What it means to be lost

Read again please in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15. This is one of the best known passages in all the Bible and it well should be. Luke chapter 15 and we'll begin to read at verse 3. Luke 15 and verse 3, And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it.

And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me. I think this next phrase clause is just one of the most wonderful I've ever read.

I have found my sheep which was lost. Now chapter 19, just one verse, verse 10. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

The seeker is God's Son. The shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. So the search, he came from heaven.

He came into our world. And the purpose? To seek and to save that which was lost. The sheep? Lost.

I'm going to try tonight the best I can to preach to you, to speak to you about what it means to be lost. His shoulders, a place of safety. His song, the song of rejoicing.

Now what does it actually mean to be lost? I'm talking about being lost in the sight of a holy God. Not lost in the woods somewhere. In the state of Wisconsin many years ago in a forested area.

I can't even remember why I was in that forest. I do know I got lost there. I wandered around for a number of hours and mercifully for me, it was getting on in the day so that the sun was beginning to go down in the western sky.

I wasn't really lost because I could tell where the West was. And I started to travel in that direction and I knew if I went long enough that surely I would come to a path or a road or some way that I could find my way out. That's exactly what happened.

I thought I was lost. I really wasn't. There were some things I could still do.

You know, that's the way it is for eternity. You're not just lost as a sinner, but each one of us is hopelessly, helplessly lost without the Savior. To be lost.

I don't think I can fully grasp the significance of what it would mean to be lost forever. To be lost in hell. To be lost in the lake of fire forever and forever.

But the Son of Man is come. Thank God He is come. You'll notice that the sheep was foolishly lost.

It wandered away. It strayed. And we already heard that verse tonight.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. So each person, each one of us, is a sheep in God's sight.

And each one of us is a sheep that has gone astray and has turned to our own way. But there was a coin in this chapter. There are three lost things, as you'll know.

There was a sheep, there was a coin, and there was a son. And it takes three to really give us the picture, the story, the meaning of what it means to be lost spiritually. Because, you see, the sheep was foolishly lost and it took painful toil to find it.

The coin was helplessly lost. You can understand that, can't you? The coin couldn't find itself. No possibility that the coin could find itself.

So the coin was helplessly lost. The son, in this great parable of the prodigal, the son was willfully lost. So it took painful toil to find the sheep.

It took diligent search to find the coin. And it took a yearning love to find the son. I can tell you tonight, there's a Savior who is seeking you.

I hope you understand the greatness of that fact. He came from the highest glory. He came from heaven.

He's the Eternal One. He had no beginning and He had no end of days. And from the glory of heaven, He came down.

Oh, what a journey. I've often thought of what the angels must have looked at when they saw the One who is their God, their Lord, stoop down from heaven and come down into this world of sin. He came down in wondrous love.

What did He come for? We read tonight. He came to seek. Not only to seek, but He came to save.

I've been very much concerned to be able to preach what it cost Him to save me. I've been saved for almost 70 years, but the night I was saved is just as vivid and clear to me as if it just happened. I was helpless.

I could do nothing. That's what it means to be a lost soul. That's what it means to be a lost sheep.

Not to be able to say I can do half a dozen things to find my way. No. It's to be without hope.

It's to be totally, utterly helpless. I thank God I ever got to that place that Friday night, April 1st, 1938. When for the first time I discovered I can do nothing.

I was always trying to do something. Trying to believe in the right way. Trying to pray to be saved.

Many a time I even got down on my knees by my bed and asked God to save me. I was trying to do something to earn God's salvation. That Friday night in 1938, I found out I'm lost and I can do nothing.

That's where the Savior finds the sinner. He goes after that which is lost until He finds it. And each one of us here who are saved tonight, we had the same experience.

We were helpless. We could do nothing. And the Lord Jesus from heaven came to seek and to save.

I had a dear brother and you've heard this a number of times, but he was an athlete and he was a good one. He was raised under the sound of the gospel as I was, but he did not respond to the gospel. Harry did not get saved.

One day, and maybe you'll understand the difference between the game of rugby and the game of football, he was playing rugby. He was the quarterback on the team. And that day he was tackled and went down, as happens in every game, and after a while he got up and went to the side of the field.

He came home. He said nothing. Didn't tell my parents that he was hurting so badly he could hardly stand it.

But in about three weeks, and that was far too long, I can remember as vividly as if I'm looking at it, Harry being taken down the street in an ambulance to the hospital. They did surgery on his hip, on his knee. They did seven surgeries and he wasn't recovering.

Harry was dying. I remember standing by his bed one day in the hospital and he said, I want to be saved. He wasn't talking to me, but I was there to hear it.

And God had to bring him to that before he could really say, I want to be saved. Thank God one day in that hospital he was saved. John 5 and 24, verily, verily, the Lord Jesus said, It's true, it's true, I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes God that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation.

That's what he took hold of. I remember him saying this so vividly, I'll never be punished for my sins because Christ was punished for me. He stood by his bed one day and he asked us to sing a hymn.

I was just a boy. My mother and father were there. My two sisters were there.

And we sang beside his bed that day. In tenderness he sought me, weary and sick with sin. And on his shoulders brought me back to his fold again.

While angels in his presence sang until the courts of heaven rang. Oh, the love that sought me. Oh, the blood that bought me.

Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold. Within a few days, Harry was with the Lord Jesus. Thank God that he ever got saved.

Are you saved tonight? Can I ask you a blunt question? If you are saved, when were you saved? If you are saved, where did it happen? People who are truly saved have a time when they have a place where it happened and they could tell you just exactly how it took place. So, the Son of Man has come from heaven into this world to be rejected and despised, to have men spit upon him. Can you take that in that the maker of this world was spit upon by our fellow creatures in this world? They mocked him.

They abused him with scorn, with blows, until his visage was so marred, he was unrecognizable as a man. And they took him outside the city of Jerusalem. They laid the cross on the ground there at Calvary.

And they laid the body of the Lord Jesus upon that wooden cross. And they nailed him to the tree. And they lifted the cross up and dropped it into that socket in the ground, that hole that was prepared.

And he hung on the wounds of hands and feet through which nails were driven, crowned with thorns upon the tree, silent in his agony, dying, crushed beneath the load of the wrath and curse of God. Because, please understand this, men did their worst to the Lord Jesus, rejected him, despised him, crucified him. But God punished him in my place.

God's judgment from high heaven fell on that suffering Savior in the darkness from the noon hour, from the sixth to the ninth hour. Darkness fell. And in that darkness, the Lord Jesus suffered, not just the physical sufferings of his body, not just the wounds and the lash and the nails, but from God.

There, through his hour of deepest woe, his suffering spirit passed. Grace there, its wondrous victory gained and love. I was thinking when my brother was speaking tonight, he said several times that God's grace is so great.

What is grace? What is the meaning of grace? I remember a dear young lady coming to me years ago and she said, Mr. Crawford, can you tell me what grace means? And I said, well, maybe in the ages of eternity we'll begin to be able to understand it. It's greater than words can ever say. What is grace anyway? Is it what I don't deserve? No.

You know what grace is? I deserve God's judgment, God's wrath, punishment from God. And instead of that, he forgave my sins and saved me. The opposite of what I deserve.

And he didn't do it without tremendous cost. I think this is one of the most touching truths I know. That the price that was paid for my salvation was infinite.

The price? How much? More than tongue can tell. What the Savior suffered there on Calvary. He is the infinite Son of God.

He is the creator of heavens and earth. And he suffered as no man could ever suffer. He suffered there for sins that were not his own.

He had none. But he suffered for sins. Would you be able to take this in tonight that you're the lost sheep that he came to save? He goes after that which is lost until he finds it.

I think you've probably heard this hymn sung different times. Lord, whence are these blood drops all the way that mark out the mountain path? They were shed for one who had gone astray. The shepherd could bring him back.

And I love this hymn. All through the mountains, thunder riven and up from the rocky steep. There arose a glad cry to the gate of heaven.

Rejoice, I have found my sheep. And the angels echoed around the throne. Rejoice, for the Lord brings back his own.

Do you see the story? He goes after that which is lost until he finds it. How far did he go, Calvary? The darkness, the sufferings of the Lamb of God there on Calvary, that you might be saved, that he might find you a poor sinner, and he might save you. So I can well remember when I was newly saved.

I was invited to a home in the city of Toronto in Canada where I lived. And Mr. Dart, this home it was, he put me on the spot. There were maybe, I don't know how many, 30 people or a few more than that gathered in that home that night, all invited to come and have that little gathering together.

And Mr. Dart said to me, Norm, I understand that you just got saved. Would you like to tell us about it? I didn't expect anything like that. I have to confess, I stuttered and stammered, and I did the best I could anyway.

I told them how I was saved. You know, to my wonder, as I looked around on those dear Christians, I saw tears in their eyes. And Mr. Dart said we want to sing a hymn.

I never will forget this. There's one above all earthly friends, whose love, all earthly love transcends. It is my Lord and Christ divine, my Lord because I know he's mine.

I just told how I discovered he died for me. He's my Savior. And we sang, I know he's mine.

This friend so dear, he lives with me, he's ever near. 10,000 charms around him shine. But best of all, I know, is he yours? He would be yours.

You've heard that tonight. He is ready. He is willing.

He is able to save you. He went after that which was lost until he found it. And it cost him everything.

The Lord Jesus on Calvary gave his all. It wasn't just something from him. It was himself.

And I love these words, and they are some of the most precious words in the Bible, and we quote them constantly. The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. Personal.

It's a personal salvation. He's a personal Savior, and you have to receive him for yourself. As many as received him, to them gives he authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

And you could be saved tonight. You could know it. You could have the assurance of it.

So it took the Savior's suffering that you might be found, but he also is seeking you. I think this is a very touching truth. There are some here tonight, and I know this for a fact, that the Lord himself is seeking you.

He goes after that which is lost. He's the great seeker. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

And the ways he seeks us, oh, how wonderful they are. The way he controls the very events of this world, that he might seek you and save you. And he's willing tonight, and he's able, and he wants you to trust him, and you will be saved.

The Father. We didn't read this part of the chapter that tells about the Father's yearning for his Son. You see, when it came to the shepherd, it was painful suffering that he had to go through to reach the lost sheep.

When it came to the coin, it was the diligent search that had to be done to find it. But when it came to the Son who was willfully lost, it was the Father's yearning love going after the Son. There is a Father in heaven, and he wants to be your Father.

He wants to save you. And to do it, this is what he did. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.

He gave the Lord Jesus. Gave him to what? Gave him to be wounded, as you've heard tonight, for our transgressions. Gave him to be crushed for our iniquities.

Gave him to endure the punishment of our sins in his own body on the tree. And if you trust him as your own Savior, you will never have to suffer for your sins. He suffered enough.

And I love this, and you can understand it tonight maybe. When the Savior was on the cross, he cried. After the three hours of darkness, when he suffered infinitely, he cried, Tetelestai.

What is that? Paid in full. It is finished. The work is done.

He does the seeking. He does the saving. And as a lost sheep, you do nothing but let him do it.

You've heard that just now. You have to let him save you. He's willing, and he's able.

And if you trust him tonight, you will have assurance from the Word of God. I think this is something that many people ask, and I like to answer questions, so I'm going to answer this tonight, although you may not have asked it. How does a person know they're saved? Like, I've told you that I have eternal life, and I know it.

How do I know it? Some feeling? I go back to some emotional experience? No. No, I don't do any of that. You know what I do? I go to God's Word right now.

If you said to me, how do you know you're saved? I wouldn't tell you about something in here. You know what I'd do? I'd tell you about something in here. The Word of God and what assurance it gives.

These things are written unto you that you may know that you have eternal life, that you may know. How do you know? I have His Word for it. The Word of the one who can never lie.

The Word of the one whose words are eternally true. And if I take Him at His Word, and let me give you the words that I'm thinking in my heart right now. John 5 and 24, the Lord Jesus said, It's true.

It's true. I'm talking to you. He that listens to me, she that listens to me, and the heart says yes, shall never come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.

Never to come into judgment? How would you know it? He said it, and I believe it. I was very much impressed with Esa Apelta the other day. Some of you know Esa.

He lost his arm on a corn picker one day. We were actually preaching in the area just shortly after Esa had lost his arm. And he and his wife came to hear the gospel preached, Eva and Esa.

Esa said to me one night at the door of the meeting, he said, I lost my arm. I hope I don't lose my soul. Well, I can tell you that Esa did lose his arm, but he didn't lose his soul.

For there was a night when lost and guilty and helpless, he trusted the Lord Jesus. I remember the joy I could see on his very countenance the next night when he came to the meeting. And he waited back a little, and others went out before him, and the building was fairly well emptied when he came to the door.

And he said, I just want to tell you Christ died for me. Oh, I know that. Do you know it? You could take that in tonight.

Say, how would you know it? How do I know that Christ died for me? Does it say in the Bible Christ died for Norman Crawford? No, and I'm glad it doesn't. You know why? There are other people with that name. It would probably be them and not me.

But what does it say? Listen to these five words. Christ died for the ungodly. You can't take that away from me.

That's mine. Christ died for the ungodly. That's me.

And that's how I know I'll never have to be punished for my sins. May God bless His Word to you. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we bow before Thee, acknowledging our weakness, acknowledging our inability to make this message as clear and plain as it should be.

But, O God, Thy Spirit can take the Word of Scripture, the language of Holy Writ, and impress it upon the heart and conscience of each one here tonight. There are those here tonight who have no Savior. They have never trusted Christ.

They are not saved. They're lost if they only knew it. But show them that they are lost and show them that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

God bless Thy Word wherever it's been preached tonight. We think of Clyde, Ohio. Humbly pray for Thy blessing there and upon this dear elderly man who is coming to hear the Gospel each night and others, Lord, that we know that we've prayed for for years.

O God, save them for Thy glory. And bless now as we part and accept our thanks for this Savior who came. Wonder of wonders, He came from the highest glory.

He came to the cross. He came to suffer. He came to die.

He came to shed His blood. And He died and was buried. And He rose from the dead.

And He's a living Lord tonight. And we thank Thee for Him and thank Thee for the Gospel and pray to bless it to each heart in His name. Amen.