The Value of Lost Things

2:55 I titled today's message, The Value of Lost Things. I lose things, important things, all of the time. I come by that bad habit naturally. you remember the saying a place for everything and everything in its place I never heard that once growing up from my parents they were losing things all the time I remember as a little kid hearing them yell across the room to one another have you seen my keys have you seen my checkbook where's the remote control you know they were losing things constantly and they passed that disease on to me. And unfortunately, I've passed it on to my two daughters as well. You know, one of the things I'm losing all of the time is my Mont Blanc pen. Now, this pen is very important to me, not just because it costs a lot of money, but it has sentimental value. A deacon in another church gave this to me 25 years ago. But as important as it is to me, I'm always losing it. Amy knows. I mean, even this morning, I knew I was going to use this pen. I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked in all my drawers. I looked in all of my soup. Finally, I found this pen.

4:15 What was my attitude when I found this pen? Did I look at it and say, you disgusting little pen, if you're going to wander away like that, I don't want to have anything to do with you and throw it away. No, I searched for it. And when I found it, I rejoiced. You know, lost things have value. And that's true of God as well. What is God's attitude towards sinners? God doesn't hate sinners. God loves sinners. He searches for them, and he rejoices when he finds them. Lost people are of great value to God. And to underscore that truth, Jesus told not one, but three different stories to emphasize that truth. And we're going to look at them today in Luke chapter 15. If you have your Bibles, turn to Luke 15 as we talk about the value of lost things. Now, the occasion of this parable or these parables is very important to understand. Jesus didn't just wake up one day and say, you know what, I think I'm going to tell some stories today. Now, there's a context to the stories, and we find the context in verses 1 and 2. Now, all the tax gatherers and the sinners were coming near Jesus to listen to him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble saying, this man receives sinners and he eats with them. Now remember the tax gatherers, they were the scum of society to the religious establishment. Tax gatherers were Jews who had sold out to the Roman government and collected taxes for the government to support the oppressive Roman government. The sinners were Gentiles who had become involved in debauched living.

6:09 How did the Pharisees respond? They began to grumble saying, this man receives sinners and he eats with them. You know what they were really saying? They were saying, this guy is a fraud. This guy who claims to be the son of God, he can't be the Messiah because of the way he deals with sinners. We know that God hates sinners and he does everything he can to keep them out of heaven. So this can't be the son of God. But what they meant as a criticism, Jesus took as the supreme compliment. He loved to be known as the friend of sinners. That was in keeping of his mission. He said in Luke 19 10, my mission is to seek and to save those who are lost. And so to prove that point that God doesn't hate sinners, God loves sinners. He tells these three parables.

7:08 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.

8:07 No. What causes heaven to explode in joy is that prostitute who kneels at the feet of Jesus, weeping and repenting and asking for forgiveness. It's that thief on the cross who says, Lord, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? That's what causes heaven to rejoice. Verse eight, or what woman, if she has 10 silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost. In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. And in the final story, Jesus tells a story about a father who has two sons.

9:03 One rebels, but when he comes home, what's the father's attitude? Does he slam the door shut in the boy's face and say, You're dead to me? No, he rejoices when the son comes home. So it is with God. I want you to notice two truths about all three of these parables. First of all, all three of these parables remind us of the value of lost things. All three of these items that were lost have great value. The sheep is valuable, the coin is valuable, and certainly the son is valuable. The second truth we see in all three of these stories is the activity of a caring God. These three stories remind us that God is actively looking for us even when we are lost. It's the shepherd who takes the initiative in looking for the sheep.

9:58 It's the woman who searches for the coin. And as we'll see in a moment, it is the father who is scanning the horizon, waiting for the son's return. Both of these truths, the value of lost things, the activity of a caring God, both of these truths were lost on the Pharisees. They didn't believe lost people had value to God. God hates lost people. They are scum. They're worthless. Jesus said, no, you've got it wrong. God loves lost people. He searches for them and he rejoices when he finds them. And to underscore that truth, he tells this climactic story, the story of the lost son, the story we often call the story of the prodigal son. I want you to notice that Jesus tells the story in four acts. Look at verse 11. and Jesus said a certain man had two sons that's important two sons look at verse 12 and when the younger of them said to his father father give me the share of the estate that falls to me and the father divided his wealth between them Gary Enrig says this demand from the younger son must have come like a dagger into his father's heart. The father apparently pled with his son, verse 13 says, and not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together, and he went on a journey into a distant country. And there he squandered his estate with loose living. Verse 14, now when he had spent everything. Hear me today. If you live apart from God long enough, it will cost you everything. Everything that is of value to you. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need.

12:09 He found himself all alone with no resources whatsoever. So what did he do? Verse 15, he went and he attached himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him, sent the son, into his fields to feed the swine. And he was so hungry, verse 16, he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.

12:38 Now notice the steps that led to the return of the son. Verse 17, but when he had come to his senses, you know what that implies? The boy was out of his mind, and he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger. My father's servants are living better than I am. What am I doing in this pig pen feeding the swine? Verse 18, he resolved, this is what I'm going to do. I will get up and I will go to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired men. He wrote out his speech. And for the next several days, he rehearsed them to the pigs in the pig pen. Then finally, verse 20 says, and he got up and he came home to his father. The son took the first step back toward his father.

13:43 But you know what really matters in this story? It's not the return of the son. it's the response of the father what really matters to you and me is if we do take that step back toward God how is God going to respond look at what happens in verse 20 but while the son was still a long way off his father saw him have you ever wondered how is that possible how does it happen that on the day that the son decides to return his father just happens to see him. I'll tell you why. Because that's all the father could think about when his son left home. So every morning, the father would get up and he would think to himself, perhaps today is the day. And all he would do is stand on that front porch, standing the horizon for any sign of his son. He looks out and on the horizon, he sees a tiny dot. As that dot starts moving toward him and gets larger and larger, he recognizes the outline. It's his son. It's his son walking toward home. And the father lifts up his robe and he begins running as fast as he can to meet his son. And when he came to the son, he embraced him and began to kiss him. And the son thought, now here's the time. And he begins his speech. Father, I have sinned in your side and in the side of heaven. And the father cuts him off. He doesn't need to hear any speech. All he needed to hear were the words, I am sorry. And notice what the father says. Father says quickly to his servants, bring out the best robe, the festival robe, and put it on my son, and put a ring on his hand, the signet ring that showed the authority of the father, and sandals on his feet, and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this son of mine was dead and has come

15:50 to life again. He was lost and he has been found and they begin to be merry. Now that would have been a good place to end the story, but the story doesn't end there. Because remember, if the son represents the sinner who comes back to God, the father represents the God who welcomes him home. the older brother represents the Pharisees remember this story was told for the benefit of the Pharisees the Pharisees didn't rejoice when sinners come to God they hated it and you see that in the reaction of the older brother look at verse 25 now his older son was in the field and when he came and approached the house he heard music and dancing and he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be and he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound but the older brother became angry and was not willing to go in verse 28 so the father leaves the celebration and he goes outside to talk to his older son and he begins to entreat him, to beg him. He says, son, I've not mistreated you. You have two thirds of my estate. I love you as well. But the son was not moved. Look at his complaint. Verse 29, but he answered and said to his father, look, for so many years I have been serving you and I've never neglected a command of yours. And yet you have never given me a kid, a fattened calf, that I might be married with my friends. And when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him. Now, I think if we're all honest for just a moment this morning, we're have to say we're somewhat sympathetic with the older son. Don't you feel

17:59 a little bit sympathetic with him? Loyal, hardworking, never caused his dad a day of trouble. And yet, here's this boy, younger son, who devours a third of the estate. He shames the family's name. And then he comes back and he's received with open arms. There's something not right about that. You know why we sympathize with the older son? because we see ourselves as the older son in our relationship with God. We think of ourselves as good people, obedient to our heavenly father, been there with him from the beginning. And yet you're going to tell me that some immoral sinner out here who squanders his life, doing whatever he wants to, at the last moment, he's welcomed into heaven because he asked Jesus to forgive him. No, that really doesn't seem fair. See, that's how the Pharisees felt.

19:00 They didn't love sinners. They hated sinners. In fact, Luke 18, 9 says, they trusted in themselves that they were righteous and they viewed others with contempt. They imagined themselves to be much holier than they really are. You know, we have our own Pharisees in the religious world today. They think they are spiritual giants, but in fact, they are simply smug, self-righteous little snots in the eyes of God. God hates that. He absolutely hates that. If you want to know what the heart of God is, it's not to hate sinners. It is to love them. It's to pray for them and rejoice when they come to God. That is the heart of the heavenly father. The Pharisees didn't get that. Look at verse 31.

19:52 the father said to him my child you have always been with me and all that is mine is yours but we had to be merry and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found how does the story end? We don't know. The curtain comes down, the lights go out. We don't know if the older son ever came into the father's house or not. You know why Jesus doesn't tell us? Because at that point, it was still an open question. Would the Pharisees repent and recognize their need for forgiveness, just like the tax gatherers and sinners, or would they remain outside the Father's house? these parables, especially the last one, have two applications. One, to those of you who are prodigals. Maybe I'm speaking to some of you right now. You feel like there's a giant gulf between you and God. You think God would never let me into heaven. I could never become a Christian because pastor, you just don't know what I've done. Listen to me. God doesn't hate you. He loves you. And the reason he loves you so much is because he wants you to be in heaven with him forever.

21:21 And that's why he sent his son, Jesus, to die for you. Jesus didn't come and die for your goodness. He came and died for your badness and my badness. But there's a second application to the older brothers who may be listening to this message. Perhaps you see yourself as a good, moral, religious person. You find yourself looking down with contempt on people you consider to be sinners. Thank God I'm not like them. Thank God I'm not a drug dealer. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not a child molester. I'm a good person. Thank God I'm not like them. And frankly, it kind of makes you a little nauseated when you see somebody who was a sinner claiming to come to God in faith. You view that with suspicion. How could that person ever be saved? Listen, if that's your attitude, you are just as far outside the father's house as the most vile sinner is.

22:20 these stories are for any of you who are living outside the father's house right now maybe you're outside God's house because of blatant sin in your life maybe you're away from the father because of a sense of self-righteousness but whatever the reason God's message to you is the same come home come home to the Father who loves you. Even at this very moment, I know that God is calling His children to come home. If you're taking this step today, let me be the first to affirm your good decision. And if you're carrying the ache of a prodigal today, I want you to know something. The pain you feel is real, and it's heavy, but it's not the end of the story.

23:17 And Pathway to Victory promises to walk hand in hand with you. that's what we've done for 30 years on this program. We've reminded you that the God who loves your child loves Him more than you ever could. And that's what God has done since the very beginning of time, isn't it? He reaches out to take our hand and He guides us home to the Father who loves us. For three decades, this ministry has delivered this comforting message with compassion and conviction. And by God's grace, we intend to keep standing with you and countless millions around the world, but we can only do so when friends support this mission. So, as we celebrate our 30th anniversary, your generous gift will empower Pathway to Victory to walk with the next hurting parent who needs to hear There's Hope. And when you give today, I'd love to place my new book in your hands.

24:14 It's called Seven Lessons from My 70 Years. These seven deeply personal lessons have shaped my life, and I believe they'll shape yours as well. Here's David with all the details.