Lost and Found — E.A. Johnston

The Lost Student Confronts His Spiritual Condition

There were two students in a dormitory room. One was a Christian, and the other was not. The one who was a Christian invited his roommate to go with him that evening to hear a traveling evangelist who was in town conducting meetings.

The roommate had nothing better to do that night, so he agreed to tag along and hear this evangelist. When they arrived at the church, the evangelist was preaching a message from the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 18 and verse 11, which states, For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.

The Gospel Call to Mark “Saved” or “Lost”

When the evangelist ended his message, he made the following remark. He said, I have preached to you this evening the Gospel of the Son of God, and I have shown you that Jesus came to save that which was lost.

I want to ask each of you this evening, when you get home, to get alone with God and to take out a piece of paper and write on it one word. Write on it the word saved or lost. If you're washed in the blood, you'll be able to write the word saved.

I've been honest with you and sincere with you folks here tonight, and I'm asking you to be honest and sincere with yourself when you get home and really do business with God to see if you're truly saved or not.

Will you do that for me? Well, everyone agreed. The meeting ended and the people went home. The two students were silent on their way back to the dorm once there. The student, who was a Christian, quietly read his Bible, then he took out a piece of paper and wrote the word SAVED on it in capital letters so his roommate could see it.

Then he turned out his light and he went to sleep. His roommate couldn't get to sleep. He couldn't sleep at all for the words of the evangelist haunted him and disturbed him. He could not take out a piece of paper and write the word saved because he knew in his heart he wasn't a Christian, but he refused to write the word lost.

So he just rolled over and turned out his light and tried to get to sleep, but he couldn't sleep. In fact, he got up and sneaked over to the table by his friend's bedside and grabbed his Bible, and in the light of the moon coming through the dormitory window, he opened it up to the passage in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 18, and he read it.

The Shepherd Seeks the Lost Sheep

In that chapter, Jesus spoke of the shepherd who had a hundred sheep, and one of them went astray and became lost, and the shepherd went out after it, even going into the mountains to seek that lost sheep, and when he found it, he rejoiced more over that lost and straying sheep than the ninety-nine that were still in the fold.

Well tears began to stream down the face of that college student as he read verse eleven over and over again. For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. Finally the boy got out his piece of paper and pen and wrote out one word.

He wrote the word lost in capital letters. But by the morning light he'd drawn a line through it and wrote in bigger letters the word saved, for between midnight and dawn he had found Christ as his shepherd and redeemer.

Jesus Christ Is the Only Remedy for Sin

Well I like that story, friends, don't you? But the main lesson of that story is that a person must first get lost before they can be saved. You must see your need of the remedy for sin before that remedy can be applied.

A man that is healthy has no need of a doctor, but should he get a fatal disease he will spend all he has to obtain that remedy to cure him. Listen to me, friend, Jesus is the only remedy for sin. In John 14 .6 Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Here Jesus answers the three greatest questions of the human heart. Number one, how can I be saved? Jesus said, I am the way. Number two, how can I be sure? Jesus said, I am the truth.

Christ, the Bread of Life, Welcomes the Hungry

Number three, how can I be satisfied? Jesus said, I am the life. And in John 6 .35, Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

The gospel, friends, is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty. Let me ask you, friend, are you hungry for God? Are you weary of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Christ is the bread of life.

He invites poor sinners to come to him and believe on him. The duty required is to come to Christ, and he has a pure gospel promise to all who come. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.

Repentance and Personal Trust in Christ

Will you do me a favor, friend? Will you get alone with God sometime this evening and be honest with him and sincere with him as to your salvation? Will you get out a piece of paper and write one word upon it?

Either write the word saved or write the word lost. It is my prayer that if you are not truly washed in the blood and born from above, that God will show you your lost condition and perilous position outside of Christ and show you your need of repentance.

Turn to Christ, friend. He is the only one who can save you. Let us pray.