So, we're going to be continuing in the parables, and we step into Luke chapter 15 with great anticipation, I'm presuming, because within Luke chapter 15 contains probably one of the most well-known, if not the best-known parable of all the parables, the parable of the prodigal son. Now, as you know me, in all likelihood, the take on this has been inconsistent oftentimes with the true intent behind the purpose of the parable. And I want to unpackage the real meaning of this particular parable. I think it's misnamed, frankly. And I will give further insight to that. It's also known as the parable of the father's love. And we're gonna ultimately find out who the parable is really about. And in order to do that, we have to understand what takes place in verses one through 10 first. There are three parables in Luke chapter 15, all spoken sequentially by Christ at the same time to the same audience. And so that's important. We understand, too, that context is king, and the three rules of a good hermeneutic, that is a good science of Bible interpretation, is context, context, context. Get the context wrong, and what do you end up with? a misinterpreted passage that is often biblicized to such an extent that it loses its true meaning and purpose and punch. We understand that the parables have a purpose, that Jesus spoke in parables. Luke says he always spoke in parables. And the purpose behind that is because it's the means by which he communicates to the elect, and it's the language that he uses to draw the elect to himself and communicate important kingdom truths. And so we'll read all of Luke chapter 15 this morning, and we'll pray first and then get into the passage. Lord, we love you. Thank you for our time together this morning. It's good to be here with the redeemed of Christ, to be assembled together as the body of Christ. This is something that you've uniquely crafted and designed for our benefit and for your glory. May we treasure it as you do. May we see its value as you do. May we not be dismissive of it or casual about it, but may we revel in the wonder of what you have so graciously provided to us. How unique this opportunity is to come together, people who were strangers at one time brought together through the work in person of the Holy Spirit and through the finished work of Jesus Christ to be assembled together just as a precursor of things yet to come. The fact that we will all spend eternity together, those of us who are in Christ, is a glorious thought, and we appreciate the occasion that we have here to get to know each other, being that we'll be together forever. Thank you, Lord, for that. We ask, Lord, that you would bless us with the presence of the Holy Spirit this morning, open our hearts and minds to hear those who have an ear, let them hear. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Luke chapter 15, beginning with verse one. Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near him to listen to him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. So he told them this parable saying, what man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has 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? Now I want you to pay attention to words that are repeated, okay? That's an important thing. So pay attention to the words that are repeated, typically occurring a couple of times, sometimes three times in the same verse. Verse five, when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his 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 who need no repentance. 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? 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 he said, a man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country. And there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger? I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found, and they began to celebrate. Pay attention. 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 fatted calf, because he has received him back safe and sound. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, Look, for so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected the command of yours. And yet you have never given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, he who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him. And he said to him, Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found. So, like I said, in order to understand verses 11-32, we have to understand verses 1-10. You cannot separate this. You do great disservice to the parable of the prodigal. We'll go ahead and call it that because that's what it's been called for so long. The parable of the prodigal is driven by what takes place in verses 1 through 10 and is ultimately framed by verses 1 through 2. The whole point of the prodigal flows out of what transpires in verses 1 and 2. And so we are here in Luke chapter 15 with great anticipation to hear about the most well-known parable of them all, this parable of the prodigal. And oftentimes what we do when we come to these types of passages, we say, oftentimes, well, this isn't about me. I never sinned in the same way that the prodigal did, with such flair and rambunctiousness. So in doing so, we really miss, I submit to you, the whole point of the parable, as we will see. The other problem with the parable of the prodigal is that it's probably one of the most biblicized passages in all of the Bible. People step into verse 11 and they start reading things and trying to find practical applications for a variety of things. How to raise children, how not to raise kids, what to do with inheritances, a whole sorts of things. Make it about themselves or about someone else or other things that's not the point of the passage at all. It's about, ultimately, the other son that is the one who is angry. The real character in the parable isn't the father, isn't the prodigal, but it's the angry son. And the anger of the son is demonstrated by what we read in verses 1 and 2. As I noted before, context is king when it comes to biblical interpretation, so if I step into verse 11 through 32 without first understanding verses 1 and 2, and in particular the following two parables, I'll never understand the point of the Prodigal Parable at all. What we'll find ultimately is that in light of verses one through two, Jesus in all the rest of the chapter is answering the critics' complaints that we will ultimately find communicated in verses one and two. And so that's very important for us to understand. So as we step into Luke chapter 15 and the three parables it contains, we need to note three major emphases that Luke makes about Jesus. And again, The Bible is about Jesus, so I'm always stepping into a chapter, and I've told you this often, I always step into the chapter and my first question ought to be this, what is it gonna tell me about Jesus? What is it gonna tell me about the work and person of Jesus Christ? Am I going to gain more knowledge about Jesus and who he is and why he came? And how do these parables communicate important truths about Jesus? So you need to do that right out of the gate. You ought to write it above chapter 15. What does this chapter tell me about Jesus? We always do that. We want to make certain that we do that. And doing that helps us to avoid some of the common pitfalls that are associated with these kinds of passages that often are turned in to meaningless applications that have nothing to do with Jesus. often more to do about you and other people rather than Jesus himself. And so Luke makes some important emphasis in this particular chapter. We'll find there are three in particular. The first are found in verses one through two, which provides the orientation for the whole chapter, as I've noted. It is here in these opening verses that we see Luke's emphasizing the attractive offensiveness of Jesus. the attractive offensiveness of Jesus. Let's look at verses 1 through 2 and we'll see this. Verse 1 is important. Luke doesn't necessarily provide us the location of where this parable is spoken, but most believe that they're on their way to Jerusalem and Jesus is stopping along the way and he's engaging with the crowd and with the Pharisees and the scribes and he's communicating through these parables. And so Luke records for us in verse one, now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near him to listen to him. Verse two, both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble. saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Well, they're offended by what Jesus is doing. They're appalled by his behavior, by his association with this particular group of people. And so we see that there's something offensive about Jesus that ultimately will become quite attractive to us as we work through this. Secondly, the second major emphasis in this chapter centers on the primary attention of Jesus. Who is Jesus focused on? in this chapter? What is his concern about? On whom and to whom is Jesus ministering in this chapter? That's an important emphasis. And thirdly, The third emphasis, which will take up the bulk of the chapter, which we'll find in verses 11 through 32, is on the sad revelation of Jesus, what Jesus reveals about a particular group of people. It's sad because of how Jesus uses one of the characters' attitude and behavior to demonstrate the sad state of so many of his day and even today. in the context of the response of this particular group, as we see in verse 2. It's also sad because the attitude of the older brother is sad. We see his reaction. to what takes place with his other brother, the prodigal, and the father's response to the prodigal's return. His response is indeed sad. It's interesting, sometimes we think that the stories in the Bible carry a bit of our biography, and sometimes we are certain that they don't. The latter could be your case with Luke 15. You come to it, you read the parable of the prodigal, and you say, it's moving, but that's not me. You're not that kind of sinner. Take heart then, the whole parable isn't about the prodigal son or even the father. It's about the Pharisee son. The parable told by Jesus doesn't so much address the raunchy sinner as it does the religious ones. It's not calling vile but virtuous sinners to repentance. So indeed, it may be about you after all. So pay attention to this. This is often missed. And you read this parable and your focus is on the son, the prodigal son, the one who takes the inheritance and wanders off. But as I will explain, the real point of the whole discourse is to get to the angry son, is to get to the sad state of the angry son. to address the attitude of the angry son, and to tease that attitude out in a significant way. Remember when we talked about the parable of the publican and the Pharisee? And I warned you about the dire consequences of actually becoming the Pharisee by looking down on the Pharisee? The same warning applies to this passage as well. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan and how often that is misconstrued to a meaning that isn't applicable at all in the context of what Jesus is saying? Again, these parables go to a very significant heart issue of self-righteousness. And that's a perilous place to be. It's a perilous place to be. It's easy to identify the sin of the prodigal. You can look at that and it jumps off the page at you. That's simple. But the problem is with the angry son. And the problem with the angry son is the reasons for his anger in his reactions to what took place with the prodigal and the father. As I've noted, it's not calling vile but virtuous sinners to repentance. This is about people who think they're virtuous. And the warnings that are attendant with their perceived virtue, the perilous place of the virtuous sinner. Perhaps that's what I should have called the message. the perilous plate of the virtuous sinner. So with respect to point one, the attractive offensiveness of Jesus, the emphasis by Luke, we go back to verses one through two. This, as I noted, provides the entire orientation for the balance of the chapter. Get verses 1 and 2 wrong, you might as well just go home. Ignore verses 1 and 2, you will never understand the balance of the chapter, and it will be misinterpreted. So we need to understand what this is about. So let's pay attention to what's going on. Verse 1, notice this. Notice the nature, the character of the crowd. Now all the tax collectors, I love how the tax collectors, it's not a lawyer finally. It's a tax collector. I don't like them either. Having just recently passed through April 15th. Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near him to listen to him." I love this. Here you have the scallywags and scoundrels. They're following Jesus. They're listening to him. People are hearing, as we know. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. Significantly, the language that's used is important. We'll get back to it in a moment, but there's also another group in verse 2. We find a familiar group of people as we've been working through the parables. These chaps known as the Pharisees and the scribes, the religious elite of the day, the people who were in the know, the ones who had been establishing a variety of additional laws and regulations foisted upon the people. in an effort to give them more to do to achieve the righteousness that they needed to earn heaven according to their theology, which had been severely corrupted. Their Jewish position was not consistent with what scripture had taught. This was a severe deviation from the original teachings of the Old Testament, and they had missed the whole point ultimately. So we find in verse two, both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble So, what do we know about these guys? Well, Luke tells us that they were grumbling. The more accurate word is murmuring. And, significantly, Luke is emphasizing that because of the connection back into the Old Testament. It's intended as a chide. and should conjure up images in our mind of the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness as we recall from the Old Testament. Old habits die hard, don't they? And so we find that they are consistently doing what they've been doing for a long time, up to that point in time. They were murmuring, they were grumbling. The murmuring Israelites continue to murmur even in the context of now having the Messiah in their very presence. Same people, same attitude. And so much for the theological perspective at times that says, just give them time and they'll change. No, they won't. No, they won't. It takes a miracle to change a dead heart, and we see that that heart is still dead. That heart of stone has not become a heart of flesh. These individuals that we find in verse 2 are simply clones of an earlier generation of unbelieving Israel. And why are they so upset? What are they murmuring or grumbling about? Well, verse 2 tells us the horrid thing that Jesus was doing. He was welcoming and eating with sinners. How dare He? How dare you heal the double-bent woman on the Sabbath? Remember that one? How dare you? Do any of those things. And so we see here that they're upset. Notice this. Now, go back up to verse 1. We see something that's significant about verse 1 in that the language indicates there's an attractiveness, there's a sense in which people are drawn to hear what Jesus is saying. Some passages or some translations use the word, we're drawn near him, we're drawing near him. The NASB uses the word coming near him, the same idea. But we have a sense in which these individuals are listening to the message that Jesus is communicating. It's definitely a different message than what the Pharisees and the scribes are communicating. The rigorous adherence to a bunch of minute, silly restrictions, as opposed to the welcoming invitation to rest in his finished work. Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Rest. No conditions. The Pharisees and the scribes preached a conditional justification, a conditional salvation. You had to do a lot of things, and you had to keep on doing them to keep on earning it. But Jesus' message was simple, come to me. And so we find that we have a group of people who were attracted. Tax collectors, that word, that language is used to communicate those who have been and are known for their wickedness and their vileness. People who were considered to be the scourges of their day. people who were vile and wicked and ripping people off and scamming people and charging them more. They would keep a portion of what was charged, charging them more than the actual tax was. They would pocket the extra money. And people knew this about them. So we find that this group of people is listening to Jesus, and this is an important setting. as we'll find as we travel through this chapter. And they were coming near to him, and significantly, notice what it says in verse 1, they were coming near to him, not just to be around him, but to do what? To listen to him. It's recorded elsewhere in scripture that people said of Jesus that he spoke like no one else. Who is this man, they would say? We've never heard anything like this. This is different. This is different, and the gospel is different. And I hope that you're hearing what the gospel is really about, because there's still not many people today who actually preach the true gospel. Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near him. There was a sense in which they were attracted to him. And they came to listen to him and the scribes and the Pharisees saw this. And what we also find out from verse two is that Jesus was doing something else with them that's not communicated in verse one. And that is that he was receiving them. He was welcoming them. He would sit down and talk to them. He would go with them and he would eat with them. Now this does not indicate, as some would argue, so improperly that Jesus was engaged in their sin with them, that he was facilitating their sin. That's not the case at all, and that's a horrid, horrid translation. But what we do find is that Jesus was engaged with them, unlike the Pharisees and the scribes. Now notice that. You've got to notice this. Notice what the Pharisees and the scribes are not doing. This will help you better understand the next two parables, because the next two parables are directly tied to that issue, what they're not doing. Notice what Jesus is doing. Notice who Jesus is communicating with. Notice who is listening to him. Notice what activities that he is engaged with them in. That's so very important. keeping in mind who the Pharisees and the scribes are. They are the religious leaders of the day. They are the people's shepherds. They are the ones who are to communicate to them the true purpose and meaning of the law, which does what? What does the law do? It tells me that I am a desperate sinner. Significantly, in verse 1, I understand that sinners were drawn to listen to Jesus because He's addressing the very problem that they have, that they are sinners. they are sinners. The scribes and the Pharisees aren't doing that. They're just simply giving them more to do, or bragging about how good they're doing it. I thank God that I'm not like him. Right? Remember the publican and the Pharisee as they're praying? The publican is beating his chest, woe is me. God have mercy on me. The Pharisee has got his nose up in the air, his back turned. I thank God that I'm not like him. So we see the problem. And we see that it is significant. You cannot miss this point. They're upset. They're upset with Jesus. It was simply too much for them, teaching lowlifes and spending time with them. How dare they? Kind of reminds me of something that we read earlier when we read the entire chapter. Look at chapter 15, verses 28. You get a little precursor, a little flavor that something of Jesus is going to tease out. The older son's response in verse 28, but he became angry. and was not willing to go in. Why was he angry? Because of what the father had done with the prodigal, that horrible sinner, the one who was spending time with prostitutes and wasting his inheritance. Notice this, don't miss this point. Give you a little precursor as to what's coming, coming attractions. This is going to be a 50-part sermon, so hang on. I'm teasing, just 48. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, Look, for so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours. And yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him. You sat and ate with him. You welcomed him." Sound familiar? Go back to verse 2, and there you have it. What does he say? Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, murmuring. They were angry. Murmuring comes out of a discontent heart, an angry heart. We all love it when our children murmur, don't we? Oh, isn't that cute? Murmur more. Please, just murmur. Nothing like the quiet sound of murmuring children in the evening. You've got to love it. No, none of us like murmuring. Tell your kids, stop grumbling. I mean, you've got it so good. And then you go through all the stories about how you walked uphill to school both ways in the snow, barefoot, being chased by whatever. Murmurs. We don't like murmurs. But notice, they murmur, they grumble, they're angry. This. Now, contempt. Go back to verse 28 as we looked at it. The Son is angry. There's contempt. Just dripping. There's contempt here. Don't just gloss this little phrase. There's anger in this. It's like a hiss. This man receives sinners and eats with them. How dare he? Who does he think he is? We can't even walk in the shadow of these people. That's how filthy they are. They're vile and they're wretched. But we are righteous. We're not going to dirty our hands with them. So Jesus hears that. And what does he do? He tells them a parable that they can't understand. So if we skip verses 1 and 2, the chapter won't make any sense. Verse 1 and 2 frame the context for the parables that follow, and we'll find how that works out. So all of Luke chapter 15 is Jesus' answer to the griping of the theologians of his day. Now I want you to see something here. This is so good. There's an irony here that is so compelling. Notice this. I want you to see this. Watch this in verse 2. Look at this. We'll go back to verse 1 for a minute. See who's there. The sinners. It's all of us. We're all there. Don't take yourself out of it. It says tax collectors, but it also says what? The who? Oh, that's not you. Surely. Oh no, it is. It is. So don't remove yourself from the passage. You're there. You're there. Now I'm going to show you the gospel. Watch this. The gospel is in verse 2. How do I know it? Because the Pharisees tell me about the gospel. This man receives sinners and eats with them. And God's people said, amen. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. This man receives sinners. and eats with them. The irony is unbelievable. Their griping is our gospel. Their dire accusation is our only hope. We should be ecstatic over their damning words. Thank heavens for the gospel of the Pharisees. What better news could there be than he eats with sinners and welcomes them? And here we see that attractive offensiveness of Jesus. Spurgeon would call it the approachableness of Jesus. The glorious gospel found in the grumbling of the Pharisees. I love it. I just absolutely love it. And there is an attractive power in this complaining text. The Pharisees' complaint is the playground of the soul. Revel in it. We revel and rejoice in it, and it's delightful for us. Aren't we glad for this? But they don't see it. The very thing that they complain of is the answer to their problem. The very thing that they're critical about is the very core, the very heart of everything that's wrong with them. They cannot see the Messiah in front of them. They cannot see the Savior, the one who can rectify the sin problem. Notice how often the word sin, the derivatives of the word sin appears. It's in verse one, the sinners. Verse two, the sinners. There's a point to be made, right? I said to you earlier, pay attention to the words that are repeated. So don't remove yourself from verses one and two. Throw yourself right in it. Just jump into it, wallow in it, roll in it, play in it. You're there. You're in verse one, and the resolution is in verse two. The gospel of the Pharisees. Amazing irony. This man receives sinners and eats with them. Now, so what's going to happen? Well, we then find the second emphasis that Luke is going to be making in the chapter, which centers on the primary attention of Jesus. Who is Jesus focused on? Why did he come? What's his purpose? And these next two parables help us understand it. So let's look at this. We find that Jesus' concern is seen in the first two parables and is present in the third as well. In defending his actions in ministry, Jesus tells stories about things that are lost. Things that are lost. How does he answer his critics? Well, he starts to talk about things that are lost. We have 100 sheep and one is lost. We have 10 coins and one is lost. We have two sons and both are lost. What is the point of all this lost stuff? What's the point? A lot of lost stuff. The point is that it's right to go after lost stuff. And that is the focus of Jesus' work. It's the whole point of His ministry and the gospel. And what we ultimately find is that His ministry had two effects. It either hardened or softened. The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. And we see that to be the case here, too, as it relates to what we find. Verse one, coming near. Verse two, grumbling. Notice that, murmuring. Notice the difference in the reactions as it relates to the message of Jesus. What we will find as we travel through chapter 15 is that the word loss occurs eight times in chapter 15, verse four, verse six, eight, nine, 17, 24, and 32. As you look at the first parable, it appears Jesus is intending to rebuke the Pharisees by using the analogy of a shepherd and his sheep as an example. As with other parables, we are shocked by the response of the religious leaders of Israel. They ought to have known these things. They ought to have seen these things. They ought to have appreciated who Jesus is, but they didn't. What we find then is this. Now I want you to notice something else. We can wring a lot of stuff out of here. So verse one tells me what? What does it tell me about the people of the day? It tells me that there's opportunity. What we find in verse two is that the Pharisees and the scribes missed the opportunity. The very whole point of the law is to point people to the fact that they are what? Sinners. And then the Old Testament tells me that there's one coming who is going to do what? Rectify the problem of my sin, and I get to look forward to that, and now he's standing right in front of them talking to them. Opportunity and answers, but they don't see it. They answer it by their own grumbling, but they don't get it. So notice that is important for us. They don't see or even care. Instead, they grumble, like they did about the double-bent woman being healed on the Sabbath, like the publican and the Pharisee. What's significant, too, is this. Jesus pulls here out of, and Luke does as well, from an Old Testament passage that we're gonna look at. So let's read verse three through seven, and we're gonna go look at something or consider it. Notice this. Now, pay attention to verse three. We have the critics, and they make the accusation. He, this man, receives sinners and eats with them. As I have noted, the balance of this chapter is an answer to that criticism. The whole thing, all the way to verse 32, is all about answering that one phrase, that one statement. Okay? Don't forget that. And that's why it's important. You need to understand that as we, in particular, step into the parable of the prodigal, we can't lose sight of that reference. So in verse three, notice this. So he told them this parable saying, so we have Jesus speaking and speaking with authority. This is important. And again, he's using a parable. Notice that he doesn't answer their question directly or explain why he's doing what he's doing directly. You and I, if someone said this, this man receives sinners and eats with them, we would say, well, you know, I do this and that and that thing and the other thing, because I'm doing that. And we give a whole big answer to it. But Jesus again speaks in this way that is kingdom language. And those who have an ear will hear. Okay? And he's teasing out some important points. So he says, so he told them, so pay attention. Jesus is speaking. Jesus told him this parable, saying, What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. I told you to pay attention to words that are repeated. Pay attention to the word rejoicing or joyful. Those words are important. Verse six. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them, oh, there's that word again. Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was what? Lost. Sounds like the people in verse one, doesn't it? It does. That's on purpose. Verse seven, I can't wait to get to verse seven. I hope I can do it today, I'm not sure I can. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more what? Joy, there's that word again, rejoice, joyful, in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Oh, oops, oops. So now what's going on? Well, to get some context to this, let's go back to the Old Testament. Let's go back to Ezekiel. Now, this is amazing. Don't forget verses 1 and 2 as we read Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 is incredibly important. Jesus is clearly reaching back into this passage in the communication that he's having with these Pharisees and the scribes. Remember, he's answering them. He's answering their criticism. And so he's going to reach back and use an image of the shepherd and the sheep that would have been familiar to this crowd. Very familiar. And so chapter 34 of Ezekiel is a prophecy against the shepherds of Israel. And let's begin with verse 1. And don't forget verses 1 and 2 of Luke 15. In fact, what I want you to do, somewhere in your Bible, and yes, it's okay to write in your Bibles, right above the heading, put, see Luke 15, verses 1 and 2. That way, 10 years from now, when you read it, you'll remember, oh yeah, Pastor John talked about that, and I remember that. So just put, see Luke 15, verses 1 and 2. Ezekiel 34, then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Now, who are the shepherds of Israel? Well, they're the Levitical order. They would ultimately become the Pharisees and the scribes. The guys we're talking about in verses 1 and 2, and in particular verse 2, are perhaps all of 15. Look what he says, prophesy and say to those shepherds, thus says the Lord God, woe, and when God says woe, he means woe. Whoa, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flock? That's a rhetorical question. That's what pastors are supposed to do. I'm not here to entertain you. My role is to feed you. That's my job. Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly, you have not... Now, pay attention. Those who are sickly, you have not strengthened. Does that sound familiar to you about a particular shepherd we read about and the double-bent woman? Sound familiar? Yep. Those who are sickly, you have not strengthened. The diseased, you have not healed. the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost. But with force and with severity you have dominated them. We can go back and look at all the things they were doing, and the things they added, and all their requirements. It was bad. That's why Jesus said, come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden with all of this, the severity with which you have been dominated. Verse 5. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field, and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them." That is so powerful, because what we find is that's rectified in Jesus. Because what do we know in verse one? They were drawing near to him. They were following after him. They were coming to him. Verse seven, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my flock has become a prey, my flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock. Sound familiar? In the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep? Does that sound familiar? Look what happens, look what they're not doing. And my shepherds did not search for my flock. but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock. Therefore you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus, verse 10, thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds and I will demand my sheep for them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver my flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them. Verse 11, for thus says the Lord God, behold, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for my sheep and deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. It must be in Northeast Ohio. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the streams and in all the inhabited places of the land. Keep in mind when he's talking about Israel, who's he talking about? You. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel." Does that sound familiar to you? Ever heard of Psalm 23? What do you think that's about? Verse 15, I will feed my flock and I will lead them to rest. Sounds like, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. I will feed my flock, and I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, the one sheep is gone, the shepherd goes and finds him in the parable. 100 in the pasture, one wanders off, he goes to seek the one. I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick. But the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment. Verse 17, as for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. Is it too slight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures, or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must foul the rest with your feet? As for my flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet and drink what you foul with your feet. He's being critical of those Pharisees who have trodden down the good pasture. depriving the sheep of good food, the legalism of the Pharisees and the scribes. Verse 20, Therefore says the Lord God to them, Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep, because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust it all the week with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad. You've seen sheep together in a pen, maybe at the fair or at someone's farm. They do that. They butt and they push and they shoulder other ones out of the way. That's how the Pharisees are treating the people. Verse 22, Therefore I will deliver my flock, and they will no longer be a prey, and I will judge between one sheep and another. Verse 23, now look at this, now pay attention. Don't miss the point of verse 23 because it's directly tied to Luke 15. Notice what's happening here. We see the fulfillment of the prophecy in Ezekiel 34, 23 in the gospels, in particular Luke 15 as well, but all the gospels communicate this important truth. Notice this, look what happens. Then, Yahweh speaking, then I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them, he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken." This is the Davidic covenant, the promised Messiah. Look at verse 25, I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Now, for those of you who are paying really good attention, that kind of sounds like Revelation chapter 12 to me, where he's going to nourish you in the wilderness. Sound familiar? The Bible all ties together. I will make them, verse 26, and the places around my hill a blessing, and I will cause showers to come down in their season, and they will be showers of blessings. Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure on their land. They will know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them." Who enslaved them? Goliath, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Jebusites? The Moabites? No. No. The Pharisees, the legalists, had enslaved them. They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them, but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid. I have established for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be the victims of famine in the land, and they will not endure the insults of the nations anymore. This is speaking to the future. This is about us. the consummation of the kingdom. Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. As for you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, you are men, and I am your God, declares the Lord God." Now, you've got to keep that in mind. Go back to Luke. Now, keep Ezekiel 34 in your mind as we go back and we look then at this particular parable about the lost sheep. Now, I would submit to you that it's not really about the lost sheep, it's about the good shepherd. The emphasis is on the action of the shepherd, not the sheep. The sheep is lost. It's what the shepherd does. So again, be careful with the titles. They're not always right. and they take your mind off of what's actually happening. Again, what does the chapter tell me about Jesus? Who is it talking about? It's talking about Jesus. What was Ezekiel 34 talking about? When you step into Ezekiel 34, your first question is going to be, what is this going to tell me about Jesus? It's all about Him. So I see when I step into verse 4, now He's talking about Himself. He's answering the critics. He's explaining to the critics why he does what he's been accused of. He receives sinners and eats with them. Ezekiel 34 identifies him as the one shepherd who will fulfill the obligations of the perfectly good shepherd, who is Jesus. Now verse 4, What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, or the wilderness, so to speak, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? This is what a shepherd does. This is what a good shepherd does. He identifies the one that is in need and he goes after it. He seeks after it. He pursues it because he wants it back. That's what a good shepherd does. Anyone who has animals knows that when one of them gets lost, you go look for it. And so Jesus is teasing out the inadequacy of the shepherding of the Pharisees and the scribes. The religious leaders of the day are the ones who are identified as the fat sheep in Ezekiel 34 and are the ones that he's criticizing in the parable. He's teasing out what they're missing. They're not doing their jobs. So now he's there as the perfectly good shepherd. He now is doing what they have not been doing for centuries, seeking out the lost. Notice verse one, all the tax collectors and the sinners were drawn to him. Why do you think that is? Because he was calling them, he was shepherding them, he was going to find them. He was looking for them. That's what a good shepherd does. The language here is so compelling. The open pasture speaks of a wilderness to go after, to go after, to seek. Why does he have to seek? Because there is none who seeks, no, not one. He must do the seeking. And he finds it and he brings it back into the fold. That's what the obligation of the Pharisees and the scribes were. They had all these people right in front of them. All day, every day, double-bent women, people laying by pools in illness, people who desperately needed to know the purpose of the law, and the coming Savior who was walking in their midst, and they did not see Him. They were so consumed with their self-righteousness. This is why the prodigal isn't about the prodigal. It's about the angry son. They were so angry over what had happened that they didn't see the blessing of the one who had returned. Look what he says. Now what happens in verse 5? When he is found, he lays it on his shoulders. What? Grumbling? Murmuring? Rejoicing? Notice the contrast. It's supposed to jump off the page at you. You're supposed to go, wow, I was talking about murmuring, now I'm talking about rejoicing. What's going on? And remember, it's all about the gospel. The gospel that's in verse 2. The verse two gospel connected to the fact that the shepherd is going out and looking for the sheep. And he's finding them. I mean, it just keeps getting better. I have to stop. Let's just go to verse six real quick. And when he comes home, notice what he does. It doesn't stop. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, what? Murmur. Rejoice with me. Why? For I have found my sheep, which was what? Lost. That's the gospel. The beauty of the good shepherd. I have found my sheep, which was lost. Oh, I can't do it. But verse 7, it's going to blow your mind. I want you to do this, though. I want you to look at verse 7. Here's your homework. Look what it says. 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 who need no repentance. For this next week, I want you to think about what is the most magnificent thing that's in this particular verse. What theology, what doctrine are you being taught? in this verse. I want you to think about that, and I want you to ponder it, because we're going to talk about that, Lord willing, next Sunday. The good news is, of course, the fact that Jesus does receive sinners. And if you're here today and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, I will tell you that he will receive you. I'm not gonna give you a list of a thousand things to do. I'm not gonna tell you you have to go home and repent all week in order to get ready to be saved next Sunday. I'm not gonna tell you anything that you have to do. You don't have to come forward. It doesn't require anything other than the fact that you call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. Lord, we love you. Thank you for these reminders of who you are, what you're doing and who you're doing it for. Thank you for seeking me. Thank you for seeking us. Thank you for our salvation. We praise you in Christ's name. Amen.