The Ambassador Group

Luke-- Jesus, Our Savior and Friend

00. An Introduction to the Book of Luke

01. Luke: The Coming of Jesus

02. Luke: Baptism and the Temptations

03. Luke: Who Is Jesus Christ?

04. Luke: The Call to Discipleship

05. Luke: Christ as Lord of the Sabbath

06. Luke: Women in the Ministry of Jesus

07. Luke: Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and Prayer

08. Luke: The Mission of Jesus

09. Luke: Jesus, the Master Teacher

10. Luke: Following Jesus in Everyday Life

11. Luke: The Kingdom of God

12. Luke: Jesus in Jerusalem

13. Luke: Crucified and Risen

Edited for audio by The Ambassador Group.

The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Luke 19, verse 10, New King James Version.

If we were to write a mission statement for Jesus, We could not do any better than to repeat His own words, to seek and to save that which was lost.

It was humanity itself, which was alienated from God, subject to death, and filled with fear, disappointment, and despair.

If nothing were done in our behalf, all would be lost.

Thanks to Jesus, though, we all have great reasons to be hopeful.

White, on page 20 of her small classic, Steps to Christ, describes humankind's predicament and God's solution.

In the apostasy, Man alienated himself from God.

Across the gulf that lay between, there could be no communion.

But through Christ, earth is again linked with heaven.

With His own merits, Christ has bridged the gulf which sin had made.

Christ connects fallen man, in his weakness and helplessness, with a source of infinite power.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is a story of God seeking after lost humanity.

Luke illustrates this truth by using 3 important parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and The Lost Son.

In this exploration, we are going to discuss the details of those 3 poignant parables and discover what Jesus was wanting us to experience by seeing our life experiences in those stories.

The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin Let's listen to Luke chapter 15, verses 4 through 7 from the Amplified Bible.

What does this tell you about God's love for you?

Notice that it was the shepherd who went looking for the lost sheep.

What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and should lose 1 of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness desert, and go after the 1 that is lost until he finds it.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his own shoulders, rejoicing.

And when he gets home, he summons together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep, which was lost.

Thus I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over 1 especially wicked person, who repents, changes his mind, abhorring his errors and misdeeds, and determines to enter upon a better course of his life than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.

In a world that can appear uncaring and indifferent to us, this parable reveals a startling truth.

God loves us so much that He Himself will come after us in order to bring us to Him.

The soul that has given himself to Christ is more precious in his sight than the whole world.

The Savior would have passed through the agony of Calvary that 1 might be saved in his kingdom.

He will never abandon 1 for whom he has died.

Unless his followers choose to leave him, he will hold them fast.

White in her book, The Desire of Ages, page 483.

Here is our second parable from Luke 15 verses 8 and 9, also from the Amplified Bible.

Or what woman, having 10 silver drachmas, each 1 equal to a day's wages, if she loses 1 coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house, and look carefully and diligently until she finds it.

And when she has found it, she summons her women friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the silver coin which I had lost.

The lost coin could have 1 of 2 meanings.

First, Judea during the time of Jesus was full of poor people, And in most homes, 1 coin, drachma, could have been more than a day's wage, barely enough to keep the family from starving.

Second, the coin was a mark of being married.

Some women wore a headdress made up of 10 coins, a huge sum saved over a long time in the case of poor families.

In either case, the loss was a serious matter, So the woman, utterly broken and in deep grief, lights a lamp, the house perhaps had no windows or maybe only a small window, picks up a broom and turns the house upside down until she finds that coin.

Her soul is filled with overflowing joy, and the overflow floods to all her friends.

The coin, though lying among dust and rubbish, is a piece of silver or gold still.

Its owner seeks it because it is of value.

So every soul, however degraded by sin, is in God's sight accounted precious.

As The coin bears the image and subscription of the reigning power.

So man, at his creation, bore the image and subscription of God.

And though now marred and dim through the influence of sin, the traces of this inscription remain upon every soul.

White in her book, Christ's Object Lessons, page 194.

So much of modern science and philosophy tells us that we are nothing but chance creations in a meaningless universe that does not care at all about our fate or us.

What completely different worldview is presented in these 2 parables?

And he said, There was a certain man who had 2 sons.

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the part of property that falls to me.

And not many days after that The younger son gathered up all that he had and journeyed into a distant country, and there he wasted his fortune in reckless and loose from restraint living.

And when he had spent all he had, a mighty famine came up upon that country, and he began to fall behind and be in want.

So he went and forced, glued himself upon 1 of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed hogs.

And he would gladly have fed on and filled his belly with the carob pods that the hogs were eating, but they could not satisfy his hunger, and nobody gave him anything better.

Then when he came to himself, he said, ''How many hired servants of my father have enough food and even food to spare?

But I am perishing, dying here of hunger.

I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Just make me like 1 of your hired servants.' So he got up and came to his own father, But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and was moved with pity and tenderness for him.

And he ran, and embraced him, and kissed him fervently.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and in your sight.

I no longer deserve to be recognized as a son of yours.

But the father said to his bond-servants, bring quickly the best robe, the festive robe of honor, and put it on him, and give him a ring for his hand, and sandals for his feet, and bring out that wheat-fattened calf, and kill it, and let us revel and feast and be happy and make merry, because this my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.' And they began to revel, and feast, and make merry.

But his older son was in the field, and as he returned and came near the house he heard music and dancing, and having called 1 of the servant boys to him, he began to ask what this meant, and he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed that wheat-fattened calf, because he received him back safe and well." But the elder brother was angry with the deep-seated wrath, and resolved not to go in.

Then his father came out and began to plead with him, but he answered his father, "'Look, these many years I have served you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never gave me so much as a little kid, that I might revel and feast and be happy and make merry with my friends.

But when this son of yours arrived, who has devoured your estate with immoral women, you have killed for him that weak fattened calf?" and the father said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

But it was fitting to make merry, to revel and feast and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.

Hailed in history as the most beautiful short story ever told on the forgiving nature of love, The parable of the prodigal son that we just heard is found in Luke chapter 15 verses 11 through 32.

Only narrated by Luke, it may well be called the parable of the loving father and the 2 lost sons.

1 son chose the lawlessness of the distant land over the love of the father.

The other son chose to stay in the home, but did not know the love of the father, or the meaning of a brother.

The parable may be studied in 7 parts, 4 dealing with the prodigal, 2 with the father, and 1 with the elder brother.

The younger son's decision to demand of his father his portion of the property was no sudden impulsive urge.

Sin often results after a long time of brooding over misplaced priorities.

The younger son must have heard from friends about the glitter and glamour of distant lands.

Love was there, but it had its own boundaries.

The distant land offered him life without restrictions.

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Series

Luke-- Jesus, Our Savior and Friend

08. Luke: The Mission of Jesus

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

The Lost Sheep

42m

God’s ROI

51m

The Image that Revives

41m

Joy in Heaven

45m

Cory Reeves Weekend

The Value

34m

GYC 2012 Evening Devotional

If I Had a Thousand Lives to Live

38m

The Parables of Jesus

The Parable of Jesus: The Company You Keep

28m

How Far Will God Go?

45m

Preparing our Hearts for the Events of Today

18m

GYC 2012 Seminar: Conversion - My Own, Around Me and On the Go

The Code of Conduct

52m

Lost

02 The Lost Coin

58m

Sound Doctrine