Lost and found

Date of Sermon Delivery: 10. December. 2023

Place of sermon Delivery:  Delhi, India

Sunday Worship Service 

Speaker: Brother Jatin 

 

Title: Lost and found  

Bible: Luke 15:1-7

Key verse: Luke 19:10  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

 

1. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 

2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 

4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 

5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 

6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 

7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

 

Merry Christmas !!!

It is so great to be in the Christmas season.

I had a good start to the month of December with Jesus.

Every month is good, but this month is a little more special because I could remember his good work throughout the year, and he brought me to the last month.

This month, we started with morning prayer time.

I thank all of you who came to that prayer time. God bless you all and those who did not attend for some reason. I hope that God opens doors for you too so that you too can be a part of such a fellowship because one of our brothers was sharing with me his experience of how a morning prayer in August last year changed his heart for the Lord.

I want to encourage all of you, whether you spend time with anyone or not, but always spend time with Jesus Christ, and spending time with Jesus is never a waste. James 4:8a Come near to God, and he will come near to you.

Let us pray.

Lord, we all thank you for this morning, and we are thankful that we are all in your presence.

Lord, for 11 months, you kept us healthy, took care of us, and enriched us with all the things that you thought were good for us.

Lord, we all hope that this month will fill all our hearts with great joy and fill the hearts of many new people with joy.

Lord, as we go to hear your words now, may your presence be with us and help us to understand your words and to put them in our daily lives.

Please be with me and use me for your kingdom.

We pray in Jesus name.

Amen !!

This Christmas season, we will be listening to a series of sermons on lost and found.

 

Have you ever lost anything? Like a wallet, a key, a credit card, or a pair of socks or earrings?

What did you do when you lost one of those?

Did you just say, No problem?

No, I believe you would search everywhere you had been until you found what you lost.

Because finding the lost is the most important thing in our lives at that moment.

 

God knows what it feels like to lose something.

In the book of Genesis, God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, but warned them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But the one whom the Lord loved very much and whom he created in his own image disobeyed God’s command and ate from the tree, as a result of their disobedience, introduced sin into the world.

Paul says in his letter to the Romans that through one man sin entered into the world and death through sins; therefore, death spread to all men because all sinned.

This act introduced sin into the world and disrupted the intimate relationship between God and humanity.

The Lord lost his people because of that.

They started turning away from the Lord and abandoning the will of the Lord. They started doing whatever the enemy wanted..

God knows what it feels like to lose something, therefore God definitely find for his lost one and to find the lost, God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to the world (John 3:16).

Therefore, the Lord sent his only son into the world so that people would listen to him and come towards the Lord.

Let us see today's scripture, Luke 15:1–7.

 

If you will read chapter 14, Jesus is calling people to be his disciples to come and follow.

He was preaching to them what it means to follow him, to take up the cross, and to leave everything behind and follow him.

 

In this chapter, 15 people are giving him responses to his invitations.

Verse 1 says, Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 

They came to hear him.

The tax collectors and sinners were people who were outcasts and immoral.

Tax collectors were hated because they were not collecting money for Jews or the use of the people, but they were collecting money to take to Rome, and when they used to collect it, they also got some percentage.

They oppressed their own people to collect taxes from them; therefore, they were very hated by people.

Sinner people are the common people whom the pharisees did not consider pure before God; the Bible says they came to hear Jesus.

 

Verse 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

 

The Pharisees and the teachers came to complain.

The Pharisees were a group of people who were very strict on the law; they had been in existence for at least 300 years before Jesus Christ.

They have been coming up with new laws, and now their laws are very oppressive to the people of Israel, and that’s why Jesus had a lot of difficulty with the pharisees.

They came to complain about Jesus; they said he received sinners, which means he accepted those who came to him; he welcomed tax collectors; and they had problems with Jesus because he welcomed bad people; they wanted that he cast them out.

Jesus received sinners not to participate in their sin but to transform them.

The Pharisees never gave them a chance to be transformed; they used to say that you are a sinner, so do not come to us, because their name means separation.

 

He eats with sinners; eating with sinners is deeper than receiving, because when they say he eats with sinners, it means sinners invite him to their home. He goes; not only does he welcome them, but he also accepts invitations from sinners.

Pharisees believe that if you get close to sinners, they will contaminate (defile) you, and that’s why they doubted Jesus. They will say that if you are really the son of God, then why are you dealing with these people because they are contaminating you?

 

But when Jesus encounters sinners, they do not contaminate him; sinners become righteous, and Jesus does not become sinful.

 

If we want to be a great church, we do not have to be pharisees; we have to be like Jesus.

 

Do not talk with him, do not talk with her, because of his or her bad records, but even if you knew someone's record, still talk because, more than knowing the record, we have to know the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ is great.

 

Jesus came to find the lost, and we cannot win sinners with the heart like pharisees but have to be like Jesus.

 

As you look further into today’s scripture, you come across that Jesus talks to them about a parable, and the parable is about the shepherd and the lost sheep.

A shepherd attitude means that he cares for, protects, and always wants to find his sleep and bring it back to him.

 

In the days of Jesus, sheep don’t raise sheep at home; they used to take them out in the open field, and Jesus is speaking here. The shepherd takes his sheep to the open field to feed them, and the sheep are 100, and the shepherd notices that one of them is lost.

It was the shepherd's practice that at night they kept sheep at home, and at daytime, the shepherd took the sheep out to the field for grass and water. And at the end of the day, he brings his sheep back. and he brings the sheep back to the home, he has to count the sheep to ensure that the number he took out is the same number he has brought.

 

So here he notices that he has lost one sheep, because when he starts counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 to 99, he realises one is gone.

At this time, it is late because evening and now nightfall will start, and wild animals like lions, bears, jackals, and sheep are going to be eaten before morning.

Shepherd has a short time, so he must find the sheep before night falls, because if he does not get the sheep, he will lose forever.

 

 

The Bible says he went after the sheep until he found it.

Sheep were lost, and it was the fault of sheep.

Lost sheep cannot find their own way back home; somebody needs to go after them.

Shepherd knew if I left sheep, sheep was not going to find its way home because it did not know the way home.

 

It is great to pray for sinners, but they do not know the way home. Someone must find them and bring them back home.

Therefore, the shepherd decided that I will go to find the lost sheep until he found them.

 

If you have ever had a loved one that needed to be saved, maybe a friend, maybe a brother, a sister, maybe a husband, a wife, or somebody that needed Christ to be saved,.

You did your best to share the gospel many times, but they did not respond to Christ; you took them to church many times, but they did not respond to Christ; you invited them many times, but they did not respond; and when people are like that, sometimes you just give up on them and say I have tried my best, even though sometimes my thoughts are the same as this.

 

But imagine if the shepherd says I have tried my best and it is already night; if I stay out for long, I will be in danger.

Because if you want to bring somebody into Christ, it is not an easy thing; you have to chase that person, you have to continue calling them, and you have to stand in front of their door.

Maybe the person will refuse you; even then, do not tell your mind that I am bothering him or her. But if the person is not going with you for eternal life, it is better if you have to bother him.

 

I think we have to make one revolution for the next year—that each one of us must have one sheep whom we will pursue.

At least one lost person will be found searching for the Lord. One person, not ten.

 

When the shepherd went to find his sleep, he found him after some time.

He laid the found sheep on his shoulders; he did not rebuke it, he did not insult it, he did not slap it, but he laid the sheep on the shoulders and said my sheep was lost, and now I have found it.

When people come into the house of the Lord, we have to put them in a place of honour. And we have to treat them well.

Shepherd did here two things: he rejoiced over the sheep, and he presented the sheep to his friends and neighbours so that everyone may receive them from him.

 

After this parable Jesus said, I tell you that is the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Verse 7).

God already rejoices over those who have found him, but God will more rejoice when a sinner comes to know Jesus Christ. God will be more joyful when he finds one of his lost sheep.

 

Even though sin in Eden Garden makes the people of God lost,  God wants to find them; he wants to take them into his family.

Therefore, he sends his son, so that through him he may find all his sleep, and he does not want to leave even one.

 

Dear brothers and sisters:.

Jesus came to this world so he might find and save his people from death and take them into the life of eternality.

Soon we will be in the year 2024, and I want to encourage you: do not make your first prayer topic that I want more money, I want more success, I want a big house, I want to clear an exam, but keep one name in your prayer topic: a lost soul who you wish to save in the name of Jesus Christ. Maybe it was a backsliding person who went back into his old life.

Maybe it could be somebody who is not saved at all but who needs to be saved.

Write one name, which could be a relative, a friend, someone from your neighbourhood, your parents, or a sibling.

Pursue one soul continually, and bring that person to Christ.

It will bring great joy to your heart and also to the kingdom of God, and God will bless you with many other needs.

 

Let us pray. 

God thank you for sending Jesus Christ to found who were lost.

Lord among of us, some want to say you lord I am a lost sheep, and I want to give my life to Christ again, I want to live for you Jesus, I want Jesus in my heart as my lord and saviour, I want to be born again, please Lord take them back in you again. 

Lord among of us, some want to say lord I have fallen back, I have gone back to sinful behaviour but I want to come back to you Lord, please lord take them back too in you again. 

Lord among of us. Some are like those 99 sheep, make our heart for committed for you that each one of them to go and look for one for the kingdom for God. 

We all pray in Jesus Christ name. 

Amen.