Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. – Luke 15:7
The world is changing. It is far different from 2,000 years ago when Jesus walked the face of the Earth. It is different from the world of Puritan John Bunyan 350 years ago or of evangelist Dwight L. Moody over 100 years ago. It is different from the era when Billy Graham held enormous rallies. It is even different from what it was six months ago, and it will be different tomorrow. However, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and He is still working to reconcile the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). He remains the Way, the Truth, and the Life, (John 14:6) and the only way to attain eternal life with the Father.
Today’s verse comes within the parables on lost things: a sheep, a coin, a son. Jesus’ words perplexed the Pharisees and Sadducees, who challenged Him for not behaving like a proper Jewish rabbi. After all, He ate with tax collectors and sinners! But Jesus emphasized that He cares about one person at a time. In a world with billions of people, He calls individuals to repentance, and then all Heaven rejoices when they come to Him. Jesus does not direct Himself only to the “significant,” and, while He ministers to crowds, people come to Him one at a time.
Jesus’ message about the 99 who “need no repentance“ was a rebuttal to the Pharisees’ challenge about “eating with tax collectors and sinners.” Heaven is joy-filled when any person recognizes his or her need to repent and comes to the Savior. The self-righteous religious leaders thought they had no need of repentance. Pastor Steven Cole wrote, “When a sinner turns from his sins to God, all heaven rejoices because God gets the glory. When a self-righteous person continues in his self-righteousness, he gets the glory, and God is not pleased.” In this ever-changing world, is your heart burdened for the lost – for an entire lost world or for an individual, perhaps for certain U.S. political officials? God is working as you pray.
Today’s Verse: Luke 15:7
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Luke 15:1-10
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
