Love for the Lost

Turn with me to Matt. 18:11-14

God has a great love for poor lost sinners.

This is seen in this teaching of Jesus

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 409: Love of God

In his book Enjoying God, Lloyd Ogilvie writes:

My formative years ingrained the quid pro quo into my attitude toward myself: do and you’ll receive; perform and you’ll be loved. When I got good grades, achieved, and was a success, I felt acceptance from my parents. My dad taught me to fish and hunt and worked hard to provide for us, but I rarely heard him say, “Lloyd, I love you.” He tried to show it in actions, and sometimes I caught a twinkle of affirmation in his eyes. But I still felt empty.

When I became a Christian, I immediately became so involved in discipleship activities that I did not experience the profound healing of the grace I talked about theoretically …

I’ll never forget as long as I live the first time I really experienced healing grace. I was a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. Because of financial pressures I had to accordion my studies into a shorter than usual period. Carrying a double load of classes was very demanding, and I was exhausted by the constant feeling of never quite measuring up. No matter how good my grades were, I thought they could be better. Sadly, I was not living the very truths I was studying. Although I could have told you that the Greek words for grace and joy are charis and chara, I was not experiencing them.

My beloved professor, Dr. James Stewart, that slightly built dynamo of a saint, saw into my soul with x-ray vision. One day in the corridor of New College he stopped me. He looked me in the eye intensely. Then he smiled warmly, took my coat lapels in his hands, drew me down to a few inches from his face, and said, “Dear boy, you are loved now!”

God loves us now, not when we get better. God loves us now, as we are.

Acceptance, Fathers, Grace, Joy

John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 1-Peter 1:8; 1-John 4:7–10

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Used by permission of the publisher.

Jesus' Purpose (Vs. 11)

He came to save the lost.

That's why He went to Calvary

Romans 5:8–10 NASB95

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 NASB95

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB95

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus' Parable (Vs. 12-13)

He tells of the one lost sheep

out of one hundred who went astray

The shepherd goes out to find the lost sheep.

Jesus gave his life for all lost sheep.

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit and His followers,

still seeks lost sheep today.

He wants the lost to believe on Him.

John 16:8–11 NASB95

“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus' Point (Vs. 14)

God's will is that nobody perish.

1 Timothy 2:3–4 NASB95

This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9 NASB95

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

However every person must believe on Christ for salvation.

Acts 4:12 NASB95

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 259: Gospel

In The Whisper Test, Mary Ann Bird writes:

I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.

When schoolmates asked, “What happened to your lip?” I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.

There was, however, a teacher in the second grade that we all adored—Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy—a sparkling lady.

Annually we had a hearing test …

Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back—things like “The sky is blue” or “Do you have new shoes?” I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, “I wish you were my little girl.”

God says to every person deformed by sin, “I wish you were my son” or “I wish you were my daughter.”

Acceptance, Grace, Love of God, Mercy, Sin

Rom. 5:8; Eph. 2:1–5

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