Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Verse 1. Then drewnear unto Him all thepublicans andsinners to hearHim.They were drawing near. It was not an unusual occurrence. It was their habit to draw near to Christ. The Pharisees and Scribes stood in the outer ring. They did not come too near. These poor outcasts and publicans and sinners drew near. They wanted to catch every word. They could not have too much of it. They took a delight in getting near to His blessed Person. They drew near to hear Him.

2. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This Man receives sinners, and eats with them. The sinful, knownto be so. This Man receives them, welcomes them, admits them to an intimacy with Him. What is worse, He eats with them! To teach them is bad enough, but to sit at the same table with them, making Himself their company and making them His company—this is worse than worse! And so they murmured. I am very glad that they did. We owe a great deal to the murmurings of the proud Pharisee, for our Lord graciously answered those murmurings and then He gave us some of the choicest jewels of speech that are preserved in the treasury of knowledge!

3. And He spoke this parable unto them, saying. So it is only one parable, yet it is three. Three panels making one picture. The whole three are necessary to make up all His teaching.

4. What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he finds it?He is justifying His looking for the lost ones. Their accusation was that He received the sinful and false, and ate with them. "Well, well," says Christ, "I do that, but I am a shepherd, and if I have lost one of My sheep, do you blame Me if I leave the flock to go after the lost sheep?" "And he goes after that which is lost until he finds it."

5. 6. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost A true picture of Christ going after those who are willful and wayward and, therefore, have taken to wandering till they are lost—lost to God, lost to society, lost to usefulness, lost to happiness—perhaps lost to hope. He goes after them. That is, in His life. He throws them on His shoulders in His death. He will bring them home rejoicing by His Resurrection Life and then throughout eternity He will make the glorified spirits in Heaven glad by showing them the sheep that was lost, the soul that was saved!

7. Isay unto you, that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety andnine just persons, which need no repentance. If there is such, if there is some that have never wandered and who belong to the flock, yet the flock, itself, does not, of itself, cause any great exuberance of joy. The overflow of delight is caused by the lost sheep when it is found! A Church of godly people will give great content to Christ, but still, if there is any bell ringing, any sound of joy and gladness, it will be over the wandering one that has been restored! Here you have the Son of God, Himself, and His relation to the wandering souls of men. He is their Shepherd! He seeks them! He brings them back to the fold and He is glad! Now comes the second panel of the picture.

8-10. Or what woman, having tenpieces of silver, if she loses onepiece, does not light a candle andsweep the house, and seek diligently till she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repents. In this second picture you have the Holy Spirit working through the Church, compared to a woman. She has lost her piece of money. She gets the candle of the Gospel. She takes the broom of the Law—she sweeps and searches, she raises dust, she expends her candle till she finds her piece of money. You notice that she blames herself for its being lost, for she says, "I have found the piece which I had lost." The shepherd did not say that of the sheep. He said, "the sheep that was lost." That was its own doing. The Church of God seems to blame herself that she has lost her hold upon so many who once belonged to her. The Holy Spirit, through the Church, seeks after lost souls who bear the image of the King upon them, like minted pieces of silver. It is a wonderful verse which is repeated here. "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God." It does not say that the angels rejoice. It means that—but there is joy in their presence. Who is in their presence but God, Himself? The great and blessed God, whose Throne they continually surround, in whose face they see joy over saved souls! And notice the joy is about one sinner—a sinner. That is all we know about him. He may have been as poor as a church mouse and he may have made himself sick unto death by his vice. There was joy over him when he repented. It was only one! It was not a batch of twenty. It was not a large number con-verted—there is joy over one sinner. What had he done? Built a church? No. Preached a sermon? No. He had repented! That is all, but that is quite enough to set all the music of the angels' harps pouring forth the praise of God! "One sinner that repents."

11. And He said—And here comes the greatest of all the parables, the most instructive, perhaps, and the best loved of them all! In these parables we do not find anything about a Savior, a Mediator. Did you ever read a parable that contained all the Truth of God? If any man were to try and make a parable that contained all Truths of God at once, verily I say unto you, he would be a fool! He must fail, and fail in his object of teaching anything—

"One thing at a time, and that done well,

Is a very good rule as many can tell." And to teach one Truth at a time is quite sufficient. It is true that the parable that we are going to read says nothing about a mediator, and it does not say anything about the father seeking his lost son, not a word. No work of the Holy Spirit. It is meant to teach one thing—and it does teach it! And if it does not teach 50 things, do not imagine that the other 49 are not true!

11. 12. A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.He would have that when His father died. Does he demandto have his heritage in his father's lifetime? Yes, he does. It is an unreasonable demand. Yet—

12. And he divided unto them his living. He was of a gentle mold, of a kindly heart. He did not want to have a son stay with him like a slave. He must be served willingly or not at all—so he divided to them his living.

13. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together He turned the sheep and the stock and everything into money.

13. And took his journey into a far country. We do not know where it was. It does not matter, it was a far country. He wanted to get away from his father, from his authority, from his observation. He went into a far country.

13. And there wasted his substance with riotous living. What he did I do not know. His elder brother had heard some very bad stories about him which we shall see at the end of the chapter. They may not, however, have been all true, for rumor is greatly given to exaggeration. Beware of this exaggeration, especially of the follies of others!

14. And when he had spent all Got to his last penny.

14. There arose a mighty famine in that land. Famines generally come when one's money is all gone. He might not have feared a famine if he had still been wealthy. The two things come together, the two seas meet. He had spent all and now there was a famine.

14. And he began to be in need. The first time in his life. He had always had everything he wanted, but now he began to be in want. It is an ugly kind of feeling when, for the first time, you cannot buy a loaf of bread. When, for the first time, you cannot get a night's lodging for love or money—and have not any money and nobody gives you any love. He began to be in need.

15. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. I dare say he was a member of the same company that he belonged to. He went to him and said, "Now help me. You have many a time enjoyed yourself at my house. You have drunk my champagne, now help me. I am in trouble." Well, he had a berth empty and that was to keep his pigs—the very worst thing a Jew could do—and what a Jew would never do unless he was starving.

15. And he sent him into his fields to feed swine. "There is a job for you! You need a job? Go into my fields and feed my swine." The son has become a swineherd. One who fared sumptuously everyday at home, has now come to serve pigs!

16. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat So hungry was he, that if he could have eaten the slop which the pigs fed upon, he would have been glad to kneel at the trough and feed with them!

16. And no man gave unto him. No, they all alike seemed stony-hearted. When you have plenty, everybody will give you some more. When you have nothing, nobody will give you a penny. "No man gave to him."

17. And when he came to himself.'For he had been away from himself. He was beside himself and now he came home to himself.

17. He said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I—The son whom he loves. "And I."

17-19. Perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired servants. Let me be anything, so that I may have something to do with you. Let me live at home. Let me eat the bread from your table. Put me in the lowest place. I cannot be so low as I now am. Put me anywhere. Make a hired servant of me.

20. And he arose, and came to his father. But—Blessed "but."

20, 21. When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called your son. He was going on with his prayer, "Make me as one of your hired servants," when his father kissed him right on his lips and smothered that prayer! He did not mean to let him pray that, and so the father, interrupting him, stopped that legal bit of prayer.

22. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, andput it on him: andput a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet Is this the justifying righteousness of Christ? I think not. No servant can put that on. God Himself, imputes the righteousness of Christ to us! It means just this—Receive this poor forgiven sinner into the Church and treat him like a gentleman. Do not look at him as one that is wearing rags any longer. Put the best robe on him, treat him well, take him into your favor, receive him into your society, put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

23, 24. And bring here the fatted calf, and kill it: and let us eat, and be merry: For this, my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry A fine old Saxon word that is, "merry." I have known some good people afraid to say, "I wish you a merry Christmas." But I always like it, for I like these grand old Bible words. If the word "merry" means anything wrong, it is you that make it wrong! But it is right enough in the Bible. "They began to be merry." Now, is it not a very curious thing that the father said, "Put the robe on him, put the shoes on him"—but he never said, "Now make him eat." Why is that? He says, "Let us eat and be merry." He does not say anything about the son eating. No, Brothers and Sisters, because the best way to make another man eat is to go at it yourself. It breeds an appetite in him. If he is standing there looking at what you are doing—"Let us eat and be merry"—his mouth begins to water! Why, you know how hard it is if you are called upon to stand when you are very hungry and see other people eat. How you want to eat! That is the best preaching in the world. If the end of the discourse is to make a man eat, the best preaching is to fall to, yourself! "Let us eat and be merry," and they did that—and then this restored prodigal son found his appetite, and so feasted, too.