A0297_The Fathers Heart for the Lost
Date: 11th March 2007 (Sunday PM) Ref: A0297
Place: Kambah P.S.
Title: The Fathers Heart for the Lost
Text: & Luke 15:7
Illust: In a semi fevered state last night, I was thinking about how I would feel if God spoke to me & told me that 2 of my 3 children would be saved & 1 not. – Sharp pain of anguish. I would do anything to see my kids saved & make heaven their home. – It struck me this same anguish I felt, is what God feels & more over every lost sinner that perishes. – The Fathers Heart for the Lost
I. The Lost
A. All Around
i. This PM, do you think about the lost; the untold masses of humanity that you walk past in the shops, you drive past in you car. Live in your street & neighbourhood.
ii. Bible is very clear
John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (NKJV)
iii. The lost, those that don’t believe in Jesus Christ, who haven’t put their faith in Him & His blood for the forgiveness of their sins. They are condemned
B. Destined for Hell
i. Condemned to an eternity in hell. – No escape, no getting out, no more mercy. An eternity separated from God in eternal torment.
Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: (NKJV)
Revelation 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (NKJV)
ii. This is the horrific & tragic destiny off all those who die without Christ. Whose names are not written in the Book of Life.
iii. No light thing, not a trifling matter, The weight of eternity, of the destiny of the lost should press down upon you.
II. The Heart of the Father
A. For God So Loves
i. It is warped view that some have that God delights in sending people to Hell, the message of the scriptures is that God is grieved, He loves everyone, Recently some controversy of over a sign outside a church that read – “Jesus Loves Osama” Offended a lot of people. But its true, Jesus does love him, He died for OBL just the same as He died for you & I.
ii. The Fathers heart is expressed in the most widely translated memory verse & Jn 3:16. The reason Jesus came to die was because God loved the world, every single man woman & child.
B. Grief of God
i. He grieves over the lost. Time & again throughout the OT, The prophets bring a message to the people of God who are following idols. God compares them with children gone astray, with unfaithful wives. A sense of grief, sorrow & loss. & Hosea 11:1-9
ii. Can you hear the sorrow, the sense of deep grief – This same refrain is echoed by nearly all of the prophets. It was the mission of the prophets:
2 Chronicles 36:15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. (NKJV)
iii. God would do anything to save a sinner. In fact He has done everything. ~ He sent His only son to die in our place. This is how deep the grief of God goes for the lost
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (NKJV)
III. Your Heart
A. What About You
i. Given this is God’s heart, what is your heart for the lost. Do you see your neighbour, that lady in the shop, the man in the car next to you in the traffic as God sees them? Will you hear the cry of the lost?
ii. Need to continually check our hearts. Are you hardened to the desperate plight of the lost? ~ Millions dying every year without Christ. You are a living breathing testimony of God’s desire to save the lost. Why you are still here. Why not immediately raptured when you get saved.
iii. The Great Commission is to go into all the world, to every nation, every tribe & tongue and to preach the Good News of John 3:16.
B. The Call
i. This is the call this evening, in the busyness of life, in the pursuit of our own desires and wants. We can lose a sense of the tragedy of the lost. God’s heart is for every person to be saved. – Do we share God’s heart
ii. By sinful nature we are selfish creatures, Need to continually pray & ask God to give you His eyes to see, His ears to hear & His heart to feel for the lost as He feels.
iii. Only comes as you repent of selfishness & ask Him to renew in you a sense of the horror of hell & the grace that He gives. – The Great Commission still applies.