Keep sharing good news without ads.
Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/shawn-st-clair/spent-all/
Our Father, we're thankful again for being here together and we're thankful for the liberty we enjoy in Canada to be able to open the Bible and to read from it and to speak about the person of whom it speaks, about the Lord Jesus.
We give thanks that he alone can save, and Father, we realize that apart from him there would be no hope for any of us, that we only deserve what our sins would pay in their consequence, and that is death and judgment.
But Father, we give thanks that there is a message of salvation, a message of hope, of good news tonight, that there is one who has come and paid the price, there's one who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.
And so we pray for real help tonight. We know that the speakers were just men and that we don't have power in ourselves to accomplish anything here spiritually, and so we need the Spirit of God to speak and thy word to be applied to hearts.
We pray for those that are listening, especially any that don't enjoy this forgiveness of sins, that other thoughts would leave their minds even as we focus in on thy word and what it says, and that through the preaching of the gospel tonight, souls would come to repentance and to faith in Christ.
And so we look for this blessing, we look expectantly and with need and with dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ we ask in his name. I'd like to read with you from three places in the Bible tonight to begin this meeting, and the first is in the gospel according to Luke and chapter 15.
Luke chapter 15, and I haven't started reading yet, I was just explaining what was happening in Spanish, and we're going to start reading at verse 11. Luke 15, verse 11. We're going to look tonight in the first part of this meeting at three individuals who spent everything that they had.
And so we want to ask ourselves what the lesson is or what the reason is that these individuals are mentioned in the Bible and Scripture. Obviously there's an importance to them, these aren't just put there as interesting stories.
There's a lesson in each of these different passages that we're going to read and it has to do with you and it has to do with me and the message that we're preaching tonight, the gospel message. And so in this first case we're going to notice part of a parable of a story that the Lord Jesus told that had a spiritual lesson behind it.
And in this story we're going to see, or in the part of the story that we're going to read, we're going to read about a man who had two sons. So without saying too much more about it, let's just start the reading in Luke chapter 15, and I'm going to read at verse 11.
And he, that's the Lord Jesus, said a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them, to his two sons, his living.
And not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land and he began to be in want.
Now just drop down to verse 17, and when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger. I'll arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Make me as one of thy hired servants. Now we won't take time to read the whole story because I want to focus just on the part that we've read. But you can read it at home and you'll see that the father doesn't make him one of his hired servants.
The father is waiting for the son with open arms and with grace and with compassion and with mercy. He forgives his son and receives him back as a son with privilege in the family. But we want to think about this young man because here's here's someone who spent all.
Someone who was looking for satisfaction in life, someone who, as a young man, sensed that there's something missing in my life. There's something out there that that that I haven't found. And in his mind, the pathway to it, the way that he would somehow fill the void was to go to his father and basically tell his father, father, as far as I'm concerned, you've died.
That's really what he said. I mean, you don't get the inheritance until your father dies. And so he's gone to his father and he says, as far as I'm concerned, you're dead. Give me the inheritance that comes to me and I'm on my way.
I'm out of here. I'm leaving home. I'm going on my way. And so he begins his journey. And we read that he goes to a to a far country, as far as way away from home, it seems, as he could get. And there he begins to look what he didn't think he would find at home and that he would find out there.
He starts to spend. He starts to try to find it. Now, I don't I don't know your experience here, but maybe there's someone and that's just been the kind of life you've been living. Maybe maybe you're not all that older or maybe you maybe you've maybe you've put a few years under your belt and you've tried a few things in life and you still get the sense that there's something missing.
There's something that's not there's something that's not right. Something that needs to be satisfied and you're looking for it and you're willing to spend for it. Spend your time, spend your money at the expense of maybe relationships, at the expense of family, at the expense of of what you grew up thinking was right.
And now you've turned from it and you're looking for something. You know, it's interesting in the Old Testament, we find a man who had more money than anyone does in the world today or really has ever had since he lived.
King Solomon, the richest and the Bible says the wisest man that ever lived, apart from the Lord Jesus. He wrote a little book in the Old Testament and it's called the Book of Ecclesiastes. In that book, he chronicles, he describes his experience looking, trying, spending and he had no limit to what he could spend to try to find something under the sun.
Something in this world that would bring satisfaction. Do you know what he talks about? I'll just mention some of the things. I have them written down in Spanish, but I'll try to do them in English for you.
Science, philosophy, comedy, entertainment, alcohol, buildings, gardens, music, business, religion. You go through that little book of Ecclesiastes and you find a man who had indispensable resources. There was no limit to what he could do.
There was no laws that went against his final say. He was king. He could do anything and spend anything and he did. And you know what he says at the end of that? He says, vanity of vanities. All is vanity and vexation of spirit.
You know what he says? He says, it's empty. I can't find what I'm looking for in this world and I've tried everything and it's not there. It's not there. I don't know how much this young man was able to spend before he came to the same conclusion.
I don't know when you might come to the same conclusion or maybe you already have. Maybe you've already come face to face with this. You know, I've tried alcohol. I've tried living the way I thought somehow would give me pleasure.
I tried business. I tried education. I tried maybe religion. I've tried all kinds of different things. And I still find that there's something missing. You know, this young man, I read the part where he comes to himself.
And this is really where we have to come first. The message of the gospel, yes, it's a message of good news and it's the answer to what's missing. But this young man had to face some facts before he could enjoy what God was offering.
What are the facts that this young man had to face? We read that he comes to himself. He realizes finally and he's honest finally with himself about his true condition. He faces the facts that he's lost.
Here I am. In Spanish, the verse is he's living viviendo perdidamente. It says in Spanish. And for those of you that understand Spanish, he's living a lost life. That's what the Bible says. That's why we can't find satisfaction in anything in this world because the Bible says that we have sin and that sin has robbed us of a relationship with the one who made us.
And the only person or persons that were ever truly satisfied in this world were Adam and Eve before they sinned. Apart from the grace of God and salvation that he offers now. But they enjoyed what God made them for.
A relationship with him. But they sinned. Sin came in and sin has affected you and I. And we see it in our lives and we realize that sin has destroyed what was once intended for us. A relationship with God.
An enjoyment of his person. An enjoyment of all the blessings that he has. And so this young man, he comes. First of all, he's honest. He says, here I am. I'm a sinner. That's what he says. He says, I'm going to go back to my father and I'm going to say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven.
The life that I'm living that I thought was my way, I now realize that it's a way that's taken me far from God. That's what the Bible says in the Old Testament. It says, all we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. In Proverbs it says, there's a way that seems right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. That fits this man perfectly, doesn't it? It seems so right when he started on it.
But he's realized now this is a way that's just taking me to death. Oh, friend, tonight. I hope I hope you could come to the same understanding that this young man did that I had to come to as a young man as well.
My sin is not taking me towards satisfaction. My sin is taking me away from God. And it's leading towards destruction. It's leading towards, yes, physical death. But the Bible makes it clear it's leading towards judgment.
This man, he had to finally be honest about his condition. He says, I'm here. I'm dying of hunger. I'm lost. And I'm going to repent. He said, well, we didn't. I don't think we read the word repent. No, we didn't read the word repent.
But really, what happened here was repentance. You see, the man realized I'm lost. I'm perishing with hunger. Without Christ, every sinner is perishing spiritually. And he says, I'm going to turn around.
He's not turning over a new leaf. He's not saying, you know, I'm going to pull myself up by my bootstraps. And I'm going to do the best I can. And I'm going to turn my own life around. And I'm going to fix everything that's wrong.
No, he realizes my only hope is to go to my father and confess to him that I've been wrong, that I'm a sinner. That I need his mercy, that his grace. It's not going to depend on me. It's going to depend on whether he will accept me.
Whether he'll show that grace and love towards me. That's repentance. That's what God is waiting for. When a sinner will be honest and say, I have sinned. And this sin has taken me towards judgment. My only hope is to turn around.
And instead of pursuing my own way, my own route, I'm going to turn around. And I'm going to depend on his mercy. And on the possibility of him forgiving me of my sins. And of him providing for my need.
It's not going to be me anymore. It's not going to be what I want anymore. It's going to be him and what he offers and what he can do. Have you got to this point? This young man spent all trying to find satisfaction.
Let's read about another individual. We're going to go to Mark's Gospel, chapter 5 now. Mark's Gospel, chapter 5. We just read about someone who spent all trying to find satisfaction. This man who had to come to the conclusion, I'm living lost.
He had to repent. Turn around to return to his Father. Confessing his sinfulness. His great need for the mercy of God. And of his Father, in this case, in this parable. Now, Mark, chapter 5. We're going to see here a woman who spent all.
Again, thinking about the reason why she spent all. Mark, chapter 5, verse 25. And here, we're going to read about a woman. And again, she's been put into the pages of Scripture. Because there's a lesson for you and I.
A lesson just like this young man. The lesson in him was, some are spending all to try to find satisfaction. But at the end, there's nothing that will satisfy. What you need is something that alone God can offer.
That God can give. And it only comes through repentance. And recognizing your need. And depending upon His grace to give it to you. Here in Mark, chapter 5, we're going to read from verse 25. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years.
And had suffered many things of many physicians. Of many doctors. And here's the expression. And had spent all that she had. Another sad story, isn't it? Spent all that she had. And was nothing bettered.
But rather, grew worse. And when she heard of Jesus. Came in the press or in the crowd behind and touched His garment. Now, come down to verse 32. And He looked around. The Lord Jesus looked around. About to see her that had done this thing.
But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her. Came and fell down before Him. And told Him all the truth. And He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy plague.
So here we have a woman. She's quite a bit different than the young man, isn't she? The man, just like stubborn young men. He didn't even realize he had a need. He just felt this void and he was out there to have a good time and somehow fill it.
Here's a woman. And she realizes right from the start, there's something wrong with me. There's something wrong. And my goal in life, her goal in life. Was to find the cure for what was wrong. That she knew was wrong with her.
You know, this woman. She speaks to me about what we read in the Old Testament about sinners. In Isaiah, in an Old Testament book, it talks about sinners. And it says about us that our sin is like a disease.
Like an infirmity. This woman here is sick, physically sick. But Isaiah says that the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head. There's no soundness in it.
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. And so God takes the picture of a patient. Of someone that's filled with disease from the sole of their foot to their head. And says, this is what a sinner is in my sight.
This is the gravity, the seriousness of the condition of sin. This is how it looks to God. You know, we look at sin and we say, well, my sin doesn't seem so bad compared to his sin. I've never robbed a bank.
I've never killed anyone. But God says, no. One little lie by one of these boys or girls up at the front. Is something so horrible and offensive to God that he can barely look on it. He looks at it as a disease that's completely corrupted their bodies.
Because God is holy. God is holy. And every sin, as small as we might think it is and how quickly we write them off. God says, it's despicable. It's horrible. It's repugnant. It's everything that's in contrast to who I am.
And that's why the Bible says that nothing that defiles will ever enter into the place where God is. That's why we need our sins taken care of. That's the big problem. Our sin. Because our sin cannot go into heaven.
If our sins aren't taken care of, if they've never been forgiven, the Bible says there's no hope. There's no hope. So here's a woman. She realizes, I'm sick. Like we need to realize if our sins aren't forgiven.
I'm sick. And so she goes to one doctor. And she spends. And another doctor. She spends. And another doctor. And she spends. And what's happening? She's only getting worse. And she's suffering at the hands of these doctors.
And finally, it says she has spent all. If I could draw a comparison here, I think this woman would remind me of someone who's trying maybe church to church. Religion to religion. Someone who knows there's something wrong between me and God.
There's sin in my life. And I want to be right. I want to find the answer to this. I want to know and have peace that my sins are taken care of. And so they go and they try one church. And they listen to another man.
And they read another book. And from one to the other. And every place, of course, there's an expense to pay. But there's also an emptiness at the end. And the problem's still there. Still there. Finally, this woman, she gets to the place with nothing in her hand.
Nothing to pay. When she gets to that point, at the same time, she finds out there's a man. The Lord Jesus is passing through. And finally, she realizes, my hope, my only hope is him. Notice she doesn't head up to the Lord Jesus and reach into her pocket and try to pull out $5 and say, Now, here, maybe you can help me.
Or maybe she's heard about this man already. And she realizes, he's not going to take my money. He's not interested in what I can give him. He's a man that's able to give me what I need. And he's going to do it graciously, kindly, because of who he is.
She just goes up, and she doesn't even bother him. She just goes behind him and touches the edge of his garment. And the Bible says, at that instant, she's healed. What a beautiful picture. Because that's exactly what God says, you need tonight.
You see, forgiveness of sins, it's not something that I could give. It's not something that some pastor or priest or any other religious man in this world could give. It's not found in men or doctors.
It's not found in churches. It's not found in something you could pay or purchase tonight. It's found in the very man that this woman came and met. It's found in the Lord Jesus. We're going to see that in just a minute, very clearly.
But the point is, this woman spent all to try to find a cure. Gasto todo buscando la cura, la solución para su necesidad. Y encontró en Cristo la única solución. No en una iglesia, sino en una persona.
En Cristo. And so tonight, can I take you to the third person? We have a man who spent all to find satisfaction. We have a woman who spent all to try to find a cure to her problem. The man, he had to come to the point where he repented.
He was honest about his condition, his need, and he made a turn and headed for his father. The woman, she had to get to the point where she had nothing more to spend. And she realized that the answer's not in another doctor, another preacher, another church.
The answer's in the man, the Lord Jesus Christ. But let's go to the third because this is the center of the message. 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2, and we're going to read at verse 4. 1 Timothy 2, we're going to start reading at verse 4.
Now in the context, Paul has written this young man, Timothy, who's in a local church. And he's giving him some teaching about praying, about praying as a local church, as a group of believers. And he tells them, through Timothy, that they are to pray for everyone.
And now he tells us why. Because God, and I'm going to start at verse 4, the end of verse 3 says, God our Savior. Verse 4 says, Who, God, who will have all men? Now this isn't males, this is men and women, boys and girls, every single person.
Who will have all people? This is God's desire, this is what he wants. That all would be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men. The man, here he is, the man Christ Jesus.
Now what did that man Christ Jesus do? In order to be the mediator, in order to be the one who could go between. Between a God who is absolutely holy and sinners who are desperately lost in their sin.
What did the mediator do? How could he ever resolve this problem? How could he ever bridge this gap? How could he ever provide so that a sinner could be in heaven? That's what God desires, is to have you and I with him.
What was lost because of sin, he wants that to be restored. He wants all to be saved, that's his desire. And so there's one mediator, there's one who is able to accomplish what God wanted. Verse 6 tells us what the Lord Jesus did.
God's eternal son became a man. And verse 6 tells us that Jesus Christ who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. You see, the Lord Jesus, he told a story about a man who spent all.
And he met with a woman who spent all. But you see, he was one who was here himself to spend all. What did the Lord Jesus do to create this world? The Bible tells us in John chapter 1 that he is the creator, he's the word.
He's the one who spoke the word and brought this world into existence by the power of his mouth. But when it came to providing that salvation, that pardon of sins, to be able to be a mediator between us and God, in order to deal with our big problem, our great disease of sin, he didn't speak a word.
That wasn't how he was going to do it. That wouldn't have been enough. I say that carefully, but that's what the Bible teaches me. You see, for us to be right with God, someone had to step in like a mediator, someone had to take our place, someone had to become our substitute, and someone had to pay the price that our sins demanded.
Someone had to be judged. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus did. The Bible says in Isaiah 53 that he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement, the judgment that we deserve, it fell on him so that we could have peace with God.
He is the mediator. And with his stripes, that verse says, we are healed. That's what the woman was looking for. That's what the young man needed. To be healed, to have his sins forgiven, to be right with God.
And here we find that in order for that to happen, there was one who spent all. We read it. Who gave himself? He gave himself. Everything. When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, it wasn't that somehow he detached himself from the experience, that somehow God left the man that was there, or any such blasphemy that you could suggest, any such idea.
No, the Bible makes it clear that the Lord Jesus, he gave himself. He suffered the full weight, the penalty, the suffering that you and I deserve eternally. It all fell on him. That's what he had to do to be the mediator.
That's how we could be right with God. That's how our sins can be forgiven. And God desires, we read it, that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And so tonight as I sit down and the meeting continues in Spanish and maybe a little bit of English, I'm not sure.
If you don't speak Spanish, I want you just to keep mulling over in your minds. What did he do for me? What does that work, that suffering on the cross have to do with me? You see, because here's one who spent all so that he could be the mediator.
I discovered as a boy, nine years old, maybe there's someone nine years old here tonight. I discovered he did all of that for me. He suffered for me. He gave himself for me. He died for me. He was buried.
He rose again. God's satisfied with what he's done. And now the mediator is right there at God's right hand. And all I had to do, I can't go up and see him. I can't see him with my eyes. But I know about him because I have God's beard.
And God says that he's the mediator between God and man. The Bible says he's the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by him. And so just like that young man, I said, I'm a sinner.
I need what God offers by his grace. Not because I can earn it. Not because I'm somehow good. I'm the lost sinner. I need God's mercy. And like that woman, I had to face the fact I'm sick with sin. And there's no hope for me.
The Bible says that we're without strength. Absolutely helpless. But in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. And just like that woman, by faith I reached out. I wasn't imagining my hand or imagining touching in any way.
But that's what happened. In that moment, listening to the message being preached, and hearing about the Lord Jesus and his death on the cross, the one who gave himself, the one who said at the end, it's finished, the work is done.
I just said, well, if God says it, I'm going to take him at his words. And that's the moment when he became my savior. I trust tonight that if you're not saved, if you don't have forgiveness of sins, that tonight you'll think about what he's done.
And you as well will be willing to trust him. And you'll leave tonight a person who's forgiven, a person who's right with God.