Introduction: Great crowds of outsiders came to listen to Christ. These were men and women who through their family associations, their occupations, their social status, or their life styles were looked down upon with immense contempt by the more rigid and sanctimonious Scribes and Pharisees. Having been scorned by the religious crowd as hopelessly lost, these outsiders found that while Christ’s teaching never excused or made allowance for their sin in any form, His message intensely empathetic and loving was full of hope for the hopeless. The religious teachers of Israel were indignant and enraged at Christ’s acceptance and apparent preference for these "sinners". In answer to their grumbling and moaning Christ presents three parables as vindication of His actions. The three parables demonstrate a number of truths that we should all take note of. In these parables, we see the condition or state of those away from God. We observe God’s great love and anxiety for sinners. We get a glimpse of heaven scene upon the restoration of a soul.
I. The Parable of the Lost Sheep (verses 4-7)
A. The sheep was lost - apollumi - to perish, destroy, to lose, to be cut off.
B. The sheep was lost in the wilderness, with no protection, in danger(vs. 4)
1. While the wilderness might hold out enticements of greener pastures or lush vegetation, but a wilderness is a dangerous place, unlike a fenced pasture. There are many uncertainties in the wilderness. There is no security, only danger.
2. The wilderness is a picture of the world, with its allurements and dangers. Just as the wilderness held fascination to an aimless and straying sheep with its superficially greener pastures, the world allures the sinner with the excitement and pleasures
3. Every temptation that comes to us is packaged as a good.
4. Tacitus - Things forbidden have a secret charm.
5. As the wandering sheep does not realize its situation and continues on until it is caught either in the deep ravines and crevices among the jagged rocks or in the in the thick underbrush and pricking thorns which will eventually suck its very life out, so man wanders in the wilderness of sin oblivious to the peril and ultimate destruction that will befall him.
6. Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
7. Most of us are familiar with the old story of how to boil a frog. You don’t put him in a pot of boiling water. You drop him in the boiling water and he’ll jump out before he’s injured. So you put him in a pot of cold water, and he’s perfectly comfortable. Then you put him on the stove, and little by little the water gets warm. It’s very pleasant at first. Then it gets to Jacuzzi level, and he begins to be a little alarmed. Finally, when it’s boiling, it’s too late. So often we are like that frog. We get enticed by the world and it’s oh so pleasant at first. And then it gets a little warmer and it’s pleasanter yet. And then one day we realize the danger: But it is too late.
C. The sheep was sought by the Shepherd (vs. 4)
1. The Shepherd saw the value of one sheep and went after it. He was gripped with concern for it. He could have said, "It is only one and I have 99 others. I don’t need to go looking for it." But he didn’t he loved his sheep.
2. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believesin him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
3. Luke 19:10 "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
4. The late venerable and godly Dr. Archibald Alexander of Princeton had been a preacher of Christ for sixty years and a professor of divinity for forty. On his deathbed he was heard to say to a friend, "All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass-Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners."
D. The sheep once found brought joy (vs. 5-7)
1. The shepherd called his neighbors together. He wanted everyone to know that the lost sheep had been found.
2. Ring the bells of heaven!
There is joy today,
For a soul returning from the wild!
3. Converted souls are strings in the concert of God’s joy.
II. The Parable of the Lost Coin (verses 8-10)
A. The coin was lost (vs. 8)
1. The coin referred to here is a small silver piece worth, in our money, about 16 cents. The woman had ten of these, so the total value of her wealth was $1.60. That is not very much, but it was more than simply some money to this woman because it had great sentimental value. We learn from those who have studied the customs of ancient days that this was part of her dowry. When a woman married, she took money that she had accumulated throughout her life and sewed it into a headdress, which she wore on her wedding day. She used ten silver coins -- which is why our Lord picked this number to illustrate the story. Therefore, these ten coins were of tremendous significance to her as a woman. They symbolized her dowry. They represented not just the value of the money, but all that she had to contribute to the marriage. This headdress was of such value to the women of that time that, by law, it was impossible for it to be taken from them -- even to pay a debt.
2. It had not ceased to be a coin, but was out of circulation and rendered no service to anyone. Everyone who is not active in the work of God is like this coin. Useless for any purpose that God might use them for.
3. James 2:14 "What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?"
B. The coin was lost in the house with no purpose and in darkness (vs. 8)
1. There are millions like this today in Christian homes -- many even in this congregation. We have raised them in our Christian homes. We have taught them the Scriptures as best we knew how. We have helped them to memorize Scripture. We have taught them how to know the Lord, and how to walk with him. But, as they grow up, if we are honest, observant, and sensitive as parents, there may come a time when, in the absence of any positive evidence to the contrary, we must face the realization that these children are not really saved, are not Christians, are not born again. They are lost -- and lost at home
2. While the sheep wandered away in ignorance as result of the lure of the wilderness, the coin an inanimate object was lost by neglect.
3. A 64-year-old woman, whose decomposed body was found in her dilapidated Houston home, was discovered frozen to death for five months. She was forgotten all winter and spring by neighbors and family members. Neighbors described her as someone who "didn’t have anything to do with anybody, and nobody had anything to do with her." This occurred after her children had grown up and moved away and then her husband’s death. She had two children, one of whom lived about 10 miles from his mother’s house.
C. The coin was sought until found (vs. 8)
1. If people lose their money, they go to extreme measures to find it. Why, when their soul is in a lost condition, do they not take the same measures to recover it?
2. The coin was lost in the darkness. The woman lit a candle. She swept the house, searching diligently until it was found.
3. Psalms 119:105 "NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
D. The coin once found brought joy (vs. 9-10)
III. The Parable of Two Sons (verses 11-32)
A. The younger son broke fellowship with his family (vs. 13)
1. He was selfish - "Give me my inheritance"
2. He deliberately chose to leave.
3. 2 Timothy 4:10 "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia."
4. Are you backslidden now? I’m going to help you answer that question. A backslidden Christian is any Christian who is not as close to Jesus as he use to be. Was there ever a time in your life when you were more consecrated to the Lord than you are now? Was there ever a period in your life when you felt the presence of God more than you feel it now? Was there a moment in your life when your love for Jesus Christ was more real than it is this minute? If so, you need a revival! - Jerry Vines
B. The younger son wasted his living in the world (vs. 13)
1. Ecclesiastes 9:18b "... one sinner destroys much good."
2. Danish proverb - After pleasant scratching comes painful smarting.
3. James 1:14-15 "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. [15] Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death."
C. The younger son suffered because of his actions (vs. 14-16)
1. He suffered hunger, enslavement and humiliation
2. Galatians 6:7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap."
3. The sins you do by two and two, ye must pay for, one by one. -- Rudyard Kipling
4. "Those who give themselves up to the service of sin enter the palace of pleasure by wide portals of marble, which conceal the low wicket behind which leads into the fields, where they are in a short time sent to feed swine." -- James D. Burns
D. The younger son remembered, returned and repented (vs. 17-19)
1. Loss of privilege and was in despair.
2. Alan Redpath - God will never plant the seed of his life upon the soil of a hard, unbroken spirit. He will only plant that seed where the conviction of his Spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy.
3. 1 Kings 22:17 "And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace."
4. Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
5. Psalms 51:12 "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit
E. The Father restored the Younger Son with rejoicing (vs. 20-24)
1. God will take nine steps toward us, but he will not take the tenth. He will incline us to repent, but he cannot do our repenting for us
2. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, God can see repentance coming a great way off and is there to meet it; the repentance is the reconciliation."
