“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
A husband and wife are on a long trip in their car. For a long while there is silence, as she dozes in and out and he watches the road.
Finally, it occurs to her that he seems to be watching the road signs more intently, and occasionally slows down at cross roads for a better look.
She turns to look at him and says, “You’re lost, aren’t you?”
Of course her husband denies being lost, but a few minutes later he pulls over at a rest stop, and when his wife comes back to the car from the facilities she sees him studying a road map.
“You ARE lost!” She exclaims. “Why don’t you ask one of these truckers for directions? THEY know where they’re going.”
With irritation in his tone, as he roughly folds the map, he declares, “I am NOT lost! I think the next town is just an hour or so up the road; I’ll get my bearings then.”
Sound familiar?
Well, I can’t say I have the whole thing entirely figured out, but I do have a theory about the difference between men and women that makes this sort of conflict so common among us, that comedians can use it as a theme for a whole line of jokes and be sure to get laughter.
Are you ready? Maybe it is that women, when they are not sure how to get where they want to go, feel lost; While men, the great hunters, will not admit they are lost until they no longer know how to get back to where they started!
This is offered, not in hope of curing the problem of men not asking directions (that ain‘t gonna happen), but to illustrate the condition of all mankind (men and women alike) before God.
When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, he became LOST. Romans 5 tells us that death spread to all men through Adam’s sin, because all of mankind was in Adam’s loins when he sinned.
Since that day, not only have men not known how to get where they WANT to go (Heaven), but they can’t even get back to where they came from (right standing with God).
The Bible says, “all have sinned and come short of God’s glory”.
Let’s focus more sharply on this ‘lost’ condition for a moment. First, men are lost in their very nature. From birth, we are lost and need a Savior.
It is not only those who have committed wicked acts that are lost.
There is only one other place in the Gospels where it is recorded that Jesus uttered the phrase that is today‘s text; it is in Matthew 18.
Jesus takes a small child and stands that child before His hearers, saying that those who come to God must come in child-like faith, then says, “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost”. Even little children owe their salvation to Jesus when He takes them home in infancy.
Not only are we lost by nature, we are lost by our acts.
It is one thing to say we’re lost because of Adam’s sin; and maybe that could be refuted if that was all we had to go by. But our sinful nature is EXPRESSED in sinful acts.
(James 1:14.15)
Our members become the instruments that carry out what comes from within.
You don’t have to teach a child to steal cookies from the cookie jar; you have to teach him NOT to.
Laws are not written for those who have no tendency to do wrong; they are there to restrict our natural inclinations to selfishness and greed and hatred and bigotry, and keep some kind of order in a society of sinful men. The evil we see around us only proves the potential for evil in ourselves.
Not only are we lost, we are incapable of helping ourselves...unable even to get back to the state of Adam before the Fall.
During the time that I was in Bible college there was a story on the news about a little girl, who lived with her mother in an apartment building in downtown Los Angeles. One afternoon the toddler was missing, so a search began. Someone finally thought to check the shaft of an elevator that had not been working properly, and cones had been set up to warn that it was out of service. When they looked into the shaft, they could see the crushed little body of the girl, between the elevator car and the shaft wall. She had apparently pushed a button that had set the car in motion, but the door had not closed and her frilly dress had been caught in the works, which dragged her between the car and the wall until it jammed to a stop.
When I heard this story, I was struck with how utterly helpless that little girl was against her circumstances, and I thought about how helpless men are against the destructiveness of sin.
In Romans 3, Paul addressed this helpless condition when he said, “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless”.
My opening illustration of the man and woman on a trip falls somewhat short though, of defining our spiritual ‘lostness’.
It is not only a matter of losing our way. The kind of lost the Bible is talking about has to do with that, but more. It is a state of having been rendered worthless.
It is the kind of lostness that would cause us to look at a vehicle that was involved in a major accident, and say, “It’s a total loss”. Or smell a piece of meat that has been in the fridge too long, and say, “It’s rotten. No good.”
Get the picture? ALL of mankind is lost to God; not just wandering, but hopeless, useless, wrecked, rotten.
Now let’s talk for just a moment about this term Jesus used in reference to Himself. “The Son of Man”.
Notice that He did not say, “The Son of God”, although He could have.
He didn’t come with a flaming sword, in a glorious state, pronouncing judgment and doom; although He could have.
He condescended to take the form of sinful men, and came to seek that which was lost.
See it?
He came, not to JUDGE, but to SEEK.
There’s an old story of a man who was walking at night, and saw another man searching for something near a lamp post. Approaching, he asked the man what he was looking for, and the man, without looking up, replied, “My watch”. The first man asked, “Well, precisely where were you standing when you dropped it?” Continuing his search, the man pointed a finger in the distance and said, “Over there somewhere.” Incredulous, the first man said, “Well then sir, why are you looking for it here?” Finally looking up in frustration and meeting the first man’s gaze, the searcher replied testily, “Because sir, the light is better here!”
When you’re looking for something, you go where you think it is! You don’t look for lost keys in the oven.
You don’t look for a lost dog in the hospital operating room. You go where you think the item might be.
Furthermore, when you want to restore a damaged car, you go AS a body worker or a mechanic; not as a lawyer or a professor.
When you want to fix a damaged door you go AS a carpenter, not as a logger or a farmer.
See it?
Jesus...God of eternity...came as a man to seek lost mankind; to redeem worthless mankind back to Himself.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14)
But He did it for so much more than to seek and find; He did it to seek and SAVE. Redeem. Purchase back. Make new and valuable.
He suffered in our place, He died in our place, He paid the debts in our place, He raised from the grave in our place, and He went to Heaven as our forerunner, where He prepares a place for us.
It is the Son of MAN, friend of sinners, who has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Next, I want you to notice that He ‘HAS come’. He said “The Son of Man has come...” Not WILL come, but HAS come.
Before His birth in Bethlehem, those who believed the promise of a Redeemer might have had many days of doubt and discouragement. They could only sit in their cells of imprisonment to sin and Satan and wonder when that day would come.
But ours is a surer faith. Peter said, “We have the prophetic word made MORE sure” Why? Because the Son of Man HAS come.
There is nothing to despair about anymore, lost one. The Redeemer, who tenderly and compassionately calls Himself “Son of Man”, friend of sinners, has accomplished His work.
He sought, He found, He paid the price, purchasing your salvation, and now calls you to believe and partake of His Heavenly glory.
He became YOU, so that you might become as He is.
He walked the dust, so that you could walk the streets of gold.
He bore the hot, mid-eastern sun, so you could live in the light of His glory, where there will be no need for sun by day, nor moon by night.
He humbled Himself to the point of humiliating death on a Roman cross, so He could exalt you to the highest Heaven.
He went down into the grave so you could be raised up and seated with Him in the Heavenly places.
He rose from death so you would no longer have to fear it,
Now as I close I just want to mention something that is evident in this account from which I’ve taken my text.
Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
He said this, after announcing that salvation had come to the house of Zaccheus.
What I want you to see, is that Jesus made this announcement on the heels of Zaccheus’ declaration that he would give half of his possessions tot he poor, and give back four-fold what he had acquired wrongfully.
Folks, when we come to a true, saving faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, there are evidences.
Some come slowly, others come immediately.
But two of those evidences that should be immediately apparent to one who has believed and received the Holy Spirit, are REPENTANCE and COMPASSION.
Repentance is a true, Godly sorrow for past sins and the wrong done to people.
It brings about a desire to pay back (where paying back is possible), to fix, to make peace.
In Zaccheus’ case, true Godly repentance caused him to want to pay back four-fold what he had taken.
No one demanded it of him; it wasn’t court-ordered; he WANTED to.
The other evidence seen here is compassion. When we receive the Christ-life; when the Spirit of Christ takes up residence within us, we will begin to HAVE and SHOW a Christ-like compassion.
We will want to give, because He gave so much for us.
Zaccheus announced he would give half of his possessions to the poor. No one demanded it of him; he WANTED to.
Now I am not preaching that we aren’t really saved if we don’t give half of our possessions to the poor. What caused Zaccheus to make that claim was that he was very wealthy and had hoarded it for himself. What made him want to give it, was the Christ-like compassion that is found in the heart where Christ reigns.
Repentance. Compassion.
Jesus doesn’t pardon sin, then let us just go on as before.
He makes a new man; gives that man a new nature in accordance with His divine nature, then brings forth fruit according to that new nature.
He redeems fully. He gives worth. He makes us like Himself.
The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Do you have a consciousness of your sin today? Has the Holy Spirit shined His light on the blackness of your soul so that you could see your wretched condition before God?
Do not ignore Him; He has sought you out and He wants to save you to the uttermost.
Let His light lead you to paths of glory.
Is Satan discouraging you; saying, “It’s too late! Your life has been filled with sin and blasphemy! You are altogether LOST!”
Well, you just snatch that sword out of Satan’s hand and use it against him.
“Be gone, Satan! Yes, I am altogether lost; but the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost!”
Run to the cross today! Don’t delay another minute. His blood was shed to pay for your sins, and He rose again to give you the kind of life that is glorious in quality and eternal in duration.
Be able to end this day saying, “I am found”. “I am rescued”. I am SAVED!”
