Berean Community Church Sunday Service 3/15/26

Thank you. Thank you.

And we're going to go out and begin our service with this first song, Purify My Heart. Purify my heart. Purify my heart. I choose to be holy.

Purify my heart. Deep within, deep within, deep within, deep within, deep within, deep within, deep within, For you, Lord.

I choose to be holy. For you, my master, ready to do your way. Okay, okay.

And then, okay. So, we're going to do, and we're going to do, and we're going to do, and we're going to do, and we're going to do, and we're going to do, and we're going to do, and we're going to do, the resurrection and so it'd be a great opportunity to introduce them to the Christian faith in the gospel and so if you have somebody that you want to bring to this please let them know and sign up for that and they'll give you more information that's happening on April 4th and then lastly our next round of membership is happening starting from April 12th so if you want to be a member of the church we have an eight session that eight session course that we asked you to go through and it goes over our church doctrines our core values why is our church organized a certain way all the leaders in the church take turns and teaching this and so please sign up for that and this is a requirement to be a member in our church and first class is starting on April 12th at 9 40 a.m and it just happens that April 12th is our church's anniversary also 29th okay we're not going to make a big celebration because 30th coming up is so when the 30th happens we'll cut cake that okay but uh just to wanted to give you a heads up that's that's what's happening so if you are going to sign up uh please sign up for that the first class is on April 12th okay before I pray for

the offering um this morning again uh want to introduce Kara Young who is going to be coming up and she's going to be giving her testimony and she'll be baptized this morning and so um uh after our time of uh worship she'll come up and give give her testimony be baptized so let me pray for offering and if you brought a physical offering again we have an offering box in the back so please visit that on the way out all right let's pray

graceful gracious and loving father we thank you so much for your continued grace over our lives and the blessing that you give us the many things that we know of and many more things that we are not aware of i pray father that your presence would be known through your word through your spirit help us lord god to lift up our eyes toward christ and we pray with all that is going on in the world and even in our personal lives that we you would help us lord god to fix our eyes upon christ the author and perfect of our faith i pray that you would bless this time of offering that we would worship you with what we give may be given joyfully as an act of worship and that you would multiply it thirty sixty a hundred fold for the sake of your kingdom in jesus name we pray amen amen amen church family why don't we stand together and while we're standing and while we're standing and we're standing in the standing as we normally do why don't we say hello to someone who you may not know or haven't seen in a bit Thank you.

And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains, and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. Dear dying feet, rejoice to see the fountain in His day.

And there have I, though I'm lasting, wash all my sins away. Wash, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there have I, though I'm lasting, wash all my sins away. Dear dying lamb. Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose His power.

Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.

I would zone out during service and let my mind monitor things like school, grades, and drama. I thought I knew everything there was to Christianity. So I would answer Bible questions and participate in MMA verse contests at church. Although I didn't disagree with what the Bible taught, I didn't strive to live how God called me to. As I went into middle school, I grew more conceited and selfish. Though I didn't consider myself perfect, I thought I was good enough to be on the quote-unquote good side of God. However, when I was transitioning to youth group, things started to shift. I felt the need to pay attention because the more mature, larger setting. When I started focusing on the teachings, I realized there was much more to Christianity than I thought.

Though I was convicted, I made no attempt to change my life. Around that time, I saw people like my older cousins and people I looked up to at church get baptized. I marveled to how they had changed, and I wanted to be just like them. I then had my mindset of becoming a Christian. Little did I know, my ambition to please others would hinder me actually getting closer to God. I was a people pleaser and would act like a good older sister when people came over to our house. I was proud of the way people perceived me, and I thought I could be a Christian now. I thought if I prayed and read my Bible at least once a day and didn't curse, I was surely a Christian. However, I still continued to follow after the world.

It wasn't until summer of 2025 that I was able to go on trips with my family and see God's creation. Through this and youth group, I came to realize how much God has blessed me with and how much he must have loved me to send his son to die for me on the cross. Romans 5:7-8 says, "For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us." Because of this, I really dove deeper into what it meant to be a true Christian. As the summer went on, I recognized that I was struggling with trying to be two different people, one type of person at church and another at school.

As my biblical convictions grew, I realized what a sinner I was and how selfishly I saw after the world. I remembered sitting in bed one night, praying for mercy and for God to forgive me of my sin, and reflecting on the holiness of God and my own sinfulness and selfishness. My heart was comforted in knowing that God freely forgave me and that this was his unconditional grace towards me, a sinner. I had finally given up the things I had been holding onto so desperately in the world and fully embraced him. It was then that I genuinely accepted Christ. The fact that God still has a place for his adopted children in heaven then filled my heart with gratitude. Because of that, I found my perspective of church and the world start to change.

I stopped accepting sinful behavior as the norm and started going to church eagerly, wanting to learn more about God, what he did for me, and how I could grow more in my faith. Things that I found pleasing and worthy of my attention on this earth suddenly felt worthless and silly. I started experiencing genuine joy that comes with having Christ in me, and I felt how much more purposeful my life was with that joy. Though I know the life of a Christian will not be easy, I know that God will sustain me. Though I may still sin, I will put up an active attempt to fight against it. I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, believing that he will work his marvelous wonders through me. In closing, Psalm 23 reads, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dole in the house of the Lord forever. I pray that the Lord will now and forever be my good shepherd. Thank you. Thank you. All right, congratulations to the young family and Kara.

Definitely, she's way more mature in eighth grade than I was at that age. We've been hearing through the grapevine, through the teachers and through her small group leaders and how she's been maturing and also through her dad. And so we've been kind of watching from a distance what God's been doing. And so what an encouragement to hear the testimony. Again, we want to thank all the teachers. And obviously the parents are continuing to pray and labor. But we also want to thank all the teachers who are laboring in them, sacrificing for them. And, you know, every Friday they break away from their peers and they spend time with our youth and sharing the gospel with them. And so we know that, again, you know, as a cliche is, it takes a village to raise children.

And so our prayer constantly is that our children will come to Christ early. And so when they meet the Lord, that they'll have a longer period to be able to share the gospel and shine God's light, especially in this generation and what's happening around them. So thank you so much. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 15, I'll be reading from verse 1 to 10. Okay. Luke chapter 15, verses 1 through 10, reading out of the NASB. Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near him to listen to him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. So he told them this parable, saying, What man among you, if he has hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the one coin which I have lost. In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would open up your word to us and that it is your voice that we will hear, that your children, your sheep, may hear the voice of Christ and follow him and him alone. I pray that you would illuminate us and not just cause us, Lord God, to be listeners or hearers, but to be doers of your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You know, years ago, when we were coming in and out of China, we did a lot of work or, you know, spent a lot of time in the western side of China, and it's on the border of Kazakhstan and China. And so in that area, there's a lot of, one of the bigger minority groups called the Uyghurs. So they're kind of a mixture of Chinese and Middle Eastern, and so they, in that area, because of the Muslim influence, they're not allowed to eat pork. And so we would have an English camp. Sometimes we would have as many as 70, 100. But the Uyghurs and the Han Chinese would never mix because they can't eat together. So they would have a separate cafeteria. So when we would go eat, if we wanted to spend time with the Uyghur students, we'd have to go to their cafeteria.

And if we wanted to spend time with the Han students, we'd have to go to their cafeteria. And so even though in class it was one group, you can tell there was a divide. So you can imagine if they can't eat together. Not only can't they eat together, they can't even be in the, the Uyghurs can't be in a building where pork is even in the fridge. If it's cooked or sold there, they're not allowed to enter. So you can imagine what that does to that community. Even though they go to school together, they can't go to each other's homes, right, or they wouldn't be allowed to go home. And so at some point, many years ago, there was a riot that broke out. And the Han Chinese and the Uyghurs, you know, had a huge riot.

They got, they started fighting each other. And then, and then the government ended up coming in and basically wiping down, wiping out and basically the, the riot that was happening. And what we heard through the grapevine, there was about a whole year of blackout in that area. There was no communication going on. And then a year after that, we were able to go in to meet some of the students. And the students there told us that there was a massacre there. And we don't know exactly what the number was. On, in paper, at least the way they presented it, there was a couple hundred people. But the students said that they saw bodies everywhere. And they said probably in the thousands. So no one knew exactly how many.

But basically, that tension is always there in that area because it not, obviously, it's not because of food alone. But, but you could imagine what that creates when they can't eat together. When God wanted to keep the nation of Israel separate from the pagan world, one of the most tangible things that God did to keep them separate is their food. So they had a strict, the Jews had a very strict diet, so they couldn't eat with them. And so that naturally caused them to be separate. If they were faithful to the law, it kept them unique and separate from the other pagan nations. And then when God opens up the kingdom, do you remember what he does? He gives Peter a vision. And he's able to eat the unclean food.

And so now, because of the food, the diet has changed, they're able to sit and eat together. Now, I say all of this as a backdrop to what we were talking about last week. That the Pharisees took that paradigm, it took that teaching, and they applied it to everybody. Even to the other Jews. That anybody that they thought was below them, anybody that they didn't like, they would not eat with them. And so all of this that we're looking at, the parables that we're looking at in chapter 15, all is initiated because Jesus was receiving the tax collectors and the sinners and eating with them. Eating was extremely important to the Jews. Not only was it fellowship, but in one of their five major sacrifices, there's a peace offering.

And in the peace offering, they would give the fat portion where they would not eat, And the things that were edible, they would go on the side after the sacrifice, and they would have a picnic. And the picnic basically represented that peace with God allowed them to have peace with each other. And so eating together was a connection. It was a fellowship. It was an act of worship. Because the Passover meal was an actual meal. What we practice as like symbolic in the church, they got together every year, they had an elaborate meal. And this meal pointed to the coming of Christ. And so eating together, it's even today, if we want to connect with people, and say, hey, let's grab lunch, let's grab dinner.

But understanding that eating at that particular time really brought people together. It was a covenant symbol where they were able to fellowship, that we have peace with God. And so it is in that context where the Pharisees and the scribes are watching them saying, how can they be a part of this? And it is in their grumbling that Jesus responds. And so the next three parables is in response to that because the problem that Jesus is addressing was not a minor problem. This was a problem that Jesus was in some way addressing when he cleansed the temple. If you study Jesus' ministry, he begins his ministry with the cleansing of the temple. And he ends his ministry with the cleansing of the temple.

And the main reason that he was so angry about the cleansing of the temple, because the outer court was reserved for the Gentiles. And they just completely ignored them. They made it into a marketplace. So the Gentiles had nowhere to go. In other words, the Jews just did not care. You know, as long as we're right with God, as long as we're okay, these people don't deserve God. And that was their general attitude toward anybody that they thought didn't belong with them. And so Jesus tells these parables to basically correct their whole religious system. It wasn't just about these few Pharisees. Their whole religion system had to be flipped upside down. Their paradigm had to shift in order for Christ and the gospel to make sense to them.

The parables Jesus speaks about, it comes obviously in three. And they're all meant to be studied together. Because the first two parables, the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, is really a setup for the third parable about the prodigal son. And so you can notice that I didn't even read it because it's the longest. It's just that parable alone is longer than the two parables in the other passage put together. So the other two parables gives us the main theme. And the main theme of that is going to project us to the details that he's going to get. There's a lot of things in the first two parables that he doesn't explain. It just teaches us the outline of that. And then it's kind of meant to be a crescendo, right?

It starts out and then it builds up and then boom, the punch is in the third parable, right? So what we're going to do here is for the next couple of weeks, we're going to study all three parables, but the two parables in particular. And what are some main lessons that he's teaching us? And there's six observations that I want to make here. I'm going to be covering three today and three next week. And then on Easter Sunday, we'll be jumping into the parable of the prodigal son. And then hopefully that all of it is going to make a lot more sense when we get to the third parable, right? So the first thing that we need to understand about this parable is that a parable begins by telling us that whether you're the sheep, whether you're the coin, whether you're the son, that there is an owner, right?

That God is the shepherd in Psalm 103, know that the Lord himself is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Now, saying this to the church, you know, may not be necessary, right? But everything that we know about church, everything that we know about the gospel, everything we know about what Jesus has done, all begins with the recognition that he is our creator, that we are not independent of him. He created us for his glory. And so if you look at the parable, the sheep belongs to the shepherd, the coin belongs to the woman, and the child has a father. So the beginning of the parable, our understanding, is that we belong to him. In Isaiah 43, verse 1, But now, thus says the Lord, your creator, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, do not fear, for I have redeemed you, and I have called you by my name.

You are mine. And you'll see that, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, where God possesses us. Remember, we talked about that a few weeks ago, about the covenant relationship. And when a husband and wife come together, right, you don't say, I'm going to make you one of my many priorities, but I'm going to make you more important. He says, no, you're mine. And that's exactly how it's described in the book of Corinthians, that we belong to each other. You possess each other. And so the scripture tells us that beginning of understanding of who we are, of the gospel, of the church, our purpose in life, all begins by recognizing that we belong to him. God created us. Isaiah 43, 21, the people whom I have formed for myself will declare my praise.

He said, he created for his purpose. So again, every single one of these parables begins by telling us the sheep belong to the shepherd, the coins belong to the woman, and then two sons belong to the father. Again, it may be fundamental, it may be elementary, but that's the beginning point, right? And again, I don't think anybody here is like, no, I don't know if I believe that, right? Yeah, I don't think you'll be here if you don't believe that. But recognizing that is the beginning of all things. Because we live in a culture where we're so independent, we kind of see ourselves and God kind of floating around us, helping us so that we can live our lives. He says, no, the beginning of all things is that we come to the point where we recognize he created us for himself and we belong to him.

That's the beginning point. But the second part of the parables that will prepare us for the third is that the parables teach us that we are lost, right? We are lost. The parable of the sheep is that of the hundred, one got lost. Of the ten coins, one of the coins got lost. Of the two sons, one of the sons were lost. And so not only did he create us, the problem is that we have strayed. Now, the parables don't teach us why we strayed. It doesn't go into the detail. We'll get to the third one. The third parable will clarify what exactly happened. But the first two parables, it just tells us that the sheep went astray and the coin was lost.

Why is this so important? Again, in Isaiah 53, 6, all of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. This idea of the sheep going astray is all over Scripture. 1 Peter 2, 25, for you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. The illustration of God being our shepherd and us being our sheep, I mean, I could just flip over almost every page in the Old Testament and there's something about a sheep, something about the shepherd. And again, if you grew up in the United States, you just maybe seen pictures or maybe seen movies, right? You go to India, this is a very common scene. You know, sometimes we would have to stop, especially in the rural areas, and wait for the sheep to pass by.

So at least visually, we can understand, right? I remember we were back in college, the campus ministry I belonged to. We went up to a farmland up in Oregon, and we spent two weeks there. And during the two weeks, we would wake up every morning, and we would do our quiet time before the schedule started. And we did quiet time in front of the sheep. I don't think it was planned. It just happened that there was a lot of sheep. And I remember during that period thinking, these are the dumbest animals. They get so easily startled. You know, there's no thought being just that if you just, you know, like startle one, they all move. And there was maybe about 100, 200 sheep. And every time I would do quiet time, I would look up.

And the only thought is, these animals are so dumb, right? Because they get, if I just, if I just look at them or make a noise or whistle, they'd get startled. And if one gets startled, even the one that didn't hear my whistle would get startled. And if one runs, they would all run. And if one stopped, they would all stop. There's an actual event. Again, I think I've even shown a picture of this. In 2005 in Ireland, the sheep in Ireland are especially dumb. In Ireland, in 2005, 400 sheep jumped off the cliff. This is an actual event. So the first sheep went probably looking over and thinking, oh man, that grass looks good. And then he slips and he falls. And then the sheep behind it is like, oh, what's over there?

And then he falls. And the next thing you know, they all started jumping. And they said 400 sheep jumped off the cliff. But of the 400, only 100 died. Because the 300 that came after them, there was, you know, sheepskin mattress on the ground. So the other 300 survived. And this is an actual story. There's a reason why the Bible describes us as sheep. Because we are so easily influenced. We are so easily manipulated. And so a sheep is in desperate need of a shepherd. And so the Bible uses that imagery often to describe who we are. And basically the purpose of that is to describe how desperate we are when we get lost. The reason why that one wandering sheep is in danger is because he has a group mentality.

He doesn't know what to do. And he is completely vulnerable to any other animal that comes into the scene. And that's the imagery that God uses to describe our desperate need. In order to understand who God is, in order to understand the gospel, it begins by recognizing that God is the one who created us and we belong to him. And secondly, that we have gone astray. And there's a desperate need for our shepherd or somebody to come look for us. The second illustration that he gives about the coin being lost in the house. And why she is so desperate to find that one. She said out of the ten coins, she loses one. She says she lights a lamp and she shoots the whole house until she finds it. There's something interesting in this parable is that it's described as a woman.

Like in our culture, we probably wouldn't even ask. Maybe you read it and you didn't even ask that. But first century Jew, the first thing that he may be looking at is a woman. He could have used anybody, but why does he say it was a woman who lost the coin? He doesn't explain. He doesn't explain the details behind that. But there's a possibility, maybe, that she was a widow. Because the whole situation was meant to picture a desperate situation. And she is desperate. And so, if you, again, know anything about that time, a woman who was a widow was completely vulnerable. Where in the first scenario, the sheep is vulnerable. The second scenario, maybe the woman is vulnerable. And she's sweeping the house because she needs that.

The one silver coin would have represented one day's income. Now, one day's income for people who have money, money in the bank, may not seem like much. But if she was a widow, every penny counted. So, if you've ever been in a situation, especially after you married and you have children, children, and you had to live from paycheck to paycheck, you know that even one day, even a half day's wages, how important that is, right? I remember earlier, you know, in the church, because the church was small and, you know, we had some financial issues that I've shared many times before. But living paycheck to paycheck, especially when you have small children at home, you know, every once in a while, you know, our check would come in a little bit late.

Instead of on a Friday, they would say, oh, on a Saturday or Sunday. But during those two, three days, we had to wait because we literally used every single penny of that check. So, my guess is the reason why this parable mentions that it was her, even though it was a small amount, why she was so desperate to find it, is she was in a desperate situation and every penny of that counted. And that's why at the end, she would celebrate. But the point of all of this is so that we would come to the recognition that God who created us and we went astray, we're lost. And the whole purpose of the Old Testament is to teach us our lostness. Remember what it says? It says the law was given to us so that we would, what?

Sin would become utterly sinful. Another way to say that is so that we would recognize how lost we are, how desperate we are, that we are that sheep that went astray. Then maybe it was that woman that was desperate. We are starting in the book of Genesis, right? And so, remember in the introduction of Genesis, we have to understand why Genesis was written, who it's written for, and for what purpose. Do you remember? I know it's been six months, but do you remember? Because it's very important that you know why they wrote it and who wrote it, for what purpose. Who wrote Genesis? Moses, right? Moses wrote it. And when did he write it? Before entering the Promised Land. Why did he write it? And this is important because they're about to go in and take over the Promised Land, right?

So imagine for 40 years they're wandering in the desert, and for the most part they lived in peace. God said to get up. They get up. Settle, settle. They're thirsty. God gives them water. They're hungry. God gives them food. And then all of a sudden, they're going in to fight against the fortified enemies who are bigger than them, stronger than them, more experienced than them. And God needed to remind them what is happening, why this journey is happening, why God chose them in particular to take over this land. So he reminds them that God created them, but then you went astray, and God's purpose was to redeem you. And so as a result of that, he chose Abraham. And then through the Abraham, you became a nation.

And through the nation, God was going to bless you, and he was going to save the world through you. So all of Genesis and the history of the redemptive history in the Old Testament was to remind them so that when they enter and conquer this land, this is why you're doing this. You need to know why you're fighting. You need to know why you're struggling. You need to know why you need to not turn from my word to the left or to the right. That's why Genesis was written. In fact, all of the Old Testament was written for that purpose. So that when Christ came, that people would be in a position where they would recognize that we are the lost sheep in need of a shepherd. And there's that shepherd who has come to save us.

And that was the problem with the Pharisees and the scribes. That instead of seeing the Old Testament as a reminder to highlight that they're under the curse of God and in need of a savior, they thought that the biggest problem was no different than the rest of the world. The Romans were suppressing them, the lack of money, their illness, their hunger. And so they came to Jesus and Jesus fulfilled all of that. But the problem was they didn't need a savior. They thought that they needed saving from the Romans. They needed saving from their financial problems, maybe some family issues. But the reason why Jesus is giving these parables is because they missed the whole point. And so many people in the church still go to church year after year, decade after decade, never understanding that.

So whether God is good or whether God is bad, it's all determined based upon how is he helping me with my family? How is he helping me with my finance? How is he helping me with my children? And as a result of that, they completely missed Christ. The Pharisees, instead of rejoicing over what Christ was doing, they're grumbling because how is that going to help us? Luke chapter 5, 31 and 32. And Jesus answered and said to them, it is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, who are the righteous that he's talking about? The sinners we know, right? Because they're called sinners, right? The tax collectors we know because they're sinners.

But who are the righteous that didn't need Christ? Nobody. He's being sarcastic. He said, the reason why you don't understand who I am is because you don't think you're a sinner. It's because you think you're righteous and I didn't come for you. I came for the sinners and the whole problem. And this was not just an issue with the Pharisees. This was not just a few of them. The whole religious system was built upon this self-righteousness that had nothing to do with God. In Luke chapter 19, 10, it says, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. The word lost is, I think, a very important term that we need to understand and preach. So whether Christian or non-Christian that we understand that we are lost, I think in our generation that we are so afraid to offend the people that we've changed the term.

Instead of lost, we say unchurched. So the whole goal of the church is to get people who are unchurched to be at church. Well, the problem with that illustration is that the Pharisees were very churched. They were more churched than anybody else. And we already know, and I think most people in this room are sophisticated enough to know that just because you didn't go to church and all of a sudden you went to church, that somehow your identity in Christ has changed. In fact, the whole book of Romans is written to address that issue. Those who have the law will be judged with the law. Those who don't have the law will be judged without the law. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

But the Jews, the Pharisees didn't see it that way. So the understanding of who God is and what he is doing, the beginning of it is recognizing that he created us for him. And two, we have gone astray, and because of that, we're lost. We're vulnerable. And so, you know, you talk to people and they say, what is the meaning of life? And everybody has their own definition. Meaning of life is finding purpose. Meaning of life is surrounding yourself with people that you love. Meaning of life means whoever has the most toys wins. So they're trying to grasp for meaning because they're lost. They don't know. And they're trying to make sense without God. So the whole purpose of these parables is to re-found them and set the foundation in which they need to understand why Jesus was here.

So the parable teaches us that God created us. The parable teaches us that we are lost. And then the third part that we want to understand is the parable teaches us how precious these sheep, these coins, these children are to God. Why he loves us, I don't know. But that's the point of the parable. That of the hundred sheep, one goes astray. And of the ten coins, one is lost. And of the two sons, right, one goes astray. And if you notice here, it starts with a hundred to one, to ten to one, to two to one. So there's an increase in value, even just in number. And the purpose of all of these parables is that they're all precious. Some people have misused or misused, I mean, I think sometimes with good intention, this application of leaving the ninety-nine to go look for the one.

And I had a friend who, you know, went to his retreat many years ago when I was a youth pastor. And he, for whatever reason, had a teacher up there who was a dentist. And this is nothing about dentists. That guy had to be a dentist. And he was beating up the kids physically. And there was one youth group student who happened to be very obnoxious. And he was talking back. And, you know, and by the second day, we found that kid crying outside. And then we asked what happened. He said the teacher beat him up. So we had to, they had to have a big meeting. So what happened? And they're talking to him. And then in the context of talking about what happened, we found out that this was not the first time.

That this was the second or third time. And so all the kids were afraid of him. So I asked my friend, why is he a teacher? Why is he here? Can you imagine what's going to happen to that kid who grew up in this? And he's being beat up by the teachers. And I remember very specific what he said. He said, well, you know, Jesus said that he leaves a 99 to go after the one. Right? So that teacher is the one sheep that's going astray. And if we don't allow him to come and teach, he'll never come to church. And I remember hearing that thinking, that makes absolutely no sense. Just even mathematically. Why would you abandon the 99 and come back and celebrate the one? That's just like the lady who said, you know, I lost one coin.

I'm going to throw away the other nine coins so I can find one. Come celebrate with me. That would make absolutely no sense. In fact, you found the lamb and you come back and you celebrate. You might eat the lamb. If you apply it that way, the thing that makes no sense. There was one point. And the point that he's trying to make is every single one of them is precious to God. That one sheep is just as precious as the other 99. That's what he means. And I think a best way for us to understand that is, you know, that if a child is sick and the parents or the mom has, let's say, five children and leaves the other four and has to spend the whole time with that sick child at the hospital. The mother is not abandoning the other four children.

The mother is taking care of the sick child because it needs special attention, meaning every single one of them is that precious. That even the one that strays, God doesn't say, well, he just goes, so I have the other 99, so I'm okay. It's to teach us that how precious every single soul is to God. That was the point that he's trying to make through this parable. In John 3.16, this is the fundamental elementary gospel message that probably the first verse you learn in Sunday school is what? John 3.16. And what does that John 3.16 say? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We know he gave his son. We know that his son suffered and died for us to save us. But the reason why he did that is, he says, is because he loved the world.

Because every single soul is precious to God. That everything that Jesus did in his incarnation, in his suffering, his crucifixion, his resurrection, everything that he told us to do, all is being motivated because God loved the world. And that was the point of the parables. That the 99, that one coin, that son, is so precious to our father. Romans 5.8. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't see diamond in the rough that nobody else saw. He said, no, while we were rebelling. While we had no business in being in the kingdom. He said, because he loved us, he pursued us. In Deuteronomy 7.7-8, as God is preparing the nation of Israel to conquer the promised land, this is what he says.

The Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any of the people. For you were the fewest of the peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers. I mean, you think about, you know, God's preparing them to go into battle. And then you say, you know, you're so precious and I love you so much. Which is true. You say, you know, it's like, believe in yourself. You can do it. You know, all you need is like, just do what I tell you to do. And he says, no, I want you to remember, you're not that special. You know, I could have chosen anybody else. It wasn't because you're a big in number. You know, there's something similar to that in Corinthians.

Right? They were getting arrogant and they're trying to find, well, I'm following Apollos, I'm following Paul. And he said, not many of you were noble. Not many of you were wise. You guys were all base. He said, don't get arrogant. Now, why does he say that? It sounds, oh, this is very discouraging. You know, he's about to put us into battle with these people that could slaughter us. And instead of hyping us up, he demoralizes us. You're nothing. Remember that. Because the greatest hindrance to their success is their own arrogance, is their own pride. And it's no different with us. The greatest hindrance for people coming to Christ is like, I don't need him. The greatest hindrance for Christians not coming to Christ is because we don't recognize our desperateness.

And that's why we feel perfectly fine when we don't pray. When we're not abiding. So it's good. He loved us and he did all this stuff. So, you know, I should do it. But we don't understand the desperateness.

But he says, the Lord did not set his love. Set his love. Setting his love is very willful. That he chose to. And he uses the word, this is the reason why I chose you. Because the Lord loved you. The only reason why any of this is happening, it isn't because of you. It's not because of potential. It's not because I needed you. He says, it's because I love you. Period. The whole point of the parable is to remind us of that. That we, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. See, in Psalm chapter 8, verse 36, David says, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

That's the mystery. Right now, there's a lot of talk going about how, you know, that is, is hell real? Now, heaven's easy to accept, but hell, eternal punishment, hell is actually very easy to understand. We've offended a holy, holy, holy God. He created us. If you were to calculate who we are in light of who he is, we're less than dirt. We're less than dust. So the natural question is, I understand hell, because you spit at God, you blaspheme his name. What would prevent him from destroying us?

So the natural question is, why wouldn't he destroy us? Why wouldn't he? You know, when, you know, you're raising kids, and I, when you ask some of the younger people, it's like, oh, you know, they really appreciate their friends, because they remember their birthday, and they got them a gift, and it's like, oh, you know, and so you prioritize your friends. And then when you really mature, right, at some point, you realize that somebody did that for you all their life, right? All their life, right? Anybody who's a parent, and he's raising children, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But I remember talking to younger people, and they said, well, they're parents, so they're supposed to do that.

They're supposed to do that. So if my parents give me a birthday gift, they're supposed to do that. If they make lunch for me, they're supposed to do that. If I'm sick, and they come take care of me, they're supposed to do that. But if one of their friends, you know, oh, they're sick, and they made you some soup, it's like, oh, my best friend. Even though somebody has been doing that for you all your life, you would be dead without them, right? You might be hurt without your friends, but you'd be dead without your parents, right? In the same way, we expect that from God. He's supposed to do that. So I say, you know what, I don't know, I don't want to pray because last time I prayed, he didn't answer my prayers.

Why does he have to answer your prayer? Oh, when I needed him, and he didn't show up? Why do you expect him to show up? Who are you? What did you do? It's because somehow we've been trained to think that we are deserving of his love. That somehow we've been trained to think that's what God's supposed to do. So when he does it, it's just like, oh, thank you, appreciate it, but that's what you're supposed to do. And that is the central problem of the way that people approach God. Not recognizing that he had every right to crush us, but he didn't. He doesn't have to answer us, but he did. He didn't have to send his only begotten son, yet he did. So the mystery of the cross isn't the hell that you and I deserve.

The mystery of the cross is, why was he merciful to begin with? Why did he come, leave the 99 to come after us? Why did he sweep the house to get us? Why does he have to answer my prayer? Why does he have to care if I die early, if I'm sick, if I get married, or don't get married? Why does he have to do that? Something in our theology, something in our understanding has gone wrong. So the whole point of the parable is to set up the foundation that God who created us, that we rebelled against him, and we're precious to him. And because we're precious, he's going to seek us. So he's in the process of seeking us, which we're going to get to next week. And at the end of this seeking, there's going to be rejoicing.

And the details of all of this is going to be seen in the prodigal son. But I want to show you an image that I'm sure many of you have seen, if you can put that up. What's his name? Monkey. Monkey, yeah, but his name is Punch, right? So some of you guys who've been on the media, or maybe you've been sleeping for a while, right? But this is like all over the internet, right? Punch the monkey. And the story behind it is, you know, he's born, and his mother rejected him, basically pushed, and then so he was vulnerable by himself. And so he was getting bullied, right, by the other big monkeys. And then, so the caretaker thought that, you know, in order to comfort this monkey, they gave him that orangutan, right, from Kia.

And I heard that monkey sold out everywhere, right? And so, yeah, so I probably watched about 20 clips of this, right? And I think part of the reason why it went viral is because the story behind it, oh, poor monkey got rejected by the mom, and, you know, how cute he is, and he's holding on to this. And so there's some story of redemption that kind of reminds us, like, maybe we can relate to it. Maybe that, we feel like that's us. You know, there is a Christian version of this. It's not in the Bible, but it's often illustrated. Can you put up the next picture? So shepherds, and this is a well-known fact that in shepherding, they said there's time to time what they call a bummer lamb. Have you ever heard of that before?

Okay, so a bummer lamb basically is a small lamb that gets rejected by the mom. And because it's rejected by the mom, it's not being fed, it's not being cared for. So what ends up happening is the shepherd steps in and has to personally care for it, has to personally feed. And so the bummer lamb gets attached to the shepherd and is with the shepherd constantly. So you, all the lamb is moving around, but this bummer lamb is completely dependent on the shepherd, right? And the word bummer isn't our modern-day English, like he's a bum. That's not where the word comes from. It's from old English that means to go astray or to not have a home. And so the shepherds call this a bummer lamb, right? And so I understand why it went viral and why, you know, I've been watching this and kind of warm, fuzzy feelings.

But where the illustration breaks down is that we are not the ones who are rejected by the mom. The Bible says that we've gone astray. We're the ones who walked away from our shepherds. We're the ones who are lost. And instead of cutting us off, the scripture says that he loved us so much that he came after us and he came to seek us. So the natural question that you and I have to ask and wonder every time we come to Christ is, why does he love me? Why am I so precious? Why do I need to be found? What is man that you are so mindful of him? Who am I? So the beginning of worship is the mystery that causes us to ask that question. But when we come into the presence of God, you didn't answer my prayers.

You didn't give me this and you didn't give me that. That's the beginning of grumbling. Why aren't they this way? How come those people? How come our church? And how come my family? How come my wife? How come my children? That is the beginning of grumbling. But worship is the mystery of why he loves us. So the parable, we're going to get to the next three next week. Every single one of them is going to reveal to us why Jesus is here. And we'll get to the crescendo in the prodigal son. Let's pray. Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, help us, Lord God, to live with the mystery that David expressed. Why are you so mindful of us? Why do you care so much? Help us, Lord God, to be worshipers who genuinely worship you in spirit and in truth.

We are sheep that have gone astray, each of us to his own way. But as you laid on him the iniquity of us all, help us, Lord God, to worship you in spirit and in truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's pray. Let's pray. I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way. The sin that promised joy in life had led me to the grave. I had known that you would own a rebel to your will.

And if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still.

But as I ran my hell boundless, indifferent to the cross, you looked upon my helplessness and led me to the cross. And I beheld God's love displayed, you suffered in my place. You bore the wrath reserved for me. Now all I know is praise. Alleluia. All I have is Christ. Alleluia. Now, Lord, I would be yours alone and live so all who might see the strength to follow your commands.

He'll never come from fire. Oh, Father, use my ransom life in any way you choose. Let my ransom forever be. My only boast is you. Alleluia. Alleluia. All I have is Christ. Alleluia. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my mortal. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ.

Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my light. Let's pray. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. God sent his son. They called him Jesus. He came to love. Heal and forgive. He lived and died. God, to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future. And life is worth the living just because he lives. Amen.