"Lost and Found" - Luke 15:1-10 - Jun 7, 2026 - Pastor Scotty Brown

If you have a Bible, we're going to be in the 15th chapter of the book of Luke.

And coming off of last week, it's pretty weighty.

The Lord's called a discipleship.

There doesn't leave a lot of room for opinion.

It doesn't leave a lot of room for your life or mine if we're truly going to be a

of the Lord Jesus.

And so he continues on giving some parables here in Luke 15 that are dear to my heart

simply because I resemble all three of them, a time of my life when I was lost.

And didn't know what to do.

Well, maybe I did.

Many of us, we know what to do, but we're not willing to do it.

That's the problem.

So we're going to read the first 10 verses of the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

I'll invite you to read along with me.

It says, then all the tax collectors and the sinners they drew near to him to hear him.

And the Pharisees and scribes complained saying,

this man receives sinners and eats with them.

And 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.

Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of the coins,

does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying,

rejoice with me for I have found the peace which I lost. Likewise I say to you there is joy in the

presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Shall we pray? Father, thank you for your word.

Lord, that it's alive and it's true and it can't be broken. So Lord, as we look at these words

in this chapter in the gospel of Luke, I pray.

that we would be changed. Lord, that you by your spirit would move on our hearts, Lord,

to not just be those who aren't lost, but to reach out to those who are. And so, Lord, we're the

ones who lost, we're lost. We need to turn to you. And Lord, may we find you as we seek you with all

of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Jesus' name, amen. So it starts right off.

where it says that then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to hear him.

This fascinates me because of what we had read last week.

It's fascinating that people would, you're really going to follow Jesus?

Don't you realize you got to hate father, mother, son, daughter?

Hate your own life also if you're going to follow him?

You're willing to do that?

These tax collectors and these sinners, they were somehow drawn to the way Jesus presented this.

Because obviously, it's not easy.

It's not simple to put him in that rightful place because there are so many rivals in our hearts.

Now, Jeff is wearing a sweatshirt today that says he has no rivals, and that should be correct.

but it's not

it's correct

and that no one can rival God

let's just put it that way

but it does in our hearts does it not

we've got all kinds of things pulling at us

relationships

possessions

position

we got all kinds of things

pulling at us

trying to take that preeminent place

that only really should be

reserved for none other than Jesus himself. But for some reason, these sinners wanted to hear what Jesus

had to say. Do you? Do you want to hear what Jesus has to say? You don't have to answer that.

Just let me be with you every day and see how many times you open the book and read it.

That's going to tell the story right there. And you know the answer.

because I know for my own life, for a long time, I was very deficient in that area, reading the word, consistently over and over again, putting it in there because I forget from day to day and month to month and year to year.

I forget the truth of God's word and I need to eat it every day.

It so resembles what the children of Israel did in the wilderness with manna.

Right?

They would have to take, go out daily and get the manna.

You couldn't store up any for tomorrow.

It's like the people that tell me, oh, I read the Bible.

Really?

What does it say?

Well, I forgot.

It's been a long time.

No, the manna was daily, right?

And if you stored up something for tomorrow, the worms would come and eat it.

It would rot.

and that's just it

the residual manner that some people have in their heart of the word of God

it just makes them rotten more rotten

because all they do is use it to browbeat others

they don't let it ruminate

and influence their own hearts in their own lives

because it's not consistent

I'm just talking to a guy this week about it

struggling with it.

Read it every day.

Because when you don't, you ascend to the throne

and you have just taken away the preeminent place

where Jesus needs to reside in your life.

And that's just the way it is, folks.

It is a battle this Christian life.

And it seems to be getting more and more so

As time goes on, as the Lord's getting closer and closer to returning,

the enemy is pulling out all the stops.

The distractions are more.

They're constant.

They're multiplying daily to pull us away.

Just talking to a brother right before service, and he said,

man, if I could go back and be in Bible times,

when they just had an oil lamp and no telephone and no internet,

And they just had an oil lamp.

And they had a scroll that they could read.

And they're not distracted.

No, but they're still wicked.

We find things to distract us.

We invest in things actually that distract us.

But these tax collectors, they're drawn to Jesus.

They want to hear him.

His call to discipleship was wild talking about hating relatives.

and dying to self.

These kinds of people were known,

these publicans and sinners,

they were known as people of the land.

People, I kind of like that,

people of the land.

I like land.

I like dirt.

I love the dirt under my fingernails.

I just like it.

Maybe because that's what I'm made of.

But the saddesties and Pharisees,

they had a hard time than all the things.

tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes complained,

saying this man receives sinners and eats with them.

They were complaining. They were disgusted by these people of the land.

Because the Pharisees called themselves the people of the law.

Now, obviously, they believed they were a little bit better than the people of the land.

Are you better than someone else?

Are you better?

Now, I got to tell you, we are not better.

No one is better than anyone else.

It's just kind of the, we're just like the sea, right?

We're at the same level.

If you know Jesus, let me tell you, you are better off than if you don't.

That's the only better there is when it comes to humans.

and so these people are begin to complain and be disgusted that Jesus would actually let sinful hands touch him

or that he would actually reach out and touch a leper or an adulterous woman

the the people of the law had this saying check this out.

it says there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God that's what that that was their

their ploy but wouldn't we all fall under that category right but in verses 7 and 10 we read them right

there's more joy and it's just the opposite there's more in joy in heaven over one sinner who repents

do you need to repent today?

I do.

I need to repent today.

Because there's obviously things I could have done that I didn't do that was sin.

Oh, Lord, forgive me.

God, you got to keep lifting my head because I keep looking at me way too much

when I need to be looking at you and truly give you that place in my life.

So Jesus was receiving the people of the land and spending.

time with them.

Spending time with Jesus is

pretty sweet. The older

I get, the sweeter it is.

Because he just has a way

like these sinners and these

publicans. I was going to say Republicans,

which, sorry,

got a little tongue-tied.

Yeah, the Republicans,

they need Jesus.

And he

he spent time

with them. Now, now you got to realize people try to use that, this passage of scripture,

Jesus talking about Jesus hanging out with publicans and sinners and tax collectors is like,

hey, I can go to the bar and hang out with those bad people. Really? Yeah, I can go to the bar

and hang out with those. Jesus did. Yeah, but Jesus did not partake with them. Okay,

there is a big difference. Some people think that, oh, no, that's, Jesus is a small.

cool, he's into the party scene.

No, that's not the way it works.

Because there's a big difference

from being around people who are doing

sinful things and doing it with them.

The people were coming to Jesus,

he was not necessarily going to them.

And then when they would come to him,

he would welcome them.

And he would converse with them.

And he had his way of just putting his finger

right on the things.

things that they were dealing with in their life. You guys remember the woman at the well?

Jesus, he asked her that question. It's smart when you talk to people who don't know the

Lord to ask them questions. Let them condemn themselves, right? She did. He said, hey, go get your

husband. Your man should be here in this conversation. Well, I don't have a husband.

You rightly say you don't have a husband.

You've had five of them.

The dude you shacked up with now, it's not your husband.

Right?

Caching.

I perceive that you're a prophet.

Busted.

You ever been busted by the Lord?

He just busts you.

He's just so good at it.

And so...

And so...

we have these these these parables in this so we're just going to look at the two of them this morning

but um in these parables there's four phases that we see in these three parables the lost sheep the lost

coin and the lost sun there's a loss the four phases the first one is there's a loss there's a search

there's a recovery and there's a celebration and so let's look at

at the first parable here in verse four it says,

and 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.

And so he loses a sheep.

This shepherd loses the sheep.

Now one out of 99, well that's not bad, right?

But the passage doesn't tell us how he lost this sheep.

But the Matthew passage does tell us how this sheep was lost.

He tells us in Matthew 1812, what do you think?

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,

does he not leave the 90 and 9 and go to the mountains and seek the one who is straying?

Went astray.

Wasn't the shepherd who lost this sheep.

It was this sheep who was obstinate and did his own thing.

You ever noticed sheep out in the wilderness?

Oh boy, it's a humbling thing for the Lord to call us sheep.

Sheep are just, they lack a lot.

Do you know that about yourself?

You lack a lot?

I lack a lot.

A lot.

I really, I really, honestly, I need a shepherd.

And this sheep has gone away.

and the shepherd is serious about seeking the sheep,

even knowing that it was by his own volition and his own will that he went astray.

You know people like that?

They know what's right.

They know the truth.

And they still choose to run amok and go astray.

Why do we do that?

Because we're stupid.

But, but praise God, the shepherd does not take the business man type of attitude as a profit and loss with this one sheep.

I mean, he could easily say, hey, I got 99.

One percent ain't bad, right?

That's not a bad death loss.

because the sheep out there very,

he doesn't stay out there very long before he dies

or something eats him.

Just wandering around.

We went up, we were scouting for elk one fall

and went up and found this poor little sheep.

I heard it.

It was laying down.

It couldn't get up.

It had a broken leg.

And it had a bell on.

Had a bell on.

So we walked up to it.

And I'm just thinking, wonder how long this thing's been out.

And where we parked our truck and took off on our horses, there was a sheep camp there.

And we ended up putting the sheep down because of the broken leg.

And I took the collar in the bell and I put it, the sheep purter wasn't there.

So I put it on his.

But that was the demise of this poor sheep.

Whether it was there because it was injured or whether it had wandered astray, I don't know.

But it was helpless.

It was hopeless. I couldn't believe it hadn't been eaten.

And obviously afterwards, somebody probably

have a pretty tasty meal. But instead,

the shepherd, he has this unconditional love for this sheep

that has gone astray. Obviously, this parable is

illustrating God's searching you and me out. Can you look back in your life

and see how the Lord was kind of orchestrating your

your whatever it took to bring you to him.

Maybe it was just to come to the end of yourself.

Maybe it was some kind of out of a tragedy that you had to go through to lift your head.

But just know that he loves you.

And he loves to seek you out.

I hear people say,

I just need to find God and what is true.

I mean, how can you sift through all that and really know what is true?

Well, God's not lost, you are.

And, and if you are having that thought,

that is the Lord prompting you to turn to him.

it really is it's the lord he's he's sovereign in your life he he knows which little which little diversion

to put into your life to turn you to him but sometimes we even ignore those things

we need jesus like a like a sheep needs a shepherd sheep have no natural defenses

have you seen sheep they're just a kind of an odd creature

They're not fast, right? They can't outrun anything that's chasing them. They don't have big

strong legs where they can kick or stomp an attacker. They don't have a big old canine teeth

where they can turn around and bite back. They're just pathetic. They're just, they're just

an ox before the slaughter. They're just a chicken before a coyote. Years ago up Fall Creek,

there was a wolf attack on a sheep herd. They killed, I think almost 70. I think there was almost

70 sheep killed. But they said the wolves only killed between 15 and 20. The sheep in their panic

were so afraid they started jumping on top of each other. And they piled up and it suffocated like

45 sheep or 50 sheep.

Sheep weren't very smart.

And the Lord

calls us his sheep.

Have you learned to laugh at yourself

because of your sheepishness?

Right?

It's quite common.

comical this whole sheep thing. I have some chicken that I heard, one chicken. His name's Rooster

Cogburn. It's my wife's chicken and I cared for Rooster Cogburn this winter. I had to

lance his feet. He had these big old nodule cyst things on his feet. I had to take them all

and I doctored rooster cogburn, and then we tried to integrate rooster cogburn back into the,

with all the hens. But we got three or four other roosters, and they pummel poor rooster

cogburn. And he's in this place where he's scared all the time. And so we got this little roost

where we put him at night. And we'll let him out during the day, and he kind of looks out and he looks

out and he looks this way and that way, and then he just high-tails it to the barn. He's got a little cubby

that he kind of hangs out in in the barn,

that he can get in where the other roosters can't beat him up.

But I'm out there and I'm herding, Rooster Cogburn.

Hey, Rooster, you get him you go this way.

He don't want to go that way.

Me and Rooster, we're kind of jumping back and forth.

And Rooster is getting to where he lets me direct him.

Back into a safe place.

Roster cog, pray for Rooster Cogburn.

he might be going away soon

and then I got these ducks that I have to herd in

we put them up at night so that's why I heard them

I go get my horse I saddle up and I go get her

no I'm just kidding but these ducks

they're the running ducks have you seen the running ducks

they run like this I mean and they're fast

they're fast

but

they have come to know

that when we go out

and it's starting to get dark

and we start getting around them

they kind of heard up

and

and here they go

and they go get in their safe place

they let us

rooster cogburn in the ducks

they let us shepherd them

how many people I know

they won't let God shepherd them

I mean, the Lord will get them right up to the door

and then they take off running.

It's like a stinking herd of cows.

You talk about making mad.

They don't listen.

They don't respond.

And that the shepherd has our best interest at heart.

Isaiah talks about sheep.

where he says in Isaiah 53 6,

all we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way.

And the Lord has laid on him, that is Jesus, the iniquity of us all.

Are you going astray?

Are you floundering?

Or are you kind of just spinning in a circle, suffocating,

not knowing which way to go?

The Lord will tell you,

the Lord will direct you.

1 Peter 2.25, it says,

for you are like sheep going astray,

but have now returned to the shepherd

and overseer of your souls.

It reminds me of that hymn,

come now found, right?

Prone to wander,

Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love.

We're prone to that.

You have to be aware of that

and be desperate for your shepherd.

because he's desperate for you.

Ezekiel 34 says this as the Lord seeks after Israel.

It says, for thus says the Lord God, indeed, I myself were searched for my sheep and seek

them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep.

So will I seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered

on a cloudy and dark day and will bring them out from the peoples and gather them.

from the countries and will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel

in the valleys and in the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture and

their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. This is God's heart. He wants to bless us,

but we won't let him. We won't let him bless us. We won't let him lead us. Oh, sometimes.

You ever talk to them people that are just, they're just fair weather believers?

Oh yeah, the Lord's so good. He's really blessed me.

But then all hell breaks loose in their life and they run.

Run to the shepherd.

Because the rejoicing is that person who turns to him and repents.

It's fascinating that verse there.

it always gets me when I read it,

not about the joy in heaven over one or one sinner who repents,

but over the 99 persons who need no repentance.

Is there such a thing?

I don't believe there's such a thing.

I think it was last week just talking about repentance.

It's a lifestyle.

Oh, Lord, show me where I've messed up today.

I don't want to keep doing this.

I don't want to have this habitual sin.

Not that we don't stumble and make mistakes,

but habitually I don't want to be that anymore.

I was that long enough.

The Lord desires the best thing for you and me.

Paul tells us,

tells the people in Colossians chapter 1,

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

after he hears their desire to walk with the Lord

and just let me encourage you who are walking with the Lord

in Colossians 1, verses 9 through 14, it says,

Colossians 1:9–14

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it,

do not cease to pray for you

and to ask that you may be filled

with the knowledge of his will

in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

that you may walk worthy of the Lord,

fully pleasing him,

being fruitful in every good work

and in increasing in the knowledge of God,

strengthened with all might

according to the glorious power

for all patience,

and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers

of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness

and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his

blood and forgiveness of sins. I love that. That's powerful stuff that Paul's prayer for the believers

No, you need to grow.

You've got to grow.

If you're not growing, you're withering.

If you're not moving forward, you're moving back.

Weirsby says the story of the lost sheep would touch the hearts of the men and boys in the crowd.

Why is that?

Because so many of them dealt with sheep.

I got friends that worked the lamb and sheep.

sheds when we were in high school. Some of their stories. They, I mean, they, they talk about it and just

get frustrated, right? Working with sheep. And then no doubt the conviction that that's what God's

calling us. We know how stupid these things are. We've been working with them for years. And so it

would have connected. The next parable would have connected with the women and girls. They would

appreciate the story about the coin that was lost from the

the wedding necklace.

Jesus sought to reach everybody.

I don't know if any of this is connecting with you or not,

if you've wondered about or not.

Maybe you're just in a tough place right now.

You got a shepherd.

He'll put you in the right spot.

He'll put the right nutrients before you

if you'll come to him.

Versus eight through ten and we'll wrap it up.

here. I says, or what woman having

10 silver coins,

if she loses one coin, does not

light a lamp and sweep the house

and search carefully until she finds

it. And when she has found it, she calls

her friends and neighbors together

saying, rejoice with me.

For I have found the peace which I lost.

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the

presence of the angels of God

over one sinner who repents.

The rejoicing,

the party that you

and I can cause in heaven.

when we simply humble ourselves before the Lord.

You don't think they take note?

Have you read the book of Daniel?

The watchers?

They're watching everything.

Nabikanezer and Belchizer and the witness of the angels against them,

what they were doing.

Or the watchers in the book of,

of Genesis with lot and they come down and go,

what does your life provoke from the angels?

Do they desire to look into it or they're like, yuck?

Rejoicing.

Rejoicing in heaven, the fact that we could take part in that is powerful.

Now this necklace, when a Jewish girl married,

she began to wear a headband of 10 silver coins to signify that she was now a wife.

It was the Jewish version of our modern wedding ring,

and it would be considered a calamity for her to lose one of those coins.

Palestinian houses were dark, and so she had to light a lamp and search until she found the lost coin,

and we can imagine her joy at finding it.

we he goes on here this is warren weirsby also he says we must not press parabolic images too far

notice what he says here though it's pretty interesting but it is worth noting that the coin

would have on it the image of the ruler you guys remember that parable with or that story with

Jesus he said hey should we pay taxes I don't know whose images on the coin well Caesar

He says, well, then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and give to God the things that are as God's.

Well, whose image is on you?

Here we are back at discipleship, right?

God's image is on you and me.

Then give to God's what is God's?

The lost sinner bears the image of God, even though that image has been marred by sin.

When a lost sinner is found, God begins to rejoice that divine.

image through the power of the spirit and and one day the believer will be like Jesus Christ.

The ultimate image bearer. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, but he was not only the

image, but he was the invisible God. And so he wants you and I to be new, to be restored.

to be found and not be lost.

If you're lost today, call out.

Call out to the name of Jesus.

Because he's able to make us new.

Colossians 310 and have put on the new man

who was renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

There it is.

that we're to put off this, this God error, if you will,

as we walk humbly through this life,

that there's something that is attractive to even the worst of sinners.

As these people were drawn to Jesus,

even after what he had told them, what he required.

1 John 3 1 and 2.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us.

We should be called the children of God.

Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him.

Beloved, now we are children of God.

And it has not been yet revealed what we shall be,

but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him.

For we shall see him as he is.

Do you looking forward to that day?

Looking forward when you see Jesus face to face.

I don't shudder in fear.

I fear now that I would do something that would forfeit me that right to stand before him.

I fear that.

And so should you.

We have to let Jesus find us.

When the Lord knocks on the door your heart, please answer.

answer. Say yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, I'm right here. Remember the garden. Adam, where are you? Maybe the

Lord's been saying that to you. Hey, where are you? What are you doing? Where you been? Haven't

heard from you in a while. Don't try to hide. Quit wandering. Quit trying to do. Quit

it yourself. I can't do that. The older I get, the more helpless I am in more ways than one.

Right? Working at the building, sometimes I go to pick something up and I don't know, not today.

Not today. I'll pull something loose. But don't wander. Just come to him. You might need to come to him today.

I've asked the prayer team

They don't even know this yet

But there is a little cubby hole back there

By that exit door

And I'm going to have the prayer team

Go over there in just a minute

And you can come

Come pray

Pray for yourself

You might

Well

I don't know people think I'm weak

Or something like that

No okay then go pray for your spouse

Guys listen I promise you

Your wife needs your prayers

women your husband needs your prayers

well we're good

we're good me and her we're good

how about a child maybe a parent

maybe a friend I just got news

for a friend of mine that I've been going to see for the last few months

they're giving him till the first week of July

well actually they said you have an appointment

he says I have an appointment the 6th of July

doctor said you won't make it

you're not making it to that appointment you're going to die you know somebody like that

go stand in for him pray for him a friend a co-worker a lost tribe in Africa I don't know

but come and pray PDAs towards the Lord are allowed you want me say that again

PDAs towards the Lord are allowed, right?

And some people will, no, they're ashamed.

Don't be ashamed.

Don't be ashamed with your God.

Don't be ashamed to go and be willing to humble yourself and let somebody pray with you.

That's a good thing.

That's where the Lord can lift you up.

That's where your shepherd can feed you those good things.

And that's where we're going to close today.

That shepherd.

Would you all stand with me?

If you have a Bible, turn to Psalm 23, that's how we're going to end this.

I pray that these words would sink down deep into your soul.

And it would stir you up.

and when you start looking at all the things that are in this passage of scripture it's only

it's only six verses when you look at it it it's full of life

king david in one of his bright moments wrote this say it along with me if you like

if you have different virgins that's okay just mumble through it the lord is my shepherd

i shall not want he makes me to lie down in green pastures he leads me

beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his

namesake. Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 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 anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord.

forever. When you have a relationship with the shepherd like that, you can't lose. Amen? Let's pray.

Father, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you that you find us. Lord, you seek us out.

Even if we're in a corner licking our wounds, Lord, you're calling us. You're calling us to yourself.

You're calling us to take your yoke upon ourselves and to learn,

of you. And Lord, we just ask that by your spirit, you would move on all of our hearts.

In these times that we live, Lord, may we seek you more and more. May our prayer life increase.

May our Bible reading increase. May our love for the lost world increase. Lord, you want us to be

like you. Give us a shepherd's heart, we pray. And we pray that you would bless those who need to

to come today and to be prayed for. Maybe some just need to come and surrender to you and realize,

Lord, that you have a future and a hope and you have green pastures and still waters for those who are

willing to humble themselves and come to the good shepherd today. And we pray it in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen. Amen. During the song, hey, the prayer team's going to be back in that cubby hole. So if you need

prayer, please go back. God bless you guys. Have a great week in Jesus.