I'm going to play a song for
you. Jesus, lover of my soul, Let
me to thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, While the
tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life is past Deep into the haven night Oh,
receive my song at last Other refuge have I none and my helpless
soul on thee. Leave me not alone, still comfort
and comfort me. All my troubles on thee it saves,
O my help from Thee I bring, Cover my defenseless head With
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want
More than all in me I find Raise the fallen, cheer the faint Heal
the sick and lead the blind just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness, all
sinful sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace, with thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin, Lest there, healing strength
abound, Make and keep me pure within, Thou of life abound in
us, Freely let me take of Thee, Straighten up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. I'll ask you to turn back to
Luke 15, which Brother Allen read from. Luke chapter 15. Now, along with the terms Christian
and born again, one of the most widely used terms is the term
saved. Saved. You hear it all the time. So and so got saved, you know,
the other day. It's probably the most or one
of the most common bywords in religion today. Saved. Everyone speaks of being saved. They talk about we had 15 saved. last Sunday. Are you saved? Yes, I'm saved. You saved? Yeah,
I'm saved. Is he saved? Yeah, I believe
he's saved. Are you saved? Saved. I got saved
when I was 12 years old. I got saved the other day. Everyone
talks about getting saved. It's the term saved. And I ask
this question. What does it really mean to be
saved? What does the term saved mean? Saved. Well, I merely looked
it up in Webster's Dictionary. But Alan informed me that that
wasn't the proper one to look it up from. That the Oxford was
the proper one. But this will have to suffice.
The Webster's Dictionary. Listen. Listen to the plain and
simple definitions from the dictionary. to what it is to save, to save. And listen to how this applies
spiritually. Listen to each definition. I
was amazed as I read these. To save means to rescue, first
of all. It also means to protect and
preserve or guard from injuries. It means to deliver from sickness
or something endangering your life. It means to rescue from
loss by shipwreck or fire. It means to avoid losing by being
just in time. It also means to catch and save. I can hockey, another use of
the term, to save, a catch, reach down and grab, to save. It means to reclaim. It means to spare instead of
slaying, or to permit to live. It's a plain and simple definition
from the dictionary. It means to put by in store or
to reserve. It means to keep from being spent. It means to retain or keep for
a purpose. Now, all of those things could
apply spiritually, couldn't they? All of them. But I'm sure that
man didn't mean it that way. But did you notice about all
of these definitions, spiritually speaking, as well as in this
sense, all of these definitions suggest one very simple and basic
thing. That is, to save is for someone
to go and save something or someone else. To save or salvation is
done by someone to something or someone else. Somebody has
to do the saving. You don't get yourself. None of those simple definitions
gave that connotation at all. It means for someone else to
go and do the saving. And to someone or something that
can best be described in this way. Now, the opposite of the
antonym of save is lost, right? Lost. To be saved, you must be
lost. You'd think most people would
understand that, but they don't. Well, listen to these definitions
of being lost from Webster's. Listen to this. To be lost means
to be ruined or destroyed. To be lost means to have parted
from something or someone. To be lost means having wandered
from the way. To be lost means to be, and listen
to this one. means to be occupied or under
the influence of something so as to be insensible of other
things. That's us, and I mean that's
us by nature, that's man by nature. And the synonyms for the word
lost or other words that are similar to the word lost are
overthrown, subverted, turned upside down, confused, dissipated,
abandoned, and it uses this word, So you see, I have a real problem
with some of this salvation that's going on today, in light of these
simple definitions from just the dictionary, let alone the
Bible. I have a real problem with some
of this salvation that's going on today, because I don't hear
or see much evidence from some people of being really lost in
the true sense of this word. And I sure don't hear them talk
much about somebody coming and saving them. This is what I hear,
and you hear it too. I hear this. I decided to accept
God, to believe. I got saved the other day. I
accepted Jesus. I made my peace. He made his
peace with God. I believed. I saw the light.
I gave my heart to Jesus. That's not the cry of salvation,
is it? That's not the... The biblical cry of salvation
is not I decided, it's He decided. It's not I accepted Him, it's
He accepted me. We are accepted in the Beloved. It's not that I made my peace
with God, it's that He made peace through the blood of His cross.
That's biblical salvation. It's not that I believe, it's
He about us faithful. He about us faithful. It's not
that I saw the light, that I found him, it's he came looking for
me. That's Bible salvation. It's not that I gave my heart
to Jesus, it's that he reached down and gave me a new heart.
He plucked that old stone he went out and gave me a heart
of flesh. That's Bible kind of salvation. That's the definition
of salvation in Scripture. And here in Luke chapter 15,
we have a three-part parable. Now, I've already spoken once
before. from the last part of this three-part
parable on the prodigal son. And the other two parts are the
lost sheep and the lost coin. Now, these are three parts of
one parable, actually, and they clearly illustrate the work of
the Trinity, the three persons of the Trinity, the first being
the lost sheep, being the story of how Christ the Son, the Good
Shepherd, comes down and does his work, and the lost coin,
is the story of the Holy Spirit, his work, and of course the last,
the prodigal son is the love of the Father. And I spoke on
the prodigal son and I really meant to take all three parts
and put them together, but I couldn't get past the first one. So we'll
pick up the next one the next time we preach from this parable. But it's a three-part parable
And it illustrates this very thing I was just describing,
this very thing. That is, if something or someone
is truly lost, someone must go save them. Someone must find
them and save them. Look at verse 1. Look back at
verse 1, which Brother Allen read. Now, here's the purpose
of the parable. Our Lord gave the purpose here.
Look back up at verse thirty five of chapter fourteen. I noticed
this a few moments ago. Christ at the last part of that
verse he says, he that hath ears to hear let him hear. Hear what? Hear what? Well look at verse one. Then
drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. We must hear from him. The public
and the center drew near to hear him and the Pharisees, though,
and the scribes murmured. Murmured. These scriptures, God's
word clearly contrasts Pharisees and publicans, doesn't it? Scribes
and sinners, self-righteous and those made righteous, found and
lost, or those that think they're found. Did you notice sinners? hear him. They hear his voice. The sheep hear his voice. Sinners
hear him. Scribes murmur, murmur. Sheep hear goats' butts, butts,
butts, butts, butts, butts. Publicans hear him, but Pharisees
murmur. They murmur. We'll look at it.
It says, The Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, Why, this man
receiveth sinners. he received the center and he
did with him. He did with him. So it was for
this purpose that he gave this parable when they said he received
sinners and he was going to prove the fact that yes indeed he does
receive sinners and more than that he goes looking for him.
He goes looking for him to make him his intimate companion for
the rest of his eternal life. This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
Now 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 findeth? What man of
you, if you then be an evil, will do these things? How much
more shall the judge of the earth do what is right? Now, I first
wondered at this verse 4 where it says, if he lose one of them,
how that this could apply to our God. First of all, all men,
all women, all young people, all things, all animals, all
insects, all minerals, the gold and the silver, the cattle on
a thousand hills, all people, All people belong to our God. There's a sense in which they're
all His. The ninety and the nine and the
one. But it says He lost one of them. He did. I wondered about
that when I read it at first. But here I think this may be,
this may work. This may be the sense in how
this could apply to God. Now to be sure, all we like sheep
have gone astray. We have all, every one of us,
gone our own way. There was a way that seemed right
unto me, and I went that way. I chose that way, the wrong way. We've, every one of us, turned
to our own way. We have sinned against God. We
have ruined ourselves. We have only ourselves to blame
for the mess we're in. We parted from Him in Adam. We joined ourselves to other
things like the prodigal son. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repent. It's the mercy of God in making
us see that we're lost. He brings us to the point to
show us that we are lost. In a sense, he loses us. He chooses
to lose. He brings us to the point now
that we see that Jesus Christ had to go after us, that Christ
has to go after and find us or else we'd be lost forever. But
if Christ didn't come down, we would be lost forever. You notice
it said he left the ninety and the nine in the wilderness. The
ninety and the nine in the wilderness. Now this world is often spoken
of as the wilderness in the scriptures. The wilderness. And this world
and everyone that is in it is in this wilderness. And this
wilderness is in them. The world is in it, and it is
in them. And God leaves some people in
it, and leaves it in some people. But he said of his disciples,
they are not of this world even as I am not of this world. I
have taken the world out of them. But God leaves ninety and nine,
it seems to be that ratio even now, and goes after one. He leaves the ninety and the
nine in the world and the world in them, but he loses one. He
makes one see their lost condition in order to find it for his glory. And through the preaching of
the word, through the preaching of his gospel, his good news,
that sheep, that one out of that hundred, one out of a hundred,
sees his lost condition, sees his lost condition. And for that
one, for that one little sheep, Jesus Christ came down to this
world to die, to live and to die for. The scripture says,
great is the mystery of godliness. Why? Because God was manifest
in the flesh. Now, here it is. Here's the story.
The father says to his son, he says, I've got some lost sheep.
I've got some lost sheep. They're scattered throughout
all the world. There's some in Africa. There's
some in Mexico, there's some in England, there's some in America.
There's not few, I mean there's not many, just a few here and
there. There's some here, some there, some over here, some over
yonder. He says to his son, go get them.
Go get them. Go after them. They can't come
to me. We cannot come unto him, except
through the Son, lest the Son go fit. And the Father says this,
don't come back till you find them. And the son says, OK, I'll
do it. Don't come back till you find
it. So Jesus Christ came down to the earth. He came down as
a man on the trail of God's sheep, on the trail. Now, let me see
if I can make this a clear illustration of how our Lord was bringing
this parable. Here's the picture. See if you
can get this picture in your head. There's a flock of sheep
that are grazing, and there's one little lamb. One little lamb,
he's grazing on the nice soft grass along with the other sheep,
enjoying himself, and he keeps moving around. He'll look up,
not very far, but he'll look up a little bit, only to see
a little greener patch of grass up the way. And he keeps going
on, looking down, never hardly looking up, forgetting or taking
for granted the flock, certainly forgetting the shepherd. And
he begins eating grass and sort of wandering away, and wandering,
he looks up, there's greener pastures over there, he looks,
he goes on eating, eating, always his head down, never looking
up. He keeps wandering and wandering until finally, that little sheep
falls over the edge of a cliff, down into a ravine, down into
a gully, a deep ditch, a ravine. And he falls down there, he's
hurt. He may not realize at first just
how hurt he is, and he may try to get up. He may try to free
himself if he's caught, if he's bound. He may try to free himself
or get up, and maybe he does get up, and maybe he eats around
a little bit, but there's not much there. But he's fallen into
ruin, as the word lost means. But he might not know it. And
at first, when he fell down there, he might have banged. Might have
uttered a little whimper here. But he goes on eating. But after
a while, there's not much around where he's at. And he's in a
bad condition, a terrible condition. And he's tried every means to
extract himself, to get up out of this ravine, out of this crevice,
to find its way back, but he can't. He's lost. He finally, that little sheep
finally realizes he's lost. He can't get up. After a while goes by, hours
pass, maybe even days pass, he becomes hungry, becomes thirsty,
he's bleeding, and perhaps dying. Then, then he begins to cry out,
and only then, by then and only then, he cries out. Have you
ever heard a little lamb cry? They sound just like human beings.
They really do. Have you heard one? A baby lamb?
Anyone? Don't they? They cry. They cry, especially
when they're taken from their mother. He whimpered at first,
but now he's crying out. And that's us. That's a perfect
picture of us, isn't it? The scripture says, all we, like
sheep, have gone astray. wandering, grazing in the wilderness
of this world with our heads down, hardly ever looking up.
Our heads down, certainly unmindful of our Creator, our Good Shepherd,
and taking for granted the flock that God has brought together.
Always looking down, grazing, never hardly looking up until
Finally, we see greener pastures up there, and we keep going after
greener pastures, greener pastures over here and over here, until
finally we've fallen headlong into sin. Some of us have grazed
for thirty and forty and fifty years never looking up, until
finally we fall headlong into sin and corruption, into a pit
of woe, until we become finally poor, miserable, helpless, naked
and blind, without God, without hope, without strength to save
ourselves. And at first, when we realize
there's something, we may have gone somewhere to church and
a fellow got up and preached something of a gospel message,
or maybe we heard the gospel at first, but we heard it at
first and we might have gone, yeah, I'm bad. I'm bad. But go on even. Yeah, I'm pretty bad, aren't
I? Forget about it. Go on our way and forget what
manner of man we were when we saw ourselves. But then later
on, if God ever comes in his word and preaches a gospel and
touches somebody's heart with a gospel of who God is and what
we are and who Christ is, then, and then on, when we see our
lost condition, we see God's holy law and how we've broken
that holy law and how that God must condemn us for that, and
our only hope Our only pleasing when Jesus Christ died, he died
for me. Then we cry out, don't we? Then
we cry out, not just a whimper, Lord have mercy. Mercy! Then we cry out, don't we? And
just in the nick of time, back to the story there, just in the
nick of time, as that sheep, that little lamb, lay there dying,
perhaps he lay there so long and he cried so long that he
that given up given up all hope there's no hope and quick crime
perhaps he thought it's useless for me to go on crying like this
just in the nick of time a voice shouts out CHIEF! CHIEF! he said could it be? sounds like CHIEF! sounds like
the voice of the shepherd and he hears the voice of the shepherd. The sheep hear the voice of the
shepherd. Shepherd! Sheep! Shepherd! Sheep! And the shepherd, he had
been walking around perhaps for a long time. He had hazarded
his life. He'd walked through that wilderness himself. He went
through the same path that the sheep went through to get to
the sheep. He knew where he was. He knew where he was. But he
had been for hours and maybe even days through the wilderness,
hazarding his life, and perhaps he was wounded himself and bleeding
himself, cut and bleeding, and finally he finds that little
lamb. And he doesn't say, come on up here now. Oh, no. He reaches
down in that being, hazarding his life, wounding and cutting
himself with stripes, with his stripes. He reaches down and
grabs that child. And it says, look at verse 5,
and when he hath found it, when he hath found it, he lays it
on his shoulders, and begins to carry him home, rejoicing,
rejoicing, lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And he says, little
lamb, I found you, you're mine, you'll never perish now, never.
I wasn't about to let you perish, because I'm a good shepherd,
and I don't let my sheep And that's just what our Savior did
for us. Christ walked this wilderness Himself for thirty-three and
a third years, didn't He? As a man. He walked this world
as a man. He established righteousness
that God demanded, that He demanded of us. Christ established that
righteousness as a man and imputed it to us. And He went to that
cross. He went to the cross. And when He went to that cross
and was nailed on that cross, the Scripture says, God laid
on Him. He laid on him the iniquity of
the soul. And while hanging there, while wounded and bleeding and
dying, he cried out, I've paid the price. I've accomplished
redemption. I've saved those souls. I did. Did you notice it? He said, go
after that which is lost until you find it. And it says, when
he had found it, when he found it, he laid it on his shoulder
and rejoiced. Look at verse 6. And when he
cometh home, when he cometh home. Now, that little sheep, that
little sheep that wandered off, was a favorite of the landowner,
a favorite sheep of that great landowner. Not because of its
beauty. No, it was a little black sheep,
you see. It wasn't very much to look at, that little sheep.
It wasn't very pretty, but it was a black sheep. But it was
a favorite of that landowner simply because the landowner
put his affection upon that sheep. When that little sheep was being
born, when that little sheep was being born, Because the owner
had set his affection on him. The owner had a part in the birth
of that sheep. There were three people involved
in the birth of that sheep. The owner got in on it. But he
saw that little sheep being born and had his hand in on it. And
he had personally chosen that lamb, that little sheep, at birth
and promised it to his son. He promised that little sheep
to his son, and he promised never to slaughter or never to sell
that little sheep, but he had given that little sheep to his
son. But he warned them. He said to his son, you better
go get him. He's mine. He's yours. He's ours. Go get him. Don't come back.
And he did, even the landowner loved that sheep. Now the God
may have earned that sheep, but the God, he loved him for his
sons, and that's exactly what our God did. He chose us, not
because he didn't have any other, but he chose us and set his affection
upon us as one of his sheep, and give us to his sons. And when he comes home, he says
he calls his friends and neighbors. And he said another name, Rejoice,
Rejoice, Rejoice, for I, I have found peace with you. All these
things together, I did it. This is what I've done. Give
me the message I need to hear. He said to me, look what happened.
I said, I can't. He said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he
So we end down with one center. So we're going to go with nine and nine,
just the first one. So we need to know what's the center. So we're going
to go with nine and nine. So we're going to go with nine
and nine, just the first one. So we need to know what's the center. So we're going
to go with nine and nine, just the first one. So we need to know what's
the center. So we're going to go with nine and nine, just the
first one. So we need to know what's the center. So we're going
to go with nine and nine, just the first one. So we need to
know what's the center. So we're going to go with nine and nine, just the
first one. So we need to know what's the center. So we're going to go
with nine and nine, just the first one. So we need to know what's the center. So
we're going to go with nine and nine, just the first one. So we need to
know what's Someday, if we really understand it, sometimes that
is possible, we can get it off, get ahold of it, buy it, insure it,
put it up for sale, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get
rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid
of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid
of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of
it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get
rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get
rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of
it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, You're
going to be fine. You're going to be fine. I don't know what I'm talking about. So, thank you very much for having
me.