As you know, this past week we had Presbyterian, which is the regional gathering of the Church of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and had some great meetings and some great fellowship. And as is my course of action the last six years on those Lord's days following, I preach a sermon on a parable. So this is our ongoing pulpit series on the parables of our Lord. This morning, we'll be looking at Luke 15, 1 through 10. And so you've got notes in front of you. Please use those. Utilize those fill in the blanks or fill in the spaces with notes. Let's listen. Let's learn. Let's grow together. As we approach Luke 15, I just want to remind you that a parable is a vehicle which carries a message. Um, in our, uh, study of the parables, it's important to recognize that the, therefore the elements of the story are not important, but the message that the elements carry is. So the, well, the temptation may be to interpret a parable with, with five or six different things. Oh, notice he said seven, seven, you know, whatever, uh, seven chairs. Um, well, seven is the number of perfection. And therefore he must mean that would be to take, to take a parable wrong. A parable is simply an illustration of a truth, a spiritual truth. And so let us not get hung up on the particulars of the message of the story, but let us look at the story only insofar as it helps us to reveal the point. And once we understand that point, let's fellowship thereby. Luke 15, 1 through 10 is the text that I'll be dealing with this morning. Follow along with me as I read this God's word. Now, all the tax gatherers and the sinners were coming near Christ to listen to him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. And he told them this parable, saying, What man among you, if he has one 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? And when he is founded, 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 ninety nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, she has ten 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 lost. The same way I tell you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the privilege that is ours to fellowship with you this morning, with you around this your word. Feed us, we pray richly and deeply to grow us in your grace. And, Lord, I pray that thereby you would, by the preaching of your word, humble us and point the light of your word into our souls and reveal there, O God, anything that might be of iniquity that that Lord falls beneath your glory. And therefore, Lord, by illuminating it with your grace, please transform us, granting us the gift of repentance. that we might know you and fellowship with you and love you. Father, bless this time now that it might be refreshing to our souls. Be exalted, O God, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Years ago in a the land which someday would become a Syria or Babylon. Both were in the same geography. God approached a man by the name of Abram and he gave this promise. Go forth from your country, from your relatives and from your father's house to the land, which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you. I will curse and you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. It's amazing that that promise, that incredible promise that we've studied so often in this pulpit, both in Sunday school. That promise Actually, in the generations to come would become a source of stumbling for the people of God. As they thought of the fact that God had blessed them and God had promised to curse any foreigner who would curse them, God had said that that that that he was their God and that, get this, they were his personal people. Well, Generation after generation contemplated that, and it brought about a mentality on the part of the people of God that led them to think that if all of that's true, what kind of people are we? I mean, why did God choose us over all the peoples in the world? The Philistines, the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, name it. Why us? And the conclusion that they all came to was We must be some pretty special people. And the world, the nations, the goyim surrounding us must be pretty bad. And if that's the truth, then not only did the Jews come to the point in their lives where they recognized that that salvation was beyond the Phoenicians and the Persians and the Philistines, but they themselves found that they rejoiced when someone wasn't saved. They rejoiced over the downfall of the wicked. One rabbi wrote, God delights over the downfall of the godless. Another rabbi wrote, quote, there is joy before God when those who provoke him perish from the world. Unquote. That thinking was in full form in the eighth century B.C., when God approached a prophet by the name of Jonah. Do you remember that? The story of Jonah and the whale, which actually was a large fish, not a whale. God approached Jonah and said, Jonah, I want you to preach to Nineveh. Well, you know where Nineveh was? The capital city of the Assyrians, which is the geography from which Abraham came. In other words, God's saying, Jonah, go to the geography of your home. Go to where your great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather came from and preach the gospel of grace, the gospel of repentance. But Jonah could not imagine living in a world where God was gracious to anyone other than a Jew. And so Jonah fled. He went on the Mediterranean and fled. He went the exact opposite direction as the Assyrians, because he, as we saw, as you see at the end of Jonah, could not imagine living in a world where God was gracious to a going. You read that, you see that, you hear that, and it's distasteful, isn't it? You think about how long it sounds pretty gross, pretty sick. And yet, brothers and sisters, the 2800 years separates us from Jonah. That same mentality is living and breathing and strong. in the body of Jesus Christ. We may not use the same words, but it's there. Let me ask you to do a quick test. What comes to your mind? Be honest with yourself. What comes to your mind when I say the following words? Nancy Pelosi. Hillary Clinton. Osama Bin Laden. Al Qaeda. Ted Kennedy. Timothy. Whatever comes to mind. I dare say that most of you did not think of mission field. Did you? I dare say that most of you, when you heard of Osama bin Laden, you probably thought of war, terrorism, and if you've been up on the war on terrorism very much, maybe you even thought anger, maybe a little bit of tinge hit you. We got to get that guy. But I think so few of us thought of the mission field, in fact, I think if you mention most of those names in broad evangelicalism, of which we are a part, you mentioned most of those names to the Church of God today. Most people in their hearts will not think of mission field. They'll hope for their downfall. They'll hope for their ill, for their destruction, not for their salvation, but their destruction. I'll never forget. that years ago, I received a letter in the mail at the height of the abortion and abortion movement from a very prominent leader. And in this letter, I was I was exhorted. And if I didn't do it, I was going to be the subject of God's judgment. This is what the letter was. He had said that he had sent letters to the Supreme Court justices and the local justices that supported abortion, saying that the Church of God in the United States was praying for their death. And he sent this letter soliciting me and my congregation to pray for the death of these prominent judges. Now, brothers and sisters, this guy was not on the fringe, this guy was featured on Focus on the Family, he was a big name at the time, he was a well-known name. If I said his name now, you'd know his name. And yet this man, rather than than than than viewing these judges as a mission field. Hey, he simply put to words what so many of us in the past have thought. And that is God, take out Osama bin Laden. Lord God, take out Al Qaeda. God, take out these people who stand for the death of the unborn. God, remove them. Rather than God save them, God, redeem them. God, we will delight ourselves in the knowledge of their destruction. Brothers and sisters, what is God's disposition towards these peoples and others? What is God's? Approach to the center. Well, our passage before us is a great text that gives us the answer. You see the context in verses one through three. Notice again, all the tax gatherers and the sinners were coming near Jesus to listen to him. Now, you have to know that tax gatherers were Jewish sympathizers with Rome. Jews hated tax collectors, not because of what they did per se, but because of their nationality. A tax gatherer was Jewish who went around and collected money for Caesar. who took that money and suppressed the Jews. So if you were a tax collector, you were a little bit above someone who was very evil. You hated tax collectors. Secondly, a sinner, a sinner was a actually we use that word loosely in that day. It was an official designation of a person beyond salvation, a person who, because of what something they had done, they were now labeled a sinner like a prostitute. OK, prostitute couldn't be safe. She first had to clean up her life. God could not save a prostitute, a tax collector, or anyone who is living in violation to God's word. Their only hope in life is their turning over a new leaf. Until they did that, death and destruction awaited them, and the church prayed for it. So here you've got Jesus being surrounded by tax gatherers and sinners. Now, if he was a scribe or a Pharisee, He would have either kicked him in the face if they're a woman coming in to wash his feet with their tears. He would have said, be gone, get away. He would have fled. But here he is surrounded by tax gatherers and sinners. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Man, talk about multiple transgressions. It's one thing to receive sinners. It's one thing to to walk down the street and see a prostitute and smile at her. I mean, that alone is bad because that woman's going to hell. She's accursed of God. It's one thing to smile at her, but to actually have a meal in the Jewish culture, the way you endorse a person was to eat with them. If you could not endorse a person, you would not eat with them. So if someone came up to you as a tax collector and said, hey, I'll buy you a cup of coffee and a donut. Let's sit down and have a talk. You would not do that because to do that would be to endorse them. And so these people have gathered around Christ and the Pharisees and scribes are beyond are beside themselves. This man receives sinners, a.k.a. he approves of sinners. and he eats with them. And this is God's response to these people. Two parables, parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. Let's pick it up under the guise of the crisis, the search that we should be seeing. First of all, the crisis. Christ told them this parable saying, what man among you, if he has a hundred sheep, stop right there for a moment. As you know, parables, Christ told these to either close the ears of people who did not have ears to ear or to open eyes for people whom God had chosen. And thus the parables were written to the broadest amount of people possible. So Christ would not tell a parable about nuclear physics because so few could understand that he told parables, stories, sermon illustrations, which appealed to the largest groups possible. Well, the moment he starts talking about shepherding, that would get probably ninety nine point nine percent of people there, because either all of them were shepherds or they knew shepherds that family members who were shepherds or they needed shepherds. All of them there were well, well acquainted with shepherding. On top of it, they're in Judea and Judea was the place where shepherds live up north. He didn't shepherd per se. It was around Judea and Jerusalem where most shepherds live. And so Jesus Christ immediately begins telling this parable. It would have made everyone's ears perk up because they were all authorities on shepherding. All right. What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep significant hundred, it was the typical flock size of most shepherds. The average size flock in Judea was 100 sheep. So in essence, what Jesus Christ is saying, listen, you got this shepherd and you have this this this typical flock size of about 100 sheep. How many of you, knowing knowing shepherds the way you do and you all know how many of you would have would know of a man who lost one of them and just by way of footnote, as we carry on here, what man among you who has 100 sheep and has lost one of them? That's a significant loss in that day, brothers and sisters. You might start with 100 sheep, but within one week you could be down to one through famine and disease and warfare. In the uncertainty of the days, a spiteful neighbor would be very hard to break in and poison sheep, whatever. It was easy to lose sheep. So while we might think of a hundred sheep as being nothing, for them, 100 would be life sustaining. And to lose one of them may mean that the difference in three weeks, three months between life and death. And so this was a substantial loss. So that's the crisis that leads us, verse 4b, to the search. 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. Real quickly here, just by way of note, give you the idea of how the people listening would have heard this at this statement. They would have understood this as being typical practice of shepherding. Where you lose sheep, brothers and sisters, is not in the open pasture. You lose sheep when you're going to pasture and when you're going home. Sheep are flock animals. They want to be together. And so they typically are not going to wander off by themselves unless you're moving. They'll stay with their groups. Typically, now under the watchful eye. They'll definitely stay together, but even without a watchful eye, if you leave them in a well watered, a green pasture, most sheep, most times sheep are going to stay there. So it's a very accepted practice for a person to leave ninety nine sheep in a field to go search for the one. So you can imagine if you're a shepherd or you're familiar with it, you can just imagine this scene. It's happened before. I can remember, you know, uncle, you know, whatever. Benjamin, the day he was out, he was so late because he lost that one sheep. He left the sheep and he went out and he searched to discover them. Brothers and sisters, to find this one lost sheep was so important in that culture that did you know that there was a print, that there was a principle in God's word that said that stated that you could break the Sabbath to find one lost sheep. And the Bible, you know, if you're familiar with the Bible, that the Sabbath was a big deal and it is a big deal. God gave us a day to to worship and be refreshed in him and such an important day. Forget the perversions of the Pharisees and the scribes and what they did in Christ's day, how they perverted it. In God's word, it's a very important day, a day to be enjoyed in fellowship with God. Read Isaiah 58, 13 through 14. It just talks about the importance of this incredible gift that God's given us in the Sabbath. to enjoy him, to be refreshed in him and with one another. And yet, did you know, there's a principle in Scripture, Matthew 12, 11, 12, which states you can break the Sabbath to find one lost sheep. What man shall there be among you who shall have one sheep? And if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it? Lift it out of how much more value than then is a man than a sheep. So then it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. So Jesus says, hey, Pharisees, you'll break the Sabbath to protect one sheep. And my point in sharing that is not to talk about the Sabbath, but to show you that in that culture, to find one sheep, to lose one sheep was a big deal. So the search, this man goes off and he begins searching for the sheep, leaving ninety nine behind. What about wolves? Hey, no big deal. They're in a good pasture. I haven't seen a wolf for a long time in these parts. Got to go find that sheep. Hey, it's the Sabbath. What are you doing? Hey, I gotta go find that sheet. And God's word says it's OK. At least the scribes and pharisees say it's OK. So that's the frantic search that leads us then to the rejoicing verses five through six. When he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. It's a picture of the Middle East. You think of Middle East, Mideast shepherding. That's the picture. Typically, if you go to a Bible store, a bookstore where you have religious paintings, And you'll see a shepherd. Typically, you'll see the shepherd with the one sheep on his shoulders. A very, very typical cultural of that day. When you find the lost sheep, you don't have to try to leave the thing home. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to follow. On and on and on. You just lift it up on your shoulders and make a beeline back home. And that's verse six. 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. Again, a very typical thing in that day. I've made this comment before. You read Little House on the Prairie or you watch the show, you know, the whatever. When we were kids, they aired Little House on the Prairie. And there's something nostalgic about it. When you read about it, you watch it, you go, man, would it be cool to live in a culture like that, wouldn't it? Where everyone you knew, you live in a culture about 150 people and And everyone you knew, you knew their parents and you knew their kids and you watched the kids grow and you were one time a kid growing up with their kids and now you're grandparents and you know everything and everyone and there's a sense of security and comfort and stability in that culture. Brothers and sisters, whether you realize it or not, we've got that today in the church. The only difference between us and Little House on the Prairie is that there's a lot of homes that separate our homes, but the reality is The community, the covenant community is that it ought to be that day. Well, it was that in Christ's day. And hence, brothers and sisters, just like today, if one of you had something to rejoice over, we'll stick on the praise chain or the prayer chain, wouldn't we? How many times have you all have you gone to your computer and open it up and read a prayer chain praise update? where we share something significant, something insignificant, but it doesn't matter. We're a community. And so you know what, if you're out on a job and you lost, for example, I'm thinking of Dr. Flincham here, our veterinarian. He lost some tools that worked on teeth for a horse. He found them quickly, but had he not found them, no doubt the prayer chain would have been utilized. I lost four thousand dollars worth of tools. Guys, please pray that God gives me grace to find these things. And when he found him, there'd be a praise chain. Praise God. A UPS driver found him in the street, picked him up and delivered him right to his house. Praise God. We would share those things because we're a community, right? That's exactly how they would have lived back then. Man, they would have come home and said, you'll never guess community. Guess what? I lost sheep. Oh man, that's awful. But I found it. Praise God. All right. Verse seven, let's skip because that gets us to the point. Next parable, the lost coin. Another story, very typical of that day, or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, the word here in the Greek is drachma, which is the Greek coin. The Roman coin was a denar, a denarius. So the drachma and the denarius were one and the same. Lumped together as ten tells us by most commentators and most scholars that this is significant. This just isn't ten days worth of work. that, um, that she has 10 coins and she loses one. This most likely was her dowry. And because it was a dowry, typically her dowry would have been 10 coins, either put together on a necklace that she would have wore or put in a rag that you would have tied the four corners, either one significant because she can't get married unless she has her dowry. And if this is a woman who's very poor and the indication is she is very poor, That's a significant statement. She just can't go to, you know, go to the bank and withdraw another drachma. This is it, guys. She can't get married to she has this coin and it's not going to be another couple. I mean, how long did it take my dad to save up these ten drachma? It took a whole lifetime, guys. Thirty years to save ten danars. It's there's no way I'm going to just go out and replace it. And so we look at the search for eight B. Does she not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? Jesus is speaking to a broad group of people, and he just described the typical dwelling of most people, which was the dwelling of poverty. The typical dwelling in Christ's day was an adobe-type hut. Clay walls, earthen walls, no windows, a roof, one door. Incredibly dark. The ground, the floor would be earth, would be ground. And after years of treatment, it would be there'd be a little layer of dirt, loose dirt that you could lose a coin in. And the coins, the drachmas, were earthen color. So if you dropped it in a dark room, it would land and dust might go poof and cover it. You're lost. It's gone. It could be gone forever, as far as you know. So this woman, she loses it. And you know, as a culture, you'd hear it. Man, my dowry's lost. It's God can't get married. The wedding's in six months and it's gone. And now the whole community begins praying and begin searching and helping her. Are you now? Where were you last when you had it? I was at the well. So you're searching the well. Well, this woman, she knows it was lost in the house. So what does she do? We read she lights a lamp and the lamp is a candle. Wouldn't give off that much light, but it wasn't a candle. It was one of those near soon lamps with the wick on one side and the oil pouring out. on the other, but it was a candle. She lights this candle, not a lot of light. She clears the entire house and then she takes a broom and she began sweeping. Why would you sweep? Well, she's hoping to hit the hit the coin, have it bank off the wall and the sound will let her know that she found it. Right. So she's sweeping clang. There it is. She finds it. And sure enough, she sweeps it. And she finds it, and that brings us to the rejoicing. When she's found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost. Once again, you do that. Praise Shane. Rejoice with me. I got a job. Praise God. I finally got a job. I got a new bid. Praise God. These are great things. These are wonderful things. The diagnosis is negative. Praise God. We would share those things in the community. just like they did there. So at this point, everyone's ears, the Pharisees and scribes ears are picked up and perked up. They're listening clearly. And that then brings us then to the significance. What is the point behind these two stories? Verse seven, verse ten. Notice, I tell you that in the same way. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who need no repentance. In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sin. From verses seven to ten, seven and ten, we learn from these stories, the inestimable value of the soul of a person. We learn from these stories. Listen, brothers and sisters, if you could rejoice over a stupid coin or a mangy sheet How much more important is the soul of an image bearer? How much more? And if therefore, if God's disposition towards the salvation of a Philistine is one of rejoicing and great joy, what on our disposition be towards the salvation of the enemy, the one who does us wrong? The answer is Obviously, joy rejoicing. God rejoices. The angels rejoice. So must we, says God. But that's the problem. And that's where it gets difficult. You know, we don't mind sinners. We're all sinners. We don't mind sinners, provided their sin is what I call sanctified or clean. Do you know what sanctified sin is or clean sin is? It's any sin that you and I struggle with. OK, we don't mind, you know, if if if I'm a person who has a struggle with getting places on time. Far be it from me, I cast a stone at anyone who has a problem getting places on time. However, if on the other hand, I'm a person, the most organized person in the world, and I've never been late in my life to anything. I mean, I was due on November 25th and I was born on that day. I've never been late to anything in my life, not even my own birth. OK, if you were that person, it'd be very easy to look down upon a person who struggles with getting places on time. But it turns out I got a problem with self-control. I've never been late to a place in my life on time, but I weigh 550 pounds because I eat all the time. You know what? I don't have any problem with people who have a struggle with self-control. That's not a problem. I understand that. But boy, do I have a problem with people who can't manage, who can't respect? Get this. who don't love people enough to honor them by being there on time. I mean, I got a problem with that. You know, when I go home at night and I eat and I gain weight, the only person I'm hurting and I agree it's wrong is myself. But when you're late to a date, you are dishonoring the other individual. And quite frankly, I have little patience for people that rude. You know what I'm talking about? And we go on and on and on and on. I find that, brothers and sisters, the call of God to love a sinner is not hard so long as that sin is sanctified. The sin that I have struggled with. But give me someone's sin who I've never struggled with. And brothers and sisters, it's a completely different matter. Take what we would call an enemy. Expect us to love them and personally seek for their salvation. Require of us to physically seek out the dregs of our society. Call on us to forgive and seek the benefit of someone who has violated us. And you've gone beyond what is considered acceptable behavior in our society and in our church. I love the way Edersheim puts it. Brothers and sisters, a universal sin of mankind is that we love the lovable and we hate the people that we don't understand. Edersheim wrote, The Jewish teaching concerning repentance was quite other than a contrary to that of Christ. Theirs was not a gospel to the lost. They had nothing to say to sinners. They called upon them to do penance and then divine mercy would have its reward for the penitent. And brothers and sisters, that is how you and I live. Man, you know what? OK, I have no problem with most of you with every one of your sin. But that person. And you know who that person is, that person at work, that person in my life, that family member, whatever, whoever, wherever, what that person did, what that person's done. Brothers and sisters, I have a very serious problem with. I will forgive them if they will change. If they'll come to me, they'll bow down and they'll say, Greg, I am so sorry. And this has to be in public, by the way. I am so sorry for how I hurt you when you were four years old. And if they'll do that now, I'll sleep at night. The bitterness will go away. Brothers and sisters, the fact that you and I struggle with bitterness is an indication that we are more like the Pharisees than we care to believe. Bitterness can only be there only If you and I are unforgiving. Bitterness is settled anger by definition. And what is settled anger? It's an anger that's settled to our hearts because you and I can't get over it. I will never forget that day. I will never forget his face. I will never forget what he did or she did. Never. And so what must take place for that person to be the recipient of God's grace? They must change. Brothers and sisters, that's the doctrine of the Pharisees. No different. Danker wrote a fluent Westerner smile at all of this fuss and the idea of a lost and found party over one mangy sheep or even a small coin seems utterly ridiculous. But that's the point, he says. Religious people expect God to be less concerned about lost sinners than they themselves are about some trivial possession. Values are completely perverted. God's most precious possession is humanity. The church comes under rebuke in these stories. It is precisely in the church that arrogant, loveless attitudes towards the fallen and the disenfranchised display themselves. Unquote. Amazing. Shame on us, brothers and sisters. Yes, we'll forgive ninety nine point nine percent of the people in our path. We're gracious individuals. You've come to Bethel Presbyterian Church, who has this very important announcement. Hey, brothers and sisters, to all who are spiritually weary and seek rest. to all who mourn and long for comfort, to all who struggle and desire victory, to all who sin and need a savior, to all who are strangers and want fellowship, to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness, to whomsoever will come except for my cousin Frank. If he came here today, he is beyond salvation until he turns from his wicked way. until he stops hurting me. Oh, and also my boss, he's not welcome or the people I work with at work. None of those people are welcome. Other than those people, this church opened wide her doors and offers welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, that is the modus operandi of every church in America. What a wretched, miserable attitude that you and I sport. In theory, we say, let the nations come or Lord, use me as a vessel in your hands to bring the gospel of grace to the world. And then God answers that prayer and we're confronted by the enemy, whoever that may be, the murderer, the defrauder, the criminal, the coworker, a family member, and far from seeking their salvation, We long to get even. We long for vindication. We long for their condemnation. We do not long for God to show them grace just where they are. Right. Should there be rejoicing over one coming to know the Lord, even if that one is our is our enemy? Based on the teaching of God's Word, there must be. Brothers and sisters, the excitation of this text is that God would give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear. The eyes that God has, the ears that God has, to hear the heart of God towards the world around us. Manson wrote, The attitude of Jesus to publicans and sinners is not mere humanitarian enthusiasm on his part. It is the manifestation of the will and purpose of God. Do you realize that? Glyndon Heiss wrote, In no other religion in the whole world does one come to know God as the one who, in his love, seeks the lost person to save him through his grace. And thus, brothers and sisters, we need the eyes of God. We need to pray that God gives us his ears to see and to hear life. Christ said on the sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 46, If you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax gatherers do the same? Now, he's not ripping tax gatherers. He just knows that they're the object of scorn in the Jewish culture. If you love those who love you. Think of the person that you disdain. Don't they do that? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than they do? Not even the Gentiles do that. Brothers and sisters, get this. God saved us by grace, but our sins were understandable and pardonable. But nevertheless, God saved us by grace. He redeemed us by his mercy and his love. And then we live according to the standards and the ethics of the world around us. Al Qaeda is nice to Al Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden has his best friends and his wives. He has kids who love him. How different are we than they? You see what Christ is saying? It's amazing. We're no different, brothers and sisters. What is different is the cross love of Christ, which doesn't change the individual or expect them to be changed. And then he loves and then he dies and then he and then he he offers himself as a sacrifice. No. On the cross of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ bore in his body wounds intended for wretched individuals like you and me in the midst of hostility. Romans five, eight. God loved us so much when we were yet enemies. You see, the context of the cross, brothers and sisters. To context, we need to know that brothers, why is it, therefore, that we struggle? I'm going to close with this answer. How is it that we struggle here? Why is it this is so difficult? Ninety nine point nine percent of people in my life, I can forgive and say, oh, God, save them just as they are. But there's that one that they came into my life, I would be hesitant. to grant them that same grace until they change, until they said sorry, until they did something to earn my love or affection. Why is that? Christ answers it in verse seven. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who need no repentance. All right, stop here and think for a second. Verse seven is not part of the story. This is Christ teaching where Christ, who What Christian is there who doesn't need repentance? Think about that for a second. Did that bother any of you? 99 persons who don't need repentance? Who is it, brothers and sisters, who don't need repentance? Think about it. I think when you read this on the first cursory read, you think, oh, those are Christians, right? The 99 people who don't need repentance because they've already been saved. No, no, no, no, no. Christians need repentance. Did you know that Matthew five versus three and four describe this is a picture of a Christian, bless of those who mourn, bless those who are poor in spirit. That's the picture of of of sorrow, mourning and repentance. Who is it that doesn't need repentance? Well, let me tell you, if we say that we have no sin, i.e., if we say we do not need repentance, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we say that we do not need repentance. We make him a liar and his word is not in us. Who is it that doesn't need repentance? The person, the religious individual in the body of Jesus Christ who thinks that what they do pleases God, that's the person who doesn't need repentance. It's the Pharisee. Right? Remember Luke 18, verse 11, two men went up into the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood at a distance and was praying, God, I thank thee. You don't hear confession. You hear a resume recital of his glorious, great works he's done, which he knows pleases God. And then you got the tax gatherer in the distance repenting. And Christ said only one went home justified. Brothers and sisters, who's the one who doesn't need repentance? It's the scribe and Pharisee. It's the arrogant individual who thinks because she's a woman and a prostitute, God's going to condemn her to hell. And or because he's a goyim, a Gentile, God's going to condemn them to hell or because they're tax gatherers and works for the enemy, God's going to condemn them to hell. OK, but not us. Well, why not you? Well, because I, as he says in Luke 18, I pray I'm not like other people, swindlers and just adulterers, even like this tax gatherer. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. You say, man, that's not me. Yes, it is, brothers and sisters. That's every one of us. And I know that because you've got bitterness. If you have bitterness in your heart, that's you. The only reason bitterness dwells is because you can't forgive another person. And the only reason you can't forgive another person is because they've committed a sin you'd never commit. Oh, yeah, you've gossiped, but not to that degree. I've done this. Yeah, but not to that degree. I would never do that in a thousand lifetimes, in a thousand years, I'd never do that. Brothers and sisters, if that is your if that's your posture today, you are a Pharisee. And you're no different than the people to whom Christ is speaking to today. And pulsating in your heart is the attitude which says. How is it God could save that person? They first have to change, don't they? Brothers and sisters, why is it that we have these attitudes? Because, brothers and sisters, we're arrogant. We don't see ourselves as sinners. What should we do? Brothers and sisters, accept your sinful condition. Paul said he's the chief of sinners. He meant it. And that is a great standard and type for every one of you today. until you come to the point in your life where you see yourself as the chief of sinners, you'll always be a Pharisee. Brothers and sisters, accept it. Don't fight it. This is the amazing part. I can think of the most heinous individual in my life. I can think of whoever it may be. Let's say it is Osama bin Laden. That guy has horns growing out of his head. The idea of that man, because I had loved ones in the towers, that man gets me. Well, brothers and sisters, he's guilty. He's guilty of being behind the mastermind, behind the trade center. Okay, so three, four thousand people died, and that's bad. But that's all the sin you know about this man. That's it. He's guilty of four thousand sins. That's it. You say that's a lot. It is a lot. But if you were to be a decent individual and only sin four times a day, let's say ten times a day for the sake of multiplication. In one year, you'd have 356,000 sins. And in a lifetime, well you do the math. Now you know Osama Bin Laden is guilty of 4,000 murders. How many are you guilty of? Do you see the irony of Phariseeism? You and I act so blindly as if our 400,000 transgressions of the law this past year was acceptable and okay. But What Aunt Josephine did to me that one time, she was rot in hell for the rest of eternity, unless she turns and says sorry to me first. Brothers and sisters, accept your sinfulness and embrace it. And that will lead you to embracing Christ. Oh my, my plea is not my prayers or my fasting or my tithing or my church attendance. Thinking of Luke 18, it's it's Christ and him crucified in him alone. And then brothers and sisters confess. But you have nothing to offer to anyone in this world for Christ. Yeah, I'm a sinner. And if you can't say that, pray for that, that's what Psalm 139 is doing. David Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, know my my wicked ways. It's OK to pray that, Lord, I'm arrogant, crush me, humble me, humble this pride. Take away these these arrogant thoughts that lead me to bitterness in this life, Lord, make me soft, malleable, pliable in your hand. Lord, I might be a vessel that will proclaim the glories of Jesus Christ. I close with this thought. If you are this day one who hasn't seen your need for Jesus Christ as a savior because you have had a good life. Don't ever forget. Don't miss it. One sin is all it takes to condemn a soul for eternity. One sin. That's it. And so say you lived the life of a veritable angel. And instead of sinning 356,000 times a year, you sinned one time in your lifetime. Scripture says the wages of that one sin So, if you only have one sin, you need a Savior. Come to stay to Jesus Christ. He's the Lamb of God. Lay your hands upon that Lamb of God. Confess that one sin or that legion of sin. Lay your sin upon the Lamb's head. Confess it. Transfer it. And God will forgive you. God will heal you. God will restore you. And to the rest of us, let's pray that God gives us the grace to humble us, that we might always be begging poor spiritually and therefore longing for Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, indeed, we confess to you our spiritual poverty, but we also confess to you a heart that is filled with arrogance. I dare say, Lord, that not only if we were living in the days of Christ, but even today, We can be found criticizing, speaking with contempt over anyone who expect so and so to be saved, who would want them saved. Father, forgive us for such arrogance. Humble us. Crush our wayward will. And make us a people who, in knowing our spiritual poverty, would embrace all the more the land of God, Jesus Christ. God make us as prodigal who, unlike Judas or Saul or the many others who have said sorry with tears, the prodigal realized he sinned against God. God give us that grace to see that, to see our spiritual poverty repent, to turn to Christ every day, every moment, for your glory. And then, Lord, give us the grace to have a passion and a longing of the type of Christ that would sit with a tax collector, the prostitute, whose sin would be his undoing, and yes, to love. God give us that grace, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.