Luke 15:1-10 The
Lost were Found
1. Context: All (of all sorts) the publicans and sinners drew near unto Jesus…
a. For what purpose?
For to hear him preached the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mt 4:23, 9:35).
- They have heard
him before and are hungering for more of the glad tidings
- These publicans
and sinners were different from the Pharisees and Scribes; the former actively
sought Jesus out and were responsive to His message; the latter were hostile
and wanted to trap Jesus
Luke 4:18 “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, 19 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
- publicans: telōnēs
- a tax gatherer, collector of taxes or tolls, one employed by a publican or
farmer general in the collection of taxes. The tax collectors were as a class,
despised not only by the Jews, but by other nations also, both on account of
their employment (under Rome) and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with
which they did their job.
- sinners:
hamartōloi - preeminently sinful, especially wicked; all wicked men, specifically of men stained with certain definite vices or crimes.
- Jesus gladly and
freely socialised with these “scums” and “outcasts”; He befriended them, and even ate with them; the present tense indicates the normal practices of Jesus towards
them.
b. A warped
presupposition of the Pharisees and Scribes: righteous and holy men like them
don’t associate with bad people like publicans and sinners; since Jesus so
freely associated with the publicans and sinners, they conclude that he can’t
possibly be a good man, much less come from God.
- They failed to see
that in the eyes of God, “there is none righteous” before God but by the
righteousness of Jesus Christ alone, imputed unto them freely by the grace of
God.
c. A parable is a
real-life story used to convey some spiritual truths about the kingdom of God.
- Jesus told the two
parables, the lost sheep and the lost coin, to expose their brass-faced
hypocrisy of aloofness from the publicans and sinners. Which owner will keep
aloof when he loses a sheep or a precious silver coin?
- Jesus is seeking
His lost sheep among the publicans and sinners; His action is consistent and
righteous.
- Exposing the
shameless hypocrisy and inconsistencies of these religious “elite” is a good
method.
2. The Parable of the
Lost Sheep
a. The sheep HAS AN
OWNER!
- “Which of you,
having one hundred sheep”: the OWNER of the sheep has a hundred sheep.
- That which has no
owner cannot be said to be lost, i.e. got separated from the lawful owner.
- Jesus is the owner
of all that was given to Him by the Father.
b. The sheep were
LOST!
- All those given to
Christ were separated from Him, the owner, because of their sins.
- Jesus came to seek
and to save the lost by His work of redemption.
- Through His life
of perfect righteousness and His sinless atoning death, He secured the
redemption of His people; righteousness was secured through His sinless
obedience to all the laws of God, and forgiveness of sins was accomplished
through His substitutionary death.
c. The Owner GOES
AFTER that which is lost
- The redemption
accomplished legally on the cross is APPLIED to each lost sheep personally
through the divine activities of the Spirit of Christ, effectually calling each
sheep dead in trespasses and sins to that of eternal salvation in Jesus Christ.
- The owner lays the
found sheep upon his shoulders!
- The lost sheep
does not go after the owner/shepherd; it’s the Owner/shepherd that goes after
the lost.
d. The Owner does
not stop UNTIL the lost is found and brought home
- “It is finished.”
John 19:30.
- “And I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand.” John 10:28
- “And this is the
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” John 6:39
- “And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:3
e. There shall be
great rejoicing when a sinner repents
- “… joy shall be in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”
- “… there is joy in
the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth”
- Here is practical
salvation spoken of… “repenteth” is in the simple present tense.
- metanoeō: to
change one's mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past
sins.
- Only those to whom the eternal salvation has been applied, freely by the grace of God, are capable
of repenting, through the hearing of the word preached.
- “Faith cometh by
hearing, hearing by the word of God.” Rom 10:17
3. The parable of
the lost silver coin
- This is essentially the
same as the parable of the lost sheep...
