Lost an Found – Part 3

We’ve been looking at the parable
of the prodigal son for the last two weeks. It’s an unfortunate
take, if you will, on this parable. Because so many people look at
it as the parable that is so perfectly appropriate for the
teenage years. society, even in Christian circles,
we have come to almost expect, take as axiomatic the fact that
the teen years are to be years of rebellion. And sadly, we have succumbed
to this idea that we are to expect rebellion in the teen years and
that this is one of the few remedies for it is to read them the parable
of the prodigal son and all will be fixed. Thinking is not correct. Rebellion is not supposed to
be expected. It is not good or right or normal
at any time. But the sad thing is that this
parable has been pigeonholed as being a parable for teens,
when in reality is a parable for every soul that’s ever lived.
It is a parable for you and it’s a parable for me, regardless
of your age. But I want to take you back,
and in order to park the context properly, I want to take you
back to the beginning of the parable, which was really the
beginning of three parables, wasn’t it? I want to go back
to verse one, if we could. Read with me, if you would. Read
along with me, if you would, quietly. Now all the tax gatherers
and the sinners were coming near to Him to listen to Him. And
both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, This
man receives sinners and eats with them.” Great words. We don’t know if it was hyperbole.
We don’t know how many scribes and Pharisees. We do know that
the tendency was that those who were the chiefest of sinners
in towns were drawn to Christ. And he was receiving them good
news. Good news. The Pharisees didn’t
treat it as such. They thought that they were divulging
the most tasteless morsel about Christ that there was. When in
reality, it was the most precious news that mankind has ever known.
This man received sinners and eats with them. And he told them
this parable, this first of three. 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, go after the one which is lost
until he finds it? And when he has found it, he
lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.” You get this beautiful image
of a shepherd going and finding this lost sheep, putting it on
his shoulders with the feet in front of him, nestled against
the back of his neck. A precious sheep. And he begins
to rejoice. And his rejoicing is so exuberant
that it can’t be contained by just himself. And verse 6 says,
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. We looked at that little word.
For two weeks we’ve looked at that word. And that word, lost,
is a profound word. It literally means to be destroyed,
utterly lost and gone forever. This wasn’t a shepherd that was
ever hoping to see this sheep again. He went looking, hopefully,
but the word indicates that this was as a lost and gone forever
sheep. And Jesus, Sewed it up with this
thought 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. And we
looked at that. We were reminded there are no
such ninety nine. There are no righteous. There
are none that do not need repentance. Jesus was pointing to the Pharisees
hoping against hope that they might come to the realization
that they, too, were sinners. that they too were hopelessly
lost. Jesus tells a second parable, verse 8. What woman, if she has
ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp,
sweep the house and carefully search 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. Essentially, structurally the
same There have been those who have pointed out that we condense
or we narrow from the precious and the value to the most valuable,
the most precious. One sheep out of 100, one coin
out of 10, and finally, one son out of two. The conclusion is
the same in verse 10 for both parables. In the same way, I
tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents. Jesus was pointing out to these
Pharisees that they were all wrong. They were wrong to criticize
Him for receiving sinners. That was the very reason for
which the Savior had come. And it’s in that context Jesus
turns to tell them a third parable in the set, in the trilogy, if
you will. This parable is not an isolated
parable. This parable is not just a parable
for teens. This parable is about that which
was lost and that which was found and that which produced great
rejoicing in the heart of God Himself. Look with me, if you
would, beginning in verse 11. 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 young son gathered everything
together and went on a journey into a distant country. And there
he squandered his estate with loose living. You get the same
image as remember when Jonah was commissioned out. Jonah went
180 degrees in the opposite direction, trying to get as far as he could
from God. That’s the image that you get
from this young son. And watch God’s providence. Now,
when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that
country and he began to be impoverished. So he went out and he hired himself
out to one of the citizens of that country and he sent him
into his fields to feed swine. As we saw last week, the lowest
of low jobs for a Jewish boy, likely the focus of Christ’s
intent there. And he would have gladly filled
his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no
one was giving anything to him. No doubt, his employer was paying
him some fee, but he certainly wasn’t going to allow him to
eat the pig’s food on top of whatever wage he was paying him.
Verse 17 gives us the light at the end of the tunnel. But when
he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father’s hired
men have more than enough bread? But I’m dying here with hunger.
He had never appreciated it before then. He repudiated his father’s
love and all of his provisions. Verse 18, comes the resolve,
I will get up and go to my father. I will say to him, Father, I
have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 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. The
father interrupted his speech. 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 fattened calf
and kill it. 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.”
There were three parables in this chapter. And the three are
intimately and directly related to one another. They all speak
about the lostness. And we began to look last week
at how that took place. What we set out to look at last
week is glimpses into the life of a lost son. Glimpses into
the life of a lost son. First of all, we considered the
rebellion. The rebellion. Look back again just by way of
reminder at verses 11 through 13. We saw it. We considered
it. 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. It was his legitimate right in
time. upon his father’s death. But
in this time, before his father’s death, as I said last week, this
is one of the rudest statements in all of Scripture. It’s essentially
the equivalent of saying, Dad, I wish you were dead. Could I
have my money now? Terrible. Terrible thought. This son had it all. His father
had provided all for him. He had these precious gifts. and all the sustenance. He had
the work that his father’s farm no doubt would have given to
him. He had dignity in that work. We saw that this pointed to it
wasn’t just a son. It just wasn’t a wayward son.
This is wayward humanity. This is prefigured right there
in the garden. Right in the garden of Adam and
Eve where rebellion started. That’s what is in focus in Christ’s
mind. In every heart, that has ever
been born, there is born rebellion. There is born this tendency to
high handedly sin against God. That’s what’s in focus. That’s
what Christ is pointing to. Not only were we born with a
sin nature, we were born with an inclination to sin. I always when you think of this
high handed rebellion. We have a tendency to think of
the movie The Ten Commandments. Remember when Moses comes down
from the mountain and he sees this scene, this ridiculous scene
of revelry. I mean, it’s Hollywood’s version
of what took place. But it’s an accurate image. It’s
an accurate image that as soon as we have the opportunity, we
will turn our backs and do as we please. We have this proclivity,
this tendency, this preference to sin. Look at verse 13, not
many days later, the younger son gathered everything together
and went on a journey into a distant country and squandered his estate
with loose living. We don’t know the details. We
don’t want to know the details. Let me tell you what Paul presents
as details to this passage in the book of Romans. In the opening
chapters there of Romans, Paul said it this way. Just as they
did not feel see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them
over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper.
Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full
of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, they are gossips, slanderers,
haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy,
unloving, unmerciful.” And Paul goes on. That’s the tendency. That’s the
logical end to which we were born into in this human race.
He isn’t talking about a wayward teen. He’s talking about you.
And he’s talking about me. We are, by nature, rebellious. We are, at the core of our being,
rebellious against a holy and loving God. But there’s another glimpse into
the Son’s life, and we saw it last week, briefly. Not only
His rebellion, but His rebuke. This is a loving act of a heavenly
Father. Look at verse 14. When he had
spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country. And
it’s almost presented, if you’re not reading carefully, it’s almost
presented as this just accidental. How ironic that at the very moment
that he spent his last coin, the rain stopped falling, the
blessings stopped coming to the land. and a severe famine began
to occur in the land, and he began to be impoverished.” It
even foretells that this is not going to be a short season for
the young man. This is something that God has
brought upon him, and it’s going to be a lengthy ordeal, as long
as it takes. Isn’t God a precious God for
doing that? Isn’t He a precious God for bringing
you to your knees, whatever means He used? I used to have college
kids when I was a college pastor. And I had this couple of young
men sitting around the table one night and they said, you
know, I only learn lessons the hard way. And I said, that’s
that’s really unfortunate because God has the means to teach you
the hard way every time. God can do whatever he will to
bring you to your senses. Listen to how the old confessions
had it. The most wise, righteous, and
gracious God oftentimes leaves. Which for a Christian is heart-rending. That God would leave you. And
I’m not talking about breaking the relationship off forever.
But He will leave you to your own devices. Listen to this. The most wise, righteous, and
gracious God oftentimes leaves for a season His own children. You say, how can this be the
loving Heavenly Father? He leaves them to draw them back. He leaves for a season His own
children to manifold temptations and the corruptions of their
own hearts. Why? To chastise them for their former
sins. To reveal to them the hidden
strength of corruption. There are times where we need
to know, we need to learn or remember just how bad sin is. Are they all my favorites? I always talk about the Puritans
as my favorite. One of my favorite Puritan writers,
Ralph Venning, one of the books that I appreciate the most that
he wrote was a little book called The Sinfulness of Sin, which
we forget completely about, don’t we? We begin to think of God
as kind of You know, you know, frowning out of one eye at us
over some of our sin. But when you really begin to
think of what sin is and the sinfulness of sin and the heinous
nature of it and what it cost God in sending Christ and what
it’s done to thousands and millions of souls, then you begin to see
the true nature of sin. And that’s what God wants us
to know. to chastise them for their former sins, to reveal
to them the hidden strength of corruption. We think we’re invincible,
don’t we? I mean, you heard people say
from time to time, I know, you know, that is so wrong. I would
never do that. Not only that, but the deceitfulness
of their own hearts, that they may be humbled and raise them
to a more close and constant dependence for their support
upon himself. God wants to be close. He wants
to be your provider. He wants to be the means of grace
to you. And He wants you to know it. Not only that, but to make them
more watchful against all future occasions of sin and for any
other just and holy ends. You know what? God loves you.
And God is going to do whatever it takes to keep you close to
Him or to draw you close to Him. I remember years ago, I don’t
think my brother’s with us. I shared with my brother. He
had had a source of what he called or a spate of what he had called
bad luck. And I began to share with him
and I just appealed to him to consider. I said, did you ever
think that perhaps God was trying to get your attention? The next
day, he went out, pulled into an intersection, was broadsided.
And I’ll never forget the phone call. He called me and asked
me if I had put a hex on him. That’s the way the world thinks
of this loving act of God in bringing into our lives calamity
that brings us to our knees. It was a rebuke and it was a
rebuke of God that drew you to your knees. I don’t know exactly
what crisis came into your life, but I know that it’s the tendency
of human nature to demand it. before they will fall on their
knees and humble themselves before God, there’s calamity. Such was the case of this man.
He reached the lowest of low. The lowest point of all for any
Jew would be to be around pigs, much less to be feeding them.
And then, not only to be feeding them, but to be longing for their
own food. These pods that were hardly nutritious,
just merely meant to fill his stomach He had sunk to his low. And the Lord began to move in
his life. When he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred and
he began to be impoverished and it lasted a long time. And it
drew out. And in verse 16, he would have
gladly filled his stomach with the pods and no one was giving
anything to him. He was in a seemingly hopeless
situation and then Just like for you and I. A light dawned. God brought us to our senses.
He began the work of regeneration in our hearts. Look at verse 17. But when he
came to his senses, you know what immediately comes to my
mind in that little phrase? Remember Nebuchadnezzar? So proud,
thinking that he had accomplished everything and God said, you
know what? I’m going to humble you. He sent him out into the
field to eat grass like a cow and his hair and his fingernails
grew and he looked like some kind of a creature, less than
human. And in time, he too came to his
senses. That’s what a Christian does.
It isn’t just the garrison demoniac when he was saved and it says,
remember, he was clothed and in his right mind. It’s not just
him, it’s us. To live as if there’s no God,
to live a sinful life, to live a careless life, is to live a
half-crazed life. It’s to live an unsensible, foolish,
crazy life. It’s insane. It’s essentially what the Scriptures
point out. Not only do we see this glimpse
of the lost son’s rebellion and his rebuke, but thirdly, we see
his repentance. We see his repentance. Look at
verse 17, but when he came to his senses, he said, first of
all, there’s nothing wrong with a statement of repentance. There’s
nothing wrong with purposing in our minds. There’s nothing
wrong with falling on our knees and confessing our sins to God
for that first time. But his repentance didn’t stop
there. He said, he began to reason,
how many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread? But I am dying here with hunger.
The Lord begins to prioritize our lives. I can remember when
the Lord began to sort out my sin-sickened life. Began to point
out inconsistencies and imbalances. And I began to be convicted of
sin, didn’t you? Began to realize what sin was
and what a holy God was and how doomed you were. I’m dying here. What accurate words. That’s the best. That’s the very
best that a nonbeliever, a person who doesn’t know the Lord Jesus
Christ, that’s the best they got. They’re dying here. They
might live 80 to 100 years and it might be a life of bliss,
but they are in the midst of dying. They have a terminable
disease and it will take them. And it will take them for eternity. This man’s previous state was
only half of his real life. It was a delusion. It was madness.
Ecclesiastes 9.3 says it this way, there is an evil in all
that is done under the sun. There is one fate for all men.
Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil
and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Isn’t
that a pretty graphic and direct description of our society? The priorities that seem to come
out of our society, where would they come from? But a half crazed
individual. In Acts 12, the same word here
is used of awakening from a trance. Listen to it. Acts 12, 11, when
Peter came to himself. That’s what God does in a believer’s
life, and Scripture presents it in far worse terms than that.
It’s not just that we were crazed. It’s not just that we were out
of our right mind. It’s not just that we were sick.
Ephesians 2 says that we were dead. God does this work of regeneration
by enlightening our hearts, illumining our minds, and as He awakens
us, He points us to the Savior. He reminds us of our sin. We come to Christ. One Puritan put it this way,
he said, thinking is not a change of heart, but it may be the beginning
of it. When this young man fell on his
knees and began to long for home, that isn’t true repentance in
and of itself, but it’s a start. It’s a good start. Conviction
isn’t conversion, but it’s a step, he said, it’s a step in the right
direction. The ruin of many people is that they never think at all. That’s the trouble, isn’t it?
People move too quick. They move too fast. That’s why
they party. That’s why they keep it moving. That’s why already
tomorrow is planned. And the further out they can
plan, the more they can defer attending to their conscience.
And the faster they move, the further they can stay away from
it. Because the minute they begin to think, The minute they begin
to think, they know, I’m dying here. Another Puritan said it this
way, every sinner is beside himself. His reason is enslaved to his
lust and passion. He is governed by appetite and
that which rages within him. While his understanding is blind,
he cannot discern between good and evil. When he has any measure
discerned to anything, his will is stubborn and chooses the evil. Conversion is but the return
of the soul to itself. The first thoughts of which conversion
arise from a soul’s consideration. What poor, miserable creature
it is ready to perish forever. That’s the first and beautiful
thought. Is to say, as with the Lord in
Isaiah, The grass withers, the flower fades. When the breath
of the Lord blows upon it, surely the people are grass. The best
thing that an unbeliever can do is begin to get a sense of
his own mortality, that this party will not last forever.
Won’t last. First impulse of a truly repentant
heart is to begin that process of humbling himself. Note what
the son did. He said, look, I’m not even going
to consider myself a son. I’ll be a hired slave. I will
humble myself and I am as nothing. But I want to return to my father
no matter what. When I came to Christ, I didn’t
aspire to such a noble position as being a pastor. Even when
I went to seminary, I didn’t think of being a pastor. I just
wanted to know more about God’s Word so I could teach Sunday
school. God drew this Son to Himself.
The Son fell on knees of repentance and He rose up to practically
repent. And it says that He got up. I
will get up and go to my Father. And He begins to rehearse this
speech. Look at it. I mean, this is good stuff. He
doesn’t make any excuses. Father, I have sinned. First
and foremost, I’ve sinned against Almighty God. I’ve sinned against
heaven and I’ve sinned in your sight. I am no longer worthy. He doesn’t raise a possibility
or offer a possibility for the father to use as an excuse against
him. He says, I am not worthy to be
called your son. Make me as one of your hired
servants. Man humbled himself. And not
only that, he didn’t just write this nice rehearsal speech. He got up and he came to his
father. And that’s where so many stopped
short. That’s where so many. So many are willing to pray in
the darkness. They may be willing to read the
prayer at the back of the booklet and bow their heads for a moment.
But they won’t practically repent. They won’t get up and come to
the father. They won’t walk with Christ. This man did. And look what happens. Look at
the fourth glimpse. Not only do we see the glimpse
of his rebellion and his rebuke and his repentance, but fourthly,
we see his restoration. Look at verse 20, he got up and
he came to his father. And as I said, it wasn’t just
this mere flash of repentance. It wasn’t just a touch of remorse. As one said, a journey must be
taken. The back must be at once fully and finally turned on the
far land. Sin. You’ve got to turn to God
to have your back turned to sin and all the shame of those abandoned
duties and forsaken friends must be faced. There’s a cost to discipleship
And he got up and he came to the father and you know that
it had to be exceedingly humbling. But the repentance was real.
Look at verse 20 at the end of it, it says that, but while he
was still a long way off. And isn’t that the case with
you and I? I mean, how much of your salvation did you really
affect? Nothing. God got your attention. God sent the rebuke upon you. In whatever land you were living,
God brought you to knees of repentance. You repented, but even that you
don’t get credit for. He brought you to repentance. You repented. You began to turn
to Christ. And while you were still a long
way off, the Father saw him. He felt compassion
for him and he ran and embraced him and kissed him. Here you
get the image of a loving, heavenly Father that cannot wait for the
return of a sinner. The Son begins His speech. Look
at verse 21. The Son said to Him, Father,
I’ve sinned against heaven and in Your sight. You can just tell
He can’t wait to get all the words out. Father, I’ve sinned
against heaven and in Your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called
Your Son. And He can’t even get all the words out. The Father
stops Him. He interrupts Him, as it were.
Because if you look back, there was more to the speech. There
was much more that the son wanted to say about not being a worthy
son, about wanting to serve as a hired servant. The father would
have none of it. Look at verse 22, the father
said to his slaves quickly, bring out the best robe, put it on
him, put the ring on his hand, sandals on his feet, bring the
fattened calf and kill it. Let us celebrate. The father
would have none of this idea of him serving as a second class
citizen in his own home. In other words, what is implied
here is a full restoration. And you know that you experienced
that. You know that when you came to Christ, you experienced
forgiveness in full and you began to bring up with the father.
But what about this sin? What about that sin? What about
this situation? And the Lord just kept on driving
at home. I forgive you. Your sins are
forgiven you. The blood of Christ has covered
it. You are forgiven. You came in. I came in. Into the kingdom, not as a second
class citizen. Not as one who, you know, hadn’t
been raised in a Christian home. And so it’s going to have to
be relegated to the back pew for the rest of his life. Never
being given any responsibility in the church, never being given
any privileges or blessing, certainly never expecting any blessing.
Never expecting a wife, never expecting anything. That’s how
I came in. That’s how you came in. And the
Lord just began to lavish those things upon you, didn’t it? It
was forgiveness first and not only forgiveness, but then grace
upon grace as he began to equip you and use you. The most astounding
thing of all that me, I could be used in somebody else’s lives.
And isn’t it that way for you? The God now wants to turn and
use you to build into other people’s lives. It was astounding. There have been debates for centuries
as to what the robe means. Does it point explicitly to the
robe of righteousness? I don’t think there’s enough
data there. What does the ring represent? A ring in that family
would have been the signet ring. It would have been the ring that
he would use in the marketplace as a indication that he was a
true son. Oftentimes they would sign with
those. All those things are possible. The specifics of which I don’t
even think is necessary to get into the real meaning of this
passage. The father would have none of
this hired servant nonsense. He restores him to full son status. And he did the same thing for
you and I. The conversion of a sinner is a full conversion
and is a full restoration. Listen to the way Psalm 103 says
it. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger,
abounding in loving kindness. He will not always strive with
us, nor will He keep anger forever. He has not dealt with us according
to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
In other words, God in Christ removes all of those and draws
us in and makes us as full sons. One pastor said it this way,
when the sinner returns to the heavenly Father, he does not
reproach and punish him. Did God want you to face your
sins and confess and repent from them? Absolutely. Does he sit
there for the next 200 years shaming you? No. In fact, I had a conversation with
one young person one time, they said, oh, I know, I believe God’s
forgiven me. I just can’t forgive myself. I said, well, congratulations
then, because you have a higher justice system than Almighty
God. And that’s how so many people
live. They think their justice system
is better than God’s. And I’m not going to be satisfied
until I’ve punished myself for a while. People, that is penance. That is an improper means of
salvation. That’s not what Scripture presents. When the sinner returns to the
Heavenly Father, God doesn’t reproach and punish him. Neither
does he humiliate him to the position of a hired servant or
slave, but he accepts him in Christ as his beloved child.
You have been adopted as sons, Paul would say, and he gives
to him full status and all the real privileges that a child
possesses. When a sinner has come to repentance,
there is joy not only in his own heart, but in heaven. The father wanted his son restored
to this rightful position. And it wasn’t just that. He wanted to essentially throw
a party. That’s what he does at the end. At the end, he throws a party.
Watch what happens. The fifth glimpse, we see rejoicing. It told them to bring out the
best robe, bring out the signet ring, put it on his hand, bring
a fatted calf and kill it. This wasn’t a sacrifice offering.
This was a party. This is going to be the meat
at the table of a banquet for rejoicing in what God had done.
And the whole reason that I went into such detail two weeks ago
about telling you the nature of lostness. The shepherd, when
he considered a sheep lost, it wasn’t lost, hoping to find it
again, you know, wishfully thinking. But it is those who have ever
lost anything really, really lost your wallet, really lost
your keys, never to have found it again. This was lost. It was
a lost sheep. The coin was a lost coin. Not
expected to ever be discovered again. And this son was a lost
son. The father had already grieved his last. He had cried his last
here in hopes of this son being returned. He had all but given
up on him. The son was gone and gone forever.
No wonder. No wonder the father’s joy. No
wonder our Heavenly Father’s joy as He reaps the harvest of
a single soul. Look at His reasoning. Bring
the fattened calf and kill it. He doesn’t say it as an offering. Let us eat and celebrate. Isn’t
it true that aren’t banquets just times of celebration? I
don’t know what it is. I know what it does to your waistline
over time. But, you know, it’s just like how many celebrations
can you go through and you make it through, you know, you make
it through Thanksgiving and then comes Christmas and then after
Christmas comes, you know, all kinds of other celebrations and
it’s always around food. Why is that? I don’t know. But there was a
rejoicing nature to these banquets. There was a celebratory atmosphere
to these banquets. Let us eat and celebrate for
the son of mine was dead and has come to life. He was lost
and has been found. See, he puts in perspective what
that lostness really meant. He was dead. He was as good as
dead. He was considered to be as dead.
And now he has been found. And they began to celebrate.
And here again, we have another one of the common and slender
threads woven throughout this parable. At the discovery of the lost
sheep, Christ said it this way, there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents. At the discovery of the lost
coin, Christ summarized it this way, I tell you, there is joy
in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
This father was doing what just came naturally. His son was dead. He was as good as dead. He was
lost. And now he’s found. He could do nothing but rejoice.
To thank God for what he had done. And this is the tender
heart of God. Listen to how the prophets had
it. Isaiah said of God, as a young man marries a virgin, so your
sons will marry you. As the bridegroom rejoices over
the bride, so your God rejoices over you. God’s heart goes pitter-pat
at the thought of you walking with Him. God is exulting in
the fact that you have, by Christ, reestablished relationships with
Him. He is rejoicing in who you are in Christ. Jeremiah said
it the same way. I will rejoice, Jeremiah 32,
41, over them who to do, pardon me, I will rejoice over them
to do them good. I will faithfully plant them
in this land with my heart and with all my soul. That’s the
magnanimous heart of God that is figured in this passage, Ezekiel
18. Ezekiel 18 says it just the opposite. I have no pleasure in the death
of anyone who dies, declares the Lord. That’s not the heart
of our God that rejoices when somebody dies, but when somebody
lives, when somebody comes to Christ and is converted. Charles Spurgeon said it this
way in his inimitable way. Oh, brethren,
there is enough joy in the heart of Christ over His saved ones
to flood all of heaven with delight. The streets of paradise run knee-deep
with the heavenly waters of the Spirit’s joy. They flow out of
the very soul of Christ, and angels’ glorified spirits bathe
in the mighty stream.” The sad thing is that not everybody
was rejoicing. We’ll look at the older brother
next week. But the question today is, are you? Are you rejoicing? You were one who was at one time,
even regardless of your spiritual perspective, born into this world,
you were rebellious. You were one whom God had the
loving mercy and care, who loved you enough to rebuke you. And
whatever means He used to bring you to your knees, by God’s grace,
you repented. And when you repented and drew
to Christ, You were restored and restored in full. You are
not a second class citizen in God’s heaven. And is that not
cause to rejoice and to rejoice with whoever God chooses to draw
in? Let’s pray. Our gracious, our merciful God,
we bow and we humble ourselves before you, rejoicing indeed
in all that you have done. Father, you have been so good
to us. Lord, we knew we know in our
hearts that there were in those dark moments of our lives, seasons,
times of almost hatred against you. We hated your law. We hated your ways. We hated
even thoughts of you. And you sent that merciful rebuke. The death of a loved one. The
loss of a career. The loss of friends sickness,
whatever means you used, you sent it. We know it now. You brought us to knees of repentance. You showed us who Christ was.
And father, having having humbled us, you restored us in full.
And it took us years. It still takes us time to fully
grasp all the blessings that we have in Christ that you did
it. Lord, give us hearts that rejoice
in all that you’ve done. It’s in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. and put it in hymn number 460. And what we’re going to do is
sing the second verse of Before the Throne, and then go into
460 Amazing Grace. But let me read you from this
prayer book called The Valley of Vision.