The Lost Sheep, Coin, and Son - Vaylard Zupke

A lot of things we could say,
but I have some things

that are on my heart this morning.

The last time we were
with Leonard Ravenhill -

Leonard and Martha down in Texas -

he shared a lot of things,

but he shared one thing
just out of the clear blue sky,

and said Luke 15

and the lost sheep and lost coin

and lost son.

He says these are not
three different parables,

but they're just one.

And maybe you've heard this already,

but then he said this,

we dare not separate them.

And we dare not change the order.

And that's all he said.
That's all he said.

But through the years,

my heart's been drawn to that statement.

If we could turn in our
Bibles this morning

to Luke, the 15th chapter.

And we'll read this.

"Then drew near unto Him

all the publicans and sinners

for to hear Him.

And the Pharisees and scribes murmured,

saying, This man receiveth sinners,

and eateth with them."

I think these two verses
are very significant

to the parables here.

He's talking to two classes of people.

Probably His disciples are there too,

but He's talking to sinners

and He's talking to self-righteous people.

"And He spake this parable unto them,

saying, What man of you,

having a hundred sheep,

if he lose one of them,

doth not leave the ninety
and nine in the wilderness,

and go after that which is lost,

until he find it?

And when he hath found it,

he layeth it on his shoulders,

rejoicing.

And when he cometh home,

he calleth together his
friends and neighbors,

saying unto them,

Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep

which was lost.

I say unto you that likewise joy shall be

in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,

more than over ninety
and nine just persons,

which need no repentance.

Either what woman having
ten pieces of silver,

if she lose one piece,

doth not light a candle,
and sweep the house,

and seek diligently until she find it?

And when she hath found it,

she calleth her friends and
her neighbors together,

saying, Rejoice with me;

for I have found the piece

which I had lost.

Likewise, I say unto you,

there is joy in the presence

of the angels of God

over one sinner that repenteth.

And He said, A certain man had two sons:

And the younger of them
said to his father,

Father, give me the portion of goods

that falleth to me.

And he divided unto them his living.

And not many days after

the younger son gathered all together,

and took his journey into a far country,

and there wasted his substance

with riotous living.

And when he had spent all,

there arose a mighty famine in that land;

and he began to be in want.

And he went and joined himself

to a citizen of that country;

and he sent him into his fields

to feed swine.

And he would fain have filled his belly

with the husks that the swine did eat;

and no man gave unto him.

And when he came to himself, he said,

How many hired servants of my father's

have bread enough and to spare,

and I perish with hunger!

I will arise

and go to my father,

and will say unto him,

Father, I have sinned against heaven

and before thee,

and am no more worthy

to be called thy son:

make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father.

But when he was yet a great way off,

his father saw him,

and had compassion,

and ran,

and fell on his neck,

and kissed him.

And the son said unto him,

Father, I have sinned against heaven

and in thy sight,

and am no more worthy
to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servants,

Bring forth the best robe,

and put it on him;

and put a ring on his hand,

and shoes on his feet:

And bring hither the fatted calf,

and kill it;

and let us eat, and be merry:

For this my son was dead,

and is alive again;

he was lost, and is found.

And they began to be merry.

(V. 32) It was meet that
we should make merry,

and be glad:

for this thy brother was dead,

and is alive again;

and was lost, and is found."

Father, by Thy Spirit I pray, that You

would quicken Your Word
to our hearts this morning.

We ask Thee Father, by Thy Spirit,

to speak to each one of us.

We'll praise You and thank
You in Jesus' name.

As I meditated on these things,

I'd like to share first of
all from the middle one.

The lost coin.

First of all, I think we need to see this

from not the standpoint of the son,

the sheep, and the coin,

but from heaven's standpoint.

Look what it says here in verse 6.

"Joy in heaven."

And then in verse 10,

"joy in the presence of
the angels of God."

And then joy in the Father's house.

We look at so many of these things

just from the human standpoint,

from our standpoint,

but I want us to think of this

from heaven's standpoint.

Beloved, we don't know how
much we mean to God.

If you're out here this morning

and you don't know Jesus,

you don't have any idea how much joy

you're robbing the Father of.

The reason I would like
to look at this here

lost coin first of all is because

if I understand it rightly,

this is where grace finds us.

Paul said to the Ephesians,

"and you hath He quickened

who were dead

in trespasses and sins."

How dead?

As dead as a lost coin.

How helpless? How hopeless?

Of ever finding your way back to God?

You're as dead as a coin.

Every one of us.

That's where grace finds us.

"And you hath He quickened

who were dead

in trespasses and sins."

In John, Jesus said,

"No man can come to Me

except the Father which
hath sent Me draw him."

Do you believe that?

What I want to share this morning

is to do two things:

I want, and if I know my heart,

I am longing to go home
and be with the Lord.

I would love for the Lord to come.

I wish it would be first.

But I tell you, I want to stay down here

just as long as I can for two reasons.

I want to stay down here to
talk to God about men.

And I want to stay down here
to talk to men about God.

I don't want to come to the ground...

There's a wonderful promise,

and I ask you to pray with me:

"They shall still bring
forth fruit in old age."

And another time David said,

"Let me not go hence till
I've shown Thy power

to this generation."

(unintelligible)

There's some wonderful promises

and I don't want to get sidetracked here,

but it says the Lord whom ye seek

shall suddenly come to His temple.

I'm looking for that, beloved.

Again and again and again.

And suddenly there came
a sound from heaven

as of a rushing, mighty wind.

Oh! To see that every time
we gather together -

suddenly!

And when He is come,

He'll reprove the world of sin,

of righteousness, and of judgment.

But here we are as where grace finds us.

Dead.

Now how did we get that way?

How did we get this way: dead?

How did we ever get dead

in trespasses and sins?

We have to go back to
the first one, don't we.

All we like sheep have gone astray,

every one turned to his own way.

And the Lord hath laid on Him

the iniquity of us all.

Brother Conrad made a statement one time.

He said that all the great
truths of Scripture

are in latent form of the
first few chapters of Genesis.

That's a tremendous statement.

But remember what our first parents -

I wish we could take time to do this.

Well, let's go back to Genesis, can we?

To Genesis the second chapter.

One of the burdens of my heart

here this morning

is that we would understand this word:

repentance.

And we'll never understand

the real meaning of repentance

unless we understand the word sin.

Because that's what we'll repent of.

So there's joy in heaven,

there's joy in the presence of God

over one sinner (that repents).

Now in Genesis the second chapter.

We'll just break in chapter 2:16.

"And the Lord God commanded the man,

saying, Of every tree of the garden

thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil,

thou shalt not eat of it:

for in the day that thou eatest thereof

thou shalt surely die."

And when the Lord met them in the garden

after they had sinned, it says -

in chapter 3 now and verse 8,

"And they heard the voice

of the Lord God walking in the garden

in the cool of the day:

and Adam and his wife hid themselves..."

They had made themselves aprons.

They knew they were naked.

They'd made themselves aprons.

But they "hid themselves

from the presence of the Lord God

among the trees of the garden.

And the Lord God called unto
Adam and to his wife

Where art thou?

And he said, I heard thy voice

in the garden,

and I was afraid,

because I was naked,

and I hid myself.

And then I want us to get verse 11.

"And he said,

Who told thee that thou wast naked?

Hast thou eaten of the tree,

whereof I commanded thee

that thou shouldest not eat?"

What was their sin?

We could say unbelief.

I want to put it this way:

They took themselves out from under

the authority of their Creator.

What's repentance?

Repentance is putting ourselves

back under the authority of our Creator.

But that alone won't do it.

They took themselves out

and now they're dead.

Beloved, if the Lord God
wouldn't have come down,

in that state, they'd
still be dead forever.

But the Lord came down
and He did something.

Now I know some of you,

you've thought of this a long time ago,

but I confess, it says in
the end of this chapter,

well, verse 21,

"Unto Adam and also unto his wife

did the Lord God make coats of skins

and did clothe them."

I'd like to ask you this
question this morning here.

Do you think that the Lord said,

after He'd encountered them

and talked to them
about their disobedience,

do you think He said,

now I want you to wait
here for a little bit?

I'll be back.

And you think He went out

and behind their backs

took a lamb and killed it?

Shed its blood and then brought it back?

Or do you think He did
it right before their eyes?

What do you think would have made
the greatest impression on them?

(unintelligible)

In Galatians, it says this:

Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been

eminently set forth

crucified among you.

It's my belief, dear beloved,

that probably the Lord took a lamb -

an innocent lamb -

shed its blood right in
front of their eyes.

Oh, there was a great truth to be taught,

that without the shedding of blood

there's no forgiveness.

Maybe this will put
significance in that verse:

"By faith, Abel offered unto God

a more excellent sacrifice than Cain."

By faith - which very clearly indicates

there was some previous instruction

of what to do.

Let me break in right here

and bring another verse into light. Can I?

Turn to Matthew's Gospel,

chapter 11.

In verse 20, Jesus said,
(this is Matthew 11),

it says then began the Lord

to upbraid the cities

where most of His mighty works were done,

even saying that if the works

that had been done in you

had been done in Sodom,

it would have remained.

V. 24, "It will be more tolerable

for the land of Sodom on
the day of judgment

than for thee."

What does that mean?

I don't know what that means.

I don't know what that means.

But I believe what it says.

But here's the verse I want us to get.

V. 25, "At that time..."

At that time, when He had told them,

it was going to be more tolerable -

at that time, when He said

woe to you, cities -

"At that time..."

I want us to get this carefully now.

Mark this in your Bible.

"At that time, Jesus answered and said,

'I thank Thee, O Father...'"

Put it in the Zupke translation:

Father, there's something on My heart

that I want to thank You for.

Oh, I want us to get this, beloved.

"At that time, Jesus answered and said,

'I thank Thee, O Father,

Lord of Heaven and earth,

because Thou hast hid these things

from the wise and prudent,

and hath revealed them unto babes.'"

Oh, beloved, let's get a hold of that!

Do we realize this?

"I thank You, Father,

that You hide these things from some,

and You reveal them to others."

I want that to affect my life.

I want that to affect my prayer life.

I want that to affect the way

I'm talking to men.

Oh, Father, I thank You

that You hide these things

from the wise and prudent

and reveal them unto babes.

Can I give you a picture of a babe?

Have you got your Redemption Hymnal there?

Turn to page 341, would you with me?

Oh, the song reader gives some words

that depicts some of this dead,

or in this sense, someone that's a babe.

Begin in verse 2.

"Not the labor of my hands."

Verse 3: "Nothing in my hands I bring."

How does a babe come into this world?

Nothing!

Nothing in his hands.

Naked.

"Come to Thee for dress..."

Helpless.

Now, that's a picture, beloved,

if I understand the Bible rightly,

when He's talking this lost coin

is the same thing as the babe.

Just as helpless.

Just as hopeless.

But God hides these things

from the wise and prudent

and reveals them unto babes.

I don't know how to say this,

but if you're here this
morning without Jesus,

could you ask Him to make you a babe?

To give you the heart of a babe.

I shouldn't say this here...

(unintelligible) foul.

If a baby needs a diaper change,

well, it smells that way
at least, doesn't it?

What can they do about it?

What can a babe do about it?

Nothing!

Nothing!

It's as good as dead.

Can't do anything unless
God does something.

Let's go back to Luke,
the 15th chapter, shall we.

The lost son.

He says, "Father, give
me the portion of goods..."

V. 13, "He wasted his
substance with riotous living."

I want to submit to you, brethren,

that's a sin to waste your substance

in riotous living.

It's a terrible thing.

But I want to tell you, beloved,

where it began.

This son took himself out

from under his father's authority.

That's where it began.

He took himself out from
under his father's authority.

And that's sin.

And that has to be repented of.

Repentance is putting ourselves

(unintelligible)

Repentance is putting ourselves

back under His authority.

If you're marking down quotes

in your Bibles,

I'd like you to write down this quote

by John Calvin.

John Calvin says,
"We're saved by faith alone,

but faith that saves is not alone."

Oh, beloved, you're never find
more truer words than that.

We're saved by faith alone,

but faith that saves is not alone.

Verse 17, it says he came to himself.

Verse 18 - faith that saves says,

"I will arise."

Faith that saves says,

"I'll go to my Father."

Faith that saves says, "I have sinned!"

Faith that saves says,

"I am no more worthy
to be called Thy son."

Faith that saves says,

"Make me as one of the hired servants."

What's he doing?

He's putting himself back under

the authority of his father.

Oh, beloved, the Word of God is clear:

"Except ye repent, ye
shall all likewise perish."

And I want us to know, beloved,

that repentance is not a one time act.

Repentance is entering into a way of life.

I think I want to share this with you.

In this matter of being a babe,

it wasn't just that one time
I saw myself as a babe.

I see myself that way all the time.

I see myself helpless.

I see myself naked.

I see myself foul.

What do I do?

What do I do?

By faith I come to Him.

Let us come boldly

unto the throne of grace

that we may obtain mercy,

find grace to help in time of need.

Here we are, beloved.

We're all eternity bound this morning.

Where does this find you?

Where does this lost sheep,

this lost coin, this lost son -

where does it find you this morning?

We need two things:

We need forgiveness

and we need repentance.

Repentance towards God.

Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

A life of faith.

A life of repentance.

I think I'll close.

Let's bow our heads.

Father, thank You for Your Word.

You said the entrance of
Your Word giveth light,

giveth understanding to the simple.

Father, Father, I pray that Your Word

will find each one here this morning.

Oh God...

Let everyone of us here see
ourselves as a babe.

Not initially, but daily.

Daily in need of You.

Daily in need of You.

Oh, we pray for our sons
and our daughters.

Oh, Father, open our eyes.

Open eyes that we might see.

We're totally and utterly
at the mercy of God.

So we cry to Thee for mercy,

for ourselves, for our families,

for the church, for our neighbors.

Just breathe upon us today, Breath of God.

We'll praise You.

Make Thy Word quick and powerful today.

Sanctify us through Thy truth.

Thy Word is truth.

We'll praise You, Father,
for Your faithfulness,

in Jesus' name, Amen.