Lost without Compassion

Nothing is more useless than salt that has lost it’s saltness. Luke 15:1

I: “The Pharisees and Scribes Murmured.”
1. Who murmured?
2. Pharisees, “Separated by special works. (150 BC).”
a. Their influence was very great, ruling the Sanhedrin and all Jewish society except the slight opposition of Sadducees.
b. An oath taken: “Not to eat of anything that had not been tithed.”
c. Their social meals modeled after the passover supper.
3. There are 7 kinds of Pharisees.
a. “Keep the law for what it will profit them.”
b. “Tumblers: Always hanging down the head and dragging the feet.”
c. Bleeders: Who to avoid looking at women shut their eyes, and see bumped their heads.
d. Mortars: Wearing caps in the form of a mortar, covering the eyes from seeing impurities.
e. What am I yet to doers: As soon as 1 law is kept, ask what is next.
f. Fearers, who keep the law from fear of a judgment.
g. Lovers: Who obey Jehovah because they love him with all their heart.
4. Their greatest love was self, their greatest hatred was the unclean, their greatest failure was no compassion for lost men.

II: “So He Told them this Parable.”
1. “What man of you..”
2. “Or what woman…” Loses one coin, light a lamp, sweep house. Seek diligently until she finds it. Calls together her friends, rejoices with me.
3. “There was a man who had to sons.” One left home. He was lost to the father. He came home. The friends were called to a banquet. The father rejoiced. The elder son was not happy.

III: They Sought the Lost in Proportion to the Value they Placed Upon it.
1. The lost sheep strayed from the fold.
2. The lost coin lost through carelessness of others.
3. Lost boy was lost because he felt no real need for father’s house.
4. The Pharisees were willing for the tax collector and sinners to be lost because they were not counted as valuable as lost sheep, coins, or a lost son.

IV: Lost.
1. What is lost, a son, a daughter, a neighbor, a friends…
2. What is the value? (Mother’s wedding ring). Worth more than all the worlds wealth.
3. What is my attitude?
a. Self satisfied.
b. No time to help the church seek the lost.
c. Too tired to give an hour to prayer.
d. Too busy with my own problems.
4. We show where we place the greatest value by our daily living.

Jesus sought the lost and died to bring them to the Father’s house.