Don't
be afraid to preach. I have much people in this city.
He knew where they were at. The Lord Jesus knows where his
sheep are at. When we talk about lost sheep,
they're not lost to him. We're lost in ourselves, yes,
but not lost. He knows where we are. And praise
God, he not only knows where every lost sheep is at, he's
not sitting in heaven this morning upon the throne wringing his
hands as to whether or not he's going to find every one of the
sheep. No, he knows. He knows where his sheep are
at, and he knows how to find them. He will seek and find and
save every one of his sheep. Everyone that he came into this
world to die for, to live for, to die for, he's going to find. Here's my fifth point. I have a lot more on that fourth
point, but I need to move on here. Let me, before I do, let
me just, let me say these things very quickly. Why did the Lord
Jesus come into this world to save his lost sheep? I can't
not mention this. Why did he come into this world
to save his lost sheep? Because he loves his sheep. He
loves them. I love the way the Apostle Paul,
he exhorted the Christians, he said, walk in love, even as Christ
also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet smell and savor. So he talks
about us, he loved us. Believers, the Lord Jesus, the
good shepherd, he loved us. But he didn't stop there. He
took it one step further. He said, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life that I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. You see, at first he was talking
about us, but then he brought it down even more personal, who
loved me and gave himself for me. You say, well, why did the
Lord Jesus come into this world as the shepherd of the sheep?
Because we're his sheep. And he's the good shepherd. We
may not be precious to anybody else, but the sheep of the Lord
Jesus are precious to him. That's why he came. And because
he's the good shepherd. Can the good shepherd leave a
lost sheep in the wilderness? Of course he came. He's the good
shepherd. He must come. And also because there's none
else that can find him. If there had been anyone else,
if there would have been any other way for God's elect to
be saved, God would not have sent his son into this world
to become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and to
die the horrible death upon the cross. And if there was any other
way for a sinner to be saved, then the Lord Jesus would not
have come as the shepherd. But there is only one who could
find us. How lost were we? We were so
lost that only God could save us. That's how lost we were. Fifthly, the Lord Jesus is not
gonna stop seeking and saving his lost sheep till he's found
every one of them. He knows where they're at. And
he has the time appointed, the date is set on the calendar where
he's gonna cross his sheep with the gospel. Oh, may it be this
morning. Maybe you're here today without
the Lord. Jesus Christ, you haven't come
to believe and to trust in him. May this be the day that he finds
you. He's not gonna stop till he finds
every one of his sheep. He said, other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. The sixth place, we were told
in verse five that when the good shepherd finds his lost sheep,
he lays them on his shoulders. He lays the lost sheep on his
shoulders. And so my sixth point is that
he's not going to drop any sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
great shepherd. He's not going to drop any sheep.
That thrills my soul. It thrills my soul that he's
not going to drop me. It's not, he's not relying on
me hanging on to him. No, he's taken me in his grace
and mercy for reasons only known to himself and reasons only known
to him. He's loved you and he's found
you and he's called you and he's taken you and he's laid you upon
his shoulders. And he's gonna bring you home.
And he's not gonna drop one sheep. And Isaiah, we're told that he
shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arms and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. You see his shoulders and his
arms speak of his strength. In the book, Knowing God by J.I. Packer, he says something like this, that we
are not strong enough to fall away from the strength of our
shepherd. And that's true. We're not strong
enough and we're not weak enough. He has his arms, his shoulders
engaged to save us. But it also speaks of his bosom,
being brought to his bosom. What does that speak? That speaks
of his love. Why will he not drop us? Because he loves us.
And because he loves us, he's going to bring us home. Seventh
place, there's great rejoicing. Great rejoicing, read verse six
and seven with me, I'm almost done here. It says, and when
he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbors,
saying unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep
which was lost. 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. Don't you like
that? Rejoice. Notice, rejoice with
me. The Lord Jesus, the good shepherd,
he says, rejoice with me. I love to think of the Lord Jesus
Christ rejoicing. If he were to save a sinner here
this morning, he would rejoice. Yeah, we rejoice. We rejoice,
yes, but isn't it right that he should rejoice? Should he
not see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied? You know
he should. It's he who lived for us. It's
he who died for us. And when he calls his sheep,
he rejoices. Here's the last point. And I
can't close without this truth from this parable. The self-righteous
are left in the wilderness. That's what it says about the
99, the just persons who felt they needed no repentance. They're
left in the wilderness. My prayer is that none of us
would be left, lost, lost in the wilderness. So you say, what
is it to be lost? To be lost is to be apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Well, you just said that unless
he do something for us, I can't. Yeah, but he does stuff for lost
sinners. He does. He regenerates. He gives life. And he commands you to believe,
to trust upon him. You see, before God does a work
for us, it is impossible for us to return to Christ. We're
helpless. But you know what, when he does
a work for us, it's impossible for us to stay away from the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's impossible. We are regenerated
with a purpose. And that purpose is to be made
like unto his son. May the Lord bless his word.