Gospel—Bob Thonney
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Good evening.
God our Savior, who will have all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Are you saved?
I can't tell as I look around this group if you're saved or not.
But.
I greatly fear that there might be somebody who is not yet saved.
And that's why we're here.
So whoever you are.
We hope the message gets across God.
Our Savior will have all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Let's sing #37.
Or hymn sheet, the gospel of thy grace.
My stubborn heart has won.
The Gospel of.
How are you doing again? So I want to be trusted on the raw once I have been waiting.
Tonight I'd like to use.
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A parable from the Scriptures to speak about the Gospel message. It's a parable that has three distinct parts.
And each parable.
Starts with sorrow and ends with joy.
Luke, chapter 15.
It's the Lord Jesus that told this parable.
And in the 1St 2 verses of this chapter, we'll find that there were two distinct groups that were there to hear the parable that he told. Notice verses one and two. Then drew nigh near unto him all the publicans and sinners.
For to hear him and the Pharisees.
And scribes murmured saying, This man.
Receiveth sinners and eateth with them. So you see the two groups that there were. First of all there were the publicans and the sinners. The publicans were the tax collectors and they were known for swindling the people and ending up with a good quantity of money in their own pockets. They were despised because of it. So the publicans were grouped with.
The Sinners.
How many in this room are sinners?
I see a few raising their hands, some raise a little finger like that, and maybe that means they're not quite as bad. But I think we all recognize we are sinners.
And sin is a very serious thing in the sight of God.
Sin brings death.
You sin, you die.
Are there any exceptions to this? In this world that we live, that is something that applies across the board. Nobody escapes naturally speaking, and so it has its consequences.
And.
Death does not end at all because Scripture plainly tells us after death, the judgment, there is ultimate accountability for every single person that has lived on planet earth. Maybe you say, oh, they died and they got away from it. That is not the end. Death is not the end. Death is only temporary until the resurrection of that great day and then.
Everyone must meet Jesus.
There is no way you can escape meeting Jesus. But here he is with Republicans and sinners. But this other group, the Pharisees and scribes, they were the religious ones of the day. They thought they were good enough as they were. They thought I don't need to repent any in any way.
I'm religious, I'm good enough.
And so Jesus tells a parable in which these two groups are reflected. And as I read this parable, notice it's one parable, but it has three parts and the first part is about a a man that had 100 sheep.
And one gets lost. The second part is about a woman.
In a house who has 10 pieces of silver, one gets lost. The third part is about a father who had two son, one gets lost.
The amazing thing is that the last one when he's found causes more joy than all the rest that thought they were good enough. Where do you stand before God? Do you recognize you're a Sinner?
Or do you think that you're good enough as you are? You know what? I was raised in the meeting, and I think most of you all have been raised in Christian homes.
And I never got into The Dirty side of this world as I was growing up.
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With the time came when I had to recognize I was as lost as any of those bad people out there that I might have despised because of my sin. I was lost and I needed to be saved. It's an individual thing. You might be a part of a Christian family. That's great.
I'm not speaking against it, but I say you have to come to the conclusion.
That you personally, you need salvation in the Lord Jesus.
And so let me read this parable to me. It's a beautiful parable. He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having 100 sheep, if you lose one of them does not leave the 90 and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it. And when he had found it, he layeth it on his shoulders.
Rejoicing, And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them.
Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one Sinner that repenteth over more than over 90 and nine just persons which need no repentance.
Second part Either one woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it. And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost.
Likewise I say unto you, there is.
Joy in the presence of the angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth.
3rd Part. And he said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto him his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and.
They're wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want, And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine, and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat.
And no man gave unto him.
And when he came to himself, he said, how many higher servants of my father's?
Have bread and enough despair, and I perish with hunger.
I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his Father, and when he was a great, he had a great way off. His father saw him, and had compassion.
And ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
The sun said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the Father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hit her 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 Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came.
And drew Knight to the house, he heard music and dancing, and he called one of his servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go. In Therefore came his father out.
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And entreated him, And he answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee.
Neither transgressed I at anytime thy commandment, and yet thou never gave us me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.
But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, has killed for them the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meat that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost.
And is found. So we have this parable.
Of three parts, the first part a man that has 100 sheep. Second part a woman in a house.
And the third part of Father, who has two sons in this parable, we see that the whole Godhead is in operation to bring about your blessing if you are lost in sin. And that's where you are, whether you recognize it or recognize it or not.
But the first part I want to talk about first is I figure out the Lord Jesus.
And it's interesting to me there were 100 sheep.
One got lost.
You know what, if I have $100 in my pocket and I lose a dollar, I'm not going to be that concerned about it, OK? I still got 99 in there. I'm not going to worry about that dollar that's lost. Is that the way God is? I don't know how many people are here tonight, but if there's 100 people.
And there's just one that's lost. I want to tell you, come.
Is interested in you. He is not satisfied that you are lost.
And so this man with the 100 sheep, what does he do? He lives the 99 in the wilderness.
And he goes after that, which is lost.
How long does he go after it?
Notice what it says at the end of the verse until he find it.
How long was that? Doesn't say, but I want to tell you about this story of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who went after the lost sheep until he found it, what it cost him.
The awful.
Death of the Cross of Calvary went back to pick up this.
Poem I printed out at home. It's the song that was put to music by Is that Mister Sankey?
In the last century, or the century before, I guess it was now we'd have to say. But here's the third stands of it, and I it touches me to the heart.
None of the ransomed ever knew.
How deep were the waters crossed, nor how dark was the night?
The Lord passed through. There he found his sheep that was lost out in the desert. He heard its cry.
Was sick and helpless and ready to die.
And the ransom never knew how deep were the waters crossed or hard died Was the night the Lord passed through where he found his sheep when it was lost, Do you think he stopped and halfway and said, oh, I don't know if this is worth the sacrifice. Just one sheep. I still got 90 and nine. No, that's not our God. Our God is interested in every single one.
And if you're here without salvation, he wants to save you tonight.
And he went to extreme lengths to save you.
Yes, he went to that cross of Calvary, and that story is a story that just enraptures my heart every time I think about it.
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The Lord Jesus, before he went to that cross, went out to pray.
In a garden called Gethsemane. And he prayed, Father, if thou be willing, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. And his sweat, as it were great drops of blood. Everything in His holy character shrunk from the idea of contact with sin. And yet He went straight forward, because there was no other way.
That you and I could be saved, but that he go and that he suffered.
That awful cross. And so he went forward, and they stretched out his arms and his feet, and they nailed him to that cross outside the city of Jerusalem.
His head crowned with thorns, his face disfigured with the blows of those Roman soldiers.
And there he hung from 9:00 in the morning till noon.
And then came the night. Darkness covered the face of the earth. Nobody could see what was happening in those hours from 12 noon to three in the afternoon. But God is holy, and if he's going to forgive your sin, somebody has to pay the price. It cannot be swept under the rug. And so in those three hours of darkness, God laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Of divine judgment broken all his fury on the head of our Savior.
You don't have any cry from that center cross in those three hours of darkness.
Silence until the very end. There's a cry. My God, My God, what has thou forsaken me? Will never understand. The only one that did fully. The will of God. Forsaken of God. How can you explain that? You know how I explain that?
God is a savior God, and He wants you in his house above.
That's what it cost him. That's how far he had to go to find that sheep that was lost.
Notice what he does when he finds that sheep.
In verse five, when he had found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Oh, the joy that God has when a Sinner comes to repentance. He could have said, You honored little sheep, now get on home, get on home.
Nope.
He picks it up. He lays it on His shoulders. Now if you go back to the book of Isaiah Chapter 9, you'll find that the Lord Jesus in the coming day is going to have the government on His shoulder, only one shoulder. He holds up the government of this world.
But when it is the matter of returning a lost sheep to the fold, he puts it on his shoulders. And how far does he go with it on his shoulders?
Come on, He comes home. It's he's in all the way home. Savior, He will not abandon you in halfway. No, He's going to take you all the way home To me. It is such a beautiful thing.
When he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying with them, saying unto them, Rejoice with me.
God is a God of joy, and he will rejoice in those that have come to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven.
Over 1 Sinner that repenteth.
More than over 90 and nine just persons which need no repentance.
Repentance. What is that?
You know it comes from the Latin word.
Repent is to think in Spanish. It's Pensac.
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So repent means to rethink. It means a change in your thinking.
Yes, you start in here in America. I'm going to have my life the way I want to do it, and I don't want anybody messing with me. I'll do it just like I wanted you.
You know what, you need to repent. You need to change your thinking. That kind of thinking is going to take you in the wrong direction. And so that's one thing that's important in salvation. Repentance will not save you. It's faith in Christ that will save you. But repentance is necessary.
The Lord Jesus says in the Luke's Gospel. Here too, he says.
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Repentance is important. It's necessary.
So next we have the woman in verse 8A figure of the Holy Spirit of God, because the Holy Spirit of God dwells in the House of Christian profession today.
And what does the Holy Spirit do?
Notice she has 10 pieces of silver. 10 is of is a number of human responsibility. God put man in the Old Testament under 10 commandments to see if men could perform. Was there anybody, anybody that could gain God's favor that way? You know the answer. Nobody. Absolutely.
No. As to our responsibility, we.
Have failed. You know, people talk about free will. I have free will. I'll do what I want to do.
You know what? Since there's sin in your life, you do not have free will. You're not free to do. You might will to do something, but you're not free to do it. But you are responsible, and that's the better word to use instead of free will. You are responsible before God. And so there's one piece that was lost. What does she do?
She lights a candle and sweeps the house.
And seeks diligently till she finds it. To me, this is a tremendously.
Powerful figure of what is true in the Christian profession today.
Lost in the house?
Is it possible that there are those who have professed faith in the Lord Jesus and are in the House of professing Christendom but our lust, Yes, that is the case. And it's tragic. So many people think, oh, I was baptized.
I'm all right.
I don't know you are.
Lost in the house. We have a case in the book of the Acts of a man in Acts chapter 8, Simon the sorcerer, he did his magic tricks. He had the people of Samaria hoodwinked that he was some great person.
And people listened to him until there was a power that was greater that came to Samaria. It was the power of God and the gospel.
Philip came there preaching the Gospel, and many were saved.
And so Simon said, hmm, I see I'm getting left behind here. I think I better join the crowd. And so it says, it actually says Simon believed and was baptized.
Was he saved?
The problem with Simon there was number repentance. He was a great one as a sorcerer. Now he wanted to be a great one in the House of God.
No repentance. So later on he shows his true colors to Peter and Peter says repent of this your sin.
If perhaps God will give the repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
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And you know what Simon said to him. Pray for me that none of these terrible things will come upon me.
Simon was lost in the house.
And there is no record that Simon ever got saved. Tragic. Is it possible that there's somebody here? You know, when I think of Jesus is 12 apostles?
And of those 12?
One was faked. Judas Iscariot had the other apostles so convinced that he was real.
That when the Lord Jesus said, One of you shall betray me, the son of perdition.
Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It were better for that man if he had never been born.
The disciples said Are you talking about me? Is it me? They didn't know who it was he was referring to until Judas saddened.
Is it me? And the Lord said yes. So Judas got up and went out and did what he had planned to do.
Never any repentance with Judas.
He was filled with remorse afterwards because the plan he had made-up didn't work out like he thought it should.
But he never truly repented.
And Judas isn't a lost eternity. So close, so far.
For me, it scares me and I must say I think I've maybe told this story before of a young man we met when we first moved to Bolivia.
We arrived in 1975 in Monterrey, Bolivia and bought a lot right next door to the meeting room to build a house on, and the brother we contracted to build a house had a young man working for him. His name was called Jaime Martinez.
And he was coming to the meetings, he was baptized, he was breaking bread. He actually on some weekends when we go out to visit some of the other meetings, he would accompany us. But after we got done building the house, I lost contact with him because he went off somewhere else to work.
And sometime later, I met him in the marketplace in Santa Cruz. I said, Jaime, where have you been? He says I'll be coming back to meeting. I'll be coming back to meeting.
So I'm not talking about coming back to meeting, I just want to know how you've been.
Anyhow, didn't see him anymore for a while. If you've ever been to Montero, Bolivia, they have. They use their motorcycles as taxis in that town. You just get on the back of a motorcycle and take you where you want to go and you pay them the fee.
These motorcycle taxis started turning up dead.
They'd find them out and some abandoned Rd. on the side of the road dead.
They couldn't figure out who did it.
One day.
They found a guy that had been shot in the head.
But it hadn't killed him.
Him. Evidently the bullet had gone around the side of his skull and.
They brought him into the hospital and he recovered and told who it was.
Jaime Martinez was arrested and put in the prison there in Monterrey, Bolivia. People in Montero were so incensed that they mobbed the prison and they had to transfer him to another city.
But he at that time it was a military government in Bolivia.
And in examining him, he confessed to having killed 12 People. He would take their motorcycles and sell them.
And I heard him speak a message that was broadcast on the radio.
Instead of being any repentance, he vowed to do even worse things if he got out.
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So one day the police under a military government, they handled justice matters a little different than under democracy. They took him out into the country police to investigate where he had sold one of the.
Motorcycles.
And as they were standing there.
Jaime started running for the forest, for the jungle.
They said stop, He didn't stop. The police took out their pistols and.
Jaime Martinez went into a lost eternity.
I tell you, it shook me to the core. Is it possible as someone that I broke bread with is in a lost eternity in hell in torments right now?
Yes, it's possible. That's why it's so important we get it straight. Where are you sitting there? But you know you haven't accepted in a personal way the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Savior. I ask you to get serious with God.
To face the matter of your sin, one sin is enough to keep us out of heaven forever.
And God is not going to allow any sin to go unpunished. Either you accept what Jesus did for you on the cross as payment for your sins, or you yourself will pay in a lost eternity for your sins forever. It's way too important.
Get it straight please. Young people they were. Those that are older as well haven't made a decision.
Remember a lady one of our conferences down in Bolivia?
We were studying.
The Lord's coming.
Like we have been today.
And.
She came up to us afterwards, after the day she was she'd been baptized, She was breaking bread. But she said to me, you know what, I see it now. I'm not ready. I haven't done the transaction yet.
When I first came, they told me what to say, the prayer to pray, and I did it all and I thought I was all right.
And I was baptized and now I see it. It's a personal thing. I've got to accept it myself. And she kneeled down and confessed the Lord as her Savior there. Oh, it was a happy day. She came to repentance. And that is so important. And notice this is the case here in verse 10. It mentions repentance again.
Likewise I say unto you, there is joy.
In the presence of the angels of God, it doesn't say that the angels rejoice.
What does it say in the presence of the ancients of God? Who is it talking about? It's God's joy when a Sinner comes to repentance because he can meet him right where he is. It doesn't matter what kind of history you have, God can meet you there and bring you into His presence.
With joy.
Now the third part. And he said a certain man had two sons.
Younger thus said to his father, Father, give me.
Give me that's what happens so oftentimes.
Sons say to their fathers, Give me.
And he took his goods, portion of goods, and he gathered it all together and took his journey into a far country. Let me get as far away from my old man as I possibly can.
And what did he do?
There he wasted his substance with riotous living.
You know, if you spend your money just to have a good time, you know what you're doing.
You're wasting your substance.
That's not going to bring you lasting joy, and it so happens that when your pocket is full of money.
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There's plenty of friends to gather around when the money is gone.
The friends have a way of disappearing too, and so it came to pass when he had spent all Verse 14.
There arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in one.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and sent him into his field to speed swine. Anything so I can have a bite of food.
And as he sat there, said he went fain and filled his belly with the husks. The swine did he, and no man gave to him, sitting there watching those pigs eat those husks, and he wished that somebody would give him some husks.
You know that's what this world gives to try to satisfy a soul.
In their spiritual hunger, the hunger of their soul. Sometimes I watch people like file out of a theater.
The movies and watch to see if there's anybody that really, truly looks happy.
Oh yeah, they might be laughing.
But I really don't see that they're happy.
They're still hungry inside.
But notice.
Verse 17 When he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bred nothing to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him.
Father, I've sinned before heaven and against heaven, and before Thee, and I'm no more worthy to be called Thy Son. Make me as one of Thy hired servants.
All this he's saying as he's sitting still there with the pigs, watching them eat.
The other two parts speak specifically of repentance. This last part doesn't speak of repentance, but this is an illustration of what repentance is. He came to himself. All of a sudden there was a change of thinking. Look, what in the world am I doing here? Hungry.
And watching those pigs when my father has.
Plenty enough in his house.
It has plenty of servants that have all they can eat. What am I doing? There's a change of thinking. That's what repentance is. That's why it's so important that you repent.
So notice what he does verse 20. After he's repented, he arose and came to his father.
And this next part is so beautiful. When he was yet.
A great way off, his father saw him.
And had compassion and ran and fell on his neck.
I kissed him. Oh, God runs to meet the repentance Sinner. I think this is so beautiful.
He runs to meet the Repentance Center.
He didn't say when he got to him. He said now you get cleaned up so I can give you a hug. No, he hugs him just as he is. I want to tell you God loves you just as you are. You don't have to do any clean up. Act for God to love you. He loves you just as you are.
And so the Sun comes out with his prayer confession that he'd made-up notice.
Verse 21. The Son said unto him, Father.
I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight.
And then no more worthy to be called thy son.
Hey, he forgot the last part.
He was going to say, make me as one of thy hired servants. Why doesn't he say that?
You know why?
He realized his father didn't want anymore hired servants. His father wanted him back at home, at his table with him to enjoy fellowship with him. God has millions upon millions of angels to do his service. He's not looking for more servants. You know what he wants, He wants.
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Sons that are repentant of their sins to come back to enjoy the fellowship of His table in His house.
What he wants.
And So what does the father say? He interrupts the sign in verse 22, the father said to his servants.
Bring forth the best robe and put it on him.
He couldn't go into the father's house in those filthy rags.
That he had on. He had been with the pigs.
Couldn't go bring forth the father says Bring forth the best Rd. put it on him.
And Isaiah says you have to close me with the robes of righteousness.
The believing Sinner is justified by faith in Christ, so that God looks at him as clothed in the righteousness of God by faith in Christ. What a wonderful thing as he looks at you and me. If we trust in the Lord Jesus, He sees us completely.
Righteous. That's the best robe.
And the second thing.
Put a ring on his hand.
A ring is what we use in our culture.
To show.
Next month it'll be 45 years that I put a ring on that lady's finger.
And if you look at that ring, you know she belongs to somebody. She belongs to me.
And so when you accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior, he puts a seal on you. It's the Spirit of God that is the seal for security. You belong to Him. You do no longer belong to yourself. And so put a ring on his hand and.
Shoes on his feet. You know what I hear sometimes people say? You know why I don't? I'm not a Christian. I could never, ever walk the way a Christian should walk. Never could do it. You know what I tell them? I say, you know what? I never could do it either. But when I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior, He put shoes on my feet.
He gave me the power to walk as a Christian should walk.
And then there's one more thing here.
Verse.
23 Bring hit her the fatted calf, and kill it, And let us eat and be merry, so that there could be a feast of joy.
There had to be death.
Let me tell you, dear brother and sister in the Lord Jesus. And if you are not a brother or sister yet, let me tell you too.
That the greatest joy is because there's been a victim that has been killed, and now there will be a feast that will last forever. Notice what it says at the end of verse 24. They be.
To be married.
In verse 14 it talks about the prodigal son in the far country. He began to be in want, but now.
They began to be married. Oh, the joy that comes from truly knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
A being reconciled to God of being able to come into the Father's house.
To sit down at the Father's table to enjoy fellowship there. Oh, what a privilege it is.
But notice.
There's an elder son outside.
And the elder son.
Comes up and he hears the music and the dancing and he couldn't figure it out so he asked his servant.
And they say thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. He was angry. People that are religious can't understand grace, and it'll only make him angry.
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Where do you fit in this picture?
I trust that you're not as the.
Older prodigal son. He was prodigal too, because his father said come in and he would not go in. He had never gotten that far away, but in heart he was a long ways away from his father. He said to his father, you never gave me a kid that I can make merry with my friends. He didn't want to make merry with his father. He wanted to make Mary with his friends.
He was a long ways off.
He never repented. He never got the blessing.
You see the picture of the two groups that we spoke about the beginning of the meeting.
The Pharisees and the Scribes. Oh how sad.
Because they think they're good enough, they will never get into the Father's house to enjoy the Father's fellowship.
So I appeal to you. There's somebody here that still hasn't accepted the Lord as their savior, still hasn't made a personal decision.
Because it is a very personal thing you have to accept for yourself.
I plead with you.
To not let this opportunity go as we bow our heads right where you are.
Make that decision, open your heart, say Lord Jesus, I accept you, I repent of my sins, and I accept you as my Savior.
There is any question that I can help clarify after the meeting, I'll be sitting over here and you can come and ask me. Be glad to talk with you.