Book of Luke - Ch. 15, Vs. 1-10 (08/23/2020)

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the tax collectors, but it's not going to include the Pharisees. All the people that heard him, as well as the publicans, justified

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God having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the

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Pharisees and lawyers, those that did not have ears to hear, they rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized of him.

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Now I'm going to skip down a little bit to verse 32, talking about the people of the day.

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They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling one to another and saying, we have piped unto you and you have not danced.

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We have mourned to you and you have not wept. For John the Baptist came, neither eating bread nor drinking wine.

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And ye say, he hath a devil. The Son of Man is come, eating and drinking.

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And ye say, behold, a gluttonous man, a wine -bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.

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But wisdom is justified of all her children. You see, what's happening is, it doesn't matter what kind of persona

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Jesus presented to the people when he came to them. Those that had ears to hear heard him and those that didn't, didn't.

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The same with John the Baptist. Those that had ears to hear heard him. Those that didn't, didn't.

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John came as an austere man with strict rules. Jesus came, they called him a glutton and a friend of sinners.

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So now Jesus is going to respond to their murmuring by teaching. He's still teaching parables so that only those that had ears to hear will hear and understand.

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Or they'll hear the sound, but they won't understand what is said. And what are they going to understand?

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That some who are considered hopeless and sinners will be in the kingdom of God.

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And now we arrive at perhaps three of the best known of Jesus's parables.

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The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. Chuck Missler tells us this.

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All three parables teach the same message. That God is vitally concerned with the repentance of sinners.

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But the third story, that of the prodigal son, goes beyond the others, applying truth to the situation in which

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Jesus found himself. That of being accepted by the outcasts of society while being rejected by the religious leaders.

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And that will leave us with this question for next Sunday, because we're not going to do the final parable.

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Which son is the prodigal son? Now we're going to, if we have time at the end, read through the prodigal son story, but not talk about it.

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But for right now, just ponder as we go through, which son in the prodigal son parable is the prodigal son?

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So this morning we'll look at the first two of these three parables. The lost sheep and the lost coin.

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John MacArthur said this. The first two parables both picture God as taking the initiative in seeking sinners.

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Now that's unusual. The rabbis taught that God would receive sinners who sought

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His forgiveness earnestly enough. That is to say, if you're really stringent, diligent in your seeking for God, God might receive you.

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But here the parable is God is the one doing the looking. It's God that's looking for the sinner, not the sinner for God.

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Now I might add the third parable. MacArthur didn't add this, but the third parable also shows

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God as taking the initiative in seeking out that which is lost.

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Luke chapter 19. You do not need to go here. Luke chapter 19 verse 10 says,

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For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. That's His purpose for being here.

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Now a shepherd in the Middle East was responsible for every sheep. He was obligated to his master to see that none was lost, killed, or injured.

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So in this parable, the shepherd leaves the flock and searches hoping to find either a live sheep or at least the body of a dead sheep in order that he not be deemed accountable for the loss.

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If he could prove that some wild animal took it, then he's not responsible for it. So he needs to find it.

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Verse 3. So this is what Jesus says to the audience. And remember, the audience contains

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Pharisees, and scribes, and publicans, and tax collectors, and sinners, and all kinds of people.

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And He spake this parable unto them, saying, What men of you, having a hundred sheep, if you lose one, if you lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost?

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Now in this particular parable, in this story, the shepherd finds the sheep alive and carries it back to the flock and celebrates his and the sheep's good fortune.

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Verse 5. 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,

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Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. Okay. That's the parable.

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Now what's the parable modeling? Unfortunately for us, this is not one of the parables that Jesus chose to explain to us.

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So He left it for us with help from the

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Holy Spirit to read and to study until the Holy Spirit sees fit to reveal something to us.

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To reveal to us what message He has for us today. And you guys all know, you read something and you pray for the

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Holy Spirit to reveal something to you. He reveals something. Six weeks later, you read the same passage.

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You ask the Holy Spirit to reveal something to you. And you know what? He reveals something different to you, unless you fail to learn it the first time.

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And then He'll reveal it to you again and say, What did you do with what I gave you last time? So my thoughts about this parable.

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But remember, these are my thoughts, and they need to be tempered with Acts 17 and 11, where we're told to receive the

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Word with readiness of mind and search the Scriptures daily, whether those things are so.

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The man that owned the sheep. Who do you think it is?

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Anybody have an idea who the man that owned the sheep is? Well, the master. But who is the master?

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Who is the master that owns the sheep modeling for in this parable?

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Let me tell you what my answer is, and then you'll know all the other answers I want. God the Father. God the

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Father owns the sheep. All right. The man searching for the sheep.

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Who would that be? And who is the shepherd searching for the sheep that's lost?

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Jesus. Jesus is the shepherd searching for the sheep. The lost sheep.

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Who is the lost sheep modeling? Us. One of the elect that is lost, but will be found.

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You know why He'll be found? Because Jesus is looking for Him, and Jesus will find

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Him. I'm pretty sure of those three. Now there's two other things that I want to mention.

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The 99 sheep. I am in a minority here, but what

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I think the 99 sheep represent is the non -elect.

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Those who will never be found. Most people think those are other saved people, and in fact

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I had somebody on a Facebook make a comment about this particular verse and says, if you are worried about one particular person, one particular kind of people without worrying about everybody else, you're going the wrong way.

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All 99 are important. Well all 99 are important, but all 99 will not necessarily be saved.

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At least that's my opinion. But the 99 I think might be the non -elect who will never be found.

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I'll give you my reason for that in just a second. The friends and neighbors, who are they modeling? There's a passage in the actual passage that says, friends and neighbors saying unto them, rejoice with me.

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Maybe the friends and neighbors, at least the friends, might be the elect who have already been found.

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Not the 99 sheep, but the elect that have already been found.

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Most commentators, however, that I've read, refer to the joy in heaven over the sinner who repents as the joy of God and his angels.

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For example, John MacArthur says this, a reference to the joy of God himself.

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There was complaining on earth among the Pharisees, but there was great joy with God among the angels.

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So I did a word study. I studied the word friend, and I found friend listed 109 times in the

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King James Version. Many times where Jesus referred to a man or to a group of men as a friend, but not once did

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I find Jesus referring to an angel as a friend. Here is one passage where I found

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Jesus calling a group of men his friends. John 15, 14.

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If you want to, go ahead and turn there. John 15, 14. While you're turning, ye are my friends, if you do whatsoever

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I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his

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Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things I have heard of my

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Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go forth and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you should ask of the

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Father in my name he may give you. So there is a message where he refers to a man as a friend.

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So maybe there's the message in this passage is that there's joy in two places.

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There's joy on earth among the friends of Jesus, the ones that are already saved, and there's joy in heaven of God and the angels.

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That's just my take on it, and I may be wrong. Anybody have a comment that they'd want to make? Yes. Well, there's going to be some commentators that are talking about that in a few minutes that they see themselves as sheep.

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I don't know, and I may be wrong. You very well may be right.

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That's one of the things that I need to hash out better for myself. I can live with the fact that he's talking about sheep and not goats.

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Well, I've got a question to ask you. How many people need no repentance?

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All of us do. So I don't think it was translated quite right.

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I think that may need to have been translated, who think they need no repentance. That was what was going through my mind when

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I read that verse, and that's what took me off on that other trail of them not being sheep.

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They are people who thought they needed no repentance.

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They're people who believe on the power of God, but they think they are the source by which they get to God, not

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God the source by which he brings them to him. It is kind of what is on my mind, and Marianne, you may be totally, totally right.

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They may be lost. They may be already found sheep. Okay. Chuck Missler said this.

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Jesus was... Oh, you read that, but I didn't. I don't need to read it again. Jesus was not saying the other 99 sheep were not important.

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Instead, he was emphasizing that the one sheep not in the fold corresponded with the sinners with whom

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God was eating. The 99 righteous people, he said, referred to the

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Pharisees who thought themselves righteous and thought themselves in no need of repentance.

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That's how he took that. And then my question was, and I already asked it, are those 99 people really just?

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That is to say, are they really in no need of repentance? He is talking to the 99, and he's talking to the one.

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He's talking to all 100 of them, and he's talking to everybody else there, just using the 99 and the one in the parable, and I'll get to that in a minute.

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The word just persons is diakos, and it's translated in the

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King James Version 41 times as righteous and 33 times as just.

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So in this phrase up above where it says just persons, it's talking about righteous persons.

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It's the same word. Paul tells us in Romans 3 verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous.

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Now remember, it's the same word that we just used. There's none just.

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No, not one. There is not a righteous person anywhere in the world. There's not a person that does not need repentance.

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There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh God. They are all gone out of the way.

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They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.

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No, not one. So no, I don't believe there are 99 just men in a set of a hundred men.

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I don't even think there's one just man in a set of a hundred men. This is not a parable.

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As for this parable, not one sheep did anything to deserve being searched for.

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And of the men that these sheep modeled, not one of them deserved to be saved.

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No. The point of this parable is not that anyone deserves to be saved, but rather a gracious Lord seeks out and saves some anyhow, even though there are none who deserve it.

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Any other comments or questions?

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Luke is a little more subtle. Turn over in Luke to chapter 18 verse 9.

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Chapter 18 verse 9. And we're going to talk about in this parable someone who sees themselves as righteous.

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Luke 18 verse 9. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves.

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So who is their trust in? Their trust is in themselves that they were righteous and they despised others.

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Two men went up to the temple to pray. The one a Pharisee and the other a

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Republican. You can't find two totally different kind of people. The Pharisee who was convinced that he was righteous and the

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Republican who knew that he was a sinner. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.

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Now I stopped there because I want to reread it. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.

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Who's he praying to? He's praying to himself. Why is he praying to himself?

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Because he thinks himself is in charge. He thinks he is in charge. I would have been happier with him if he had said, the

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Pharisee stood and prayed to the Lord. But he prayed thus with himself.

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And here's what he prays. God, I thank thee that I am not like other men are.

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Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and he couldn't pass up criticizing the other man in the room or even as this

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Republican tax collector. So now he's going to get ready to list a couple of things that he has done that makes him view himself as just.

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Things that are virtuous, at least in his eyes. Evidence that he is just and in no need of repentance.

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But Jesus sees him with an entirely different set of eyes. The eyes that Jesus sees him with are the same eyes that Paul describes when he talks about, it is written, there is none righteous, no not one.

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So when Jesus looks at him, he doesn't see a righteous man. He sees a man in need of repentance. When he's going to look later at the

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Republican, he's going to see a not a just man, not a righteous man, but a man that needs repentance. He will see both of them the same way because every man needs repentance.

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Now here's why the Pharisee sees himself as righteous. I fast twice a week.

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Now it's pretty hard to fast twice a week unless it's a really short fast. If it's a two -day fast, you can't do it because you run into the next week.

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So he can't fast longer than a week, and he's got to space it out just right so that he doesn't dovetail into the next week.

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I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I possess. So those are the two reasons why he should be seen by at least himself as just.

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I see myself as just because I fast twice a week, and I tithe on everything I have. Oh, I'm a hypocrite.

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I have no patience with my fellow man. I see my fellow man as evil, but that's okay.

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That's not one of the things that I have to do to be righteous. I don't have to love one another to be righteous.

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Now the publican, the tax collector, standing afar off would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying,

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God be merciful to me a sinner. So how does

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Jesus see those two men? He tells us,

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I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

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The tax collector was justified, but not the Pharisee. For everyone that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted.

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That was the parable of the lost sheep. Now for the next parable, the parable of the lost coin.

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I'm not going to begin by reading that. I'm going to begin by reading a comment made by Matthew Henry.

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And I put this in for one purpose, but actually used it for another. The loser, the one that lost the coin.

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I'm reading now Matthew Henry, so don't hold this against me. The loser here is supposed to be a woman who will more passionately grieve for her loss and rejoice in finding what she had lost than perhaps a man would do.

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And therefore, the better serves the purpose of this parable. Now I'm not sure

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I agree with him on this. I'm not sure that just because you're a woman, you grieve the loss of material property any more than a man grieves the loss of his personal property.

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But that's what Matthew Henry said. She has 10 pieces of silver and out of them, she loses only one.

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Let's keep this in mind. Let's keep this high. Let us in...

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I'm so sorry. Let this keep up in us high thoughts of the divine goodness, notwithstanding the sinfulness and misery of the world of mankind, that there are nine to one.

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Nine to one. Nine coins she didn't lose for every one that she did. Nay, 99 to one in God's creation that retain integrity in whom

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God is praised and never dishonored. Now I've already admitted that that's not what

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I believe. Rather, I believe the 99 to one represent the non -elect to the elect.

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And I may be wrong on this, but I do know this. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 verse 13.

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Go ahead and go there. Matthew 7 verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.

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And many there be which go in thereat. That, I believe, is modeled by the 99.

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But straight is the way, straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life.

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And few there be that find it. That's modeled after the one, or that models the one.

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And then he goes on to say, O numberless beings, for aught we know numberless worlds of being that were never lost nor stepped aside from the laws and ends of their creation.

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Now I would like to ask you a question and refer it back to Matthew Henry. Do you think there are numberless beings in this world only that never stepped aside from the laws and from the ends of the creation?

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Do you think there is numberless people that did not sin? Okay. Back to Luke.

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Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she loses one piece, doth not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?

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Chuck Misler said this. This is the same message as the first. This is the same message as the lost coin message.

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Something's been lost and someone's looking for it. But what it does here, it emphasizes the thoroughness of the search.

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The woman continued to sweep the house and search carefully until she found the coin, which was a thing of great value.

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Now Chuck Misler, Matthew Henry, and John MacArthur all say the purpose of this parable is to emphasize the thoroughness of the search.

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This parable is put in here, they all three say, so that you will know how diligently the seeker seeks for what's lost.

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The shepherd sought for it until he found it. The woman sought for it until she found it.

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And in the next parable, the father will wait, watch for the son until he finds them.

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The seeking never stops until success happens.

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Matthew Henry explains that portion this way. Here is a great deal of care and pains taken in quest of it, in quest of the coin.

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The woman lights the candle to look behind every door, under every table, and in every corner of the house.

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She sweeps the house and seeks diligently until she finds it. This represents the various means and methods

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God makes use of to bring lost souls home to Himself. He has lighted the candle of the gospel, not to show

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Himself the way to us, but to show us the way to Him. To discover ourselves, to discover us to ourselves,

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He has swept the house by the conviction of the Word. He seeks diligently, His heart is upon it, to bring lost souls to Himself.

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John MacArthur simply says this. This illustrates the thoroughness of this search.

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Now I have no doubt that this diligent search is one purpose that Jesus had in relating this parable, and it might have been the most important one.

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But I considered this as I was going through, and this is the first time that this particular thought has hit me.

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For Jesus, like the shepherd and like the woman, is diligently searching for something that was lost.

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So we have the parable in the parable, something searching for something that was lost. Jesus, which is modeled by this parable, is searching for something that was lost.

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Something that can do nothing to assist in being found. No more than the sheep did in the first parable, nor the coin did in this one.

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So neither the sheep nor the coin helped the seeker in finding the coin.

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And I think this is the real message, the real purpose to this parable. But I may be wrong. Now I can imagine some instances where there was something the sheep might do to call its attention to itself so that the shepherd might find it easier.

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It might bleat. It might scramble down a hill. It may make itself visible to him.

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But Jesus takes all that away by including the second parable, the parable of the coin.

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There's nothing the coin can do. The coin has no ability to do anything that will help in its being found.

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And for us, if anything, we certainly can do less than the sheep to help make ourselves be found.

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But I believe we can even do less than the coin. We can't do as much as the coin can do.

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The coin can sit there in glitter and do nothing else and hope that the woman finds it.

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We can do nothing. So I think this is a parable that links to what it is that Jesus does when

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He searches for those who are lost. And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying,

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Rejoice with me, for I found the peace which was lost. Likewise I say unto you,

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There is joy in the presence of the angels of heaven over one sinner that repenteth.

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Now Chuck Missler adds this. Jesus shocked His audience. God actually searches for lost sinners.

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It's no wonder the Pharisees and the scribes were offended. There was no place in their legalistic theology for a

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God like that. For a God that did not depend upon the person that was lost doing something to bring himself back to the fold.

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They had forgotten that God had sought out Adam and Eve when they had sinned.

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When they sinned, what did they attempt to do? Did they attempt to come back?

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They attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves, but did they attempt to come back? Well, let's read and see.

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Genesis 3 verse 6. Genesis 3 verse 6.

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And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

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And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

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And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. So they tried to hide their sin.

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And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

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And they ran up to greet Him like they always had done. Is that what it says? And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God.

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What did they do to allow the Lord to find them? What did they do to allow the

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Lord to find them? They did nothing to allow the Lord to find it. They did all they could do to make it harder for Him to find.

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But this is the Lord looking for them. And they hid themselves from the presence of the

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Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him,

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Where art thou? He didn't say that because he didn't know where they were. He said it because he didn't know where they were.

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He knew they were there to hear Him. And Adam said, And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.

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Now the question, were they looking for God, or was God looking for them? That was the very first model the rabbis had of God seeking out man to save him, to give him a pathway back to fellowship.

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But they thought it was up to them to look for God. Had they been in charge,

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Adam and Eve would have been wandering around through the garden calling for God to come and help them. Maybe that's what they should have done, but that's not what they did do.

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Maybe that's what a sinner should do, but that's not what a sinner does do. A sinner, while he's still a sinner, will hide from God.

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Now there'll come a point when if this is really a lost sheep, that he will quit running from God, and he will begin calling for God, but at that time

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God has already found him. Otherwise he'd still be dead in his sin. Missler continues,

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God was like a father who pitted his wayward children. His children made mistakes, and he was like a father that pitted his wayward children.

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There's a Psalms that I'd like to read part of. Psalm 103 verse 8.

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The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will

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He keep His anger forever, and that's for us is so good. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

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For as heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear

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Him. As far as east is from the west, so far have He removed our transgressions from us, like as a father pitieth his children, so the

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Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame,

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He remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass, and as flowers of the field he flourisheth.

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For a wind passes over it, and it's gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.

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But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting, to everlasting, upon them that fear

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Him, to such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember

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His commandments to do them. Now that's where I would have paused and ask this question again after reading the

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Prodigal Son. I'm gonna leave you to read the Prodigal Son, but keep in mind as you read this, I'm gonna ask you a question.

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Who was the prodigal? I'm not even going to say the Son. I'm not even going to say Prodigal Son. I'm just going to say in this parable that is upcoming, who is the prodigal?

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Or are there more than one prodigal? Any questions or comments?

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And we don't have time for me to read the parable, so I won't read it this morning. Yes? When I did some research a long time ago on the topic of divorce,

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I noticed that a lot of the teachings were from Jesus while he was speaking in situations like this, where if you read in the context carefully, you will see he's speaking to Jews.

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If you go up three or four verses above where you started, it talks about if your eyes, if you sin with your eye, you should just pluck your eye out.

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That's not grace. That's not gospel. He's talking to Jews who think they don't need Jesus.

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They think they're righteous without him, and he said, okay, you want to live by that. If you've looked at anything you shouldn't have looked at, you need to pluck your eye out.

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So that's, he's showing them the need for a Savior. And you go right down and you find this passage.

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So I'm thinking the 99 is probably Jewish people who, like you said, they think they're sheep.

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You know, you mentioned a minute ago, you feel like they may think they're sheep. Doesn't mean they're saved. I think there are references in the

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Bible of Jews being God's sheep, too, before Christ came. So I think they can be people who think they're his sheep, but that, but specifically

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Jewish people, and the one who strayed represents the

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Gentiles who never followed the law. They never followed, seemingly the

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Jew doesn't think the Gentile can even be saved, and Jesus is saying, I'm going to save some of them, too. In fact, when

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I go find them, I'm going to rejoice more than over you guys who have had the oracles of God for hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years, and you don't live right.

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You know, maybe. And I found one commentator that agrees with that, Gil, I think his first name's

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John, but he wrote an exposition on the whole Bible, but that's what he thinks. He thinks the 99 represent

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Jewish sheep. They're not all saved, but they think they're sheep because they're going to church, like we do.

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Not church, but synagogue, like we do. And the one is kind of more to do with right up above there where it's talking about little children, and he said, don't keep the little children from me.

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That is a picture of the same thing as that lost sheep. It's the little, it's the people of Israel who are not the

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Pharisees with all the power. They're the little people, just the everyday people. Don't keep them from me, and when

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I find one of them that comes to me, I'm going to cherish that more than your whole system of religion. I think that's pretty reasonable.

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I think it does, and it makes me feel better about putting the 99 lost sheep into the category of not being actually sheep, but only thinking they were sheep.

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Right, and when you get into material where Jesus is speaking in a more new, more church -age way, which he does a whole lot, but Paul is who does all that through the

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Holy Spirit, but when you start getting it into church age, the sheep does mean saved people, and the goats mean lost people, and Jesus would cross into that type of preaching from, he would allude to the kingdom of heaven and the church age, and when he did, then sheep mean saved people, and goats mean lost people.

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So you can only know by the context, and in that context, he is talking to a bunch of Jews who don't think

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God would save a Gentile. Well, to me, it was real clear that the parable was aimed to two groups of people, the

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Pharisees who were rejecting him, and the smaller group who were accepting him, the average people, maybe

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Jews, maybe Gentiles, all the ones that received him, because he sought them and found them.

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That's right. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for all our many blessings.

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Protect us, and keep us, and go through the services today. With Jesus' name, we pray.