← ArchiveLuke (That you may know)Sunday, March 13, 2016DateMarch 13, 2016Speaker—TextLuke 15Passages in this sermonLuke 150:071 Corinthians 417:52Romans 8:2718:24TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Thank you, Matt, choir, Dodd, and our student drama team. Thank you guys for opening us up this morning in worship. If you would, turn to Luke chapter 15 as we continue our series. Josh is at a family wedding, and we wanted to continue our series. And he asked me, he said, you want to do it just a one-off? You want to continue the Luke series? I said, well, I'd like to continue Luke series. Let's see what it's on. And he pointed to Luke chapter 15, and I'm like, oh yeah, that0:28chapter can basically preach itself. And so I'm really honored to be before you this morning preaching out of this wonderful chapter. A few years ago, my family and I went to the beach. And going to the beach is an ordeal for us. We almost have to pack a tractor trailer full of stuff. And one of the things that I had with me, I wanted to take a metal detector. I know that0:57sounds like kind of a geeky thing, but I was watching one of those reality shows, and I just mentioned to Jessica, my wife, I'd like to have one of those metal detectors one day. And so guess what? She got me one for a birthday anniversary or something. So anyway, we got the metal detector, and wasn't really planning on using it because the sign was at the beach that said no metal detectors1:24allowed there. And I'm like, okay, that's kind of a bummer. And so anyway, we were getting ready to go eat. And you guys know, if you go to the beach, you have to plan ahead to go eat about two hours ahead. And so we decided on a place. And so I noticed though, over the balcony, I noticed some people that were, had been playing volleyball and they had stopped playing volleyball and they were looking for something in the sand. I mean, they were on their knees. And I'm like, those people have lost1:52something. And it never really occurred to me. So we left and we went to go eat and we came back and it was not dark, but it was dusk. Walked down the back and again, there they were this time with flashlights, just raking. I'm like, I've got a metal detector. I'm going to go and see what I can do. So I went down and, and, um, this family had, um, the mom of the family had lost her wedding ring. They're playing volleyball and it just slipped off. And I'm like, what's the chance of me actually2:22finding this thing with this metal detector. And so I told him, I said, look, I'll help you guys out. So we, we, we swept at one good time. And I'm thinking, does this thing even work? And so I took a coin out and buried it in the sand and made sure it worked. And, and we kept swinging back and forth. And finally it, it beeped one time and I stopped and I kind of dug around a little bit and this little ring popped out of the sand. And of course the place went nuts. I mean, they, they were2:47literally grabbing, they grabbed it and the, the, the, the mom ran around in circles and, and the, the sons were up yelling up and down and everything. And all of a sudden they picked me up and started throwing me up in the air, put me on their shoulders. And I, of course I've got my metal detector, you know, and we found it. And so if you was to walk up on the beach and see that you would get a, it'd be a sight. Um, and so3:14anyway, and what's so interesting about the story that were asking me where they're from, they're from the, Inslee area. And, um, and they said, what are you doing? I said, well, I'm a minister. And then the, the wife said this, it took a shepherd to find what was lost. I'm like, well, I don't know if that would be a great issue. We're going to bless you with something. I said, oh no, ma'am, this will make it into a sermon illustration. You have already blessed me. Um, and so, um, so anyway, uh, she did actually later on that3:41night, I believe, uh, she knocked on our door and, and, uh, gave us some change. She didn't have to do that, but she did. Uh, Luke chapter 15, uh, is one of those times in that, that basically where, where Jesus is telling us about this incredible message of being once lost and now found. One thing about the,3:58the, the, these parables is we kind of sometimes skip over the first two verses and we go right into either the lost coin, the shepherd, or the parable about the lost son. Here's the thing about this chapter. If you don't get the first two verses down, you really have lost the context of the entire4:25chapter. And so the whole key to this chapter hinges on those who are at the table to hear Jesus in these three parables. And so I'm going to set the table for us this morning. I'm going to go back and we're going to go back to this table a couple of times to basically understand what's going on here as Jesus is, is actually preaching through this sermon at the, at this table. In the first4:51verse, now tax collectors and sinners, chapter 15, verse one, now tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. They're all drawing near to hear him. First of all, what is a tax collector? And we all know that Zacchaeus, the wee little man, the wee little man is he climbed up in a sycamore tree to see Jesus. And so we, we hear about Zacchaeus being this wee little man and he's a tax collector and that tax collectors basically took money from people. They actually would, would take5:21money, extra money from people. And so they were bad people. That is a very shallow interpretation of what a tax collector really is. If you would imagine with me just for a minute, this is saying invading for us come in and invaded the United States. And we're now occupied by this horrible regime. This regime has come into this, the United States. They have beaten us. They have raped our women5:47and they've killed our children, which was the Roman empire, by the way. That's what the Roman empire basically went into an area and they would murder people to get what they wanted. Now in this particular time in Jesus's day, you had to be able to control the land mass that Rome actually occupied. And some people say it was from England all the way to Siberia. It was just a huge6:14occupation of land. And so the way they, they, they had to have an army. And so they would have this, these tax collectors that would literally be people of those nations. And so imagine the occupying army have come into the United States, they've killed our people, they've raped our women. And now someone down the road from you that you've known all your life is a tax collector for that army.6:41Your neighbor is now taking money to be able to fund the occupying army. That's what a tax collector was. And so Zacchaeus, wee little man, was a really bad guy. It's the kind of guy you just want to throat punch. It's the kind of guy you just really want to take out and just really rough him up a little bit. So these tax collectors were not just mealy mouthed people. They were really bad folks.7:08They were not allowed to, in the synagogues, they were not out there, not to partake in Jewish traditions. They're not allowed to hear the Torah read. They were literally treated like an outcast. And so for Jesus, for them to draw near to Jesus was a big deal. And then we have the sinners. The second group of people we have at this table, we have the sinners. Now, it's not necessarily sinners of our day, because we kind of throw that term around a little bit. We say, well, we're all sinners, aren't we?7:38We're all sinners. But back in Jesus' day, it was a class of people. In Jesus' day, it was a class of people that could not partake in different things. In Jesus' day, they were either diseased, crippled, they were prostitutes, slave traders, or Jews that had simply just broken the law. Those were sinners. And so they were a different class of people. Verse 2 says, So there's the third group. First group, we have the tax collectors. Second group, we have the sinners.8:07Then there's this third group. They're the religious group. It says, And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. They were the professional scholars. You couldn't outdo these guys. They had the Torah memorized. You think you know your Bible?8:36Mm-mm. These guys knew their Bible. You think that you're righteous by getting up early in the morning? No, they've been praying all day. They were extremely ultra-legalistic in their view of church, in their view of things, the way things were supposed to be. And so you have this third group here. So you have tax collectors, you have sinners, and you also have the Pharisees and the scribes. So in one gathering before Jesus, you have strippers, you have pornographers,9:03you have the self-righteous church people, and you have them all together in one life group. How would you like to be leading that one? And you have Jesus. He's there at this table. He's there, and they're all listening. They're all drawing near. Let me tell you why I think this is so important for the church today, for our church today. If we're going to be a place that exists to bring the whole gospel to the whole person,9:30to the whole world, we have to be a people who understand that the church is going to get a little messy. It's going to get a little messy. Because here's what we have coming. We have people coming from all walks of life. Today, we have people in this room that have come from all walks of life. You have come in here, and there's things going on in your life that no one knows about.9:56Jesus does. You may be the tax collector. That churchgoer that sees things differently than everyone else. You cringe at certain things. You may be the sinner. You may be locked down in sin,10:23a habitual sin that you just can't seem to get rid of. You may be the tax collector. That person that is this complete outcast, that is publicly looked down on. And so you have all walks of life. The parable in Luke 15 has three similar pictures, if put together, complete a large picture. My parents, they're here.10:54My parents used to have this picture when we lived in Birmingham. They may remember this. But it was three pictures. And if you would take them and separate them and put them on another wall, you would think, oh, that's a pretty picture. But if you just put them together, they'd make a big landscape. That is Luke 15. It is separate, different parables, but one story. But one story. One story. The three stories have one singular point.11:25This is in your notes. There is grace, mercy, and forgiveness for the tax collector, sinner, and religious. There is grace, mercy, and forgiveness for the tax collector, sinners, and the religious. We want to always remember that. Now, I want to give you a little side note. In your notes, there will be these capitalized U's before your blank. Ignore those. We're not sure how they got there. And so just take a little pen and scratch those out. The first blank, though, is the shepherd reveals the rescuing nature of Jesus Christ.11:54So we're going to enter into the first parable. The shepherd reveals the rescuing nature of Jesus Christ. Verse 3. So he had told them this parable. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not have, does not leave the 99 to open, to in an open country, and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.12:22Verse 6. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who need no repentance. Jesus compares us to sheep often in the scriptures. And he does in this particular instance here. That is not a compliment.12:53Sheep are dumb. They're not very smart. You can train a horse. Trent, am I right? You can train a horse. You can train a dog. You can train all kind of animals, but you cannot train a sheep. You just can't do it. They're ignorant. They're not smart. And Jesus compares us here to sheep. They're defenseless. A horse can run. A wolf can bite. A cat can scratch. But they're completely defenseless animals.13:23Like sheep need a shepherd, we need a shepherd to guide, protect, and lift us up. Because we are like sheep. We need Jesus. We need him in our life. We need him actively in our life. Now let's go back to the table for a minute. Let's go back to the table. If you're a sinner or a tax collector and you're listening to this parable just read, and you're thinking there's no way God could love me, even if I came to him, there's no way God could love me.13:51There's no way that he could forgive me. I'm outside of his will. That God is a God of judgment because that's what they have been taught. As a matter of fact, there's going to be a day that I'm going to have with God and it's not going to be pleasant. So if you're a sheep that got lost, this is what Jesus is saying.14:17I'm coming to get you. I'm coming to get you. I would not leave it up to you to come to me. I'm coming to get you. So when I find you, I'm not going to call you a little dumb sheep. I'm going to put you on my shoulders. I'm going to carry you.14:47I'm going to rejoice. And we're going to have a party. That's what happens. And that's what these tax collectors and that's what these sinners were understanding. The light bulbs were going off. So wait a minute. This is a different message. This is a completely different message than what I have heard my entire life. Verse 7. Let's go back to that one. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.15:17That was a zinger toward the Pharisees. This is what got Jesus killed. I often wondered, why would you kill a man that heals? You kind of want him to kind of hang around, wouldn't you? Why would you kill someone that raised people from the dead? This is what got him killed.15:47The Pharisees believed there's more celebration over their goodness than their repentance of those who are wicked. And they just found out that wasn't true. They just completely busted their worldview wide open. And that's what eventually gets Jesus in trouble. Let's go to the lost coin. Verse 8. Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?16:16Verse 9. And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost. Anybody ever lost your keys? It's annoying, isn't it? Some of our students have these little tiles.16:45I don't know if you guys have seen those or not. They put them on there and your iPhone can literally find it. Very resourceful group over here. You might want to talk to them about those things. I lose my keys all the time. You can ask my wife. It's ridiculous. It really is. I will literally put them in places that are just the craziest places. I think we found them in the refrigerator one day. Whenever you lose something, sometimes we have tore the house up.17:15And I know we've all been there. We've literally tore the house completely up trying to find it. In this particular story, the woman shows the revealing nature of the Holy Spirit. That's your next blank. The woman shows the revealing nature of the Holy Spirit. Now listen to me. In order to find her coin, the woman lit a candle. That's what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your heart.17:47He wants to light a candle in your heart. 1 Corinthians 4 or 5 says this. Therefore, don't judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God. So this woman has been searching her home. She lights a light. And then she's been searching her home. She's been tearing this place up. Through conviction, the Holy Spirit will search and stir up the filth and dirt in your life to reveal your condition.18:15Romans 8.27 says, And he who searches hearts knows what is in the mind and spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Like this coin, an unsaved man is lost in darkness and filth and disgrace of his sin. Verse 10. Just so I tell you, there is joy before angels of God over one sinner who repents.18:42One sinner who repents. Repentance is in the parable. It's there. You can't get away from it. But what we see at the table is Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them. Jesus is seeking the heart of God, going after sinners, and winning our repentance. We must repent.19:12We must repent. And we must be quick to do it. Quick to do it. What's amazing is he hasn't left us alone in that. He hasn't left us alone. He has taken bold initiatives to reach us and to change us. And that's what these parables are teaching us. Now let's go back to the table one more time.19:42So the tax collector and the sinner feels useless. They've heard this parable and it's like, man, I'm just a silver coin. You can't buy much with a silver coin. So they're probably more likely thinking monetarily. You can't buy much with a silver coin. Look at the nine coins. Can you imagine what you can get for nine coins? You can't get much with one silver coin. But one silver coin, that's like change. That's just like a little change in your couch.20:13And Jesus goes, no. I'll tear the house up looking for that one coin. I have plenty. But I'll tear the house to pieces looking for the one.20:37So in his word is this. Come to the table and repent. Open your eyes and see that the banquet of being with Jesus is worth the cost of following him. And so there was one sheep out of a hundred. One coin out of ten. God has a universe to run. Think about this for a second. He has a universe to run. He has stars to hold in his hand.21:05And he is more concerned about one coin than he is about the entire universe. One soul. One soul. When one sinner repents, there is an epic party in heaven. We see this over and over again in these parables.21:33Let's move to the lost son. We're going to spend a bulk of our time in this one because it's kind of a longer one. So what's different about the parable of the lost son is that the misery of his lostness is explained in more detail. The misery of his lostness is explained in great detail. And the nature of his repentance is also explained.22:00And the passion, what's so great about this, is the passion of the father's more fully, as far as his passion to reach out, is explained in more detail. And so this parable is not just about receiving the lost son. I wanted to contend to you that it's also about receiving the son that was already there. So we oftentimes, we kind of skip over the son that was already there. And we concentrate on that lost son.22:30Because he was the one that was found. And so what we're going to see here in just a minute is that Jesus was more concerned about both of them. So the younger son, this is what happens in verse 11. And he said, there was a man who had two sons, verse 12. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided the property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had22:57and took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country. In other words, he becomes basically a slave. Who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods23:28that the pigs ate. And no one gave him anything. So the younger son blew it. He took the inheritance, went off to a far country, and just blew everything. Just blown it completely. Running away from God starts by feeling free and always ends in bondage. That's what running away from God will do. It will always, you'll think you're free,23:58and all of a sudden, you'll get into this bondage. Younger people, you need to remember that.24:09So he's totally enslaved to his addictions, and he's in this pig pen. Verse 17. When he, but when he came to himself, I love this, but when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him,24:38Father, I have sinned against heaven before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. I don't know about you guys, but whenever I knew I was busted or caught, this is what I'd do. I'd rehearse it. This is what I'm going to say. On the way home, this is what I'll tell him. And maybe this will work. I'm not too sure,25:09but that's what's going on right here. When he came to himself, when he realized, man, I'm messed up, I will arise and go to my God, and I will say to him, Father, I've sinned. So he's gotten to the end of himself, and he's decided, even my father's servants, live better than this, and he comes home after this really nasty experience. He comes home, and he has this speech rehearsed. I'm going to tell my father, I'm not worthy to be your son.25:38I've sinned against you. I've sinned against God if you will just let me be your servant. How many of us have ever been there before? If you would just let me back in. Verse 20. And he arose and came to the father, but while he was still a long way off, the father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven before you. I'm no longer worthy26:07to be called your son. But the father in this story, he doesn't listen to that nonsense at all. He doesn't even really go there. He immediately hugs him, kisses him, welcomes him home, puts a robe on him, puts a ring on his finger and kills the fat cow. Verse 22. But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe, which is a sign of royalty and family, and put on him of the ring on his hand,26:37which is a sign of authority and shoes on his feet. And bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. For this is my son was dead and he's alive again. He was lost and he's found and they began to celebrate. This means we're having steak for dinner tonight. I'm not talking about Logan's, y'all. I'm talking about Bethel Baptist Church men's night out kind of throw down. I'm talking about that thing was that thick.27:05So that's what happens when one person comes to Christ. When one person comes back to Christ. There's a huge party that goes down. Now we get to the older brother. He didn't run away. If you notice, he was there.27:35He didn't run away. He was out in the field. And he started coming up on this scene. And I've read this over and over again. I can't help but to kind of chuckle sometimes when I read this. You've got to realize that this older brother, he was a real follower. He was our legalist. He was the one that was there. He was the one that crossed all his T's and nodded all his eyes and made sure he followed the rules. Now the older brother,28:04in verse 25, now the older brother, or the older son was in the field. And he came near to the house and he heard music and dancing. Music and dancing. This party had escalated. Now they've got a DJ. Okay, he's in the field and he hears it. Okay, I don't know how far that is but he hears it. He's like, what's up with this? And he walks up on this field and he draws near28:33to this house. Verse 26, and he called one of the servants. Notice that he did not listen to me. Notice that he did not go talk to the dad. He asked one of the servants, what do these things mean? Verse 27, and he said to him, your younger brother has come home and your father has killed the fatted calf29:03because he has received him back safe and sound. In verse 28, but he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him. I want you to notice that. The father came out and entreated him. You think maybe the father kind of had an inkling that maybe this might happen? I don't know. But it was almost as if he didn't go to the father,29:32he went to the servant. The father came out and entreated him. Verse 29, but he answered his father, look, these many years I have served you. I've never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. Verse 30, but when this son of yours, hear the language there, when this son of yours came who has devoured your property30:02with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him. And he said to him, son, you are always with me. And all that is mine is yours. Our frustration sometimes with religious, self-righteous people is fine. Stay outside and pout. At least that's my frustration at times. Fine. You want to go, take your goat outside. We're having a party30:36in here. I mean, there's steak and it's yours. That's sometimes our attitude toward religious people. We live in the Bible Belt, if y'all haven't noticed. I might go as far as to say there's probably a lot of religious people in this room.31:04There's a lot of older brothers that's possibly in here.31:13Now, that is how some of us feel and treat those that are religious and self-righteous. But that is not, listen to me, that is not the Father's attitude. That's not Jesus' attitude. The Father shows the receiving nature of God the Father. That's your last blank. The Father shows the receiving nature of God the Father. He received the younger brother and he also received the older brother. Some people rebel31:43against God with drugs, alcohol. Some people will rebel against God with a legalistic view of church. Let me say that one more time. Some people rebel against God with drugs and maybe even alcohol and sinful things and some people rebel against God with a legalistic view of church. Now, let's go back to the table for a second. Jesus, looking over the heads32:13of sinners and tax collectors, he's looking at the hardness of the Pharisees right at their face and this is what he's saying to them in this parable. All that is mine is yours. All that is mine is yours. You obeying all the rules don't make you less of a sinner and makes you no less than wicked than the tax collector.32:42You just have a different idol. And some of us have to get over ourselves. And fall in love with Jesus all over again. Now, the glory of God is seen when everyone at the table, this is the beautiful part about this, the glory of God is seen when everyone at the table repents, even the Pharisees, the tax collectors,33:12and they all celebrate the forgiveness made available to them through Christ Jesus. Then they serve one another and walk with one another free of judgment worshiping Jesus. that is the church. That's the church. We come from different places, we come from different backgrounds, some of us have different areas of our life that we've sinned.33:41Some of us was born in the church. I mean, your mom carried you and you just all of a sudden just bam, you were already here. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I mean, I want my kids to be saved early. I don't want them to have to go through the garbage I went through. But, when we start applying a legalistic attitude, this is what happens.34:12We take the tax collectors and the sinners and we keep them at arm's length and we say, this is all ours. You stay out there. But that's not what they have to the Father. The attitude of the Father is, come in. Join us. Join us. You see, the goat, I've often wondered about this,34:42about this, why a goat? Why did he want to get a goat? They had the fatted calf. Here's what we do. If we can't get what we want, we'll make up something that we think is better. We're going to take this right here and make it and I'm going to get my friends together and we're going to be just as good as y'all. That's what we do sometimes.35:11sometimes. So God's heart toward the self-righteous is, man, this is your party too. That is your fatted calf too. Get in here. He will fill our hearts with grace and compassion in this thing that is so important that we realize for the same devil that wars and destroys the tax collectors and sinners is warring against the older brother too.35:41brother too. lost and found sheep a party. Lost and found coin a party. Lost and found son a party. Jesus is inviting the Pharisees. He's inviting every one of us, sinners of all kinds to come in. So here's the invitation. Come to me,36:11all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come in. So this morning, if you're here this morning and you're like, man, that's me. I'm at the table. I'm that tax collector. I'm that sinner. I'm that religious person36:42that looks down on those others at the table with Jesus. And this is what Jesus is doing. Come to the table. Come to the table. And so I invite you this morning to come. Maybe you're a guest here. Maybe you've been coming here for some time and you're looking for a church. this is an awesome church. I love this church. Been here for37:1421 years. I was one of them sinners. They welcomed me in. They had to dust me off. They had to dunk me. But man, I'm here. Would you stand? Would you stand?← Previous in Luke (That you may know)Sunday, March 6, 2016Next in Luke (That you may know) →Sunday, March 20, 2016More sermons on Luke →
