The Father's Heart

Doxology:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!

Scripture Reference: Luke 15:1-3

Luke 15:1–3 NKJV

1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:

Context

Jesus Christ would eat and drink with unsaved people. He loved them. He kept company with them because He wanted to bring them to Himself. He wanted them to receive forgiveness and redemption and salvation and freedom. But the Pharisees hated Jesus for this.

Now we all know who the Pharisees were. They were the religious crowd of that day, but they were so self-righteous. They criticized the Lord Jesus for receiving sinners and for eating with sinners.......And by the way, it doesn’t take much size to criticize. That’s very easy to do.

Jesus, in this parable, is answering their question of criticism. Why does He keep company with sinners? Now before we go any further, I just want to say that I am thankful that He does. I am thankful He receives sinners, because if He didn’t, He wouldn’t have anything to do with me. Thank God for a Savior who receives sinners!

Now, Jesus gave a parable in answer to this criticism. Sometimes we say there are three parables because there is the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. They are all right here in this chapter, but if you look carefully, it doesn’t say that Jesus spoke parables to them. It says, He spoke a parable to them. This is one big parable addressing three different aspects of their criticizing question.

This parable deals with the Father heart of God. It shows us how God looks at lost people, how God looks at sinners. Seeing that we all fall into that category of being sinners, that means it shows us how God looks at us. This parable is about us and for us.

Content

The Sinful nature of Man

Man Is Weak Like A Lost Sheep

Luke 15:4–7 NKJV

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 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!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

When Jesus here is speaking of the sheep, He’s teaching us that the chief characteristic of the sheep is weakness. A sheep is weak and that illustrates a man without God.

A Sheep Is Dumb

The first thing to see here is that sheep are not very smart animals. That’s right. A sheep is dumb. That’s the reason the Bible says in Isaiah 53, “All we like sheep have gone astray. If you go to the circus, you may have seen a trained elephant, trained lions and tigers, or maybe even trained dogs and horses, but you have never seen a trained sheep.

A sheep is so easily lost. Some animals have an amazing sense of direction.....A sheep is not one of them. They get so lost so easy. They nibble here a little and there a little, and before you know it, they have wondered off and have no idea how to get back. They have no idea where they even took a wrong turn. All they know is one minute they looked up and all the other sheep were gone.

The idea is that man is the same way. All of us, like sheep are prone to wonder off. Without God we have no compass. Without God there is no true North. Like sheep, we need a shepherd. We need someone, who is beyond us, to help keep us in line.

Some may try to argue against this point. They may feel that they are not dumb like sheep, but are actually rather smart. Nicodemus approached Jesus like that too. He was a master in Israel. He was intellectually gifted amongst his peers, but yet he was lost. He was not in tune with God. You can argue intellect as much as you would like, but no matter how smart a person is, without God they will perish. Intellect alone cannot save someone.

You cannot think your way to God. The Bible says that there are none who understandeth

Romans 3:11 NKJV

11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.

A Sheep Is Dependent

The second thing to see is that sheep are dependent. That’s the reason sheep need a shepherd.

Matthew 9:36 NKJV

36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

A sheep without a shepherd is going to be destroyed and devoured because it is so dependent. In his book, a shepherd looks at the sheep, Keller tells about a condition that a sheep would get itself into that the English shepherds would call cast sheep.

What would happen is this: after the sheep would browse about, it would finally lie down somewhere. If the sheep were not careful, it would lie down in a crevice, or maybe even on a slight incline. As the sheep moved about, the center of gravity would shift and the sheep’s back would fall downhill. Now sheep are not very agile creatures, so once it was in this position, it would be stuck with no hope of getting back to its feet. It would paw frantically in the air, but to no avail. This is what they call a “Cast Sheep”.

After a while, the gases would begin to build up in the abdominal cavity and circulation would be cut off to the legs and that sheep lying there would be an easy pray for vultures, coyotes, or any other predator along the way. They only hope the sheep had was for the shepherd to come along and turn him up aright again.

So it is with you and me. There have been plenty of times throughout our lives, to where we have gotten ourselves into a rotten spot.......a spot we could not get ourselves out of. Had not the shepherd come and put us back on our feet, we would have perished. God is good. Amen!

A Sheep Is Defenseless

Sheep are dumb. Sheep are dependent. Sheep are also defenseless. The sheep does not have a mechanism of defense.

A horse can run. A bear can crush. A tiger can slash. A skunk.....well we all know what he can do. But a sheep has no means of defense. It is built for neither fight or flight. It has no weapons and it cannot run very fast. A sheep is a defenseless animal.

There is a story about some tourists in the Scottish Highlands. They were up on a mountainside and one man had some binoculars. He was looking across the valley and saw some sheep on the other mountain across from them. He asked the guide how the sheep got up there and the guide explained that they would walk along the ledges around the mountain to get to the top. But there was one sheep on a ledge that was not moving. He asked the guide why that particular sheep was not going anywhere and the guide explained the scenario.

He said that every now and then a sheep would find itself on a ledge to which he could not turn around on. The sheep was not athletic enough to move forward and not smart enough to move backward. When the tourist asked what would happen, the guide simply responded, “The eagles will get him.”

Sure enough, a few moments later the eagles began to circle around in the air. All of a sudden, one of the eagles took a dive, grabbed onto the sheep, and forced him off the ledge. The sheep plummeted hundreds of feet to its death, to which all of the eagles enjoyed a good meal.

You and I, like that sheep, are totally defenseless, in and of ourselves, against the eagles of Satan. If it were not for a great shepherd, who finds us in such terrible conditions and then saves us, we too would be at a loss. We are defenseless against Satan apart from God. We need Him as the good Shepherd of our lives.

Man Is Worthless Like Lost Silver

Luke 15:8–9 NKJV

8 “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? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’

Now, here our Lord is no longer talking about lost sheep, but lost silver. Not only the weakness of man without God, but the worthlessness of man without God. What good is a piece of silver if it is lost? It can’t be spent and it can’t be treasured. It has become unprofitable.

Not only does Romans 3 tell us that no man understandeth, but it also says that without God, “we are altogether unprofitable.”

Romans 3:12 NKJV

12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Listen, they’re all gone out of the way. That’s the lost sheep. They’re altogether become unprofitable. That’s the lost silver.

Why did God create you? Why did God make you? What is your purpose? It is to spend and be spent for Him, or to be a treasure for Him, but you are not to be lost.

If you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re like a coin that is lost. You are not doing the things that were meant to do and therefore you are no good to the master.

Lost in the Darkness

Luke 15:8 NKJV

8 “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?

First of all, the coin was lost in the darkness. The first thing the woman had to do in order to retrieve her coin, was to light a lamp. Every man, woman, and child without Jesus Christ is lost in the darkness.

John 3:19 NKJV

19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Lost in the Dirtiness

Not only was the coin lost in darkness; it was also lost in the dirtiness. Not only did she have to light a lamp, she also had to grab a broom and sweep the house. If she had to sweep the house in order to find this coin, there must have been a lot of filth on the floor. Once again, we see a picture of the people that Jesus was keeping company with. Once again, we see a picture of ourselves.

One may say, “Well wait a minute. I may not be a perfect person, but I do not live a life of filthiness. I am a good person. I do this and that. I have accomplished this or that. I don’t do this or that like many others do. All around, I life a pretty good life with pretty good morals.”

Do you remember what Isaiah said about our righteousness? He said that our righteousness is as filthy rags in the eyes of God. He didn’t say your unrighteousness was filthy. He said your righteousness was as filthy rags. That means that the very best you have to offer as “good and worthy”, is nowhere close to being good enough.

This coin was lost in the filth of life, like so many other people today.

Lost in Disgrace

Not only was this coin lost in the darkness and the dirt, it was also lost in disgrace.

Why did Jesus say ten pieces of silver? Ten in the Bible is the number of completeness. It means that something is whole.

When a woman got married back then, she did not get a wedding band, she received ten pieces of silver. Those ten pieces of silver would have a hole punched through in the center and each piece would have the name of her husband on it. These ten pieces of silver would be strung together and worn around the head of the bride. When you saw a woman who wore this silver around her head, this meant that she belonged to someone and that she was treasured by someone.

If the woman did something shameful, the husband would removed one of the pieces of silver from the ten, leaving a gap in the headdress. She would then walk around in disgrace. It represented her faithlessness. It represented her sin.

Now it makes sense that this woman, who had ten pieces of silver, is frantic because she lost one of the pieces. It would mean she had to walk around in disgrace. It is Satan’s aim to make your life a disgrace to the God who created you, to the one who wants to be your husband spiritually.

Jesus said, these people that I keep company with are like that. I see their weakness like a lost sheep. I see their worthlessness like lost silver. That’s why I keep company with them.

Man Is Wretched Like a Lost Son

Luke 15:11–12 NKJV

11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.

The Lord Jesus goes on in the story and He speaks also, not only of their weakness and their worthlessness, but He speaks of their wretchedness.

What did he mean, “Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me?” In plain English, he was saying, “Father, I would like to have mine inheritance now. What you were going to leave me when you die, I’d like to have it now.” If you really think that through, he’s saying, “I wish you were dead. I don’t want you, just what you have.”

That’s like a lot of people today. They don’t want God, but they want what God has to offer. They want to ear God’s food. They want to walk on walk on God’s green earth. Some of them even want to live forever. But they don’t want God.

The father agreed and gave the son his inheritance early.

Luke 15:13 NKJV

13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

Wine, women, sodomy. He was haing a big time on his father’s money, on his premature inheritance. No God in his life. No father in his life.

Luke 15:14–16 NKJV

14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

Our Lord is speaking not only of the weakness of these people and the worthlessness of these people, but He’s speaking of the wretchedness of these people. He is giving them His reasons for keeping company with them. Look at this young boy. He has left his father’s home, gone into far country where he can live his life the way he wants. But soon, his pleasure turns into poverty.

What is the mark of a man without God?

A Life of Depression

First of all, it is a life of depression. He spent all of it. He spent everything. What is Jesus telling us? The most costly thing in the world is sin. When he had spent all, things got depressing. Sin cost character. Sin cost influence. It cost reputation. It cost time. It cost health. It cost love, home, and money. It will cost you your soul. There is a high price for serving Satan. It will cost you everything, and it will cost you every step of the way.

A Life of Degradation

Not only a life of depression, but also a life of degradation.

Luke 15:15 NKJV

15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

His friends were with him when he had plenty of money. But now that he is broke, his friends have all left. He has nowhere to go and now he has to get a job. What is his job? taking care of pigs.

Now Jesus audience was a Jewish audience. In the Bible, a pig was an unclean animal. Jewish people were forbidden to eat them. No self-respecting Jew would ever touch a pig, not with a ten-foot pole. And here is a Jewish boy, who has gotten so low in life that he is not only feeding the swine, but is hungry enough to eat what the swine themselves fed on.

Sin leads to a life of degradation. It will take you as low as one can go, and then kick you down a little farther.

A Life of Dissatisfaction

It is a life of Depression, a life of Degradation, but also a life of dissatisfaction.

Luke 15:16 NKJV

16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

This young man thought he knew what would bring him satisfaction. But now we see that what he though would satisfy him has not satisfied him. Matter of fact, it has led him into a position to where he is more dissatisfied than he was to begin with.

Listen closely to what Jesus is saying. He is talking about the emptiness of a life without God.

Now it is Father’s Day. You may go home today to a wonderful Father’s Day lunch. You may eat steak, lobster, or some other wonderful meal, but if you don’t know God, there’s a part of you that’s just like that boy down there feeding on the husks that the swine did eat.

There is a hunger that can only be satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is saying, “I keep company with sinners because they are weak like sheep, they are worthless like a lost coin, and they are wretched like a lost son. That is the sinful nature of man.

The Saving Nature of God

This parable speaks of the sinful nature of man, but it also speaks of the saving nature of God. The Lord Jesus is teaching what our Heavenly Father is like.

The Lost Sheep: The Rescuing Nature of the Son

The first aspect of God that Jesus teaches us is this: He is like a shepherd looking for lost sheep.

In the story of the lost sheep, you see the rescuing nature of the son. Jesus is the good shepherd.

Luke 19:10 NKJV

10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

That is why Jesus came. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd and a good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.”

Why did Jesus leave the glories of Heaven and come to the agonies of earth? To seek the lost.

Why did Jesus leave the golden streets of glory to walk the dusty streets of Galilee? To seek the lost.

Why did Jesus leave His sceptre of righteousness and come and take a wilted reed in His hand as they mocked Him? To seek the lost.

Why did the Lord Jesus Christ leave his crown of glory and put on a crown of thorns? To seek and to save that which was lost.

The Lord Jesus is seeking you today. If you’re lost in this congregation, Jesus is seeking you. If you are watching online and you are lost, Jesus is seeking you. If you’re a visitor today just popping in and you are lost, Jesus is seeking you. He is the good shepherd and He is looking for His lost sheep.

This lost sheep and the shepherd pictures God the Son.

The Lost Coin: The Revealing Nature of the Spirit

But the lost coin and the woman pictures God the Holy Spirit. Look again at verse 8:

Luke 15:8 NKJV

8 “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?

What is the job of the Savior? To seek the lost. But what is the job and the duty and the ministry of the Holy Spirit?

The Ministry of Enlightenment

First of all, there is a ministry of enlightenment. This woman lights a light. Light must shine into the darkness. I can preach truth, but only the Holy Spirit can impart truth. He is the light. She lit a lamp so that she could see. The Spirit lights up the Word of God inside of us so that we might see the truths of God, so that we might become aware of what’s going on in reality. We need the light of God.

The Ministry of Disturbance

Not only did she light a lamp, she takes a broom and begins to sweep. The Holy Spirit lights a lamp that we might see, but then He stirs things up with a broom. His ministry is to stir the hearts of the people that we might come to know Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord.

So many people come to church on Sunday morning but they’re never stirred. They’re never moved. It is because those of us who do know God and understand God don’t pray for that divine disturbance. Everybody without Jesus should leave a service disturbed. Or they should get saved. Either way, there should never be a service where a lost person feels nothing of God. If so, we have missed our mark.

The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to enlighten us and to stir us.

The Lost Son: The Receiving Nature of the Father

In this parable, you have a picture of God the Son rescuing. You have a picture of God the Holy Spirit revealing. But thank God, you also have a picture of God the Father Receiving.

Now here is the picture. This boy has gone off. He’s away from the father. The father is sitting there. I can see him on the porch of that old house just being anxious. I can imagine him asking his wife if she had heard anything from their son. He expresses his worry and fear of what might have happened to him. He misses him dearly and wants nothing more than for their son to come home. He just wants to know where he is. He just wants to know that he is ok. He is not worried about his former pride and hastiness to run off. He is only worried about his current condition and that he is ok.

The son has reached rock bottom and finally realizes, “Even the servants in my father’s house are treated better than this. I know I have already destroyed any chance of being a son any longer because of my poor decisions, but I will see if he will allow me to simply be a servant of the house. Maybe he will allow me to do that.

The boy gets up and heads home. As he approaches, the father sees him coming from way off. The father does not make him take the walk of shame all the way to the house. Instead, he is overcome with love and joy and runs out to meet him. He not only tells the boy how much he loves him, but he falls on the boys neck and wraps him up tight, and embraces him.

Do you know that in Scripture, Jewish men hardly ever ran. It was considered unworthy of them. If you ran on the Sabbath, it was actually a violation of the day of rest. They simply did not run unless it was an emergency.

This is a picture of God the Father receiving His Son back home. God literally runs to this young man.

God does not say, “Follow my commandments or I’ll send you to hell.”

Instead, He says, “You are headed for a place called hell, but I can save you from it. Let me do that!”

When this young man came home, He through a party for him and almost everyone celebrated.

In response to these religious men’s inquiry of why He eats with sinners, Jesus proclaimed, “Because they are weak like a lost sheep. They are worthless like a lost coin. They are wretched like a lost son. But let me tell you what God is like. There’s the rescuing nature of God the Son. There’s the revealing nature of God the Spirit. There’s the receiving nature of God the Father.

Commitment