The Joy of the Found | Luke 15:11–32 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 03/02/2025

if you have your Bible take it and turn

with me to Luke chap 15 as we consider

as we continue our study of the prodical

son if you don't have a sermon outline

there's some guys that are coming

forward to give one to you if you're new

to us this morning we study the Bible we

study it in an expository way um that

means we work through it and we we

notice what is there we expose what is

there well last week we um were focusing

on the burdens of the lost and I I began

with this picture of lost people um or

of people the crowds of the world um and

you know very often when you hear a

mission's

sermon there is the problem of our sin

and there's the problem of condemnation

from that sin and there's the lostness

that is all around us that we we see we

talk about lost people those who have

not been found in Christ and very often

it's a very

burdensome motivation that we should

look at we we see that Jesus looked out

upon the crowds and he had compassion

Jesus went up to Jerusalem and he wept

over

Jerusalem's Rebellion this is a very

real aspect of the need for us to be

involved in missions it's because of the

great lostness of the world the burden

there's the command for us to take the

gospel there's the the the great hope

that people need of heaven but I want us

to see this morning in this Parable that

we've already studied under the burdens

of the lost I want us to also see the

joy of the found I want us to see the

joy of the found and I am not afraid to

look at a mission's message and present

to you an appeal to Mission an appeal

for you to pray about God's kingdom in

the world an appeal for you to possibly

go as far as your front yard or around

the world some of you God is calling you

to give your life to missions much like

he did with Marcy and me when we left

and we went overseas we thought it was

forever um you know the early uh

missionaries when they went they would

pack their clothes in a coffin and they

would get on a ship and they would be

going off to India or they'd be going

off to Asia and the Very coffin that

shipped all of their stuff over was

assumed that it would be the coffin that

would ship their body

back that's

commitment but in the modern world that

we live with air travel and everything

else it's a little bit more fluid than

it used to be and by God's grace even

though Marcy nearly died and she almost

came home in a coffin she came home

alive and that is what God brought us

back home to but when we left we had we

had left with the great hope and the

motivation of bringing the gospel

through the joy of Christ to those who

so desperately need it I want us to see

here the background and review and this

is a little bit from last week and I

want us to see it very quickly look what

it says here um this is often called the

parable of the what parable of the

prodal son and we talked about a prodigy

means something really big and if you

play that out about that little bit we

see that this prodical son when we read

the story we see that he was living

large we often hear that living large

what does that mean the idea of you're

living big you're living beyond your

means you're taking it all in you're

doing it all blowing it all out notice

this but the story is really about two

rebellious sons and their what loving

gracious father if you're new to us this

morning you didn't read this last week

you're going to be amazed at this

Parable you've heard it before probably

mentioned in the news or mentioned in a

story mentioned in a movie we always

talk about oh I was the prodal or this

person was the prodal well what does

that mean we we see it here you see

number three last week we recognized

the burdens of the Lost we saw this

prodal son in all of the pain that he

went through look with me here we saw

the

shamelessness he wasn't ashamed to ask

for it all right now and then we see the

shame that he brought upon his family he

leaves with everything and he goes out

into another country probably selling

the family land and the family riches in

order to be able to leave Eve and you

can imagine the Scandal that it was for

his

family but we also saw the insanity of

it it says that he went and he went

after it so hard that it all was

gone the foolishness the insanity of

blowing it all you know that that's the

point where we said sin you guys help me

out here in the life of our church we

say this often sin will make

you stupid let's say that out loud

together sin will make you stupid say it

again sin will make you

stupid you remember the guy in the

tinted house for termites with his mask

and his snorkel

on just sin will make you

stupid sin will take the the setup the

tea up for a great life and destroy

it and so what we see here is that this

young man in the pursuit of his own lust

and the pursuit of his own life and his

pursuit of his own joy and happiness he

loses his sanity and he then he comes to

desperation we saw the desperation of

the Lost he's saying that I wish I could

just eat with the pigs eat and if I

could just go home I would go home and

just be a servant in my father's house

but we not only saw that lostness but we

also saw the selfish angry Envy of the

other brother cuz he had a wicked heart

too he was angry that when his son came

home his loving gracious father received

him and so let's read this and let's

remember and then I want us to see some

important things from it this morning um

Luke 15 and: 11 it says and he said this

is Jesus speaking Jesus is teaching he's

teaching to every the crowds around him

including a lot of religious leaders

that were in the crowd that's what Luke

15 and verse one says that there were

people that were opposing him all around

and so Jesus gave some Parables that's

Luke 15 he gives some Parables look what

it says and he said there was a man who

had two sons and the younger of them

said to his father father give me the

share that is coming to me see that's

Shameless and he divided his property

between them not many days later the

younger son gathered all that he had and

took a journey to a far country so he

sells off the property he he brings

Scandal on the family he is this is

shameful

behavior and there he squandered his

property in Reckless living that's

Insanity verse 14 and when he had spent

what everything that's

Insanity a severe family famine arose in

that country and he began to be in need

so he went and he hired himself out to

be one of the citizens of that country

who s to one of the citizens of that

country who sent him into his fields to

feed pigs verse 16 and he was longing to

be fed with the pods that the pigs ate

and no one gave him anything verse 17

and when he came to himself he said how

many of my father's hired servants have

more than enough bread but I

perish here with Hunger I will arise and

go to my father and I will say to him

father I have sinned against heaven in

before you I am no longer worthy to be

called your son treat me as one of your

hired

servants verse 20 and he arose and came

to his father but while he was still a

long way off his father saw him and felt

compassion

passion and ran and embraced him and

kissed him and the son said to him

father I have sinned against heaven and

before you I am no longer worthy to be

called your son verse 22 look what it

says but the father said to his servants

bring quickly the best robe and put it

on him and put a ring on his hand and

shoes on his feet and bring the fatted

calf and kill it let us eat and

celebrate for this my son was dead and

is alive again he was lost and he is

what he's found and they began to what

Cate

celebrate now his older son was in the

field and he came and Drew near the

house and heard the music and dancing

and he called one of the servants and

asked what these things meant and he

said to them your brother has come home

your father has killed the fatted calf

because he has received received him

back safe and sound verse 28 but he was

angry and refused to go

in his father came out and entreated him

but he answered his father look these

many years I have served you and I've

never disobeyed your command yet you

never gave me a young goat that I may

celebrate with my friends but when this

son of yours came who has devoured your

property with prostitutes you killed the

fatted calf for him wow and he said to

his son son you are always with me and

all that is mine is

yours it was fitting to celebrate and be

glad for this your brother was dead and

he's alive he was lost and he is

found

now this morning as we look at this I've

underlined and highlighted some verses

for us to see another part of the story

not just the foolish

Brokenness of what it means to run from

God and ignore God and leave God but

what it means to have the

joy of a loving gracious father after

we've royally messed up our lives I want

you to see this notice the precursor

fill that in notice the precursor to the

joy of the prodal return so there's

something that comes before the joy and

I want us to see it and it comes and we

see it in verse 17 can you read the

first line of 17 the the first phrase

there of verse 17 out loud with me look

what it says in verse 17 read it out

loud but when he came to himself stop

right there but when he came to

himself it's like he was out of his mind

he was out of his head and we know later

from Romans and a lot of other passages

that when we come to ourselves when we

come to the what's the other way that we

say that when we come to our

senses when we come to our senses this

is the grace and the mercy of God Amen

working in our lives to help us to see

reality

because you see he wasn't living in

reality he's blowing it all out he's

taking it all in he's squandering

everything that he has that's not

reality that's not going to go on

forever but Satan lies and we get

deceived and our lust takes over and

whether it's through workaholism or

whether it's through sexuality or

whether it's through anger or whether

it's through unforgiveness or whatever

it

is

we run

from sanity in insanity and here we see

that he's calling him God brings him

look what it says when he came to

himself he said and then he began to

realize this so the first part is here a

sinner realizes his rebellious desperate

situation this is part of what happens

when somebody gets saved they

realize that they are lacking before God

they realize that they're in trouble

they realize that they have a

problem I've shared with you many times

that when I was in seminary I had a

professor in fact he was the president

of our Seminary his name was Dr Gray

Allison and Dr Allison would he would

teach a class on personal evangelism and

he taught that class personally because

he said this is perhaps the most

important class in our school is that if

you are teaching pastors to be pastors

and you're not helping them have a

burden for lost people and helping them

know how to share the gospel with lost

people then you're wasting your time we

have plenty of pastors that lose the

vision of the need for people to come to

Christ so Dr Allison would teach that

and he would look at us in his Louisiana

accent and he'd say boys you got to get

them lost before you can get them saved

amen

what does he mean by

that you got to get them lost before you

can get them saved what does he mean by

that we have to realize that we have a

problem we have to realize that we are

sinners we have to realize that we have

an offended we have offended a holy God

we have to

realize who Christ is and who we are

not and so a sinner has to come to

realize this now there are some there

are some in this room that are running

in their sin and they think they're just

okay they are

living without repentance before God

with a hard

heart maybe even look like a Christian

smell like a Christian sort to act like

a Christian but in their heart of hearts

they know they're not surrendered to

God and

I pray that maybe through this message

and through these passages of scripture

that you would realize that you

desperately need to come to grips with

where you are or where you are not

before

God you need to come to the realization

of who he is look what it says here um

not only does he realize that but a

sinner

repents of his sin against God in others

he repents of his sin against God and

others and it's not just against God but

it's against others don't flip the page

yet I want you to look at this look what

he says there in verse

18 I have sinned against

heaven and before

you now let me share with you a very

personal aspect of this in my

life when I was a senior in high school

and I had grown up in this

church I came under the conviction that

I was not walking with

God I was not living in submission to

God seeking

God and the Lord in his grace began to

convict me of that reality that I was

not living as a child of God for him and

as that became more and more apparent

that I had a heart

problem I remember that I started to

realize that it wasn't only against God

that I was sinning but I was also

sinning against everybody around

me I started to realize I was sinning

against clel and D Coleman my dad and my

mom

and as God convicted me of that and as I

started to just by his grace come before

God and say God I don't want to be this

way I don't want to have such a hard

heart I don't want to hear the gospel at

Sheran Hill Sunday after Sunday after

Sunday and see God moving in other

people's lives and I don't want to be

cut off from you in my

selfishness and I just remember as I

wept before God eventually

I wept before my dad and I said dad I

have sinned against

you I've pushed back against

you and Lord I and Dad I need your

forgiveness too you see when we sin

against God we're also sinning against

others when we sin against others listen

we are sinning against God Amen and so

this is we we see this young man's

coming to repentance and it's a very

real repentance he recognizes he has

sinned against Heaven God and he sinned

against Earth now I want us to turn the

focus here you can turn the page and see

this this morning we come to also see

and notice the theme of

joy in this number two notice the theme

of joy and I have a couple of long

points here usually my points are pretty

short but these are a little bit longer

I want you to get into it I want you to

read it I want you to get the whole

point here notice the theme of joy that

is repeated throughout Jesus's

response to his hard-hearted religious

listeners now do you have your Bible

open look with Mary look with me there

in um Luke 15 in Luke 15 notice that the

whole chapter is devoted to speak

speaking to this look at Luke 15 verse1

now the tax collectors and sinners were

all Drawing Near him are you in Luke

Luke 15:1

15:1 look at verse two and the Pharisees

and the scribes they did what they

grumbled they grumbled saying this man

receives Sinners and eats with

them so Jesus is speaking to very

religious people and he's declaring the

kingdom of God to them and he uses

Parables to help them see what he is

saying and so here he starts off with a

parable but notice this uh Point number

two here is notice the theme of joy that

is repeated throughout Jesus's response

to his hard-hearted religious listeners

they were sinfully prideful and

self-righteous with fill it in no care

they had no care that Sinners would

repent and join the ranks of the

redeemed

Jesus was revealing the True Heart Of

God towards Sinners it is his great

joy when they are returned to him now

the first Parable in this chapter fill

it in is the parable of the lost sheep

and you can read that in Luke 15: 1-5

there's a Shepherd he has his whole

flock but he realizes one of the sheep

is missing and he says which one of you

as a Shepherd would not go after the one

you would go after the one you'd make

sure that they're in an open field that

they're they're safe here for a while

and he's going to slip away and go look

for this

sheep and when he finds the Sheep I want

you to look with me in Luke chapter 15

Luke 15 · chapter mention

do you have your Bible open look at with

me in verse 5 and when he has found it

Luke 15 verse 5 and when he has found it

Luke 15:5

he lays it on his shoulders doing what

reing 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 that was lost now look at verse

seven just so I tell you there will be

more joy where in heaven over one sinner

who repents than over 99 righteous

persons who need no repentance now the

Jesus is saying here he's not giving

giving leag to anyone who's saying well

I don't need to repent we all need to

repent we're sinful but there's a bunch

of people who don't think that they need

to repent that's who he was talking to

and maybe some of those people are in

this room too you know Baptists are real

good like being self-righteous just like

Jewish people from the first

century we can look down our nose at a

world that is lost we can look down our

Lo nose and only

condemn with no

compassion but here we see Jes Jesus is

pushing back against that and he's

saying the father has a heart to save

the father has a heart to rescue so

there's not only the lost sheep that's

in this chapter but also in this chapter

there's the Lost coin it's the Lost coin

a coin that was lost and look with me

it's it's it's a very short one it's

right after that in verse eight it says

or what woman having 10 silver coins if

she loses one coin does not like a lamp

and sweep the house and seek diligently

until she finds it and when she has

found it she calls together her friends

and her neighbors and says Rejoice with

me for I have found the coin that I lost

just so look what the verse 10 says just

so I tell you that there is Joy before

the angels of God when

what one sinner who

repents you see that this message that

today as we're talking about Joy there

is joy in

missions there's tremendous joy in local

missions there's tremendous joy in

global missions because this is God's

heart and then we've just

read The Prodigal or the Lost filad in

the lost

son we see that this father is so

Overjoyed he runs to his son he embrace

rces him he kisses him he brings a ring

to put on his F on his finger and a robe

on his back now Jesus the perfect

Creator God preacher is showing us this

a ring represents Authority and the seal

the Seal of God it's it represents the

the representation of a covenant

relationship and so for those who are

married in this room you have a wedding

band and it's the it's the ring it's the

Seal of that Covenant so I want you to

see here that here we see this father is

saying this is my son as when we come to

Faith in Jesus Christ we receive the

Seal of the Holy Spirit and not only

that but he says come and bring him the

robe and put the robe on him you know

Jesus talks about clothing us with a

robe of

righteousness and so the father of

Heaven takes Sinners of Earth he clothes

them with a robe of righteousness that

comes from his son and he seals them

with the Ring of the Holy Spirit

declaring these are mine so this is a

beautiful beautiful picture of God's

rejoicing in his salvation look at with

me at number three it is important to

remember that parables are typically

intended to teach teach one or two main

concepts with all three of these

Parables the lost sheep the Lost coin

the lost son with all three of these

prominently portraying the joy of read

these three words out loud rescuing

finding receiving that's what he does

he's celebrating the rescue the finding

the

receiving that which is lost or was lost

it is clear that Jesus wants us to

vividly see the heart of joy that God

has in fill it in

regaining what is

his he made it he created it he created

you sin has poisoned it sin has pulled

it away but when Jesus comes and he dies

on the cross for our sins and when

Sinners hear his voice repent of their

sins and believe God is regaining what

he has and the heavens

Rejoice this is what God does and he has

a heart of joy for it so you don't need

to go into missions and think about

missions with just a burden for the Lost

listen you need to go with the joy of

the

father it's not only the burden of the

lost it's the joy of the father it's

knowing and looking into the eyes of

people and seeing what they so

desperately need

and that the joy of the father can be

theirs well how does he regain them it

says that he was regaining what is his

number four notice here how does Jesus

regain them he regains them by he does

this he redeems them and what does he

what does it mean that he redeems them

that means he buys them

back and so missions is about the fact

that Jesus has bought back his

own look at this he purchases them with

his own blood this is what the Messiah

did he comes to buy us

back from Satan and our

sin look at First Peter 1: 18-19 and by

the way there's several other passages

there that say something very similar

it'd be a great thing for you to do this

week to go back and meditate on these

passages look what it says there as he

purchases back in verse 18 it says for

you know that it was not with perishable

things such as silver or gold that you

were what redeemed from the empty way of

life handed down to you from your

ancestors verse 19 but you were

purchased with the precious blood of

Christ a lamb without blemish or

defect this is what he does he redeems

us

in his great

love notice number five notice the great

motivation of Christ endurance in

suffering and sacrifice on the cross you

see it was for the joy of his coming

glory and our Salvation now there's a

key passage here that is Hebrews 12: 1

and 2 this is such a key passage for for

any Christian to understand and see

notice this in verse one the writer of

Hebrews writes therefore since we are

surrounded by so great a cloud of

witnesses let us also lay aside every

weight in sin which clings so closely

look what it says let us run with

endurance the race that is set before us

looking to who to Jesus look at verse

two looking to Jesus the founder and the

perfector of our faith and then here it

is who for the

joy that was set before him endured the

cross endured the cross despising the

shame and is seated at the right hand of

the Throne of God now I will I will just

never

forget the day that that verse two

finally hit home to

me I was in Seminary and I was studying

Hebrew by the way um as you look at the

book of Hebrews it's written to people

that are from a Hebrew background but

it's also translated into Aramaic and

it's also in Greek and it's in Latin and

as I started to study this and look at

this I started to see that what this is

saying is is that

you if you're in Christ are what was on

his mind

when he went to the

Cross when he went to the Cross he was

thinking

about your salvation and listen to this

his glory in Saving you you see he

receives glory in Saving you so it's a

it's a two-way thing here he is

glorified and you are

saved this is amazing and so even though

he as the sinless Son of God humbles

himself ultimate humility to where he

lays down and allows nails to be driven

through his feet and his hands in even

though this sinless son of God is being

lifted up as a representation of sin and

he takes the sin of the world upon

himself he

endures the most

mindblowing confusion the most mind

mind-blowing illogical thing in the

world that a holy God would become

sinful he endures the cross for his

glory and you're

good I want you to see this here fill it

in his great joy is to save sinners from

sin thereby

revealing his

love grace and

mercy you see this reveals just how

loving he is this reveals just how

gracious he is this reveals just how

merciful he is his

love grace and mercy lastly I want us to

see

here if this is God's joy if this is

God's joy then it should also be our joy

does that make sense if it's God's joy

to save people and to work in that

shouldn't it be our joy when God is

saving people amen now you we can't say

if it's God's joy to save people then it

should be your joy to save people well

the problem is you can't save

anyone occasionally some well-meaning

person will come to me um after starting

point and being here a few weeks or

whatever and maybe they come to Faith In

Jesus because they've heard the gospel

and I'm it's happened right here and

it's happened in other place happened

over at the church office somebody comes

up and says well Pastor I'm so glad um

since you saved me everything has been

really very very different and and I'm

like whoa you know I'm like stepping

back I don't want lightning to

hit I didn't save anybody I can't even

save

myself there's only one

Savior and that's the sinless Son of God

who died on the cross for our sins

right the only one and so but the

well-meaning person is saying

Everything's changed and and so when we

look at what God is doing and saving

people shouldn't that be our

joy you don't have to look at missions

you don't have to look at praying for

Mission you don't have to look at giving

toward missions as an

obligation merely as a command but we

should begin to see here that this is

the joy of God to save the world

this is the joy of

Christ that Hebrews passage for the joy

set before him he endured the cross for

the joy of God's glory can you live your

life even though sometimes we're dealing

with broken bones and we're dealing with

mistakes that we've made and we're

dealing with hardness and we're dealing

with all kinds of things that we

struggle

with we can live for him notice this and

fill this in in the parable of the

Prodigal Son the son's

Joy comes from the father's Joy I want

you to think about that the son who

finally comes

home he comes home repentant and sad he

comes home realizing that he has sinned

against heaven and he sinned against his

father and then what does he see he sees

the joy of the father he sees the grace

listen the grace the forgiveness of the

father and as he sees the joy and the

grace and the forgiveness and the

blessing of the father how does he begin

to

feel

joyful I mean this is what happens

there's there's over and over and over

again when people have come to Faith In

Jesus one of the things that they talk

about is the great burden I felt lifted

off my shoulders when I no longer bear

my sin but I realize that Christ bore it

for me that he has forgiven me he's

cleansing me he said I remember this no

more you're mine

now you see the son's Joy comes from the

father's

Joy what if the father had not was not

glad to see him return what would that

be

like imagine his shock to see his father

run to him with tears of

joy and gladness

well do you remember the other brother

in the

story what was his attitude toward the

father's

Joy the other brother resented the

father's joy in saving them you know we

could call this the Jonah effect do you

remember the little prophet Jonah Jonah

was told go preach to the people at

Nineveh your enemy and Jonah didn't even

say no he just ran down to the Sea got

on a ship headed the opposite direction

of n

he didn't even give God the courtesy of

saying I don't want to do that or I'm

not going to do that he just ran well

God can take care of everything Jonah

gets thrown in the water and fish comes

and gets him takes him over there and at

the end of Jonah's life Jonah is still

still

resentful he said God if you sent me to

preach to my enemies knowing you you'd

probably grant them forgiveness and

repentance and that they would be saved

you see Jonah was like the second

brother

friends we shouldn't be like the second

brother we shouldn't be like

Jonah when God puts us on a

mission we should fulfill that

mission we should

obey his call and we should do it listen

to this with the joy of the

father we should gladly give our lives

we should L gladly give our talents we

should gladly give all that we

have for his joy in saving people

because this is what he has done finally

notice here the

application my prayer is may we share

the Heavenly father's

Zeal and gladness for the Salvation of

Sinners I mean there should be nothing

that excites us

more you know occasionally occasionally

um someone will come to Faith In Jesus

here and um and one of the pastors or

myself somebody will say hey this is

really really great and we'll we'll call

somebody over and say you're not gonna

believe what just happened hey would you

like to tell these people what happened

um yes I just received Christ as my Lord

and Savior I I've just repented of my

sins and I I I did it and occasionally

somebody from Sheron Hills would go oh

that's

nice and then where do you where are you

guys going for

lunch we should

rejoice when people get

saved the heavens are rejoicing the

angels are rejoicing God is rejoicing

does it matter to you that people get

saved I mean well we should share God's

joy in that notice the next part here

may we faithfully and joyfully join him

in his work of saving

sinners now again we can't save them but

we can tell them and he can save them

that's our job he's told us to go and

tell if you'll go and tell I'll save

them and so that's what we are called to

do maybe it's putting a little stand of

Bibles in front of your street and when

God starts to open a door because I'm

sure that there'll be opportunities as

the years go by that God opens the door

as we pray as we talk as we live before

our I know that many of you have many

family members that do not know the Lord

and you've shared with me with others

our pastors and other people in your

community group how hard it is to be a

Christian in your family

and you're praying for them I want to

just say to you we We join God in his

work in family and friends work

neighbors maybe it's across the

world finally for those of you in this

room maybe maybe came here for the first

time today if you have never come home

to God like this prodical son did if you

have never come home to God by

repentance faith I invite you to do that

today I invite you to humble yourself

before God and this is what you can say

to him when we

pray Lord God in heaven I have sinned

against you and I have sinned against

others and God I

ask that you would forgive

me and have me back as your son or as

your

daughter friends God has called us to

rejoice in what he's doing amen would

you stand with me for prayer