Well, we're studying the first of three parables in Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep. The second one is of the lost coin. And the third one is of the lost or prodigal son. And these parables, by the way, are meant to be studied by us and not just simply overlooked or that they just simply have a shallow meaning to them, but they actually have great, great depth to them. And the Lord spoke them in that way so that you and I would be able to learn many things about the kingdom of heaven as we studied the parables of Matthew 13. And also now as we're in Luke 15, We see here very great and amazing truths that are given to us here about Jesus seeking lost sheep. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And people all around us are lost, lost sheep that are continually going astray. And then there's the sheep that are found. We've been studying them as well. We'll continue to do that. Last week, we studied the 99 sheep. And let me read this parable for you once again, so that you'll remember where we are or that you'll understand where we are. Luke chapter 15 and verse one, it says, 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 99 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 just persons who need no repentance. So we've seen here last Sunday that these 99 sheep are not really those who don't need repentance. These are actually sheep of the scribes and Pharisees. And we need to see it that way. I think that because of the fact we've been studying that the Lord Jesus is the one who does seek and find the lost sheep, and I've explained that to you in the five sessions before that, that we somehow, I think, get the impression when we read this parable that the 99 just persons who do not need repentance are somehow saved people. but they are not, because, and maybe you can help me here, why wouldn't they be saved people? Can you tell me? Well, he's making a comparison there between the, quote, righteous, self-righteous people and people who are, as it comes to say, saved. Amen. That's exactly right, Brian. Jesus is making a distinction between those who are self-righteous, which is what the scribes and the Pharisees were, and himself, who is seeking the one sheep that's gone astray to find it. And we talked about the fact that Jesus is very deliberate in his seeking. It's not just a general seeking where he doesn't obtain what he's seeking, but it's a very specific seeking where he obtains the salvation of the soul of the person that he is seeking for. By the way, did you know that when you were saved that the Lord was seeking you? That's a pleasant, really a very pleasant thought, to think about that God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, seeks us. Now, He did that by leaving heaven, first of all, we saw, becoming incarnate and then growing up and fulfilling his earthly ministry. And in the process of that, then, if you'll recall, the scribes and the Pharisees were extremely antagonistic to him at every point. And the reason for this, we saw, was their self-righteous pride, that they thought they didn't need repentance, that they were fine just as they were. So that's why these 99 by the way, who in the parable, who are left in the wilderness and the wilderness is the wilderness of sin. But in the Lord Jesus's case, when it talks about, when he talks about himself here, you'll notice that it says in verse six, and when he comes home, 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 just persons who need no repentance." So it's not as though he's saying that these people don't need repentance. It's just that they don't think that they need it. Pardon me? It does say that they are just, but they are only outwardly just. And that's what we're looking at here. 99 just persons who need no repentance. By the way, Jesus would not have worded that if they were truly righteous people in the sense of their heart. But he's saying that in the sense that these people, the scribes and the Pharisees, thought that they were just persons. And they thought that all the sheep that they were leading and teaching were just persons because they were teaching them in the right way, which was entirely not the case. So we're gonna go on from there. Today, we wanna talk about the joy of God in heaven. The joy in heaven, as it says here in verse seven, more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. This phrase, the joy in heaven, more joy in heaven is what we wanna talk about here together. What does this mean, there is more joy in heaven? Who are those in heaven who have this joy, is what we have to ask ourselves here today. And I'll continue this on in coming Sundays if I need to, which I probably will, but I want to introduce it by saying that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents as reference to the three persons of the divine trinity. God the Father, Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit. And it also refers to the holy angels. They all rejoice in heaven when one sinner repents. Now I may also include those who are already in heaven. They may know about this too. We'll talk about that in a different session. But I want to draw your attention here to God himself having joy. I think sometimes when we think of God as being impassable, that means that God does not have passions or feelings like we do as men and women, that somehow that God is unfeeling. And this is not true at all according to the Bible. God actually does have affections and perfections in which he feels far more deeply than you and I could ever possibly feel. And this includes, by the way, his wrath and his love, which by the way, God, maybe this is one of the truths today that I want you to received, but God and His love and His wrath can hold these things in His great being all at the same time. They are within Him. They are not extraneous to Him. They are within Him. Yes, Luke. hard time figuring out, going back to the 99 sheep and the one sheep here, what you're saying is way different than what I always thought that this meeting was. It says, then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him. And the verses he describes are the ones that I complained. So he's just basically saying, let me just simply tell you why he's with the tax collectors and with the sinners. And this is why, and then he tells a story about the one lost sheep that he goes after and leaves the 99. So, I guess my mind was set that the 99 were the saved ones and he goes after the one that was lost and the sheep know Who is that? Oh, Zacchaeus? Oh yeah, he would be the one. In fact, I did a whole lesson on that here. Was Zacchaeus when we first came into this parable, if you'll recall. I believe you were here. Yeah, very definitely. Definitely. Yeah, and very, very particularly. That's right. But I always thought the 99 were the ones that were just. They were saved, and he doesn't say amongst fellow Christians or the ones that already believed the egos and egos after the Right. I think the key to it is needing no repentance. Because not only do we all need repentance, whether we are saved or not, we need repentance as Christians as well, even if we're a righteous person. And that's the reason why I finally came to the conclusion that these 99 sheep, because he's addressing these scribes and Pharisees. He's saying, what man of you, if he has 99 sheep, so that those sheep are He's saying that those sheep are theirs. Do you see what I'm saying according to the parable? They are theirs. In other words, these men, the scribes and the Pharisees, they think that their sheep that they watch over are safe, that they need no repentance, and that they are actually safe, as I said in a previous session, but they're actually not. And so Jesus is making an appeal to them. What man among you, if he knows that one is lost, wouldn't go out into the wilderness on the mountains and hunt for this one until he finds it and then bring it back? And he's trying to make an appeal to them saying, well, wouldn't you do that? And it should have brought conviction to their hearts because they didn't think of it that way. They didn't think that there was any need for them to repent themselves, and they didn't think that they needed to seek people to try to get them to repent, and especially sinners like Zacchaeus or tax collectors that we're drawing near, that those people actually were people that you would stay away from, that you wouldn't really try to to bring them to repentance. In other words, they were teaching them wrongly about the whole doctrine of repentance. So Jesus is only saying this to make a point to them, saying, this is how you think. But actually, what I'm doing is what you ought to be doing, he's saying to them. You ought to be going out into the wilderness where there's these tax collectors and these great sinners who you disdain and bring them. you know, into the fold, but they couldn't do that, of course, and instead they opposed the Lord Jesus and persecuted him, and eventually then they put him to death, according with Pontius Pilate and the Roman governor and all the rest of it. So, no, I had to look at that parable for a good long time before I came to that conclusion, but yeah, go ahead. The 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. He's using that phrase sort of ironically. They're not actually any people other than himself who are righteous in themselves and need no repentance. Everybody needs repentance. Even the goody-two-shoes in the front row of the front pew, right? Yeah, see these men, these scribes and the Pharisees, they really did think themselves to be righteous men who didn't need repentance. In other words, they had attained to, in their own mind, It's like that other parable in Luke, I think it's 18, where the Pharisee is praying with himself. You know, I'm not like other men. You know, I'm not like this tax collector over here. And the tax collector actually was the one who had it together. He was over there beating his breast, you know. He was saying, you know, this is awful how sinful I really am. And so here's the Pharisee looking over there and he's saying, boy, I'm so glad that I'm not like him. So Jesus is addressing men like that. who were disdaining Him, the Savior, and not willing to receive Him and His ministry to them, because they thought they didn't need it, but they also didn't believe that He was the Son of God. So that was why they persecuted Him so intensely. They wanted to prove their own righteousness. And they, of course, weren't able to do that, ultimately. And they perished, many of them, in their sins. Some of them, like Nicodemus, they came to faith in Christ, but many of them perished. I suspect some of them came as well on the day of Pentecost, where it says that 3,000 people were saved, and also then it said even some of the priests were believing in the book of Acts. So, it could be later on that they did come to this, and they did understand it better. after Jesus was raised from the dead. But at this point in time, they certainly didn't understand it. And so we need to see that. He left them in the wilderness, yeah. That was that was what I did too I read past that but it says when he finds that he brings it home which is that's bringing it to the fold and you know, to salvation and that's what the picture is there. And then he gathers, he carries it on his shoulders, you know, and he gathers his friends together and says, I found my sheep which was lost, rejoice with me. And that's what we're you know, starting to find here. And what a great parable this is, because really it helps us, I think. I think this is what you're trying to get at, Luke. It really helps us to see how much that we need to have a right attitude towards sinful people around us. I think that's what you're trying to say. Right, and they need that, yeah. sure that's how I yeah oh yeah well I think this is yeah well can we go ahead are both viable interpretations, but I do think I agree with you. And I'll just say two more points in favor of it. One is that his parable is due to his response to people who are grumbling about what he's doing. And then the second one being that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than about the 99. And it just doesn't seem That there would be, that he would say that if these 99 were saved. That's right. That's right. Because he's not rejoicing over the 99. He's rejoicing over the 1. And the contrast is very definite. Rejoicing over 99 is rejoicing over 100, which is an increasing rejoicing. Yeah, exactly. And I think that's how Jesus would have worded it. I think that's the way that he would have worded that last verse, that it would have been included, the hundred would have all been seen as being saved, but that's not, there's a contrast again being drawn. And I too believed as you were just saying about this parable until I began to think about teaching it and think about how you put that together in terms of everybody needing repentance. Because we all need repentance. Not only do the terrible sinners need repentance, but the self-righteous people need repentance. And then your Christian people need repentance. And it's not something that ever comes to the place where you don't need repentance unless you think it doesn't, which is what these men were thinking. That's the point of this. They didn't think that they needed this. And that's the reason why that Jesus worded it in the way that he did. I appreciate your bringing that up because it helps us, I think, to understand these things better. I mean, even if we disagree on it, I still think it helps us to understand it better. So that's good. I appreciate that, Luke. I want to try to open this up with this first point, the joy of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, we probably won't get too far with this, but I want to begin to introduce it. Ezekiel chapter 18 and verses 30 to 32, if you'll turn over there with me. All right, go ahead Jane. Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct, and close the word, God. Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies to praise the Lord God. Therefore, repent and rise. All right, thanks for that, Jenny. Now, this is where my questions come into the paper that I handed out to you. The first question is, when God declares that sinners should repent and turn from their transgressions and cast them away and get themselves a new heart and a new spirit, is that something that they're capable of doing on their own, apart from grace and the working of His Spirit? What say you? No. No, they're not. They can change their spots. Like an Ethiopian can change his color. Yeah, that's a good verse, Brian. Can the Ethiopian change the way that he looks as a black man? Or the leopard, he has spots. Can he change that on his own? That's a good verse because by nature we're sinners and we can't change ourselves. Yet the wording here is really quite strong in terms of what these sinners were to do and what we are to do as sinners. I want you to see this. that repentance is a solemn responsibility of every person in the house of Israel here, first of all, but in our lives as well. It's a solemn responsibility to repent of our sins, and we're not capable of doing that apart from grace, but the way it's worded here, it doesn't word it in terms of grace, it words it in terms of responsibility. Do you see that? And it's worded as though the person does have the ability to do that. So what conclusion should we come to about grace? Is grace something that we can always see and sense and know that's going on in our heart? It's not, is it? I mean, we might, sometimes we might come under conviction of sin and we think, wow, I really am guilty and I feel the presence of God against me in this. And I'm sure there's many people that have felt this way. But there are other people who don't have the feelings and yet, does that mean they don't have the responsibility? Well, no, it means that they do have the responsibility to repent and that's what God is saying here to the house of Israel. He's saying, this is what I want you to do. to turn from all your transgressions so that iniquity won't be your ruin. And let me just ask one more question before we stop here this morning. Question two, how is repentance described in verse 31? What does it mean to cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed? This is really quite an amazing description, isn't it? Wow, that's good. That's really good. That's excellent. You see them as your precious possession or your treasures and you Instead of highly valuing them anymore, you cast them away, or you throw them away. I think that's really good, don't you? Exactly, that's a good illustration, Luke. And that's the picture that's being set here, and it helps us, doesn't it? To understand repentance, because a lot of times, sin is something that we see as, I don't know, valuable or precious to us in certain ways. and we're reluctant to get rid of sin in our lives, but what God wants us is to see it clearly for what it is. And when he calls it that, that we would say to ourselves, then I need to see it this way and not toy with it or play with it or treasure it like Matt was saying, or keep it on my ship like Luke was. mentioning. But I need to cast it overboard. I need to jettison it. And we'll go on to talk about this more in sessions to come if the Lord will give us that time. Well, let's pray together here. Father, thank You for this time around the Word and this parable that has so many valuable truths for us to discuss as we have this morning, and we are thankful, Lord, that you lead us and teach us even in and through these parables. We pray that you will help us to understand them better and better in days to come. In Jesus' name, amen.