0:04 I'm going to read uh all 32 verses of
0:11 15 then Drew near unto him all the tax
0:14 collectors and sinners to hear
0:17 him and the Pharisees and scribes
0:19 murmured saying this man receiveth
0:22 Sinners and eateth with
0:26 them and he spoke this Parable unto them
0:29 saying what man of you having a hundred
0:32 sheep if he lose one of them do not
0:35 leave the 90 and N in the wilderness and
0:37 go after that which is lost until he find
0:38 find
0:41 it and when he hath found it he layeth
0:43 it on his shoulders
0:46 rejoicing and when he cometh home he
0:47 calleth together his friends and
0:51 neighbors saying unto them Rejoice with
0:54 me for I have found my sheep which was
0:58 lost I say unto you that likewise Joy
1:01 shall be in heaven over one sinner that
1:04 repenteth more than over 90 and9
1:08 righteous persons who need no
1:11 repentance either what woman having 10
1:15 pieces of silver if she lose one piece
1:18 do not light a lamp and sweep the house
1:21 and seek diligently till she find it and
1:23 when she ha found it she calleth her
1:25 friends and her neighbors together
1:27 saying Rejoice with me for I have found
1:30 the peace which I had lost
1:33 likewise I say unto you there is joy in
1:36 the presence of the angels of God over
1:38 one sinner that
1:41 repenteth and he said a certain man had
1:44 two sons and the younger of them said to
1:47 his father father give me the portion of
1:50 goods that falleth to me and he divided
1:54 unto them his living and not many days
1:56 after that the younger son gathered all
1:58 together and took his journey into a far
2:01 Country and and there wasted his
2:04 substance with riotous living and when
2:07 he had spent all there arose a mighty
2:09 famine in that land and he began to be
2:12 in want and he went and joined himself
2:14 to a citizen of that country and he sent
2:17 him into his fields to feed
2:19 swine and he would Fain have filled his
2:22 belly with the husks that the swine did
2:25 eat and no man gave unto
2:28 him and when he came to
2:32 himself he said how many of my father's
2:35 hired servants have bread enough in
2:37 Despair and I perish with
2:41 Hunger I will arise and go to my father
2:44 and will say unto him father I have
2:48 sinned against heaven and before thee
2:51 and am no more worthy to be called thy
2:54 son make me as one of thy hired
2:57 servants and he arose and came to his
3:00 father but when he was yet a great way
3:03 off his father saw him and had
3:06 compassion and ran and fell on his neck
3:09 and kissed him and the son said unto him
3:12 father I have sinned against heaven and
3:15 in thy sight and am no more worthy to be
3:18 called thy son but the father said to
3:21 his servants bring forth the best robe
3:24 and put it on him and put a ring on his
3:27 hand and shoes on his feet and bring the
3:30 fatted calf and kill it and let us eat
3:33 and be merry for this my son was dead
3:36 and is alive again he was lost and is
3:40 found and they began to be
3:43 marry now his Elder son was in the
3:46 field and as he came and Drew near to
3:48 the house he heard music and
3:50 dancing and he called one of the
3:53 servants and asked what these things
3:56 meant and he said unto him thy brother
3:59 is come and thy father hath killed the
4:01 fatted cat because he hath received him
4:02 safe and
4:05 sound and he was
4:08 angry and would not go
4:11 in therefore came his father out and
4:14 intreated him and he answering said to
4:19 his father Lo these many years do I
4:23 serve thee neither transgressed I at any
4:26 time thy commandment and yet thou never
4:29 gavest me a kid that I might make marry
4:32 with my my friends but as soon as this
4:35 thy son was come who hath devoured thy
4:38 living with harlots thou has killed for
4:40 him the fatted
4:43 calf and he said unto him son thou art
4:47 ever with me and all that I have is
4:50 thine it was fitting that we should make
4:52 Merry and be glad for this thy brother
4:56 was dead and is alive again and was lost
5:04 the word prodigal means
5:07 wasteful it can be used in a good sense
5:11 or in a bad sense in a good sense God is
5:14 Prodigal God gives
5:16 prodigiously do you ever stop to think
5:20 of the millions of flowers that bloom
5:27 sees off in Mountain places and off in
5:29 places that nobody ever visits here are
5:31 are millions and millions of beautiful
5:34 things nobody ever sees out there in the
5:36 universe are billions upon billions of
5:39 stars that we can't even see God is
5:41 prodigious God is
5:45 prodigal as he bestows His
5:47 blessings but the word prodigal can also
5:50 be used in the bad sense of wasting what
5:52 God does give to us that's what it means
5:55 here he wasted his substance with
5:58 riotous living now as I read this
6:00 chapter you realize of course that all
6:02 of these stories hang
6:05 together the Lord Jesus gave three
6:09 stories but they really make up one
6:11 story and for several Sunday evenings
6:14 we'd like to look into these stories and
6:16 the story of The Prodigal Son in
6:18 particular to learn what the Lord might
6:20 have for us in this business of
6:22 Christian Living someone says well
6:24 Pastor you ought to take that passage
6:27 and read it in the rescue mission well
6:29 that's good for the church as well
6:31 because uh there's a lot in here that we
6:34 need to learn as Believers and certainly
6:35 there's a lot here that the unbeliever
6:38 needs to learn now as you survey this
6:40 chapter you make some interesting
6:42 discoveries and I want to share some of
6:45 these discoveries with you tonight by
6:48 way of preparation for this series first
6:50 of all you discover from this chapter
6:53 that there's only one message of
6:56 Salvation there are not five messages of
6:58 Salvation there's only one message of salvation
6:59 salvation
7:02 you see the Lord Jesus Christ was
7:05 criticized for being friendly with
7:08 Sinners you notice that then Drew near
7:11 unto him unto Jesus all the tax
7:14 collectors and sinners to hear him here
7:17 is a remarkable thing over on this
7:19 corner we have the Lord Jesus surrounded
7:23 by the scum of the earth the publicans
7:26 of course were Jews who had sold their
7:30 souls to Rome the Sinners of of course
7:32 were Jewish people who were not keeping
7:34 the law they weren't keeping the
7:36 Pharisee traditions and here they were
7:39 listening to Jesus over on this corner
7:41 were the scribes and the Pharisees
7:44 pointing and saying look at him he
7:46 thinks he's somebody important look at
7:49 him the publicans and sinners come to
7:52 hear him somehow we have the idea that a
7:55 man's worth is determined by the kind of
7:57 people who come to listen to him to some
8:00 degree this may be true but our Lord
8:03 Jesus Christ is in direct contrast to the
8:03 the
8:06 Pharisees because in this chapter
8:08 there's only one message of Salvation
8:11 that message is that Jesus came to seek
8:14 and to save the lost that's the whole
8:17 theme of this chapter the lost sheep he
8:21 came to save the Lost coin the lost son
8:23 the lost son who stayed
8:25 home he came to
8:28 save for example I noticed that Jesus
8:31 attracted the Sinners and the Pharisees repelled
8:32 repelled
8:35 them we aren't told here that the that
8:37 the publicans and the Sinners said oh
8:39 let's go listen to the scribes and
8:41 Pharisees uhuh they stayed away from the
8:42 scribes and
8:44 Pharisees but when it came to the Lord
8:46 Jesus Christ the publicans and sinners
8:49 were attracted to him somehow in the
8:51 church today we have the idea that the
8:54 more you become like the Lord Jesus the
8:57 less Sinners want to have to do with you
9:00 and my friend that's not true
9:03 I notice in my Bible that the people who
9:06 needed salvation were attracted to Jesus
9:08 Christ now this doesn't mean that unsaved
9:10 unsaved
9:13 people understand what we stand for or
9:16 that they even agree with it but I'm
9:17 inclined to believe that the more we
9:20 become like the Lord Jesus Christ the
9:24 more we are going to attract the kind of
9:28 people who need what we have to offer
9:30 you see where the salt of the earth and
9:32 salt makes people
9:35 thirsty we're the light of the world and
9:38 light guides people we have in our
9:41 churches today a false view of
9:43 Separation let me make it very clear
9:48 that Jesus was holy harmless
9:51 undefiled separate from Sinners but
9:55 separation is not
9:57 isolation and too many Christians today
10:00 have the idea that the holy you become
10:03 and the more spiritual you become the
10:06 more you isolate yourself and insulate
10:09 yourself from a lost world and my
10:15 true I think that sometimes we
10:18 Evangelical Christians use separation as
10:24 involved we don't want to get involved
10:25 with lost
10:27 sinners in fact some Christians were at
10:28 the point where they just hate lost
10:31 sinners they're like Jonah sitting
10:32 outside the city Waiting for God to condemn
10:33 condemn
10:36 them the Lord Jesus Christ when he was
10:39 here on Earth attracted the Sinners but
10:45 the cold heartless Pharisees repelled
10:48 them I notice a second contrast here
10:51 Jesus understood these Sinners the
10:54 Pharisees criticized them see the
10:55 Pharisees looked in the outward
10:58 appearance we do this let's be very
11:00 honest about it but when strangers walk
11:03 into Moody Church and we look them over
11:05 we go by the outward
11:07 appearance I've had people complain to
11:08 me because of folks who have come in
11:11 because of the way they dress as though
11:12 we should stand at the door and say I'm
11:14 sorry you can't come in to Moody Church
11:16 you aren't dressed properly or the
11:19 length of hair or the absence or the
11:22 presence of a beard or perhaps they've
11:23 had a little bit of alcohol now of
11:25 course we don't want anybody to come in
11:28 here and and upset the services but I've
11:29 noticed there's been a sign out in front
11:31 of the Moody Church ever since Mr Moody
11:33 established the church that says always
11:34 welcome to this house of God are
11:37 strangers and the poor but sometimes we
11:40 let them feel very strange we won't have
11:42 anything to do with them because we look
11:44 at the outward appearance you see when
11:46 Jesus looked at these people he didn't
11:48 look at the outward appearance he saw
11:50 the heart he didn't look at their past
11:52 he saw their future he saw what Matthew
11:55 the Publican could become he saw what
11:58 Peter the fisherman could become he saw
12:01 what zakiah the Crooked politician could
12:03 become and so when these people flocked
12:05 around him the Lord Jesus didn't deal
12:09 with them on the basis of their past do
12:10 you want the Lord to deal with you on
12:14 the basis of your past I don't think you
12:17 do no the Lord Jesus dealt with them on
12:20 the basis of their future what they could
12:22 could
12:25 become I don't know how many of you have
12:29 read a good biography of Mr Moody
12:33 one that deals with the early days of uh
12:36 the Illinois Street Church and the and
12:38 the other Ministries that Mr Moody
12:40 established but I tell you he got around
12:42 him a mly crew of
12:45 people here's some former drunk who' get
12:47 saved and Moody at hand him a stack of
12:49 tracks and say go out there and pass out
12:51 tracks we'd keep him on on ice for six
12:52 or eight
12:56 years Mr Moody doesn't do that Jesus
12:58 didn't do that he led someone to
13:00 Salvation he said now go on off and
13:03 start witnessing start serving Jesus
13:05 attracted them because he saw their
13:08 potential the phes repelled them because
13:13 they didn't fit into their preconceived
13:15 molds Jesus loved
13:18 them the Pharisees despised
13:21 them there was just no question about it
13:23 the Pharisees looked down their nose at
13:25 this riffraff and said we want nothing
13:28 to do with them remember the story Jesus
13:29 told that must have been made somebody
13:32 angry behold two men went up to the
13:34 temple to pray the one a Pharisee the
13:35 other a Publican and the Pharisee prayed
13:37 thus with himself saying oh God I thank
13:40 you I'm not like other men I fast twice
13:42 a week and I give alms of all that I
13:44 possess and I'm not like this Publican
13:46 here that was the attitude of the
13:50 Pharisees holier than thou the Pharisees
13:54 despise Sinners Jesus loved them and I
13:55 would think that the more you and I
13:57 become like the Lord Jesus Christ the
13:59 more we would attract them the more we
14:01 would understand them and the more we'd love
14:02 love
14:05 them something else I noticed Jesus
14:07 forgave them the Pharisees condemned
14:11 them you know it's not my job to condemn
14:13 anybody it's not my responsibility my
14:15 privilege or My Prerogative to condemn
14:18 anybody only God can do this my
14:21 responsibility and privilege is to share
14:23 the Gospel of Jesus Christ to let them
14:25 know that they can be saved to forgive
14:28 you see the elder brother in this story
14:29 is the Pharisee
14:32 the prodigal son is the Publican doesn't
14:35 take much uh training to know that and
14:37 here's the elder brother if you want to
14:39 know what a Pharisee is like just read
14:41 what the elder brother did he wouldn't
14:44 go in I don't want to touch
14:47 him he he he hung all of his dirty linen
14:50 out in public this thy son not even my
14:52 brother thy
14:56 son he's wasted your inheritance with
15:00 harlots that's the Pharisee condemning repelling
15:02 repelling despising
15:04 despising
15:07 criticizing but here's the Lord Jesus
15:18 forgiving I think sometimes we need to
15:19 spend a little more time in the book of
15:21 Acts to find out the kind of people that
15:23 made up the early
15:26 church I hear pastors who say oh I wish
15:29 I had more of the upper class in my
15:31 church wasn't much upper class in the
15:33 early church they perceived that they
15:36 were ignorant and unlearned men Silver
15:39 and Gold Have I None you see the ideal
15:41 Church the New Testament Church has
15:44 every class upper middle lower whatever
15:46 that may mean because the church is a
15:49 family of God's
15:51 people there's one message of Salvation
15:54 here and that one message is this Jesus
15:57 loves Sinners Jesus died for Sinners
15:59 Jesus invited
16:01 Sinners Jesus understands Sinners and
16:08 Sinners there's one message of Salvation
16:12 secondly there are two aspects of
16:15 Salvation in this chapter if you take
16:20 the parable of the lost sheep and the lost
16:21 lost
16:24 coin you get one side of Salvation what
16:27 God does the lost sheep the shepherd
16:29 went out in search searched for the one
16:32 sheep the Sheep could not find his way
16:35 back home the Lost coin the woman got
16:37 the light and searched until she found
16:40 the coin each of these Parables
16:43 illustrates for us God's side of
16:46 Salvation it is God who searches it is
16:49 God who finds it is God who [Music]
16:51 [Music]
16:53 values but if you stop there you'd get
16:56 the idea that salvation is only from
16:59 God's point of view now we have some of that
17:00 that
17:02 today the young
17:04 theologians who always know much more
17:06 than the old theologians like to get
17:09 together and discuss this matter of
17:13 predestination election Free Will human
17:15 responsibility and it's good to discuss
17:18 these things but I have seen whole
17:21 denominations and churches have their
17:24 Evangelistic and missionary Zeal
17:27 completely ruined by a one-sided
17:29 theology often times people come to me
17:31 and say now Spurgeon you hold off now
17:33 have you read Spurgeon well a little bit
17:35 you ever read the life of spurge well
17:38 see I'm a student of Spurgeon and Mr
17:41 Spurgeon would not permit in his church
17:43 a onesided
17:45 theology there are some people who have
17:50 the idea that God does everything and
17:53 man does not have to respond but you
17:55 better move into the last Parable the
17:58 parable of the Prodigal Son the father
18:00 didn't go search searching for The Boy
18:02 The Boy
18:05 said I'm miserable I used to be sick of
18:08 home and now I'm homesick I'm hungry
18:10 these pigs are in better shape than I am
18:11 they got something to eat nobody's
18:17 feeding me I will arise and go at that
18:19 point some theologians say sh don't say
18:22 that you never say I
18:26 will Jesus said it you see my friends
18:28 there are two sides to Salvation there's
18:29 God's part
18:32 God initiates it it's God who loves it's
18:35 God who sent his son it's God who made
18:38 the gospel possible it's God who sends
18:41 out the call but God has given to us the
18:43 privilege of
18:46 responding and the prodigal son said I
18:50 will arise and go would you believe it
18:52 he made a
18:54 response to what to the love of his
18:57 father sitting out there in the far
18:59 country The Prodigal Son said you know
19:03 what my father is a good father why my
19:05 the servants at home are in better shape
19:08 than I am it's the goodness of God that
19:10 leads people to repentance what made him
19:14 repent my father is a good man my father
19:16 is generous and kind what is it that
19:19 should make Sinners repent the goodness
19:21 of God Paul tells us that in Romans it's
19:23 the goodness of God that leads us to
19:26 repentance now salvation is of the Lord
19:28 salvation begins with the Lord he's the
19:30 Alpha salvation ends with the Lord he's
19:33 the Omega but God has ordained that men
19:37 shall respond to his call Jesus said how
19:44 not now let's not have an unbalanced
19:46 theology there are those who so
19:48 emphasize the human side of the of of
19:50 Salvation that it looks as though you're
19:53 saved by human Works no there are those
19:56 who so emphasize the Divine side that
19:58 God does everything in man just sits
20:00 there like a robot
20:03 no my Bible puts the two of them
20:06 together all that the father giveth me
20:10 shall come to me said Jesus that's God's
20:13 part but don't stop there and him that
20:16 cometh to me I will in no wise cast out
20:19 that's man's part they're all in the
20:20 same verse John
20:23 6:37 so you have two aspects of
20:26 Salvation here our God is the god who
20:28 seeks The Sinner our God is The God Who
20:30 search es our God is The God Who
20:32 lovingly Waits and when the sinner
20:35 begins to move he runs and meets him
20:36 more than
20:39 halfway but God has ordained that men
20:42 shall respond to his gospel this is why
20:43 over and over again you find the
20:47 apostles saying repent believe repent
20:49 believe they weren't talking to dead
20:52 posts they were talking to people with
20:55 Minds to think with and hearts to feel
20:58 with and wills to decide with now you
20:59 and I know that
21:02 salvation is something like I guess
21:03 something like getting married you make
21:11 chosen Dr Ironside used to say salvation
21:13 is like standing outside of a great big
21:15 door that says whosoever will let him
21:17 come you say well I'm a whosoever so
21:18 I'll come and you walk in turn around it
21:20 says chosen in Christ before the
21:22 foundation of the
21:25 world you see as far as God the father
21:26 is concerned I was saved when he chose
21:28 me in Christ before the foundation of the
21:29 the
21:33 world that didn't save me as far as God
21:35 the son is concerned I was saved when he
21:37 died for me on the cross but he died for
21:37 the whole
21:40 world as far as God the holy spirit is
21:42 concerned I was saved when on May the
21:45 12th 1945 at about 20 after8 in the
21:47 evening I responded to the call of Jesus
21:49 Christ and when I said yes to Jesus
21:53 Christ all three came
21:55 together so there are two aspects to
21:58 Salvation the human and the divine it
22:01 begins with God it ends with God but God
22:03 has ordained that men shall respond to
22:06 his gospel now you try to explain
22:09 that and you may lose your
22:12 mind but you try to explain it
22:15 away you may lose your
22:17 soul I'm glad that there's some things
22:20 that God knows that I
22:23 don't there's one message of Salvation
22:26 there are two aspects to Salvation there
22:28 are three pictures of Salvation in this this
22:30 this
22:32 chapter I'm going to do a ramble just a
22:34 little bit and then come back if you'll
22:37 let me I was preaching a Word of Life up
22:40 at screwn Lake uh some years ago and
22:42 they asked me to speak one evening to a
22:44 group of college students who were there
22:45 and so we gathered together in one of
22:48 the buildings and I thought I'd talk to
22:50 them about the prodigal son and I said
22:52 to them if you were going to
22:54 name the three
22:59 men in secular history
23:03 whose ideas have most affected
23:06 affected
23:09 Society what three men would you
23:12 name these were smart Butch of kids and
23:13 they pondered and one of them put his
23:16 hand up and said Charles Darwin I said I
23:19 think that's true Charles Darwin came up
23:22 with the theory of anybody else the girl
23:25 raised her hand and said um Sigman Freud
23:28 I said you're probably right because
23:30 Freud was the founder and the father of
23:33 the psychoanalytic School of
23:36 Psychology and our educational system
23:37 today is based on this whether we like
23:40 it or not many things are based upon
23:41 this even though we don't agree with it
23:44 said here are three men and you named
23:45 them I didn't you named
23:48 them Charles
23:52 Darwin organic evolution Carl
23:55 Marx economics
24:03 Psychiatry I said if you had to put in
24:05 one word what each of these men said
24:07 about Mankind what would you say and we
24:09 came up with this conclusion Darwin
24:12 would say man is an
24:14 animal Carl Marx would say man is an
24:18 economic Factor Freud would say man is a spoiled
24:20 spoiled
24:22 brat and I said you know the interesting
24:25 thing is Jesus said this 2,000 years
24:29 ago he said man is an animal a lost
24:33 Sheep Man is an economic factor a lost
24:38 coin man is a spoiled brat a lost
24:41 son and then we dove into John to Luke
24:43 15 and begin to examine some of these
24:45 things you see Jesus is always ahead of everybody
24:46 everybody
24:49 else the next time you talk to a A
24:51 darwinian you say sure I have no problem
24:53 with that man's an animal as long as he
24:55 doesn't know Jesus as his savior yeah
24:56 he's a lost
24:59 animal he's a
25:02 sheep the next time you talk to a
25:04 marxian you say no problem at all man's
25:06 an economic Factor he's like a coin he
25:09 has the image of God stamped on him just
25:11 as Caesar took and stamped His image on
25:13 his coins sure man's man's like an
25:15 economic F he's got the image of God
25:21 valuable next time you talk to a
25:22 psychiatrist say I have no problem with
25:26 that man is a runaway son man is a rebel
25:28 man is a spoiled brat Jesus Jesus said
25:31 he was a prodigal son you see we have
25:33 here three pictures of Salvation and
25:35 they answer the question what is man A
25:38 Lost Sheep a lost coin with God's image
25:40 on it a lost
25:43 son this doesn't mean that Jesus agrees
25:46 with either Evolution or communism or
25:48 that he agrees with Freudian psychology
25:50 it simply means that he's using the same
25:53 pictures that men have borrowed so the
25:55 next time you see somebody who's not a
25:58 Christian some unbeliever
26:00 you don't look at him and say oh you no
26:02 you say wait he's a lost he's a lost
26:04 sheep somebody's got to find him he's a
26:06 lost coin somebody's got to rescue him a
26:08 lost son somebody's got to love him back
26:11 home again these three pictures answer
26:13 the question what is man they also
26:15 answer the question what is
26:18 sin over and over again in this chapter
26:22 lost found lost found lost found what's
26:24 it mean to be
26:27 lost now a little child would say well
26:28 to be lost would mean you don't know
26:29 where you
26:32 are and there's a lot of Truth to that
26:34 what did it mean for the Sheep to be
26:36 lost it meant that he was out of the
26:37 place of
26:39 safety that's what it means to be lost
26:41 in the place of
26:44 danger and so anybody here who's never
26:46 been born again you're in the place of
26:49 danger like the lost sheep what's it
26:51 mean to be lost well like the coin it
26:54 means to be out of service here's a coin
26:56 and this coin has has the image of the
26:58 of the emperor on it okay okay here is a
27:01 human being with the image of God the
27:05 coin is lost the image has been lost and
27:07 when when a coin is lost it's out of
27:09 circulation it's doing nobody any good
27:11 when a soul is lost it's out of
27:18 good Psalm 1 compares the unsaved person to
27:19 to
27:22 chaff he shall be like the chaff which
27:24 the wind driveth
27:28 away what's it mean to be lost well the
27:32 lost son away from the place of love and
27:35 blessing you see the Sheep was away from
27:38 the flock in danger the coin was away
27:40 from the necklace that the woman wore
27:43 around her neck out of the place of
27:45 safety out of the place of
27:48 usefulness the son was away from the
27:51 family out of the place of Love out of
27:53 the place where he could grow and become
27:56 all that he ought to become this is the
28:01 I think sometimes we Evangelical
28:05 Christians don't feel the heartbeat of
28:07 what it means for people to be
28:10 lost we see missionary pictures and we
28:11 say oh those terrible people they're
28:14 lost there just as many lost people in
28:16 Chicago as there are down there the
28:19 difference is up here they've had more
28:20 light and therefore they're going to
28:22 have more
28:24 judgment it's a terrible thing to be
28:27 lost to be away from the place of
28:30 service away from the place of safety
28:34 away from the place of
28:36 satisfaction these three pictures also
28:39 answer the question why are people
28:41 lost you ever ask yourself the question
28:43 why are people lost why would anybody in
28:45 the city of Chicago with gospel
28:48 preaching churches religious radio religious
28:50 religious
28:53 Publishers people passing out tracks you
28:54 can walk in the drug store or the dime
28:56 store and buy a Bible or if you don't
28:57 want to buy it somebody will give you
29:00 one why are people lost why was the Sheep
29:01 Sheep lost
29:03 lost
29:06 thoughtlessness the Sheep were stupid
29:07 and when a sheep gets away from the
29:11 flock and the shepherd He just stupidly
29:13 keeps going sheep are
29:16 dumb you know why people are lost they're
29:17 they're
29:19 dumb they really are they're lost
29:22 because of thoughtlessness they just
29:25 wander away why was the coin lost carelessness
29:28 carelessness
29:30 by the way I want to point out to you
29:32 that the coin was lost because of the
29:35 carelessness of another at
29:38 home I wonder how many souls are lost at
29:40 home because of the carelessness of a
29:45 mother or a dad or a big brother or
29:47 sister and so the Sheep was lost because
29:50 of thoughtlessness
29:53 stupidity the coin was lost because of
29:56 carelessness the son was lost because of
29:59 willfulness father forgive
30:02 me I'm going to the far country where is
30:04 the far
30:06 country any place out of God's love out
30:09 of God's out of God's will the far
30:10 country was in this boy's heart long
30:13 before he ever left home but he was lost
30:15 because of willfulness and I have met
30:17 Sinners who have been lost because of
30:20 stupidity thoughtlessness I've met
30:21 Sinners who have been lost because of
30:23 carelessness I've met Sinners who have
30:25 been lost because of willfulness and
30:27 they're out away from the place of safety
30:29 safety
30:35 it this these three pictures also answer
30:38 the question what does God do for the
30:41 lost here here here here's a lost sheep
30:43 here's a lost coin here's a lost son
30:45 what's God going to do about that well
30:47 of course ultimately he sent his son to
30:50 die but immediately what does he
30:54 do the shepherd goes and seeks the Sheep
30:57 I wonder if this isn't a picture of um
30:59 God the son he said I'm the Good
31:01 Shepherd when Mr Moody went over to
31:03 England to preach he took Mr sanki with
31:07 him with his little organ we have one of
31:10 s's organs there in woolly Hall and the
31:12 dear Scottish people called this his
31:15 chest full of whistles of course the
31:17 Scottish people did not allow many of
31:18 them musical instruments in their
31:20 churches and they were greatly offended
31:22 when Mr sanki sat down at his organ and
31:24 began to sing you remember that night
31:25 when Mr Moody preached on the Good
31:27 Shepherd and he turned to sanki and said
31:29 sing sing something appropriate and he
31:32 wrote as he sang the 90 and9 one of the
31:35 great stories in in in history in church
31:38 history he propped up the the poem he'd
31:39 cut out the newspaper and began to sing
31:42 there were 90 and nine that safely lay
31:46 in the shelter of the F but one was lost
31:48 and the fields away away from the gates
31:51 of gold but none of the ransomed ever
31:55 knew how deep were the waters crossed or
31:57 how dark was the night that the Lord
31:58 passed through
32:00 there he found his sheep that was lost
32:03 this Shepherd going out for the Sheep is
32:05 Jesus I like the way he says he put the
32:09 sheep on his shoulders plural he got the
32:11 front legs here and the back legs here
32:14 and he held on to him because he wasn't
32:16 going to get away
32:19 again Jesus the son God the son goes to
32:22 seek the lost sheep I think that the
32:24 woman in the house with the light is a
32:26 picture of the Holy
32:29 Spirit the the holy spirit of God takes
32:31 the word of God and goes looking for the
32:34 lost and of course in The Prodigal Son
32:36 the father is a picture of God the
32:39 Father who runs to welcome the sinner
32:41 when he comes home the Pharisees had
32:45 nothing they could do for a repentant
32:47 sinner but when God the Father sees a
32:50 repentant sinner coming he runs and
32:52 welcomes him so God the Father God the
32:55 son and God the Holy Spirit are in one
32:58 business tonight the business of seeking
33:01 and saving the lost if we are in any
33:04 other business we're not in God's
33:07 business which leads me to the fourth
33:09 Discovery in this chapter and you've
33:11 been very patient with me there's one
33:12 message of
33:15 Salvation there are two aspects to
33:18 Salvation man's part in God's man
33:21 responding to God's invitation there are
33:23 three pictures of Salvation And there
33:27 are four joys of Salvation I'll just
33:29 name them for you this whole chapter is
33:31 full of joy because the happiest people
33:34 in the world are people who win souls to
33:36 Christ now I don't believe everybody has
33:38 the same gift of Soul winning I want to
33:41 go on record as saying that some of my
33:43 friends say if you haven't personally
33:45 won someone to the Lord at least once a
33:47 week your back
33:50 sliden well uh they can say that I can't
33:52 find scripture for that everybody ought
33:54 to be a witness don't you think so each
33:56 one of us ought to be a witness and
33:58 those who do have that special ability
34:00 that gift they've developed it with
34:02 God's help of leading people to Christ
34:05 they ought to use it but not everybody
34:06 has that in fact that we had one man in
34:08 one of my church I used to beg him not
34:09 to go out
34:11 witnessing everybody he called on quit
34:15 coming to church that's right I begged
34:17 him please don't please don't go
34:19 visiting but everybody ought to be a
34:21 witness we can all be praying for Souls
34:23 it doesn't take much much skill to hand
34:26 somebody attract in love or to say a
34:28 word for the Lord
34:30 but I notic there are four Joys here
34:32 that are involved in Salvation first
34:34 there's the joy of the
34:39 finder in verses 5 and N when they when
34:41 he found the Sheep he rejoiced when when
34:44 she found the coin she rejoiced when the
34:47 son came home no longer lost but found
34:51 they rejoiced the joy of the
34:54 finder I remember when I was pastoring
34:56 back at Calvary and Covington we were
34:58 going through a building program
35:01 and it was rough as you folks know I
35:02 can't even read a blueprint let alone
35:05 build a building fortunately we had
35:07 marvelous people as we do here who could
35:09 handle all of that oh it was rough I
35:11 don't know why it is that when a church
35:13 family starts to build a building it
35:14 just opens up all the problems that
35:17 people have and there were some days I
35:18 was just thoroughly discouraged I
35:20 remember sitting down one day with the
35:23 architect and with the engineer and we
35:25 had some problems and I was just ready
35:28 to throw in the towel and the truck ow
35:29 and everything
35:32 else I went to the hospital to make some
35:34 hospital visits cuz I've learned that
35:35 when you're discouraged go out and do
35:37 something for somebody if you sit and
35:40 look in the mirror and nourish yourself
35:42 and and feed all your self-pity the
35:43 devil will move in so I'm going to go to
35:45 the hospital so I went to the hospital
35:47 to visit some people visited a young man
35:49 and as I was walking out the hospital
35:52 room feeling a little better but still
35:54 somewhat discouraged I saw a young
35:56 teenager lying in the bed I said hi how
35:57 you doing he said I'm not so so good I
36:00 said what's your name he said Daniel
36:01 well of course there's your opportunity
36:04 right there I said that's a good Bible
36:06 name you know what it means he said no I
36:08 said it means God is my
36:12 judge and um I said are you like Daniel
36:13 in the
36:15 Bible he said boy I'm not like anybody
36:17 in the
36:20 Bible and I had the privilege of leading
36:23 that kid to Christ right there you know
36:24 it was just a beautiful thing the Lord
36:26 prepared the way and led him to the Lord
36:28 you know and I want you to know
36:29 something when I walked out of that
36:32 hospital I didn't care about the
36:33 building I didn't care about the
36:36 architect I didn't care about that I was
36:39 on cloud nine you know why I had the joy
36:40 of a
36:43 finder I'd found a lost sheep and helped
36:45 to bring him home that's a great joy
36:46 there's the joy of the
36:50 finder there's also here the joy of the
36:53 found that sheep was very happy to be
36:55 found sheep are stupid he was about
36:57 ready to go over into that precipice you
36:59 know here comes the shepherd and gets
37:01 him and that sheep was happy to be back
37:03 in the fold again that Shepherd poured
37:05 the oil on the
37:09 Sheep's snout and on his eyes and washed
37:11 took away all the little stickers and
37:13 the he took care of all the wounds that
37:15 that sheep was glad to be found if that
37:17 coin could have spoken it would have
37:19 said but praise the Lord I'm
37:21 found man I want to be out in the
37:23 circulation I want to do some good in
37:24 this not going to lie here under the
37:28 phonograph you know I want to be found
37:31 and certainly that son was glad to be
37:35 found oh the joy of the
37:38 found I noticed thirdly the joy of the
37:41 friends every time they found them they
37:44 said come on and share with us you what
37:46 do you share with people I know what
37:50 some church members share complaints and
37:52 criticisms I don't want to be the kind
37:55 of a person that people find it easy to
37:58 spread gossip with now if you find that
38:00 you're attracting that kind of thing be
38:03 careful be careful what do you share
38:06 with others when they when the shepherd
38:08 found the Sheep he got he said come on
38:10 over and rejoice I found my sheep it's
38:13 only one ah but one is
38:15 important the girl the lady found her
38:17 coin Rejoice with me boy they had a
38:19 coffee clutch there and she'd baked some
38:25 rejoiced and of course when the sun came
38:26 home that's just made all the difference
38:29 in the world the father said hey let's
38:31 let's get the String Band out here and
38:34 get some books and some some music and
38:35 let's just
38:39 Rejoice the joy of the
38:41 friends do you share with others the joy
38:45 of uh sharing
38:47 Christ but there's a fourth Joy here I
38:49 know this says a joy up in heaven verse
38:51 7 and verse 10 there's joy in the
38:54 presence of the angels of God over one
38:56 sinner that repents there's joy in heaven
38:58 heaven
39:00 uh why would the Angels rejoice when a
39:02 sinner gets saved they've never
39:05 experienced God's grace oh the Angels
39:07 rejoice when a sinner gets saved because
39:10 they know what we were created
39:14 for when man fell the Angels knew how
39:17 great a fall that was and they rejoiced
39:20 to see that we're back where we ought to
39:23 be they know what we were saved from
39:26 Angels know what hell is like they've
39:29 not been there but some of their kind
39:32 have been condemned to that and so the
39:33 Angels Rejoice because they know what
39:36 we've been saved from and what we've
39:39 been created for and what we're saved to
39:42 they they see the face of God they share
39:45 in the the enjoyment of the glory of God
39:47 they hear the Praises the harmonies of
39:49 heaven and they know that we're going to
39:53 be there someday no wonder they
39:55 Rejoice I think another reason they
39:58 Rejoice is they see the joy of the Lord
40:02 Jesus Hebrews 12:2 says about Jesus who
40:05 for the joy that was set before him
40:08 endured the cross so every time we win
40:11 someone to Christ there's the joy of the
40:13 finder and there's the joy of the found
40:15 and there's the joy of the friends and
40:19 there's the joy of Heaven the angels and
40:21 the Lord Jesus rejoicing I may be wrong
40:23 but there's only one person in this
40:25 whole chapter who's not
40:28 happy that's the Elder brother he's the
40:30 only one that's not happy he's mad he's
40:33 angry he's standing there with with a
40:36 good Evangelical scowl on his
40:38 face and he doesn't want to go in he
40:40 wants to stay
40:42 outside see he he wasn't even looking
40:44 for his brother to come home he didn't
40:47 want him to come home I'm going to have
40:48 occasion during these evenings to talk a
40:50 little more about this fellow because he
40:53 has a tendency to show us ourselves he
40:55 knew everybody else's sin didn't know
40:58 his own the sad thing was he missed the
41:01 joy of the whole thing well it's a
41:02 terrible thing to be
41:05 lost it's a wonderful thing to be
41:08 found there's only one message of
41:10 Salvation Christ Jesus came into the
41:12 world to save sinners sinners not
41:15 righteous people Sinners you know why
41:17 Jesus didn't come to save righteous
41:20 people there weren't
41:24 any there two aspects to Salvation God
41:27 purchases it God plans it and God
41:29 presents it and God's spirit works in
41:32 your heart and I trust that somebody
41:35 will say I will arise and go there three
41:38 pictures of Salvation showing us what it
41:40 means to be
41:43 lost in danger out of safety out of
41:46 circulation out of usefulness away from
41:48 the joy of
41:51 home there are four wonderful Joys to
41:53 Salvation we're going to have a good
41:55 time I think wallowing around in this
41:58 chapter during these Sunday evenings but
42:00 right now I just want to ask you one
42:02 question are you rejoicing tonight
42:03 because you've been
42:07 found or are you lost CU if you're lost
42:09 you have no joy you have no joy now
42:12 you'll have no joy for all
42:14 eternity but if you're saved if you're
42:17 found if you're one of his
42:19 sheep if you've come home and said I
42:22 want to come to my father then you have
42:24 that joy down inside you can have that
42:27 joy that forgiveness Jesus came to say save
42:28 save
42:31 Sinners and he can save you let's
42:34 pray theor and make no
42:37 delay just respond to him and Lord help
42:40 us to be a part of the
42:43 finding as witnesses as pastors out of
42:46 tracks as prayer warriors whatever it is
42:49 we do help us to be a part of the
42:51 finding may we not be guilty of causing
42:54 someone to stray away and be
42:58 lost bless tonight we pray cause that
Chrome Extension