I'm going to read uh all 32 verses of
15 then Drew near unto him all the tax
collectors and sinners to hear
him and the Pharisees and scribes
murmured saying this man receiveth
Sinners and eateth with
them and he spoke this Parable unto them
saying what man of you having a hundred
sheep if he lose one of them do not
leave the 90 and N in the wilderness and
go after that which is lost until he find
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 Joy
shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth more than over 90 and9
righteous persons who need no
repentance either what woman having 10
pieces of silver if she lose one piece
do not light a lamp and sweep the house
and seek diligently till she find it and
when she ha found it she calleth her
friends and her neighbors together
saying Rejoice with me for I have found
the peace which I had lost
likewise I say unto you there is joy in
the presence of the angels of God over
one sinner that
repenteth 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 falleth to me and he divided
unto them his living and not many days
after that the younger son gathered all
together and took his journey into a far
Country and and there wasted his
substance with riotous living and when
he had spent all there arose a mighty
famine in that 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 his fields to feed
swine and he would Fain have filled his
belly with the husks that the swine did
eat and no man gave unto
him and when he came to
himself he said how many of my father's
hired servants have bread enough in
Despair 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
and am no more worthy to be called thy
son make me as one of thy hired
servants and he arose and came to his
father 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 and am no more worthy to be
called thy 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 the
fatted calf and kill it and let us eat
and be merry for this my son was dead
and is alive again he was lost and is
found and they began to be
marry now his Elder son was in the
field and as he came and Drew near to
the house he heard music and
dancing and he called one of the
servants and asked what these things
meant and he said unto him thy brother
is come and thy father hath killed the
fatted cat because he hath received him
safe and
sound and he was
angry and would not go
in therefore came his father out and
intreated him and he answering said to
his father Lo these many years do I
serve thee neither transgressed I at any
time thy commandment and yet thou never
gavest me a kid that I might make marry
with my my friends but as soon as this
thy son was come who hath devoured thy
living with harlots thou has killed for
him the fatted
calf and he said unto him son thou art
ever with me and all that I have is
thine it was fitting that we should make
Merry and be glad for this thy brother
was dead and is alive again and was lost
the word prodigal means
wasteful it can be used in a good sense
or in a bad sense in a good sense God is
Prodigal God gives
prodigiously do you ever stop to think
of the millions of flowers that bloom
sees off in Mountain places and off in
places that nobody ever visits here are
are millions and millions of beautiful
things nobody ever sees out there in the
universe are billions upon billions of
stars that we can't even see God is
prodigious God is
prodigal as he bestows His
blessings but the word prodigal can also
be used in the bad sense of wasting what
God does give to us that's what it means
here he wasted his substance with
riotous living now as I read this
chapter you realize of course that all
of these stories hang
together the Lord Jesus gave three
stories but they really make up one
story and for several Sunday evenings
we'd like to look into these stories and
the story of The Prodigal Son in
particular to learn what the Lord might
have for us in this business of
Christian Living someone says well
Pastor you ought to take that passage
and read it in the rescue mission well
that's good for the church as well
because uh there's a lot in here that we
need to learn as Believers and certainly
there's a lot here that the unbeliever
needs to learn now as you survey this
chapter you make some interesting
discoveries and I want to share some of
these discoveries with you tonight by
way of preparation for this series first
of all you discover from this chapter
that there's only one message of
Salvation there are not five messages of
Salvation there's only one message of salvation
salvation
you see the Lord Jesus Christ was
criticized for being friendly with
Sinners you notice that then Drew near
unto him unto Jesus all the tax
collectors and sinners to hear him here
is a remarkable thing over on this
corner we have the Lord Jesus surrounded
by the scum of the earth the publicans
of course were Jews who had sold their
souls to Rome the Sinners of of course
were Jewish people who were not keeping
the law they weren't keeping the
Pharisee traditions and here they were
listening to Jesus over on this corner
were the scribes and the Pharisees
pointing and saying look at him he
thinks he's somebody important look at
him the publicans and sinners come to
hear him somehow we have the idea that a
man's worth is determined by the kind of
people who come to listen to him to some
degree this may be true but our Lord
Jesus Christ is in direct contrast to the
the
Pharisees because in this chapter
there's only one message of Salvation
that message is that Jesus came to seek
and to save the lost that's the whole
theme of this chapter the lost sheep he
came to save the Lost coin the lost son
the lost son who stayed
home he came to
save for example I noticed that Jesus
attracted the Sinners and the Pharisees repelled
repelled
them we aren't told here that the that
the publicans and the Sinners said oh
let's go listen to the scribes and
Pharisees uhuh they stayed away from the
scribes and
Pharisees but when it came to the Lord
Jesus Christ the publicans and sinners
were attracted to him somehow in the
church today we have the idea that the
more you become like the Lord Jesus the
less Sinners want to have to do with you
and my friend that's not true
I notice in my Bible that the people who
needed salvation were attracted to Jesus
Christ now this doesn't mean that unsaved
unsaved
people understand what we stand for or
that they even agree with it but I'm
inclined to believe that the more we
become like the Lord Jesus Christ the
more we are going to attract the kind of
people who need what we have to offer
you see where the salt of the earth and
salt makes people
thirsty we're the light of the world and
light guides people we have in our
churches today a false view of
Separation let me make it very clear
that Jesus was holy harmless
undefiled separate from Sinners but
separation is not
isolation and too many Christians today
have the idea that the holy you become
and the more spiritual you become the
more you isolate yourself and insulate
yourself from a lost world and my
true I think that sometimes we
Evangelical Christians use separation as
involved we don't want to get involved
with lost
sinners in fact some Christians were at
the point where they just hate lost
sinners they're like Jonah sitting
outside the city Waiting for God to condemn
condemn
them the Lord Jesus Christ when he was
here on Earth attracted the Sinners but
the cold heartless Pharisees repelled
them I notice a second contrast here
Jesus understood these Sinners the
Pharisees criticized them see the
Pharisees looked in the outward
appearance we do this let's be very
honest about it but when strangers walk
into Moody Church and we look them over
we go by the outward
appearance I've had people complain to
me because of folks who have come in
because of the way they dress as though
we should stand at the door and say I'm
sorry you can't come in to Moody Church
you aren't dressed properly or the
length of hair or the absence or the
presence of a beard or perhaps they've
had a little bit of alcohol now of
course we don't want anybody to come in
here and and upset the services but I've
noticed there's been a sign out in front
of the Moody Church ever since Mr Moody
established the church that says always
welcome to this house of God are
strangers and the poor but sometimes we
let them feel very strange we won't have
anything to do with them because we look
at the outward appearance you see when
Jesus looked at these people he didn't
look at the outward appearance he saw
the heart he didn't look at their past
he saw their future he saw what Matthew
the Publican could become he saw what
Peter the fisherman could become he saw
what zakiah the Crooked politician could
become and so when these people flocked
around him the Lord Jesus didn't deal
with them on the basis of their past do
you want the Lord to deal with you on
the basis of your past I don't think you
do no the Lord Jesus dealt with them on
the basis of their future what they could
could
become I don't know how many of you have
read a good biography of Mr Moody
one that deals with the early days of uh
the Illinois Street Church and the and
the other Ministries that Mr Moody
established but I tell you he got around
him a mly crew of
people here's some former drunk who' get
saved and Moody at hand him a stack of
tracks and say go out there and pass out
tracks we'd keep him on on ice for six
or eight
years Mr Moody doesn't do that Jesus
didn't do that he led someone to
Salvation he said now go on off and
start witnessing start serving Jesus
attracted them because he saw their
potential the phes repelled them because
they didn't fit into their preconceived
molds Jesus loved
them the Pharisees despised
them there was just no question about it
the Pharisees looked down their nose at
this riffraff and said we want nothing
to do with them remember the story Jesus
told that must have been made somebody
angry behold two men went up to the
temple to pray the one a Pharisee the
other a Publican and the Pharisee prayed
thus with himself saying oh God I thank
you I'm not like other men I fast twice
a week and I give alms of all that I
possess and I'm not like this Publican
here that was the attitude of the
Pharisees holier than thou the Pharisees
despise Sinners Jesus loved them and I
would think that the more you and I
become like the Lord Jesus Christ the
more we would attract them the more we
would understand them and the more we'd love
love
them something else I noticed Jesus
forgave them the Pharisees condemned
them you know it's not my job to condemn
anybody it's not my responsibility my
privilege or My Prerogative to condemn
anybody only God can do this my
responsibility and privilege is to share
the Gospel of Jesus Christ to let them
know that they can be saved to forgive
you see the elder brother in this story
is the Pharisee
the prodigal son is the Publican doesn't
take much uh training to know that and
here's the elder brother if you want to
know what a Pharisee is like just read
what the elder brother did he wouldn't
go in I don't want to touch
him he he he hung all of his dirty linen
out in public this thy son not even my
brother thy
son he's wasted your inheritance with
harlots that's the Pharisee condemning repelling
repelling despising
despising
criticizing but here's the Lord Jesus
forgiving I think sometimes we need to
spend a little more time in the book of
Acts to find out the kind of people that
made up the early
church I hear pastors who say oh I wish
I had more of the upper class in my
church wasn't much upper class in the
early church they perceived that they
were ignorant and unlearned men Silver
and Gold Have I None you see the ideal
Church the New Testament Church has
every class upper middle lower whatever
that may mean because the church is a
family of God's
people there's one message of Salvation
here and that one message is this Jesus
loves Sinners Jesus died for Sinners
Jesus invited
Sinners Jesus understands Sinners and
Sinners there's one message of Salvation
secondly there are two aspects of
Salvation in this chapter if you take
the parable of the lost sheep and the lost
lost
coin you get one side of Salvation what
God does the lost sheep the shepherd
went out in search searched for the one
sheep the Sheep could not find his way
back home the Lost coin the woman got
the light and searched until she found
the coin each of these Parables
illustrates for us God's side of
Salvation it is God who searches it is
God who finds it is God who [Music]
[Music]
values but if you stop there you'd get
the idea that salvation is only from
God's point of view now we have some of that
that
today the young
theologians who always know much more
than the old theologians like to get
together and discuss this matter of
predestination election Free Will human
responsibility and it's good to discuss
these things but I have seen whole
denominations and churches have their
Evangelistic and missionary Zeal
completely ruined by a one-sided
theology often times people come to me
and say now Spurgeon you hold off now
have you read Spurgeon well a little bit
you ever read the life of spurge well
see I'm a student of Spurgeon and Mr
Spurgeon would not permit in his church
a onesided
theology there are some people who have
the idea that God does everything and
man does not have to respond but you
better move into the last Parable the
parable of the Prodigal Son the father
didn't go search searching for The Boy
The Boy
said I'm miserable I used to be sick of
home and now I'm homesick I'm hungry
these pigs are in better shape than I am
they got something to eat nobody's
feeding me I will arise and go at that
point some theologians say sh don't say
that you never say I
will Jesus said it you see my friends
there are two sides to Salvation there's
God's part
God initiates it it's God who loves it's
God who sent his son it's God who made
the gospel possible it's God who sends
out the call but God has given to us the
privilege of
responding and the prodigal son said I
will arise and go would you believe it
he made a
response to what to the love of his
father sitting out there in the far
country The Prodigal Son said you know
what my father is a good father why my
the servants at home are in better shape
than I am it's the goodness of God that
leads people to repentance what made him
repent my father is a good man my father
is generous and kind what is it that
should make Sinners repent the goodness
of God Paul tells us that in Romans it's
the goodness of God that leads us to
repentance now salvation is of the Lord
salvation begins with the Lord he's the
Alpha salvation ends with the Lord he's
the Omega but God has ordained that men
shall respond to his call Jesus said how
not now let's not have an unbalanced
theology there are those who so
emphasize the human side of the of of
Salvation that it looks as though you're
saved by human Works no there are those
who so emphasize the Divine side that
God does everything in man just sits
there like a robot
no my Bible puts the two of them
together all that the father giveth me
shall come to me said Jesus that's God's
part but don't stop there and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out
that's man's part they're all in the
same verse John
6:37 so you have two aspects of
Salvation here our God is the god who
seeks The Sinner our God is The God Who
search es our God is The God Who
lovingly Waits and when the sinner
begins to move he runs and meets him
more than
halfway but God has ordained that men
shall respond to his gospel this is why
over and over again you find the
apostles saying repent believe repent
believe they weren't talking to dead
posts they were talking to people with
Minds to think with and hearts to feel
with and wills to decide with now you
and I know that
salvation is something like I guess
something like getting married you make
chosen Dr Ironside used to say salvation
is like standing outside of a great big
door that says whosoever will let him
come you say well I'm a whosoever so
I'll come and you walk in turn around it
says chosen in Christ before the
foundation of the
world you see as far as God the father
is concerned I was saved when he chose
me in Christ before the foundation of the
the
world that didn't save me as far as God
the son is concerned I was saved when he
died for me on the cross but he died for
the whole
world as far as God the holy spirit is
concerned I was saved when on May the
12th 1945 at about 20 after8 in the
evening I responded to the call of Jesus
Christ and when I said yes to Jesus
Christ all three came
together so there are two aspects to
Salvation the human and the divine it
begins with God it ends with God but God
has ordained that men shall respond to
his gospel now you try to explain
that and you may lose your
mind but you try to explain it
away you may lose your
soul I'm glad that there's some things
that God knows that I
don't there's one message of Salvation
there are two aspects to Salvation there
are three pictures of Salvation in this this
this
chapter I'm going to do a ramble just a
little bit and then come back if you'll
let me I was preaching a Word of Life up
at screwn Lake uh some years ago and
they asked me to speak one evening to a
group of college students who were there
and so we gathered together in one of
the buildings and I thought I'd talk to
them about the prodigal son and I said
to them if you were going to
name the three
men in secular history
whose ideas have most affected
affected
Society what three men would you
name these were smart Butch of kids and
they pondered and one of them put his
hand up and said Charles Darwin I said I
think that's true Charles Darwin came up
with the theory of anybody else the girl
raised her hand and said um Sigman Freud
I said you're probably right because
Freud was the founder and the father of
the psychoanalytic School of
Psychology and our educational system
today is based on this whether we like
it or not many things are based upon
this even though we don't agree with it
said here are three men and you named
them I didn't you named
them Charles
Darwin organic evolution Carl
Marx economics
Psychiatry I said if you had to put in
one word what each of these men said
about Mankind what would you say and we
came up with this conclusion Darwin
would say man is an
animal Carl Marx would say man is an
economic Factor Freud would say man is a spoiled
spoiled
brat and I said you know the interesting
thing is Jesus said this 2,000 years
ago he said man is an animal a lost
Sheep Man is an economic factor a lost
coin man is a spoiled brat a lost
son and then we dove into John to Luke
15 and begin to examine some of these
things you see Jesus is always ahead of everybody
everybody
else the next time you talk to a A
darwinian you say sure I have no problem
with that man's an animal as long as he
doesn't know Jesus as his savior yeah
he's a lost
animal he's a
sheep the next time you talk to a
marxian you say no problem at all man's
an economic Factor he's like a coin he
has the image of God stamped on him just
as Caesar took and stamped His image on
his coins sure man's man's like an
economic F he's got the image of God
valuable next time you talk to a
psychiatrist say I have no problem with
that man is a runaway son man is a rebel
man is a spoiled brat Jesus Jesus said
he was a prodigal son you see we have
here three pictures of Salvation and
they answer the question what is man A
Lost Sheep a lost coin with God's image
on it a lost
son this doesn't mean that Jesus agrees
with either Evolution or communism or
that he agrees with Freudian psychology
it simply means that he's using the same
pictures that men have borrowed so the
next time you see somebody who's not a
Christian some unbeliever
you don't look at him and say oh you no
you say wait he's a lost he's a lost
sheep somebody's got to find him he's a
lost coin somebody's got to rescue him a
lost son somebody's got to love him back
home again these three pictures answer
the question what is man they also
answer the question what is
sin over and over again in this chapter
lost found lost found lost found what's
it mean to be
lost now a little child would say well
to be lost would mean you don't know
where you
are and there's a lot of Truth to that
what did it mean for the Sheep to be
lost it meant that he was out of the
place of
safety that's what it means to be lost
in the place of
danger and so anybody here who's never
been born again you're in the place of
danger like the lost sheep what's it
mean to be lost well like the coin it
means to be out of service here's a coin
and this coin has has the image of the
of the emperor on it okay okay here is a
human being with the image of God the
coin is lost the image has been lost and
when when a coin is lost it's out of
circulation it's doing nobody any good
when a soul is lost it's out of
good Psalm 1 compares the unsaved person to
to
chaff he shall be like the chaff which
the wind driveth
away what's it mean to be lost well the
lost son away from the place of love and
blessing you see the Sheep was away from
the flock in danger the coin was away
from the necklace that the woman wore
around her neck out of the place of
safety out of the place of
usefulness the son was away from the
family out of the place of Love out of
the place where he could grow and become
all that he ought to become this is the
I think sometimes we Evangelical
Christians don't feel the heartbeat of
what it means for people to be
lost we see missionary pictures and we
say oh those terrible people they're
lost there just as many lost people in
Chicago as there are down there the
difference is up here they've had more
light and therefore they're going to
have more
judgment it's a terrible thing to be
lost to be away from the place of
service away from the place of safety
away from the place of
satisfaction these three pictures also
answer the question why are people
lost you ever ask yourself the question
why are people lost why would anybody in
the city of Chicago with gospel
preaching churches religious radio religious
religious
Publishers people passing out tracks you
can walk in the drug store or the dime
store and buy a Bible or if you don't
want to buy it somebody will give you
one why are people lost why was the Sheep
Sheep lost
lost
thoughtlessness the Sheep were stupid
and when a sheep gets away from the
flock and the shepherd He just stupidly
keeps going sheep are
dumb you know why people are lost they're
they're
dumb they really are they're lost
because of thoughtlessness they just
wander away why was the coin lost carelessness
carelessness
by the way I want to point out to you
that the coin was lost because of the
carelessness of another at
home I wonder how many souls are lost at
home because of the carelessness of a
mother or a dad or a big brother or
sister and so the Sheep was lost because
of thoughtlessness
stupidity the coin was lost because of
carelessness the son was lost because of
willfulness father forgive
me I'm going to the far country where is
the far
country any place out of God's love out
of God's out of God's will the far
country was in this boy's heart long
before he ever left home but he was lost
because of willfulness and I have met
Sinners who have been lost because of
stupidity thoughtlessness I've met
Sinners who have been lost because of
carelessness I've met Sinners who have
been lost because of willfulness and
they're out away from the place of safety
safety
it this these three pictures also answer
the question what does God do for the
lost here here here here's a lost sheep
here's a lost coin here's a lost son
what's God going to do about that well
of course ultimately he sent his son to
die but immediately what does he
do the shepherd goes and seeks the Sheep
I wonder if this isn't a picture of um
God the son he said I'm the Good
Shepherd when Mr Moody went over to
England to preach he took Mr sanki with
him with his little organ we have one of
s's organs there in woolly Hall and the
dear Scottish people called this his
chest full of whistles of course the
Scottish people did not allow many of
them musical instruments in their
churches and they were greatly offended
when Mr sanki sat down at his organ and
began to sing you remember that night
when Mr Moody preached on the Good
Shepherd and he turned to sanki and said
sing sing something appropriate and he
wrote as he sang the 90 and9 one of the
great stories in in in history in church
history he propped up the the poem he'd
cut out the newspaper and began to sing
there were 90 and nine that safely lay
in the shelter of the F but one was lost
and the fields away away from the gates
of gold but none of the ransomed ever
knew how deep were the waters crossed or
how dark was the night that the Lord
passed through
there he found his sheep that was lost
this Shepherd going out for the Sheep is
Jesus I like the way he says he put the
sheep on his shoulders plural he got the
front legs here and the back legs here
and he held on to him because he wasn't
going to get away
again Jesus the son God the son goes to
seek the lost sheep I think that the
woman in the house with the light is a
picture of the Holy
Spirit the the holy spirit of God takes
the word of God and goes looking for the
lost and of course in The Prodigal Son
the father is a picture of God the
Father who runs to welcome the sinner
when he comes home the Pharisees had
nothing they could do for a repentant
sinner but when God the Father sees a
repentant sinner coming he runs and
welcomes him so God the Father God the
son and God the Holy Spirit are in one
business tonight the business of seeking
and saving the lost if we are in any
other business we're not in God's
business which leads me to the fourth
Discovery in this chapter and you've
been very patient with me there's one
message of
Salvation there are two aspects to
Salvation man's part in God's man
responding to God's invitation there are
three pictures of Salvation And there
are four joys of Salvation I'll just
name them for you this whole chapter is
full of joy because the happiest people
in the world are people who win souls to
Christ now I don't believe everybody has
the same gift of Soul winning I want to
go on record as saying that some of my
friends say if you haven't personally
won someone to the Lord at least once a
week your back
sliden well uh they can say that I can't
find scripture for that everybody ought
to be a witness don't you think so each
one of us ought to be a witness and
those who do have that special ability
that gift they've developed it with
God's help of leading people to Christ
they ought to use it but not everybody
has that in fact that we had one man in
one of my church I used to beg him not
to go out
witnessing everybody he called on quit
coming to church that's right I begged
him please don't please don't go
visiting but everybody ought to be a
witness we can all be praying for Souls
it doesn't take much much skill to hand
somebody attract in love or to say a
word for the Lord
but I notic there are four Joys here
that are involved in Salvation first
there's the joy of the
finder in verses 5 and N when they when
he found the Sheep he rejoiced when when
she found the coin she rejoiced when the
son came home no longer lost but found
they rejoiced the joy of the
finder I remember when I was pastoring
back at Calvary and Covington we were
going through a building program
and it was rough as you folks know I
can't even read a blueprint let alone
build a building fortunately we had
marvelous people as we do here who could
handle all of that oh it was rough I
don't know why it is that when a church
family starts to build a building it
just opens up all the problems that
people have and there were some days I
was just thoroughly discouraged I
remember sitting down one day with the
architect and with the engineer and we
had some problems and I was just ready
to throw in the towel and the truck ow
and everything
else I went to the hospital to make some
hospital visits cuz I've learned that
when you're discouraged go out and do
something for somebody if you sit and
look in the mirror and nourish yourself
and and feed all your self-pity the
devil will move in so I'm going to go to
the hospital so I went to the hospital
to visit some people visited a young man
and as I was walking out the hospital
room feeling a little better but still
somewhat discouraged I saw a young
teenager lying in the bed I said hi how
you doing he said I'm not so so good I
said what's your name he said Daniel
well of course there's your opportunity
right there I said that's a good Bible
name you know what it means he said no I
said it means God is my
judge and um I said are you like Daniel
in the
Bible he said boy I'm not like anybody
in the
Bible and I had the privilege of leading
that kid to Christ right there you know
it was just a beautiful thing the Lord
prepared the way and led him to the Lord
you know and I want you to know
something when I walked out of that
hospital I didn't care about the
building I didn't care about the
architect I didn't care about that I was
on cloud nine you know why I had the joy
of a
finder I'd found a lost sheep and helped
to bring him home that's a great joy
there's the joy of the
finder there's also here the joy of the
found that sheep was very happy to be
found sheep are stupid he was about
ready to go over into that precipice you
know here comes the shepherd and gets
him and that sheep was happy to be back
in the fold again that Shepherd poured
the oil on the
Sheep's snout and on his eyes and washed
took away all the little stickers and
the he took care of all the wounds that
that sheep was glad to be found if that
coin could have spoken it would have
said but praise the Lord I'm
found man I want to be out in the
circulation I want to do some good in
this not going to lie here under the
phonograph you know I want to be found
and certainly that son was glad to be
found oh the joy of the
found I noticed thirdly the joy of the
friends every time they found them they
said come on and share with us you what
do you share with people I know what
some church members share complaints and
criticisms I don't want to be the kind
of a person that people find it easy to
spread gossip with now if you find that
you're attracting that kind of thing be
careful be careful what do you share
with others when they when the shepherd
found the Sheep he got he said come on
over and rejoice I found my sheep it's
only one ah but one is
important the girl the lady found her
coin Rejoice with me boy they had a
coffee clutch there and she'd baked some
rejoiced and of course when the sun came
home that's just made all the difference
in the world the father said hey let's
let's get the String Band out here and
get some books and some some music and
let's just
Rejoice the joy of the
friends do you share with others the joy
of uh sharing
Christ but there's a fourth Joy here I
know this says a joy up in heaven verse
7 and verse 10 there's joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repents there's joy in heaven
heaven
uh why would the Angels rejoice when a
sinner gets saved they've never
experienced God's grace oh the Angels
rejoice when a sinner gets saved because
they know what we were created
for when man fell the Angels knew how
great a fall that was and they rejoiced
to see that we're back where we ought to
be they know what we were saved from
Angels know what hell is like they've
not been there but some of their kind
have been condemned to that and so the
Angels Rejoice because they know what
we've been saved from and what we've
been created for and what we're saved to
they they see the face of God they share
in the the enjoyment of the glory of God
they hear the Praises the harmonies of
heaven and they know that we're going to
be there someday no wonder they
Rejoice I think another reason they
Rejoice is they see the joy of the Lord
Jesus Hebrews 12:2 says about Jesus who
for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross so every time we win
someone to Christ there's the joy of the
finder and there's the joy of the found
and there's the joy of the friends and
there's the joy of Heaven the angels and
the Lord Jesus rejoicing I may be wrong
but there's only one person in this
whole chapter who's not
happy that's the Elder brother he's the
only one that's not happy he's mad he's
angry he's standing there with with a
good Evangelical scowl on his
face and he doesn't want to go in he
wants to stay
outside see he he wasn't even looking
for his brother to come home he didn't
want him to come home I'm going to have
occasion during these evenings to talk a
little more about this fellow because he
has a tendency to show us ourselves he
knew everybody else's sin didn't know
his own the sad thing was he missed the
joy of the whole thing well it's a
terrible thing to be
lost it's a wonderful thing to be
found there's only one message of
Salvation Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners sinners not
righteous people Sinners you know why
Jesus didn't come to save righteous
people there weren't
any there two aspects to Salvation God
purchases it God plans it and God
presents it and God's spirit works in
your heart and I trust that somebody
will say I will arise and go there three
pictures of Salvation showing us what it
means to be
lost in danger out of safety out of
circulation out of usefulness away from
the joy of
home there are four wonderful Joys to
Salvation we're going to have a good
time I think wallowing around in this
chapter during these Sunday evenings but
right now I just want to ask you one
question are you rejoicing tonight
because you've been
found or are you lost CU if you're lost
you have no joy you have no joy now
you'll have no joy for all
eternity but if you're saved if you're
found if you're one of his
sheep if you've come home and said I
want to come to my father then you have
that joy down inside you can have that
joy that forgiveness Jesus came to say save
save
Sinners and he can save you let's
pray theor and make no
delay just respond to him and Lord help
us to be a part of the
finding as witnesses as pastors out of
tracks as prayer warriors whatever it is
we do help us to be a part of the
finding may we not be guilty of causing
someone to stray away and be
lost bless tonight we pray cause that
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