Who Are The Lost? Series

Our New sermon series is entitled, “The Ends of the Earth,” an obvious reference to Acts 1:8.

Acts 1:8 (NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

For the most part, we understand this verse, Jesus made this commanded to his disciples just prior to His ascension back to heaven. This verse, along with the Great commandment at the end of the book of Matthew (Matt 28:19-20) Jesus commands His church, His people into the whole world with the Gospel, to be His witnesses. Not just locally, but throughout the land, even to "the end of the earth." We will be discussing taking the Gospel, and being witnesses to the end of the earth.

Before we are called to be international missionaries, we must first be missionaries right here at home first. How can we be expected to share the gospel cross-culture and cross-language barriers and cross geographic barriers when we can not share the gospel with our neighbor, our co-workers, our friends?

Today we will discuss "Who are the Lost" and why reaching the lost is important.

Luke 15:1–10

Opening Ill: I read this humorous story of a guy who prayed this prayer every morning: "Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is." One day he found himself on a bus when a big, burly man sat next to him. The bus was nearly empty but this guy sat next to our praying friend. The timid Christian anxiously waited for his stop so he could exit the bus. But before he could get very nervous about the man next to him, the big guy burst into tears and began to weep. He then cried out with a loud voice, "I need to be saved. I’m a lost sinner and I need the Lord. Won’t somebody tell me how to be saved?" He turned to the Christian and pleaded, "Can you show me how to be saved?" The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, "Lord, is this a sign?"[1]

For some of us, isn’t that how we look for witnessing opportunities? It has to literally hit us over the head. We are hesitant to witness, we resist the opportunity to spread the Gospel. Sometimes we look at the lost and wonder if they are lost for reason and we are content to move on and let someone else share. The Pharisee and scribes were like that.

Luke 15:1–2 (NKJV) Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”

The Pharisee and Scribes, which Jesus never had a kind word for, accusing Jesus of associating with the wrong people. ‘Let not a man associate with the wicked, not even to bring him to the Law’ is a later rabbinic saying which sums up their attitude. [2]

Luke 15:3 (NKJV) So He spoke this parable to them, saying:

In answering their accusations Jesus spoke three parables. The parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin are very similar. The third parable of the prodigal son is also similar, but we will not cover that story this morning. All three parables centers around God’s concern about the lost of the world and with the repentance of sinners. The theme of these parables is the joy in heaven over the lost being found. The point of the three stories is that God receives real joy and satisfaction when He sees sinners repenting, whereas He obtains no gratification from self-righteous hypocrites who are too proud to admit their wretched sinfulness. [3]

These parables reveal the very heart of God. That is what I hope to uncover this morning. Do we view the lost as God does? These parables are not about backslidden Christians who have lost their way. We must guard from reading too much into these parables so that we turn the whole story into an allegory and distort the main message.

Luke 15:4 (NKJV) “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

Jesus puts it terms most people can understand. “What man of you,” the NIV says “Suppose one of you” have one lost sheep. The economist would look at this and say, one sheep out of one hundred. A one percent lost is acceptable for most businesses. The economist would say to write off that one percent and move on. But even that one percent has great value before God.