my great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of His praise. My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth the the
honors of thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our
fears, that gives our sorrows cease, is risen in the sinner's
face, despite the hell and the ease. He breaks the power for me praise and love After scripture, your prayer
was in hymn number 475. The head of the Bible is turned
to the 15th chapter of Luke. I'm going to read the entire
chapter. The Pharisees and the scribes
murmured, saying, This man will receive sinners, and eateth with
him. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of
you, having an hundred sheep, if you 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 laith on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying,
Let 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-nine just persons which need no repentance. 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 had found it, she
called her friends and neighbors together, saying, rejoice with
me, for I have found the piece, and I have lost it. Likewise,
I say, neither is 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, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls
to me. And he divided him as living.
Not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and
took his journey to a far country. And there wasted his substance
with riotous 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 a citizen of that country.
And he sent him into the field to feed the swine. And he would
fain have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat.
No man gave unto him. When he came to himself, he said,
how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to
spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father
and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee. I am no more worthy to be called
thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he rose and
came to his father. But when he was a great way along,
his father saw it and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck
and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father,
I've sinned against heaven and on thy side no more worthy to
be called thy son. The father said to his servants,
bring forth the best robe and put it on him. put a ring on
his hand and shoes on his feet and bring him to the fatted calf
and kill it and let us eat and be married. With this my son
was dead and was alive again. He's lost and it's found. They
began to be married. Now his elder son was in the
field as he came and drew nigh to the house and heard the music
and dancing. He called one of the servants
and asked what these things meant. And he said, thy brother is come,
thy father has killed the fatty calf because he received him
safe and sound. And he was angry. He would not go in. Therefore came his father out
and entreated him, and he answered and said unto his father, Lord,
these many years do I certainly neither transgressed in any time
thy father thy commandment. Yet thou never gavest me a kid,
that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as thy
sons come, which is devoured, thou livest with harlots, and
I was killed for him the fatted calf. He said unto him, Son,
thou livest with me, and all that I have is thine. It is meet
that we should make merry and be glad. For this thy brother
was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found. We are thankful for your word
and thankful for the fact that you have given us faith to believe
it. Give us your spirit that we might
understand it and know the knowledge and beauty therein. We are thankful
that we understand why our Lord taught in parables. We know that
it was meant for his children, for his elect. and designed to
confuse those who knew him not and cared not for him. We are
thankful, Father, that this Word, the Gospel, is the power of God
and the salvation of everyone that believes in the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. We are thankful that Jesus
Christ has been made to be our righteousness, our only righteousness. He is our righteous standing
before thee. We have no righteousness of our
own. And we dare not claim any. Father, we pray for those who
are sick. Remember, Cynthia, she's having some trouble. Ask
the Lord to be with her and the others who need help. We pray your mercy upon them.
Father, we pray for ourselves this day as we gather here that
you might be pleased. to meet with us in the presence
of your spirit and open up this word to us. We know that we are
feeble in mind. Our minds drift. It's easy for
us to lose a train of thought. Father, I pray that you would
fix our hearts and minds this day on Jesus Christ. He who sits
at thy right hand having purged our sins. Whoever lives to make
intercession for us. We came to this world to die
in our room instead and pay our sin debt. Die the debt that we
owed you. And what your children owe you
is nothing but a gratitude and appreciation for what you've
done for them, an eternal debt of gratitude. Help us now this
day as we sing and we hear the gospel. to fellowship together
around the table. Father, help us to do so with
joy and peace in our hearts. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Number 475, Redeemed,
how I love you. Go play it. Lead me now, I'd love to proclaim! Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb! Lead me through His infinite
mercy! His child and forever I am! Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb! Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am! Redeem and store happy in Jesus
No language my rapture can tell I know that the light of His
presence Will be but continually fell Redeem, redeem I think of him all the day long I sing, for I cannot be silent
His love is the theme of my song Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed This child and forever
I am I know I shall see His beauty,
the King in whose law I delight Who loveth me hard in my footsteps
and giveth me songs in the night Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb Redeem, redeem this child and forever
I am. Let us pray. Father, in the name
of Jesus Christ, our great Savior, children freely, and with him
have freely given him all things. He's the unspeakable gift. From
heaven above, given to every one of your children in fullness,
we thank you. And we render to thee that which
you've given us, and let's do so with joy and thanksgiving. Help us now to worship you, we
pray in Christ's name, amen. I invite your attention back to Luke chapter
15. And what brought about the gathering
of this people to the Lord Jesus Christ when he spoke in chapter
14. very divisive type of confrontation with the Pharisees. When he talked about a man giving
a feast, a marriage feast, meeting all his relatives and friends
to come to the marriage feast, they without Count began to make excuses,
would not come. One said, I asked someone, I
got to get married. Another said, I got to dig a notch outside
of the ditch. Another one said, I have to plow the land, or land
to plow. And the Lord said, the great
man said, told his servants, go out into the highways and
byways. Didn't then come in at my feast. And he went on to say,
if any man follow me, you've got to hate his mom and dad. You've got to give everything
up your hand. You gotta follow me, not count on anything but
me. And that's where the gathering
of chapter 15 began. It says that first of all sinners
and publicans gathered around him. And the Pharisees and the
scribes are also the two, they're always there watching, they always
stand by. And they were upset with the
fact that our Lord Jesus Christ surrounded himself with such
wretched and vile people as publicans and sinners. And they made this
statement, which they made many times, in reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ. This man received the sinners
and eateth with them. This was not said in joy and
gladness of which we would say it, who know the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are glad to say that this man receiveth sinners and eateth
with them. But for them this was anathema.
And it says, because of what they said, our Lord added a parable. Our Lord's about to teach something
that is in reference to the fact that around him are gathered
two kinds of people. People who are in need and people
who can follow the directions of the Lord Jesus Christ as far
as giving up everything because they didn't have anything to
start with. And those who believe they have everything and don't
need the Savior and are astonished by the kind of people He hangs
around with. So He has this parable. A parable is a comparative story,
so throughout this parable, and this is a four-fold parable,
one parable, four different episodes in it, four different characters
represented in it, but it's just one parable. And he's making
a comparison, a distinction, just as he has in the previous
chapter. It's employed to teach one thing. One thing, one singular
message, one singular thought is contained in a parable. No
matter how long it is, or how many aspects of it, this parable
has a single thing to teach. Our Lord has a lesson to teach
me. And what is being compared here
is two kinds of people that have gathered around the Savior, and
their response to the Lord's words that He spoke in chapter
14. This parable is about sinners saved by grace and those who
despise the grace of God because it disallows all human merit. The sinners set forth in the
lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal or lost son. Where the father said he was
dead and now he's alive. He was lost and now he's found. Now, the fourth part of the parable
is the son who never went astray. He was a good boy. He describes those who despise
the gospel. He despised the gospel of grace.
It is a given that the Lord taught, using parables, for a good reason. That's why I teach in parables. But it's not given to them, speaking
of the Pharisees. So he taught in parables, not
only to teach those who were his elect, his chosen ones, but
he taught in parables to confuse those who were hearing him, who
did not believe on him. It's given unto you, he said
to his disciples, to know the mysteries of the kingdom. It's
not given unto them. The Pharisees spoke and feigned
words that suggested that they were looking for the Messiah.
Because they believed the Old Testament. They talked about
the Old Testament. They studied the Old Testament.
They inscribed the Old Testament. The Pharisees and the scribes.
They wrote it, they studied it, and they knew a lot about it.
Our Lord said to them in John 5, 39, you do search the scriptures.
For in them you think you find eternal life, but there they
which testify of me, and you will not come to me that you
might live a lie. But here he is among a bunch of sinners,
and a bunch of publicans, and on the other side of the corner
is a bunch of Pharisees, and they reject his words. saying that John said in John
chapter 1, he came to his own and received him not. But as
many as received him gave him the power to become the sons
of God. It rings true in this case. The reason why Republicans
and sinners and Pharisees gathered at this time was the words that
Christ spoke for him. This book is a book that generally
is chronologically sound. But it's always contextually
correct. So if you're going to read the scriptures, you can't
take one little verse out and say, this is what the Bible means.
It must be read in the context in which it's written. And this
is the context in which it's written. He just told me about
a great division, about a great man beating his friends and his
family to come and don't join them in a wedding. Basically,
nobody wanted to come. He said, so he said, I'm going out and
gather the worst of the lot. You go to the highways and the
byways, he said, and the salons, gather whoever you can find.
Bring them to less eat and less dine and hand make merry. And
I made merry. That's a great division there.
You have the family, kindred according to the flesh. And you
have the strangers. And what do you have gathered
around Christ? His kindred according to the flesh with the Pharisees. And then you have the riffraff.
You have the publicans and the sinners. The word lost in this
context points to sinners. The lost is not spoken of concerning
the Pharisee. Sinners only know that they are
sinners by the grace of God. The concept of being lost only
means something to the one who has affection for the thing lost.
You might lose something and say, well, I've lost money. It
never did mean anything to me. It means something to you, though,
because it was your stuff. And in each of these cases, there
was an affection and a possession for the thing lost. So it belongs
to somebody. It belongs to the one to whom
is seeking it because it's been lost. It does not belong to the
one who has not lost it. So when the sinners heard these
words, they were drawn to Him. They wanted to sit with Him.
But the Pharisees, who would never apply and would never allow
anyone to apply the word lost to them or sinner to them, were
incensed and despised the Savior. They gathered around Him to catch
Him. They were always doing this in something where they could
cast him down off a cliff or stone him to death and bind him,
bind him and say, crucify him, crucify him. Let his blood be
upon our head. Something else about the parable
that it's paraphrases could not grasp. Though a parable does
not lend itself to verse-by-verse exposition, our Lord is speaking
of something that they really don't understand. He's referring
to the triune Godhead. There's the Savior with the lost
lamb, the Holy Spirit with the light looking for the corn, and
the Father receiving the lost Son brought back. That's the
Trinity. There's an exposition here, and
I won't spend a lot of time on it, but we'll look at each one
of these things. First of all, the If a man has lost a sheep, one
of his sheep is lost, that means he lost it, it means it's lost.
Gone wayward, it's wandered out into the wilderness and don't
know where it's at. The Savior will go out and find
it. And those who don't need it, who aren't lost, he'll leave
behind and set over to the side and he'll go out and he'll look
until he finds it. And when he finds it, he'll put
it upon his shoulders and bring it home and there'll be great
rejoicing. First of all, he's rejoicing that he's found his
sheep, and he calls his friends together, and they all rejoice
that the lost sheep is found. He says, this is the comparison
he made. There's joy in heaven in the presence of the angels
over one sinner that repents. Then you have the woman losing
her coin. She has 10 coins, and one of
them is lost. It's her coin. Therefore, it
means something to her. You all lost something that means
something to you. Debbie, one time, lost an earring. An earring. Now, I don't wear
earrings, so it didn't mean a great deal to me that she lost the
earring, because I didn't want the earring. But it meant something
to her. And she looked until she found
the earring. Why? Because it was hers. So this,
she belonged to the shepherd. This coin belongs to the woman
who represents the spirit of God. She takes the light. She
takes the light and searches through her house for the light.
That's a picture of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Lord is the light of the world. The Holy Spirit teaches
me that. This coin has an image on it.
All coins do. If you have a quarter, you have
a picture of some president, whoever it is. If you have a
penny, you have a picture of Lincoln on it. At least I know
that one. And there's an image there. But
this coin represents a lost man. You see, as we were made in Adam,
before Adam sinned, we bore the image of God. It says in Scripture,
you're not supposed to kill a man because he bears the image of
God. So we bore the image of God. We were created in the image
of God, it says. The image of God created him,
male and female created him. But when we fell, we were marred.
We were changed. We still bear the image of God
somehow. But it's marred, it's hidden by our sin and our richness.
Where does this coin end up? It ends up in the dirt. It's
marred, it's covered up. But this woman, wanting this
coin back, she sweeps the floor until she finds the coin. And
when she finds the coin, she rejoices. And she invites her
friends over. God just brings that one to have
a party, and they all have to make merry and rejoice because
she's lost. She's found what she lost. That's
a picture of the Holy Spirit. Binding us with the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you have the son. Belongs
to his father. Father loves him. You have two
sons in the family, and one of them says, look, give me my inheritance. I want it now. I don't wait until
you die. I want it now." So his father
does it because he's inherited all he has and he goes out into
the world and loses it all. And he ends up poor and he spends
it all according to what his brother says on olives. Living
riotously. Wastes everything he has. He
ends up with nothing. And then a famine comes in the
land. Coincidence? I think not. And
he has to join himself to a citizen. He joins himself to a citizen.
That's a picture of religion, because what does a man do? He
says, I'm not going to feed you until you go out and work for
me. Go out and feed my pigs. He didn't feed him, but he had
to feed the pigs. And he got so bad that he looked
at what he was feeding those pigs, and he said, boy, that
sure looks tasty. Then he said he came to himself. He came to
himself. That's a miracle of grace if
you ever see what you really are. That's a miracle of grace
to find out what you really are. He came to himself and he said,
every one of my servants and my fathers out there, they get
bread at every meal. I'm starving to death. I have
nothing. I'm perishing. And I tell you what I'm going
to do. I'm going to work for my salvation. I'm going to be humble. I'm going to walk down the aisle
and cry. I'm going to do all those things. I'm going to go
back to my father, and I'm going to tell him, I've sinned against
you. I'm not worthy to be called your
son anymore. Just make me one of your servants.
Just make me one of your servants. That was on his mind. That's
on everybody's mind, by nature. Somehow, if we do something,
we act a certain way. will receive by the father. Wiley was a long way off. Evidently
the father had been looking for him. The father looks out the
window and he sees this fella coming. He says, that's my boy.
That's my boy. And he doesn't wait for the boy
to get to him. He runs out to meet the boy and
grabs him and falls upon his neck and kisses him. He blew so happy to see his son. And
his son, he makes the plea, Father, I'm not worthy to be your son. Make me one of your servants.
I've sinned against you. Father, touch not my heart. He
said, bring the best robe. I put it on my son. Why is that?
The robe of Christ's righteousness, very pristine and perfect. authority as the son of the father. Put shoes on his feet. And go
out and find me a fatted calf. Kill that thing and put it on
the barbecue. We're going to have a feast. Because my son,
who was lost, has been found. That's the work of the father.
So you have the work of the son, Jesus Christ, the Savior. You
have the work of the spirit. There's a woman with the light
in the room. And you have the father receiving his son. And of course, it was spoken
in a parable, so they don't understand what it's saying anyway. The
Pharisees don't get it. The last part of the parable
is one of the two-part bookend, if you will. The words of his
son, who never went astray, are an illustration of the last phrase
of verse 7, when he says this, He says, likewise, joy shall
be in heaven over the one sinner that repented. More than over
99, 99 just persons, just by themselves, good people, humanly
righteous people, that they don't need to repent. Why? Because
they're good. They're obedient. They do what
they're supposed to do. They don't do this and do that.
All these things they've done, and they say they're just. They
don't need no repentance. And here's what the boy said. Verse 28, he was angry and would not go in, therefore
came his father out and said, Lo, these many years, all my
life, I have served you. Not wavered in my duty, I command you. We know at the
heart of that, though it's a bold statement, it's a lie. We know
that. He said, yet of all I've done
for you, you never give me a fattened calf. You never threw me a party. You never threw me a party. These words are very telling. It's as much a saying of his
father, this man received the centers and he That's what he's
saying. That's what he's saying. That's
the first book. And this man, Edith, was sinner. Father, my
brother, was received and I was not. His brother had wasted all. Came home destitute and ruined,
and was received and treated as royalty. You know, this is
part of the way Because one thing we can't stand in this world
is ingratitude. That's why we think things about
our children even if we don't say it well after all I've done
for you. Maybe we not say it, but we thought it through the
years. You know it's true. We can't
stand ingratitude. And this fellow just sees it
as an awful thing. But he don't see it with gratitude
that his brother's been saved. What happened here made no Why? It's really simple. Because he
despised the concept of grace. You ever wonder why religion
hates those who believe in the absolute sovereign grace of God? Because they despise the concept
of it. Grace has its hallmark. It has
its hallmark. It means favor for the undeserving. That's what it means. Favor for
the undeserved. This is the Bailey Wickers of
Pharisee. They believed they had earned the favor of God.
They earned the favor of God and it prompted them to be astonished
and disgusted that Jesus Christ received sinners because He already
received them. It would have been perfectly
alright with Him if when He came to this world He embraced them. I would have been fine with it.
But the fact that he embraced these sinners was a rejection
to them because they didn't understand and didn't believe in the grace
of God. Remember Moses when he said to
God, show me your glory. God said, I will be gracious
unto whom I will be gracious. I will be merciful unto whom
I will have mercy. God's grace is sovereign, but
it is grace. It is grace. You read Isaiah
58, those Pharisees in Isaiah 58 say, we prayed and we fasted,
and none paid attention. Lord, we got nothing for our
hard work, our hard work. When he saw the festivities for
his wayward brother, he was angry and refused to go into the party.
There's joy in heaven. There's joy for a lost son. There's
joy for a lost sheep. There's joy for a lost garden.
And there's anger from this brother. No joy whatsoever. His father
came out to him and asked him to join the festivities. And
his answer to his father was a personal testimony. Personal
testimony. He said, Lo, these many years
do I serve thee, and neither transgressed I any commandment,
and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry
with my friends. Why don't I get what my brother
gets? Comparing himself to his brother,
he first declares the longevity of his service, Christian Cathedral or whatever
it was, I think his name's Shooter was, he asked this fella, and
this fella even tripped him up. Because he had him up on stage,
he was a car dealer, a rich man, he had a lot of car dealerships.
Sold race cars, made race cars. He'd been a rich man, a very
wealthy man, an up-and-coming man. Preacher Shooter said, how
long have you been a Christian? He said, all my life. Uh-oh.
That don't happen. And even when Sudo was called
back, he was called back because people aren't Christians all
their life. You're not born into Christianity
unless you're a Roman Catholic, then you're born into Christianity. If you're a Christian, it's because
you've been born again. Born from above, by the Spirit,
through the Word. He told him that he'd been a
beautiful man. steadfast in his attendance to
every one of the commandments his father made. Hello? These
many years, he said. Unlike his wretched brother,
and for every self-righteous Pharisee, this is what he has
to offer and holds that God is obligated to honor him. Just
listen to folks when you tell them that salvation is by grace
and your hope and only is Jesus Christ. Nothing else. Nothing
you do. Nothing you think. Nothing you believe. Jesus is
your salvation. Only Jesus Christ is. And they're
going to tell you what they do. They're going to tell you they
go to church. Tell you they give. Tell you
they read the Bible and they pray. Why? Because they believe. If that counts with God. It matters. No doubt about that. But it doesn't
count in the matter of your salvation. Secondly, he makes it clear that
he's not a sinner. I said, I never transgressed. Well, there's no
hope for you, fella, because grace is for sinners. He had
no time to transgress his father's commandment. Sounds like Paul
saw the Tarsus when he was saying about what he had obtained in
the flesh. He said, before the law, I was
blameless. I was blameless. He believed that he's earned
a reward for excellence. Is this not the entire motivation
of false religion? To get stars in their crowns,
to get rewards in heaven. I never will forget when I was
in the Southern Baptist Church and a boy, I was a boy, probably
a teenager, they had this boy from Piedmont Bible College who
was studying to be a preacher. And he came in there and he says,
I'm in a competition. And he actually said this. He
said, I'm in a competition. I want to get more rewards than
anybody. He said, so I'm working harder than anybody to get my
rewards. Let me tell you something. If
you ever get a reward, it is by grace. That means you didn't
deserve the reward. It is anathema to Pharisees to
even consider that the rewards of heaven are given to those
who have done nothing to gain them. And especially for those
who never served and never seen it. He believed his brother did not
deserve this treatment. And in truth, he did not. What he got was by love and by
grace. He didn't deserve it. He didn't
deserve that coat. He didn't deserve those shoes.
He didn't deserve that ring. He didn't deserve that fatted
calf. Fatted calf. He got it by grace. He got it
by grace. His father's words are telling
and addresses the blood and addresses both sons. The older son had
lost nothing, you see. He still had his inheritance.
He had a house to live in, food to eat, and had his father's
Good pleasure. The inheritance of his brother
was wasted. And that inheritance was not
wasted on him. He still had it in his account.
He still had a home and hearth and care of his father. But what
he cannot realize is that these things are but things of the
world. And they will soon pass away. And just as the Father says,
you're always with me, you'll always have me. That's a picture
of the Lord taking care of his creation. Many people who will
perish in eternal damnation, every one of them will be cared
for by God till the day they die. Not in love, salvation, but at
least some breathing his air, you know, eating his food, walking on his
ground, and not flying away on the earth because his gravity
is taking care of that. All you are and all you have,
whether you know him or not, belongs to God. And if you have
it, it's because he's given it to you freely. That's whatever
his father says to him. Son, verse 31, thou art able
with me, And all I have is that. You got it all. You got this
house. You got those sheep. You got
those cattle. That's all yours, son. You still
have it. You haven't lost anything. You
haven't lost anything. The thing about all that is that
it will soon pass away. And only what you have that is
eternal shall last forever. What his brother received, Richard
Hall, what his brother received, The coat, the ring, the shoes,
and the fatted calf. Pictures of the believer receiving
all spiritual blessings in Christ. Not because he deserves them,
not because he earned them, but according to him he was chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. And he should be
honored without blame for it and above having predestinated
him to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself
for the praise of the glory of his grace. Wherein that glorious
grace he has accepted in the beloved. His brother pictured gaining
things he could never deserve. While the brother who had everything
is ultimately going to lose everything because he thinks he deserves
to have everything. This Bible teaches one plain
truth. Sinners gravitate to the Savior. Righteous men never will. The sinner loves grace. The legalist
hates grace. The sinner knows he deserves
nothing. The self-righteous believes he deserves everything. That's
the comparative story that our Lord is telling in this passage
of Scripture. It was delicious and I had a
good time. I really had a good time. But
I got stuck in the corner and I couldn't visit with you. But I had a good time. I missed
you.