Not one is lost!
Luke 15:8-10
Introduction
Go with me in your bibles to Luke, Chapter 15.
This morning, we are one more week closer to celebrating the greatest gift we have ever been given, and that is the gift Jesus Christ gave us freely on the cross.
It was God’s greatest pleasure to sacrifice for you and I, and Easter ought to be the most joyous celebration that any Christian ever has. It is better than Christmas, it is better than our own birthday; it is the reason that we have a security and a hope in a future, apart from this world.
This morning, as we approach the Easter season it is important to put in the fore-front of our mind that Jesus is the reason – it is He that we come to celebrate, and today we need a refreshing of His Spirit to renew our hearts and minds.
Paul writes in Romans 12:2 to “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
When we renew our minds, it means that we remove what we want in there, and ask God to fill our minds with His purpose. Today, I challenge you to renew your minds and our hearts for Jesus Christ.
Easter is coming, and what an amazing gift back to Jesus it would be if He would be able to use you, because you stopped running from Him.
This morning we will look at a great parable, demonstrating the very simple message of what Jesus has done for us.
Read Luke 15:8-10
Pray
Point 1 – Are you lost? (v8)
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?”
Consider for a moment a lost coin. It cannot be used for anything – not to buy or sell a thing – it needs to be found. This may seem like a very simple example, but Jesus did not teach in difficult words – he taught so that we could understand and see the need for our lives to be different.
When you are lost, you are without anything as well. Your life is in ruin, and you are usually in hiding from your own disobedience, and God cannot use you for His purpose.
In the verses following 8 Jesus uses the parable of sheep and demonstrates how important it is that even the one lost sheep be found.
I want you to see that you are in the same condition. You are sheep who need to be found because you are lost as well.
Jesus calls out to lost sheep because His Father has promised that not one will be lost that has been given to Him, and just like the lost coin in this story, we need to be found.
Being saved (or found) is not all there is to life – But living your life for Jesus – that is what is required to truly be called children of God.
Consider the efforts placed by the woman to find the coin.
She lit a lamp = Jesus is the light of the world
Sweeps the house = Jesus looks even when you don’t want to be found
She searches carefully until it is found = Jesus does not stop calling to you
When you are lost, you need something – even to be found
Point 2 – Are you found? (v9)
“And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ’Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’”
There is a celebration when we find money – and so in the same way there ought to be a celebration when YOU are found as well!
Far too often we get comfortable in the pews because we have our fire insurance and we fail to recognize the importance of another being found in our midst.
It is a joyous celebration. Jesus is teaching in this parable about finding money because each of us can understand that. We know what it means. Consider the last time you found $5 in a pair of jeans – were you not just like the woman in this story? Telling your friends and family that you found it? Sure you were!!
Now, consider the last time you stopped running from God and He found you – were you not in the same frame of mind?
Today we celebrated a baptism – the outward sign of what has happened inside – this transformation is what happens to each of us when we give our lives over to the Lord, but it is not enough to just give … we have to LIVE as well!
When we are found, we need to share it with others so that they may be found as well – the Kingdom of God is not a social club, it is open for all who desire to come into it and be used by God for His purpose, not our own.
Consider this: Who’s your favorite football team, Alabama or Auburn?
If I opened a debate on which team is better we would all have something to say.
We would eagerly share which one we liked and why. Right?
Well then, let me ask another question. Which is your favorite? Jesus or Satan?
Why is it then that when it comes to that issue, we get quiet and reserved and all of a sudden it is not ok to share with the world the one who found you? Or why can we not share with the world the one who you serve?
Let me tell you something – if you are not serving one – you are serving the other. There is no middle ground here; one of them is the master of your life today. Which would you want to admit is in charge?
When we are found, we need to share it with one another because you have been given a gift – the gift of a second chance (or third, or fourth, etc.) – and because you have been given this gift you can celebrate and rejoice!
Point 3 – Rejoice! (v10)
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Angels rejoice when your name is in the Lamb’s book of Life
Angels even rejoice when you get your life right with God and begin to look to Him for guidance and direction.
It is a celebration to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is because God loved us so much (John 3:16) that he sent His Son to die on a cross. Easter is about more than just the crucifixion and resurrection – it is about Jesus’ efforts to bring another soul home from the hands of Satan.
I don’t mince words on this subject so please here me clearly: God the Father, Jesus Christ, and every angel in Heaven are waiting for you to come home.
Jesus showed us the way that we need to go by demonstrating how to live.
We have stories by real men and women who lived their lives for Christ throughout the bible, if only we would read them and gain strength from it.
This verse 10 is very important and honestly is a sermon by itself. When just one sinner repents of their ways, the angels rejoice in the presence (at the throne) of God. They celebrate more enthusiastically then Bryant Denny Stadium does on Saturday afternoon.
When you repent, you accept the miracle of the cross – you accept it as a fact and then God can begin to use you. There is no magic formula in this – either you are living for Jesus or you are living for the devil. Jesus made it clear that there is no middle road by laying down His life to show us that there is only one way into Heaven.
Whether repentance is for salvation, or because your life is out of balance – there is rejoicing because there is freedom at the cross.
Conclusion
Invite singers
With every closed and every head bowed, let me ask you a few questions.
Are you lost? Do you need to accept the Lord in your life?
Have you been found but your life is out of balance?
Do you need to change your life today and to stop running from God?
Do you need to rejoice?
God is looking for you this morning; won’t you stop running and come to Him?
Pray
