When have you lost something that it
grieved you until you found it or adjusted to life without it?
When have you been lost and then found the way home?
When you first discover that you are lost you panic and wonder what you
will do? Then you try to form a
plan to overcome the loss. Today
we are talking about a spiritual lostness.
We have to realize that we will one day go into the darkness of death
without knowing the way back home.
The little girl watched her mother put
the finishing touches on a newly baked cake. "Mother," she said,
"your cake would look like the pictures in the magazines if you would cut
a piece out of it."
Your Christian life would look more like that
pictured in the Bible, if you would start giving yourself away. What you keep
grows stale. What you give becomes nourishment for the whole of the true
church. We feed on what the Lord multiplies of Himself through us.
-- Donald Grey Barnhouse, Let Me Illustrate (Fleming H. Revell, 1967),
p. 51.
Scripture
Text:
Matt 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples,
how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee,
Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get
thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the
things that be of God, but those that be of men. 24 Then said Jesus unto his
disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:
and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a
man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of man shall come in
the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man
according to his works.
28 Verily I say unto
you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they
see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
1.
Jesus’ Story:
When Jesus was 12 he was lost to His
family, but he was found doing the Father’s will.
Jesus was lost to death. This
is not the end of the story.
His temptation was to avoid death on
the cross and go straight to heaven.
Jesus was found the third day. Jesus’ story can be your story, if we follow Him.
2.
Our Story:
Our story is being written every day
of our lives.
Jesus invites us to be lost to ourselves by taking up our cross as He
did.
Jesus promises if we loose our life to
Him then we would find it for keeps.
The temptation is to try to find our
life without first loosing it.
Do we desire the things of God of the
things that are of men?
Will we sit at His table and eat the
last meal with Him?
Will we pick up our cross and go with
Him to Golgotha to give ourselves as a living sacrifice?
People find the whole world. But then they loose their very soul.
What is your soul worth to you? What is it worth to God?
The temptation is to try to get both.
We can’t receive the whole world and keep your soul forever.
Loose ourselves for His sake. If
we give ourselves to Jesus, then we become lost to the world.
The Lost:
Jesus was lost to death. Jesus knew that
He would be killed by the world and He explained this to His disciples.
He gave his life that we may live.
He was lost to the disciples who sat in grief until the third day.
The first day of the week was the beginning of a new day in the history
of humankind. Jesus has shown us
that we are all lost. Each one of us will die.
Without Him we are lost forever.
The Found: Jesus
was found on the third day to be alive. He
found His way back by the power of the Father who raised Him from the dead. This is the power He wants to give to all those who call on
His name. The rewards that God
gives are to all those who decide to go with Jesus and pick up their cross and
follow Him. This is the right way
to go through life and death. Payday
is coming. Working for the Lord,
but there will be a payday. If we
are lost to the world then the Lord will find you and reward every man
according to his works.
I had walked life's way with an easy tread, I had traveled where
pleasures and comfort lead until one day in a quiet place, I met the Master
face to face.
With station and rank and wealth for my goal,
Much thought for my body but none for my soul, I'd entered to win this life's
mad race, when I met the Master face to face.
I built my towers and reared them high, 'til
they had pierced the blue of the sky. I'd
sworn to rule with an iron mace, when I met my Master face to face.
I met Him and knew Him and blushed to see,
that His eyes, full of sorrow, were fixed upon me.
I faltered and fell at his feet that day, while my castles melted and
vanished away.
Melted and vanished and in their place,
nothing else could I see but the Master's face.
My thoughts are now for the souls of men, I had lost my life to find it
again.
Since that day in a quite place, when I met
the Master face to face.
-- Insight for Living 7/30/90
The emperor Diocletian set up a stone pillar on which was inscribed
these words: For Having
Exterminated The Name Christian From the Earth.
If he could see that monument today, how embarrassed he would be!
Another Roman leader made a coffin, symbolizing his intention "to
bury the Galilean" by killing His followers. He soon learned that he could not "put the Master in
it". He finally surrendered
his heart to the Savior, realizing that the corporate body of Christ and its
living Head, the Lord Jesus, cannot be destroyed by the onslaught of mortal
men.
The history of the church has been
represented by the Waldensians in a picture of an anvil with many worn-out
hammers lying all around it. Beneath
this scene are the words: One
Anvil -- Many Hammers. Organized religion may fail; but the living organism
composed of all born-again believers will stand forever.
God is calling out of this world a people for His name who will dwell
with Him throughout eternity. From the Bible Illustrator.