Joy in Heaven — Erlo Stegen

Shall we pray? We ask you, Lord Jesus, to be with us, to us through your word, touching our hearts, changing our lives. Amen. We find our text in Luke 15, from verse 1. Until verse 10. Then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him.

Jesus Receives Sinners and Teaches Through Parables

And the Pharisees and them complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. And the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him. And the Pharisees and them complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

And the Pharisees and them complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. So he spoke this parable to them, saying, Which one of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

And when he has found it, lays it upon him, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. And when he comes home, he invites all his friends and neighbors and says, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.

And when he comes home, he invites all his friends and neighbors and says, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. There is no joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repenting.

And what woman, having silver coins, and if she loses one, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost.

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents. Here the Lord relates a parable to the crowds. A parable about the lost sheep and the shepherd, and then a parable about the lost coin.

The Need for Grace in Understanding Christ's Parables

And we need grace to fathom these parables properly. Looking carefully at why the Lord Jesus should speak in this manner,. For not one word was in vain spoken by our Lord. For not one word was in vain spoken by our Lord.

For not one word was in vain spoken by our Lord. For not one word was in vain spoken by our Lord. For not one word was in vain spoken by our Lord. For not one word was in vain spoken by our Lord. Then the Lord relates this parable.

Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and loses one, does not forsake the ninety-nine to go seeking after the one lost one? The one lost one, that's all. Until he finds it. Nothing about a desert.

Oh, in the wilderness. In the wilderness. This is to do with something on earth, for in heaven there is no wilderness. So we need to pay careful attention to what the Lord Jesus is saying. The Lord is speaking about here because the Lord refers to the sheep being lost in the wilderness on earth.

And then, finding the sheep that he has sought, finding the sheep that he has sought,. Now it says Jesus was in a certain place. The text collectors, the scribes, Oh, Pharisees. The Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

The Corruption of the Tax Collectors and the Scandal of Jesus' Fellowship

When I read this matter, I was astonished at the joy and celebration there is in heaven over one sinner who repents. It is amazing. And it says there were tax collectors and sinners. And when the Pharisees and the scribes came, they saw Jesus sitting down with them and eating with them.

And with sinners. When asked, well, what type of person was a tax collector in that day? Well, the Pharisees and the scribes said, The tax collectors in Jesus' days would stand along the road and tax people who moved from one area to another and whatever property they had on them.

The government of the day was Rome. And the money went to the Roman government. And so the tax collectors were in that department taxing the people and then sending it on to Rome. And so they would tax a whole lot of money.

And when they got the amount, they would send it on to Rome. Nobody liked them. For when they taxed a person, They would, for instance, if the cost was two rand, they would charge the person or tax them four rand or five rand.

They were thieves. Charging more than the amount. But though the Roman government required a certain amount of money, And yes, the tax collectors would send it on to Rome, but they overcharged. They were scoundrels.

As you know that even now, there are such people in this world. And so you get those who charge money, but they charge more than is required. And they pass on what is meant for the government, but they pocket the rest.

So they were certainly not liked by the people, known as being corrupt and thieves. And the tax collectors were looked down upon, regarded as unrighteous and unfaithful with money. And so Jesus was sitting with them, for they wanted to hear Jesus.

He also ate with them. And so Jesus was sitting with them, for they wanted to hear Jesus. And so Jesus was sitting with them, for they wanted to hear Jesus. We have to be very discerning and careful in interpreting this, lest we say, Well, Jesus loves a person who is corrupt.

He loves a person who is unfaithful, like a mechanic or a person at the garage attendant who overcharges. Or a mechanic who overcharges. Should be a hundred, he charges two hundred. And the community disliked such people.

And the sinners would have included those who divorce, who are adulterous, drunkards. Blasphemers of God. Evil people. They were all categorized under this one name of being sinners, together with the tax collectors, all put into the same pot.

Infamous for their wickedness and corruption, those who are bloodsuckers. If it speaks about tax collectors and sinners, it refers here to major sinners. Fraudsters, addicts, people who live like dogs.

Those were the ones who came to Jesus with huge sins. They sought out the Lord. So these people looked for the Lord Jesus because they wanted help, they wanted the way of salvation. The way of salvation.

The Repentant Sinner Comes to the Light

I remember when some were brought here to the mission, who were in deep sin. Those who lived among the graves, those who were addicts, those who lived in all manner of filth. And then there were those who said, what?

Such people, this place is going to be defiled. Actually, a person who is in the darkness doesn't want to come to the light. For they know that should their sins come to light, they will be punished. They will experience the hardships of the consequences of their sin.

Remember? Remember the tax collector who came into church and standing there beating his chest he said, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And the Pharisee was standing there saying, Oh God, I thank you that I'm not like that person.

But the tax collector recognized he had a sense of and a conviction of his sinfulness before God. But other tax collectors and great sinners did not recognize their sin and their evil. And so these self-righteous people said, we don't want to be associated with these evil tax collectors and sinners.

We want nothing to do with them. And when the tax collectors came, when the Pharisees and the scribes came and they saw Jesus sitting with these people, they complained criticizing him and saying, Why does he eat with such people?

Actually, no one is without sin and evil. Jesus said, even if you're angry with your brother, you have murdered him. But now you don't recognize your own evil, but another one who does the same thing, you have a sharp eye and you criticize him.

Jesus said, he who looks lustfully after a woman has already committed adultery with her. And so the people who were sitting with Jesus, eating with him, there was a reason for them coming to him. They wanted to hear him.

He who is the light, they wanted to come to the light. For they had a sense of their wickedness. They felt their evil and that they were bad people. They came to the Lord Jesus like that woman who came to the Lord cleaning his feet with her tears and wiping with her hair.

Who was tired of her sins. Exhausted by her evil, having carried a heavy load. And had a sense of conviction and of remorse, a heavenly remorse about her evil. Simon who had actually been the one who invited Jesus to come and eat with him.

He thought to himself and said to himself, what is this man supposed to be a prophet? Surely he should have realized that this is an evil woman. She is sexually immoral. She runs around with the opposite sex.

Self-Righteousness and the Danger of Judging Others

And so too, with these so-called righteous men who came to Jesus, They had no sense of their own sin for they hid their sins. There is a remorse that is a godly remorse. I don't know whether you have had that type of remorse, that godly remorse over your own sins.

And you draw near to Jesus because you know he can help you. Even though you have your own sins that you have hidden. But you see such people coming to Jesus and you look down on them. And you get those who think and see themselves as being superior and better.

Jesus answered them, if there is one who has a flock of a hundred sheep and loses one. Will he not leave those ninety-nine to go and seek out that lost sheep in the desert? Like the prodigal son. You see it's spoken here about sheep.

These are not outside things. You see, it can be. It can be that the true flock of the Lord Jesus, his sheep who belong to him. That after some time they begin to sin. That is why we should be careful to examine ourselves often to see whether we are still on track.

Or lest there should be something between us and him. Something which God is against us for. We might be in the position of the one who says in Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd and he leads me to green pastures.

But the problem is, you might then leave those green pastures and head for the wilderness. Remember King David who was himself in those green pastures. But then Satan deceiving him, he went into evil, into that wilderness.

He had been in those green pastures too. And God found him there and commissioned him and said, now Jonah go to Nineveh to preach to them. But Jonah, not listening, went into a ship going in the other direction.

He almost died in it. Remember Peter who had been close to the presence of the Lord and then he still denied the Lord but he had such remorse he cried and wept. And he went into a ship going in the other direction.

And he went into a ship going in the other direction. And he went into a ship going in the other direction. And he went into a ship going in the other direction. And he went into a ship going in the other direction.

And he went into a ship going in the other direction. And then we develop an attitude like the older brother of the prodigal son, who when he came back criticized, he actually found fault with God saying, he has fallen so low, how can we be like them, those who criticize the Lord because such sinners, and they held it against these sinners who came to the Lord, not seeing the log in their own eyes.

But these came to Jesus wanting to hear him, coming to his light. They sought help, they wanted to be rescued from the things that were troubling them. But now let me pass on to the second parable, says there was a woman, a woman who had a silver coin.

The Lost Coin and the Church of Christ

And so on that money you would have found the imprint of the king or queen. One could say that there is the imprint, imprint of the Lord Jesus stamped upon her, which she then lost. No wonder the Lord Jesus should warn us to watch and pray lest we should lose what we have.

She lost her silver coin. A piteous thing though, if a child of God loses that which he had. We might say, well who was this woman? She represents the church of the saints, the church of Christ. Often through the Bible and also right through to revelations, the church of Christ is illustrated with a woman.

And the church of Christ illustrated as the bride. So often in the Bible we find that a woman is the illustration of the church of God. It is you then, you who are a member of the church of Christ, be very careful that you should lose and turn aside and leave the church, going your way, losing that silver piece which has that imprint of Jesus.

Many there are that forsake the church of Christ, the genuine church of Christ. But have a look at where they end, at where you will end. Why would a person leave the church of the saints? Is it that you seek the things of this world?

What can you get out of this world? There is no joy, there is no real happiness, there is no reward. You just receive sorrow. Leave the church of Christ, you end up like the prodigal son in the pigsty eating its.

If you leave the church of Christ, what happens to you when you die? Just behold what terrible, painful death it is of the one who has turned aside, leaving the church of the saints, which is the church of Christ, and goes into the world.

What is he looking for in the world? Can the world save him? And now that you follow Satan, can he provide you forgiveness of sins? Can he rescue you, redeem you out of evil? Can he save you, Satan? Remember when you first came to the Lord, what joy you had, that joy of salvation.

But what happens to you now if you turn aside and follow the devil? Remember the sweet fellowship of the saints when you could share with other children of God, and it was so wonderful. Now that you've gone into the world, what can the world offer you?

Seeking What Was Lost and the Joy of Restoration

It is foolishness to forsake the church of Christ, to leave the saints and go into the world, for you will finally have to say, oh, I was foolish, I got lost. This woman lost her silver coin. She was so anxious about it, she swept in every direction.

She looked behind cupboards, under beds, seeking that which she had lost. But fortunately, at the end, she found that which she had lost. Then she turned, went to her friends and said, come, rejoice with me over the coin, over that which was lost, and I have found it.

If you backslide, you go and you drift so far, you might seek after it, you might not find the way back again. You might seek that first joy, the fellowship of the saints, where you had sweet fellowship together.

I know a person who told me face to face that the time that was the most wonderful time was when he was still together with the saints. Do not part from that heavenly woman, losing that glory, that joy, losing that happiness, that joy.

When the Pharisees came, seeing Jesus sitting with sinners, they were very critical of him. And yet Jesus came for that very thing, to find what was lost. For they had come to hear his words. These sinners had come to hear that and to find that which they had lost.

Examining Whether We Have Lost Our First Love

What is heartbreaking, though, is this, that there are hypocrites, Pharisees, who make as if nothing has gone wrong. They pretend that there is no problem at all with them. They act very righteously. They say, well, do not we still go to church?

Do not we still tithe? Are not we still happy at times? We sing choruses, but still they have lost something. Let each child of God here diligently seek out whether they have maybe lost something. That first love, whether it is still there.

The joy you had when you could read the Bible, when you could witness, but it is gone. But today, you see yourself as just fine. And you say, I am not like that person. And you can see this. You accuse another person of being a thief, but do not realize that before God he calls you a thief.

You see another person as a murderer, yet you too are a murderer. Let each one examine himself today, am I bringing joy to the heavenly hosts? I read my Bible this morning. I took the Zulu one. And I read with great joy as I read about the one who had been lost, and then who had been found.

And I said, oh, so there is such joy over him. May it be that if there is one in the Church of Christ that has fallen into this condition, where they are lost, that we would pray for such a person. Seek him out to find him and her.

Reaching Out to Those Who Have Left the Church

Is David Kidd here? There you are, just stand up so that they see who David Kidd is. That is David Kidd. Who is David Kidd? We spoke these days with him. And he shared with me the burden of all those that have left the Church.

He said to me, what can we do to reach out, to reach to those people, to win them? Look at the joy we have over him. He was lost for such a long time. But how we rejoiced when he was found. And greater joy still in heaven over those that are lost.

I said in the beginning, we've got to understand this correctly. If you carry on with your sin, and you blind to it, and you carry on sinning, there is no joy, not in this world and in the world to come.

I'm talking about godly sorrow and remorse because of your failure. Not that you say, oh, I'm okay, I'm all right. I would say, not that you say, oh, I'm fine, I'm getting along okay. That person is the problem.

But in heaven's eyes, you are the trouble. And so, I would be glad if these few words would bring about much joy in heaven over you. Bringing joy even here on earth, for remember in these parables, the person went to their friends and they rejoiced.

And in heaven, there was joy. Woe to us if we have relatives, children who are lost, yet we don't see it. Heaven sees it, but we don't. Let us pray for ourselves that the Lord would help us so that there would be much joy in heaven.

Prayer for Spiritual Sight, Repentance, and Joy in Heaven

Let us bow our heads and pray. Be merciful to us, Lord, so that we would have eyes to see and ears to hear that which you are saying. So that we would bring about much joy on this earth and in heaven.

And not be like the Pharisees and Sadducees and them who saw themselves as being righteous, and yet they were the sons of perdition. Amen.