“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
4 sermons cite this verse
… He tells these three parables. Verse four, he says, what man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and he's lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it. verse 5 and when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing 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 I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons if they had quotation marks back then that's what they would have put around it. Luke said, 99 so-called righteous persons who feel like they need no repentance. You know what sets off the fireworks in heaven? What gets God excited? It's not some legalist who checks off his to-do list of things he has to do to please God. …
… It's those that are lost that God values even sometimes more than those that are found. in Luke 15, Jesus tells three stories about lost items. Look here, the first one. Go to Luke 15, verse four. Then Jesus told him this parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? When he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and he goes home and then he calls all of his amigos and his neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I have found my lost sheep. I have found, oh my gosh, I leave the 99 to go find the one that is lost. Second movie reference, Finding Nemo. Let's just go Finding Nemo. Great movie. Finding Nemo, the dad swims through the Pacific Ocean to find his lost child. Do you realize that God, when you were lost, didn't write you off as a lost cause? He didn't turn his back and say, oh, you're going to miss out. …
… Jesus does. He says this in verse 4, Luke 15 verse 4, the very next chapter, he says, 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? Stick a pen right there. Paul, let me go back and read that again because I want to highlight something here. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and, here it is, go after the one which is lost until he finds it. Somebody say, go after the one. That's what I want to be talking about over the next several weeks, about going after the one. this is what my focus is going to be is on challenging you and teaching you how to go after the one because this is the heart of God this is the heart one of the heart of the new testament that is an assignment a call to us to do that verse 5 it says right here in Luke 15 and when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing 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. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. That's why here at the First Baptist …
So Jesus told them this parable. Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that's lost until he finds it? And when he's found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I've found my lost sheep. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. This is the word of God for you, the people of God. Thanks be to God. This past Tuesday, when I exited the M1 bus right in front of the church, a voice called out to me, Pastor, it's been a long time. I looked up and saw a slender man sitting right out in the front steps there. He was holding a cardboard sign. He was asking for money. I studied his face. He looked vaguely familiar. …