LUKE 15 LOST OR FOUND2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 15 Lost Or Found

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

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As we look at chapter 15, you know, God's been stirring something up within my heart. And it's not finished. You know, the clarity is not there. But I sense that there's a work of God. There's something that God is doing. And...

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Last week Richard shared, you know, about the ministry of reconciliation from 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and that was, you know, confirmation of already some of what God was stirring up in my heart and then as I was preparing for this coming Sunday, this is really a continuation and I recognize and I see God's doing something within me. I can't

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quite, you know, explain it all in detail, but here we get a little bit more insight about the heart of God, and it corresponds with the things I believe God's going to have me be communicating with you over this next couple of weeks or so as we just continue to seek the heart of God. It boils down to, I want to bring God joy.

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I want to be pleasing to God. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9, he says, therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, that is whether we're here on earth or in heaven with him, we make it our aim, Paul says, to be well pleasing to God.

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And that really just resonates within my heart that I want to be well-pleasing to God. I want to bring God joy. I want to cause Him to rejoice.

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And what I am doing in the way that I'm living in what he's called me to do. And if I want to cause God to rejoice, if I want to bring him joy and be well pleasing to him, well here in Luke chapter 15 we find some great insight into the heart of God. And that's what we're going to be seeing here is really the heart of God specifically towards lost people.

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And so the title of the message this morning is Lost or Found. And there's five things I'll highlight for you as we work our way through the passage. We begin with point number one in verses one through three. And point number one is that sinners are lost people. Sinners are lost people. Let's read those verses. It says, Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him.

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And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. So he spoke this parable to them, saying, and then he'll go on to share three parables or three illustrations that we'll be considering this morning. But what we see happening here is a gathering to Jesus saying,

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It's a gathering of tax collectors and sinners that are drawing near to him. Now, back in chapter 14, if you remember, we studied some time there that Jesus was having a dinner party. He was invited over. He was correcting, you know, those religious leaders who were at the dinner party for exalting themselves. He was talking about entering into the kingdom of God. But we finished up the chapter as Jesus was

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the dinner and there was a crowd that went with him he gave them some very very challenging words and

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As he called them to follow him, he also set the criteria. He set the standard that there's a high standard to reach. If you're going to follow Jesus, we saw that you have to put Jesus before your family. That Jesus must be first even before your family. We also saw Jesus said, you have to put me before yourself. You have to deny yourself and take up your cross to follow me.

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We also saw Jesus say that you have to put Jesus before your stuff. That you can't be so caught up in the things of this life. He must come first and he must be more important to you than all of your stuff.

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And then finally we saw that Jesus says we must put him first for forever. That it's a continual thing. Not, you know, for a season of your life you have to put Jesus first and then you can do whatever you want. But that ongoing Jesus must be first before your family, before yourself, and before your stuff.

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And as Jesus gives this really strong, and you know, he tells us, count the cost, think about this, this is a high calling that I'm calling you to. I would think, I would expect that that would cause many people to go away. When they hear the strict requirements, when they hear what is necessary, that they must put Jesus first in all of these ways, I would expect people to go the other way.

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But that's not what we see happen here in verse 1. Again, it says, The response to this call of Jesus to be fully engaged and put him first was that the tax collectors and the sinners drew near. It didn't scare them away, but it prompted them to draw near, to hear them.

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To hear what Jesus had to say. Now...

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That was the response of the sinners and the tax collectors, it says here. It was not the response of those who would consider themselves righteous. It was not the response of the religious that they said, all right, yeah, we're going to draw near and hear from you. They were actually not concerned about that. They were caught up with all of these sinners who were coming around Jesus. And these sinners drawing near to Jesus upset Jesus.

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The religious leaders. In verse 2 it says, the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. They complained. They began to murmur and talk amongst themselves. Can you believe this guy? Can you believe what's happening here? Can you believe what Jesus is doing and allowing? He's allowing all of these sinners to be around him. He's receiving them. They were offended by

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By Jesus' receiving of these tax collectors and sinners. Mingling with sinners was offensive to the religious leaders. It's often been described that as the religious leaders would walk through the streets in the marketplace, that they would hold their robes, that they would kind of hold them tight.

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so that they wouldn't be kind of flowing around. Because if they were flowing around, and they had all this loose clothing and stuff, and then they accidentally, their robe brushed up against a sinner, then they would be unclean. So they would cinch up their robes, they would hold it tight, and then they would take short little steps to make sure that they never came in contact with anybody who was unclean or anybody who was a sinner.

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David Guzik says that the rabbis were so serious about not associating with the ungodly, they even refused to teach them the word of God. So the religious leaders, we see kind of where they're coming from. Their hearts in this are not for sinners. They want nothing to, hey, nothing to do with you. You are sinful. You're a tax collector. You're a sinner. I'm not even going to teach you the word of God, the religious leaders would say.

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But Jesus was in stark contrast to that. He received these sinners. He let them come to him. He received them. And that was offensive to the religious leaders. But Jesus was not offended by sinners. That needs to be stuck in our hearts. Highlighted, you know, a big billboard in your mind. Jesus is not offended by sinners.

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He doesn't push them away or keep them at a distance. He does not avoid sinners at all costs. Instead, what we see demonstrated here, and then also through his illustrations he's about to give, we see Jesus goes out of his way to connect with sinners. He doesn't avoid them at all costs. He goes out of his way to connect with them, to receive them.

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And so these guys are complaining, murmuring, oh, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Now to eat with them was a, that was a double insult for the religious leaders because eating with somebody meant so much to them. It was an act of, you know, like we partake of communion and it's meaningful to us that we are one with the Lord and there's great significance there.

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Well, that was their understanding of eating with one another as well. And so when you had dinner together with somebody, it was like we are one. We're in agreement. We care for one another. We love one another. We have communion together. And so for Jesus to eat with the sinners, in their minds they're saying Jesus is making himself one with the sinners. That he's one.

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He's eating with it. It was completely foreign. They would have never, ever done what Jesus did. And so they're complaining. And Jesus addresses their complaint. In verse 3 it says, So he spoke this parable to them, saying, and as he goes on now, we're going to look at the lost sheep.

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the lost coin illustration, and then the lost son illustration. And all three of these parables are in response to these upset Pharisees and scribes. And as Jesus responds to them with these parables, we get great insight into God's heart towards people. Jesus is saying, sinners are lost people.

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They're people that God loves. They're people that God desires to find and to be reunited with. They're people that God wants to receive and restore.

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Sinners are lost people who need to be found. And that's what we see demonstrated. As we go on now, the point number two, looking at verses four through seven, we see that God searches for the lost. As we look at this first parable Jesus gives about the lost sheep, we see God's heart is that he would search for the lost. Look at verse four.

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He says, This is an illustration that the people Jesus was talking to would easily understand. It was the culture that they lived in. They saw this happen all the time.

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And so they're picturing, okay, here's a shepherd. He has a flock. At the end of the day, he's leading them into the sheepfold and he's making sure they're all there. So they're going into the sheepfold. He's saying 96, 97, 98, 99. Wait, 96, 97, 99. There's one missing. Where's number 100? Where's, you know, Joe, that lost sheep? Where is that last one?

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And so then Jesus goes on to explain, well, what the shepherd will do, he doesn't say, you know, 99 out of 100, that's 99%. That's pretty good. I'm content with that. I'll stick with the 99 sheep. No, he leaves the 99 in the sheepfold. They're safe there. They're protected there. They'll be okay. You guys stay here. I'm going to go find that lost sheep. And so he leaves the sheep in the sheepfold to go and find that lost one.

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When I was working at Paychex there in San Bernardino, we were, you know, we had clients. It was a payroll company. So our clients, we did their payroll and

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And there was a big emphasis on not losing clients, that it was better to not lose a client than to gain a client. And so there was a great emphasis for us, don't lose any clients. And so if we found out there was going to be, you know, a client that was, ah, I'm not, I think I'm going to be switching over to ADP or doing payroll in-house or something, then we would put some effort and we would put some resources and we would do our best to save that client. That's kind of the idea here.

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That this is a business. The shepherd is not willing to lose one of his 100 sheep. He goes out to do what he can to save it. To make sure I didn't lose it. That that sheep is not lost. Or that client is not lost. That business is not lost. And so he goes out searching. Jesus says, until he finds it. Verse 5. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.

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The shepherd goes out searching and then what happens? He finds that lost sheep and then he rejoices. He rejoices when he finds the lost sheep. Have you ever had a dog run away and then you go searching and you find it? Now there's different responses to the finding of the dog that ran away. Some people are angry with the dog.

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stupid dog i don't know what i'm gonna do with you i don't ever want to have you around again i'm gonna lock you in the bathroom and you're not coming and whatever you know like or there's just the great joy of oh thank god we found our missing dog or you know like the parent who you know the kid disappears and then the parents yelling don't you ever do that to me again right now no that's not necessarily wrong but that's not a picture of god as indicated by the shepherd here

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He doesn't find the sheep and take out his rod and start beating the sheep. He rejoices. His main focus, his main thing is, I found the lost sheep. It's cause for rejoicing. And so he rejoices. So much so that it's not enough to rejoice alone. Check out verse 6.

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Sometimes rejoicing by yourself is not enough. Sometimes the news is so good. Sometimes the occasion is so exciting that...

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You can't just rejoice by yourself. You got to call up the friends. You got to call up the family and say, guess what? Good news. Rejoice with me. Let's be excited about this together. Let's throw a party. You know, when you have a party, it's usually not by yourself, right? It's like, let's celebrate my birthday together.

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I'm on my own. I'll see you guys later. I'm going to go. Well, some people do that. Hey, maybe there's a place for that. But sometimes rejoicing is so great, you can't do it by yourself. You have to include other people. And that's the idea here. You can rejoice more with other people. You can rejoice better when you include others around you. And so the shepherd says, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.

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And here again, we have such great insight into the heart of God that God searches for the lost. He's not content letting one go. There's no person that God says, you know, it'd be okay if they don't come. It'd be okay if they don't repent. It'd be okay if they don't turn back. I'm fine with that. You know, just let them go. I've got 99 more. That is not God's heart at all. He is...

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intensely concerned about each one. And when that one is found, he rejoices greatly and so much so that he has to include others. It's a great rejoicing. God searches for the heart. That lost person is felt by God. He feels that loss. He recognizes it. He sees and he's not content. He's not okay saying, well,

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There's plenty more that are saved. I'll let that one go. God searches for the lost. Now as we go on in verses 8 through 10, we see the same thing, but emphasizing, as point number 3 says, God rejoices when the lost are found. We've already been talking about that, but it's reiterated here in these verses. Look at verse 7. He says, I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents

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Than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. Jesus says. There's more joy in heaven. Over one sinner who repents. Than 99 who come to church on Sunday. And don't need repentance. That lost one who repents. Brings great joy to God. There's joy in heaven. Heaven rejoices. And why is that? It's because people are so important to God.

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Not people, you know, just as a massive term of, you know, but individual people. Not just collectively, not just people as a whole are important to God, but each one, each individual is so important to God. So that when one person repents, heaven rejoices. Heaven rejoices. Think about the scene of Isaiah 6.

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Isaiah is there. He's like, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. He's seated on the throne. The train of his robe filled the temple. And then there's those angels shouting, Holy, Holy, Holy. And everything's shaking. And there's this glorious scene focused on the holiness of God. Focused on the incredible presence of God. When we think of heaven, that's kind of what we picture. At least that's what I picture. Now picture that whole scene interrupted. The news comes in. That sinner repented. Repented.

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And heaven rejoices. Heaven celebrates. God rejoices as each one repents and gets right with him. Now, to help us get this, to help us understand this, Jesus goes on to give us another illustration saying basically the same thing in just a different way. Look at verse 8.

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He says, or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? You see kind of Jesus covering the bases, right? All right, guys, think about a shepherd. All right, ladies, think about losing a coin. He's making sure everybody can understand this. Let me give you an illustration that you can relate to. Now, these 10 silver coins that Jesus is referring to,

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it's most likely that Jesus is speaking about a piece of jewelry that a bride would wear. That they would wear this kind of like a crown that had these ten pieces or ten coins attached to it for their wedding. It would be maybe what we would think of as like a wedding ring. That kind of significance. Something that was so special related to the wedding. Okay.

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David Guzik says it this way, it was a precious ornament to the woman and would make the loss all the more severely felt. So it wasn't just that she lost a quarter or even that she lost a couple hundred dollars, but that she lost something that was so important and significant and precious to her. And so what would she do if she loses one of those silver coins? Jesus says, does she not light a lamp?

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and sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? What would this woman do? She would turn on all the lights, clean out everything, look under the cushions of the couch, look, turn over everything, like making sure I've got to find that one coin. And maybe ladies, if you've, you know, lost something of value like that, you can relate. You understand what she's going through. You understand this illustration that Jesus is giving.

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And so what is she going to do if she finds this coin? Verse 9. And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost. What do you do if you find it? You get on the phone. You say, Hey friend.

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Hey mom, hey sister, can you believe it? I lost it and then I searched and then I found it. And you know where it was? I found it right here. Can you believe it was right there this whole time? I found it. There's this celebration, this rejoicing, this everybody needs to know because this is so exciting. I found what I had lost. Have you ever felt that? You've been so excited about finding something that you lost.

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That you tell all your friends about it. I remember back many years ago now, I was in Hawaii with Pastor Tom and a group from here and some other churches. And we were doing some outreaches there in Hawaii at the park. And I had my backpack and I had my wallet inside my backpack. And then later on in the day, I looked for my wallet. I needed to get some cash and my wallet was gone. I was like, oh no, what happened? And so I started...

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backtracking retracing my steps going to the different parts of the parkway we're trying to figure out where where could my wallet be and i'm in hawaii and now i've lost all my cash i've lost all my cards what am i gonna do now i'm stuck here so i searched all over i went to one of the benches and i turned upside down my backpack i just emptied it out completely nothing there

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couldn't find it anywhere in the park and I was like oh my goodness we we were Hawaii was just one stop we were going to American Samoa the next so I mean it was it was a good seven days ahead of me of being out there without money without my cards what was I gonna do and so we prayed and then when we got back to the place that we were staying

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I was just continuing to pray and then as I opened up my backpack, it was sitting right on top of all the stuff in my backpack. Now, I emptied it out. So either God miraculously put it there or someone actually took it and then snuck it back in when I wasn't looking. Either one, it was a miraculous work of God. And you know what I did? I went and I told everybody. I found my wallet.

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That all you guys were worried about with me. We were all praying together. We were all searching together. I went and told everybody because I was very excited. I was in a bad spot without that. And now, everybody listen up. You got to know I found it. Now that is the emotion that is being expressed here. That's what Jesus is saying about lost people and how heaven responds. How God responds when someone repents. Verse 10.

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Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels, the angels of God, over one sinner who repents. There's joy in the presence of the angels in the same way. You think about how excited you are when you have to tell people, hey, I found it. God rejoices in that same way when a person repents. He's that excited about people.

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He's that excited about each one. Again, not just people collectively, but each one interrupts heaven's holy, holy, holy scene to say, let's rejoice. One has been found. Now it's interesting to me here because I've always heard this verse and we quote it often. And we talk about, you know, the angels in heaven rejoice every time someone gets saved. Right?

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But it's interesting, it doesn't actually say that specifically. It says that there's joy in the presence of the angels of God. And that's why I worded the point this way, that God rejoices when the lost are found. It's not just the angels that are excited about this. The angels are in the presence of God. God rejoices. Yeah, sure, the angels rejoice too, but it's not saying that it's just the angels that have a party and God says, yeah, you guys have your party. I've got holiness to attend to.

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God rejoices. He celebrates. He brings in the angels with him. Let's celebrate because someone has received the grace that I've extended, the forgiveness that is offered. God rejoices over each one. Now this is not what was taught in Jesus' day. The rabbis would teach something different. They had this saying,

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There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God. That was what they taught. Yeah, when sinners are destroyed, that's when God rejoices. But that is not the reality. God is not excited over destroying sinners. He rejoices when sinners repent, when they're found, when they're reunited with God. He rejoices in that.

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David Guzik asked an important question along with that. He says, in our zeal to speak out against the sin of our culture, do we give that same impression as those religious leaders who say God rejoices when sinners are obliterated? Is that the impression that we give? Is that our heart? Is that what we communicate? That God rejoices when people are judged? That's a misrepresentation.

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God rejoices when the lost are found. Now, just to make sure we get this through our heads, Jesus now goes on to give us a third illustration, a third parable. And here we have the point, verses 11 through 24, God receives the lost who return. And it's the account of the prodigal son or the lost son. Verse 11, then he said, a certain man had two sons.

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And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided to them his livelihood. So here's the scene. Here's a father with two sons. The younger son comes and says, Dad, can I have my inheritance early? Normally, you would receive your inheritance after the father has died. But the younger son says, make an exception for me. I would like my inheritance right now.

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Now, in their culture in those days, the way the inheritance was divided was that the eldest would receive a double portion of the inheritance. So here's a man with two sons. The elder son would receive two-thirds of the inheritance, and the younger son would receive one-third of the inheritance. So the younger son goes to the father and says, you know that one-third that's coming to me? I want it right now.

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Now, of course, this would be hugely disrespectful. Saying to dad, dad, your money and your stuff is more important to me than you are. I don't want to wait for you to die to get it. I want it right now. Great disrespect being demonstrated here by this younger son. But it's also foolish. It's foolish because, hey, if you cash out early, then you miss out on whatever growth happens after you cash out.

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So, you know, dad's not dead. He's going to continue to earn, to grow, to do business. And so you're not going to get to participate in any of the fruits of that if you cash out now. So it was disrespectful. It was foolish. But this is what the younger son does. Give me my inheritance now. Verse 13. Well, verse 12 tells us that the father did it. He even did it even though it was disrespectful, even though it wasn't the best thing. The father gave him his inheritance. And then verse 13 says,

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And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. And here's why we call him the prodigal son. The word prodigal means wastefully extravagant. Just means wasteful. He's the wasteful son. He wasted his inheritance. He wasted his possessions with wasteful living. He just spent it. He wasted it.

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So that he ended up with nothing. Verse 14. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want. So after he blew it all, then there was a famine. Now, if he had not wasted it all, then in the famine he would have been able to provide for himself. But he wasted it all. Now on top of that, the famine hits. And so he's in extra trouble. Verse 15 says,

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We see this young man go from great wealth, great position within the family, to now he is... It's unthinkable where he's come to. He's joined himself to...

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A citizen of that far country. Which means he has now become employed by a Gentile. Which that was not a position any Jew wanted to be a part of. He's employed by a Gentile. And in a very lowly spot. First of all, Jews were not to have contact with the swine. Right? And so that would have been humbling and humiliating. He would have not been excited about...

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feeding the swine but then he's so hungry that he wants to eat the food that he's feeding to the pigs i mean he's fallen a great deal verse 17 but when he came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and and to spare and i perish with hunger i will arise and go to my father and i will say to him father i have sinned against heaven and before you

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And I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So there he is in this extremely low position. And he realizes all of a sudden, the light comes on. Servants in my dad's house, they're in a better position than I'm in right now. What if I just go back and I become a servant at my dad's house? I mean, I realize I...

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I can't be a son anymore. I was disrespectful. I was foolish. I wasted all that he gave me. So it would be too much for me to ask to come home as a son. But maybe if I ask to come home as a slave. And that will be enough. I mean at least then I will be able to eat. And I will have some food. And so he decides that is what I am going to do. Now as he gets ready to head back to his dad. Understand this. It would be gracious if.

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For the father to receive this son as a hired servant after what he's done. After this great disrespect and what he's done to the father and asking for his inheritance this way and abandoning the family and just going on, I just want to live how I want to live and do what I want to do and I don't care about you guys. It would be gracious for the father to say, okay, yes, come back and be a servant and you can still have food and be part of the household in that way. That would be gracious.

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But what the father does is even more gracious. Verse 20. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The father sees the son while he's a great way off, which indicates to us, you know, he was looking for him.

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Even though his son said, I don't want nothing to do with you. I don't care when you die, if you die, whatever. I just want my money, my stuff right now. I'm out of here. But the father never had that heart towards the son. And so he's looking, he's watching, and he recognizes his son from a great way off, a far distance. And he runs to meet his son. He has compassion upon him. He sees his condition. He understands. It's powerful.

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was probably easily predictable, right? Son asks for all your inheritance and heads off to a far country. The dad goes, I know it's going to happen. I know it's going to happen. So when the son returns, it's not really a surprise. And so the father runs up with a rod and smacks him and says, I told you so. No, what does he do? He runs up with compassion. He falls on his neck and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him.

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And then said, you smell like swine. And so verse 21, and the son said to his father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no longer worthy to be called your son. Father, I've sinned. I've sinned. I'm not worthy to be called your son. Accurate statement. I'm not worthy. Verse 22, but the father said to his servants, bring out the best robe and put it on him.

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and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to be merry. What do we see here? We see much rejoicing, just like the other illustrations. The sheep is found, rejoice. The lost coin is found, rejoice. The son is found.

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Let's have a celebration. Kill the fatted calf. Clothe him. Let's celebrate. We counted him as dead, but he's alive. He was lost, but now he's found. What is Jesus doing in this illustration? He's showing us the heart of God towards those who repent. He's showing us the heart of God.

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at those who return god receives the lost who return and he doesn't receive them like kind of grudgingly like okay fine you can come in you don't deserve it but fine you could be a slave notice the son isn't even able to get that part of out of his statement to the father when he's there you know with the swine he says okay i'm going to go back to dad i'm gonna say i've sinned and then i'm gonna say i'm not worthy to be called your son so take me on as a slave

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But then when he meets his dad, he says, all right, I've sinned. I'm not worthy to be called your son. And then dad interrupts and says, hey, get some robes and sandals over here. Put a ring on his finger. He's not even letting him give the, he doesn't have the opportunity to say, make me a slave. Instead, the dad embraces him and clothes him as a son once again.

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Talking about God receiving the lost to return. It's amazing how many times lost people try to clothe themselves so that they can come to the Father. The Father says, no, come in your pig clothes. It's okay. Let me give you new clothes. Let me meet your needs. Let me take care of you and deal with your sin. You don't have to clean up your life first and then come. Come in your dirty mess and let me clean up your life. And not begrudgingly, not upset at

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In such a way to say, I don't want anything to do with you. Or, okay, sure, you can come back, but you're only a slave. Never forget that. You're not a son no more. You're only a slave. No, he embraces him and restores him as a son. God receives the lost who return. Here we also have some good insight on what does it mean to return. We see there's confession. The son, when he returns, he doesn't say, hey, I didn't do anything wrong. Give me back my place. No, he comes back and he says, I've sinned.

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I've sinned against God. I've sinned against you. He confesses his sin. But then he also comes back in submission. Saying, I'm no longer worthy to be called a son. But I'll be your slave. I will serve you faithfully. That's what it means to return to God. To confess your sin and submit yourself to him. Well, the father is really excited. He's...

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with joy. He throws a great celebration because the son returned. But that's not how everybody feels. In verse 25 through 32 now, point number five, we see that the religious are angry when the lost return. And we see this through this continued illustration with this brother, the older brother, who stayed with the father. Verse 25. Now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he heard

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So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, your brother has come. And because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. So the faithful son, the older son, he's out working faithfully as he always has. He comes back in and he hears the music. He says, hey, what's going on? Why is there all this celebration? Oh, you haven't heard? Your brother's returned. And so your dad's killed the fatted calf. He's thrown a big feast. Verse 28.

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But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So the older son is not excited. He's not happy. He's not like the father saying, oh, such great news. Let's celebrate. He says, that jerk is back? And he's in the house. I'm not going in there. No way. I don't want nothing to do with that. Can't believe that. And so what happens now? Dad comes out and pleads with the older son. See, dad loves both.

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The older son now is, he's angry, he's bitter. And dad comes to the older son and says, son, come inside. Come be part of this celebration. In verse 29, this older son responds and says to his father, lo, these many years I have been serving you, I have never transgressed your commandment at any time. And yet you never gave me even a young goat that I may make merry with my friends. You see the bitterness here in this guy. He's upset.

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You've killed the fatted calf for him. You haven't even given me like a little baby goat. You gave him a feast. You won't even send me to McDonald's. But I've been faithful. I haven't transgressed your command. Verse 30. But as soon as this son of yours. Notice he doesn't call him his brother. He's like I don't want. I've disowned him. This son of yours who came. Who has devoured your livelihood with harlots. You killed the fatted calf for him.

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You killed the fatted calf for him. Dad, I can't believe you did this. He's angry and bitter because the father received this younger son graciously. Are you blessed when others are blessed even if they don't deserve it? Maybe it's hard for us to think of ourselves like this older son, but maybe you should consider it a little bit. When others are blessed, does it make you angry? Especially as you think,

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Man, here I am serving God. I've been faithful. That guy, I don't even know if he really is a Christian. And there's all these blessings. He goes, there's great reception. He goes, there's wonderful things happening. But here I am being faithful and nothing ever good happens for me. That's how the younger or the older brother felt. In verse 31, the father says, son,

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You are always with me and all that I have is yours. Because remember, I already gave your brother his inheritance. All I have is yours. It was right, verse 32, that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found. There's great rejoicing. There's celebration because your younger brother is found. So what if I gave him a fatted calf? All of this is yours. Right?

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There's so, all that I have, it belongs to you. You already got two-thirds of the inheritance. See, it wasn't just the younger brother that was hung up on the inheritance. The older brother was too. So what if I give him a calf? You've got this great inheritance in store for you. It's right for me to celebrate. It's right for me to do this because he was lost and now he's found. Again, it illustrates, it demonstrates God's heart towards the lost person.

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God's heart towards the one that must be saved, that needs forgiveness, that returns and receives the forgiveness of God. But there's often those who are self-righteous and angry when God works in other people's lives. It kind of made me think about, you know when you go to the Harvest Crusade and then they got those people outside with the big signs, great glory leads to hell. And they're angry. They're angry at the work that's going on there. They're angry. They're upset. They're upset.

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But that's not God's heart. That's not the way that God thinks. He says, you know what? Sinners are lost people. Now remember, all this started because the Pharisees, the religious leaders, they're saying, oh, can you believe? What is Jesus doing? He receives sinners. Oh, that's disgusting. I can't believe that guy. And Jesus is saying, no, look, I'm representing, I'm demonstrating the heart of God. And you guys are angry brothers. You think you're all righteous. You think you're all right.

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And you're upset. So that you won't come in and enjoy the celebration. They wouldn't be part of Jesus. Because they were the angry brothers. Filled with their own self-righteousness. But Jesus is demonstrating. These are lost people that need to be found. And God loves them so intensely. And he rejoices so greatly when they receive him. And so we see that God searches for the lost. He rejoices when they're found. And he receives those who return. Amen.

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And so as we consider these things, understand there's two kinds of people. There's two kinds of people here. There's two kinds of people in the world. There's lost people and there's found people. Now a lost person might think, you know, hey, I'm not that important to God. I'm nobody. But God notices that loss. He notices when one is missing. If it's one out of a hundred or one out of ten or one out of two.

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In fact, he feels the loss as if it's one out of two. The older and the younger brother demonstrated by the prodigal son. He loves each one individually in that way. And lost people are lost people in different ways. Some of them wander from the sheepfold.

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Maybe it wasn't intentional necessarily. It was like, oh, there's some green grass over there. It wasn't like, hey, I want to walk away from this flock. No, it was just like, I wonder what that's over there. You know, just kind of caught up, distracted, not paying attention. And all of a sudden, he looks around, like, where's the flock? Sometimes lost people are like the coin. How do you lose a coin? It's not by any intention. It's mostly just by circumstance, just by accident.

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Someone bumped into the counter that it was on. It happened to fall off and then it traveled over to there. It rolled that way. It happened. It just kind of, just circumstances happened. Fell through the cracks. It's unintentional. Some people are lost in that way too. They didn't try to wander off. They didn't mean to wander off. They didn't mean to. It just, there was this bump in the road. And then there was that catastrophe over there. And then it was just this, and it's like, well here I am lost in the cracks.

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I don't even know where I'm at. But God's searching for you. And then there's the lost who are like the prodigal son. They say, you know what? I know who I am. I know who my father is. But I want to do what I want to do. And I'm going to go and live my life that I want to live. But the interesting thing about all these different ways that people are lost, illustrated by these parables, is that God receives and rejoices each one. He receives and He rejoices each one. This is the heart of God towards people.

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And again, this is something that I believe God wants to stir up within our hearts. That we would see people as he does. That we wouldn't be the angry older brothers. That we wouldn't be the lost people either. But that we would aim to be well pleasing to God. And that means, first of all, being right with God and walking with God. And that's cause for him to have great celebration.

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But then also, as we walk with God, again, there's lost people and then there's found people. And I would suggest to you what God wants to stir up within us, within me personally, within all of us as a body, is that as found people, well, we need to be part of the search for the lost. You know, there's a saying, forgiven people are forgiving people.

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Because God forgave us, we forgive one another. In the same way, I would say found people are finding people. That it needs to be our heart, that we need to recognize the heart of our God, that we would not be so caught up and consumed with our own lives, but that we would have God's heart towards people and realize how important each one is to Him. Now, if you were to ask us, I'm sure there'd be plenty of people who'd be like, yeah, it's not such a big deal if they don't make it to heaven. Not, I wouldn't miss them in the world, you know, it just wouldn't bother me.

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But that's not how God feels. And we need to repent of those kinds of hearts. We need to be searching. Jesus, of course, is the good shepherd and he searches for the sheep. But remember that he's also delegated some of that responsibility. We, of course, know it as the Great Commission, Matthew 28. Go and make disciples. Why did Jesus give that command? Because he loves lost people. Go and make disciples.

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As Richard did a wonderful job last week teaching that God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This is the ministry that God has given to us. The ministry of reuniting people with God. And so Paul says, therefore we make it our aim to be well pleasing. Be well pleasing to God. Be finding people. And so as we finish up this morning, I just want to pray for us.

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This is not to lay a big burden on like, hey, you guys are supposed to be going and doing this and do that and do that and do that and do that. And if you don't, you should feel terrible about yourself because God hates you because you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. No, no, that's not what this is all about. This is, Jesus has pulled back the veil and shown us this is the heart of God. And so what I want to pray this morning as we finish up is that we would see the heart of God and then that we would imitate the heart of God.

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God, give us your heart. Give us that kind of love for people. The rest will follow, but it has to begin with the heart. It can't begin with, here's what you need to do. Go and do all of these. That's not where it can, it can't begin there. If it begins there, we're going to end up like the older brother, angry and bitter. No, no, it has to begin with the heart. Let's pray for God to give us his heart towards lost people.

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Heavenly Father, as we consider what you've revealed to us this morning, your incredible love for us, it's amazing. And we are so unworthy, we are so undeserving, but you give it nonetheless. We're not able even to be called your sons. We're not worthy of that. We don't deserve to be called your daughters. But Lord, as we've come to you, you've embraced us.

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And you've given us the right to become children of God. Oh, what amazing grace that you've given to us that we might be your children. And God, as we consider what you've done for our own selves, Lord, we also look around to the people around us in this room, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces. Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes to be able to see the way that you see all of these people around us.

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God, I pray that you would rip away the calluses, the anger, the bitterness, that you would remove those things from our hearts that, Lord, that we might be sensitive to your heart. Lord, help us to feel what you feel for people around us. Lord, because we've been found and we're so blessed to have been found. We're so blessed. We really didn't find you. You found us. And so, Lord, stir up within us that heart, that love, that

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that great compassion that you have for people around us. Lord, that we might become like you, excited, celebrating, overwhelmed with joy over each one who repents. Make us like you, Lord. Give us your heart. I pray, Lord, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. Empower us. Lord, connect us with you like never before, that we would see

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with your eyes, that we would hear with your ears, that we would speak with your words, that we would have your heart towards the people around us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.