Sermon Video: One sinner who repents - Luke 15:1-10

We live in a world where a 99% success rate is considered to be extraordinary, unheard of in most cases.  When Jesus is challenged by the Jewish religious leadership because he is socially accepting of outcasts like tax collectors and "sinners", he responds by telling two parable that illustrate God's unwillingness to write off anybody as the cost of doing business or an acceptable loss.  In the first parable, one out of one hundred sheep is lost prompting the shepherd to leave the ninety-nine in the care of another and search for it until it is found.  In the second parable, one out of ten coins is lost, prompting the owner of the coins to search the home diligently until it is found.  In both parables, the search goes beyond what we would normally do with such a loss, and the rejoicing that follows once the lost is found certainly goes beyond what we would do if we found one sheep or one coin.  The two parables are used by Jesus to illustrate God's perspective regarding hopeless cases and lost causes when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat, or in this case, when a lost soul is snatched from the gates of hell.  When Jesus secures that victory, saving a lost sinner by rescuing him/her and bringing them home to God, the result in heaven is a rousing chorus of rejoicing, a party worthy of the triumph of the Son.
What do we take from these parables?  Three truths stand out: (1)  There are no "sinners", all have sinned, all are sinners, all need a savior to carry us home.  (2) There are no outcasts, none that we are not obligated to treat with dignity and kindness, none that are too far gone to be saved by Jesus.  (3)  The Gospel will save them, it can go anywhere, into the darkest places of our world and the darkest of human hearts, it can find lost sinners there and by the blood of the Lamb of God, it can save them.

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