In the sermon 'Lost and Found' by Robert Bosley, the speaker explores Luke 15, examining three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, all of which emphasize the theme that God saves the lost and rescues sinners. The sermon highlights that God initiates salvation, rejoices over the repentance of sinners, and pursues them diligently, as demonstrated in the parables. It points out the Pharisees' hard-heartedness in Jesus' time, rebuking their complaints about Jesus associating with sinners. The parables illustrate God's grace, showing that both the sinner's return and God's welcoming embrace are acts of divine initiative and compassion. The prodigal son's story exemplifies how sin leads to ruin, yet repentance and returning to God bring joy and restoration. The sermon concludes by urging believers to rejoice in God's saving work and to pursue the lost with love and grace, emphasizing the importance of genuine repentance and God's delight in forgiving sinners.

Good afternoon. As Nate said, open up your Bibles to the Gospel According to St. Luke, chapter 15. Gospel of Luke, chapter 15. Gospel of Luke chapter 15.

And I am perhaps trying to be a little over ambitious, but we're going to read the whole chapter and we're going to try and knock out three parables this afternoon. We're obviously continuing the series on the on the parables told by our Lord during his ministry and these three parables I'm putting them together because they really all revolve around one central theme. The heading of your Bible if it's like mine, the heading of this chapter, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. These three parables are all fit together, They go together teaching this one great theme that God saves the lost. God rescues sinners and he brings them in.

That is the great overarching theme of these three parables. So we'll try and get through all three of them this afternoon, but let's begin with prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we come before you in the name of your son and we thank you Lord for this day. Thank you for giving us another Lord's Day and for the many blessings we've already had this morning. We thank you for the wonderful gift of your Word.

We thank you that's already been opened up to us and we've seen wonderful things in it And we pray God that you would continue that this afternoon Lord help us to see and to know great things from your word And may you be glorified in our time together this afternoon in Christ's name. We pray. Amen So as I said, we're gonna look at these three parables As I said the main overarching point of all three is that God saves sinners, God rescues the lost. There are additional points that we can glean from these parables. There's the fact that in these parables we're clearly shown that God initiates salvation.

It goes hand-in-hand with what we heard this morning. That man must respond, but God is the one who begins the work of salvation. We see a great point in these that there is a great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, is a wonderful thing. We also see the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees and there are many other points that we could glean from these parables but this single theme unites all three of these that God saves lost sinners. So we have the three parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.

So we're going to read the whole chapter and then hit these one after another. So join me in reading, following along here, in Luke chapter 15. Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes complained saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. So he spoke this parable to them, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 persons who need no repentance. Or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it. And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying, rejoice with me for I found the piece which I lost.

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Then he said, a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.

Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father.

But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, 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 here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found." And they began to be merry.

Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. But he was angry, would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

So he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years I've been serving you. I never transgressed your commandment at any time, And yet you never gave me a young goat that I may make merry with my friends But as soon as this son of yours who has devoured your livelihood with harlots you killed the fatted calf for him and He said to him son you are always with me and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found." So these three parables, particularly the parable of what is often called the prodigal son, really the parable of the lost son, probably the most well-known parables. So much so that even in our own language, prodigal, the meaning, it actually means reckless, but it's completely lost that definition most of the time. You think you hear of a prodigal and you think of someone who has gone away and hoped to return.

So these are some of the most well-known parables that the Lord teaches. We probably know these stories in and out, but I want us to again pay attention. We may know them, but not let familiarity block out this beautiful message. Just because we are so comfortable with it and so familiar with it, do not let it dull you to what it is saying and this beautiful, glorious message that these parables teach us. Ultimately, this is teaching us that God pursues the lost.

We do not have a God who is standing far off, waiting to see what will happen to sinners. We have a God who takes the initiative. He pursues sinners. And it's always been this way. You see it even in the garden when God came after Adam and Eve ate the fruit, God walked into the garden and said, where are you?

God was not unaware of where Adam and Eve were, but he was pursuing them. He was calling them to come to him. And that's what these parables teach, that this is how God saves sinners. He pursues them. He forgives them.

He rejoices over them and welcomes them into his home. So first let's begin with the parable of the lost sheep beginning in really beginning in verse 3 through 7. Jesus tells this parable in response to the complaint of the Pharisees. Jesus, through his ministry, is Attracting these people to himself that the Pharisees and the religious leaders have neglected sinners and tax collectors the outcasts of society are Being drawn to the Lord We discuss why but I can guarantee you why is not because the Lord was reducing the standard of God's law. We will hear that often today while Jesus ate with sinners as if Jesus was giving approval to their sin.

That is not what the Lord did. He proclaimed a gospel of the full forgiveness of sins for those who repent of their sins and that message was made attractive to sinners who had been neglected. That's why they're coming to Christ, because He is the one that gives what they saw that they really needed. But the Pharisees are not happy with this, and so they're complaining. And so Jesus uses these parables as a rebuke against them and he begins with the parable of the lost sheep.

And in the parable a man has a hundred sheep, one of which is lost, one of which wanders from the flock. Now, the identity of, again, remember what parables are. They're extended metaphors. They are teaching us some sort of spiritual truth, something that is true of the kingdom of God, true of the gospel of God, and what Christ is doing in the world. But not every element of a parable has to have a corresponding reality in the real world.

And so it's not entirely clear what the 99 sheep are. Most would say it's probably the Jews of that day, the members of the old covenant. It's possible, but remember what happens. Most of the Jews end up rejecting Jesus, so how are they just persons as verse seven says. Others theorize that it's the religious leaders, but again, you have the same problem.

How are they just persons? This parable is told against them as a rebuke. Some Commentators even theorize that these are angels since they are just, but angels and men are two different kinds of being. These are all sheep, the one that's lost and the 99 that never go away. They're the same class of creature.

So I don't really know, in my opinion, the identity of the 99 is not that important. They're probably just there to make the parable work. If anything, perhaps it's a picture of those who are in outward conformity to the law under the Old Covenant, such as when Paul said that in regards to keeping the law, he was blameless. But in reality, he was still lost. What is clear is the lost sheep.

What is the lost sheep? Well, Matthew Henry, I think, very concisely describes who the lost sheep is. The lost sheep represents the sinner as departed from God and exposed to certain ruin, if not brought back to him, yet not desirous to return." That's the key part. The sinner is not desirous to return. He does not want to be found.

A sheep that has wandered from the pen and goes off into the mountains as we have here in this parable. It does not want to be found. He's trying to get away from the sheepfold and that is what this parable is teaching about sinners. We have wandered away from God. All we like sheep have gone astray, Isaiah says.

And we have not only no ability, but not even a desire to find our way back. That's what's key about this lost sheep. Now, in context, this does refer directly to these tax collectors and sinners that the Pharisees are complaining about, but by expansion, this applies to all sinners. Every one of us, Before we are in Christ, we are this lost sheep that has gone astray, that needs to be rescued because we cannot and we do not want to be found on our own. And this is why the doctrine of election is so important as we heard about this morning.

If it were not for God's electing grace, we would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah, which we'll see very vividly when we get to the parable of the prodigal son. Now the shepherd leaves the 99 to find this one. This shepherd is a picture of God, or perhaps specifically a picture of Christ seeking out the lost sinner. This is a picture of God reaching in and changing the hardened heart. The grace of God comes and he changes the heart so that now you are brought in.

You want to be brought into that sheepfold. Think of what happens here in the parable. Verse 5, when he has found it, when he found the sheep, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and he carries it back to the sheepfold. This is a picture of the election. This is a picture of God's irresistible grace.

He reaches in and he makes it so the sheep is no longer able to run. He carries the sheep to the sheepfold. The shepherd ensures that the sheep will be saved and when he recovers the sheep he calls his friends and neighbors together to celebrate that the lost sheep has been found, that the sheep has been rescued. We're explicitly told that what this is a picture of is rejoicing in heaven. I say to you likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

We live in a time when the supernatural is very, people are very suspicious of anything supernatural, including Christians. We almost will give assent to these doctrines. Yes, angels exist. Yes, there's this host in heaven, but we don't really think about it. But what is this teaching?

I believe it's teaching that those maybe departed saints, but at least the angels, are aware of what's happening in this world and they are amazed at what God is doing. Things that angels long to look into, Peter says. When God saves a sinner, heaven rejoices. Heaven celebrates. There is a supernatural thing that happens when sinners are saved to the point where even the creatures, the angelic hosts that we cannot see, They rejoice in what God has done.

How much more should we rejoice? The parable of lost coin is similar. Instead of a shepherd, we have a woman. Instead of a hundred sheep, we have 10 coins, 10 silver coins. Specifically, these coins are what are known as drachma.

If you look in the commentaries, you are going to find a wide range of opinions on what is significant about these being drachma. Certain commentators will talk about how valuable these coins are. Some of them will talk about how insignificant these coins are. And that reflects history. Ancient writers before the time of Jesus talked about how the drachma was such a valuable coin.

You could buy, in times of prosperity, you could buy an entire oxen with a single drachma. But a few hundred years later, One writer comments about how a hundred drachma is a stingy gift So there's kind of a wide range. What how much is This in in value. What what does this really mean? And the commentators will pick up on one thing or the other to kind of point in one direction, what is this saying about us, and what is this saying about God?

If they think the coins are valuable, then the point is that each human life and each human soul is of infinite value to God. And I think that's true. If the commentator points out that the drachma may have been a fairly worthless coin, perhaps the point is that God does not need you. God does not need us. If we were lost, if we were never even to be created, God's glory and God's nature would not have been changed one iota.

God does not need us. This is also true. So I wonder if we can't think of these both as being true. The coins maybe in themselves aren't valuable, but to this woman they are because she has ten of them. They're incredibly precious to this woman because she has only this certain number and so they are valuable to her as special things that she possesses and so each human being is of great value to God as his special creation.

We are bearers of the image of God, and so we are precious to him. At the same time, God would not be impoverished if he never saved any one of us. God does not need us. We do not enhance his glory, we do not enhance his nature. Ultimately, in the greatest sense, in any way, it is mere grace that he saves from, not because you are worth it.

Regardless, this woman does seem to value these coins because what does she do? She sweeps the house, she hunts persistently for it, she looks carefully for this coin, She seems to basically tear her house apart looking for this lost coin. Again, we have a picture of God's grace in election, calling and regenerating sinners. She goes out of her way to find this coin. She overcomes every barrier to wherever this coin has been lost.

She finds the coin. How much did the coin want to be found? Not at all. Coin has no will. Just like the sheep has no desire to come back to the sheepfold, the coin has no will.

It's inanimate. It has no desire to be found, but the woman finds it. She goes through everything in order to recover this coin. This is a picture of God's grace, His sovereign work in saving sinners, His grace in overcoming all your rebellion. He changes the heart so that you want to come.

So do you want him today? Do you want to be found? If you want to be found, that's a sign he's already working in your heart. Or are you still hard-hearted and have no desire for him? Are you like the sheep who wandered away and have no desire to come home.

Are you the coin? You have no will of your own to seek to be found. If that's you, then cry out to God that he would change your heart. Cry out to God that he would soften your heart and he would break down your stubborn will. And what happens?

She finds the coin, she pursues it, she recovers it, she rescues the lost coin and what does she do? She calls her friends and neighbors together saying rejoice with me for the coin or for I have found the peace which I lost. Rejoicing again that's a consistent theme. There's the theme of God's salvation of sinners but also of rejoicing. And look at verse 10.

This is remarkable. I say to you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Rejoicing in the presence of the angels. So it's not the angels in this phrase that are doing the rejoicing. It's the rest of heaven and I believe it's God himself.

God rejoicing when a sinner is saved. God rejoices when a sinner is brought to know Christ. God is not begrudgingly granting the forgiveness of sins. God is not miserly in extending his grace. He lavishes it on the repentant sinner, happily, joyfully.

God rejoices to save God delights in forgiving your sins Do not forget that So now the the main parable the last one parable of the lost son which is often called the prodigal son, as I mentioned before. Here we have the younger son. A father has two sons. There's no mention of a mother. Again, irrelevant to the parable.

But this younger son comes to his father, and he's clearly not a child. He's a young man, capable, if not unwisely capable, of living on his own. And he asks his father preemptively to share the portion of his father's wealth that he would inherit when his father dies. Now there's a lot that we could pull from this. This could be an entire sermon or a couple sermons on itself, what we can learn from this parable, but suffice it to say this young man, this younger son, he wanted the pleasures of sin more than the love of this family.

He wanted his own way. He wanted to do his own thing. And his sin didn't just affect him. I mean, think of what he says to his father. He's saying, give me my portion now.

In essence, he's saying, you're taking too long to die. Give me my money now. I'm going to go and leave. He offends his father. He offends his brother, leaving all the work for him.

If there is a mother, again, it's a parable, but how grieved would you mothers be if this would be the attitude of your son? His sin affects the whole family. Your sin is never isolated just to you. It does not affect just you. It will affect others.

It will cause, if nothing else, pain and sorrow in those who love you. Your sin is not just an issue with you. It does affect your family and your people that you're around. But in the parable, the father gives the son what he asks for, and the son proceeds to waste it all on reckless living, on prodigal living. He leaves the family, he goes into a far country So he can live how he wants, without any concern with his reputation, his family, anything at all.

He goes and he blows all this money on sinful living. But he wastes it and he goes from the living in the lap of luxury in this far country to now at the end after this famine wanting to eat the food from a feeding trough. And not just any animal either, the pigs, the carib pods being fed to pigs, this is just about the most loathed animal among the Jews. He gets to the point where he's willing to eat in the feeding trough next to pigs, simply so that he does not starve. He is gone from what he thought was the time of his life to starving to death in a pig pen.

He is followed in the footsteps of Esau. He sold his birthright for pig slop here, not even stew. And this is a picture of your sin. Understand that this is a picture of your sin. Your rebellion against God may feel good for a season.

You may think you're getting everything your way for a while, but in the end it always leads to misery. It always leads to pain. It's hard to imagine really a more graphic picture of the fruitlessness and the vileness of sin. This is a picture of wallowing in the muck and eating trash. That is what your sin is.

It does not sustain. It does not satisfy. It does not give you what you need. You were made for more than that. Human beings made in the image of God, we were made for more than the temporary pleasure of sin.

We were made, as the Catechism says, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. God is not opposed to you being happy, but he wants to give you what is real happiness, real joy at his right hand forever. Now this parable is somewhat different from the previous two. And in the first two, the shepherd goes and looks for the sheep. And in the second one, the woman looks and searches diligently for the coin.

Well, here we can say, this is different. The father doesn't go looking for his son. But that's not to say that this parable is now contradicting the other two and teaching human autonomy that's not the message rather it's more subtle here the emphasis of the parable is on the sons return this is a This is a human picture of someone coming back from their sin. But note what it does say in verse 17. He doesn't reason his way to repentance.

It simply says he came to himself. It dawned on him that what he was doing was fruitless and foolish. It is God's work of grace. It's like waking up from unconsciousness or better as the biblical metaphor even used here from death to being alive. And here again we have the work of grace.

God makes the sinner alive. You were dead in your trespasses and sins, but God made you alive. And that's what happens here. The man comes to himself. He wakes up out of this stupor by the grace of God and sees the foolishness of what he's been doing.

He has a change of heart and mind. He repents and that repentance Leads him to rightly see his state and to see that he needs to go home. He needs his father. That is what repentance is. It's coming to yourself and seeing that where you are at will never satisfy.

You need your Father, your Heavenly Father. So the son goes home and the father sees him far off and he feels compassion and runs to him and hugs him and kisses him and there's a lot to elaborate on here but suffice to say at this time old men did not run it would not be a dignified thing this is an expression of overwhelming joy and love for his son yes the son has taken his money and thrown it away and done who knows what for how long, but the Father rejoices to see his son coming. And so he runs to him. And God the Father does not stand far off when sinners repent. The Father in the parable doesn't even let the Son finish his prepared speech.

He simply brings him in. He seems to cut his son off and say, go and bring the robe, bring the ring, kill the calf. We are going to feast because my son is home. You're not going to be a worker here. You're not going to be a worker here.

You're not going to be a servant. You are a son And that's how God the Father is Our God does not stand far off when a sinner repents He does not stand aloof while you continue to beat yourself up over your sin until you think you've expressed enough contrition. He runs to you and embraces you and welcomes you and invites you to come into the home and brings in all the universe to rejoice over this one sinner who's found repentance. Now we have the older brother. What is this about?

Well the best is that I can tell and what seems to be the majority opinion among commentators, is that the older brother is a picture of the scribes and the Pharisees. Remember the chapter begins with their complaining about sinners and tax collectors coming to Jesus, just like this brother is complaining that his prodigal brother has come home. I think that that's probably the case, that that is what this is a picture of. This is, we shouldn't over apply it. Was the father say to this older brother, you're always with me, you've never left.

Now we know that's not true of the Pharisees. They were ultimately apostates. But again, parables are stories. The point is, do not have the attitude of the Pharisees. Do not grumble and complain when you see a sinner repent.

It is a warning to them and to us today that we must never have an attitude of superiority. We can never think that a certain sinner has gone too far for the grace of God. We should never dismiss someone who has made a confession of faith. Now that doesn't mean you blanket immediately accept everything, but it's better to extend grace. It's better to welcome them.

Urge them onto greater knowledge and maturity, but welcome sinners in when they repent and confess their sin. Because here's the thing, at the end of the day, ultimately we are no different. That was the problem with the Pharisees. They thought that they in themselves were superior. They were self-righteous.

They did not understand that it is merely the grace of God that makes anyone different. And so we can apply this to our ministries. When I say ministry, I don't just mean our elders and the deacons, those in formal ministry. I mean all Christians, as we are all to be ministers to one another, Ephesians 412 says. When we see one that's lost, we should go and try and bring them back.

And this is in evangelizing the lost but also in those who may be going astray. If we see a sheep wandering away, a son that's turning aside to recklessness and fruitless living, we should pursue them. Yes, our pastors should and they do. Praise God for that. But we should as well.

We are to watch over one another as a family. And sometimes this pursuing requires hard words or difficult conversations. People don't like to hear that they've wandered off the narrow path. But let those hard words and difficult conversations come from love. Pursue them with the same compassion that the father went out to meet his son, with the same compassion that the shepherd went to go and rescue his sheep.

Pursue them with the same diligence that that woman sought for her coin and be ready to rejoice with them with open arms. Love them whether it's a son or a daughter, a brother, sister, or a parent. If you see someone wandering, pursue them to the best you can, praying that God would cause them to turn back. And again, I mentioned a little bit ago that we hear often that well Jesus ate with sinners so we need to accept everything. A complete misreading of what the scripture says.

Well note the kind of person that God receives. It's the repentant. And so we also welcome into the church anyone who is repentant. We cannot change the standard of God's law. We cannot accommodate the gospel to those who are still in rebellion against God.

That's not what this means. That is not how you receive sinners. Rather, we proclaim that you must repent. That is not unloving, that is the most loving thing you can say to a sinner who has gone on his own way. Now that's not to say that that person's repentance must be complete or perfect because none of our repentance is complete or perfect.

None of us, I would hope, would ever claim such a thing that we have fully repented perfectly And we just had the anniversary of the Reformation not long ago Well, what was the first thesis of the 95 theses that Luther nailed on the door of Wittenberg? That the whole Christian life is one of repentance. So when we talk about repentance we're not talking about perfect repentance but we are talking about genuine repentance. It's always incomplete in this life but it should be growing and It's always incomplete because we are still sinners. Even when God saves you, you are now a saint, but you are simultaneously righteous and a sinner.

To put it in the language of one of the Valley of Vision prayers, my best prayers are stained with sin. My penitential tears are so much impurity, I need to repent of my repentance. It can be real, but it's never complete in this life. So don't hold others to a higher standard than God holds you, but welcome the lost when they repent. And so these parables show us a beautiful picture of a loving and gracious God who goes out of his way, as it were, to pursue the lost.

His divine power, his electing grace, at work to overcome the stubborn and hard heart of sinners. He finds his sheep. He recovers his treasures. He welcomes back his sons. That's why this doctrine we heard about this morning of sovereign, unconditional election is so important.

God loves sinners particularly, and He will stop at nothing until the object of his love is safe and secure and welcomed into his house. Because we have a glorious God who delights to save sinners. And so let us rejoice that that is the God we have and may that motivate us to as much as we're able to pursue the lost that they may be found. Let's pray. Our Father we come before you again and we thank you for your Word.

God, we thank you for these teachings from our Lord and what a great picture this is of your power and your grace rescuing sinners. Oh God, we thank you that you have rescued us. And we pray, God, that you would continue to save the lost. Save the lost in our families, and in our city, our country. God, we pray that you would glorify yourself by redeeming many.

And Lord, we thank you that you have called us to be a part of this great mission of showing your glory in the earth by saving sinners. Help us Lord to be faithful evangelists and preachers for your kingdom. Be with us this week and may you glorify yourself in our homes and our work and all that we do until we gather again next Lord's Day in Jesus name amen.