Lost and Found (Lost son)

Date of Sermon Delivery: 31. December. 2023

Place of sermon Delivery:  Delhi, India

Sunday Worship Service 

Speaker: Brother Jatin

Title : Lost and Found (Lost son)

Bible: Luke 15:11-24

Key: Luke 19:10

11. And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 

12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 

14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 

15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 

16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But 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! 

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 

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, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 

21 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.’

22 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. 

23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

 

Praise the Lord!!

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,.

Last week was very blessed for me. I thanked God for many things, which he did for this whole month.

Our Lord is truly great, having redeemed us all with his blood so that we may see his wonderful works in his presence.

This month, he has shown us many wonderful works all around us.

Thank you very much to all of you for serving this Christmas season and for giving your precious time and heart to the Lord this whole year.

I want to tell you all that God blesses you all with a lot of blessings, and you remained in your faith until his arrival.

This morning also, I want to draw your attention to the book of Luke, Chapter 15.

If you will look at this chapter, Jesus told three parables: lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son.

The lost sheep belonged to the shepherd, the lost coin belonged to the woman, and the lost son belonged to the father, but he had something else: he did not just belong to the father; he was born through the father.

Sheep was not born by the shepherd, and the coin was not born by the woman, but this young man was born by the father, and he had a very important relationship with his father.

Therefore, this parable speaks about the lives of believers who fell in faith and later returned home. And this parable is full of compassion, forgiveness, and love.

Let us pray. 

Merciful God, we all thank you for this new morning, and we are overwhelmed, when we begin to think about the width and depth of your grace and mercy, thank you lord for the work you have done in our lives, in our homes, and around us. 

Lord we need your help to understand you word, and give us ears to hear what our saviour Jesus has said. 

We ask in Jesus name. Amen..

Last week, we showed this young man; he had gone his merry way, and after that, he found himself in a lot of trouble.

He spent everything he had; he spent his money; he lost his value; he lost time.

Finally, he was assigned to go and feed pigs.

While he was feeding pigs, he wanted food, and although he wanted to eat the food of the pigs, no one gave him anything.

In other words, he could not even eat the food of the pigs.

The owner of the pigs felt that the pigs were more important to him because pigs were fed to be sold and they had value, but this great son from a great family, reduced to being placed below pigs, could not eat the food of pigs because the owner thought the value of pigs was higher than this young man.

It shows the extent to which Satan can bring a child of God to a place where their unbeliever forces themselves to believe that you are not worthy.

Do you know why this is happening? because he has gone far away from his father.

I want to ask you: What will you do when you find yourself in this situation?

Let us see verse 17-20a

17 “But 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! 

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 

20a And he arose and came to his father

Amen. 

What do you do when you reach the lowest point in life?

There are some who will keep going and going; maybe they will move to another town and hope that somehow they will find a way.

There are others who will stop and settle and say, I am just going to stay here; maybe this is what is written in my life.

And then there are those who will try to go back to where they used to be, and that is where the young man took it; he decided to go back to his father.

As we saw in the last sermon, he went away from the father because he was self-centred.  Self-centered pushed him towards separation; separation pushed him towards squandering, and finally he became a slave (lost son)

Today he decided to go back to the father, and the father will receive him.

This is why Jesus Christ came to the earth (for the son of man came to seek and save the lost).

First he did in order to go back to the father. 

1. Realization  (Verse 17) - 17 “But 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! 

When the lost son hit bottom, the Bible says, "He came to himself.

My question is, How did he come to himself?

Even though this young man comes to himself, but not by himself.

Because the lost son had no resources left to arouse himself, there was no alarm clock powerful enough to wake him up. He was spiritually dead, and now he was close to physical death.

If you think about people who have fainted or gone into a coma,.

In that unconscious state, they do not say anything; they hardly move. And when sometimes their eyes open and they regain consciousness, then we say they came; they woke up.

This lost son woke up from the lowest point of life, and he came to himself, but not by himself.

In Matthew 16:13-17 When Jesus asked his disciple, Who do men say that I am? They replied that some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and some say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Jesus said, Who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the messiah, the son of the living God.

Do you remember what Jesus said to him?

Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you but my father, who is in heaven.

Jesus said to Simon, Blessed you are, because you have not learned this, seen this, and understood this by your flesh and blood or by your natural talent, but my father has opened your eyes.

He has awakened you; he has given you light that nature cannot give.

He has provided light that your intellect cannot create. So Simon, because of God's supernatural light, you are blessed because you see me for who I am

Without that divine and supernatural light, no one ever comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. You can study this Bible in a well-mannered  and you can have a deep and accurate understanding of the work of Jesus. But a saving knowledge that you know not only with your mind but also fills your soul and your heart, that cannot happen unless God himself comes and awakens you by that divine and supernatural light.

So this young man, when he came to himself, not by himself but by God,.

When he realised this, he stopped making excuses, stopped lying to himself, and told himself the truth.

God’s light made him face reality, because if we do not start facing reality, then we will lie to ourselves.

2. Reasoned (Vichar karna) -  He spoke to himself, and he started thinking, My father’s house, even the servants have more than enough bread; they have bread to eat.

He remembered what life was, and then he asked himself, What am I doing here? Why am I allowing this thing to destroy my Christian life? Why do I set up here in the pig house? Why do I allow this situation to destroy me?

If you will not reason and do not allow yourself to ask tough questions about yourself, you cannot get out of a dirty place (pigsty).

I want to tell you that when Jesus was going to the cross, he was carrying all our sins, mistakes, and sadness with him. But very often we do not appreciate his sacrifice, and we get into trouble due to our mistakes, bad choices, and wrong path. Then we complain to God or our surroundings.

Instead of sitting or complaining,  we need to reason (think) to solve the problem.

Why am I setting here?

Why have I allowed this to happen to me?

Why do I keep doing this to myself?

Why do I keep making this mistake over and over?

This young man did not stop, but he took the next step. 

He reasoned(thought) and then he resolved it. 

 

 

3. Resolved (verse 18) - 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 

The next step he resolved was to commit himself; he said that because of all of this, I will arise and go to my father.

Many times we know that we are wrong, but we do not resolve it; we do not have the will to do so.

If two friends are having problems in their relationship, and whenever they meet, one faces east and the other faces west,.

But in their minds, they want to resolve the problem because both are not happy. One is saying I wish he would say something, then I will respond, and the other friend is saying I wish he would say something, and I will respond, so both of them are wishing somebody would say something.

So they keep looking east and west, and sometimes they go on for a day, and then a week, and then a month, and then three months, and then six months. Before a problem started, it was a very small problem, but now it has become a very huge problem.

Although they thought that what they were doing was wrong, they have to resolve it.

This young man said that I will rise; I will not just think about it, but I will do it.

 

(Explain of losing weight)

4. Return (verse 20) – When the new year starts, we realise that I could do a little better, and we think (Reason) and decide that I will do like this next year.

The same thing this young man did: he realised, reasoned, resolved (he planned how he would do it), and then he returned; that was his act.

Passages say he left the fathers by himself, and now he is returning.

Maybe this return journey will not be easy for him, because when we leave the house with anger or with self-centred thought, we say that one day you will see me in very high But if you don't become great, then it will be very difficult to return.

This young man is returning with shame, returning with the smell of pigs, and returning with fear that his father will accept him or mock him. So his every step from pig house to father house is very difficult. Thoughts are going through his mind.

But I want to tell you that the best thing he is doing is returning to his father.

There are many people who need to return to God, there are many people who need to return to church, and there are people who need to return and apologise to people, and it is a very tough thing because if the person to whom I am apologising, what would I do if he insulted me or disgraced me?

But I want to encourage you: this is a great time to forgive and share more love so that you can enter the new year with a good heart.

So, this young man returns to his father, even though he feels defeated, but he still goes.

He was taking his steps to his father’s house, and when he reached his father’s house, There was a reaction from the father’s house.

 

There are three things happened in father’s house.  (Verse 20-24)

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, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 

21 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.’

22 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. 

23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

 

1. Father received( reception/ welcomed) him – father seen him, father received him, he welcomed him and father was very compassion, he ran, hugged him and kissed him. this is reception. 

Reception is reflected in our act, how we are treated at the entrance.

 

In church, if a member wants to leave us and say you people all are lost. I am going to find to real world, I am going to have fun, and maybe sometime he will enjoy his life but after some his life will hit him very badly, he will get disturbed and finally he will decide to go back home. When he will come back home, do not ask him embarrassing questions, but tell to that person that we are very glad, we trust you enjoy the service, we welcome you that God may touch your heart, please receive them with warm words.

Do not point out their mistakes because those who have messed up they know they have messed up, but please receive with compassion heart as father showed how to receive the lost son and I believe this attitude in our church and I pray we may keep it in our coming years.  

Our church and house should be like our father house. 

If you will look Father did not say to him repent, he did not say pray, but he gave him unconditional love because he knows how tough it is for his son to come back home 

 

2. Repentance (verse 21) –  

He confessed his mistake. When Father received him, he repented. Father did not wait for repentance because he had already forgiven him when he was crying in the pig house. But son also understood that he cannot take my father for granted; I cannot act like nothing went wrong, but I have to accept my mistake and repent. If someone has forgiven, it does not mean that we should not repent, because sometimes we take forgiveness for granted. But this young man did not take his father's love for granted; he repented.

Although my father did not ask me to repent, but I will.

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Just make me one of your servants, because I have realised in this house that even the lowest is better than the life I experienced.

Total repentance no expectation, not asking to be put back into the palace. But he just says I messed up, and now I am happy to be back.

This is for those who return; do not come back to Father's house; come back just trusting in God’s grace and mercy.

If God wants to lift you, he will lift you up, but do not say that before I left I had a position; now that I am back, please give it back. It is the wrong attitude; do not come back with expectations but come with repentance, because only repentance brings restoration.

 

 

3. Restoration (verse 22-24) – He restored , he clothed and celebrated. 

Father did three important things here: give him a new robe, give him a ring, and give him sandals.

In Jewish culture, a robe was given. When a very important person or guest comes to visit you, you put a robe on him to say we value you and that you are an important person. So his father put a robe on him.

Second, he gave him a ring—it was not a wedding ring, but a family ring. It was like a seal of family; it was like getting access to a family bank account.

And the third thing was the sandal. In those days, servants and slaves did not wear sandals; only noble people and sons of the house could wear sandals. Father gave him sandals, so when he walks into the house, the servants will know that he is the son of the house.

He was always his son; he was his son when he was with him; he was his son when he left; he was his son when he was wasting his property and wealth; he was his son when he was living a prodigal life; he was his son when he was feeding the pigs; he was his son when he was returning home; and his father never forgot that this is my son.

This is what God does to believers. When believers backslide, when they are totally disconnected from God, they may sin, they may rebel against God, but God always looks up to them and says, This is my child, and I want him back; this is my son, and I want him back; this is my daughter, and I want her back.

 

 

Dear brothers and sisters !!

Maybe among us, or even I can be, who are struggling with their Christian life, some come to church but they are far away from God, some just come to church to prove somebody, but their hearts have been out for a long time, some back slide because of their thought, because of someone's word, or because of their own mistake, but somewhere they want to realise something and they want to come back to God; they want to get back to their father.

God want to us that we may come back to him, with fully.

Therefore, he sent Jesus into our lives so that he could find us fully.

We can still restore our life.

Today is the last day of this year, and it is a great time to turn towards the Lord.

How many of us here want to go back to God?

How many of us here want to have a better relationship with God?

Maybe many of us want to live a better life in 2024, want to live a righteous life in God, want to reconnect with God, want to stop living in sin, want to overcome some bad habit, want to live for God,  or want to come back home. If you really want, then do not be ashamed because God loves you just as you are and he will change and transform you.

Let us pray

Heavenly father I came to you today. Just as I am a sinner, I cannot save myself, but lord, I trust you for my salvation, for my restoration; you are my God, you are my hope. Lord, accept me and make me your own; feel me with your Holy Spirit; make me a brand new person; and let me live victoriously for your glory all the days of my life.

In Jesus name, we pray. Amen 

Lost and Found (lost son)

Date of Sermon Delivery: 24. December. 2023

Place of sermon Delivery:  Delhi, India

Sunday Worship Service 

Speaker: Brother Jatin 

Title: Lost and Found (lost son)

Bible: Luke 15:11-24

Key: 

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 

12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 

14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 

15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 

16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 

18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 

20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 

23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 

24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

 

 

 

Merry Christmas

 

I pray that this Christmas season brings blessings to your life, to your family, and to our entire nation.

And many lost people will come to know Jesus Christ and receive new life in Jesus.

I am rejoicing a lot this Christmas season; everywhere is joy, and from this joy, I can feel that 2000 years ago, when people were waiting for Jesus, and when they were able to see Jesus Christ, receive Jesus Christ, and see the fulfilment of God's promise, maybe the joy of that time will also be similar.

 

Are you happy this morning?

The reason for our happiness is Christmas. I pray that Christmas will always remain alive in our lives, and we will remain happy like this forever.

 

Today again, I want to focus your attention on Luke 15.

I want to remind you why Jesus preached these three parables to the people.

As Jesus was teaching, there were sinners and tax collectors who came to hear Jesus, but there were the pharisees, and the scribes came to him to complain that you receive sinners and you eat with them.

In other words, when they come to you, you receive them, and when they invite you, you go to them.

 

Therefore, the Lord Jesus used two parables to make them understand that a shepherd has 100 sheep, one of which is lost.

So, the shepherd went out and searched for his lost sheep until he found it.

When he found the lost one, he gathered his friends and neighbours and said, Rejoice with me. Because my lost sheep have been found.

 

Similarly, he used another parable where a woman had 10 coins, and out of those, she lost one.

She lit a lamp, cleaned the house, and searched until she found it. When she found it, she called her friends and neighbours and said, Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.

 

The reason why the shepherd went looking for the sheep and the reason why this woman took the hard work to search for coins.

Because the shepherd cared for his sheep, and this woman valued the coin.

 

Both ran from door to door and said, Come on, we are having a party, and rejoice with me, for I have found what I had lost.

 

Jesus said likewise: I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

 

Here Jesus is saying to these religious leaders, What is wrong with you? You complain when I seek the lost.

While every angel in heaven is rejoicing, when Christ finds one who is lost and brings it to himself, the angels rejoice, but the devil complains.

 

We all know that sheep are valuable, and we all know that coins are valuable. But it is just stuff.

Because sheep and silver cannot compare with the value of a human being, and these two parables were the preparation of Jesus to show them the big one.

Which he begins in verse 11.

Even we can say this parable. Jesus is talking about the Christians who backslide, people who were with Jesus Christ, and the people who knew Jesus, who knew Jesus Christ as lord and saviour but turned back into the world.

In Luke 19:10, For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.

Many times, even after hearing about God, people leave him and go back into the world.

That's why the Lord has come to seek those who are still lost after hearing about Him, because they did not apply what they heard from this Bible.

 

 

Today we will see only the part about going away from the father, and next week we will see going back to the father.

 

1. Self-centeredness (thinking only about yourself and not about other people) Verse 12: How do we know it? Because he only saw what he could get from his father. And he asked for what was his.

The wealth belonged to the father; the inheritance was for the father, but he says, Father, give me what is mine. Here he saw only what he could get from his father, and this is where he started going wrong.

Today, many Christians have lost their faith in Christ because their language is similar to this parodical son. I want what is mine; I want it now; I cannot wait longer; I want this only.

We believe that God blesses us, and he is a good God; we believe that he prospers his children, but if all our Christian life is based on what we can get from God, then we are in danger of doing what this parodical son was.

If I say, Lord favour me, Lord increase me, Lord heal me, Lord prosper me, and if this is all my Christian life, then somewhere I am in danger.

This son is only looking for himself, not to serve the father; he wants to take what the father has for himself.

He was self-centred.

As much as God wants us to have things, our Christian life should not be about things.

As much as God wants us to prosper, our Christian life should not be about prosperity.

Lord promotes me, Lord increases me; yes, he wants us to have it, but our Christian life goes beyond that.

This is his first problem, a self-centred son. He wanted to take something for himself; he had nothing to do with his father.

Today, a lot of believers are lost in it, because if you give them miracles without God, they will take miracles without God because they are so fixated (focused) on the gift, not the giver (God) of the gift.

 

2. Separation (Verse 13)– Next step in separation, this young man travelled to far. He separated from the father; he received from him but separated from him.

Received from God but turned away from God.

It is not too late; we need to know why I am coming to the Lord, and do I really want to feel His presence, or am I coming for those materialistic things only?

The moment these young men got what he wanted, not long after that, he separated from him.

He did not want his father's presence; he did not want his father's correction; he did not want his father's direction; he did not want his father to say, Do not do.

But he wanted blessings from his father and did not want to see him again.

He travelled far to other country.

This is the first step many people take. When they turn away from God, they separate themselves, they disconnect, and sometimes they stop coming to church because their hearts are not for their father; in the first place, his heart is for himself. When he received it, he separated from his father.

Even sometimes people separate from God and act like they have a deeper understanding of scripture; they question everything about God, everything about the Bible; they take down all pastors; they take down all Christians; they take down all churches.

Do you know what they are doing? They want to be alone; it has nothing to do with spirituality because true spirituality will connect you to God, true spirituality will connect you to his word, and true spirituality will connect you to his people.

If you are thinking you know so much and are so spiritually deep, but you are disconnected from God, his people, and his house, then check your spirituality because you are separating.

This young man was doing the same things. Maybe he was thinking he knew everything about his father and his father's house. Now he is thinking my father's house is boring; here is nothing that is beyond his knowledge. Therefore, he asked for his portion and separated from his father.

 

3. Squandering (Barbad karna)  (Verse 14)– Separation from the father leads us into squandering.

He used all that his father gave him. When he was in his father’s house, he was very rich; he had everything, but as soon as he separated from the father, he squandered.

 

Do you know?  If I take right now one lakh rupees Or I may take one bigha of land from my dad. I will be very excited about the first part of spending.

In the same way, prodigal living can be very exciting at phase one: getting a girlfriend or boyfriend, getting entertainment, having alchol, living in a luxurious bed with artificial light and music, and it seems that this is the good life because it has fun, and this is what my father has been denying.

But prodigal living has phase two, when fun has gone away and things start to change. Because he had spent everything, he spent his father’s money and his father's inheritance. shortage (scarcity): he has finished his father's money, which he had given him over a lifetime, and it is gone in a short period of time. Now there is a shortage. Everything is gone.

 

4. Slave (verse 15-16) – Scarcity made a slave live. When he had spent everything, there was a famine in that country, and he became poor.

Now he is lacking food, and he has to do something to get food.

Therefore, he joined himself with a citizen of the country, and he sent him to his field to feed his pigs, and he hardly filled his stomach because he ate from the food of the pigs.

His best friend is a pig farmer. He used to have a good friend in his father's house, but now his friend is a drunkard, gambler, and drug addict.

When he was in his father's house, he might have thought his friends were not good, not perfect, but now he feels that they were much better than that pig farmer.

 

Maybe the church building is not perfect; church people make mistakes, and sometimes they do things that will hurt you. But the best outside cannot be anywhere near the worst in the church.

Because in church people hear God's word every time, the Holy Spirit corrects them and leads them in the right way, but still he joins himself as a pig farmer.

 

The Bible says that when he was with the pig farmer, he was eating with pigs, and the saddest part was that no one gave him anything. It's like this outside his father's house; no one gave him anything. He was thinking the pig farmer was my best friend, better than my father’s house friend, but this pig farmer also told him to feed his pigs and eat with them.

 

Dear brother and sister

I want to tell you that a Christian’s life may not be perfect, but it is the best life among all the options available.

Coming to church is the best option you have, but instead of coming on Lord's Day, we went to watch a movie and found that the hero died, and we became very disappointed and depressed because my actor died. But here, someone came for us to transform us and give us new life.

The best life is with God, with God’s people in the house of the Lord.

When this young man found out that he had hit rock bottom,

So, the question is what he is going to do now because he has hit rock bottom, and next week, we will be going to find out what to do.

When you have hit rock bottom and you have messed up your life, what do you do after that? Because there is a way back to the father, and the father still wants you back with himself.

Even though so many Christians are lost in this world, or backslide from Jesus, or lost in their blessing, or lost in their success, you may think that I am lost. but I want to encourage you that God sends Jesus for everyone so that he may seek and save everyone.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

 

Let us pray 

Lord, sometimes we can be selfish, and sometimes we can be bored with life with you and want to be in our own lives. But, Lord, thank you for reminding us through Jesus that you love us a lot. Lord, help us that we may never be apart from your house, but Lord, we may be in your house and live with Jesus forever.

Amen