Hi, and welcome to this special series on the glorious person and work of Jesus Christ. In these messages, we journey through the scriptures from the astonishment of the temple to the road to Emmaus, from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the assurance of the Good Shepherd. Each sermon reveals how Christ meets us, renews us, and transforms us by His Word, by His Spirit, and by His finished work on the cross. Whether you're exploring Christ's comfort and obedience, the triumph of his cross, or the reckless love revealed in his resurrection, this series invites you to see Jesus more clearly and respond in faith. Because the Scripture reminds us faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.
We pray these messages strengthen your faith and deepen your confidence in the gospel of grace. Today's message is called God's Joyful Pursuit of Sinners. Here's Pastor John Fonville. Luke chapter 15. You can turn there if you have your Bible or if you have your iPhone or tablet or Whatever you have in these days, right?
Everybody has a different way. I have scripture, but Luke chapter 15, you just heard. What a powerful, powerful, encouraging, shocking passage of scripture. Let me ask you this question. How do you picture God?
I want you to think about that. How do you picture him? This passage gives us two different Pictures of God. The first picture comes from the Pharisees.
Now All the tax collectors and the centers were coming near. Him to listen to him. The sinners, the outcasts, the tax collectors, they're coming near Jesus to hear him, to listen to him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to what? Grumble.
Why? Because this was their view of God. God doesn't come near our sinners. This man this man receives sinners and he eats with them. Hmm.
That's the first view of God. God, God is. Grumpy. God is, he grumbles. God looks at sinners and goes, no, I can't, I have to be distant from that.
I can't enter into that mess. God is disinterested. God is angry. God is mean. God He doesn't come near the outcasts and the sinners.
God likes. Us, the righteous. That's their view of God. But the Gospel, particularly here in Luke 15, reveals a radically different God. Listen to this.
A God who joyfully. And that's emphasis here. We'll come back to it. But a God who joyfully. pursues sentences and And he invites them to come beat with him, to eat with him, to fellowship with him, to enjoy his presence.
He receives them. And listen, when he goes out to find them. And invite them. It says repeatedly, these 10 verses, that he rejoices over them. Trust.
Uh a couple. Weeks back we looked at uh pearl of great price. What a shocking parable. It portrays Jesus. As we know.
as this merchant and he's going out Seeking treasure. And he finds this pearl of great price. And he's overjoyed by it. What does he do? He sells his whole business and he tells everybody, look, I've given up my whole business to have this great pearl, this great treasure.
That doesn't sound like a good business transaction. Give up that this reckless merchant, he sacrifices everything to have this one treasured pearl. Jesus in his reckless love. gave his life. He sacrificed everything.
What? To purchase us as his treasured possession. No. We saw. What a surprising truth that that that Jesus would sacrifice everything the merchant Who has everything?
to purchase us, his treasured people. Then we come. Luke 15, and the surprising truth that God joyfully takes pleasure in taking initiative to find. sent us and receive them to himself. Boy, this challenge misconceptions about God, doesn't it?
How often do you think about God, picture God as a God who rejoices? over his treasure that he has discovered, that he's found. That is terrible. In these ten verses. Shows us three aspects of God's grace that reveals to us.
This How do I say it? Shocking joy. that God has in saving sinners. Have you ever thought about that? That's what it shows us.
Why? So that we can marvel at his love for us. and trust him for salvation. Here's the first aspect, and here's the question. This parable presents to us who searched for who, who searched for who?
Who searched for who? This parable shows us that God searches relentlessly. For the Law Center. Who searches for who? It's God.
Verses 4 through 5, Jesus describes a shepherd who leads 99 sheep. That's the Pharisees and the scribes. And he goes out to seek one lost sheep. And what happens when he finds it? What does it say here?
Listen, what it says. When, look at verse 5, when he has found it. He lays it on his shoulders. Oh man, this dumb sheep. I've got to walk three miles back to the sheepfold and put this ridiculous sheep back into the sheepfold.
You dumb sheep. Yeah. That's how people you go That's not God. Look, look what it says. When he has found it.
He lays it on his shoulders. Rejoicing. When God found you. He rejoiced. Have you ever thought about that?
He rejoices. Look at verses 8 through 10. This woman, she's diligently searching for a lost coin. And when she finds it, listen to what she says. She calls her friends and she says, rejoice with me.
Rejoice with me. And Jesus says, verses 7 and 10, he says, there is joy before the angels of God. Oh, from one sinner who repents.
Well, who's rejoicing before the angels of God? God. The angels of God don't understand the gospel. You get them, right? They don't understand that.
But they see God rejoicing when a sinner repents, when when he goes out and he invites sinners and he receives them and he fellowships with them, he rejoices over them. He puts them on his shoulder and he carries them back to their fold and he rejoices over that lost sheep. He rejoices over that lost coin. He rejoices over you. D D Do you guys just think that this is just shocking?
It's incredible. How do you picture God? Picture God. Looking at you in your sinfulness, and he comes searching for you like this lady with a lost coin, but it says she did it diligently. God is proactive in His grace where He diligently searches for us and He finds us the lost coin.
Have you ever talked to a coin and said, coin, did you find yourself? Corinne, did you put yourself back in the bank? Coins just sit there till they're found. Coins don't go searching. Who searched for who?
Who found who? Who reclaimed who? Who brought who back? God, Jesus. He receives sinners.
They come to him to listen to him. Why? Because he rejoices over them. He receives them. This relentless search reflects God's proactive grace driven by his joyful desire to save.
Look, not by our merit. That coin's just sitting there. It can't do anything. That lost sheep, it's not coming back. When I was sheep, I just came back from Ireland.
Right? There's beautiful. Rock walls for sheep fields everywhere. But if that sheep goes across the street. The shepherd has to go get it to put it back on the other side of that rock wall.
Because the sheep doesn't go off. I'm not in my shepherd's field, which is nice and lush and green. I think I'm going to return to it. No. What what does it do?
It just wanders off. And the shepherd has to go search for it to bring it back. to pick it up and carry it back to his field. That's what God does for us. And when he does that, he rejoices.
Look how many times it says, it talks about joy, rejoicing in this parable. Verse 5, when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home in verse 6, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me. Why? Because, for I have found my sheep which was lost.
What a shepherd! Verse 7, I tell you in the same way that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 Pharisees, self-righteous people. Who need no repentance? What a view of God. How many times do I joy, rejoice, rejoicing?
Joy in heaven. Where? God, He is rejoicing. Know this. God seeks you with Delight.
We sang that in the No, not as he saves. are Christ's De light. seeks new by grace. And when he finds you, he rejoices over you. Second.
Who treasured who? Who seeks who? God. Who treasured who? God treasures sinners with sacrificial joy.
Matthew 13, the parable of the hidden treasure. is a perfect parallel to this parable. Jesus says that a man goes out and he finds a treasure hidden in a field and in his joy, in his joy. He sells all that he has to buy that field. That is exactly what Christ did in his joy.
The other Hebrew says, the joy that was set before him. Out of joy, he sacrificed everything to purchase this field. That's us, the church. These parables resonate with joy, portraying God as the man, as the merchant who values sinners. A treasured possession.
1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 20. And listen to what the Apostle Paul says. He says, you were bought. With a price. Paul says, We, the church, are Christ's purchased possession.
We have been bought with a price. What is the price? The price was Christ's death. When Jesus died for us as the one and only substitutionary sacrifice for our sins, he bought us at a price. He purchased us.
This is redemption, slave market term. He entered into the slave market of our sin, like he entered into the Egyptian slavery of God's people. And he redeemed us. He bought us out with a price. He purchased now us.
He has sealed a transfer of ownership. He has secured the rights to his people. We're his purchased property, his purchased possession. We are his field. We are His people.
We are his pearl of great price, his treasured possession, and he rejoices over it, this explicit joy in Matthew 13, verse 44, where this man finds a failed and he rejoices over it. It parallels the joint Luke fifteen. God is not, He's not distant. He's not, He's not angry. He's not grumpy.
He rejoices. over his people. What's the response?
Well, the response is very simple. Rest in his joyful love. Rest in it. Receive it. Let that be the picture that you have of God.
These misconceptions that people have of God are like the Pharisees. They get grumpy. Why? Oh, because he received sinners. But we can rejoice.
Why? Because he has received us. He only receives sinners. He doesn't receive any kind. Who treasured who?
Right. Who seeks for who? Here's the third aspect. Who ran to who? Who invited who?
God welcomes repentant sinners with extravagant joy. This is what it shows us. Look at Luke 15, verse 20, the prodigal son. Look at verse 20.
So he, so he got up and he came to his father. But while he was a long way off, His father saw him. and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. Verse twenty one. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven in your sight.
I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him. and put a ring on his hand. and sandals on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. That's joy.
Why? For this son of mine was dead. and has come to life again. He was lost. And has the mitten found?
And it's as they began to celebrate. Do you see what these parables are showing us throughout this chapter? Celebration. Joy, rejoicing. God searching, God finding, God inviting, God treasuring, God saving.
God pursuing, God welcoming. What is your picture of God? That is your picture of God. Not like the Pharisees who go, oh gosh, he's receiving sinners. Grumpy old men.
It's the exact opposite. The Father represents Jesus who initiates reconciliation. Who has reconciled? We have not reconciled ourselves to God. God, in his mercy, has reconciled himself to us.
God comes running through to us. He comes seeking us in our guilt. He comes seeking us. Look, when we're dead. My son was dead.
And he ran to his dead son and brought him to life. And he said, let's have a party and celebrate this.
So let's rejoice. He runs to embrace him because he was lost and he's found. The woman lost the coin and she found it. The shepherd lost the sheep and he found it. The shepherd rejoiced.
The woman rejoiced. The father rejoiced. The father had a party. God rejoices over finding sinners. Aren't you grateful for that today?
What amazing grace this is. Luke chapter 19, Jesus calls Zacchaeus a despised tax collector, because here in chapter 15 it says tax collectors were coming to him to listen to him. A despised tax collector, and he invites him by name. He says, Zacchaeus, I must come to your house today. and eat with you and have fellowship with you.
And this leads to Zacchaeus' salvation, verses 9 and 10. It says, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Zacchaeus is the lost coin. He's the lost sheep. He's the lost prodigal son.
That's you. You are the lost coin. You are the lost sheep. You are the lost prodigal son. You're Zacchaeus.
You're the tax collector. Zacchaeus receives forgiveness and restoration by God's grace. In first century Jewish culture. A father running was not dignified. Dining with tax collectors.
was scandalous. Breaking purity norms. But God joyfully welcomes sinners and rejoices over them. That's scandalous grace. God runs to sinners, and how does He run to them with joy?
How does he come to you to save you with joy? What does he say? Say when you get to his field, when you get to his house, let's celebrate and have a party. That's what it says. Right.
Quickly, quickly bring out the best robe. Quickly. Put it on him. Put a ring on his hand. Sandals on his feet.
Bring a fattened calf. Kill it. Let us eat. And let us celebrate. Could you imagine?
Because the older son in the parable of the Pharisees. Jesus, he's telling these parables to crush self-righteousness. Could you imagine these Pharisees, their picture of God, their view of God, and Jesus is obliterating it? Right before their very eyes. They think they're righteous.
They don't think they have to repent. They don't think they're a tax collector. They don't think they're a lost coin. They don't think they're a lost sheep. And so they're just grumpy.
They complain. They watch God in action and they reject God because their picture of God is God would not associate with sinners. He would come to us righteous and obviously recognize how righteous we are. You see the offense of self-righteousness to God? This is why listen.
If you are beat down with the fact that, gosh, I am just so sinful. Rejoice. Because Jesus rejoices over sinners. He takes joy in saying to the center. Oh coin, you're lost.
Let me find you. Come, friends, rejoice with me. I've got my coin. Look at my coin. I've got my sheep on my shoulders.
Let's rejoice. I'm coming back rejoicing. My son was dead. And I called him joyfully, and it brought him to life. Do you see that?
God's joyful call of grace brings to life. Amen. He carries us. He gives us a field to feed in. This is what Psalm 23 says.
Right? He makes me lie down in what? Green pastures. Green pastures, not torched pastures. Yeah.
Not dirt. Not a famine, but a feast, a celebration. And you can just feast to your heart's desire in the Father's house. And he says, let's celebrate. There's joy in heaven.
Every time we repent, there's joy in heaven. Because what is repentance? It's not just one time. Every time I repent, God's rejoicing. You see, that's why you can't let your sin hold you back from enjoying God and coming to Him.
Why? Because when you acknowledge your sin and you repent of it, God says, let's celebrate. But if God said, if he's like the Pharisees. And he sees you in your sin. And he doesn't say let's celebrate.
He says, let's stay aloof. Yeah. How much repenting do you want to do? You get to come back to the father's field. You get to come back to the Father's house.
You get to come back to the father's bank. He puts the coin back in the bank. He puts the sheep back in the fold. He puts the son back in the house. He takes your life and he brings you back into his fold and he rejoices over you.
There's joy in heaven. Who searched for who? Did the coin search for the woman to be found? No. Did the sheep search for the shepherd and say, Hey shepherd, I'm five miles from the fold.
Come pick me up. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Did the son who was in a pig's eye, it says, No, hey dad. The father saw him. after him which created his repentance when he said father I have sinned but he didn't say that he didn't repent confess until the father ran to him first What does the Apostle Paul say, the second chapter of Romans?
It is the kindness of God that leads us to. Repentance. Who searched for who? God searches relentlessly for the lost sinner. Who treasured who?
God treasures with sacrificial joy. Who ran to who? Who invited Zacchaeus? God Ruttens to us. In Christ.
And he welcomes us with extravagant joy. Each of these truths reveal to us God's astonishing joy, explicit in the rejoicing of the lost sheep. Explicit in the rejoicing of the lost coin. Explicit in the rejoicing of the prodigal lost son. Implied in Zacchaeus' salvation, where Jesus went to his house and feasted with him.
Defying expectations of a God who is aloof. A God who is angry and distant, a God who doesn't care. The heart of these parables, listen, is God's heartbeat love for the lost. Rejoicing over sinners who repent. Rather than over the self-righteous ones, the 99 sheep, the Pharisees, who think they need no repentance.
This contrast of the 99 self-righteous Pharisees reveals the contrast between misconceptions of a cold, aloof God and the reality of a joyful God who pursues sinners and invites them into his presence. Scripture shows us. even more of God's initiative. Here's the question. Who left first?
1 John chapter 4 verses 10 and 19. And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us. And sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. We love because he first loved us. Who drew who?
The Father draws us to Christ, enabling salvation. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last days, the Father who draws. Who loves first? God. Who draws first?
God. Who treasures first? God. Who seeks who? God.
Who gave life to who? Jesus. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life. And they'll never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. And if that's not explicit enough.
Listen to Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17 which beautifully captures God's proactive grace that reveals his joy in saving sinners. Listen to this because if it was not in the Bible I would never picture God like this. Listen to God, what God is like. The Lord your God isn't. is in your midst.
A mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. Did you hear that? He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love.
He will exult over you with loud singing. That's these parables. Listen to Isaiah chapter sixty-two, verse five. Which echoes this joy Four He said, For as a young man marries a young woman. Yeah.
So shall your sons marry you. And thus the bridegroom rejoices over the bride.
So shall your God rejoice over you. You can think back when you first got married, your wedding day. And when you see, like when I saw Catherine, I was at the front of the church, I'm thinking, okay, I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry. The split second the doors opened, I cried. Joe cried.
I was with Joe. I was right next to Joe. I looked at him. I said, It's okay, just breathe. But you look at your bride and you just go, oh.
Wow. It's like Wow. That's my bride. You're just overwhelmed with joy. I mean, this hard, Spencer's shaking his head, he's like, yeah.
Like you're just looking at her and she's in that beautiful white dress and she's smiling and like Catherine, you know, Catherine's like this. She never changes and unlike this. Yeah. And she just walks down the aisle with her dad, and she's just super calm, and she's just smiling just like that. That's exactly what she looked like.
And I can see it to this day. I can see those doors opening at Calvary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to this day. And the joy that I have over my wife. Listen. How do you picture God?
As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. My sheep was lost. Come rejoice with me as I'm rejoicing, carrying it back home. My coin was lost. Friends, come rejoice with me.
I found my silly little coin. My son was lost and dead, and I ran to him and embraced him, and I have found him. Let's celebrate and rejoice. My son is home. Zacchaeus the tax collector, you must come down because I must come to your house today to eat with you, to celebrate.
Imagine, picture as we finish God singing over you with joy. Picture God delighting in you as a bridegroom delights in his bride. This is God's heart for you. He's not cold. He's not distant.
He's not uncaring. He's not unkind. He's not aloof. He's not angry with you. He doesn't tolerate you.
He's not mad at you. He loves you. He rejoices over you. And he calls you to celebrate with him. He has found you and he treasures you.
Marvel at God's delight in you. If you don't know God in this way today, I invite you today to come and know him like this. If you do know God this way today, live in it. How do you picture God? Picture him through Christ.
Who rejoices, who relentlessly seeks sinners? And when he finds them. He puts them on his shoulder. And he carries them back to his sheepfold rejoicing. And he tells all the people around him, he says, friends.
Rejoice with me. And don't be like the Pharisees who looked at Jesus when he told these parables, and they could not rejoice. Why? Because they were self-righteous. But if you're sinful.
As Martin Luther said, take heart. Because Jesus said he has come to seek and save that which is lost. Picture God throwing A great party for you. We celebrated Miss Ruby yesterday. A hundred and what years.
walk with God who rejoiced over her. And she is with Christ today. Watching Christ. Rejoice over her. She is experiencing the joy of heaven today.
In the presence of Christ. And she is experiencing the hope of her soon coming resurrection, where she. Come back. It's not the end. It's just the beginning.
It's going to get better and better. And Jesus is rejoicing over her. Just listen as he is rejoicing over us here gathered today. His people. His pearl of great price, his treasured possession, bought with a price, bought.
By Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a joyful God. We thank you that you receive sinners, that you seek sinners, that you treasure sinners, that you take lumps of coal and turn them into a great pearl. We thank you that by your kindness and grace you call us and then invite us.
to fellowship with you. We thank you that we can picture you as a God who rejoices over his people with joy. This, my son, was dead, now he's alive. Come, let us celebrate. I pray that every one of us here today, by the power of your Holy Spirit, as we come to your table, would have this picture.
I've heard you. firmly planted into our hearts as we eat as we drink. You rejoice over us. You've sat over us. Help us to see like this a joyful God.
Who loves and receives, redeems, and finds? Sinners. and makes them signs in your house. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again. This book may be just what you're looking for.
with his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways, paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him We Proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida.
You can find us at paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.
