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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

Lost

David Wright

02 The Lost Coin

01 The Lost Sheep

03 The Lost Son

Draper, a Salvation Army doctor in India, who got word of an individual in the hospital that was dying.

He was on his deathbed, so was the rumor going around, and his case was in fact pretty bad.

And as people tried to visit with him, to connect with him, he longed to have some better understanding of issues as it related to salvation, But he was really struggling to get that full picture.

And I can just imagine people going in and giving all of these phrases that we use so often in church that mean something to us, but don't necessarily mean something to other people.

You know, they might come in and say, well, you need to be born again.

Well, you need to put on his robe of righteousness.

Okay, does that mean I need to take this off and where do I get that?

And everybody that went in came up with another, you need to follow the lamb wherever it goes.

Is there a lamb allowed in the hospital and I follow it?

And 1 thing after the next, and as they tried to simplify it and break it down, he just became so frustrated that finally Dr.

Draper went in and he decided to simply open up his Bible and he turned to Luke chapter 15, the parable of the lost son.

And you won't find in this parable words like justification and sanctification and glorification and all of these other things, but they're all here.

They're all inserted in this parable that Jesus Himself taught to help us better understand with our finite minds this idea of salvation and some of the pitfalls that we can find ourselves in.

And when he read this parable to this dying young man at 25, he got it.

And he was converted before he passed away.

And so I wanna look at that parable, powerful parable that we wanna look at this morning as we continue the last part in this series, lost sheep, the lost coin, and today the lost son.

We might even be able to say the lost sons if we wanted to do that.

And I think it's important to continue to emphasize each time the audience with which Jesus is sharing this parable to, it's in those first 2 verses of Luke chapter 15, if you have your Bibles open.

But it says, then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him, to Jesus, to hear him.

They like to be in his presence, which is an interesting dynamic when sinners desire to be in the presence of a holy God.

But in verse 2, and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them.

And so again, that is the context of these 3 parables that we've been looking at.

And the first 1, Jesus talks about this lost sheep, and it talks about how he leaves the 99 and goes in search of the 1 until he finds it.

He doesn't scold, he doesn't drive that lost sheep home, but scoops up the little lamb in his arms or places it on his shoulders and takes him home.

And not only that, but we read how there's a huge party in heaven, much rejoicing in heaven over 1 lost sheep that's found.

We looked a couple weeks ago at the lost coin that is lost in the house, doesn't know that it's lost, and the woman, because she has lost something very precious to her in her own home, she lights the lamp, which is God's word, seeking that the Holy Spirit will cast light on her situation that she may see clearly and might reclaim that child of hers which is lost.

Yes, it can be a church member and someone lost within the church, but it can also be within our very home.

And after much searching, the lost coin is found.

We looked at this quotation, but those who've been guilty of neglect are not to despair.

The woman whose coin was lost searched until she found it.

So in love and faith and prayer, let parents work for their households until with joy they can come to God saying behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given to me." Help us Lord as parents in our efforts to be good Christians to be good leaders or whatever it might be, to lose those closest to us.

And again, when the coin was found, there was great rejoicing as a symbol of the rejoicing that takes place in heaven.

The party that was thrown for you and for me.

And so I want to look at this third parable in a series.

We're beginning now, Luke chapter 15, I hope you're already there, and we're beginning in verse 11.

And notice in all 3, in this third category especially I should say, the prodigal son knows his way back home.

In the first 2 parables, there's an all out search for the lost.

Every resource is channeled to bring the lost back home.

But in this third category, the son willingly, this time, leaves the home.

He knows where home is, he's grown up there, he knows the area well, but he has made a decided decision in his mind, I'm leaving." And we see a father that respects the son's decision and prayerfully waits at home.

Because the reality exists, there are situations the parent can run and they can find the child and they can say what are you doing here?

Did you not get the hint and the door can be slammed?

No, there's times that you stay at home and you pray.

So let's pick up this story now, verse 11.

Then he said, a certain man had 2 sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.

So here we have the younger brother, he become weary of the restraint of his father's house and the son acknowledges no obligation to the father.

You think back to those hardy days, you had to have some good, you know, sons and daughters to keep the household running.

He feels no obligation, nor does he express any gratitude to his father, Yet he still wants to claim the privileges of a son.

And virtually says, dad, I wish you were dead so I could get my share.

Perhaps because he's the youngest and there's just 2, there might be more along the way.

There's a world to see and you're standing in my way.

You give me what's rightfully mine and you do it right now.

Give me all the benefits." And he's asking for this while he's virtually severing the relationship.

He wants separation from the rules From his dad's way of doing things he wants independence.

He wants freedom no more restrictions No more getting up early.

Well you gotta eat this and you gotta eat that.

But he still wants to claim all the good in His eyes.

And so reading the last part of verse 12, so He divided to them His livelihood.

That's a pretty gracious father right there, don't you think?

Son, that's the dumbest idea I think I've ever heard.

Why don't you get off this land before I kick you off this land?

Is that what you read, the last part of verse 12?

Is there some emotion wrapped up in those few words that we just read?

Back to Menu

Series

Lost

03 The Lost Son

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Fatherlike Giving & Childlike Living

40m

Restoring the Joy

49m

The Desire of Nations

1h 10m

One with Him

51m

The True Medical Missionary

56m

Faith in Action

Being Remade to be Like Christ

58m

Lost

The Prodigal Son

29m

What Jesus Said

2. The Unconditional Love of God

54m

Parable of the Forgiving Father

41m

ASI 2009 Seminar: Reaching Your Marketplace

Workplace Soul Winning: Why Christianity?

1h 21m

Dean Cullinane Weekend

Chronos to Kairos

56m

The Power of the Pigpen

44m

Sound Doctrine