Seeking and Saving the Lost by Part 2 — Chip Brogden

God's Will for All to Be Saved

I believe that when you use the word all in the context of God's will, that you should not diminish that word. You should not hedge the meaning of that word to fit your doctrine, to fit your theology, to fit your belief, to limit God by your unbelief.

Why would you limit God? Simply because you can't fathom the fact that God wants to save everybody. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And then finally, another mind-blowing scripture, and there are many, but I just want to give you a basis here.

Presenting Every Person Mature in Christ

In Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 28, it says, Him we preach, speaking of Christ Jesus, Jesus we preach, Him we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Do you see that there? So you might be able to argue that all doesn't mean all, but how do you argue that every man doesn't mean every man? If every man means every man, then all certainly means all. Him we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Every man, perfect. The word perfect there means spiritually mature. It's another way of saying the same thing that He said in 1 Timothy 2, 4, that all men would be saved and would come to the full knowledge of the truth.

That's the same thing as saying we wish, we desire to present every man perfect, spiritually mature, lacking nothing in Christ Jesus. So again, I'm not trying to get into the debate with those who would debate on what happens to people who don't pray the sinner's prayer, or what about hell, or what about punishment.

I think those things we need to look at and we need to discuss, and we should certainly dig into it. But lots of people dig into those teachings, and that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to go over what has already been preached and taught by so many people, for and against.

What I'm trying to do is point out something that I believe has been overlooked, and it is the heart of God towards everyone on this earth. What is His heart? What is God's will? What's His desire? If God could do anything that He wanted to do, is there a scripture, a scriptural basis that we have for joining together with God, not only in prayer, but also in the teaching and the preaching and the sharing of the good news?

Is there a basis upon which we can believe and trust that God's heart and God's desire is to save everybody, at least everybody that we come into contact with? And scripturally, the answer is absolutely yes.

Prophetic Promises of God's Purposes for All Nations

You need to understand the heart and mind of God for His people and for His creation. And I have not even gotten into the prophetic scriptures. Psalm 22, 27, Psalm 72, 11,. Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him.

All nations shall serve Him. Psalm 86, 9,. How completely and thoroughly do the waters cover the sea? 100%, right? Well, in the same way, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

And so, what we have is a very compelling scriptural basis upon which we can go to God, as it says in 1 Timothy, and we can pray. We can pray for all men to be saved and to come to the epignosis of truth, the full knowledge of truth.

And when we do that, we are praying in alignment, we are praying in accord with God's stated purpose and heart and will and desire for all people. Now, why am I focusing on this? Why do I feel it's important that we go back and discuss the heart of God for His creation?

Recovering God's Heart for the Lost

Because I think as Christians, we are just entirely too self-absorbed. We are too absorbed with ourselves, our needs, our questions, our concerns, and we have completely forgotten about the fact that God's heart and His desire is to share this good news with all people, with all nations.

And I think that we have forgotten what it's like to be totally and thoroughly lost in this world without the Lord. And so I think the first thing that we have to do in order to recapture this desire for souls, this desire to go into the harvest, to be a light and to be a witness, we've got to find the heart of God for His fallen creation.

We have to get something of the love of God working in our heart for all people. And instead of debating and arguing and worrying about what about all the people who don't believe? What about all the people who don't pray the sinner's prayer?

What about what happens here and what about what happens there? Instead of worrying about all of that, we need to focus on the fact that we've been given a mission, we've been given a responsibility to be a light, to be salt in the earth, to be a witness, to be ambassadors for Christ.

Now, what happens to people after they're dead and gone? Ultimately, that's up to the Lord, isn't it? But while they live, there is hope and you and I have the privilege and the responsibility to take this gospel and this good news to all people of all nations.

Christ's Mission to Seek and Save the Lost

Now, I'm not talking about inviting people to church. I'm not talking about a religion at all. I'm talking about a relationship, a relationship that is based on the fact that Jesus has come not to condemn the world, but that the world through him may be saved.

The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Now, wouldn't you agree that when we lose something that's valuable, what is our first instinct? When we lose something valuable, when we lose something that is precious to us, what is our first instinct?

What's the first thing that we do? We got to look for it, right? The very first thing. When we realize that we have lost something, we feel that loss and we immediately go out and look for the thing that we've lost.

How many of you have ever lost your car keys? You misplaced your keys or you misplaced your wallet and you're rushing out the door and then you realize, oh, I've lost my wallet. I've lost my keys. I can't go anywhere until I find it.

And so you turn the house upside down looking for it. Well, that's human nature, isn't it? Where do you think that nature comes from? There's also examples in scripture that that is exactly the same way God sees those elements in his creation that have been lost.

The Parables of the Lost Sheep, Coin, and Son

In Luke chapter 15, I'd like you to turn there and read along with me. Luke chapter 15, beginning in verse 4, he says, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

So we probably don't have sheep, but you can relate to losing your keys. You can relate to losing your wallet or your purse or something that's very valuable. Well, back then, sheep were very valuable.

And Jesus says, if you have a hundred sheep and if you lose one, you're going to go out and look for it because it's valuable to you. And when he has found it, he says in verse 5, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost. And I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

As much as God rejoices over you and over me, as much as he loves us with an everlasting love, as much as he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Jesus Christ, he rejoices more when one sinner repents, when one sheep is found and is returned to his flock.

Because Jesus says, I have other sheep of this flock. It's not just this flock. It's not just you and me that he's concerned about. See, we're concerned about ourselves, and we're concerned about other brothers and sisters in the Lord, and we're concerned about our family and friends.

God is concerned with everybody. God is concerned with all people. He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So he rejoices over this one that is lost and then is found. Verse 8, he gives us another example. What woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost. Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Joy over one sinner who repents. Then he gives us the parable of the prodigal son. And you know the story. You've heard it. The prodigal son leaves his father. He goes off into a distant land. Takes his inheritance early and he wastes it.

And then he comes down on hard times. And then it says that he comes to himself and he says, You know what? I should go back to my father. I'd be better off to be a slave in my father's house than to live here in the pigsty.

So he returns to his father. And he says, I'm going to go. Verse 18, I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But here's the thing. When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

And the son started with his speech. Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. And he doesn't even finish. The father said to his servants, bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this is my son.

This my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they begin to make merry. And the only person who's not happy in this situation is the son who stayed behind. He got offended. He got mad.

Because his father made a big celebration over his brother who once was lost and now is found. And his brother didn't feel like rejoicing. And his reaction was to be resentful. His father says in verse 31 to him, Son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours.

It was right that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again. He was lost and now he is found. Isn't that a wonderful story? But you see, these are not just stories.

The parables of Jesus are not just quaint stories to try to make his point. They are prophetic declarations of truth. And in these series of messages, these parables, yet again we see the heart and mind and purpose of God towards all humanity, towards the lost.

Valuing the Lost as Precious Souls

Now, my question for you and me is, why don't we have that same reaction? Why don't we have that same motivation? Why don't we have that same purpose? Why don't we have that same compassion? Why don't we have that same desire?

In fact, what's happened is that we have turned being lost. Listen to me very carefully now. What we've done is we've turned being lost into a theological label. Being lost is nothing more to us than a theological label to describe someone who doesn't go to church or someone who doesn't claim to be a Christian.

Being lost for us is more about a doctrine. It's more about a theology. And the problem with that is we begin to think about things in terms of lost and found, saved and unsaved, believers and unbelievers, and particularly with this label lost.

Once we label someone as lost or a group of people as lost or billions of people around the whole world as they're lost, we tend to think of them as a lost cause. That's the problem. Oh, they're lost.

It's a lost cause. There's nothing we can do about it. Oh, really? If that's the way you see the lost, then let me say to you that you're not seeing the lost the way Jesus sees the lost. And that might explain why you're not doing more to seek and to save them as Jesus is.

I'm not talking about inviting people to church. That's not going to save the world. That has been our go-to message in years past. We're going to reach the lost. How are you going to do it? Well, we're going to go out and we're going to invite people to come to church.

The world is not interested in that. The only people that are interested in church is Christians. And the only people interested in going to your church is other Christians who are looking for a different church to go to.

I'm not talking about church and I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about the heart of God towards his people, towards his lost creation, his lost sheep, his lost coins, his lost son. What is the common denominator here?

It's that every soul, every person, every man, woman, boy and girl on the face of the earth, every one of them are valuable and precious to God. He doesn't love believers any more than he loves unbelievers.

He doesn't love the found any more than he loves the lost or vice versa. And the reason we don't go out and seek them and save them in obedience to what Jesus commanded is because we do not value the lost.

We see the loss as a lost cause instead of someone who needs to be rescued, people who need to be saved, people who need to be loved. The lost are not valuable to us even though they are valuable to him.

And so whereas he would leave the 99 to go look for the one, we prefer to stay within the 99. We would just prefer just to be around like-minded brothers and sisters. Let's just fellowship around the table and not worry about the harvest.

The lost are considered a lost cause and so we have already given up. And we just figure that God's just going to be content with us. You know, at least he got me, right? At least he got you. He should be glad that he got what he got and the rest of the world, they're lost.

They're just a lost cause. But I want you to know based on what we've seen in Scripture that that's not the way God sees the world. He sees every single soul as valuable as worth dying for. He sees every single person as precious and valuable and worth laying down his life for.

Going Into All the World to Lead People to Christ

And Jesus says the good shepherd leaves the sheep because they're taken care of. So many times people say, Brother Chip, why don't you go to this church? Or why don't you take this message and go to the church and do thus and so with it?

Because they're handled. They're taken care of. They've got all the teaching, all the preachers. They've got everything that they need. They don't need me. Meanwhile, there are millions and billions of people out in the world who are hungry and thirsty for spiritual truth.

They're not going to go to church. And furthermore, we shouldn't expect them to go to church. We should be going to where they are, not asking them to come to where we are. Inviting people to church to come be with us in our world is not the same thing as going into all the world.

We invite unbelievers, the lost, the unsaved, to come into our Christian world, come into my world. And that's not the same thing as going into all the world. Going out into the highways and the byways and compelling them to come in.

To come in where? Not to come into your church, but to come into Christ. To come into one flock with one shepherd. To lead people to Jesus.

You've been listening to Crosswind, featuring the teaching ministry of Chip Brogdon. We hope you enjoyed today's broadcast and found it challenging and encouraging. If you'd like to find out more about the school of Christ and how to get additional teachings, audio recordings, books, and other Christ-centered resources to help you grow spiritually, visit us online at www .theschoolofchrist .org.