“PRIORITY #3: LOVE THE LOST” John 3:16
FBCF – 1/25/26
Jon Daniels
INTRO – The Incredible Journey (pic) – children’s book written by Sheila Burnford – 1961 – 3 pets, Labrador, bull terrier, & a Siamese cat – travel 300 miles through Canadian wilderness to find their owners. 1993 – Adapted into Disney movie that my kids loved, “Homeward Bound.”
Back to the book. Years ago, a copy of the book was checked out of a CA library & then returned to that library. Only one problem – it was due back on May 20, 1980 (pic). When it was returned, it was overdue by 46 yrs! It’s a good thing that the library no longer charges fines for overdue books b/c whoever had it would probably have had to sell a kidney to pay the fine! I think we can safely say – in the mind of some librarian in CA, that book was lost, but now it’s found. Reminds us of “Amazing Grace” – “…I once was lost, but now am found”
There are 8.3 billion people in the world, & all of us are on an incredible journey right now – this journey called LIFE. And all of us are headed toward a destination, a place where we will spend eternity. In a sense, we are all headed to our eternal home. For some, that eternal home is heaven. Not everyone is going to end up in that home. Some people believe & teach that all roads lead to heaven & all you have to do is pick the one you want to be one – the one that fits you the best – the one that FEELS right to you – the one you like the best – the one that is the easiest. Jesus had something to say about that belief. Matthew 7:13 – “…the gate to hell is wide & the road that leads to it is easy, & there are many who travel it.” (GNT)
The sad reality is that over 4.5 billion people in the world are on that easy road. And the destination that their journey will take them to, the eternal home that they are rapidly moving toward is a very real place called hell. That place will be their eternal home unless someone loves them enough to go to them & tell them the Good News of John 3:16.
Today, conclude series “3 Priorities for the New Year (& every year for the rest of your life)”. Priority #1: Love God – Priority #2: Love the Church – Priority #3: Love the Lost
EXPLANATION – John 3:16
You & I as Christ-followers need to believe & breathe John 3:16. We as a Church need to be positioned on & proclaim John 3:16. Our lives need to be saturated with & sold out to John 3:16. 4 points to ponder about John 3:16:
God’s merciful love is shown to everyone – “For God so loved the WORLD…” – He loves the saved & the lost, the Christians & non-Christians. He loves YOU regardless of skin color, socioeconomic status, lifestyle choices, whether you love Trump or hate Trump. He loves you regardless of mistakes you’ve made & sins you’ve committed. He loves you if this is your first time to set foot inside a church building or if you’ve got perfect attendance for the last 50 yrs. He loves you if you were drunk last night or if you’re a teetotaler who never touches the stuff. He loves you if your family really is as wonderful as it looks on your social media page or if you’re faking it b/c your life & family are a trainwreck. He loves you if you believe the Bible & strive to live by its teachings or if you reject the Bible & live any way you want to live. HE LOVES YOU, no matter who you are, what you’ve done, or how you’re living. And b/c of His merciful love toward you, He wants to totally transform your life.
God’s magnificent gift is given for everyone – “…that He gave His only-begotten Son…” – No matter how good you, how moral you are, how law-abiding you are, you cannot save yourself. You are a sinner who needs a Savior, & Jesus is that Savior – the ONLY Savior! And God gave Him to you & for you so that you can be saved. John 14:6 – “…the way, the truth, & the life…”
God’s massive offer is made to everyone – “…that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him should not perish…” – Love the word “whosoever” b/c that includes everyone. Doesn’t mean everyone is going to be saved. But does mean that He offers everyone that opportunity – the opportunity not to “perish” – to die spiritually & go to hell.
God’s mighty transformation is available to everyone – “…but have everlasting life.” – An eternal transformation is available to everyone. Death or life – the choice is up to each person.
John 3:16 is the Gospel in a nutshell & sums up God’s love so succinctly. But the message of His love for all people permeates every page in the Bible.
APPLICATION – Every Christ-follower must speak love & show love to those who are lost.
So how do we do this?
LET THE LOVE OF CHRIST COMPEL YOU – 2 COR 5:14-15 – “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” And what the Bible tells us is that, out of His love for us, He died for all of us & none of us are worthy of that. Let that love compel you, constrain you, & control you, & consume you. Gk word means that we are so overwhelmed by His love for us that we are moved to show that same love to others. It means that you start seeing others through His eyes & realize that NO ONE is beyond reaching or beyond saving, no matter what they’re doing right now or how they’re living right now. Don’t give up on them!
- Devout Muslim or Hindu or Mormon? Don’t give up!
- Marching in gay pride parade? Don’t give up!
- Storming churches in MN? Don’t give up!
- Addicted to drugs or pornography? Don’t give up!
- Pro-abortion? Don’t give up!
- In prison on death row? Don’t give up!
- Atheist or agnostic? Don’t give up!
LET THE WILL OF GOD COMPEL YOU – 2 PETER 3:9 – Sometimes we see God’s will as something mysterious & hard to know. And at times that may be true.
But there’s one thing we can know about God’s will: It’s not His will that anyone be lost & die in their sin. He loves sinners & wants to give them the gift of eternal life!
- Ezekiel 33:11 – “Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning and live.” (GNT)
- 1 Timothy 2:4 – He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
- Titus 2:11 – “…the free gift of eternal salvation is now being offered to everyone.” (TLB)
No matter how we feel – “Well they’re going to get what’s coming to them” – that doesn’t change God desire for everyone to repent, turn away from their sin, & turn to Jesus & be saved.
LET THE MISSION OF JESUS COMPEL YOU – Luke 19:10 – Blue Brothers – “We’re on a mission from God.” Don’t think Day Akroyd & John Belushi were on the same mission that Jesus was on. He made it abundantly clear why He came. And we are to be on that same mission. We can’t save them – only He can do that. But we are to actively seek them – seek to love them – seek to build relationships w/ them – seek to share the Gospel w/ them – seek to win them to the Lord.
LET THE REALITY OF HELL COMPEL YOU – Jesus spoke more about hell than He did about heaven. And that is something we ought to pay attention to. There’s nothing coincidental or accidental about that reality. Albert Mohler – “That should tell us something about the nature of this doctrine. It is meant to get our attention.” We MUST think about what is at stake about rejecting Jesus as our Lord & Savior – what is at stake between heaven & hell. Listen to what Jesus Himself said about hell – Just sit in these verses & let them marinate in your soul:
- Matthew 25:41 – Jesus said that those who are lost will “Depart…into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” V. 46 says those who are lost “…will go away into eternal punishment…”
- Matthew 13:42 – Those who are lost will be thrown “into the fiery furnace…where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Mark 9:43 – Hell is an “unquenchable fire.”
- Luke 16:23-24 – Hell is a place of “torment”, a place where you’ll be “in anguish in this flame.”
A couple of other verses:
- Revelation 20:15 – “…if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
- Jude 1:7 – Sodom & Gomorrah “…were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.” (NLT)
Some may say, “Whew! Glad I’m not going there!” & rightfully so. But let those verses break your heart w/ the reality of where every lost person will spend eternity. They will go to a real place called hell that is a place of eternal conscious torment.
Erwin Lutzer: “We have all experienced sharp pain that made us cry out in agony. I call to mind the throbbing pain of an abscess tooth that was so piercing I thought I was being driven out of my mind but was eventually relieved when I took Tylenol. Now imagine not just physical pain but the mental torment of the wrath of God plaguing you moment by moment. You are reliving your own sin & deliberate disobedience, filled with anguish in a place described as a place of “unquenchable fire.” No drugs are available to deaden the pain, so you long to vanish into nothingness but are unable to do so. Even after ten thousand years of torment, you would be no closer to the end of suffering the pangs of hell than you were on day one. And perhaps in your heightened agony you have a clear memory of the family you once had on Earth & long to find comfort in their well-being, but you are condemned to eternally wonder about their fate (as did the tormented man in Hades in Luke 16:19–31)…You are in a constant state of death, decomposition, & darkness, apart from the presence of God (2 Thessalonians 1:8–9). Visualize excruciating loneliness, knowing that no one in heaven or hell is moved by your plight. Even if they are aware, they would deem your isolation to be just. You are isolated—forever. Forever.” (https://www.moodymedia.org/blog/2026/01/hell-kirk-cameron-and-his-critics/)
CONCLUSION - Vision statement: "First Baptist Flora is making much of Jesus by being a people & a place of GRACE where anyone can meet Jesus & grow in their relationship with Him."
The "anyone" includes the lost sinner & the saved saint. Come to Jesus today!
