Luke's Gospel

We have come to Luke 15 and these first 10 verses, and it's an amazing, work of god because there's such a wonderful description of, of god's grace and the way he finds and saves people, which is what we're here to to celebrate, celebrate this evening. Luke was a doctor, and, he was a very careful man who put together this account, this biography of, Jesus' life and death and resurrection, and he did it so that people like you and me, could know the certainty of the things that he taught. It's a very important thing. God wants us to be certain about who Jesus is and what he did, and we're in this fifteenth chapter together. So let me read it.

Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear Jesus. But the pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered. This man welcomes sinners and eats for them. Then Jesus told them this parable. Suppose 1 of you has a hundred sheep and loses 1 of them.

Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says rejoice with me. I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over 1 sinner who repents.

Than over 99 righteous people who do not need to repent. Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses 1. Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says rejoice with me. I have found my lost coin.

In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of god. Over 1 sinner who repents. Let me begin by asking you a question. What what do you think makes god happy? What do you think makes god happy?

Perhaps you've never thought of god as a happy god. Maybe you imagine him as grumpy, and in the main irritated at most of the things that are happening, or maybe you imagine him as a god who is completely without emotions. A god who does not respond in any emotional way to things that are happening in the world, a bit like a flat line at a hospital. He's just he's just a flat line permanently. Never moves up and down, never responds to anything.

Maybe that's how you imagine god. But, no, no, the Bible says that god father son and holy spirit is a happy glad god. But what makes him happy Why is he happy? Well, the answer in 1 sense is himself. God is the most perfect being that you could imagine.

He is perfect in his holiness, in his justice, in his kindness, in his love, He is the best imaginable being, and therefore he delights in all that he is. But that's not all. This story tells us, and perhaps you picked it up, that when people like us, like you and me, like Sam, and Emma and Joanne when they turn from their sins, and trust in Jesus, god rejoices That is so clear here, isn't it? God is very, very happy. When lost people are found.

In fact, this story in many ways is all about the joy of salvation, and not just god's joy. What else do you notice about the story? When the shepherd finds that lost sheep or the woman when she finds her lost coin, what do they do? Do they have a private party? Is it just them on their own rejoicing?

No. No. They say to their friends and their neighbors anyone who will listen, come and rejoice with me. Enter into my joy. What has happened is so good.

That it deserves an audience. And in many ways, that is why we are all gathered here this evening, isn't it? That that is a baptism. Emma and Sam and Joanne are saying, and we've heard them say, I was lost. But Jesus found me.

I was dead, but now I am alive. So will you come together this evening with me, will you gather around this pool with me and will you enter into my joy? Will you come and enter into god's joy? Because I was lost, but now I have been found. So 3 simple points this evening from this story, which which will tell us the story of Joanne and Sam and Emma.

Firstly, they were lost Secondly, they were found, and thirdly heaven rejoiced. Firstly, they were lost. Have a look at sentence number 4 with me again. Suppose 1 of you has a hundred sheep and loses 1 of them. Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country and go off that the lost sheep until he finds it.

Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses 1. Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? So in both stories, something valuable is lost. And it's worth saying that the phrase to lose here is more powerful than we might first think. It means more than just, oh, I've lost something and, I don't know, I don't know where it is.

It means it's lost and in danger. Lost and in danger. So don't think I think I left my phone upstairs, but I'm not sure where it is. Never mind. I'll find it later.

It's only lost for now. Think you've lost a precious child in a busy city center. It is dangerously lost. Dangerously lost. Who knows what is gonna happen to this sheep all alone on the hills?

It can't fend for itself. It hasn't got the security of the flock. Who knows what's gonna happen to it? Or what about that coin? It's worth a day's wages.

If somebody finds that coin, that's a great find. They're gonna have it. It's it's gone. So that's the thing. There is something that is lost.

In other words, it's not where it should be. But more than that, it is in danger. It is not where it should be, and it is in danger. And as we know from verse 1, this isn't just about sheep and coins. It's about Jesus and people like us.

The Bible is very clear that by nature, and we've heard each of our, friends getting baptized tonight, that that we are lost, that we are without god, and that we are without hope in this world. And why is that? Because of 1 word, which is repeated 4 times in this section. Because of sin. We are lost because we are sinners.

That is the great leveller in this room. Doesn't matter who we are or where we come from or what our upbringing look like. We have all turned away from Christ. We have pretended as if he didn't exist or that we didn't want him to exist. We have trampled all over his laws.

And therefore, each 1 of us by nature are not where we should be. We have turned away from Christ, and we are in danger. Because his holy judgment is coming. We are lost and we are in danger. And look if you're visiting today, and with this kind of come out in the testimonies, you might think, well, this this is a strange description of these 3 young people.

You know, when I look at Emma and Joanne and Sam, and when I hear them speak and hear their stories, this description doesn't seem to fit You know, they've grown up in good homes. They've been going to church since day dot, and that is true. But the Bible would say no no, they have the same spiritual DNA as the rest of us. By nature, they were lost and in danger. But secondly, they were found.

Have a look at this 1 with me. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Then Jesus told them this parable. So we begin with these very proud religious people and simply they don't like what Jesus is doing.

If he really is a great teacher, then he shouldn't allow rats like that to approach him. He should not allow prostitutes and criminals to break bread with him. It's not right. If Jesus is holy, and if Jesus cares about god's teachings, He shouldn't be eating with people like that. It's not right.

But if you know the story of these pharisees, you'll know that it's often the case that it's them who were not right. It's them who got it wrong. In Luke chapter 19, Jesus says, the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. And therefore, drawing near to sinners. Pursuing sinners.

Sharing food with sinners or in the language of this story, finding those who are lost. Is everything that he is about. First 4, suppose 1 of you has a hundred sheep and loses 1 of them. Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost until he finds it? Verse 8, suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses 1, doesn't she light a lamp sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it.

Perhaps you know this feeling, I'm sure we all do when you've lost something in your house that is not that important. As I was saying earlier, it could be a phone or a hairbrush or a hair clip, whatever it is. You've lost it, but you don't care that much. Because we use phrases like, I'm sure it'll turn up or it'll turn up later. We've got phrases to explain our uncaring attitude.

Towards that lost thing. I'm sure it will turn up. But if you've ever lost a phone or a wallet or a purse, or a child, as I was saying earlier, that that is a whole different ball game, isn't it? Everything else goes on hold. You must ask diagnostic questions.

When did I last have this child? What what do they look like? Where did I last see them? Who can I ring to help me? You know, everything else that you're doing stops, and you are then consumed by this task of finding that thing which is lost.

And that is the kind of commitment here. The shepherd leaves the 99 in a place of safety and goes up over the hills, down into the valleys, through the day, and on into the night calling calling, calling for this 1 who is lost. He is devoted to the task. And that perfectly describes the lord Jesus. In mark 2, another gospel in the new testament, he says.

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous. But sinners. And wherever he went, that is what he did. He called sinners.

In Jewish places and in non Jewish places on mountains and by the sea and in the heat of the day and in the cool of the night and in grassy pastures and in wild deserts he called to sinners. He pursued sinners. And even on the cross, right at the end of his life when he was dying for our sins, when he was like the shepherd carrying the burden of the sheep upon his shoulders, dying for us, even then he was pursuing sinners. As he died. Father, forgive them.

Come, come home. Come home to the thief on the cross next to him. Surely you will be with me in paradise. He his whole life and ministry was the pursuit of the thing that was lost. Was to save sinners and praise the lord that Sam and Emma and Joanne have been found by that Jesus.

It's amazing really because I guess I guess each of you you you you cannot remember a time when you you weren't really learning about Jesus in some way. You know, week by week by week, by week, faithful leaders, faithful parents opening up the Bible to you telling you about Jesus again. And what was that? What was happening there in those moments? I mean, it's amazing.

I was talking to Sun Young before the service. She can remember the very first Sunday school lesson that Joanne went to. It was about 12 years ago, and she walked in with him in order to make sure it a source of church she wanted him to be in. And she remembers exactly who was teaching. It was Catherine Cooper.

He she remembers exactly what the lesson was. It was in Nayer Meyer. And she remembers exactly what the illustration was. Her wall was being built with blocks. 12 years ago, she can remember Joanne, do you remember that lesson?

No. Long forgotten. Okay. Long forgotten. But nonetheless, you see each of those precious moments was accumulating.

And what was that in the end? That was Christ seeking you through his word. That was Christ climbing the hills and going through the valleys into the day and on into the night calling you call calling you. Come home. Come home, repent and believe, and come home.

And that is why we are here today, isn't it? To celebrate his finding work. These things are true for you. You are not in danger anymore. God's wrath fell on Jesus instead of you, and you are back where you should be.

With your maker. They were lost. They were found very briefly. Heaven rejoiced. We've already seen it, but let's have a look again.

Verse 5, sentence 5. When he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and he goes home. And then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent. Or verse 9, when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together.

And says rejoice with me. I have found my lost coin. You see the joy? You can imagine that woman, can't you? With her hard brush sweeping her hard dirt floor with a little lamp, sweeping hour after hour after hour.

Where is this coin? It's worth a day's wages? Where is this coin? Suddenly, there's a clinking noise. Suddenly, she unearths it with her bristles, flicks it into the wall.

It clinks. There's a flash of silver. She has found it. She has found it. She has found her lost coin.

But that's not the end of the story, is it? What is the end of the story? Joy is the end of the story. And Jesus says in the same way when a sinner repents, there is joy in heaven. See, I'd never really noticed it before, but but finding the lost thing is not the climax of this story.

A happy god is the climax of this story. A rejoicing god is the climax of this story. And tonight, we have the opportunity to share in that joy together. That's what it's all about. It's why we're here, isn't it?

Friends and relatives, the church, the angels of god, have been assembled to rejoice with him because these 3 who were lost have been found by Jesus. Their sins have been forgiven and they have come home. And just before we see that wonderfully illustrated in baptism, I'd love to put a question to you if you are here visiting this evening. When you leave tonight, who who are who are you going to be in this story because there's really only 2 options, isn't there in verse 1, either we grumble, Don't like the sound of that. It's not the sort of thing a church should be saying.

I certainly don't like the way they've described me this evening. That is not how I would describe myself. I am certainly not lost. I'm not in the crowd who needs to repent. Will we go grumbling, or will we draw near to Jesus?

Turn from our own sins. And in doing so, be saved from danger, back where we should be, and truly, truly found. Let's bow our heads and pray together. Heavenly father, we thank you that your son, the lord Jesus. Came to seek and to save that which was lost.

We thank you that he is wholeheartedly devoted to this task of finding and saving sinners for his own glory. We thank you lord that when Emma and Sam and Joanne turn from their sins, trusted you and were found by Jesus heaven through a great party. That there was rejoicing in the presence of the angels as you yourself, father, son, and holy spirit delighted in your finding work. We thank you for an opportunity to gather here just like the man with his sheep and the woman with the coin. They gather the relatives and the name and they say come rejoice with me, rejoice share in my joy because that which was lost has been found.

Thank you that we are here. To share in the joy of salvation. We pray for Emma and Sam and Joanne again, and we pray that they might live long and godly lives. Serving Christ, loving Christ, loving his people, and using the many gifts that you have given them. To be involved in finding others for Jesus.

And we ask it for his sake. We're going to stand and sing another song together. And, when peace like a river attends all my way, this is a great Christian Him, and it reminds us of the state of the person who is found by Jesus. It is it is well with them. They are at peace with their maker.

So let's stand. And sing together.