01 - Things Lost By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes

Luke 15:1-7 “Dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus’ sermons; 2 but this caused complaints from the Jewish religious leaders and the experts on Jewish law because he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them!

3-4 So Jesus used this illustration: “If you had a hundred sheep and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? 5 And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. 6 When you arrived you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found.

7 “Well, in the same way heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who haven’t strayed away!” (LB)

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Jesus was a Savior who always had the lost on His mind.

He viewed humanity as a flock of lost sheep, and His one purpose was to bring them back home to God.

Notice how the dishonest tax collectors and sinners who were notorious in their sinning were drawn to hear Him—and He didn’t turn them away.

The Bible says that Jesus was regularly criticized for eating and spending time with sinners.

The Pharisees one day asked His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" (Matt. 9:11 NIV)

The NLT puts it this way, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?"

Jesus noted that his critics had called him “a friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19).

He has rightly been called the “hound of heaven” because of His relentless hunt for lost souls.

He told His disciples that the whole reason He left heaven to come into our world was, “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10 NASB).

We see in the gospels that He went out of his way in order to find the woman at the well and win her to Himself.

He stopped in his tracks to call Zaccheus down from the sycamore tree in order to go to his house, where Zaccheus believed on Him and was saved.

He made time to walk to the pool of Bethesda where a paralyzed man languished in hopeless misery, and raised him up to health and the salvation of his soul.

He went into the highways and byways ever in search of the straying sheep of humanity.

And so here in Luke 15 we find that doctor Luke has recorded Jesus’ teaching on four things lost and found—a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son, and a lost brother.

The sheep is lost by straying, the coin is lost by neglect, the son is lost by rebellion, and the brother is lost by religion.

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Now today I want to talk about the first one—The sheep lost by straying...

The sheep represents the human race

Isaiah wrote in his famous chapter 53, “We—every one of us—have strayed away like sheep! We all left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us!” (53:6 LB)

We like to think we’re smart, capable of leading our own lives with no help from God, that we’re all OK.

But the Bible says that we’re more like sheep....and one thing about sheep is that they easily and often go astray.

They wander from their shepherd, from the flock, and from the safe boundaries of the shepherd’s pasture.

They carelessly place themselves in danger of wolves and other predators, and easily become lost.

Isaiah compares us to them, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, everyone, to his own way...” (NKJV)

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I can’t tell you how often as a pastor I’ve heard the words, “I don’t know how I got into this mess!” from God’s people.

I do...you’re a sheep! And sheep regularly get into trouble that the shepherd must rescue them from.

This is why David said, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Ps. 23: 1,4 NKJV).

The ROD was used by the shepherd for straying sheep.

When he spotted a sheep beginning to stray from the flock and strike out on his own, the shepherd would hurl that long, straight pole whistling through the air to send the straying sheep scurrying back to the flock.

And our Great Shepherd strikes us with the chastening of His Word when we begin to stray...

Among other things, the Word is the Lord’s rod that lovingly corrects us.

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The shepherd's STAFF was a long, slender stick, with a hook on one end....and it was used for guiding sheep...

I think here of the Holy Spirit, Who Jesus said would “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13 NKJV).

A shepherd would use his staff to guide the sheep into a new path or through a gate into fresh pasture.

The Lord our Shepherd uses the ROD of His word to bring us to our senses when we’re in sin, and the STAFF of His Spirit to guide us home.

He is the Great Shepherd, ever on the lookout for lost and straying sheep!

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Secondly, you’ll notice that in Jesus’ parable...

II. There is an urgency with the shepherd

Jesus said that He quickly “leaves the 99” to fully focus on finding the one that strayed.

This is because time is of the essence...

If they are not found in time they will become what is called “cast,” or a “cast sheep.”

A sheep becomes cast when he lies down, falls asleep, and rolls over on his back.

Once in that position he can’t roll himself back over.

With legs flailing in this helpless position, gases begin building up in his stomach and if help doesn’t arrive soon, he will die there, or become prey to predators.

Hence, it is a top priority for heaven to find the sheep that is lost.

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Men and women, boys and girls become CAST all the time...

We wander away from God thinking we will find freedom, but instead we become entangled in all kinds of sin and trouble.

See the drug addict or alcoholic who can no longer stand themselves up, who can’t deliver themselves.

Figuratively speaking their legs are flailing, while sin is building up in their soul...

They will die in their sin or be destroyed by spiritual predators if not found, hence the shepherd’s sense of urgency!

Or take the so-called “good person” living in the suburbs—they have a good life, make good money, never get a traffic ticket, but cannot see their perilous spiritual condition due to the blindness sin brings.

They, too, are cast...they will die in their sins if the shepherd does not reach them in time!

And so the Lord is always calling, always reaching, always searching for that which is lost.

“Look! I have been standing at the door, and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me” (Rev. 3:20 LB).

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Finally, Jesus reveals what we would never know without Him...

III. The joy of heaven when a sheep is saved!

Lk. 15:10 “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (NKJV)

ILLUS: I recently watched a newsreel of a mother and dad waiting in a police station for the arrival of their daughter who had been kidnapped 12 years before.

When they were told that the now teenager was in a police car headed their way they fell into each other’s arms and uncontrollably sobbed.

Listen—it’s that way in heaven!

When a sheep is found—heaven breaks into a united cheer, like a stadium of people when their team makes a touchdown, or a batter hits a home run!

Jesus gives the picture of all of heaven peering over the edges of glory at the drama of the Great Shepherd looking for lost sheep.