If you have a Bible, we're going to be in the 15th chapter of the book of Luke.
And coming off of last week, it's pretty weighty.
The Lord's called a discipleship.
There doesn't leave a lot of room for opinion.
It doesn't leave a lot of room for your life or mine if we're truly going to be a
of the Lord Jesus.
And so he continues on giving some parables here in Luke 15 that are dear to my heart
simply because I resemble all three of them, a time of my life when I was lost.
And didn't know what to do.
Well, maybe I did.
Many of us, we know what to do, but we're not willing to do it.
That's the problem.
So we're going to read the first 10 verses of the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
I'll invite you to read along with me.
It says, then all the tax collectors and the sinners they drew near to him to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes complained saying,
this man receives sinners and eats with them.
And so he spoke this parable to them saying,
What man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them
does not leave the 99 in the wilderness
and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors
saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99,
just persons who need no repentance.
Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of the coins,
does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying,
rejoice with me for I have found the peace which I lost. Likewise I say to you there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Shall we pray? Father, thank you for your word.
Lord, that it's alive and it's true and it can't be broken. So Lord, as we look at these words
in this chapter in the gospel of Luke, I pray.
that we would be changed. Lord, that you by your spirit would move on our hearts, Lord,
to not just be those who aren't lost, but to reach out to those who are. And so, Lord, we're the
ones who lost, we're lost. We need to turn to you. And Lord, may we find you as we seek you with all
of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Jesus' name, amen. So it starts right off.
where it says that then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to hear him.
This fascinates me because of what we had read last week.
It's fascinating that people would, you're really going to follow Jesus?
Don't you realize you got to hate father, mother, son, daughter?
Hate your own life also if you're going to follow him?
You're willing to do that?
These tax collectors and these sinners, they were somehow drawn to the way Jesus presented this.
Because obviously, it's not easy.
It's not simple to put him in that rightful place because there are so many rivals in our hearts.
Now, Jeff is wearing a sweatshirt today that says he has no rivals, and that should be correct.
but it's not
it's correct
and that no one can rival God
let's just put it that way
but it does in our hearts does it not
we've got all kinds of things pulling at us
relationships
possessions
position
we got all kinds of things
pulling at us
trying to take that preeminent place
that only really should be
reserved for none other than Jesus himself. But for some reason, these sinners wanted to hear what Jesus
had to say. Do you? Do you want to hear what Jesus has to say? You don't have to answer that.
Just let me be with you every day and see how many times you open the book and read it.
That's going to tell the story right there. And you know the answer.
because I know for my own life, for a long time, I was very deficient in that area, reading the word, consistently over and over again, putting it in there because I forget from day to day and month to month and year to year.
I forget the truth of God's word and I need to eat it every day.
It so resembles what the children of Israel did in the wilderness with manna.
Right?
They would have to take, go out daily and get the manna.
You couldn't store up any for tomorrow.
It's like the people that tell me, oh, I read the Bible.
Really?
What does it say?
Well, I forgot.
It's been a long time.
No, the manna was daily, right?
And if you stored up something for tomorrow, the worms would come and eat it.
It would rot.
and that's just it
the residual manner that some people have in their heart of the word of God
it just makes them rotten more rotten
because all they do is use it to browbeat others
they don't let it ruminate
and influence their own hearts in their own lives
because it's not consistent
I'm just talking to a guy this week about it
struggling with it.
Read it every day.
Because when you don't, you ascend to the throne
and you have just taken away the preeminent place
where Jesus needs to reside in your life.
And that's just the way it is, folks.
It is a battle this Christian life.
And it seems to be getting more and more so
As time goes on, as the Lord's getting closer and closer to returning,
the enemy is pulling out all the stops.
The distractions are more.
They're constant.
They're multiplying daily to pull us away.
Just talking to a brother right before service, and he said,
man, if I could go back and be in Bible times,
when they just had an oil lamp and no telephone and no internet,
And they just had an oil lamp.
And they had a scroll that they could read.
And they're not distracted.
No, but they're still wicked.
We find things to distract us.
We invest in things actually that distract us.
But these tax collectors, they're drawn to Jesus.
They want to hear him.
His call to discipleship was wild talking about hating relatives.
and dying to self.
These kinds of people were known,
these publicans and sinners,
they were known as people of the land.
People, I kind of like that,
people of the land.
I like land.
I like dirt.
I love the dirt under my fingernails.
I just like it.
Maybe because that's what I'm made of.
But the saddesties and Pharisees,
they had a hard time than all the things.
tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes complained,
saying this man receives sinners and eats with them.
They were complaining. They were disgusted by these people of the land.
Because the Pharisees called themselves the people of the law.
Now, obviously, they believed they were a little bit better than the people of the land.
Are you better than someone else?
Are you better?
Now, I got to tell you, we are not better.
No one is better than anyone else.
It's just kind of the, we're just like the sea, right?
We're at the same level.
If you know Jesus, let me tell you, you are better off than if you don't.
That's the only better there is when it comes to humans.
and so these people are begin to complain and be disgusted that Jesus would actually let sinful hands touch him
or that he would actually reach out and touch a leper or an adulterous woman
the the people of the law had this saying check this out.
it says there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God that's what that that was their
their ploy but wouldn't we all fall under that category right but in verses 7 and 10 we read them right
there's more joy and it's just the opposite there's more in joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
do you need to repent today?
I do.
I need to repent today.
Because there's obviously things I could have done that I didn't do that was sin.
Oh, Lord, forgive me.
God, you got to keep lifting my head because I keep looking at me way too much
when I need to be looking at you and truly give you that place in my life.
So Jesus was receiving the people of the land and spending.
time with them.
Spending time with Jesus is
pretty sweet. The older
I get, the sweeter it is.
Because he just has a way
like these sinners and these
publicans. I was going to say Republicans,
which, sorry,
got a little tongue-tied.
Yeah, the Republicans,
they need Jesus.
And he
he spent time
with them. Now, now you got to realize people try to use that, this passage of scripture,
Jesus talking about Jesus hanging out with publicans and sinners and tax collectors is like,
hey, I can go to the bar and hang out with those bad people. Really? Yeah, I can go to the bar
and hang out with those. Jesus did. Yeah, but Jesus did not partake with them. Okay,
there is a big difference. Some people think that, oh, no, that's, Jesus is a small.
cool, he's into the party scene.
No, that's not the way it works.
Because there's a big difference
from being around people who are doing
sinful things and doing it with them.
The people were coming to Jesus,
he was not necessarily going to them.
And then when they would come to him,
he would welcome them.
And he would converse with them.
And he had his way of just putting his finger
right on the things.
things that they were dealing with in their life. You guys remember the woman at the well?
Jesus, he asked her that question. It's smart when you talk to people who don't know the
Lord to ask them questions. Let them condemn themselves, right? She did. He said, hey, go get your
husband. Your man should be here in this conversation. Well, I don't have a husband.
You rightly say you don't have a husband.
You've had five of them.
The dude you shacked up with now, it's not your husband.
Right?
Caching.
I perceive that you're a prophet.
Busted.
You ever been busted by the Lord?
He just busts you.
He's just so good at it.
And so...
we have these these these parables in this so we're just going to look at the two of them this morning
but um in these parables there's four phases that we see in these three parables the lost sheep the lost
coin and the lost sun there's a loss the four phases the first one is there's a loss there's a search
there's a recovery and there's a celebration and so let's look at
at the first parable here in verse four it says,
and what man of you having a hundred sheep,
if he loses one of them,
does not leave the 99 in the wilderness
and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends
and neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me,
for I have found my sheep, which was lost.
I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.
And so he loses a sheep.
This shepherd loses the sheep.
Now one out of 99, well that's not bad, right?
But the passage doesn't tell us how he lost this sheep.
But the Matthew passage does tell us how this sheep was lost.
He tells us in Matthew 1812, what do you think?
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
does he not leave the 90 and 9 and go to the mountains and seek the one who is straying?
Went astray.
Wasn't the shepherd who lost this sheep.
It was this sheep who was obstinate and did his own thing.
You ever noticed sheep out in the wilderness?
Oh boy, it's a humbling thing for the Lord to call us sheep.
Sheep are just, they lack a lot.
Do you know that about yourself?
You lack a lot?
I lack a lot.
A lot.
I really, I really, honestly, I need a shepherd.
And this sheep has gone away.
and the shepherd is serious about seeking the sheep,
even knowing that it was by his own volition and his own will that he went astray.
You know people like that?
They know what's right.
They know the truth.
And they still choose to run amok and go astray.
Why do we do that?
Because we're stupid.
But, but praise God, the shepherd does not take the business man type of attitude as a profit and loss with this one sheep.
I mean, he could easily say, hey, I got 99.
One percent ain't bad, right?
That's not a bad death loss.
because the sheep out there very,
he doesn't stay out there very long before he dies
or something eats him.
Just wandering around.
We went up, we were scouting for elk one fall
and went up and found this poor little sheep.
I heard it.
It was laying down.
It couldn't get up.
It had a broken leg.
And it had a bell on.
Had a bell on.
So we walked up to it.
And I'm just thinking, wonder how long this thing's been out.
And where we parked our truck and took off on our horses, there was a sheep camp there.
And we ended up putting the sheep down because of the broken leg.
And I took the collar in the bell and I put it, the sheep purter wasn't there.
So I put it on his.
But that was the demise of this poor sheep.
Whether it was there because it was injured or whether it had wandered astray, I don't know.
But it was helpless.
It was hopeless. I couldn't believe it hadn't been eaten.
And obviously afterwards, somebody probably
have a pretty tasty meal. But instead,
the shepherd, he has this unconditional love for this sheep
that has gone astray. Obviously, this parable is
illustrating God's searching you and me out. Can you look back in your life
and see how the Lord was kind of orchestrating your
your whatever it took to bring you to him.
Maybe it was just to come to the end of yourself.
Maybe it was some kind of out of a tragedy that you had to go through to lift your head.
But just know that he loves you.
And he loves to seek you out.
I hear people say,
I just need to find God and what is true.
I mean, how can you sift through all that and really know what is true?
Well, God's not lost, you are.
And, and if you are having that thought,
that is the Lord prompting you to turn to him.
it really is it's the lord he's he's sovereign in your life he he knows which little which little diversion
to put into your life to turn you to him but sometimes we even ignore those things
we need jesus like a like a sheep needs a shepherd sheep have no natural defenses
have you seen sheep they're just a kind of an odd creature
They're not fast, right? They can't outrun anything that's chasing them. They don't have big
strong legs where they can kick or stomp an attacker. They don't have a big old canine teeth
where they can turn around and bite back. They're just pathetic. They're just, they're just
an ox before the slaughter. They're just a chicken before a coyote. Years ago up Fall Creek,
there was a wolf attack on a sheep herd. They killed, I think almost 70. I think there was almost
70 sheep killed. But they said the wolves only killed between 15 and 20. The sheep in their panic
were so afraid they started jumping on top of each other. And they piled up and it suffocated like
45 sheep or 50 sheep.
Sheep weren't very smart.
And the Lord
calls us his sheep.
Have you learned to laugh at yourself
because of your sheepishness?
Right?
It's quite common.
comical this whole sheep thing. I have some chicken that I heard, one chicken. His name's Rooster
Cogburn. It's my wife's chicken and I cared for Rooster Cogburn this winter. I had to
lance his feet. He had these big old nodule cyst things on his feet. I had to take them all
and I doctored rooster cogburn, and then we tried to integrate rooster cogburn back into the,
with all the hens. But we got three or four other roosters, and they pummel poor rooster
cogburn. And he's in this place where he's scared all the time. And so we got this little roost
where we put him at night. And we'll let him out during the day, and he kind of looks out and he looks
out and he looks this way and that way, and then he just high-tails it to the barn. He's got a little cubby
that he kind of hangs out in in the barn,
that he can get in where the other roosters can't beat him up.
But I'm out there and I'm herding, Rooster Cogburn.
Hey, Rooster, you get him you go this way.
He don't want to go that way.
Me and Rooster, we're kind of jumping back and forth.
And Rooster is getting to where he lets me direct him.
Back into a safe place.
Roster cog, pray for Rooster Cogburn.
he might be going away soon
and then I got these ducks that I have to herd in
we put them up at night so that's why I heard them
I go get my horse I saddle up and I go get her
no I'm just kidding but these ducks
they're the running ducks have you seen the running ducks
they run like this I mean and they're fast
they're fast
but
they have come to know
that when we go out
and it's starting to get dark
and we start getting around them
they kind of heard up
and
and here they go
and they go get in their safe place
they let us
rooster cogburn in the ducks
they let us shepherd them
how many people I know
they won't let God shepherd them
I mean, the Lord will get them right up to the door
and then they take off running.
It's like a stinking herd of cows.
You talk about making mad.
They don't listen.
They don't respond.
And that the shepherd has our best interest at heart.
Isaiah talks about sheep.
where he says in Isaiah 53 6,
all we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord has laid on him, that is Jesus, the iniquity of us all.
Are you going astray?
Are you floundering?
Or are you kind of just spinning in a circle, suffocating,
not knowing which way to go?
The Lord will tell you,
the Lord will direct you.
1 Peter 2.25, it says,
for you are like sheep going astray,
but have now returned to the shepherd
and overseer of your souls.
It reminds me of that hymn,
come now found, right?
Prone to wander,
Lord, I feel it.
Prone to leave the God I love.
We're prone to that.
You have to be aware of that
and be desperate for your shepherd.
because he's desperate for you.
Ezekiel 34 says this as the Lord seeks after Israel.
It says, for thus says the Lord God, indeed, I myself were searched for my sheep and seek
them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep.
So will I seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered
on a cloudy and dark day and will bring them out from the peoples and gather them.
from the countries and will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel
in the valleys and in the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture and
their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. This is God's heart. He wants to bless us,
but we won't let him. We won't let him bless us. We won't let him lead us. Oh, sometimes.
You ever talk to them people that are just, they're just fair weather believers?
Oh yeah, the Lord's so good. He's really blessed me.
But then all hell breaks loose in their life and they run.
Run to the shepherd.
Because the rejoicing is that person who turns to him and repents.
It's fascinating that verse there.
it always gets me when I read it,
not about the joy in heaven over one or one sinner who repents,
but over the 99 persons who need no repentance.
Is there such a thing?
I don't believe there's such a thing.
I think it was last week just talking about repentance.
It's a lifestyle.
Oh, Lord, show me where I've messed up today.
I don't want to keep doing this.
I don't want to have this habitual sin.
Not that we don't stumble and make mistakes,
but habitually I don't want to be that anymore.
I was that long enough.
The Lord desires the best thing for you and me.
Paul tells us,
tells the people in Colossians chapter 1,
after he hears their desire to walk with the Lord
and just let me encourage you who are walking with the Lord
in Colossians 1, verses 9 through 14, it says,
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it,
do not cease to pray for you
and to ask that you may be filled
with the knowledge of his will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
that you may walk worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing him,
being fruitful in every good work
and in increasing in the knowledge of God,
strengthened with all might
according to the glorious power
for all patience,
and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness
and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his
blood and forgiveness of sins. I love that. That's powerful stuff that Paul's prayer for the believers
No, you need to grow.
You've got to grow.
If you're not growing, you're withering.
If you're not moving forward, you're moving back.
Weirsby says the story of the lost sheep would touch the hearts of the men and boys in the crowd.
Why is that?
Because so many of them dealt with sheep.
I got friends that worked the lamb and sheep.
sheds when we were in high school. Some of their stories. They, I mean, they, they talk about it and just
get frustrated, right? Working with sheep. And then no doubt the conviction that that's what God's
calling us. We know how stupid these things are. We've been working with them for years. And so it
would have connected. The next parable would have connected with the women and girls. They would
appreciate the story about the coin that was lost from the
the wedding necklace.
Jesus sought to reach everybody.
I don't know if any of this is connecting with you or not,
if you've wondered about or not.
Maybe you're just in a tough place right now.
You got a shepherd.
He'll put you in the right spot.
He'll put the right nutrients before you
if you'll come to him.
Versus eight through ten and we'll wrap it up.
here. I says, or what woman having
10 silver coins,
if she loses one coin, does not
light a lamp and sweep the house
and search carefully until she finds
it. And when she has found it, she calls
her friends and neighbors together
saying, rejoice with me.
For I have found the peace which I lost.
Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.
The rejoicing,
the party that you
and I can cause in heaven.
when we simply humble ourselves before the Lord.
You don't think they take note?
Have you read the book of Daniel?
The watchers?
They're watching everything.
Nabikanezer and Belchizer and the witness of the angels against them,
what they were doing.
Or the watchers in the book of,
of Genesis with lot and they come down and go,
what does your life provoke from the angels?
Do they desire to look into it or they're like, yuck?
Rejoicing.
Rejoicing in heaven, the fact that we could take part in that is powerful.
Now this necklace, when a Jewish girl married,
she began to wear a headband of 10 silver coins to signify that she was now a wife.
It was the Jewish version of our modern wedding ring,
and it would be considered a calamity for her to lose one of those coins.
Palestinian houses were dark, and so she had to light a lamp and search until she found the lost coin,
and we can imagine her joy at finding it.
we he goes on here this is warren weirsby also he says we must not press parabolic images too far
notice what he says here though it's pretty interesting but it is worth noting that the coin
would have on it the image of the ruler you guys remember that parable with or that story with
Jesus he said hey should we pay taxes I don't know whose images on the coin well Caesar
He says, well, then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and give to God the things that are as God's.
Well, whose image is on you?
Here we are back at discipleship, right?
God's image is on you and me.
Then give to God's what is God's?
The lost sinner bears the image of God, even though that image has been marred by sin.
When a lost sinner is found, God begins to rejoice that divine.
image through the power of the spirit and and one day the believer will be like Jesus Christ.
The ultimate image bearer. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, but he was not only the
image, but he was the invisible God. And so he wants you and I to be new, to be restored.
to be found and not be lost.
If you're lost today, call out.
Call out to the name of Jesus.
Because he's able to make us new.
Colossians 310 and have put on the new man
who was renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.
There it is.
that we're to put off this, this God error, if you will,
as we walk humbly through this life,
that there's something that is attractive to even the worst of sinners.
As these people were drawn to Jesus,
even after what he had told them, what he required.
1 John 3 1 and 2.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us.
We should be called the children of God.
Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him.
Beloved, now we are children of God.
And it has not been yet revealed what we shall be,
but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him.
For we shall see him as he is.
Do you looking forward to that day?
Looking forward when you see Jesus face to face.
I don't shudder in fear.
I fear now that I would do something that would forfeit me that right to stand before him.
I fear that.
And so should you.
We have to let Jesus find us.
When the Lord knocks on the door your heart, please answer.
answer. Say yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, I'm right here. Remember the garden. Adam, where are you? Maybe the
Lord's been saying that to you. Hey, where are you? What are you doing? Where you been? Haven't
heard from you in a while. Don't try to hide. Quit wandering. Quit trying to do. Quit
it yourself. I can't do that. The older I get, the more helpless I am in more ways than one.
Right? Working at the building, sometimes I go to pick something up and I don't know, not today.
Not today. I'll pull something loose. But don't wander. Just come to him. You might need to come to him today.
I've asked the prayer team
They don't even know this yet
But there is a little cubby hole back there
By that exit door
And I'm going to have the prayer team
Go over there in just a minute
And you can come
Come pray
Pray for yourself
You might
Well
I don't know people think I'm weak
Or something like that
No okay then go pray for your spouse
Guys listen I promise you
Your wife needs your prayers
women your husband needs your prayers
well we're good
we're good me and her we're good
how about a child maybe a parent
maybe a friend I just got news
for a friend of mine that I've been going to see for the last few months
they're giving him till the first week of July
well actually they said you have an appointment
he says I have an appointment the 6th of July
doctor said you won't make it
you're not making it to that appointment you're going to die you know somebody like that
go stand in for him pray for him a friend a co-worker a lost tribe in Africa I don't know
but come and pray PDAs towards the Lord are allowed you want me say that again
PDAs towards the Lord are allowed, right?
And some people will, no, they're ashamed.
Don't be ashamed.
Don't be ashamed with your God.
Don't be ashamed to go and be willing to humble yourself and let somebody pray with you.
That's a good thing.
That's where the Lord can lift you up.
That's where your shepherd can feed you those good things.
And that's where we're going to close today.
That shepherd.
Would you all stand with me?
If you have a Bible, turn to Psalm 23, that's how we're going to end this.
I pray that these words would sink down deep into your soul.
And it would stir you up.
and when you start looking at all the things that are in this passage of scripture it's only
it's only six verses when you look at it it it's full of life
king david in one of his bright moments wrote this say it along with me if you like
if you have different virgins that's okay just mumble through it the lord is my shepherd
i shall not want he makes me to lie down in green pastures he leads me
beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his
namesake. Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord.
forever. When you have a relationship with the shepherd like that, you can't lose. Amen? Let's pray.
Father, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you that you find us. Lord, you seek us out.
Even if we're in a corner licking our wounds, Lord, you're calling us. You're calling us to yourself.
You're calling us to take your yoke upon ourselves and to learn,
of you. And Lord, we just ask that by your spirit, you would move on all of our hearts.
In these times that we live, Lord, may we seek you more and more. May our prayer life increase.
May our Bible reading increase. May our love for the lost world increase. Lord, you want us to be
like you. Give us a shepherd's heart, we pray. And we pray that you would bless those who need to
to come today and to be prayed for. Maybe some just need to come and surrender to you and realize,
Lord, that you have a future and a hope and you have green pastures and still waters for those who are
willing to humble themselves and come to the good shepherd today. And we pray it in Jesus' mighty name.
Amen. Amen. During the song, hey, the prayer team's going to be back in that cubby hole. So if you need
prayer, please go back. God bless you guys. Have a great week in Jesus.