The Lostness of the Lost
Opening Prayer:
Father God, we pray today that you will open our eyes and help us to see more completely the evidence of your grace to us. Help us to recognize that every day is a gift from you. Help us to accept this time of worship as a divine appointment. Give us the faith we need to experience the living presence of Christ in this service. In Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen.
Listen to Luke 15:1-7
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Introduction
The New Testament clearly teaches that God so loved a lost and needy world that he gave his Son to die on a cross that the world might be saved.
John 3:16 tells us “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
On every page of the Gospels, we see that Jesus Christ was concerned about the lostness of people; he wanted to rescue and restore them to God the Father.
In Luke 19:10, Jesus said of Himself, “For the Son of man came to seek and save those who are lost”
In Romans 10:1 the apostle Paul wrote, “The longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved.”
The lostness of people was a pressing burden on Paul’s heart, a burden that caused him to evangelize wherever and whenever possible.
The sad truth is that many modern-day Christians do not share the same sense of urgency that the Apostle Paul had to tell others about Jesus. To tell people the Good News about Salvation in Jesus.
Somewhere over the years, we have lost the sense of urgency to warn the unsaved about the fate that follows a life of no faith in Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us, that Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
Have we let the devil blind our minds as he has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the way to become children of God?
If we have allowed Satan to blind our minds to the lostness of unsaved people, we will not urgently tell them about how they can be saved by personally trusting in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Today, I want us to consider the lostness of unsaved people and our responsibility to shine Christ's light upon their path, so that they may move from living in the darkness of unbelief apart from God into His marvellous light. As Jesus speaking to the Apostle Paul in Acts 26:18 said ‘to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’
There are 6 brief points I want to address today:
Lost Persons Lose the Very Life of God
Lost Persons Lose the Nature of God
Lost Persons Lose the Presence of God
Lost Persons Lose the Guidance of God
Lost Persons Lose the Comfort of God
Lost Souls Lose the Privilege of Going to Heaven.
Lost Persons Lose the Very Life of God
When a person becomes a believer in Jesus, they receive the miracle of new birth, they are born again into the very life of God.
In John 10:28, Jesus said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand."
Those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour receive eternal life.
Eternal life is something which is more qualitative than quantitative.
Lost Persons Lose the Nature of God
The miracle of the new birth brings with it the very nature and character of God in embryonic form. Through faith, we become partakers of the divine nature of God.
2 Peter 1:4, And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
When we are born again, through this new birth we become the children of God
1 John 3:1–2, See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as he really is.
Sadly, those who reject Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord lose the privilege of receiving God’s nature.
Lost Persons Lose the Presence of God
The disciples were greatly strengthened and blessed by the presence of Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry.
He encouraged them and us with the promise of his abiding presence as they carried out the Great Commission of Matthew 28:20, “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Jesus accomplished this by sending his Holy Spirit to live within believers, John 14:16-18, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.”
Jesus promised His abiding presence through the Holy Spirit to believers. This presence strengthens and guides us.
Lost Persons Lose the Guidance of God
Isaiah 53:6 "All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all."
The Prophet Isaiah described unbelievers as sheep who have gone astray, having turned to their own.
He urged them to seek God while he may be found and to return to him so that they might obtain pardon and mercy. Isaiah 55:6–7, Seek the Lord while you can find Him. Call on Him now while He is near. 7 Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that He may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for He will forgive generously.
King David was a psalmist who spoke from personal experience and a heart of faith, In Psalm 23:3 David wrote of God, “He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name.”
David pictured God as a Shepherd who leads His sheep along the paths of life that lead to abundant living in the here and now.
Friend, know that through the Holy Spirit, God wants to guide you and give you directions throughout your life.
Lost Persons Lose the Comfort of God
Sooner or later we all experience the pain of separation from those near and dear to us through death. Only those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour can claim and be comforted by the precious promises of God found throughout the Bible.
I am mindful of the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.
Christians should not grieve as those who have no hope, or as those who have either rejected Christ or neglected to trust him.
Those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour can find comfort in the midst of grief, holding onto the hope of eternal life.
Lost Souls Lose the Privilege of Going to Heaven.
Heaven is being prepared for those who receive and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Listen to John 14:1-6, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
It is not the will of the Father God that any should perish but that all should repent and receive the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
Consider 2 Peter 3:8-9, But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
The losses unbelievers experience in this life are too numerous to list. And those who shut out Jesus Christ from their lives rob themselves of eternal life.
Jesus Christ loved you so much that he went to the cross and died there for you. Jesus was so powerful that he conquered death and the grave. He is so gracious that he offers you forgiveness that is full and free forever.
The final thought is this:
Today is the day you should turn from a life without faith and ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and receive you into God’s family.
Perhaps in your life, you feel you have already lost much. Don’t take a chance on losing eternal life. Jesus is waiting for you today. Come to him now as Lord and Saviour.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your boundless love and the gift of eternal life through Your Son, Jesus Christ.
For those who as yet do not know you as Lord and Saviour, I pray that you will open their hearts and minds to the truth of your word. Help them dear Lord to trust in you.
For those of us who know Jesus as Lord and Saviour, I pray you will open our eyes to the lost people around us, and ignite in us a sense of urgency to share your grace, mercy and love with them.
Use us dear God as your instruments in rescuing the lost. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
