Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Luke 15, From Stray to Saved: A Journey of Grace
What does it mean to be truly lost and then found? Join us as we uncover the transformative power of God's unwavering love through the parable of the lost sheep in the book of Luke. Pastor Phil begins with a poignant reminder from 2 Peter 3:9 about God's patience and desire for all to come to repentance. Together with Pastor Gary, we paint a vivid picture of God's unceasing search for and celebration of each lost soul, weaving together scriptures from Luke 15:1-7 and Ezekiel 34:11-16. This episode challenges us to rethink the importance of evangelism and the boundless grace that no one is beyond.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Good morning, welcome back to Grapevine Ministries. Now we're still in the book of Luke, but in saying that, I just want to read a scripture for you first, and it is in 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The reason I'm reading that is because, even though this is known as the lost and found section of the book of Luke, these 32 verses, jesus uses no more than four illustrations dealing with the loss and that what God's desire, that they are all saved and restored to fellowship. And he focuses on this quite a lot because it is the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, and it's all about rejoicing when these things are found. So I've got Pastor Gary here with me today, so I'm just going to hand over to him now and he will just go through a few things in relation to the lost sheep. Pastor Gary, Good morning.
Speaker 2:All this is Pastor Gaz here with Pastor Phil. We're just going to share a little bit about the parable of the lost sheep and we all know the story when we go through it. Jesus tells us the parable of the lost sheep, that the kingdom of God is accessible to all, even those who are sinners or strayed from God's path. We read in Luke 15, 1 through to 7, it says 1 through to 7. It says the kingdom of God is like a good shepherd who has a flock of a hundred sheep who, losing one of them, will leave the others and go after the one that is lost until he finds it and brings it back to the fold. With God, nothing is impossible or lost. What we learn from the parable of the lost sheep is that God is not just concerned with the greatest in the kingdom, but he's concerned with everyone. He does not want one little child to be lost. He wants all to be saved. In Matthew 18.14, it says even so, it is not the will of the father, which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. In Luke's account, jesus tells the parable to help the Pharisees understand that God loves each and every sinner. The lost sheep represents a lost human being and being Jesus being the shepherd in the parable, thus identifying himself with the image of God as a shepherd searching for stray sheep like you and me that were. And we're just going to read Ezekiel 34, 11 through to 16. So we're just going to read that through.
Speaker 2:It says for the Lord Yahweh. Says from now on I will. So we're just going to read that through. It says they may have strayed or scattered. On the day of disaster, I will bring them back from the foreign countries and gather them together as my flock and return them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valley of streams and in all the fertile places. I will feed them in fair meadows and on the slopes of the mountains of Israel, will feed them in fair meadows and on the slopes of the mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing grounds and graze in grass pastures on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I will give them rest. I will seek out the lost and bring back the stray, bandage the injured and heal those that are sick, and I will watch over the fat and healthy of the flock. I will be true and caring shepherd to them. I, the Lord Yahweh, have spoken. So it's a great scripture for us to read that God's going to look after his sheep. Every single person is precious to God.
Speaker 2:In the parable of the shepherd leaves the 99 to go find the one lost and when he returns with the lost sheep he celebrates with his friends. The word says even the angels rejoice in heaven when one gives their heart to the Lord, the lost sheep recognising the veil of each individual, as Pastor Phil already read in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, it means that everyone matters to God and are equal in his sight. We can all have a right relationship with the Father in spite of our past sin Repentance. This is why evangelism is so important today, proclaiming the gospel message of the kingdom. Jesus died on the cross. For you and me, it is the good news for us to seek the kingdom. Jesus died on the cross for you and me. It is the good news for us to seek the lost. God cares about the lost sinners who will admit they are lost and turn back to him. It's talking about straying Christians as well, repenting and being restored back to the fellowship with the Lord. The parable shows us that the profound truth of our need for repentance. Just as a lost sheep strayed from the safety of the flock, so too have we strayed from the path of righteousness. Yet no matter how far we have wandered, we are never beyond the reach of God's grace. His love no bounds and his mercy is limitless.
Speaker 2:David used an unusual Hebrew word for sheep. It's called kesha. It means I'm just a little lamb who is lost in the woods. Little lambs would follow any shepherd and just as easily lose sight of him and get lost any shepherd and just as easily lose sight of him and get lost. Jesus said I am the good shepherd and my sheep hear my voice. It was something more significant and precious. Jesus was saying that all the flocks of the sheep that ever fed on Sharon or Carmel, for it's the soul of man which he sought to save. If you men, with each one of you, go after a lost sheep and follow in its tracks until you find it, how much more may the Lord go after lost souls and follow them in all of their wanderings until I rescue them? Remember Jesus died for all.
Speaker 1:Amen to that. Well, thanks for that, pastor Gaz. I mean, that was really good. And I just want to finish off by I mean, for those that haven't got their Bible with them, I think it's important that we actually read Chapter 15 and the first section of that, when they talk about the parable of the lost sheep. It says Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him and the Pharisees and the scribes complaining, saying this man received sinners and eat with them. So he spoke this parable to them, saying what man of you having a hundred sheep If the lost one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine into the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing, and then, with coming home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, 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 just persons need no repentance.
Speaker 1:See, the thing that you've got to understand here is when you're actually looking at this particular parable, and I do love the way that Jesus uses the parables for explaining things, so the backdrop of this heavenly story is with an earthly meaning, and even though he's talking about this, you know the lost sheep and everything else, if you understand the purpose that Jesus went to the cross, because the word lost in the same word translates into perish In John 3.16,. It means to be lost, ruined or destroyed. 16, it means to be lost, ruined or destroyed, and when you use it in that aspect of it, it's referring to being sent away to hell. In other words, this little sheep is in great danger of heading into ruin, and so this is where the relationship between talking about the sheep and talking about those that have fallen away from the Lord or maybe not even have a relationship with him yet we need to make sure that we put the things into the right concept. There's several scriptures that I honestly think that you should write down and focus on these, because it gives you a greater understanding of the relationship that Jesus is trying to have with us. Every one of us, irrespective of whether we are lost and have fallen away or whether we are those that are in fellowship with him on a regular basis. We need the word of God in our lives every single day, need the word of God in our lives every single day, because we are living in this ungodly world, we are basically surrounded by ungodly things, and so, theoretically, you're being attacked from all sides. Let me put it into a context that perhaps you may understand.
Speaker 1:I had a friend of mine who served with me in the military and we used to get together. You know, every time we come together it may be a week, it may be a month we'd always catch up when we're both in the same town and we'd go out, we'd have a counter lunch, we'd have a few beers, and this was all really, really good. But then we lost touch with each other for I would say, close to six, maybe seven years, and so when we finally came back together, it was time to rejoice, it was time to celebrate, and so I wanted to go down to the pub and we'd do what we always do have a counter meal, and then we have a few drinks. But then he explained to me that in that time that he'd been separated from me, he'd actually become an alcoholic. So now he was a reformed alcoholic and so he no longer drinks alcohol. I said that's all right. I said you can still come down to the pub with me, I'll have a beer and you can have your lemon squash. And he goes I can't do that. And he said why? And he says he said you know, I know that I can't drink anymore, but once I'm in that environment, you know, my mind is willing, but the flesh is weak, and this is the same sort of thing. So if he's in an environment where he's surrounded by other people that are drinking, there is a greater chance that he will break down and start drinking and he'll be right back where he started again.
Speaker 1:See, as Christians and non-Christians living in an ungodly world, constantly surrounded by things that are not of the word of God, they are constantly coming against us and we need to make sure that we can sustain that attacks of the devil trying to bring us down.
Speaker 1:And so that's why sometimes, when we're not in fellowship with other people, we find ourselves in a situation where our faith falls away and all of a sudden we're becoming more worldly and slowly but surely, we walk away from the flock, because the best way to maintain our faith and our relationship with the Lord is to remain in fellowship with other Christians. I mean, I love doing these podcasts and I really enjoy the feedback that I get when people are hearing them, but nothing beats the actual fellowship that you can have when you're actually in a Christian environment, so like going to church. So if you read Isaiah 53.6, 1 Peter 2.25, and John 3.18, and also John 3.36, he knows the lost conditions of your heart as well. He knows that you are lost because of the sin of Adam, but he also knows that you are sinners because you choose to be one. He knows where you are living and here is where the healing takes place If you do not get saved. He knows that hell is the end of the road for every soul that is not in a personal saving relationship with Jesus. Not only he knows the condition of the lost, he is moved to do something about their lost condition.
Speaker 1:This is what the parable of the lost sheep is really all about. It's not actually a physical herd of sheep. Jesus is the good shepherd and we are the sheep, and sometimes we stray away or we find ourselves on the outer parts of the flock, because it goes on as well. And he talks about the parable of the lost coin and of the lost son. The exact same principles apply. He loves the sheep. Jesus loves all of us. We may wander away from the shepherd, but it was still precious to him. There was value in the sheep and the shepherd, but it was still precious to him. There was value in the sheep and the shepherd wants it returned to the flock. He cares about the one lost sheep. The good shepherd loves the lost sheep. This world also, my friends, is where we are and we are lost and we need to come back into the fold. So if you look at this from the perspective and Pastor Gary touched on this we are so precious to him that not only he wants to find us and bring us back into the sheepfold, but he wants to rejoice over one lost soul that has now been found, that one lost soul. Everybody rejoices in the kingdom of heaven because of the importance and the value that Jesus puts on every single one of us. He values us so much that it doesn't matter where you are, the situation you're in, your conditions. He accepts you as you are.
Speaker 1:I've heard it said a lot of people get there and they go. Oh look, I really like to go to church and to become a born-again Christian or just have a relationship with Jesus. But I need to clean up my act first, because you know I'm not the type of person that Jesus would be interested in. That is so far from the truth that it is not funny. That is a lie from the pit of hell. The thing is, I looked at my life and before I came into a relationship with the Lord and I'm telling you right now, if you lined 100 people up and you looked at all of them and then you looked at me, you would say we'll accept all 99 of them with all of their baggage and everything that they've done in their life. But Phil, no, you've just done too many bad things and you're basically on the bottom end of the list. That is so, so wrong.
Speaker 1:It is amazing that we are saved grace through faith, because he is ready to accept you the way you are, irrespective of your past. It says old things are passed away. Behold, everything has become new. We are washed whiter than snow when we come into a relationship with Jesus. He is not concerned about the things that you've done in your past. It's like drawing a line in the sand and that day that you become found and you enter into a relationship with the Father. Then there is rejoicing. It's not like, oh, we're glad we've got another sinner off of the street because he was bad, sinner off of the street because he was bad. No, the rejoicing is that the Lord wants you to prosper as your soul prospers, so he wants you to be renewed, and the way you do that is come into a relationship with him, spend time in the word, and if you don't know how to do that, then seek out your local church or contact me via email or fan mail on my podcast and let me know where you are and I will direct you to a local church in your area that can help you, because they're there for you. That is the great commission that we have all been given, and too many people go to church and they sit there in fellowship and they're waiting For what, though? What are they waiting for? They need to feel a move of the Holy Spirit, and they need to be out there in the marketplace letting people know who they are and who he is.
Speaker 1:There's a song out a fairly new one at the moment by Casting Crowns I don't know whether you've heard about it and it's talking about I'm nobody. He says I'm a nobody, wanting to tell everybody about somebody who changed my life. It is a breathtaking, beautiful, perfect song that relates to Luke 15. And it talks about how he just takes you and uses you, because we are a nobody and we don't care if everybody forgets who I am, but as long as the world gets to know about Jesus, and that's what this is all about. As we go through the Gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John all four of them are focusing on the life and the story of Jesus, but all of them look at it from a different aspect. The thing I like about Luke now, luke was only probably 11, maybe 12 years old. Was that about right when Jesus was around? But he became a friend of Paul and he focused on those three and a half years that he walked, of which Jesus walked the face of the earth. But Luke wasn't one of the original disciples. But he talks about Jesus in such a way that it's a suddenly. He says suddenly this happened and quickly this came to pass. And he's talking about Jesus with such an urgency that it's almost like he's saying this is happening right now.
Speaker 1:The words of Luke are basically a stepping stone to the book of Acts, because he wrote both of those and the Acts is all about us and our journey and where we're continually growing. So just remember this as you read about the parables. Through the Gospels, try and get an understanding of what the Lord is trying to tell you. And the writer of these Gospels. We know that the word of God is penned by man but inspired by the Holy Spirit. But Luke the way that he goes about it is rather unique, because the other thing about Luke is that out of the four Gospels Matthew, mark and John are all talking about his life, his time on earth, the things that he did, the miracles that took place and all that sort of stuff. But Luke goes into great detail about these three and a half years, about these three and a half years. It is the longest gospel and it is also the longest book out of all the New Testament books. This shows how Luke thought this was so important.
Speaker 1:To put this into the right perspective. He wanted to make sure that everybody understood it and by doing that you get a better understanding of, irrespective of where you are in your life, god wants you to be in fellowship with him. So that is the purpose of this message, because God loves you and if you're just a lone sheep, just one person that is missing, yet the shepherd still will go after you. Another shepherd might have counted the personal cost and decided to let that one sheep go and be lost forever, but this shepherd, jesus, saw the value of just one sheep and he went after it. Jesus is the good shepherd. He came to this world to die for all the lost sheep Luke 19.10,. I am convinced that Jesus Christ came into this world to die because he deemed every lost soul precious. So if you remember that, see when you're talking about the shepherd, the good shepherd, technically pastors are supposed to be shepherds because they shepherd their flock.
Speaker 1:And the thing is, you know, if you're a pastor of a small church and you notice that someone was no longer having fellowship there, would you think that that person was important enough to track down and see if you could actually help them come back into the sheepfold?
Speaker 1:Food for thought, everybody. And now what we're going to try and do is we're going to try and get Pastor Gary, probably once a month if possible, and maybe we can get him to do a full sermon one time and just see how things go. Or maybe there's a possibility we could record one of his sermons at his church. So if anybody's down Bunbury or Bossington Way, then you could look up People of Destiny, or what it's known as is POD, and by all means pop in and have some fellowship with there. You could look up People of Destiny, or what it's known as as POD, and by all means pop in and have some fellowship with there, because we know without a shadow of a doubt the Holy Spirit is in that place as it is here. So God bless for now, and we'll talk to you next week.
