This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day five of week three of our look through the book of Luke. That
means it's chapter 15. That means one of my favorite chapters in the entire book
of Luke.

One of the most amazing chapters in all of scripture. Three of Jesus' most
powerful parables are in this one chapter. The parable of the lost sheep, the
parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son.

But as we begin this chapter, I want you to see where it all began, where all
this teaching came from. Oftentimes, we'll look at a parable like the parable of
the prodigal son and not look back to the beginning of the chapter and see why
Jesus was teaching, where the teaching came from. Listen to what happened in
verses one and two.

Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus, but
the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners
and eats with them. " As you read these first couple of verses, it strikes us
very strongly that all of this wonderful teaching began with some people
muttering. And Jesus, instead of muttering back, instead of becoming angry with
them, getting involved at their level, he taught for changed hearts and changed
lives.

Now, that challenges me. Lord, instead of muttering, let me turn to your truth
in these moments, to seeing it in my own heart, to sharing it with other people.
I need the strength of your Spirit to show me how to do that.

And then, as you hear Jesus doing this, then we launch into what he has to teach
about the lost becoming found. Now, all of these parables, we could go into them
in depth and get incredible teachings out of them. But because we're doing a
survey of the book of Luke, the privilege we have as we go through this chapter
is to look at how these three parables fit together.

The truths about lost and found and how they play out in my daily life. First
Jesus tells a parable, tells a story about sheep, verse 3. Then Jesus told them
this parable, "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.

Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost
sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his
shoulders and he goes home. And then he calls his friends and neighbors together
and says, 'Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep.

' I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over
one sinner who repents and then over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not
need to repent. " Now as I read through these verses, obviously they're directed
to those teachers of the law who felt like they didn't need to repent. They're
also directed at my life and your life along the subject of joy.

Did you notice Jesus said, "There's more rejoicing in heaven, 'Rejoice with me,
I have found my lost sheep. ' And then there's more rejoicing in heaven over one
sinner who repents. " These are parables about joy.

These are stories about joy and about where genuine joy is found. And in this
first story, Jesus reminds us that genuine joy is not found in settling for
what's already found. You can't find joy in settling for the ninety-nine.

"Oh, we just lost one sheep, it's okay. We've still got ninety-nine, that's
enough. That's more than enough.

" No, that's not where you find joy because in the back of your mind you always
know that one has been lost. Genuine joy is not found in settling for what's
already found. And we're going to get back to this at the end of this study,
remember to that one.

Story of a lost coin, verses eight to ten. Or suppose Jesus taught, "A woman has
ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and
search carefully until she finds it?

And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says,
'Rejoice with me, I have found my lost coin. ' In the same way, I tell you there
is rejoicing in the presence of the angels over one sinner who repents. " Here's
a second story.

In the first story, we're reminded that joy is not found in settling for what's
already found. In this story, we're reminded that joy is not found in searching
for what's lost. The woman didn't find joy as she searched for the coin.

If you've ever lost your keys that ever happened to you and you needed to find
them, maybe you handed them to your two-year-old. That was a mistake. And all of
a sudden, where are those keys?

And you're searching the whole house for those keys and at first you think, "Oh,
I'm going to find it any moment. " But the longer it goes, the more anxious you
become. Your joy does not increase the longer you search for what's lost.

Joy, joy happens as we find what is lost. Don't forget that. We're going to come
back to that at the end of this.

And then Jesus tells a third story, one of his most familiar stories, one of his
most powerful parables. He talks about a son who was lost. Verse 11, Jesus
continued, "Oh, by the way, you may have heard this a hundred times.

Listen to it now as if you've never heard it before. It's worth listening to
that way. " Verse 11, Jesus continued, "There was a man who had two sons.

The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate. '
So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son
got together all that he had, set off for a distant country, and there he
squandered his wealth in wild living.

" I'm going to skip down in the parable. You might remember that the son comes
to his senses one day when he has squandered everything. He's eaten the food
that pigs eat, working in a pig farm.

So he decides to go back to his father thinking that he'll just work in his
father's fields. What happens? Verse 20 tells us what happens.

So he got up and he went to his father. But while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son,
threw his arms around him, and kissed him.

The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am
no longer worthy to be called your son. ' But the father said to his servants,
'Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and
kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and
he's alive again.

He was lost and he is found. That is where joy is. Joy is in finding what is
lost.

Joy is in finding what you thought you'd never find. Joy is in you, yourself,
finding in a relationship with God what was lost. It was lost from the beginning
of human history, a connection with God, a life in God, the peace of God, the
hope of God, the purpose of God in your life.

When you find that again, that's joy. Joy is also in seeing someone else find
that very same life of God. Joy is also found in seeing other people come to
know him.

I don't know of a greater joy than seeing other people come to know Christ,
people in your family, people who are your friends, seeing their lives begin to
be changed because of the love of Jesus Christ. Now Jesus isn't through. Jesus
ends these stories by talking not just about this prodigal son, but also about
an older son.

An older son who could not find joy where joy ought to be found, verses 28 to
32. The older brother became angry and refused to go in to the party. So his
father went out and pleaded with him, but he answered his father, "Look, all
these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders, yet you
never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes,
comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. " "My son," the father said,
"you are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate
and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found. " Here's the truth. If you're not able to take joy in
the lost being found, Jesus is saying, "Wake up.

Life has become more about what you deserve than who you serve. " Here's the
truth. If you're looking for joy in the lost being searched for, like searching
for the lost coin, Jesus says, "Wake up.

You're too focused on the process and you're not looking at the people. " Here's
the truth. Jesus says, "If you're settling for joy in the already found, the 99
sheep, wake up.

You're letting your soul settle for missing the truth of God's love for the one
lost sheep. He cares about the one. He cares about you.

If you're not able to take joy in the lost being found, wake up. Life has become
more about what you deserve than who you serve. If you're looking for joy in the
lost being searched for, wake up.

You're too focused on the process. You've lost sight of the people. If you're
settling for joy in the already found, wake up.

You let your soul settle for missing the truth of God's great love for every
single person. Let's pray together. And as we pray, let me just invite you to
pray.

God, give me a passion for the lost being found. And you might need to pray
starting with me. I'm separate from you.

I'm studying through Luke. I want to learn about it, but I realize I'm the
Prodigal Son. And you want to find me.

So I come to you, Jesus. I ask you for forgiveness. I ask you for life.

Starting with me, give me a passion for the lost being found and then going to
others. Give me that passion. Give me joy where joy ought to be found in the
lost being found.

In Jesus' name, I ask this. Amen. Next week, as we continue our study together,
Jesus continues his journey toward Jerusalem.

And we continue to learn about real life all along the way.