I Plead Guilty

Introduction

Some time ago in a pastor's conference, one of our area ministers was sharing his salvation testimony. He is a rather "country" fellow and shared his experience in an interesting homespun way. One of his statements really caught my ear. In describing his life before Christ, he said, "Now brothers, let me tell ya, when I wuz lost, I wuz lost real good."

What does it mean to be lost...real good? How does one become lost? How does God feel about the lost? In our parable-study today, we will find out. In our passage, which we will read in just a  moment, we will see Jesus speaking to an audience that is not made up of the morally fit. It is rather made up of those who are keenly conscious of the fact that they have made a mess of things.

However, they listen with wide-eyed eagerness. They press about him as starving men might press about one who is dispensing bread. It is easy to see that their deepest needs are being met, that dear dreams are being reborn and hopes long dead are having a resurrection. It is a sight, it would seem, to thrill and gladden the hearts of the most selfish and indifferent.

The Scribes and Pharisees are not gladdened in the least. They are rather filled with indignation. In their anger they spit out a criticism of Jesus that they consider absolutely damning. They do not accuse him of catering to the rich while he neglects the poor. They do not accuse him of being a religious snob like themselves. This is their bitter accusation, "This man receives sinners."

And what has Jesus to say in reply. In modern terminology, Jesus say, "Yes, I plead guilty." He accepts their accusation as absolutely true. In fact he takes this criticism as his text and preaches the marvelous sermon that we find recorded in Luke.

It is a sermon made up of four parables. There is the parable of the lost sheep, of the lost coin, of the son lost in the far country, and of the son lost at home. But these four parables are really united into a single connected story by one word, and that is the word, "lost."

Read with me about the first two. We shall look at the other two next week. Let's read together Luke 15:1 -10.

This whole story, then elaborates and expounds on the accusation of Jesus' critics that he receives sinners. Here we find the very heart of what Jesus teaches about the lost and about God's attitude toward them. This chapter is, therefore, the most precious single chapter in the Bible!

I. We Must Ask, "Who Are The Sinners?" Who Are Lost?

They are not necessarily those who have become wrecks and renegades. They are not only those who are hopelessly doomed and damned. They are rather those who are out of their right relationship. Jesus here mentions different types of lost men.

There are those who are lost in the sense in which the stray sheep are lost. This sheep was not lost in the sense that it had fallen to its death over some cliff, or had already been devoured by wild beasts. It was still alive. It was lost in that it was away from the shepherd and away from the flock.

Losing the shepherd it had lost its guide. It had no sense of direction. And there are multitudes today who are thus lost. They are masterless men. They have flung away from old authorities, but have found no new ones that command them. They have become morally and spiritually adrift. They are "between two worlds, the one dead, the other powerless to be born." All such, according to Jesus, are lost.

Then there are those who are lost in the sense in which the piece of silver was lost. This coin was not lost in that it had ceased to be silver and had become some baser metal. It was still silver. It was still a coin, possessing the same value it always possessed. It was lost in that it was out of circulation. Being out of circulation, it was rendering no service. It was still the property of its owner, but it was as utterly useless as if it did not exist.

And there are many such among us. Often their sympathies are with the Church, their names even  on the church roll. They are never seen at any service of the church. They are simply out of circulation. They are not squandering their talents, they only have them buried. Jesus looks upon all such as lost. This is true regardless of however decent and clean and upright they may be in their personal lives.

They may be lost "salvation-wise" or lost "service-wise"...either way they are lost to the kingdom's work.

THIS PASSAGE SHOWS US SOME WAYS IN, WHICH PEOPLE BECOME LOST. There are those who get lost just as this sheep got lost. How did the sheep come to stray? It did not do so intentionally. It did not become angry at the shepherd and the flock and definitely determine to break with both. It rather got lost because it was silly and careless. One day it became interested in its grazing, went from one point to another, assuming that the Shepherd with his flock was close at hand. Then by and by it looked up to find itself utterly alone. It strayed away thoughtlessly and without being conscious at first that it was lost.

The same is often the case with ourselves. Few of us break with God and fling away from our convictions deliberately and maliciously. We drift away carelessly and unconsciously. For instance, we move into the city and leave our membership back at the old home church. Having no church home, we little by little leave off church attendance. Little by little we leave off our practices such as the reading of the Bible and prayer. Almost unconsciously we drift into other practices that war against our spirituality, till the sense of God has slipped out of our lives. People are getting lost everyday by allowing themselves to drift.

There are others that get lost as the coin got lost. This coin did not get lost through its own carelessness, but through the carelessness of another. The woman let it slip from her fingers upon  a floor that was none too clean. She had not been conspicuously successful in keeping her house in order. Now, of course there is this difference between the coin and ourselves. We have power of choice while the coin has not. Therefore we can never get lost in such a fashion that we are absolutely blameless. But there are those who, while morally responsible, are yet far more sinned against than sinning.

It is our task to seek and to save that, which is lost, but our first and supreme duty is to prevent its getting lost. And multitudes are in the far country today because of our carelessness.

II. See How Jesus Feels About Those Who Are Lost...Either In Salvation Or Service

He makes it plain that he is the sinners' friend. No man who came in contact with him ever doubted that. The Scribes and Pharisees were indifferent to the lost, but he regarded them with infinite concern. He knows who are lost. He cannot be content as long as one lamb is away from the fold. He is the supreme lover. His heart goes out to the whole world. However, He does not love us as a group. He loves us individually. Every person may sing with Paul, "He loved me and gave himself up for me."

We should all love the hymn which says, "I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more; But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, From the waters lifted me, Now safe am I. Love lifted me, love lifted me, When nothing else could help, love lifted me."

In Him every sinner has a friend. His attitude toward the lost is one of boundless hope. Jesus believed that every sinner was a possible saint, that every defeated man might yet stand upon his feet in the consciousness of moral and spiritual victory.

Christian Baarnard, the surgeon from South Africa who performed the world's first successful heart transplant, once said that it was a sin to bury a usable heart. The Lord agrees.

Having this hope for the lost, He is forever seeking their recovery. Like the shepherd he will continue the search, and risk his life. In Judea, the shepherd was personally responsible for the sheep. If a sheep was lost the shepherd must at least bring home the fleece to show how it had died. These shepherd's were experts at tracking, and could follow the straying sheep's footprints for miles. There was not a shepherd for whom it was not all in the day's work to lay down his life for his sheep. When a sheep was lost the other shepherds would be upon the watch as one shepherd went to find it.

When in the distance they saw the shepherd striding home with the lost sheep across his shoulders, the whole village would shout with joy.

Like the woman seeking the coin, He is forever seeking.

It is easy to think of the joy of the woman when at last she saw the shining coin, and when she held it in her hand again. God is like that, Jesus said. The joy of God, and of all the angels, when one sinner comes home is like the joy of a home when a coin, which has stood between them and starvation, has been lost and is found. It is like the joy of a woman who loses her most precious possession, which had a value far beyond money, and then finds it again. Yes, he is forever seeking. That shows how He feels about the lost.

III. Our Gospel Then Is A Gospel For Sinners And Sinners Only

It is for those lost because they know not Christ...and for those who have lost that close fellowship with the Father and therefore have been lost to His work.

You, too, can be saved today...found...rescued. Jesus stand ready to come into your heart. He really does.

A pediatric nurse said, "When I worked as a nurse on the pediatric ward, before I listened to the little ones' chests, I would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts.

Their eyes would always light up with awe.

But I never got a response to equal four-year -old David's. I gently tucked the stethoscope in his ears and placed the disk over his heart. "Listen," I said. "What do you suppose that is?"

He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap-tap-tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin. "Is that Jesus knocking?" he said.

I smiled. Somewhere maybe in Sunday School, David had obviously been told that lovely old illustration about Jesus standing at the door of our hearts, knocking.

He is...even now. Won't you respond to Him today in salvation...in service? Life checkpoints:

Given the opportunity, am I willing to share the reason for my hope and how another can find life in Christ?

Am I intentionally building a relationship with at least one individual to earn the privilege of sharing Christ?