Alright, now turn with me if
you would to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. A moment of absolute heartbreak. And a moment of absolute comfort,
and I do mean absolute comfort, came over me as we were driving
up to the conference in West Virginia last Thursday. I drove past a missing persons
billboard, a big, large billboard, a very expensive looking billboard. It had a picture of a young teenage
boy on it. And it had some last seen details
on it. And I recognized immediately
that something about it didn't look like an organization put
that billboard up. Something about it looked like
a parent put that billboard up. And my heart just sunk. You know,
you're driving at 70 miles an hour, and you see it, and it
registers what's going on, and I entered in to that billboard,
and my heart sunk. I thought, oh. I started thinking about it,
and I put myself in the shoes of those parents, and I thought, what if that was
me posting that picture? Can you imagine the emptiness,
the loss, the fear, the unknown, just the horror of it? And I thought I would be doing
the same thing you're doing. I'd do the same thing you're
doing. I would spend every dime I had. I would do everything that I could
do in hopes of recovering my child. Immediately, this verse of Scripture
came to my mind. Luke 19 verse 10, For the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost. Now that's comforting isn't it? We were in that condition. We were God's children from the
foundation of the world, weren't we? All of God's children were in
that very condition. But our Lord was able to remedy
the condition. He was able to do something about
it. He was able to seek and to save that which was lost. He is the one who sought them.
and He is the One who saved them. And that immediately comforted
my heart so much. There's so much horror in this
world. But for all who belong to Jesus
Christ, all who God the Father gave to God the Son, He came to seek every single
one of them. Find every single one of them
and save every single one of them. The faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is that not what comforts us?
The faithfulness of Christ. That is what comforts the heart
of a child of God. He is going to seek and He is
going to find. Look with me at Luke 15. Luke 15 verse 3, it says, And
He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having
an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the
ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost,
until he find it? I love that. I love hearing that
about him. I love hearing that about him. Anybody can go looking for something.
Anybody can. But it doesn't mean they're going
to find what they're looking for. Sometimes people just have to
give up. You know what? Sometimes people
just have to give up. Not this man. Every one that He seeks, He finds. Not one time has He ever sought
His own and not found Him or her. Not one time. Verse 4 says, What man of you,
having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave
the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost,
until he find it, and when he hath found it, he layeth it on
his shoulders rejoicing, and when he cometh home, He calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost." That is glorious
news. That is just glorious news. Look
with me at John 17. John 17, our Lord said to His
Father in verse 10, All mine are thine, and thine are mine,
and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are, While I was with them in the world,
I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition
that the scripture might be fulfilled." He said not one of them, not
one that God the Father gave to God the Son, not one of my
sheep is lost. Not one of God's children will
end up being a missing person. Not one time will it be said
that there was an elect soul chosen unto eternal salvation
with Christ, but Christ just couldn't find him. Just too lost. He's just too
lost. Never will it be said that one
of his children was just too lost. How do we know that? How do we know that? How can
we be so confident in that and find so much comfort in that?
We know that because the Son of Man is the One who came to
seek and to save that which was lost. That's the reason we know
that. The Son of Man is the One who
came. It's not just anyone who is doing
the seeking. And it's not just anybody who's
doing the saving. It's the Son of Man. Now over in John 12, if you want
to turn with me over there, it says the people asked a question. And this is a good question.
This is a question that every person on this earth ought to
ask. Because every person needs to know the answer to this. John
12, verse 34, it says, The people answered Him. That means they
asked Him this question. We have heard out of the Law
that Christ abideth forever. And how sayest thou the Son of
Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? That's what they asked Him. Who
is this Son of Man? That's a question everybody needs
to know the answer to. Who is the Son of Man? When the Scripture speaks of
the Son of Man, what does that mean? Who is He? Well, that phrase is used two
ways in the Scripture. One way has a capital S, Son
of Man, and the other way has a lowercase s, Son of Man. And when it's a lowercase s,
it is speaking of the son of a man. The sinful offspring of
a sinful man. David said in Psalm 8, what is
man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, lowercase
s, that thou visitest him. Why would you have anything to
do with the sinful son of a man? Why would you have anything to
do with the Son of Man? The answer to that is in the
capital S, Son of Man. Who is this Son of Man? Turn with me to Matthew 16. Matthew 16 verse 13, it says, When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? He said, I'm the Son of Man. I'm the capital S, Son of Man. Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? And they said, some say thou
art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of
the prophets, he saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. To say that he is the capital
S, Son of Man, is to say that he is the Christ, the Son of
the living God. Now what does that mean? What does that mean? Does that
mean He's God's Son? Who is this Son of Man? Don't turn over there, but in
Matthew 22, our Lord asks the question, What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? They said He's the Son of David.
He said, then why did David call Him Lord if He's His Son? People generally, and I do mean
very generally, wrongly and ignorantly, they have some kind of idea of
what to make of God. They think God is kind of up
here. They have some general idea of
what to make of God. And people very generally and
very wrongly and very ignorantly have some kind of idea of what
to make of man. But people naturally have no
idea what to make of Jesus the Christ. Who is He? People see Him to be between
God and man. He's the Helper who can show
you the way. That's what they see Him to be. He's between God
and He's between man, but they consider Him to be neither. Until
He, the Son of Man, seeks them and saves them and starts carrying them home.
A man is lost until he's found. He's blind until He sees, but
once He sees, once God gives eyes to see, He sees the Son
of Man for who He is. Who is the Son of Man? He is
God manifest in the flesh. That's who He is. God manifest
in the flesh. God's Man. And not just God's
Man, He is the God-Man. The union of God and man. The
Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, is not like God. He is God. He's the express image of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. There's only
one God. Three persons, but all their
fullness. is seen in and dwells in the
man. And I say that to emphasize this.
We know this, but sometimes it really hits home to me. The Lord
Jesus Christ is not like a man. The Lord Jesus Christ is a man. God is a man. Just let that sink
in. We're going to go meet God. We're
going to stand before God. God is a man. That's just amazing
to me. Well, I thought God was a spirit.
He is. Well, I thought God was a high,
holy, invisible Father. He is. But you're telling me that God
is actually a man? He is. He is. He is a perfect... Can you imagine
meeting a perfect man? I mean a sinless man. A truly
righteous man. Not a self-righteous Pharisee
like people put on. I mean a righteous man. That
centurion said, truly, that was a righteous man. That's what enables him to seek
and to save that which was lost. This Word of God says to be lost
is to be infected with sin and it's to be dead. Wherefore, as
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And it took a sinless, living
man to seek and to save the lost. That's what it took. So God came
in the person of the sinless man. The Son of Man. Born of a woman. A man. Born under the law to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And this is how He did it. This
is how the perfect man saw and saved his lost sheep. Follow me through these scriptures
that mention the name the Son of Man. We're going to look at
these scriptures. Go with me to Matthew 9. Matthew 9, verse 6, it says,
But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth
to forgive sins. Then saith He to the sick of
the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house.
The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. He has that
power. He has that ability to forgive
sins. This perfect, spotless God-Man,
Son of Man. He has the power to forgive sins. But the glorious news is not
only does He have the power, He has the desire. He has the
willingness. He has the heart to do it. That's
exactly why He came. Look at Matthew 11, verse 19. It says, The Son of Man came
eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous
and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. That's
who He is. He is the friend of the lost. He's the friend of the lost. He said, I did not come to call
the righteous. I didn't come to seek and to
save the righteous. I came for the sinners. He said,
I did not come for the whole, those who see themselves to be
well before me. They don't need the physician.
The sick do. That's who I came for. The fact
of the matter is, if a man is going to be saved, he has to
be lost. He has to be lost. That's who the Son of Man came
for. The lost. Not just the spiritually confused
a little bit. That's what a lot of people think
that the majority is. And that's what they think they
are. Just doctrinally turned around, you know. But He came
for the lost. The lost. That's who He sought. That's who He saved. How did
He save them? Look at Matthew 12. Matthew 12 verse 40 says, For
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. Let's think about this for just
a minute. A lot of men have died. A lot of men have died. A lot of men have been lifted
up. John chapter 3 says, As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have eternal life. And here's what I want
us to enter into. He was not the only man who was lifted up
that day on a cross. He had a man on each side of
Him. Many men were lifted up on Roman
crosses. Many men. In Matthew 17, if you
want to look at this, Matthew 17, it says in verse 9, And as they came down from the
mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no
man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead." He is not
the only person in the Scripture that rose from the dead. Elijah raised people from the
dead. Elisha raised people from the dead. The Lord raised people
from the dead. The apostles raised people from
the dead. It says that when our Lord arose
from the cross, when He arose from the grave, it says many
of the saints that were in the graves around Him arose with
Him and went into Jerusalem. They went into town and started
talking to people. What made His death And His burial and His resurrection
accomplish salvation. Why was He able to accomplish
it when no other man was? Why was the Son of Man able to
accomplish it when no other man was? It's because He was the
only sinless man. The only man who had no sin of
his own for God to judge. That made Him the only man who
was able to take the sin of another and lay it on Himself. He was the only perfect, spotless
offering that was ever lifted up to God. Not just lifted up
before men, lifted up all the way to the throne of God. And He was the only man that
ever rose from the dead, never to die again. All of those people
that rose from the dead died again. Lazarus died again. But not this man. Not the Son
of Man. He was the only man that was
able to accomplish what God the Father sent him to do fully. And he accomplished it. He was
able to accomplish it. He was willing to accomplish
it. And he accomplished it. And because of that, because
of Him, I thank God for Him. I thank Him
for Him. Thank God for God. Because of
Him. Because of what was in His heart.
Because of what He felt like doing. Not one chosen soul of
the Father. Not one child of God will ever
be lost. I'm so thankful for that. I'm
so thankful for that. They will all be sought. He is going to use the Word of
Truth to seek His own. He is going to take His incorruptible
seed by His all-powerful Spirit, and He is going to plant a seed
in the heart of His child, and He is going to draw that child
to Himself in spite of this sinful Son of Man. In spite of my inability,
In spite of my frailty, in spite of my weakness, He has a people
in this city. I know He does. And He's going
to get them. They're going to hear His voice.
They're going to follow Him. They're going to fall in love
with Him. They're going to come to Him. They're all going to
be sought. They're all going to be found.
They're all going to be kept. They're all going to be saved.
For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost. That is good news to a sinner if he knows he's lost. I honestly pray, I mean this
sincerely, I pray that will be a comfort to our souls. I was
going down the road and I had this moment of weakness and as
soon as that came into my heart I thought, oh, I'm so glad to
know that. I'm so glad to know that. And
I hope that will help all of us. Because God gave us to Christ. We'll never be lost. Never. Alright,
Brother Dwight, you come and lead us in a closing psalm.