Luke 15 is one extended parable in three parts: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In this message, we focus on the lost sheep and the lost coin, and see some fascinating truths – the total inability of the sinner, the sovereign grace displayed in our salvation, and the joy of God in His work of redemption. In this entire chapter Jesus is showing the scribes and Pharisees the Father’s heart of joy in seeking and saving the lost, which was diametrically opposed to their own heart which avoided contact with sinners at all costs. Do you look more like Jesus or the Pharisees?
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The Joy of the Seeking Savior
Luke 15:1-10
In Luke 19:10, Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Those words explain and describe the purpose for His coming from heaven into this world. This explains His mission. This is what His life on earth was all about. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Perhaps no where is this mission better illustrated than in Luke 15.
Verse 3 says that He told them this parable. It appears that the entirety of Luke 15 is a single parable. However, this parable has three parts. All three parts teach the same basic truths. The first part describes the lost sheep. The second part describes the lost coin. The third part describes the lost son. Oh, I know that we like to call the third part the prodigal son. However, he is never called the prodigal son. But in verse 24, the father says that he was lost and has been found.
What are the themes that tie these three parts of the parable together? They can be summed up in three words: Lost – Found – Joy. Something was lost. Somebody else seeks and finds it. The result is great joy.
Now, let’s take a look at the occasion of the parable. Verse 1-2, “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” Luke 14 ends with Jesus saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 15 opens with, “all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to hear Him.” Who were the ones who had hears to hear? Not the scribes and Pharisees. It was the tax collectors and sinners! These were the most notorious of men in the first century. Tax collectors were about the most hated and despised people in Israel. They were looked upon as traitors and thieves. They were seen as traitors, because they had sold themselves out to the Romans, the enemy of the Jews, to collect taxes for them. They were looked upon as thieves, because they were very unscrupulous as to how much they collected. The Romans didn’t care how much tax they collected, as long as they got their cut. Whatever they collected over and above what the Romans got was theirs to keep. That’s why tax collectors tended to be rich, like Zacheus. The word “sinners” refers to the most notorious of sinners – prostitutes, thieves, thugs, murderers. These people were the outcasts of society. They were the riff raff, the scum of Israel. They were cursed by God’s Law. They were condemned by the religious establishment, and spurned and avoided at all costs by the holy men of Israel.
Yet, these were the ones coming to hear Jesus, and Jesus was receiving them and eating with them! To eat with someone was looked on as a sign of friendship and approval. When the scribes and Pharisees saw Jesus doing this, they came unglued. They grumbled about it. They couldn’t, for the life of them, understand how someone who was purportedly a holy rabbi, associate with the likes of them. There was no greater contrast than between the tax collectors and sinners and the scribes and Pharisees. The word “Pharisee” means Separated One. The Pharisees prided themselves on their scrupulous obedience to God’s Law in every external jot and tittle. In fact, it was a common proverb of the day, “If only two people get into heaven, one will be a scribe, and the other a Pharisee.” These folks were the religious elite of Israel. They were the cream of the crop. They were renowned for their meticulous obedience to God’s law. They believed that they had worked for heaven, had earned it, and nobody was going to keep them from it. And one of the things they had done to earn heaven, was to avoid the very kinds of people that Jesus was welcoming! I can just imagine them looking down their noses, raising their eyebrows, and making that sneering remark, “this man receives sinners and eats with them!”
Verse 3 says, “So He told them this parable.” The reason for Jesus telling them this parable was because of the situation in verses 1-2. In this parable Jesus is going to justify His actions in receiving and eating with sinners. At the same time He is going to condemn their legalistic, self-righteous actions in avoiding the tax collectors and sinners. You see that in verse 4: “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine…” It is as if Jesus were to say, “You are condemning Me for receiving and eating with these notorious sinners. But what man among you, given this situation, wouldn’t do this? Jesus is setting forth in this three-part parable, precisely His situation. Then, He asks them how they can condemn Him for doing this, when they would do exactly the same thing were they in His position. If you were a shepherd that lost a sheep, you would leave the 99, and go looking for the one lost sheep until you found it. If you were a woman who had lost one of your 10 coins, you would go looking for it until you found it. Now, that’s what I’m doing, yet you condemn Me for doing what you would do yourselves.
Notice also in this parable that Jesus pictures both the tax collectors and sinners, but also the Pharisees and scribes. The sinners are pictured as the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. The Pharisees are pictured as the 99 sheep, the 9 coins, and the Elder Son.
Notice one more thing here. The three parts of this parable show progression. The parable begins with 1 sheep out of 100 getting lost. The next little vignette shows 1 coin out of 10 getting lost. So, here we have gone from 1% loss, to 10% loss. But then, the third part shows 1 son out of 2 being lost. That’s 50%! And, if the truth were known, both sons were lost. That’s 100%. So Jesus is showing us progression. If you are a rancher, and 1 of your livestock dies each year, that’s not too bad. You expect at least a 1% loss. However, if you are a woman with only 10 coins, and one of them is lost, that’s much more difficult to take. But if you are a father, and one of your two sons is lost, that’s unbearable!
This morning I’m going to use three words as our outline: Lost – Found – Joy. Let’s first, examine this theme of Lostness.
1. Lost
Meaning of Lost. The Greek word apollumi, translated here as “lost” has a wide range of meaning. When we speak of something being lost, we think of something that we are searching for and trying to find. We say, “I lost my car keys, and it took forever to find them!” We mean that our keys were fine, but we just didn’t know where they were. However, sometimes we use the word “lost” in a different sense. The Giants are down 10-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and we say, “Well, we lost the game.” Now, do we mean, we are out searching for the game, and can’t find it anywhere? No, of course not. We mean that the game has passed into a state of unsalvageability. It is irrecoverable. It has perished. This is what the Bible means when it speaks of a “lost” sinner. The Greek word apollumi is translated as “perish” in John 3:16, and as “dying” in Luke 15:17. In Mk. 2:22, Jesus said that you don’t put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost. Now, Jesus doesn’t mean here that you can’t find the wine that spills from the burst skins. He means that it is unsalvageable. It is ruined. And that is the meaning here in Luke 15. Jesus is speaking of the Ruin of man, because of the Fall. A lost sinner is not like us when we went out into the woods, and then tried and tried to find our way back to our camp. No, the Biblical description of lostness, is the sinner who is ruined by the Fall. The words of the old hymn put it well, “Come ye weary, heavy-laden, Lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry, until you’re better, you will never come at all.” This world is filled with people who are lost and ruined by the fall. All of us need One who will seek and save us.
Lost by Nature and Choice. Now, how did this sheep get lost? Well, if the truth were known, it’s just part of its nature. Sheep love to roam and wander. They have a nature which is predisposed to stray away. Sheep yearn for the forbidden. You know the grass is always greener on the other side to a sheep. It has roving eyes, longing for what it does not have. Not only that, but sheep are utterly stupid and can’t seem to figure out that the best place for them to be is with the shepherd. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” Not only do sheep have a nature which is predisposed to wander, but they actively make their own choice to act according to that nature. They choose to roam and wander from the fold. My friends, we are sheep! We are predisposed to wander from God by nature. We are fallen, and desire our own independence from God. We want to do our own thing, and we don’t want anyone, including God, telling us any different. But that’s not all. We also, actively as individuals, make the choice to sin and stray from God’s path. We come into this world as lost sinners by nature and by choice.
Lost Implies Total Inability. Think first of the lost sheep. How is that sheep ever going to get himself saved and restored to his former state? Well, one thing’s for sure, it’s not going to be the way it’s laid out in the nursery rhyme: “Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep, and can’t tell where to find them; leave them alone, and they’ll come home, wagging their tails behind them.” Now, whoever wrote that nursery rhyme didn’t know the first thing about sheep. If you leave them alone, they’re not going to come home, wagging their tails behind them! Sheep don’t come home. The shepherd has to go find them and bring them home or they’re not coming. They can get themselves into a lost state, but they sure can’t get themselves out of it. If that lost sheep is ever to be saved, it is not going to be because of the sheep. It’s going to be because of the shepherd. The sheep doesn’t contribute 10% or 1% to the saving. The only thing the sheep contributes is getting lost. The shepherd does 100% of the saving work from there. There is no merit or cooperation on the part of the sheep at all. You could say that the lost sheep is in a state of total inability.
Think next of the lost coin. The Greek word here is drachma. This is the only place the word is used in the New Testament. It is the Greek equivalent for the Roman denari. A drachma was a day’s wage for a common laborer. Now, this woman had ten of them. Often married women would wear a chain of coins as a headdress or necklace, and wear it on their wedding day. It was their dowry and represented all that they could contribute to the marriage. So, to lose even one of these coins would be a great loss to a woman waiting to be married, and would cause her to search and scour the house until she had found the coin. Now, if a lost sheep can’t recover itself to a place of safety, how much less a lost coin?! Have you ever seen a lost coin which had fallen out of someone’s pocket, jump back into that pocket? The lost coin represents even more strongly the sinner’s state of total inability. Of course, the rest of our New Testament teaches this truth strongly. “No man can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (Jn. 6:44). We were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, cut off from God, without hope, God or faith. We were surely able to get ourselves lost, but couldn’t do a thing about getting ourselves saved!
The Environment of The Lost Thing. Now, where did the lost sheep find itself? In the wilderness, surrounded by coyotes, wolves, lions, and bears. A sheep is an absolutely helpless animal. It has no weapons to defend itself. It has no sharp fangs or claws. It has no porcupine quills. It has no stink gas. It can’t even run fast. It is a sitting duck for anything big enough to kill it. Its only defense is its shepherd. The sheep’s environment was a place of danger and destruction.
What about the lost coin – what was its environment? This coin was lost in her house. She had a dirt floor, with probably no windows. The coin was in a dark and dirty place. We know that, because she attacked the darkness with a lamp, and she attacked the dirt with a broom. Isn’t that where we lose our coins today – a dark and dirty place? I mean if we want some loose change, the best place to look is down in the cushions and floorboards of our car seats, or behind the washing machine or refrigerator. These are the places we seldom clean. They are dark and dirty. So too, lost sinners dwell in a dangerous, dark, and dirty world. This world is a dangerous place. Unless we find a remedy for our sin problem, we will perish. Sin is extremely dangerous! It is also a dark and filthy place. Philippians 2:15 says, “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.” Crooked and perverse point to the filth of the world. Appearing as lights in the world point to the darkness of the world.
Let’s turn attention away from Lost, and let’s focus on Found.
2. Found (describing salvation)
How Does He Save Them? What did the shepherd and the woman do? The shepherd had to expose himself to the same conditions that sinners were in. He had to go after that lost sheep into the wilderness. He had to subject himself to the elements, the cold, and the rain, and the wild animals. So too, Jesus Christ left heaven and came into our sin-ridden filthy world. And when He did so, He became vulnerable to things He never had to face before. Before Jesus Christ took upon Himself a human nature, He could never get hungry or thirsty or tired. He could never experience temptation, or suffering or death. But now, as the God-Man, He can and did face all of those things. He entered our world, and our sorrows He carried. Jesus entered our Fallen world, and exposed Himself to the dangers in it.
Just like the coin that found itself in the dirt and the darkness, so too Jesus Christ found Himself in a cesspool of filth. As the holy, harmless, undefiled and spotless Son of God, He found Himself in an alien, dangerous, filthy environment. Perhaps sinful men and women may feel at home in this world, but Christ – never!
And when the sheep and the coin were found, what did the owner do? The shepherd hoisted that sheep up onto his neck, grabbed his legs with his two hands, and carried it back to the fold. In John 10:16 Jesus said, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” Now there are several words in that sentence that you need to meditate on. They are “have”, “must”, “bring”, “will hear”, and “will become.” Do you catch the absolute certainty of what Jesus says is going to happen? He already has other sheep. Who are they? Gentiles. Which Gentiles? Elect Gentiles. His Father has chosen and given Him people all over the face of this globe. He must bring them. He must. Why? Because He received this commandment from His Father (18). He also says they “will hear” His voice. Why? Not everyone has ears to hear. How will they hear His voice? Because He will open their ears and hearts to hear the truth. How does He know that they “will become” one flock with one shepherd? Because this is something that He is going to do, and He can’t fail! Salvation is a pure work of sovereign grace. If it were up to us, it would always fail, and heaven would be empty. But God has committed Himself to fill heaven with forgiven worshipers.
Why Does He Save Them? Well, there are many reasons we can deduce from the passage.
Responsibility. The shepherd is responsible for the sheep. He is not a hireling. These are His sheep. He said, “My sheep hear My voice.” He owns these sheep. They were a gift to Him from His Father. The Father gave these sheep to Christ before the foundation of the world, and then gave Him the responsibility of saving every last one of them. Why does he save them? Because of a sense of responsibility.
Compassion. The shepherd felt compassion for the sheep, because it could not defend itself, and would be easily killed unless he went after it. The lost state of the sheep was a state of misery, destruction, and ruin. The beautiful truth is that God feels compassion for sinners who are lost! He pities them in their miserable state. He offers them life and salvation in Christ. “Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him” (Ps.103:13).
Joy. No doubt, the shepherd and the woman both anticipated the joy they would experience in finding the lost sheep and coin, and they drove themselves on, even when it was difficult because of the joy set before them. In Hebrews 12:2 we are told to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus knew that joy and glory was on the other side of the cross. Yes, He would have to face the shameful cross, but on the other side was exaltation, joy, and eternal glory. Why did Jesus leave heaven to save you? A sense of responsibility, a sense of compassion, but also an anticipation of everlasting joy!
Self-Interest. This motive comes out clearly in the second vignette of the lost coin. Why did the woman scour the house looking for the coin? It wasn’t out of compassion for the coin. It was really out of a sense of self-interest. She valued the coin, and experienced a sense of loss while it was lost. Notice the difference between verse 6 and verse 9: “I have found my sheep which was lost” – “I have found the coin which I had lost.” In the case of the sheep, Jesus speaks of that which was lost. In the case of the coin, Jesus speaks of the One who had lost it. Did you know that God experiences a sense of loss, as long as those who are His are still lost? He places great value and worth upon those who are His, even though they are lost. Yes, in themselves they are depraved, corrupt, and worthless. But, chosen in Him, they are precious and valuable. Their worth is not intrinsic. They have value because He deems them valuable, based on what He is going to do in their lives. That’s why in Isaiah 43:4 God could address Israel and say, “Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.” What a beautiful truth that God finds us valuable to Him because of what He is going to do in our lives. We are like a coin that He would miss if He did not possess it.
3. Joy
Who Rejoices? Notice that both the shepherd and the woman rejoice, and call others to rejoice with them (5,6,7,9,10). In the first story, there is joy in heaven. Well, that could be the joy of saints, angels, or God. In the second story there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. It does not say the angels will rejoice, but there will be joy in their presence. Well, who is in the presence of the angels? In Mt. 18:10, Jesus said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” God is in the presence of the angels. Therefore, I believe Jesus is telling us that the One rejoicing here is God Almighty! When sinners repent, He is filling heaven with His all-pervasive joy. Of course His joy is infectious, and it causes the angels and the saints to rejoice along with Him. In fact, He commands them, “Rejoice with Me!”
Why Does He Rejoice? Is God rejoicing because of what the sheep has done? Because of the what the lost coin has done? Is He patting that lost sheep on the back, telling it how wonderful it is that it came back on its own, and rejoicing in the work of the sheep? No! Read the text again, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” The shepherd is rejoicing in His work. He is rejoicing that He found His lost sheep. It is the same with the woman and the coin (vs.9). What is God rejoicing in? He’s rejoicing in His great work of redemption! He is rejoicing that He has taken ruined, undone sinners who were dead and miserable, and somehow, against all odds, delivered them from sin, guilt, shame, Satan, and death, and made them trophies of His grace! This is exactly what the apostle Paul was writing about in Eph. 2:7 where it says, “He made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” God is going to forever rejoice in His great work of redemption in your lives, and His joy is infectious. We are going to catch it, and we will rejoice with Him! Zeph.3:17 says, “”The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”
Application
Have you repented? In both verse 7 and 10, Jesus instructs us that there is only joy in heaven when a sinner repents. In other words, sinners are not found by Christ unless they repent. Repentance is part of the salvation process. You can’t be saved unless you repent! Who are these people in verse 7 – the 99 righteous persons who need no repentance? I believe Jesus is speaking according to their own estimation of themselves. They don’t think they need to repent. These are the Pharisees and the scribes. They are like the Pharisee in the parable of Luke 18 who said, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men…” There was no repentance in his prayer. However, the tax collector would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, and beat on his breast, and said, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” Jesus said the tax collector went home forgiven, and the Pharisee went home lost! Don’t make the same mistake! The Pharisees saw sin as a pleasure to be denied. They thought God was going to reward them because they had denied themselves the pleasures of sin. However, sin is not a pleasure to be denied. It is a state of misery. Repentance is simply coming to see that. Repent, turn, change your mind and your heart, and your life! Turn from sin to Him!
Who Are You Most Like – Jesus or the Pharisees? Jesus received and ate with notorious sinners. The Pharisees grumbled at that, and wouldn’t touch a sinner with a ten foot pole. Jesus showed the Pharisees and scribes that His attitude toward sinners was God’s attitude, and their attitude toward sinners was diametrically opposed to God’s. God rejoices over sinners coming to salvation. So, do you avoid sinners, or do you receive them and eat with them? You know, we can slip into Pharisaical attitudes really easy, can’t we? Out of a desire to keep ourselves unstained by the world, we can act more like a Pharisee than Jesus Christ. What about you?
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