To Seek And to Save the Lost

I'm reading today from the book
of Luke, the 19th chapter, verse 10, in which the Savior says,
For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost. Now an old-time preacher, who
lived about 200 years ago, said this, We preachers take for granted
that our heroes are well acquainted with the gospel of salvation
and the way of life, while in reality I fear that most people
are totally ignorant of the whole system of grace and redemption. So I feel that it's better to
suppose too little knowledge and explain to people the way
of life than to suppose too much knowledge and let people perish
in their ignorance and without instruction in the way of salvation. In Luke 2, verse 41, there's
an interesting story. Mary and Joseph had come to Jerusalem
from their home in Nazareth, as their custom was, to observe
the Passover, and they brought Jesus Christ, who was then twelve
years of age, with them. And they accomplished the days
that they were supposed to stay in Jerusalem, and after those
days were finished, they started home. And the scripture says
in Luke 2, 41 through 44, that they traveled a day's journey,
now watch this word, supposing that he was with them. And when
they came to the end of that day's journey, they began to
look for him, they had supposed that he was there, they took
for granted that he was with them. When they came to the end
of that day's journey, they looked for him and he hadn't been there
at all. He was still in Jerusalem. You
know, life is said in the scripture to be a day's journey. What a
tragedy for a man to go the whole day's journey and come to death
and judgment and discover that Christ hadn't been with him at
all, that he just supposed he was with him. Just suppose that
he was there? That just suppose that he knew
the way of life? He just suppose that heaven was
his home and he was converted? He just supposed it? So this
old preacher says it's really better to suppose too little
knowledge and instruct men in the way of life than to suppose
too much knowledge and let people perish in their ignorance. You
know when the Titanic left these shores on that voyage There were
all kinds of people listed. There were rich and poor people.
There were old and young people. There were learned and ignorant
people. There were short and tall people.
There were fat and skinny people. But when the old ship went down
and the names were posted on the bulletin board back at the
harbor from which it sailed, there were only two classes of
people listed, lost and saved. Lost and saved. And I want to
talk about that in my message today. I'm going to assume, I'm
going to assume that I'm speaking to people who are totally ignorant
of the way of salvation, totally ignorant of the way God redeems
sinners, totally ignorant of God's redemptive purposes in
Christ Jesus. I'm going to deal with six questions.
I wish you'd write these down. I think they're important enough
to write them down. You won't face more, six more
important questions in your whole life. I'm going to deal with
these questions in my message today. Now, first of all, how
did man get lost in the first place? How did man become lost? Christ said he came to seek and
to save the lost. Well, how did it happen? And
then the second question with which I will deal is, what does
it mean to be lost? Now, some people don't take it
very seriously. You say, you're a lost man, and he doesn't take
it very seriously. If your little four-year-old
boy was lost out down in the woods over the mountains of West
Virginia. You take that seriously, because
you know what it means for a four-year-old boy to be lost in the woods.
Well, what does it mean for a sinner to be lost? And then another
question I'm going to deal with, number three, is who is lost?
And then the fourth question, how are men saved? How does God
say that he saves sinners? And then what does it mean to
be saved? And then I'll close with this question, who then
can be saved? You see why I say you can't face
six more important questions? And if we can handle these questions
this morning, we can finish this program with more knowledge than
we had when we began. Now, the first question is, how
did man become lost in the first place? Our Lord said, the Son
of Man has come to seek and to save the lost. Well, the reason
men need to be saved is because they're lost. Now, how did they
become lost? Well, first of all, Adam in the
garden. needed no salvation, he wasn't lost. Adam was created
in the image of God. Adam was created pure, perfect,
clean, holy. He needed no salvation. He was
not lost. But Adam cast out of the garden,
guilty, naked, fallen, out of fellowship with God, unclean,
dead and dying dead in sin, dying physically, needed to be saved.
Because Adam then was lost. What happened? Well, Adam sinned
against God. Our Lord said, in the day you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. And when Adam ate the forbidden
fruit, whatever it was, nobody knows, but he ate of the forbidden
tree and in that moment he died. In that moment he became lost.
Well, you say, how does that affect me when I listen to this
scripture? Romans 5, verse 12. Wherefore, by one man sin entered
into the world. That was Adam. Sin entered through
Adam. Adam was the one man. God only
created one man. Eve came from Adam. You and I
came from Adam by natural generation. He only created one man. Out
of the dust of the ground he formed Adam, the word means man,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became
a living soul. And by one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, spiritual death, legal death,
physical death, eternal death, all by one man. So death passed
upon all men for all sin. Romans 5 verse 18, listen, Romans
5 verse 18, Therefore, by the offense of one man, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. Listen, Romans 5, 19. By one
man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Now, do you know
what the word imputed means? It means reckoned or charged. Sin was imputed unto us, charged
unto us, because Adam was our representative. When Adam stood,
we stood in his When Adam fell, we fell. When Adam died, we died. When Adam became lost, we became
lost. And Adam's sin was reckoned or
charged to the account of the whole human race by one man's
transgression or sin. Condemnation, judgment, death
passed upon all men. But now wait a minute. Adam's
sin was imputed to us by representation, but it was imparted to us by
birth. When Adam planted the first seed
in the womb of Eve, he planted a sinful seed. And David said
in Psalm 51, 5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, in sin my
mother conceived me. Psalm 58, 3, David said, The
wicked go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. So how are we affected by Adam's
fall? We are affected by representation. by imputation, we're affected
by impartation, by natural generation. We're charged with his sin because
we're his sons, and we partake of his sins because he beget
us. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And the only kind of son that
a human father can give birth to, can sire or beget, is a sinful
son, because he's a sinful father and has a sinful fallen seed.
Now that's how man got lost. All right, what does it mean
to be lost? It's serious. A verse of scripture
which ably describes what it means to be lost is found in
Ephesians 2, verse 12. It says in Ephesians 2, verse
12, that the lost man is without Christ, without hope, and without
God in this world. Now, I may shock you a little
bit here, but I want you to stay with me and listen to me. A lost
man is without Christ. What does it mean to be without
Christ? Well, Christ is spiritual wisdom. Read the book of Proverbs. When it talks about wisdom, it's
talking about Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, He has
made unto us wisdom. So a man without Christ has no
spiritual wisdom. He is spiritually ignorant. Now,
he may know how to build bridges, and he may know how to perform
or square root, and he may know history and those things, and
he may not know how to sew up a wound, but he is spiritually
ignorant if he doesn't have Christ, because Christ is wisdom. Christ
is the truth. He said, I am the truth. You
shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. He
is truth. Christ is our redemption. Without him, we are under the
curse of the law. Christ is our righteousness.
Without him, we are unholy. unclean in God's sight, like
the leper of old who outside the camp would cry, don't come
near me, I'm unclean. I'm unclean. Christ is our sin
offering. A man without Christ has no sin
offering. He has no sacrifice. He's trying to come to God without
blood, and without the shedding of blood there's no remission.
A man without Christ has no mediator to intercede for him at the throne
of God. A man without Christ has no high
priest to put the blood on the mercy seat. The law has a clenched
fist in that man's face. Without Christ, we have no way
to God. He said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man
comes to the Father, but by me, I'm the door. By me, if any man
enter in, he shall be saved. You come in through some other
way, you're a thief and a robber. A lost man is without Christ.
And he's without hope. He has no hope of forgiveness.
He has no hope of resurrection. He has no hope of eternal life,
he has no hope of heaven, he has no hope of reunion with loved
ones, he has no hope of seeing Christ except at the judgment. And you listen to this. He says
the lost man is without Christ, without hope, and without God. Now my friends, most men feel
saved and lost, believers and unbelievers, in the church and
out of the church. Most men believe that we're all
under God's love. And we all can run to God any
time we want to, just run into God's presence. You can cuss
God out with one breath and then get scared and call on his name
with the other. That's what men believe. But the scripture teaches
this, that a lost man doesn't even know God and is not known
of God. Now wait a minute, Christ said
to that bunch in Matthew 7 at the judgment, he said, depart
from me, what? I never knew you. I never knew
you. Christ said eternal life is to
know God. Christ said to that bunch of
religious people in his day, you don't know me nor my Father. Isn't that what he said? You
don't know me, and I don't know you. The word know there is complacency
or affection, love. And then Christ said to these
people, listen, you know, the average person thinks, well,
God's the Father of all men. Didn't he create all men? He
created snakes, but he's not the Father of snakes. Christ
said to that group of people in John 8, you are of your father,
the devil. If God were your father, you'd
believe him whom God had sent, but you don't believe me. You're
of your father, the devil. He was a liar from the beginning,
and he's the father of liars. So a lost man, an unsaved man,
cannot call God father. I wouldn't offend you, my friend,
but are you listening to the scripture? To as many as received
him, to them gave he the privilege to become the sons of God. And
those who have been redeemed, those believers, have been delivered
from a spirit of slavery and bondage to a spirit of sonship
and adoption. And they cry, Father, Father. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, redeemed by Christ, Son of God. Not redeemed? Unbeliever? You're without God. That's what
it says in the Word. Without Christ? Without who? without God? And Romans 8, 28,
and we know that all things work together for good. Did you ever
hear people quote that? Somebody will die and will be
at the funeral home, and someone will walk by and put his arm
around the widow's shoulder, and he'll say, well, all things
work together for good. Not to all men. It says all things
work together for good to them who love God, who are the called
according to his purpose. Now, if you don't love God in
redemption, in faith, And you're not called by his spirit, according
to his purpose. Things aren't working together
for your good, they're working together for your destruction.
You talk about living a confused, frustrated life, it's no wonder.
The heart of the wicked is like the troubled sea, tossed to and
fro. He has no peace. Christ said,
I give you peace. You come to me, I'll give you
peace. Coming to me, I'll give you rest. No wonder you need
your tranquilizers. No wonder you need your drunken
booze and those things. You've got to have them. You've
got no peace. Don't take it away from him. Let him have it. Christ
is our peace. Christ is our rest. And when
you find him, you find those things. But the unsaved man,
the lost man, he's without God in this world. Who is lost? And I want you to listen carefully.
Third question. Who is lost? No man has ever
been damned because of Adam's sin. Now we inherit Adam's sin,
and we partook of Adam's sin. But children dying in infancy
are without doubt saved by God's grace through the blood of Christ. They're not guilty of actual
transgressions. But you're not a child, and I'm
not a child. And the scripture says of us,
all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. That's right, we've gone our
way. We haven't gone God's way, we've gone our way. We've said,
I'll have my will, not God's will, my way, not God's way. We're not children. We don't
need to look back there and talk about Adam's sin. You're not
under condemnation because of Adam's sin, you're under condemnation
because of your own personal sin. That's right, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. The scripture says, Now
we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them
that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, mine
and yours, and all the world become guilty, guilty, guilty. The whole world, guilty. Have
you ever been in a trial where someone had committed murder
and the jury came in and he was pronounced guilty? I have. And
sentenced to be hanged? I have. And the young man stood
there, and he was guilty. A young Japanese lieutenant,
back after World War II in Japan, in the war crimes trial. The
seven Army colonels came in after hearing his story, and they pronounced
him guilty. Guilty. And after that is pronounced,
there's no plea, there's no hope, there's nothing. Take him out
and execute him. And my friend, you're guilty.
And I'm guilty. You're lost. And I'm lost. Without Christ. And all men are
lost. All right, how are men saved?
Here's the fourth question. For by grace are you saved. Not
by works. Not by church membership. Not
by shaking a preacher's hand. By grace are you saved. The grace
of God. Through faith, and that not of
yourself, it's the gift of God. How does God save sinners? Now
listen to me. God in eternity passed. determined
to save sinners, he gave to his son a people. The scripture says,
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus, who, according to his purpose and his will and
his grace, chose us in Christ. Our Lord said, all that my Father
giveth me will come to me. all that he giveth. This is the
Father's will which is sent me, that all he hath given me I'll
lose nothing but raise it up at the last day." God determined
an eternity to redeem a people. All right, in time, in the fullness
of time, the scripture says. Galatians 4, verse 4 and 5. But
in due time, in the fullness of time, God sent his Son into
this world, made under the law, born of a woman, to redeem them
that were made under the law. Christ Jesus, by his obedience,
made us righteous. If you'll turn to Romans 5, 19,
you'll read this. By the disobedience of one, Adam,
we were made sinners. By the obedience of one, Christ,
we were made righteous. By his obedience. When Christ
came down here into this world as a man, he was bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh. He was tempted in all points
as I am, yet without sin. He perfectly obeyed God's law,
and he imputed to me a perfect righteousness. Now watch this
with me carefully. Adam stood in the garden as our
representative, and he sinned and he fell, and we fell in him.
Christ stood on the earth. In the flesh, the second Adam,
you're familiar enough with scripture to know about the first Adam
and the second Adam. The first Adam is of the earth, earth is
the second Adam is the Lord from heaven. In Adam we die, so in
Christ we're made alive. So Christ stood as our representative
and he obeyed the law. He kept the law, he fulfilled
the law. He said, I didn't come to destroy
God's law, I came to fulfill it. So as our representative,
he obeyed the law and imputed unto us, here's that word again,
reckoned us, charged to our count as if it were ours, a perfect
holiness. When Adam fell, I had charged
to my count rebellion. When Christ obeyed, I had charged
to my count because I stood in him. He was my federal head,
he was my representative, elected by the Father to be the representative
of his people. I had charged to my count of
perfect righteousness. What the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his only son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh. Now
then, what about the imparted holiness? When Adam fell, we
had imputed to us guilt, and when he gave birth to his first
son, he imparted to that son his guilt. That which is born
of the flesh is flesh. That's the reason we need to
be born again. We need to be born by a new father, a spiritual
father, a holy father, a divine father. As we partook of the
fleshly nature of our first father, in the second birth we partake
of the divine nature of our heavenly father, born of God, and imparted
unto us a holy nature. And every redeemed man, woman,
boy or girl listening to my voice today has two natures. You have
a fleshly nature you got from Adam. And if you're redeemed,
born again, you have a holy nature you got from God. Alright, Christ
died on the cross, bearing our sins in his body on the tree.
He was wounded for our transgressions by his stripes. He was buried
and rose again for our justification and ascended to the right hand
of God, where the scripture says he intercedes for us and he's
coming back again. That's how God saves sinners,
by representation. by Christ. He paid it all, all
the debt I owed, sin left a crimson stain. He washed it white as
snow. All right, what does it mean
to be saved? That's the fifth question. Well, it means, first
of all, to be delivered from the penalty of sin. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. No
judgment, no condemnation, no purgatory, no punishment. The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from what?
How many sins? past, present, and future. To
be saved means to be delivered from the power of sin. God's
word said sin shall not have dominion over you. It shall not
have dominion over you. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. He has a new heart, he has a
new nature, he has a new attitude, he has a new motive. Galatians
5.22 tells us the fruits of the Spirit which the believing tree
shall bear. Love, joy, peace, meekness, humility,
long-suffering, faith, joy. These are the fruits of the Spirit.
And then Philippians 3 verse 8, Paul said, O that I may win
Christ, and be found in him, that I may know him, and the
power of the resurrected life. The power of the resurrected
life. We know something about the power
of sin, don't we? We know something about the power
of the bondage and slavery of the flesh, don't we? Do you know
anything about the power of holiness? The power of God's Spirit? The
power that motivates you to love and to forgive and to show mercy
and to walk before God in righteousness, that's power. The power of the
resurrected life. And then to be saved, it needs
to be delivered from the practice of sin. The scripture says, he
that's born of God does not practice sin. In other words, the bent
of his will, the tenor of his life is not sin and evil, it's
holiness, honesty, love to God, love to men. We grow in grace. and in the knowledge of Christ.
What does it mean to be saved? It means someday to be delivered
from the very presence of sin. We've got something to look forward
to. We're going to be like Christ. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I wake with his likeness. Won't that be a day? Somebody
wrote a song, Oh, what a day that will be when I, the dear
Savior, shall see. Oh, what a day. And old John
Newton said, I'm not what I ought to be. I know that. I'm not what
I want to be, are you? I'm not what I expect to be,
oh no, not yet. But he went on and he said, thank
God, I'm not what I used to be, and I know that. What does it
mean to be saved? Delivered from the penalty of sin, delivered
from the power of sin, delivered by God's grace from the practice
of sin, and someday from its very presence. Now the last question,
who can be saved? Romans 10, 13, give me attention,
says this, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Whosoever is a big word, Jew
or Gentile, rich or poor, male or female, old or young, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord But he went on in verse
14, he said, how are they going to call on him in whom they have
not believed? So what does it mean to call
on Christ? It means to believe on him. Do you believe the record
God has given concerning his son? Do you need him? Do you
trust him? He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, that is the key word, thou shalt call his
name Jesus. Preach repentance and remission
in my name, he said. None other name under heaven.
given among men, whereby we must be saved. Wherefore God hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every
tongue shall confess that he is Lord. Not a doormat, not a
fire escape, Lord. Not a frustrated, defeated martyr
or reformer, Lord. Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom, Lord. join us next week for the broadcast
over this station until then henry mayhem being a very pleasant

To Seek And to Save the Lost

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