Once was Lost, Now am Found | Luke 15 | Gary Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] luke chapter 15 if you have your bibles there now luke 15 is about three parables that jesus teaches with one single theme that ties all three parables together now for those of you who are new to church or to bible terms let me just define a parable a parable is the use of an illustration often taken from everyday life to communicate a deeper moral truth or a spiritual lesson it's a tool that jesus used to get across a particular point that might otherwise not be so obvious at least on the surface and the particular point that jesus is going to make with these three parables here in luke 15 listen is that all people are lost spiritually speaking all people are lost and those who are found have a role in helping those who are lost that's what these parables are are about but the fact is that some people don't know that they're lost uh some know that they're lost but they don't want to be found and still others want to be found but they feel too ashamed or confused about how to get there and so that's what these three parables are about and thus they need to be understood together and so here they are i'm just going to throw the the summary of these parables on the screen for you parable number one is about the parable of the lost sheep that's verses one through seven parable number two is about the lost coin that's verses eight through ten and then the third and the longest and the most familiar of the parables verses 11 to 32 is the parable of the lost son otherwise known as the prodigal son now too often that last parable about the prodigal son is taught all by itself it's the most popular one of the three but it can only be best understood in light of the first two so we're going to be looking at all three together today and i'm going to read the first two before we pray and then later on in the study i'll read the last one but let's take a look together in our bibles here luke 15 starting at verse 1. the first one is the parable of the lost sheep this is jesus speaking it says then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him and the pharisees and scribes complained saying this man receives sinners and eats with them and so he spoke this parable to them saying what man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it and when he is found that he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them rejoice with me for i have found my sheep which was lost and then jesus says i say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance the next parable is the parable of the lost coin verse 8. jesus says or what woman having ten silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it and when she is founded she calls your friends and neighbors together saying rejoice for me for i have found the peace which i lost likewise i say to you there is joy in the presence of the angels of god over one sinner who repents let's pause there and pray father we commit our bible study to you now we pray that you would open the eyes of our heart to see what you would want us to glean from these parables thank you lord that you taught these things we pray that we would hear it as if we were standing there in the first century listening to you directly say these things lord open the eyes of our hearts that we might understand what you're saying through these parables we love you and we thank you together for the opportunity to gather here and to worship you use your word now in our lives we pray in jesus name and everybody said amen so these three parables have several things in common four things in particular i'm going to throw them up on the screen there for you the first thing is that they all represent different types of people now how do we know that it's not literally about a sheep or about a coin but all three are in fact about people and the answer is because when the lost sheep is found and the lost coin is found jesus says the same thing about both of those things he says that heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents that's what he says about the sheep in verse seven that's what he says about the coin in verse 10. so in other words he personifies the sheep and the coin because these are pictures of people now obviously the last parable about the lost son is already personified that's about a person but all three have to do with people who because of their sinful condition are lost that's the second point that all three parables have in common all are lost verse 6 verse 9 verse 24 jesus uses that word to describe the sheep the coin and the son and it has to do with it speaks of one's estrangement from god their lost condition apart from god number three all are worth finding that's the point of each story here that every life is incredibly valuable to god and he wants all to be found or saved so then why does it take jesus three different parables about a sheep a coin and a person to communicate one particular message because number four all require different methods to reach and the reason that's important to understand is because all are at different places in their estrangement from god now we'll see it as we make our way through these three parables but jesus is trying to help us understand the lost condition of man but that people are at different places in terms of their estrangement with god in other words as i said at the beginning of the bible study some people are lost and they know it they don't care some people are lost and they don't even know that they're lost some people are lost and they want to be rescued but they're too ashamed they're too embarrassed they're too convicted about their lost condition so these three different parables paint a picture of something similar which is that mankind is lost apart from christ and everybody needs to be found and the way that you're found is when you come into relationship with jesus but that everybody's at a little bit of a different place in regards to their estrangement with god and so jesus is going to illustrate three different types of people through three different parables here and as we walk through these i want you to notice with me that the way that you reach someone who is lost like a sheep is different from the way that you reach someone who was lost like a coin which is different from the way that you reach someone who was lost like a prodigal son and i want you to also notice as we make our way through these three parables that you're going to see yourself here somewhere because you are either lost or you've been found you're one or the other every single one of us is either lost or we have since been found because all of us originally are lost and so you might see yourself in this story or somewhere either as somebody who identifies with being lost or someone who identifies with one who has been found because now you have a relationship with jesus and if you have been found now having a relationship with jesus part of these parables i think instructs us about our involvement and our role in helping people who are lost to become found so let's make our way through these parables the first one here we go is the parable of the lost sheep i'll read it again if you look in your bibles at verse three so he spoke this parable to them saying what man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it and when he is found that he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them rejoice with me for i have found my sheep which was lost i say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance so this first parable here is about the parable of the sheep the sheep knows it's lost but it can't find its way back home so jesus teaches this parable here about a shepherd that has a flock of a hundred sheep one has strayed so a good shepherd is going to leave the 99 where they are to go after the one who is lost to rescue this one lost sheep now if you were with us through our study of psalm 23 a few years ago i pointed out a lot of things about sheep so i'll just repeat a few of their qualities some of their qualities are very endearing and some of them are just like you want to shake your head and go man these are some dumb animals let's just let's just be real they are some dumb animals but but sheep otherwise are these friendly little frolicky woolly things you know they're no threat to anybody a sheep is not a they're not ferocious they don't have claws they don't have fangs they're very docile i mean think about it think about it if if you were to hear on the news that a truckload of tigers uh turned over on route 7 and they all escaped we'd all run in our houses and shelter ourselves because we would be afraid to go out right but if on the other hand there was a news story that said hey a truckload of sheep turned over on route 7 and they've run wild throughout leesburg you'd get your kids and you'd go outside to find them because they're no threat they're not ferocious they're tender woolly little creatures they mean no harm they're followers they're not leaders so when one goes off a cliff they all go off a cliff that's just their nature they never walk in a straight line sheep never walk in a straight line they're always looking over their shoulder for predators so if you watch sheep they walk in zigzagged configuration never in a straight line always paranoid about where the predator is for good reason because they are defenseless creatures and they can sense danger 1200 to 1500 yards away they have wide angle vision and they have a keen sense of smell they can locate water by smell but they will never drink running water they will only drink from water that is still you know psalm 23 he leaves me besides still waters that's the nature of a sheep sheep will not drink water from a running river the reason is because they're scared they're scared if they were to trip and fall in if you're wearing a hundred sweaters you're gonna drown and they know this so they're like we're not getting near running water only if it's like out of a bucket or something still okay so these are sheep funny dumb creatures but one of their issues is they easily stray and they get lost then they can't find their way home and so because they don't have a good sense of direction when they get lost when they stray they realize that they're lost and here's what sheep do they lie down and they just ah you know they're just waiting to be rescued and thus this parable here comes the good shepherd finding that one stray sheep to bring it back to the flock now there are some people like this who know that they are lost they know that they've messed up their lives nobody has to tell them they are haunted by some of the poor choices and sinful decisions that they've made over the course of their life and they feel terrible about it and nobody has to tell them because they feel convicted enough on their own and so sometimes they get to such a place of despair and anguish and embarrassment and shame over their sin that they just kind of lie down and in effect give up they know they're lost they just need somebody to help them to rescue them what they need is someone who will find them and give them grace and lovingly carry them to the lord paul would write in galatians 6 1-2 he says brothers if someone is caught in a sin you who are spiritual should restore him gently but watch yourself or you also may be tempted listen carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of christ there is this responsibility we have at times to like carry each other's burdens to help each other through difficulties and there are some people like sheep who are very well aware of their own sinfulness and they are ashamed about it and they know they're lost they just need someone to help them find home again when paul talked about in second corinthians 2 restoring a guy who had fallen into sexual sin but then he repented he felt ashamed of his sin paul said in second corinthians 2 7 to 8 he said you ought to forgive and comfort him so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow i urge you therefore to reaffirm your love for him see there are some people who are under such conviction about what they've done they don't need someone to wag a finger they don't need someone to say i told you so they don't need someone to heep condemnation because they're already under excessive sorrow they're like a sheep that knows that they're lost they just need someone who will come alongside of them and love them enough to help them find jesus and to to know what it is to be found the lost sheep in our lives need tender loving care they need an encouraging word they need compassion they know that they're lost they're too afraid or ashamed or confused about how to get home and so in this parable jesus says carry them you know the picture that he mentions here in the parable is has been put to a painting you know we've seen these shepherds with the little lambs around their necks and you know this is the picture of course of our lord and how he tenderly you know carries us but i think this also is indicative of the way that we need to be helping people to be found because they're already convicted by their sins they're like a sheep that's lost and done how to find their way home and we can play a role in helping people to be found the second parable here is the parable of the lost coin jesus goes on in verse 8 and he says or what woman having ten silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it and when she is founded she calls your friends and neighbors together saying rejoice with me for i have found the peace which i lost likewise i say to you there is joy in the presence of the angels of god over one sinner who repents so here again the second parable is the parable of the lost coin now it doesn't know it's lost but it has great value to its owner and so here's this other scenario where jesus says that there's a woman again this is an illustration it's a parable so there's this woman she has 10 coins the greek word in this story is drachma a drachma was a coin that was worth a day's wage she has 10 of them and she's lost one now in those days a groom if he had the means would give to his bride on their wedding day a necklace with 10 drachma 10 coins and she would either wear it around her neck or often times in those ancient cultures that she would wear it as like a headband dangling from her forehead but it was kind of symbolic of like today when we you know exchanged rings it was almost like that for the giving of a of a necklace like that from a groom to his bride and so that's probably what is she possesses here the ten drachmas is probably this necklace with 10 and one has fallen off and so she is searching high and low for it because again it's it's a day's wage think about what you make in a day if you lose that that's worth recovering so it has value and it has sentimental value as well so it's worth looking for it's worth searching and so she is turning her house upside down looking for it she's got her little oil lamp out she's probably down on her hands and knees looking around the floor with this lamp trying to find where is this coin maybe lifting up the edge of a of a rug maybe you know looking in the chairs i go where have where have i lost this one coin and when she finds it she calls her friends and neighbors and says rejoice i found my coin that i lost now look a coin is an inanimate object it doesn't know it's lost but that doesn't change the fact that it is lost and that it is worth finding because it has great worth to its owner and i want you to see the parallel here you have great worth to your owner your owner is god almighty and he knows when you are lost even if you don't there are people in this world and you might be one of them you're not broken you're not convicted about much of anything you you don't even want to be found because you don't even think that you're lost to begin with it's very different from the first parable first parable that you know the sheep knows that that that it's lost it just wants to be rescued the coin though is an inanimate object there are people in the world who are lost as lost can be but they don't know it and nevertheless that does not diminish the value that they are to god because jesus died for all the reality is that there are a lot of lost people who just don't know that they are lost and they need us to help introduce them to the good news of jesus so that then the light bulb can go off and they realize oh i've been lost this whole time and jesus died on the cross for my sins oh and i have value to my creator yes and indeed this is why christ died for us we're valuable enough to die for and therefore we're valuable enough to pray for those people who are lost and don't even know it and don't even want to be found and so god says basically through this parable he says go after them go after them they have value to the owner search high and low for those who are lost until they are found you and i have a role in this in fact in jude's little epistle jude verses 22 and 23 he writes be merciful to those who doubt and snatch others from the fire and save them that's on us jude is saying there are some people who are in danger of the fires of hell go after them snatch them from the fires they are lost as lost can be but they don't know but yet they have value to their creator so it's upon us to go after the people who are lost introduce into the good news of jesus that they might understand how they can be found how they can be saved through faith in jesus mark 16 15. this is why jesus said to us go into all the world preach the good news to all creation this is the mandate that we have to go help lost people understand how lost they are so that they'll cry out for a savior there are some coins out there that don't know how lost they are until they hear about jesus from you and when they do and when they respond jesus said oh all the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents well the last parable is no doubt the most familiar and is also the longest of the three i am going to read it so please indulge me it's verses 11 to 32. it's the parable of the lost son otherwise known as the prodigal son verse 11. then 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 falls to me so he divided them to his livelihood so he divided to them his livelihood and not many days after the younger son gathered all together journeyed to a far country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living but when he had spent all there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want and then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine and he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything and when he came to himself now listen that means he came to his senses when he came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and despair and i perish with hunger i will arise and go to my father and will say to him father i have sinned against heaven and before you and i am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired servants 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 in his neck and kissed him and the son said to him father i have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring in 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 now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house he heard music and dancing and 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 but he was angry and would not go in therefore his father came out and pleaded with him so we answered and said to his father lo these many years i've been serving you i never transgressed your commandment at any time and yet you never gave me a young goat that i might make merry with my friends but as soon as the son of yours comes who has devoured your livelihood and with harlots you killed the fat of calf for him and he said to him son you are always with me and all that i have is yours it was right that we should make mary and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found here's the last parable it's the parable of the lost son he knows he's lost but he doesn't want to be found until a crisis hits now again this is probably the most familiar of the three parables so many of you have probably heard great teachings on this parable in summary it's basically about this dad who has two sons the one son says give me my inheritance early the dad obliges gives the younger son his inheritance the younger son goes off to another country wild party living prostitutes you know he's hooking up with people he's he's getting drunk he's just living the high life but then he runs out of money and then he realizes hey i'm destitute um i'm in a bad place my father's servants have it better than i do um and he even you know tries to get a job with somebody in the country where he is and you know he ends up just with the pigs and and he's like this is ridiculous i i just need to you know say i'm sorry and go back home and and eat crow and and ask dad for forgiveness and that's what he does then you have the the older son who's mad because he's like hey you know i've been faithful and i've been serving you dad and i haven't left and gone partying and off the rails and i've been the true son and yet you didn't slaughter the calf for me i didn't have my friends over here you know to have a party and you didn't put the ring on my finger and put a nice little bathrobe on me all this stuff so you see family friction and turmoil and you know most of the time that this parable is taught it is taught from the standpoint and and i'm agreeing with this i'm just saying this is that it's taught from the standpoint that we are all like the prodigal child that because of our sinful nature we we've been estranged from from our heavenly father but then when we repent and we and we say that we're sorry we confess our sins and our our father in heaven stands with open arms ready to receive us and to forgive us and and treats us better than we deserve because that's the merciful nature of our father okay and that's how this parable is taught and that's the emphasis and which and it's fine but but there's another tact i'm gonna take with this third parable because i think it has everything to do with the context of the previous two that it's often lost when they're not all three taught together because i think that this parable here this last parable is also a picture of the approach that we are supposed to take with a prodigal person who is at a different place than the sheep or the coin now think about in the context of jesus is building here these different parables to communicate one one central theme which is we're all lost and we all need to be found separated from god because of our sin we're all lost so we need a relationship with jesus but the fact is that they're different people at different places in their estrangement so again like the sheep there are people who are well aware that they're lost convicted by their sin tormented by it feeling terrible over it they just need somebody to help them then there's the coin people who don't even know they're lost and have no understanding of their value to their owner to god and they just need to come to that understanding and then you have this prodigal son here very different from the sheep in the coin the prodigal son is lost and happy to be there and has no interest in being found he's at a place where it's bad but and at the moment he likes exactly where he is living exactly how he's living doing exactly what he's doing until a crisis hits and this is very different from the other the other parables and for those of you who have a prodigal in your life a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter or prodigal friend who has wandered from the lord you're heartbroken over that person your heart aches over that person and you're tormented about what to do because you think to yourself if i do too much for them then you will be seen as enabling them and if you do too little for them then you will be seen as being unloving so you're trying to figure out you know how do i help this prodigal get back to the lord and what's my role and what am i supposed to do because if i do too much i'm going to be like enabling them if i do too little it's going to be unloving towards them and by the way how much is too much and how little is too little and here's another question why is it that in the same family raised by the same parents with the same values two kids can turn out so very different some of you know exactly what i'm talking about the short answer to that is free will and a sin nature that's the short answer you can do the best you possibly can as a parent and you have one of your kids who loves jesus and is living in such a a godly way and you can have another kid who's off the rails in the world wants nothing to do with church or jesus and you're like i i use the same methods for both kids i don't know what but every person every child grows up and every individual has a free will and has a sin nature and how one responds to god with all of that will determine whether or not they draw near to god or they reject god that becomes an individual's expression of free will and their own nature right and so sometimes you can do the best you can as a parent and and you can't you can't fix that kid that is off the rail because they have their own sin nature and they have their own free will what i find interesting about this third parable here that almost no one talks about that is different from the previous two listen to me on this the shepherd went after the sheep that was lost the woman went after the coin that was lost but no one is to go after the prodigal son who is lost you think about this in this third parable nobody's going after this kid the dad stays home waiting for that child no doubt praying for that child but doesn't go after that child why because when someone wants to be lost is content to be lost actually likes being lost it will inevitably take a crisis before they want to be found and there's nothing you can do about it how many of you can understand what i'm talking about right now you have tried all you can to reach someone who is a prodigal and they don't want to be found you know what it's going to take it's going to take a crisis and when you love a prodigal you don't want them to hit rock bottom because it's painful and you'll do almost anything so that your friend or your son or your daughter can avoid hitting crisis level and i know parents who are so desperate to see their prodigal son or daughter in a right relationship with god and out of a heart of love this is you know that's that's where it stems from the parent who loves the kid who's you know off the rails and away from god but it's so it's so sad to see the parents who will end up pleading with their kids begging their kids running after their kids bailing their kids out of jail i don't mean that figuratively i mean literally throwing money to their kids trying to help with this and help with that and sometimes tragically even tolerating sin that you allow sometimes even under your own roof because you think it will help listen to me it never does it will never help sometimes people have to get to the bottom of them of themselves and eat with the pigs before they will come to their senses and you better not interfere with that because sometimes in an effort to try to do the loving thing we actually interfere with what god is trying to do in their lives and we sometimes just have to give them over to the lord and say lord now listen this is a sincere prayer and i want you to hear me on this and i and you might say well this is very dramatic what you're about to say no because some of you have prayed these kind of prayers you know exactly what i'm talking about so this is what this is what you end up doing lord please bring a crisis into their life a crisis that is strong enough to get their attention to bring them back to you but not enough to kill him you've prayed that haven't you lord short of killing them short of something that will be so awakening that it would kill them lord please bring a crisis that will return them to you so sometimes all you can do is let them know that you're a true friend or a loving parent and that you are not going to keep rescuing them but that when they hit rock bottom you'll be there for them like the father in this story like our father in heaven to welcome us with open arms and so what do you do for that prodigal well you pray and you wait for them you pray and you wait for them the sheep you go after the coin you go after prodigal son you pray and you wait for that friend son or daughter to come home and let god do his work in their hearts because sometimes it's going to take a crisis to bring them to their senses and there's nothing you can do about it john newton in the writing of that great hymn of our faith amazing grace he understood this whole concept of being lost and found because the words in that hymn see he says amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me i once was lost but now am found was blind but now i see maybe you're here today or you're hearing this later and you recognize your lost condition you need to get saved today for others of you you know by the grace of god you've been found and jesus has saved you and so you're thankful for your salvation but because he's done that for you he wants you to also help those who are lost to be found and so as we close our service i'm going to offer those of you who want to come into a relationship with jesus to be found today to pray a simple prayer and so would you bow your heads with me as we close our service in prayer father in heaven i thank you for this time and your word these parables jesus that reminds us that we're all lost without you and we all need jesus as our savior and i pray right now for people who would recognize their lost condition and how much they need to be saved today there's no accident that they've heard this bible study this is the day lord for you to help them to know that today is the day for them to be found so i'm going to pause in my prayer and i'm just going to offer you the opportunity if you don't know jesus today to to get saved to be found to move from your lost condition to a saved condition in a relationship with jesus and you can do that by praying and opening your heart and asking him to become your lord and savior today so so just do that right where you're seated i'm gonna lead in this word of prayer if you're watching online you can pray this prayer with me just pray this prayer just say lord jesus i thank you that you died on a cross for my sins i'm tired of being lost today is the day of my salvation thank you for finding me lord thank you for saving me i confess i'm a sinner like everyone else i ask you to forgive me of my sins to come into my life to be my lord and savior i surrender my life to you right now by faith that this day forward i'm now numbered among those who are found no longer lost by faith in jesus now i'm also going to pray this because some of you have a prodigal that you're desperate for father you know those who are here whose hearts are breaking over a prodigal we pray in jesus name for you to move those individuals who are so estranged from you to a place where they finally come to their senses and lord often it takes a crisis and we pray that you would be gentle with that crisis lord but it would be strong enough to awaken them so they would run to you they would run to their father in heaven with open arms that they might be saved so work on the prodigals lord work on their hearts today and bring them to that place of full surrender once and for all and lord we thank you in advance and i praise you for those who prayed that prayer earlier with me lord the ones that you would call today such as should be saved we give you praise and glory for our salvation a free gift through faith in jesus christ we love you we praise you in jesus name and everyone said amen listen if you prayed that prayer with me before you go they're going to be pastors down front they'll be glad to give you a bible to remember today's decision and if you prayed that prayer online and you want a bible if you text in to 703-844-9969 we'll send you a bible as well god bless you all we'll see you soon god bless you have a great day

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers

Id: 4gMS7OPntgU

Length: 40min 23sec (2423 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 13 2021