Latest / The Five Minute Bible Podcast / Luke 15 - Devotion

Transcript

Luke 15 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
• 0:02
  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
• 0:05
  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
• 0:08
  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
• 0:12
  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
• 0:16
  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
• 0:19
  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
• 0:22
  read along episode in this podcast feed.
• 0:25
  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
• 0:27
  now. When you're ready, let's dive
• 0:30
  into God's Word together. In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells
• 0:46
  three parallel parables, one about a lost sheep, one about a
• 0:50
  lost coin, and one about a lost or prodigal son.
• 0:55
  In the first parable, a man owning 100 sheep loses one of
• 0:58
  them. Without a second thought, he
• 1:00
  leaves the 99 sheep behind and goes and searches for the lost
• 1:04
  one. When he finds it, he lays it on
• 1:06
  his shoulders and rejoices as he carries it home.
• 1:09
  And he doesn't stop there. Once he arrives back home, he
• 1:12
  calls his friends and his neighbors together and tells
• 1:14
  them, Rejoice with me, for I've found my sheep, which was lost.
• 1:18
  In the next parable, a woman has 10 valuable silver coins.
• 1:21
  When she loses one of them, she immediately lights a lamp and
• 1:24
  searches her house top to bottom until she finds it.
• 1:27
  And just like the man who found his lost sheep, she calls her
• 1:30
  friends and neighbors together to celebrate with her that what
• 1:33
  was lost has been found. The final parable, that of the
• 1:38
  prodigal son, describes a son who asked for his inheritance
• 1:41
  early. He leaves his father's house and
• 1:44
  squanders his inheritance on loose living.
• 1:46
  He falls so far that he finds himself as a hired hand whose
• 1:50
  job is to feed pigs, and he's so impoverished that he's hungry
• 1:54
  enough to eat the slop that the pigs were eating.
• 1:57
  At that point, he decides to go back to his father's house to
• 2:00
  beg for forgiveness and ask his father if he could just be a
• 2:03
  servant in his house, knowing that he will receive better
• 2:07
  treatment at us as a servant in his father's house than he's
• 2:10
  experiencing now. When he returns, his father runs
• 2:13
  to meet him. He celebrates.
• 2:15
  He calls for the best robe to be placed on him, a ring to be put
• 2:18
  on his hand, and shoes to be brought for his feet.
• 2:22
  He, just like the characters in the first two parables, throws a
• 2:25
  party, a celebration in honor of his son who was lost, but now
• 2:30
  has been found. So what is Jesus intention with
• 2:33
  these three parallel stories? Why the repetition?
• 2:37
  Listen to what he says in verse 7 after the parable of the lost
• 2:40
  sheep. He says, I tell you that in the
• 2:43
  same way there will be more joy in heaven over 1 Sinner who
• 2:46
  repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.
• 2:51
  Again in verse 10 after the parable of the lost coin, Jesus
• 2:54
  says, in the same way I tell you there is joy in the presence of
• 2:59
  the angels of God over 1 Sinner who repents.
• 3:02
  Jesus primary mission on earth was as Luke 1910 puts it, to
• 3:07
  seek and save that which was lost.
• 3:09
  He came for sinners. He came to save the prodigals
• 3:13
  that had run from God. He came to find those lost sheep
• 3:16
  to rescue lost sinners like you and me.
• 3:20
  And when a Sinner repents, when someone turns from their sin and
• 3:23
  trusts in Jesus, there is great rejoicing in heaven, joy and
• 3:27
  praise and glory as God once again does what He does, saves
• 3:31
  sinners. If you are in Christ, you are
• 3:35
  one of the recipients of this salvation.
• 3:37
  Heaven has rejoiced over you. You are a lost sheep, a lost
• 3:42
  coin, a lost sun that has been found.
• 3:45
  And not only that, if you're in Christ, you have been enlisted
• 3:48
  in the mission of Christ. You've been commissioned by Him,
• 3:51
  as Second Corinthians 5 puts it, as a minister of reconciliation.
• 3:56
  You have been sent out to the lost world to call out to
• 3:59
  sinners to be reconciled to God, to be found by Christ.
• 4:04
  So praise God that He has saved you.
• 4:06
  Thank Him that Jesus left the 99 to seek you out and to rescue
• 4:10
  you. Then take part in your calling,
• 4:13
  be about the business of your Master, go offer this message of
• 4:17
  rescue and salvation to the world, and join in the
• 4:21
  celebration of heaven as sinners are saved by Jesus.