Luke chapter number 15, what an amazing chapter we're going to find here.
We're going to be here for a few weeks.
It's one of these that the Lord just kind of opens His heart to us and really shows us who He is.
That He is a God that loves us.
We might be lost, but He is seeking us.
We say things like this, and we'll mention this every minute, and there's no, I don't mean it in a mean way,
I found God.
Here's the truth.
God found us.
That He came for us, that He sought us, and we're going to see that played out here
in really the first ten verses that we're going to look at this morning.
So you found your place.
If not, you can follow along on the screen if you don't have a copy of God's Word with you.
But here's what the Bible says.
Then drew near unto Him all the publicans, these would be tax collectors,
these are not great people in the world's estimation, and sinners for to hear Him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying,
This man receiveth sinners and eateth with him?
I mean, this was culturally unacceptable, what Jesus was doing.
Of course, Jesus was doing exactly what He came for, to seek and to save.
But verse number 3 tells us,
And He spake this parable unto them, saying,
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness,
and go after them which is lost, until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying,
Unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,
more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance.
Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece,
doth not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it?
And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying,
Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost.
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
This morning I want to preach a message simply entitled this, Lost and Found.
Jesus is searching and He will find us.
The question is, will we respond when He does?
Let's go to the Lord and ask Him to help us this morning.
Father, thank You for this time.
Lord, thank You for the opportunity we have to open up Your Word.
Lord, I pray You would just calm our hearts and our minds.
Maybe there are some things that we're carrying some burdens and some things that maybe this past week are things we know that are upcoming.
And Lord, we were reminded that You're already there.
But Lord, I know that You want to meet with us right here in this moment.
You want to speak to hearts.
You want to remind us and encourage us and challenge us and convict us where need be.
Lord, I pray there is somebody that does not know You as Savior.
Lord, that they would realize this morning that You are seeking them.
You are searching for them, Lord, and You desire for them to be found.
Lord, I pray You be with me.
You would empty me of self, cleanse me of sin.
Lord, fill me with Your Spirit that I might be a help to these people this morning.
We ask it in Christ's name.
Amen.
Thank you so much for standing.
May I be seated.
How many of you have lost something very valuable in your life?
I mean, for us, it could be simple things like your wallet.
You know, don't you love when you lose your wallet?
Because then you start thinking, I've got to get a new driver's license.
That means I've got to stand in line.
I've got to drive to like Wichita Falls to go to the DMV because you can't get anywhere else.
You know, you start going through all these things in your head.
Maybe you lose your keys.
You lose your phone.
I mean, how do we function without a phone?
You know, I've accidentally left my phone at my house a couple times.
I'm like, man, today is so easy.
Nobody's calling me.
Maybe we should try it.
More than we do.
But I mean, when you lose something valuable, isn't it amazing how like quickly life just
kind of stops until you find what you lost?
I mean, when it first happens, there's no panic.
You're like, I know it's here somewhere.
I just had it.
But then like five minutes in, you start panicking.
You're kind of retracing your steps like your mom and dad taught you to.
Every time I say, mom, I can't find it.
Retrace your steps.
So I still try to apply that to my life today.
So I start retracing it.
And then 10 minutes in, I'm starting to kind of really kind of worry now.
I got all the cushions of the couch out, even though I haven't been on the couch like in
two days.
You know, have anybody ever found your stuff in the fridge?
Okay, thank you.
I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Because sometimes I go in to get the fridge and I'll set my keys in the fridge.
I'm like, where are my keys?
You know, after 30 minutes, I mean, it's just, you're losing your mind.
I'm accusing my kids.
I'm accusing Renee.
I'm praying to the Lord and asking for forgiveness and help to find it all at the same time.
Why?
Because when you lose something valuable, you don't just shrug your shoulder and say, oh
well.
I mean, you need your keys.
You need your phone.
You need these things.
That's kind of how we function in our life.
The idea is when we lose something valuable, we search for it.
We retrace it.
We do not rest until it's found.
And we come to Luke chapter 15.
That's exactly what Jesus is showing us.
Jesus has been teaching and the Pharisees have been gathered around and they feel that
all they need to do is just work, work, work.
And as they follow the law and they check the boxes, then they're going to make it to heaven
one day.
But what Jesus reminds them is there is nothing you can do to work your way to heaven.
That salvation is by faith and grace through Christ alone.
And he's reminding us and he's showing us that he is on a rescue mission.
That that's why he came.
He didn't come to do these miracles.
He didn't come to draw a crowd.
No, he came to find the lost sheep.
He came to find the lost coin.
He came to find sinners in need of a savior.
And that's exactly what's taking place.
That Jesus, he is relentlessly pursuing for something far more valuable than a set of keys, than a
wallet, than a phone.
See, as we read in our text and we saw a lost sheep and we saw a lost coin, but that's not
what this text is about.
No, this text is very clearly about the heart of God.
That's what Jesus is revealing.
See, as we've walked through our study in the Gospel of Luke, we have repeatedly seen that Jesus is
moving towards Jerusalem.
The Bible says it like this, that his face is set towards Jerusalem.
Why?
Because that's why he came.
He came for the cross.
He has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
That is his heart.
That is his mission.
And not everybody understood that mission, though.
Well, you see the Pharisees, man, I mean, they just need to learn to keep their mouth shut.
Nobody else thinks that?
Okay.
I do.
But here's the awesome thing.
Sometimes when they keep their mouth shut, God just reads their heart.
He reads their mind and says it, and they're like, I didn't say that out loud.
But what they do here in verse number two is they begin to complain.
They begin to complain because of the occasion that's taking place, and they see Jesus around
these people, and their complaint, I'm thankful for it, actually.
Because it really allows this great, great chapter in Scripture.
Because in response to their criticism of Jesus Christ, here's what he's going to do.
He's going to pull back the curtain and show us what the heart of God looks like.
And that's really the main idea here.
The main idea of this text is God actively seeks sinners because they're precious to him.
Because he loves them.
And not only are they precious to them, he rejoices when they're found.
This concept would have just blown their mind.
Because they lived in a system, and their religion and their rigidity would have said, you've got to work,
work, work.
And here's what Jesus is saying.
No, I'm coming for them.
I'm going to find them.
I'm going to bring them unto myself.
So if you're taking notes, we're going to ask this question and answer it this morning.
What does Jesus reveal about God's heart for lost people?
The first thing we see is in the first opening verses here is God values every lost soul.
God values every lost soul.
Notice who's drawing near to Jesus there in verse number one.
Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
That word publican would be closely related to the tax collectors of the day.
Everybody loves tax collectors.
Yeah, even in 2026, it's like, I'm not sure about that.
We see tax collectors and sinners.
Really, the idea is he is with all the outcasts, the dregs of society, the very people that the Pharisees would never be caught dead with.
But you know what's funny?
They always seem to be at these places where these people are.
Because they're trying to find Jesus and they're trying to trap Jesus.
So why are these type of people?
These people that really have been ostracized from the synagogue.
People that their testimonies wouldn't have been acceptable in any court because of their work and what they did.
But here's what they knew.
They were broken.
They knew they needed some answer.
They weren't finding it from the religious establishment of the day.
But this man named Jesus was preaching and he was loving and he was compassionate to them.
They knew they needed grace and they just were looking for a place to find it.
And they continually found it at the feet of Jesus.
See, the very people that religion pushed away were drawn to Christ.
Why?
Because they finally found some hope.
There was hope in Jesus Christ.
But not everybody's excited about it.
Verse number two.
And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured.
You know what murmured means?
Continual grumbling.
It's like when you take a road trip with your children.
And you don't really know what's going on, but you hear it in the background.
And sometimes I'll say, hey, what is y'all's problem?
Oh, we're just talking.
I'm like, no, you're not.
That tone does not sound like you're just talking.
I mean, the Pharisees are just that grumpy old man walking around like, murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur.
That's how I picture murmuring in the Bible.
You see, the children of Israel, they murmured.
They complained in the wilderness about all the things.
And the idea is they just kept complaining.
It was constant.
It was all the time when Jesus was doing these things.
Why were they murmuring in this situation?
Because they said, this man received his sinners and eateth with them.
He said, not only is he around these people, he's sharing a meal with these people.
Now, we understand this may be not as much in our culture as it was in this day.
When you had a meal with somebody, you were associating with them.
I mean, this was a big deal.
This was saying, hey, these are my friends and I enjoy their company.
And they would look at it like, how can a so-called rabbi, how can the son of God, as he says he is, enjoy these people?
I mean, because publicans or tax collectors were especially despised.
In the view of many, and especially the Pharisees, they had sold their soul to Rome.
And that's kind of what they did.
They were basically in cahoots with Rome.
And they would buy a franchise, kind of like, you know, a fast food franchise.
But it was a tax collecting franchise.
And they would set a booth up.
And they would gather the taxes for Rome.
But then they would also just take whatever they wanted.
Because Rome would give them a quota and say, hey, here's what you got to get.
But they were known for getting that and then taking a bunch off the top and putting it in their pocket.
We're going to meet a man like that.
His name is Zacchaeus.
He was a great publican.
I mean, he was the head of the tax collectors, so to speak.
So when the Pharisees looked at these people, all they saw was problems.
All they saw was wrongdoing.
All they saw was just awful, awful people.
But Jesus saw them and he saw their soul.
He realized they needed something.
They were searching for something.
And they were trying to find it in this.
And they were trying to find it in that.
And there was no hope for them.
But Jesus was continually giving them hope.
But here's what makes their criticism, and it's going to help us understand this here in a minute,
makes it even more tragic,
is these Pharisees were supposed to be helpers.
This religious establishment, it goes back, and God was the one that originally established it.
Now they had perverted it and made it about themselves.
But according to Ezekiel 34, these were the spiritual leaders,
and they were supposed to shepherd God's people.
They were to guide them to God.
They were to lead them to the places they needed to.
They could learn from the Word of God, and they could know who God is.
But what Jesus is doing is he's calling them on the carpet because they had failed miserably.
Instead of caring for the sheep, here's what they cared for, themselves.
That's their number one priority.
Instead of seeking the wandering, instead of seeking the lost sheep,
they just ignored them.
Because they said, we don't have time for that.
Nobody wants to mess with that.
And in response to that in Ezekiel 34, 11, God said this,
Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out.
What God was promising in Ezekiel 34 is if the shepherds wouldn't do their job,
he would do their job.
And that's exactly what is taking place here.
That this is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy
that Jesus is eating with sinners and receiving outcasts,
and he's seeking the lost.
See, the Pharisees, they thought, what kind of scandal is this?
And Jesus is saying, this is prophecy being filled right in front of your eyes.
That I am the good shepherd.
We see that Jesus calls himself that.
And so in response to their murmuring, in response to their complaining,
Jesus gives two parables.
He gives a parable of the lost, a man who loses a sheep and a woman who loses a coin.
And the point of both parables is very simple,
that something valuable has been lost, and it must be found.
That's what Jesus wanted them to understand.
Now, when we read about the man here with the sheep,
a hundred sheep represented a fairly substantial flock.
That's a lot of sheep.
And the shepherd wasn't poor.
On paper, I mean, maybe losing one sheep out of a hundred might not seem like a big deal.
And many shepherds may say, well, you still got 99.
You're good, man.
But the shepherd doesn't think in percentages.
He thinks in value.
Because Jesus shows us the value of one soul, of one person,
that he's interested in just the one,
that he's not saying, well, I got a bunch over here, so I don't need any more.
No, Jesus says, I'll leave the 99 if it's just for one person.
And we see that take place.
Because every sheep matters, and the loss of one sheep mattered greatly to him.
And likewise, we're going to see in just a moment that Jesus,
when he turns to the woman in verse number 8, she loses one coin.
Now, from what we can tell from the text, most likely she was not wealthy at all.
This one coin would have represented about a day's wage.
And for someone most likely living day to day, that's a pretty serious loss.
That's your meal for the day.
Maybe the meal for the next day.
This wasn't a quarter lost in the couch cushions.
No, this was something that mattered.
So what's the point of the parables?
That both people lost this something powerful, something valuable,
but the reminder is that God still values every single person.
Every single soul.
Because we live in a world that assigns value based on usefulness.
You know that because you have a job.
You're there because you're useful.
They're valued that way.
We live in a world that assigns value based on popularity, or success, or status, or money.
But God reminds us here in Luke 15,
that he assigns value because every soul bears his image.
You go all the way back to the beginning, we are created in the image of God.
And he is willing and wanting to rescue that,
which means there is no insignificant people on this planet.
That every single soul is eternal.
Every single soul matters.
And he reminds us, and he was reminding the Pharisees in that day,
that there are no throwaways.
There are no hopeless cases.
There's nobody too broken or too far gone.
The Pharisees saw sinners, but Jesus said,
I'm here for my sheep.
I'm here as the good shepherd.
And I don't know about you, but I'm thankful that Jesus is the good shepherd.
I'm thankful when this sheep was lost, he came looking for me.
That he came out and searched and searched and searched.
And sometimes we give the Pharisees such a hard time.
Think, man, what is their problem?
But I think sometimes we can act just like the Pharisees.
We can write people off really quick, can't we?
You say, well, I tried one time.
So what's the big deal?
I mean, they're too far gone.
I mean, we see addiction and we see rebellion and we see bad decisions and we label people.
But what Jesus is reminding us, if we're going to follow him,
if we're going to be his children, we're going to be on the same mission,
we're going to have to have the same heart that the shepherd has.
See, because the Pharisees, they were hirelings.
You know, when it's not your sheep, it's not that big a deal.
Eh, it's not that, they'll handle it.
But when you put it in, you know, that's why,
I guess that's why my dad made me buy stuff growing up.
He's like, you have to earn it.
Because you know what?
When I bought it with my money, I took a lot better care of it
than when it was just kind of given to me.
See, the Pharisees, they were just kind of given that,
Jesus said, no, no, these are my sheep.
And we must learn to see people the same way that Jesus does.
Not as interruptions, not as problems, but somebody he loves.
And maybe for you today, it's a prodigal child, it's a co-worker, it's a neighbor,
it's somebody that everybody else has given up.
But I just want to remind you, if they matter to God, then they should matter to us.
That's what Jesus is teaching right here.
He shows us the value of every single soul.
Because before we were found, this is going to be super deep, we were lost.
He wants us to remember, you know, my dad said, don't forget where you came from.
Listen, when it comes to our salvation, when it comes to that we're in the family of God,
if we know Christ our Savior, we don't need to forget where we came from.
Because we were lost once.
And Jesus sought us, and he found us, and he saved us.
And so Jesus shows us that not only does he value every single soul,
that he, number two, he actively seeks the lost.
It's not when he has time.
No, this is what he does.
That he has come, and he came to seek and to save.
The shepherd doesn't shrug his shoulder and say, hey, I still got 99.
No, the woman doesn't say, well, I still got nine coins.
No, the thought is this, that the lost demands action.
God is not indifferent towards sinners.
He pursues them.
He seeks them.
He searches them.
Notice at the end of verse number four, until he find it.
He didn't say the shepherd's going out there if he finds it.
Hey, I'll search for a little while, because when it's not my keys, I'll search for a little while,
but if I can get where I need to go, like, I'll find it later.
You know, it's not if he finds it, until the shepherd gets tired.
No, a good shepherd searches for the sheep until they're found.
There's no rest until it comes.
Now, here's what we've got to understand about sheep.
I think our modern-day society, we romanticize sheep.
They look so cute and fluffy.
They are dumb.
Yeah, that's right, Brother John.
They smell.
You know, they cannot take care of themselves.
They are absolutely helpless, defenseless.
There's nothing a sheep can do to protect itself.
They don't even know where to go.
Some of you have seen that video.
I saw it on Facebook, where the sheep, it's running, and it jumps in the ditch.
And the shepherd goes and picks it up, and he sets it right out there, and it runs, and it jumps in the ditch.
I felt very seen in that video.
I was like, is that what I look like, Lord?
He's like, sometimes that's what you look like.
But that's what sheep do.
The sheep are helpless creatures.
They have a very poor sense of direction.
Unless the shepherd is leading them, unless the shepherd is guiding them, unless he's telling them what to do, they have no idea.
They are completely dependent upon the shepherd.
And the shepherd knows that.
He knows if he doesn't go and find the sheep, the sheep are not coming home.
They're going to be lost forever.
They're going to be in that ditch.
They're going to die.
They're going to be completely helpless.
And he's just teaching us this truth, that the lost must be found.
So the shepherd leaves the 99, and he begins searching.
He goes across the hills, and the valleys, and the rocks, and the thorns, until he finds it.
But here's what I love about when the shepherd finds it.
Verse 5,
And when he had found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
You know, when the Lord found me, he didn't say, what is your problem, man?
No, he picked me up.
He put me on his shoulders, and he carried me home.
That's what Jesus does.
That he doesn't scold.
He didn't come to me and say, where have you been?
No, no, I hope that you understand it.
This is a beautiful picture of salvation.
And we need to be reminded that sheep don't carry themselves home.
The shepherd does.
And Jesus doesn't simply point us to home and say, hey, good luck.
No, no, he came.
He bears our burdens.
He carries us by grace.
And I think maybe there's some people just need to be reminded this morning that Jesus Christ didn't come stop looking for you.
I'd imagine in a room this size, some of you may have ran for years.
And the shepherd was pursuing.
Some of you may have wandered far.
Some of you may have resisted his voice.
But he kept pursuing.
And he kept convicting.
And he kept drawing.
And he kept working.
And one day he found you.
And it changed your life forever.
I don't know about you, but I'm thankful he kept looking for me.
Not because we're looking for him.
Because he came for that reason.
See, if you're saved this morning, you know Christ is your Savior.
Your testimony is not God found you.
No, it's God wasn't lost.
You were.
I was lost.
I didn't know I was for a while.
But he gave us his word.
And he shows us how much he loves us.
See, your testimony, if you know Christ, is he sought you.
He brought people into your life.
He orchestrated circumstances that you may have thought, this is the worst thing that's ever happened in my life.
But you know what God was doing?
He was searching for you.
I would imagine the majority of you that know Christ is your Savior, you can look back and you can see God's fingerprints all over these things.
And many of you are sitting in this church today because of that.
It's not because you just randomly, well, you know, I'd say, hey, how did you hear about our church?
Oh, the website.
No, no.
Here's what it was.
God is searching for you.
God is seeking for the sheep.
And he's looking for ways.
And he's looking for opportunities.
And when he comes, he convicts your heart.
Not because he's trying to make you feel terrible.
No, because he's trying to open your eyes.
That we need him.
And if he had not come after you, you'd still be lost.
And we see that same idea in the second parable.
I mean, this poor woman, she turned her house upside down to find the lost coin.
Many houses in these days wouldn't have windows.
And so there'd be very little light.
But she lights a candle and she takes a broom.
And the Bible tells us she begins to sweep the floor.
The floor would have been dirt, but they would have put hay all over it.
You ever try to find a needle in a haystack?
Kind of hard.
Especially these coins.
They're not very big coins.
It wasn't this big giant silver dollar kind of thing.
And she's looking and she's searching every corner, every crevice.
She's on her hands and knees.
I mean, she turns the house upside down and refuses to stop until she finds it.
See, Jesus is just showing us the shepherd's persistence.
He's showing us the woman's persistence.
And here's what they both reveal.
The persistence of heaven.
That God is not tired from searching for sinners.
No, that's the only reason he hasn't come back, by the way.
Because that's what he's on.
He's still seeking.
He's still searching.
That God pursues.
He doesn't passively wait with folded arms.
See, and this idea would have been mind-boggling to these people.
That God would pursue people like publicans?
How dare he?
I mean, they, even these religious people, they viewed God as distant.
That if we just work hard enough and hopefully when it all pans out, we would have done enough to make it.
You know, we trusted in the law and we checked the boxes and we went to church and we did all these things.
But Jesus says, here's what God actually looks like.
He's coming for you.
And Jesus was coming for these Pharisees, by the way, too.
He loved them.
See, they thought sinners had to find their way to God.
What Jesus reminds us is that God comes searching for them.
That's why Jesus is eating with them.
He wasn't sympathizing with their sin.
He wasn't condoning how they lived.
No, he was saying, listen, I want to change your life.
He was showing them that they were the mission.
That's the whole thought of the gospel of Luke.
Luke 19.10 is the main verse of this whole book.
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Jesus didn't do that casually every once in a while.
And he didn't do it on Sundays and Wednesdays.
That's why Jesus did every single day.
And that's what we see there in the gospels.
That's why he left heaven.
That's why he took on flesh.
That's why he went to the cross.
Because he loves lost people.
Preacher, how does that apply to us?
Well, number one, if you're lost, you need to come to him.
He's right here.
He's knocking on your heart.
But if you know him as your savior, he just reminds us that we should be on the same mission.
Are we actively seeking the lost?
Have we maybe stopped praying for the lost?
Have we maybe stopped loving them like we once did?
Have we stopped sharing the gospel?
Because our God, here's what he does.
He specializes in finding lost people.
Some of you may be not good at hide and seek.
You know what?
I thought I was a really good hider.
Turns out my sister just got tired of looking.
I'm like, man, I am the champ.
I go in there and she's like, mom's got her a snack.
I'm like, I thought we were still playing the game.
Listen, God is calling us to go into all the world.
The problem is, is some of us are, we're eating a snack.
We're like, hey man, I tried, but it was really hard.
I'm so thankful God didn't do that with me.
He didn't just give up on me.
I mean, because if we want to get real honest, we complain about culture.
We complain about the darkness in this world.
We complain about how bad people are and how bad it's becoming.
But here's what Jesus says.
Why don't you go find them?
Why don't you go tell them that somebody loves them?
Why don't you go tell them there's a good shepherd that wants to take care of them?
Because here's something about sheep.
They don't know they're lost.
They're just wandering around.
They're just there until the shepherd comes and tells them what to do.
And if we have the heart of the shepherd,
then we shouldn't be able to sit by comfortably in the fold
while lost sheep are perishing all around us.
We must love.
We must pray.
We must go.
See, but the story doesn't end with the search.
Because both searches, whether it's for the sheep or the coin,
they're moving towards something.
And here's what they're moving towards.
Joy.
And that's what we see lastly, that God rejoices when the lost are found.
Notice that word in verse number five.
He layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing.
And he's got so much joy in his life that he found this sheep
that he can't even keep it to himself.
He comes home and he calls all his friends saying,
hey, you should rejoice with me because the sheep that was lost is found.
And here's the amazing thing.
Jesus says, when that happens, all of heaven rejoices.
That it's not just something that happens in our life
and something that happens personally.
No, I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,
more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance.
Heaven's not just seeking.
God's not just searching.
No, he celebrates when a sinner comes home.
We're going to see it.
And many of you will be familiar with the prodigal son.
We're going to see what heaven does,
that the father rejoices when those that were lost are found.
And the same rejoicing is found in the story of the woman.
And once again, what Jesus says is he takes us from earth to heaven.
He says, I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth.
What Jesus is doing is he's contrasting.
We've got the Pharisees over here grumbling over these sinners.
You know what heaven does over sinners?
Rejoices.
The religious crowd, they were complaining about how dare he eat a meal
and God is celebrating that one day we're going to all sit down at the same table.
And then we're all going to have a feast one another.
See, the Pharisees just saw a problem.
But heaven says, listen, I'm looking for victory.
That's what Jesus is searching for.
The Pharisees said, this man receiveth sinners.
And here's what heaven's response is.
Praise God.
He does.
Because we're all just sinners saved by grace.
That's how we come to God.
And it's just the very people that religion wanted to avoid were the people that heaven celebrated.
What an incredible picture of the heart of God.
That's what these first ten verses really are.
And we're almost done, but I just want to slow it down right here for just a second.
And I want us just to picture what Jesus is saying.
That God himself delights in redemption.
He delights in rescue.
Why?
Because it displays the glory of his grace.
God doesn't just tolerate sinners.
He rejoices over them.
He didn't say, well, I guess if you want to come, you can come.
No, he seeks.
He finds.
He rejoices.
And he calls us to be a part of it.
And I think it really should change the way that we think about God.
Listen, we live in a world that maybe people imagine God sitting in heaven with folded arms and saying, well, you messed up again.
I don't think that's the picture that the Bible paints of God.
Yes, is he just?
Is he going to execute righteousness?
Absolutely.
But he also delights in saving sinners.
He delights in restoring people.
He delights in bringing his children home.
Maybe as a parent you've been in this situation before.
You get separated from your parents and your children in a crowded store.
You know, for maybe a moment you're okay, but then panic sets in.
The parents, you're searching frantically.
I've been in there before where it's like, well, Tyler Bettner plays come to the customer service desk.
You know, I'm hiding like in a rack, you know, that you're never supposed to climb under because my mom said they'll fall and crush you.
Anybody else's parents?
I haven't seen any news reports of kids getting crushed, but apparently I also told my kids that.
So it's not me lying.
It's nonny.
So that's what's going on there.
I mean, but I've been in there and I've seen it where employees are getting involved and everybody's looking.
And finally the child's found.
Who rejoices more?
The child or the parent?
I would say both are overwhelmed.
Both are relieved.
But often the joy of the parent is even greater.
Because the kid's like, hey, I'm okay.
You know what the parent was doing?
Searching, seeking, actively trying to find.
Because the value of that child.
How much they loved him.
And it's wonderful when we think that God has that same type of joy.
That the creator of the universe had that joy when I said, Lord, I'm a sinner.
Would you forgive me?
He had been searching and he had placed people in my life.
And my story is kind of, it's crazy.
I grew up in church all the time.
But we had moved back to Texas.
We were trying to find a church.
And so we had some friends from Tyler.
We lived in the Metroplex.
They invited us to this ski camp in Colorado.
I go to this ski camp in Colorado.
There's a church from Louisville that's like 10 minutes down the road from my house that we hadn't visited yet.
And God started placing all these people in my life.
And just a long story short, God used those people in that church.
And put a youth pastor in my life named Dan Preston that just poured into me.
And led me to the Lord.
And still is actively in my life today.
And it's just the fingerprints of God all around.
And God rejoiced that somebody was actively seeking.
And somebody was just doing their job and serving where he placed him.
And he was just preaching to teenagers.
And he thought, I don't know if any teenagers are ever going to get it.
I'm thankful he preached.
Because God used him.
Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross.
For the joy that was set before him.
You know what part of that joy was?
Bringing lost sinners home.
You know what that joy was?
You.
Me.
Coming to the realization that he loves us.
That he's been seeking for us.
See, if heaven rejoices when sinners repent, shouldn't we?
Shouldn't we be excited about it?
If God delights in seeing lives transform, shouldn't we be delighted in that?
Shouldn't we be excited?
Shouldn't we be on board?
I mean, we can rejoice over things.
And I'm thankful for buildings.
And I'm thankful for good attendance.
I'm thankful for programs.
But do we rejoice over souls like that?
Is that what we're seeking?
Is that what we're searching for?
Do we rejoice when prodigals come home?
When addicts are delivered?
When we celebrate when broken people are restored?
Because heaven does.
That's what heaven's looking for.
And see, if our hearts are aligned with God's heart, we will rejoice over the things that bring him joy.
That's what Jesus is teaching us right here.
See, as we step back and look at these two parables together, one truth becomes impossible to miss.
That the lost sheep and the lost coin, neither could recover itself.
Neither could find its way home.
Both required somebody to search for it.
See, the shepherd searched because the sheep matter.
The woman searched because the coin mattered.
And God searched because people matter.
Because sinners matter.
Because you matter.
See, we can rejoice today because there's a God who values the lost.
Who seeks the lost.
There's a God that rejoices when they're found.
See, everybody in this room began the same way.
Lost.
The Bible tells us in Isaiah, all we like sheep have gone astray.
We were out wandering.
No hope.
No chance.
Paul tells us in Romans chapter 3, there is none righteous, no not one.
There is none that seeketh after God.
But praise the Lord, he sought after us.
See, these might have been parables.
But I hope that you recognize we were the wandering sheep.
We were the lost coin.
We could not rescue ourselves.
But God could.
And because he could, he sought us.
And he pursued us.
And he found us.
And he lifted us on his shoulders.
And he brought us home.
No wonder John Newton could say, amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Was blind, but now I see.
That's what Jesus teaches us here.
The take-home thought is super simple this morning.
If lost people matter to God, then they should matter to us.
Because when our hearts begin to reflect the heart of the shepherd, we stop seeing people as interruptions.
We stop seeing people as problems.
And we begin seeing them as souls.
That's how God saw you.
Would we live on that same mission?
Would we seek the lost just like Christ saw us?
Would you stand with your heads back?