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0:20 So this is the Daily Blade. 0:21 I'm Jay Reisner, lead pastor of Faith Bible Church, and I get to be with you this week as we study Luke chapter 15. 0:29 Yesterday we looked at the context of the three parables in Luke 15, that when Jesus welcomed tax collectors and sinners to his table, the religious leadership, they grumbled, which is to say, they hated it. 0:41 They didn't have a category for it. 0:44 So because of this, Jesus tells them a few stories. 0:47 Jesus starts with the story of a lost sheep. 0:50 In verses three through seven, Jesus points them to the picture of a shepherd who has a hundred sheep, and this shepherd, upon realizing he has lost one of them, he leaves the ninety-nine to go find the one. 1:03 Basically, what equates to one percent of his wealth is lost, and like a good shepherd, he goes out to find it. 1:10 As the story goes, the man finds the sheep, throws it across his back, and carries it home. 1:15 And when he gets home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which is lost. 1:23 Happy ending. 1:24 Great story. 1:26 What does it mean? 1:27 Well, it's telling us two things. 1:29 It's telling us something about the lost and something about what happens when the lost are found. 1:34 Here's what it tells us about lostness. 1:36 It tells us that we are naturally lost. 1:39 Now, the sheep metaphor is used throughout scripture. 1:42 God's people are often referred to as sheep. 1:44 But let me tell you, the sheep metaphor is used for one primary reason. 1:49 Because sheep are stupid animals. 1:51 They will naturally wander off. 1:54 They will fall over, they will follow what who whoever or wherever the green grass takes them. 1:59 They will just keep grazing and eating and obliviously end up in danger because they are natural wanderers. 2:07 They get lost naturally. 2:10 So it is with the heart of man. 2:12 We are born sinners. 2:14 We are prone to wander. 2:17 Isaiah 53 6 says it, we all like sheep have gone astray. 2:22 Each of us turned to his own way. 2:24 We're like sheep. 2:26 We are easily distracted and enticed. 2:29 The lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh, it leads us away. 2:32 We end up hurting ourselves and putting ourselves in danger because of our natural lostness. 2:38 So to come back to the fold, we have to be found and rescued and carried home. 2:44 So that's one characteristic of our lostness being expressed in the first parable of Luke 15. 2:50 We're naturally lost. 2:52 As far as what we learn about being found, when the lost get found, when one sinner repents, the text says, When one repents, there is more joy in heaven than over 99 who need no repentance. 3:05 Sinners are naturally lost, needing to be found, and when they're found, when they repent, we should rejoice. 3:12 Next story the lost coin. 3:15 In verses eight through ten, Jesus tells a parable about a woman who has lost a coin. 3:23 She has ten of them. 3:24 She's lost one. 3:25 So she's lost about ten percent of her wealth. 3:28 You notice the proportion of what's been lost is growing. 3:32 And like any responsible person, recognizing the value of the silver coin, she carefully searches the whole house, and then she finds it. 3:40 When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors, inviting them to rejoice with her because she has found her lost coin. 3:47 Happy ending. 3:49 Great story. 3:50 What does it mean? 3:52 Again, it's telling us two things. 3:53 It's telling us something about the lost and something about what happens when the lost are found. 3:58 As for lostness, the parable of the lost coin is saying that people are helplessly lost. 4:06 When a coin is lost, it cannot cry out for help. 4:08 It cannot bleat like a sheep. 4:10 It it's hoof prints, let's say. 4:14 They can't be tracked by pursuing by a pursuing shepherd. 4:19 There's no telling where a lost coin might be. 4:23 It's helplessly lost. 4:24 It can't do anything to find its owner. 4:27 If it's kicked into a corner, it's just gonna stay there. 4:30 It's helpless. 4:31 So it is with the heart of man. 4:33 The Psalms they tell us, and then Paul repeats it in Romans 3:10 no one is righteous, no one seeks after God, no not one of us. 4:42 Lost men and women are spiritually dead in their transgressions and sins, helpless and powerless to save themselves. 4:51 As for what happens when the lost are found, the lost coin parable says it again there is joy in the presence of the angels when one sinner repents. 5:00 A theme is developing. 5:02 It's important to remember the setting again. 5:05 It's important to remember that the interpretive key to the whole chapter, the scribes and the Pharisees, they are grumbling in the presence of tax collectors and sinners. 5:15 They are not rejoicing at the loss being found. 5:19 So Jesus says, Let me tell you another story. 5:22 That story, we'll begin looking at that parable on tomorrow's Daily Blade.