Getting Men Lost — E.A. Johnston

Oh great God, I pray that you take this message tonight and that you do something with it. I'm bankrupt without your Lord. I need your Holy Spirit to attend this word and come among us tonight. Oh King Jesus, make yourself known among us here.

Come in your preeminence and take charge of this meeting. If there's someone here sitting on a rotten foundation of an empty religious profession, I pray you make your word a hammer and bust that rotten thing up, smash it all to pieces.

Great and terrible God, come as a fire tonight in our midst and burn up all our false professions of faith, burn up all our disobedience to you and lying to you and transgressing against you. Great God, your church in the west has become a plexiglass church full of the world and void of your spirit.

It's hard to even hear the real gospel of your son preached in this country anymore. Great King of heaven, ancient of days, get real with us tonight and walk in our midst by your disturbing presence. Get sinners lost tonight and awaken them to their danger of dying in their sins and dropping into a hell of hell of darkness and damnation.

Save a lost sinner here tonight. I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. I'm going to start my message tonight, friends, with a story because the story is pertinent to the message I want to bring you tonight.

The Lost Boy as a Picture of Salvation

There's a story I heard about a young boy who rode his bike into a forest trail in the state of Tennessee, which was near his father's farm. And he was out exploring and having fun. And he forgot the time, as 10-year-old boys often do, when darkness fell.

And he was certain he knew the way back out of the forest. And he walked his bike to the trunk of a big old oak tree, which he'd passed earlier when it was still light. But now it was dark. And he wasn't so sure if it was the same tree after all.

But he just kept on going, thinking he was going in the right direction. But it was the wrong direction. And the more he tried to find his way out of that forest, the more lost he became. Suddenly, all the things in the forest that had fascinated him earlier, which were fun and exciting, were now frightening to him now.

He thought he saw a raccoon. But what if it was a bobcat? Hours had now passed. He was hungry, cold, and frightened. And finally, he gave up trying to get out. He just sat down on the ground, crying in desperation.

Well, when the boy's father finished his plowing, he soon discovered the absence of his son. He jumped in his pickup truck and went looking for the boy. A neighbor told him he had seen the boy riding his bike toward the forest.

Well, grabbing a flashlight from the glove compartment of his truck, he ran into the woods, hollering, hollering, Jimmy, Jimmy, where are you? But there was no answer. Jimmy, Jimmy, where are you? There was no answer.

There was no answer. Jimmy, Jimmy, where are you? And the little boy heard his father's voice, and he cried out. He said, I'm over here, Daddy. I'm over here. I'm over here. And the father and son hugged each other's necks with the grateful tears in their eyes, and he got home with his father.

Well, I like that story, friends, because to me, it's a picture of salvation. That boy got lost, and he was found. He realized there was nothing in his own power to find his way back out of that forest.

He was saved when he heard his father's voice. You know, there's a lot of religious folks out there whose empty religious profession is no better than a hole in the wall. They're victims of modern evangelism and a watered-down gospel.

They've never, ever closed with Christ in true conversion and are yet unconverted individuals. All they have as a testimony as a Christian is they remember back yonder where they responded to some emotional appeal in church and performed some physical act of walking an owl or raising their hand or repeating a prayer to become a Christian.

That's all they know about salvation. They did what the preacher told them to do. They accepted Jesus before they even ever felt their need of him. They'd never even gotten lost. How can you know you're saved if you've never been lost, friend?

The Necessity of Recognizing Spiritual Lostness

Jesus spoke about this very thing when he said, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And Jesus said, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I heard a preacher tell how he visited his best friend in a hospital who almost died from blood poisoning.

One day, one more day without treatment and his friend would have been dead. He had a poison in his blood. Well, men have a poison in their blood and they must see their danger before they can seek a remedy.

They must see the rottenness of their natural condition in Adam and know the wickedness of their own hearts. That man is born with a ruined nature and a bent toward sin. That man must feel the need of a savior from sin before that remedy can be applied.

And as long as a lael to sin thinks himself rich and in need of nothing, he'll be blind to his own condition of wretchedness and poverty and nakedness. When a man gets lost, that's when he seeks the Christ of the gospel.

He seeks Christ then for the gold, the raiment, and the high salve, which is desperately needed. Men must be warned of a future judgment that awaits all mankind. They must be warned to flee from the wrath to come of damnation in the devil's hell.

Who's going to warn them if the preacher won't? Romans 1 16 in the Amplified Translation reads, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation from his wrath and punishment. We tend to leave that part out today about God's wrath and punishment.

But God, for sure, as much as he is a God of mercy and love, he is a God of justice and he will punish sin. Why do we preach today? Forget that and not preach the whole gospel. Why are we afraid of offending folks instead of offending God?

Men must be warned of their perilous position outside of Christ's blood. Men must be awakened to their lost condition. Well, how can you be saved if you've never been lost? True conversion occurs when men and women and boys and girls look out of themselves for help.

Like that little boy lost in the woods. He couldn't get out of there on his own. He had to look out of himself for help for his daddy to come. As long as you think you can help yourself, you're deceived with a false piece from the devil.

He will fight to hang on to his good friends. He doesn't mind if you walk an aisle and raise your hand or repeat a prayer or believe a verse as long as you never close with Christ. Churches are full of baptized, unconverted, spiritless individuals who are just unregenerate people.

They've never displayed any credible evidence of regeneration. It used to be standard practice 200 years ago in this country when it was a Christian land. You couldn't become a member of a church until you first proved credible evidence of your regeneration.

Now we just slap somebody on the back, call them a Christian, throw some water on them and put them on the church roll, put them to work. But they're as lost as a goose in a snowstorm. Jesus doesn't want lip service and a head knowledge of him.

He wants an experiential knowledge of him, which is the life of God in the soul of man. Is salvation just a decision we make or is it the supernatural work of God's spirit through regeneration? That's why we've got a mainly unconverted ministry today.

We've got men who know their Bibles, but they don't know the God of the Bible. The title of my message tonight, friends, is Getting Man Lost. That's my duty as a preacher to get you lost, point you to Christ so he can save you, but only the Holy Spirit can show you that you're lost.

The Holy Spirit's Conviction and the Need for Saving Faith

What I can do is preach search and sermons to bring out the plow up the ground of your heart. Oh, great God, help me to plow some hearts tonight. Oh, Holy Spirit, bring conviction to sin so somebody, somebody will cry out, what must I do to be saved?

Because we never hear that anymore because folks never get lost. Oh, friends, it's my prayer that in this message tonight, you don't just hear the shaky voice of this old preacher, but that by his marvelous grace, God will come and reveal his son to you and that you will hear his voice as it comes to you in power, authority and majesty.

I can't save you, friend, and as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, you can't save yourself. If you're saved, it's because God gave you saving faith. Is that not what the Word teaches? For in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, we read, for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves.

It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But you must first be driven out of yourselves, driven from all your false refuges of self-righteousness and a good opinion of yourself.

I stood at an old woman's hospital bed and asked her if she knew she was saved and going to heaven. And she said yes, and I asked her to explain why she was saved and going to heaven. And she informed me she'd been a member of the Methodist church for 30 years, was faithful in attendance and giving, and she knew she was going to heaven mainly because she'd never robbed a liquor store or killed anybody.

That's what the old gal said. And many people view their goodness by comparing themselves to others. Well, they say, I'm not bad enough to go to hell because I'm good enough to go to heaven. Well, that's what Satan wants you to believe.

That's a lie from the pit of hell that you're good enough for heaven. But listen to me. Good people don't go to heaven, only forgiven. People get to go there. Only those who were born from above and washed in the blood, men must see their danger, feel their deadly sores and sickness, or Jesus will be a physician of no value to them.

You must renounce your own wisdom and your own righteousness and see your own rotten heart, that your heart's just a nest of vipers and poison. You must go out of yourself for a cure. You must go out of yourself, call on the help of the Spirit of God.

Admit you can't do anything pleasing to God in your own strength, that your best righteousness is only filthy rags. In God's sight, that you're like the wedding guest, enjoying the food and festivities until the king comes in and finds them out.

Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. On that day, every mouth will be stopped for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Will you do me a favor, friend?

Christ Alone as the Way of Salvation

Will you take some time before you go to bed tonight, before you go to sleep? Will you get out a piece of paper and will you write on it one word, just one word? Will you write on it the word saved? If you really, really know you're born again, regenerated by God, write that word saved.

But listen to me, if you got a doubt, if you're not sure, if you really want the truth, will you write on that piece of paper lost? Uh, Jesus said, 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. How can I be saved? Jesus said, I am the way. How can I be sure? Jesus said, I am the truth. How can I be satisfied? Jesus said, I am the life.

Take up your rest in God, friend. Look away from yourself and only gaze at him. Look at that blessed man on the cross, friend. Look at that man on the cross, see him there with his arms outstretched, beckoning you to come to him and believe on him.

Hear his word. Look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Listen, friend, there's no other way to heaven than by Christ Jesus. But you must go out of yourself and earnestly seek him.

Ask God for the grace of repentance and faith. Your dependency is entirely on him. Salvation is of the Lord. God the son must be taken for your savior. He's the only way to the father. Put all your confidence in Christ Jesus.

Own him as your savior and Lord. We have this hope that God is a sin pardoning God. Look at that bloodstained savior for sin. Oh, on that cross as a sacrifice for sin, see him there. Until, see, look at him, friends.

Just keep on looking at Jesus on the cross until you can see him agonizing for you. Suffering for you. Bleeding for you. Dying for you. Being raised for you. The son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Behold that pearl, a great price of inestimable worth. He is the lily, the valley, the bright and morning star, chief of 10 ,000. Behold the man, Christ, the savior for sin. Listen, he held nothing back at Calvary.

He died and rose again and is seated at the right hand of the father. And he earned that right by way of a bloody cross. Take him in all his offices as savior and Lord. Go out of yourself, friend, and flee to him.

Go to him. Cast yourself upon him for forgiveness of sin. Make sure you close with Christ. He held nothing back at Calvary. Hold nothing back from him. Come to God, friend, in a complete surrender and throw down your shotgun of rebellion at his nail-pierced feet.

No longer trust in your own strength, but take hold of his strength and power to save you. Accept and offer Christ now. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

And let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Oh, dear sinner friend, the gospel's for the hungry. The gospel's for the weary. The gospel's for the thirsty.

The Urgency of Responding to the Gospel

Let me ask you, friend, are you hungry for God? Are you sick and tired of your filthy, rotten sins? Are you thirsty for Christ, for Christ alone? What are you waiting for, lady? Mister, what are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for? Come on, come on, come to him. Believe on him. Own him as your savior and lord. Get down on your faces in humility before a holy God. Beg him for mercy, mercy. You got one leg dangling over the very pit of hell.

Turn from yourself. Turn to God. Cast yourself on his son, Jesus. Hear this final gospel plea. I've worn myself out tonight preaching to your friends. Listen to this plea. Listen, listen. As the spirit and the bride say, come.

And let him that hear us say, come. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life. Freely.