Tag: Val Watkins

Sermon Audio: The Lost Sheep
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 15:4-7
Duration: 22:11
Size: 10.1 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
The Lost Sheep
Luke 15:4-7

Psalm 23 was written by David. David realized that the loving care he gave his sheep was like the loving care he received from God.

According to God’s prophets, God’s sheep were lost. But the prophets also proclaimed God’s remedy:

Jesus constantly told them that entrance into the kingdom of God was through faith in him and repentance from sin.

The parable began with Jesus as the Good Shepherd who finds the lost sheep.

I. The Shepherd’s Search

Bailey points out that the context for this part of the parable seems to be a village community.

Of course, the shepherd goes after the one that is lost, until he finds it.

When the shepherd pays a high price to find the one, he thereby offers the profoundest security to the many.

Jesus will find every single lost sheep. Not one will be left in the wilderness. Not one will perish. Is that not encouraging?

II. The Shepherd’s Success

The caring shepherd picks up the lost sheep and carries it all the way home. But, instead of doing it grudgingly, he does so rejoicing!

III. The Shepherd’s Celebration

A. There Is Celebration on Earth

As a community of God’s people, we should be deeply concerned about lost people. And when Jesus finds a lost sinner, we should all rejoice that a lost sinner is saved.

B. There Is Celebration in Heaven

But when a sinner repents, all heaven rejoices! Isn’t that encouraging?

Sermon Audio: The Lost Chapter
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 15:1-3
Duration: 20:05
Size: 9.19 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
The Lost Chapter
Luke 15:1-3

It has been called “the gospel in the gospel,” as if it contained the very distilled essence of the good news which Jesus came to tell.

I. The Approach by the Irreligious

Immediately after setting down the costly terms of discipleship, Luke noted in Luke 15:1 that now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus.

In Luke’s Gospel, the Pharisees and the scribes perceived sinners “as forfeiting their relationship to God because of a lifestyle unfaithful to God’s law.”

Do you know anyone who is not yet a Christian?

Will you care enough for that person and have something to say to him or her about the good news

of the gospel?

II. The Grumbling by the Religious

So, according to the Pharisees and the scribes, Jesus should not be associating with tax collectors and sinners, let alone be eating with them.

We who are active in the life and worship of our church need to ask ourselves whether we are like the Pharisees and the scribes.

III. The Parable by the Savior

In each story – of the sheep, the coin, and the son – something is lost, sought, found, and followed by rejoicing.

The plain meaning of the chapter is that just as there is joy when any shepherd or any housewife or any father recovers a loss, so there is joy in heaven when a sinner is reunited with God.

Do you share in Jesus’ joy for the salvation of the lost?