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What a privilege and an honor it is to be with our Oxford campus family. I've been looking forward to this opportunity, and I am thankful to uh Pastor Cliff Lee, our senior pastor, for allowing us to do this little switcheroo. I'm also very thankful to my brother Pastor Garrett for uh allowing me to come up and to bring the word this morning. Um, if he is like me and I believe that he is, we are somewhat jealous for the pulpit. And so it is difficult for a preaching pastor to sit in the front row and listen to somebody else preach. And so I feel that for you this morning, and uh and God bless you for allowing me to do that. I'm here uh with my family. You saw my daughter up here, that's who that was. That was Alex that was singing uh with Pastor Jackson, and uh got my yep, we can do that. I was joking earlier that she ups my stock, so people get excited about me coming if Alex is with me, and so uh that's why we travel in a pair. Uh but my my wife is down here beside Alex. This is Ashley, and then I've got my three other kids here, um, Silas and Eliza and Nicholas. Um, I actually have another child, he's no longer a child, really, but he's 29 years old. He lives up in North Carolina in God's country. That's what we call that up there. Um, it was three and a half years ago that uh that God called us down here to Central Florida. Uh, never thought I would leave North Carolina, uh, but here we are in Leesburg, and we are excited to be here. South Campus uh has grown tremendously. God has done a tremendous work there. He has used me, worked in and through me to bring the word, but so many other people to serve and to glorify his name there. And he's doing amazing things, and I know that he is here as well across all four of our campuses. But thank you for welcoming us. Uh, we may not stay very long after the service. I'll get to shake a few hands, but we've actually got an event at South Campus this afternoon, so we're gonna have to drive the speed limit all the way there. Of course. Uh speaking of South Campus, at South Campus this semester on Wednesday evenings, uh, we are going through what's called the Gospel Way Catechism together. And so there are about 130 of us that meet together and we work our way through this book written by uh Trevin Wax. It's talking about and studying questions and answers that form the foundation of our faith. Uh, questions like what is the center and point of everything? Uh, how do we see God and come to know him? Who does God reveal himself to be? Catechesis, where we get the word catechism, means instruction. And what a powerful thing it is to not only be able to quote, to be able to regurgitate, if you will, the answers that we know we should say, but be instructed in the biblical basis by which we are anchored in that truth. That is our goal with the Gospel Way Catechism. We all, as children of God, we could build our understanding of who he is and who we are in relation to him based upon our own experiences. We could all do that. And some of that is good. That's not all bad. I know that God is good because of how good he has been to me. I know that God is merciful because what he has rescued me out of, he pulled me out of the miry pit and set my feet on a solid rock. I know that he's merciful and he is gracious because I have experienced over and over and over again his amazing grace. And I know that I'm not alone in this. We know who God is because of how we've experienced him, but we must always be careful to not think that our experiences are what validate or invalidate a truth that is immutable and eternal. We cannot lean only on our own experiences. God is. The Bible tells us that God is. He is ultimately outside of our perceptions, he is ultimately outside of our human awareness, our worldly observation, our understood experiences. He sits above all of that, and it is scripture. It is the holy, God-breathed word that instructs us, that catechizes us in truth. We must always send our experiences through the filter of scripture to understand who God is. Who does God reveal him to be? What is he like? That is partially what's in view for us this morning. And so we're gonna open to a parable, actually, two parables of Jesus that provide us with some instruction. And this instruction will offer at least one answer to this question. What is God like? And that answer is this He is the God who seeks. He is the God who seeks. He is a seeking God. Now, next week, Pastor Garrett is going to have a message for you on what is perhaps one of the most popular parables in the Word. That is the parable of the prodigal son. The prodigal son is often told of and taught about in isolation. We hear about it, we hear it preached, but it's actually the second half of the chapter that we're beginning today. In fact, it's actually the last of three parables that point to this powerful truth about God, that He is a God who seeks. So it may be beneficial for you, if you know the story of the prodigal son, to keep that in your framework as you hear the preaching today. So here at South Campus is where I would have everyone stand and we would read the passage for today. Um, Pastor Garrett did alert me, thankfully, that you guys do that a little bit differently here, and you go ahead and read the scripture ahead of time, and wherever Jim is, you did an excellent job with it. Um, excellent job with the reading of the word. But always after I read and before I preach, we pray. And so I will ask you to bow with me this morning to pray. Living God, what a beautiful thing it is to come into your house together. We are your people in your church, and we are here for your glory alone. We are here to magnify the name of Jesus Christ, your Son. God, I pray that you would speak through the words of this message today, remove me and replace my voice with yours. I pray that you would open the eyes and the ears and the minds and the hearts and the spirits of your people to receive exactly what you have for us, nothing more and nothing less. I pray that you would convict, that you would sanctify, that you would grow, that you would encourage and show us your grace and your mercy and your love today. Show us your faithfulness. God, we are here for you, for your glory alone. And we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, context. As our scene opens up, Jesus has been teaching a great crowd of people. We want to put it in context, right? So we know that he's teaching all of these people. They're following him, they're listening to him, they're wanting to know what he has to say. And here is a powerful note right out of the gate this morning. Had you been there with the crowd, you would not have heard a heartwarming, inspirational, self-help message. That wasn't Jesus' style. There was no seeker-sensitive, people-pleasing, watered down, you are enough, live your best life now type sermons. I'm blessed to be a part of a team here at First Leesburg, Pastor Garrett included, that boldly preaches the word of God. We are not here to tickle ears, we are here to read and to preach the word of God. Easy, candy-coded teaching isn't what we've been called and commissioned to do. And it's not what you need. What a lost and dying world especially needs from us is the truth. They need the Bible, they need the God-breathed word. And when that truth is preached in love, the Holy Spirit brings those who need to hear it. And the Holy Spirit opens up ears to be able to hear it and spirits to receive it. And the Holy Spirit does the miraculous work of bringing the dead to life as we preach the word of God. I say this at South Campus on a regular basis. If ever there is a time when I get up behind the pulpit and I am preaching something other than the word of God, you better chase me out of town and you better do it quick. We are here to preach the word. As Jesus was teaching, tax collectors and sinners came near to him because they wanted to hear what he had to say. Because the word of God is something that the Holy Spirit uses to reach them. The God who seeks welcomes sinners to come to him. He welcomes sinners to come to him. He makes a place for the outcasts. And why? Because he loves them. Because he wants a relationship with them. With you. Dear brother or sister, every single one of us, in case you have forgotten, was one of those spiritual lowlifs. Every single one of us was outside of the family of God. Don't look at the other person or your spouse beside you. I'm talking to you. You were also in that place. Have you truly awakened to and understand the truth that Jesus welcomed you to his table completely unwell, completely unworthy, and unable to do anything about it. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Somebody say amen. That is the gospel. And I say this as well on a regular basis, that we sometimes look at the gospel and we say, you know what? That's for unbelievers. Pastor, we're already saved. Maybe every single person in this room is saved. I don't assume that's the case, but perhaps it is. That doesn't mean you need the gospel any less than the person that's out on the street right now. We need to be reminded of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to remember where we came from and what he brought us out of. That God loves you so much that he rescued you, saved you, and not only just to be a servant or a slave, because he could have done that. He's certainly deserving of it, but not just that, to welcome you in and then sign adoption papers for you. We ought to fall on our faces in thanksgiving for this truth. You, a sinner, me a sinner, welcomed into his house, wrapped in his loving arms, given a place at the table with him. Do you praise and worship your God for this truth? Now, you are a son or a daughter of the Most High King. Now, maybe you're here today, and you think, well, Pastor, that's great news for other people. That's really good to know, but you don't know me. Maybe you're thinking, Pastor, I I've sinned too much. I've gone too far. I've said things that I can't take back. I've done things that surely God can never forgive me for. There is no way that Jesus wants anything to do with me. Friend, I dare you to approach him and see if he won't draw you in. I dare you to bow before him and see if he won't wash you clean. I dare you to call upon his name and see if he won't make you his child. Today is the day of salvation. All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And this same truth applies, this same gospel to those who have come to know the Lord a long time ago, but maybe you have fallen over and over again. And maybe even right before coming in here this morning, you fell again. And you're thinking there is no way. There's no way that God could still forgive me. Listen to me. The blood of Jesus Christ covers all sin. When someone comes back, when one of his children come back before him and lay their sin before him and say, Father, I did it again. He says, My son, my daughter, you are still forgiven. You turn around and you keep marching because you are one of mine. Today is also the day of repentance. My Savior welcomes sinners to come to him. And you and I, dear brother or sister, are to strive to be like Jesus. Meaning what in this context? Well, are we seeking the lost? Are we welcoming them in? What if they look different? What if they talk different and walk different and smell different? You know, when we look across our church pews, we see a whole lot of people that look a whole lot like us, don't we? What if they're different? What if you don't understand them? Are they welcome to share your pew? Or would you prefer that they find a different place to go or at least a different pew to sit upon? Will you avoid eye contact and hope that they don't talk to you? Or will you say, you know what? There, but for the grace of God, go I and welcome them to a seat at the table. We need not wonder what Jesus would do. We've got it all over Scripture. We ought to be careful and we ought to understand clearly that the God who seeks also confronts our self-righteousness. He confronts our self-righteousness, so we all struggle with it. I had a pastor one time go around the room and ask us what our besetting sin was. And after I looked up the word besetting, because I wasn't really sure what that even meant. It seems to me like the answer would be the same for every single one of us. It would be pride. Pride is a problem for every single one of us. It manifests differently. Self-righteousness is something that we must battle in ourselves all the time. Self-righteousness that looks like the Pharisees and the scribes here. Look at them. They grumbled. They complained. Are you a grumbler? Did you know that grumbling is a sin? It may be time to repent today from your grumbling nature. Oh, this is not what I wanted the pastor to come here and talk to us about today. He should have brought an easy message for us. No, I don't have one of those. What I have is the word of God that's calling you out this morning. There are grumblers here. I know there are. Stop it. Repent. It's sin. Grumbling and complaining is born out of and flourishes in self-righteousness. We complain and we grumble because we feel entitled to something different than what God has allowed us. Let those with ears to hear hear what the Lord is saying today. At South Campus, if you've been there before, you'll see something that's attached to the pulpit right over here on this side, and it looks like a rearview mirror. And it is. It's a mirror on this side. And the reason is because when I'm preaching the word of God, it has to come in here first. And here first, listen, I am just like you. I struggle with grumbling, I struggle with complaining, I struggle with self-righteousness. Praise God for his grace and his mercy. Praise God that our journey of sanctification continues with the Holy Spirit working through us our entire lives. It's a beautiful thing. The guys in our passage grumbled. Look at this man. Look at this Jesus welcoming sinners, eating with them. How dare he, as though he had not come to seek and save the lost. As though it's the healthy who need a doctor instead of the sick. Had they been able to get past their self-centered pride, they would have realized something. Let me tell you what they would have realized. The very ones of which they spoke so disparagingly, these sinners, these sinners were positioning themselves to receive from Jesus what they needed to be cleansed from the inside. It didn't matter what they looked like or what they had done before. They were positioning themselves before the Savior to hear his teaching and to be cleaned, while the religious elite, may we never be like them. The religious elite were satisfied to be whitewashed tombs, themselves also sinners who needed a savior, but unwilling to let go of self-righteousness. We humans have a tendency to grade sin, don't we? We look at it almost like we're looking at a cityscape in front of us, right? You see some buildings that are one story, some are two or three, then you've got the big skyscrapers, and this is kind of how we look at sin. And and of course, our own sins are always the one-story buildings, right? But that's kind of how we view it. But God looks from above upon the same scene and finds that all fall short of his glory. Every single one is a sinner, every single one has fallen short. Self-righteousness has no place in the church. Self-righteousness has no place in the kingdom of God. No one is righteous, no, not one except for Jesus Christ. And it is that righteousness by which we are covered, and because of which we are saved. May we never forget where we came from and who our God is and what he has done. Jesus goes on in our passage to tell a story of a villager in care of a hundred sheep and one goes missing. His listeners would have understood the dire situation here because sheep must be watched. Sheep must be taken care of all the time. Why? Because they're dumb. They are. Sound familiar? It's because sometimes even when they fall over and roll on their backs, they can't get up. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Especially here in Central Florida. But we're not talking about physically, we're talking about spiritually. Never mind the fact that they are helpless prey as predators hunt and stalk them and circle looking for one to devour. If they are lost, they must be found or they will die. And so the shepherd leaves the others in the relative safety of the fold to go and seek that one. And he goes after that one until it is found. Likewise, the God who seeks, friends, finds what he's looking for. Our God never seeks and fails to find. Our God always finds what he's looking for every single time. Like a woman who loses a coin in her house, we see she turns on the light and she sweeps the house and she diligently looks for that coin until she finds it. And we understand that we have to read into this what the original hearers were hearing, right? If I lose a quarter under the couch, I'm not sweeping and going and searching for it. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a substantial amount of money. Jesus said in John 6 that those his father gives him will come to him. And he teaches that those his father gives him will come to him, and he will not lose a single one of them. Praise God, that's true. Because I would have lost myself a long time ago. Notice the active nature of God seeking. Notice his activity. May I encourage you this morning. If you have unsaved friends and unsaved family members in your life for whom you have been praying and praying and praying, and it seems like it's fruitless. Maybe it's been years, maybe it's been decades, maybe you've even somewhat given up. Doesn't seem like they're ever going to get saved. Doesn't seem like they're ever going to be found. Child of God, you do not give up. Do not stop praying. You stand in the gap for that lost soul. I don't know where I would be. And I know that many of you can relate to this without the fervent and persistent prayers of my mother and my grandmothers. You keep praying. God does not lose his sheep. Are you thankful this morning? Are you thankful that when he finds one who has gone astray, he doesn't chide or jeer? Dumb sheep, you got lost again, huh? Are you thankful that your God doesn't kick us when we're down or even lift us up and drop us back on our feet and tell us to march, slap us on the back and get us going? No. Like the shepherd here, he sets us on his strong shoulders and carries us. Not standing in the distance, waiting for us to clean ourselves up. He steps into the darkness and he bears the full weight of the rescue on his own shoulders. Praise the Lord. I am so grateful that my God is gentle and merciful and welcomes me back into his arms, even when I, as one who is prone to wander, step off of the well-lit path. You know, I wonder if there was someone here at this time who may have tried to talk this shepherd out of going after that one sheep. I mean, hey, man, where are you going? You're going to look for this one sheep? Come on. We should probably just cut our losses and focus on the ones that we have left. But our shepherd Jesus might respond, no, you don't understand. This is not just a face in the crowd. This isn't just a number on a page. I actually love this little lamb because this little lamb is my child. And in case you still haven't heard the call, dear unsaved friend, remember I said I make no assumptions. We have people who have been in the church their entire lives that have still not surrendered to Jesus as Savior. And I need you to hear me. Allow me to amplify the gospel of Jesus Christ for you. Your God loves you and is seeking you, and he does not give up. You will never be satisfied until you tire of running and you turn to face him and fall into his arms. Maybe you are even one who says, you know, I'm on search for God. Just trying to find God. I'm searching for God. Friend, it isn't God who's lost. You are. He's pursuing you. Just stop running, turn around and call out to him. And this is why, church, this is why we have received such a great commission to go and to bring the gospel. It is such a joy for me to hear of the neighborhood canvassing that the people of Oxford campus have been engaged in. What a beautiful picture of seeking and joining with Jesus and seeking and finding, not to grow the church, but to grow the kingdom of God. What a beautiful thing. Thank you for doing that for Jesus. The God who seeks compels us to share the good news. He compels us to share the good news. May I say what an amazing thing it is that the God of the universe, transcendent, almighty, creator, sustainer, God of all things, who doesn't need us, chose us to join him in his work, to join him in things that are eternal. May we never view it as something that's just a box to check, to go share the gospel. No, God has said, you are my child, and now I need you to go find me more children. What an amazing thing. We have been found. We have been saved. There ought to be a joy and a passion that flows from our very pores, understanding that what God has done for us, He wants to do for other people. A desire to see others be found just the way we were. And we celebrate the success of the gospel as the Holy Spirit works in and through us to bring others to himself. We cannot keep this to ourselves. And what's amazing, look at this. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Now, let's understand this correctly because that can almost read as though the heavens are overjoyed about the sinner who comes to the Lord, but once you're saved, there's no rejoicing anymore for you. God doesn't have any more joy in you. That's not what's being communicated here. When Jesus refers to the 99 righteous with no need for repentance, what we're actually hearing him say is this the 99 self-righteous who don't think they need to repent. And what prompted Jesus' words here was likely a pharisaical statement of the day that went something like this. They used to say, There is joy in heaven when those who provoke God perish. How's that for a roadside sign? How's that to get people to come into your church? No, Jesus says there is a party in heaven when the lost are found. Jesus says there is rejoicing in heaven when one comes to the Lord and lays down before him and surrenders. Now, listen, I recognize that this is a hard concept for some of us. The idea that God is happy, joyous even with us. For those of us who have kind of a more brooding bent, you understand what I'm saying if you're one of those people, who struggle with joy as I have my entire life, even joy in our own hearts, it's difficult to view God this way. More tragically, those who have received a skewed picture of who their heavenly father is because of an earthly father who was absent or distant or disconnected or even abusive. Can I say to you, I'm sorry? I'm sorry that that's the picture of God that you received, but that man who called himself your earthly father is not our father God. And then we look at Scripture and our minds grab hold of so many instances of God's anger and God's wrath, and we can almost understand that better. Of course, God is angry. Have you looked at the news? Have you seen what's taking place all around us? Of course he's angry. Have you looked in the mirror recently? How frequently we might look in the mirror and say, well, of course God is angry. Of course he's mad. I still can't do what I'm supposed to do. But listen, God's perfect wrath exists as a foil for perfect love and perfect happiness and joy and delight. Our God has a holy gladness about him. I love this about Pastor Cliff because he is so convinced of this truth. I am one of those. When I spoke of those with a brooding bent, one of those who I don't smile very often. I've had to learn to do that in the church, or people think I'm mad at them. I'm not. It's just kind of my natural way of being. But Pastor Cliff rests in this place of God being delighted in his people, of God being joyful about his people, and I love it. An attribute that we should force ourselves to consider more than we do. C.S. Lewis says joy is the serious business of heaven. And it's true. Jesus, the picture of God, our Father, is perfectly joyful. In fact, the joy he gives, according to John chapter 15, makes our joy complete, that is full and satisfying. And our God who seeks celebrates sincere repentance. Celebrates sincere repentance. It was really difficult for me to prep this sermon without going into the prodigal son sermon, right? Gotta leave some meat on the bone for next week, so we're not gonna go there. But what an amazing God that celebrates sincere repentance, that we can come before him and just simply fall on our knees and allow him to lift us up in his arms and wrap us up and remind us of how much he loves us. So, dear Christians, would you strive to keep the party in heaven going? Would you strive to make sure that there's a celebration in heaven on a regular basis? Do you share God's feelings of love and care for the lost? Will you run to them? Will you go get them and show them Jesus? Bring them in, introduce them to your gracious Savior and experience this flood of joy in your soul when the lost are found. That is what we've been called to as ambassadors for Christ. As children of God, we are free to step outside of ourselves and to go seek the lost and bring them before our Savior Jesus Christ. Our God is a seeking God. He welcomes sinners to come to Him. He confronts our self-righteousness. He finds what he's looking for. He compels us to share the good news. And he celebrates sincere repentance. None of this because we can add one inkling of value to him. All because he loves us and he knows how much we need him. His mercy and grace are amazing. Amen. Will you pray with me? Living God, we thank you for your word. God, I pray that the words of this teaching from your word would find good soil, would sink in deep, and that your Holy Spirit would water and cultivate those seeds to grow us, to sanctify us, to make us more like Jesus, to bring us closer to you. God, we love you, but we ask you to please help us to love you more. We trust you, help us to trust you more. God, we are submissive to whatever you have for us, but help us to surrender more. God, help us to want what you want, to love what you love, to hate what you hate. God help us to be effective for your kingdom in our temporary time here before you call us home. This is your people, and it is for your glory. And we pray it in your son Jesus' name. Amen.