He was not a very active vice president, but he took great pleasure in presiding over the Senate.
One day, as he was presiding, one senator angrily told another senator to go, “straight to hell.”
The offended Senator openly complained to Coolidge as the presiding officer.
Coolidge was leafing through the book of rules as he made his complaint. He looked up from the book and replied: “Senator, I’ve looked through the rule book. YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO TO HELL!”
That is the good news that we have to share with the world. We have looked it up in God’s Book. No one has to go to hell.
We read in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The greatest news that can enter the ears of a man is that God loves him and wants to save Him. He does not have to perish, he can be saved. Isn’t it great to share good news?
Illus: An elderly couple had raised their daughter and son and they had moved to another town hundreds of miles away.
The only time these old timers heard from either one of them was when they wanted something. To get them to come see them, they had to pay their way most of the time.
On her birthday, this dear old mother said, “Honey, for my birthday present the greatest news would be to hear that our son and daughter are coming to see us!”
This bothered her husband and he decided to do something about it. He called his son up and said, "I hate to ruin your day Bob, but your mother and I are going to a lawyer tomorrow and we are getting a divorce. Twenty-five years of misery is enough! I'm sick of her, and I'm sick of talking about this, so call your sister in Boston and tell her." Then he hung up!
Bob immediately called his sister, who was absolutely frantic upon hearing the news. She called her father. "You two are not getting a divorce!" she yelled. "Bob and I will be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a single thing, do you hear me?"
The old man hung up the phone and turned to his wife and said, “I have some good news to share with you! Our son and daughter will be coming tomorrow and they're paying their own way!"
We love to share good news, DON’T WE!
Illus: Lucy Martin, in her late 20’s, feared being an old maid. She finally met Billy and he proposed to her. She immediately went home and told her family she was getting married. She was so proud of being engaged that when she saw someone coming in her direction she would scratch her nose so they could see her engagement ring. And in case they walked passed her and looked at her from the back, she would rub the back of hair when they went by.
None of us like to hear any bad news, but we all like to hear GOOD NEWS! And the greatest news that can enter the ears of man is that the Lord loves Him and does not want him to perish!
Illus: Suppose you were on death row. What could be the greatest news you could receive? The greatest news would be for you to hear that the Governor just gave you a pardon AND YOU NOW ARE FREE!
WHY IS THE GOSPEL GOOD NEWS? The Bible says, in John 3:18, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Did you get that? God’s Word says the lost man is condemned already. He is just waiting for the time he will be cast into Hell.
This is why the greatest news a lost person can receive is to be told they do not have to go to Hell, the Lord Jesus has PARDONED THEM!
• You can have everything this world has to give, but if you do not have Christ you have nothing.
• You may have more than enough money, great looks, great education, great family, but if you do not know Jesus Christ in a personal way, you have missed the point of this life.
The Lord said, in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
God has called THE CHURCH TO REACH THE LOST! The church that is in tune with the Word of God is a soul-winning church.
I. LOST SOULS MATTER TO BELIEVERS
We understand what 2 Cor. 5:10-11 teaches. We read, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”
Look at the word “Persuade”. This is what God has called the CHURCH TO DO. We are to persuade the LOST to come to know the Lord, because we do not want them to be lost for eternity.
The Bible describes them as living in the darkness of sin. They are totally blind to where Satan is leading them, and we must love them enough to try and persuade them not to follow him.
Our job as Christians is to persuade lost people to come to Christ.
Illus: Airman Jones was assigned to the induction center where he was to advise new recruits about their government benefits, especially their GI insurance.
It wasn't long before Captain Smith noticed that Airman Jones had almost a 100% record for insurance sales, which had never happened before.
Rather than ask about this, the Captain stood in the back of the room and listened to Jones' sales pitch.
Jones explained the basics of the GI Insurance to the two new recruits.
He said, "If you have GI Insurance and go into battle and are killed, the government has to pay $200,000 to your beneficiaries.” “If you don't have GI insurance, and you go into battle and get killed, the government has to pay $6000." "Now," he concluded, “which people do you think Uncle Sam is going to send into battle first?”
They bought the insurance!
As Christians, we PERSUADE lost people to come to know the Lord.
Today many Christians have lost that concern to PERSUADE THE LOST TO COME TO CHRIST!
Increasingly, there is a tendency to believe that all good people, whether or not they consider Jesus Christ to be their Savior, will live in heaven after they die. People think that they will go to Heaven -
• As long as they are sincere
• As long as they believe in something
• As long as they are religious in some kind of a way
• As long as they are a good person
Illus: Two prominent preachers appearing on the Larry King show were asked, “If a person does not believe on the Lord Jesus will they go to Hell?” And both of these prominent preachers dodged the question by saying that they would rather not say, and they would let God be the judge of that!
If they both were Bible preachers, they would know that God’s Word teaches the lost are condemned already.
Look at John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Look at John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, BUT BY ME.”
With that in mind, I want to say that when it comes to sharing Christ with others, you must understand that people are eternally lost without Christ. This is a truth that is often overlooked in our culture.
But the good news is that the Lord Jesus died in their place and will give them a complete pardon if they will accept it.
God has placed the church here to reach the LOST.
This is our motivation for bringing people to Christ. We believe that this Bible teaches about a place called Hell.
We want to prevent people from going there. We do not want our loved ones, friends or anyone else to be eternally separated from God.
The Apostle Paul said, in 2 Cor. 5:1-11, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men,,,.”
We see that LOST SOULS MATTER TO BELIEVERS and -
II. LOST SOULS MATTER TO THE LORD
The second thing that we need to understand about LOST PEOPLE is that lost people matter to God.
Jesus was called the friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19). We read, “…A friend of publicans and sinners…”
Illus: There is a song we sing sometimes, called, “What a friend we have in Jesus!” Lost person, I want you to know today that the Lord Jesus is the greatest friend you have ever had or will ever have.
• He has always loved you
• He has never done a thing to hurt you
• He protected you from all kinds of diseases and enemies that wanted to hurt you
• He has provided for you
What a friend you have in Jesus!
Don’t you think it is time that you embraced Him today? The Bible says He is a friend to sinners.
Among his followers were former tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves and murderers. He did not love their sins, but he did love the sinner.
There is an interesting passage in the second book of Peter. He is trying to explain the coming judgment. He has been asked by people why it was taking so long for it to come. Why didn’t God just come and destroy all those filthy sinners in the world.
In 2 Peter 3:9, we read, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The most familiar passage in the Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17).
As I read the 15th chapter of Luke I am reminded of God’s incredible love for the lost. This is the chapter of lost things: a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son. In each case God is pictured as searching and longing for what has been lost.
When the sinful and rebellious son comes to his senses and repents and returns home, the father runs to embrace him. He says 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 hither 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.” (Luke 15:22-24).
Jesus said, “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7).
Conclusion:
Lost person, the Lord today is seeking you. You need to come to the Lord today!
Did you know that all men will seek Him one day, but they will seek Him when it is too late. NOW IS THE APPOINTED TIME! THE LORD WILL SAVE YOU IF YOU WILL COME TO HIM!
We have looked at:
I. LOST SOULS MATTER TO BELIEVERS
II. LOST SOULS MATTERS TO THE LORD
