The Recovery of the Lost Sheep

This parable in which we were looking at speaks about repentance and the joy of heaven the joy of heaven now I have spoken and I've preached this message before it's been a very very busy week and and I was wrestling with the Lord in prayer and I It was I could not quite wrap get everything together in first Peter okay in chapter 4 So to do justice I said Lord help me.

To go in the direction that you would have us as redeeming grace Church to focus on and I prayed about this thought about well To talk about Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving. What is Thanksgiving mean?

Thanks living as brother Keaton said it's a it's a everyday Thing from our hearts to give thanks unto God, right? I thought about that. I thought well, maybe I could speak about Thanksgiving and it seemed like in prayer the Lord didn't.

I Didn't want to go in that direction. So I I kept thinking okay and praying Lord what what do we need to hear? What do we really need to hear? What is your heart? And I thought if you look in the scriptures the heart of God is the souls of people.

It's not just having knowledge about God it's knowing God intimately and knowing God personally, but it's also Reaching the world and desiring them to be to know God. That they may know God because people are perishing by the millions and I'm thinking I need this.

I need to be reminded that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. This is his heart. This is why he came. It's all about him, right it's all about the glory of God. God's gonna be glorified regardless At the end day the judgment after the judgment of the unbelievers and the believers and after it's all said and done.

Every the Bible says every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So every knee is going to bow. Some is going to be bowing that's going to perish forever in eternal torment Against the wrath of God then some school then the saints of heaven is going to bow.

Everybody's going to bow. Well as you well know.

We.

Can't cause people to bow. We can't cause to bring a person into the kingdom of God, but God can. That's the miracle of the new birth. That's why scripture says it is impossible. It's really impossible for anyone to get into the kingdom by themselves.

They can't you and I can't get into the kingdom by ourselves. How can we come into the kingdom the spirit of the Living God must do the work of regeneration a new birth must take place a New heart must be Transformed within us and we must be transformed on the inside out.

Not the other way around in which so many people think so somehow I got to be good and I got to earn my way To heaven I got to do these good works. I got to go to church more. I spoke to someone here not long ago.

He was sitting on the side of the road and I had the opportunity to witness to him and I asked him some questions. And I said, hi. How would how would you in your viewpoint come to know God? He said go to church more.

I said, oh my friend. That's way out there. I said church is essential. I said, but that's after you come into the kingdom. I Said you got you must come into the kingdom by focusing on one person Jesus Christ.

I said I Said I'm a pastor of a church, but first and foremost, I'm a Christian and I'm not going to point you to my church I'm going to point you to Jesus Christ. I Said people was in church going to hell that knows about God and don't know God.

I said friend you need to know who you are and who God is. So in saying that this is what this parable is really about. It's the recovery of the lost sheep. It's about the repentance and the joy of heaven.

It's it's about what joy of the joy of God You don't hear that often spoke of do you? How about God's joy? How about what what is God delight in? What is the joy of God what does he delight in. So in saying that we're going to look at this wonderful parable go with me, please to this I I personally believe one of the greatest parables Found in the Word of God in the New Testament in the gospel of Luke Luke's gospel chapter 15 chapter 15.

Great chapter. We're going to begin with a section.

Beginning at verse 1 which runs to verse 7. I'm just going to look at that one section. But there's really three parables in one here. We're going to look at the first parable. There's a cluster of parables.

It's a trinity of parables. There's three but it's all in one. So Luke 15 beginning at verse 1. To verse 7. Hear the word of the Living God. Then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him and the Pharisees and the scribes complained.

Saying this man received sinners and eats with them in verse 3. So he spoke this parable to them saying What man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them? Does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders Rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them Rejoice with me. For I have found my sheep which was lost and I say to you likewise There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner one sinner.

Who repents.

Then over 99 just persons who need no repentance. Praise God. Let's all pray and let's seek our Lord once again in this time as we hear his word. Our Father in heaven you are the one true living God. You're not the God of the dead.

You're the God of the living. You're the God and father of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. But most of all you the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ The God of the scripture. Oh Lord, we thank you. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd of the sheep.

The Good Shepherd of the sheep who through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ who came to seek and save the lost the lost sinner. That's your heart. That's your heart Lord. And we desire to have your heart and Lord we pray that your spirit Would just burn this word within our hearts today Lord.

I I have no desire to focus on any style of preaching here this morning Lord. I just my desire this morning is is is your servant Lord is to convey your message to your people and To feed the flock of God.

So father help me as I speak and help each and every one of us to to hear what you have to say to the.

Church and.

Father for this one purpose Jesus came into the world.

To.

Seek and save the lost.

So Lord.

I pray within this hour will give us ears to hear in the heart to understand and may we be able to comprehend by your spirit With all the Saints as scripture says the width and the length and the depth and the height.

And to know the love of Christ to know the love of Christ Which passes all knowledge that we may be filled that we may be filled.

Lord fill us.

With all the fullness that you have for us and we ask this For your glory in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. And amen. This is a great truth that's presented before us in this wonderful parable.

The great truth that is really the theme of this entire chapter and 15 is the revelation this one revelation of heaven that heaven rejoices Over the recovery of the lost. That God desires to seek and save the lost and recover them.

That's the theme of Luke 15. You could see this in verse 7. Notice what it says. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents Than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

Then you jump to verse 10. Likewise I say to you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Again heaven rejoices. God rejoices. And then you look at verse 32. It was right that we should Make Mary and be glad for your brother was dead and as alive again and was lost.

And is now found. There you have the whole focal point of what this chapter is really about the characteristics of joy that God rejoices. The angels rejoice. Heaven rejoices over one that repents. One sinner that repents.

The characters didn't change. As a shepherd who finds and recovers a lost sheep. Then there's a woman who finds a lost coin and recovers it. Then you see a loving father That recovers or restores a lost son the lost sheep the lost coin and The lost son.

And actually in the parable of the lost son, there's really two lost sons. One's lost on the inside Of the house and then one's lost on the outside. So really that's about two sons. But the theme doesn't change and the main point is it is always the same.

What is that? The joy of heaven over lost sinners who repent. On her found honor restored. Now this is the heart of God. This is God's heart. See age. Spurgeon and other writers remind us that The three persons of the Blessed Trinity are linked together in the recovery of the lost.

Let us not forget this. The father is part of it the sons part of it and The Holy Spirit the triune God. They give us this observation and I quote Spurgeon here the first picture he says we have Christ as the Good Shepherd laying down his life to save the lost sheep and The second picture the woman sweeping the house for her lost coin is an illustration of the Holy Spirit working through his church the saved to save others.

Then.

You have the spirits work naturally following the shepherds task. So in the third picture God is suggested by the father seeking his lost child and Here he says the Divine Father is before us and all his abundant love to seek and save the lost.

In quote you know, I used to think when I first came to the Lord and When I was newly converted, I always used to think that this whole story is about Just the lost objects. It is Significant and it is part of it that God Recovers what is lost and what is valuable and precious to him?

But if you really look deep within this chapter It's all about the glory of God. It's all about God's glory. The celebration of heaven that God joyfully delights to see those who come to him. And we know that no one could come to God within their own power.

So You see within the first two parables That God is the seeker. He's the seeker He seeks out as a shepherd. We see we will see Seeks out the lost sheep and then there's a woman who seeks the coin she tears the place apart to find that one coin a valuable valuable precious Coin to her and then we see repentance and then it's like Jesus gives in the parable that.

That.

He had to repent he had to come to himself. And go to back to his father. So repentance is really a focal point as well. So but it's the love of the father. It's the love of God. That's really the focal point Along with repentance in this great story.

So we have this all together now, so we have here in chapter 15 Of Luke's gospel or it's not so much as like I said three parables. This is so many people say but it's really one parable Jesus gives it's one parable.

But with three different aspects to it. It's like a cluster. So the point is that there's the great love of God and then God desires to seek out that which is lost and he does a.

Great.

Work through his spirit to bring them back to recover them.

Now.

The aspects by my all means of this is a triune parable and Jesus sets forth the supreme and The sublime truth that as the Son of Man came into the world to seek and save the lost and we need to keep that before us.

Jesus said that so many times in this ministry. But this is the reason why he came. But usually the parables of Jesus were very simple there was simple sketches and Each of them standing out with their own distinctiveness.

Again, each of the story and I should say each story of this one parable has to do with one main point. That our Lord Jesus was teaching in his perfect wisdom. You think of it now when he taught there was no mistakes in his teaching.

We talking about perfect wisdom and He knew exactly how to convey that and I find it really a an act of grace to even give this parable To the self-righteous Pharisees at this point because most of us would say we have nothing to do with.

But Jesus loved souls so much even the hard-hearted callous Pharisees. He reached out to them now a lot of times it There was always grace a lot many times it was scathing rebuke. But all together, it's the heart of God.

So we see what? God loves. And we also see what God hates. God hates pride. So we see the hatred of God here in one sense if you understand what I'm saying God hates the self-righteousness the pride.

The the haughtiness. And where was it found the most within the religious circles in that time period? It was the poor that desired to hear the gospel it was the sinners that Jesus reached out to and ate with and come and Rubbed shoulders with those so to speak.

So Jesus's teaching was perfect and Here, it's the joy of God. That's over the salvation of the loss and the first of these is a seer is is what we see is a series is a parable of the lost sheep and we follow a familiar pattern and Seeking to understand this great parable.

Now we need God's help in this and but it's a lot of times.

I.

Come to find this out a lot of times we can we can make it harder than we should make it harder. What we need to do is humbly bow in prayer and say Lord teach me the simple things. But really the simple things is the profound things and a lot of times we strain a lot of times in our flesh.

But when the Spirit of God starts to teach us what the scriptures teach it becomes clear to us. And that's why God has to open up our ears. So we'll be seeking to understand this parable. I want to talk a lot about the parable this morning.

I definitely want to focus a lot on the content, but we want to see a lot what the parable is saying, right? First of all in my first point, I'd like to give you the context of the parable because to understand what is really being said.

Context is king, right? This is a step which all too many teachers of our day seem to ignore. Context this is why we have so many Misinterpretations about the parables. We always must go to the context.

Not what I want it to say, but what does God say? Regardless. Because whether we're dead or alive God's saying what he's saying, right? That's important. So context is king. Second I'd like for us to look at and examine the the communication the communication of the parable first the context of the parable.

Then we will look at the communication of the parable by Jesus that focuses our attention, especially on those details of the parable that stressed by him in the context and. Then third and last and final.

We will look at the explanation or should I say the application of the parable that's offered by Jesus himself. So you have the context the communication and the application. Let's look at it. Look at the context of this parable the context of the parable of the lost sheep.

So in order for us to properly understand the teaching of this parable in Luke 15. Parable the lost sheep. It's extremely important to understand both the broader and the more immediate context. There's a broad context and there's an immediate context.

Let's look at the broad and the immediate first the broad the broader the broader meeting the context includes key passages both from the teachings of the prophets in the Old Testament and From the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ himself in the New Testament.

Now what am I talking about there for example in the days of the prophet of Ezekiel. Let's take Ezekiel for example God warned the leaders of Israel as you will know. The prophets spoke to Israel who were supposed to have been shepherds of his people.

Who had failed to protect and care for them? So as the Holy Scriptures tells us from 2nd Peter 1 20 and 21. Knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private Interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of man, but by holy men of God speaking of the prophets spoke as they were moved By the Holy Spirit.

God was literally breathing on these men to say thus saith the Lord. It was supernatural. Ezekiel the prophet was one of those holy men of God that was moved by the Holy Spirit. You have Daniel you have Isaiah.

And you have many many other prophets. But let's look at Ezekiel. He foretold a day when God would come to seek and save the sheep. Go with me to Ezekiel chapter 34. Let's look at this. This is the broader context and to understand what Jesus is really saying in this parable you must see this context.

So we go to Ezekiel chapter 34 and beginning at verse 11. Chapter 34. Verse 11. God is the true Shepherd, right? Notice what he says and I like to read it all the way to Verse 19. And this is the Word of God for thus says the Lord God indeed my I myself will search for my sheep and Seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day.

He is Among his scattered sheep so I will seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloud and dark day and I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land and I will feed them on the mountains of the Israel and in the valleys and in the have and all that inhabitants inhabited places of the country.

I will feed them in good pasture and their fold shall be on the mountain high mountains of Israel and there they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in the rich pasture on the mountains of Israel and I will feed my flock and I will make them to lie down says the Lord God and I will seek what was lost and.

Bring back.

What was driven away and bind up the broken and strengthened that which what was sick. And I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in Judgment. And as for you, oh, oh my flock thus says the Lord God behold I shall judge between sheep and sheep between rams and goats.

Is it too little for you to have eaten up the pasture that you must tread down with the feet of the residue of your pasture and To have drunk of the clear waters that must that you must foul the residue with your feet.

And as for my flock They eat what you have trampled with your feet and they drink what you have found with your feet. And it goes on there are many times that in this book you see that there are shepherds.

That really are not God's shepherds. But here it speaks if you notice and that in the context that God seeks out his own sheep he seeks them out and he will bring them home and God always brings his elect home.

The elect will come. Now as for us on this side of eternity, we don't know who the elect is but we are to obey our Lord's command to go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature and As that word goes forth not our word, but God's Word.

Jesus said it my sheep hear my voice. They will come. And he said that all that the Father gives will come to me. And then he said Jesus said this and he that comes to me I would know wise cast him out wonderful passage of Scripture.

So the commentary of the New Testament its use of the Old Testament deals perspectively with Jesus's application of his equal Ezekiel's passage to himself as he takes up the metaphor of the Lord as a shepherd who seeks his lost sheep.

That's basically what is said there in his equal 34. Jesus asserts that he does the work of God. Whose love and mercy for sinful and weak people is reflected in. Jesus is calling tax collectors and sinners to himself to repentance to repentance.

As Jesus's audience he has an audience here. Most of the time when Jesus taught it His many times it wasn't in the synagogues it was out in the highways in the byways he actually went into a boat once and Basically preached from the boat but most of the time when he taught parables it was on the long the roadside and along the way and.

And he was conversing. He taught constantly on the road.

Amazing.

And so as Jesus's audience is consisting here in this parable of the Pharisees and the scribes These were the religious scribes. They were they were the the theologians of the day The know-it-alls about the Word of God.

They had all this head knowledge of the law and and here they are the Pharisees and the scribes who complained to Jesus That he eats with sinners. What are you doing eating with sinners? And then Jesus in a loving and a wise Truthful way he challenges them.

Jesus loved the challenge people Challenged them to understand themselves as shepherds, but the the Pharisees and the scribes lacked Concern and mercy. They did not have mercy for sinners. Did they. Jesus told him that he actually called him hypocrites and snakes and vipers and he said in the inside you you're full of dead man's bones and.

Filth and.

Putrid. Inside of you and on the outside you look all cleaned up and white as sepulchers. Sounds like people today we know of right? The Pharisees and the scribes lacked the concern and the care and the mercy for sinners that which echoes in Ezekiel 34 So in which God directs the prophet to speak against the leaders of the nation of Israel who Neglect their duties and leave Israel scattered as it says like sheep without a shepherd You don't care and a shepherd cares.

Shepherd cares for his sheep. He loves his sheep. Announcing that God himself will seek out rescue and care for the sheep. So Jesus is parable. And it gives an indication to the scribes and the Pharisees for they for their failure to be the faithful shepherds of God's flock and Implies that Jesus's love and mercy for sinners is consistent with God's mercy.

Care for the sheep, you know, listen very carefully. There's our Lord Jesus Christ himself is that very fulfillment of his equals prophecy. It's so crystal clear not only from this parable. However, but is also clearly in Indicated in other teachings of Jesus as well for example on several occasions Jesus made it back quite plain to the disciples that he Was the promised coming Anointed one the Lord the Messiah the Lord to seek and save his sheep.

To seek and save his sheep.

We see this in Matthew chapter 10. You can go with me very quickly there. Look at Matthew 10. Matthew chapter 10.

Look at 5 through 7 he says to the 12 Apostles that he gives instructions and these 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them saying do not go into the way of the Gentiles and Do not enter into a city of the Samaritans.

But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand Heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out demons. Freely you have received freely give provide neither gold nor silver nor copper or in your money belts nor bag for your journey nor to Turn it tunics nor sandals nor staffs for a worker is worthy of his food.

So you see there he sends him out first to the lost sheep of Israel. Then if you go to Matthew 15 24 Look at verse 24 in chapter 15. But he answered and said I was not sent Except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel The house of Israel.

He comes to Israel first. Then if you go to John 10 that wonderful chapter.

John 10 look at verse 11 through 16 10 11 I.

Am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But a hireling he who is not the shepherd one who does not own the sheep. Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

The hireling flees because he is a hireling and he does not care about the sheep. Then Jesus says I am the Good Shepherd and I know my sheep and I am known by my own and as the father knows me even so I the father.

I know the father and I laid down my life for the sheep and Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. He's speaking here about the Gentiles. The sheep are the elect of God. Then in verse 16 and other sheep that will eventually be the Gentiles that will hear he says them also I must bring and They will hear my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Now, that's a perfect illustration. But look at verse 24 through 28. Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him how long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ tell us plainly Jesus answered them.

I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my father's name. They bear witness of me and you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. Notice that you are not my sheep as I have said.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And then he says this and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand.

I and my father are one. He's basically telling the the religious people that was contradicted him here. You're not of my sheep. Now, I don't know about you. They didn't get that Jesus plainly told him in Another section you will die in your sins.

And when Jesus says you're gonna die in your sins, they died in their sins and they perished. They were not of the sheep. God's sheep. Now so Jesus was sent first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

That's very plain in Scripture, isn't it? That's exactly why John 1 verse 11 says he came unto his own and his own did not receive him. In verse 12, but as many as received him to them. He gave the right the power the privilege to become the children of God to those who believe in his name.

And I love verse 13 who were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God. It's God that does the work. So he would seek the other sheep not of this fold, which means that he will seek out the Gentiles.

Eventually the gospel as you well know there was a transition after Israel's rejection. Paul talks all about this in Romans chapter 9 and how God orchestrated and Paul really gets he got he really falls on his face before God is as The man of God he was and the great missionary and the theologian he was and understanding the plan of God.

But how God orchestrated it through the rejection of Israel by crucifying Christ and then Christ rising again. Notice Israel rejected them rejected Jesus. They rejected their king. They rejected the Messiah, but through that rejection.

The gospel goes to the Gentiles. But it was all in God's timing. So the initial focus on the lost sheep of Israel will be especially helpful in our understanding of this parable in Luke 15. So we have passages that provides the broader context.

The proper background for understanding the parable in Luke 15. So this background helps us to understand just how important this analogy is that would have been to Jesus and and those people in his day as he spoke and as he was.

Speaking this parable and it helps us to understand That also that the scribes and the Pharisees. Again, so-called smart theologians of that day. They would not have missed the points that Jesus was making they understood truly what he was saying.

They did not have ears to hear. Spiritually, but when Jesus conveyed the truth they knew. They just rejected their heart was heart. Unbelief. Unbelief. So they would not miss it. So there's the broader context and then we have the immediate context.

The immediate context is the found in the first three verses of the passage before us notice verse 1 back to Luke 15. Then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him. So in order to get the point of the parable.

We need to understand just who made up the two groups. Who's made up the two groups being referred to here, right? There's two groups of people. There's the tax collector that's one group. Who were those who?

Collected taxes. There were the scoundrels of that day they were. They were the rejects. No one liked him. Who liked the tax collector. Who'd like someone coming after your money. Who liked those that were like Levi Zacchaeus.

There were those tax collectors that on behalf of the Roman government, right? Jews who were regarded as thieves and traitors. Read the scriptures you see that and as such a regarded is especially heinous scoundrels.

Extreme example of sinners again Zacchaeus comes to mind. He's a he's a big one. Levi Jesus calls to himself to follow him in Luke chapter 19 Zacchaeus was actually a chief tax collector. He was one of the head tax collectors.

And he was very rich. He got he was rich off of people's money by collecting them. And you can read that in Luke 19 verse 1 through 9. But it but this leads to the next term that which referred to his sinners sinners.

These are the sinners. These are the scoundrels. They are greedy.

They are the.

Scum. And certainly they were such but here the term doesn't refer to all who have sinned But which would include everyone but rather it is being used in a specialized sense. Specialized sense. What I mean by that?

Well the ESV study Bible captures the proper Significance of the term sinners and I quote this from a study Bible here. The reformed study Bible quote. Pharisees would have regarded as sinners anyone who failed to keep God's law as they interpreted it and The term here seems to reflect a commonly.

Under.

Understood meaning by which it included both guilty of Publicly known sin and others who did not keep the strict purity requirements of the Pharisees in quote. So this thus the term here is sinners. Sinners was used by religious establishments and That describes Those who regarded as outcasts and the scum not only because they were actually open sinners Publicly, but also because they did not follow the legalistic traditions of the Pharisees and the scribes.

They were rejected. They were considered scum. These are outcasts now on the contrary. Those who followed the pharisaical way were regarded as righteous. Oh. You had to be righteous to be part of the Pharisees and scribes.

You got to be in their group. You had to be in their little clique. You know what? I mean, you've seen it. So often do we see man? pretends to be so religious. Religious the more religious he is the more good he is.

A Fact that will become very crucial as we understand Jesus's application on this parable a ground. What is important to observe here is this that these outcasts these tax collectors these sinners in which Jesus is referred to.

They were flocking to Jesus. They were going to Jesus. Jesus ain't with them and yet these scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites Jesus called them We're talking about him and they threw that word. He eats was sinners.

He's a friend of sinners.

Jesus was a.

Well, anyway. He's self-righteous. Pharisees on the wrong path when they sad the same Luke 15. To look at verse 2 and the Pharisees and scribes complained they murmured Saying this man receives sinners and eats with them.

Notice what they're saying about Jesus. You see the scribes of the Pharisees not only viewed these people as sinners and outcasts. But also is unclean. They were unclean. Don't even get around them. Don't even touch them.

Don't even associate it with them. They believe that the close interpersonal contact with such people as would be involved with eating with them to eat with them. That's serious things. As the Pharisees would look at it.

That's a Don't even get. What's what's Jesus doing eating with such rejects. Scum of the earth. The scoundrels. So they didn't like it at all when Jesus had meals with them. In fact, this verse is a complaint about Jesus and his disciples.

That wasn't new. The same complaints were registered when Jesus called the tax collector Levi as I mentioned earlier to follow him and Jesus had dinner at his house.